Chapter 127: Our great Yin has no cowards!

This disturbance is not small.

After that sound, it was quiet for a moment under the locust tree.

Du Shanü was already in a bad mood, and being disturbed like this, she also glanced vacantly at the sturdy man who kept kowtowing without stopping.

Zhao Daniu knocked with considerable force; faint traces of blood seeped from his forehead, showing he had indeed made a firm decision.

This really made Du Shanü feel depressed.

She had just been talking with Chinu about the matter of using spies against the magistrate......

Actually, Du Shanü had an instinctive aversion to this method.

Although, if the result is correct, the result can justify the means.

But a beauty scheme is the method that makes Du Shanü feel the most resistance.

Whether man or woman, as soon as they get involved with the three words 'beauty scheme,' the outcome is almost already determined.

Unlike those who died on the battlefield and remain unknown,

Heroic souls at least know for whom they fight and for whom they die, but the beauties of a beauty scheme often leave behind nothing but infamy for ages.

Liu Er is willing to risk danger for the sake of all living beings, but the people of the world may not necessarily know Liu Er.

This matter makes Du Shanü feel somewhat......

Feeling stifled.

Exactly, feeling stifled.

Chinu said, this is a necessary measure.

This is naturally the measure with the smallest cost, but no matter how you think about it, you can't hide that faint sense of sorrow.

A Nu is not born to be a slave.

Liu Er, too, is not born to be sent back and forth to keep someone company in bed.

Du Shanü was thinking, but before she could persuade Chinu, now there's suddenly another person who needs to go!

What for?

The magistrate has plenty of talent in his bed, right?

Du Shanü frowned, waved her hand trying to shoo the person away, but before she could speak, Chinu beside her jumped in first and said:

"Go."

"The two of you together can indeed look out for each other...... There's no need to trouble the Princess; I'll take charge and have someone send you to Zhoufu."

Zhao Daniu was overjoyed, and threw himself onto the blue‑brick tiles again, kowtowing fiercely:

"Thank you, Princess, thank you, sir!"

He apparently doesn't know many characters, so he calls everyone 'sir.'

And precisely because of that, he doesn't know the consequences, which makes his actions somewhat understandable.

Du Shanü had been busy these past days to the point of a splitting headache, and instinctively wanted to scold this practice, but then she saw Zhao Daniu finish kowtowing, as if he had remembered something, and he took out a bulging parcel and carefully held it out to the two of them:

"This, this is what Brother Liu left behind."

"He said he couldn't let it go cheap to others, so he left it for me. Now I also want to help Brother Liu with his work, and I can't let it go cheap to others either...... These things, I will present as tribute to the Princess."

"Please...... please use this money to give the brothers and sisters in the city, the elderly, weak, women and children, more thick porridge, and send more medicines......"

"Even if I and Brother Liu die, we are willing."

Death.

He said, death.

This man, who looks unremarkable and even seems a bit simple‑minded, uttered the word 'death' with ease.

This word struck her like a club, hitting Du Shanü on the head, making her see stars, and only then did she realize something——

Liu Er and Zhao Daniu might not be unaware of what is about to happen.

In fact, they actually know.

But they both made the same choice.

No matter which dynasty or era, even in times of prosperity, there are always dark corners.

The Two Rivers Circuit is too far from the imperial capital, too far from the law.

When the northern war flares up, in fact, the people here have long been unable to bear the burden.

Nowadays, all people seek is a mouthful of food, just to cling to life.

And if one is already free of burdens, for another's mouthful of food and a life, one is also willing to sacrifice oneself.

The people nurtured with care by Emperor Taizong always have a spirit of righteous generosity in facing death.

They hate the northerners, and they also hate evildoers who commit wicked deeds.

Good is good, bad is bad; they have always distinguished them clearly.

They......

After all, this is not a play, but a line of living lives, each with its own temperament.

After Zhao Daniu left for a long time, Du Shanü finally came to her senses.

Under the old locust tree, the locust leaves were still rustling.

But this time, Du Shanü did not speak again.

Chinu had been standing beside her for a while, then finally spoke slowly:

"Those who wish to accomplish great things must not be soft‑hearted and lenient."

Du Shanü still did not respond, and Chinu went on:

"If one life can spare the deaths of a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, then that is a worthy death."

"The Wise Lord should not grieve for anyone...... and if one day he must abandon me, that would be the same."

Chinu is ruthless.

Since that day, after Chinu revealed his identity, Du Shanü knew this.

After that night, she and Chinu mustered troops in Cang Cheng; Chinu, to intimidate the interior, killed five functionaries who raised objections, and Du Shanü became clearer about it.

No wonder Chinu used to boast that only with him could one win this world.

In this world, there truly is no tool more useful than Chinu.

But no matter how ruthless he is, it doesn't change the fact that he is an idiot.

An idiot never understands one thing—

"No one wants to abandon you."

Du Shanü turned and slowly walked toward the Xian Xie.

"From beginning to end, no one wants to abandon you."

"I've been exhausted these past few days; I don't want to argue with you."

This is not a lie.

Seizing a city is far more difficult than Du Shanü imagined.

The flood struck suddenly; Ju Cheng, extremely close to the river mouth, was hit first. Her forces mainly came from Chinu and Chen Weifang, whom she gathered, and from the people of Cang Cheng who had previously received her rice charity and spontaneously joined her in disaster relief...

Forces are truly insufficient.

Our base, Cang Cheng, was left in the guard of a group led by Ouyang Yan.

She, bringing her confidants and remaining troops, could at most hold one of the two remaining cities.

Faced with a choice, Du Shanü could only first abandon Ju Cheng, the most severely affected and hardest to rescue, and turn to Dun Cheng, where she could ensure more disaster victims survive.

But can Dun Cheng be so easily held?

At first, the garrisoned troops in the city refused to open the gates; after the gates were opened, the remnants left by Ouyang Wu secretly schemed to trip her up, unwilling to readily hand over military authority and grain stores while Ouyang Wu had not returned.

Du Shanü persuaded some to surrender; any remaining signs of dissent were suppressed by Chinu and thrown into the county office's great prison.

This is not all that happens in Dun Cheng.

She also, after taking this city and persuading some to surrender, learned that this city had previously been sustained by Ouyang Wu using the King of An Nan's silver.

Now Ouyang Wu's whereabouts are unknown; An Nan naturally cannot send her money to buy grain and medicine, the storehouses are empty, and figuring out how to procure grain and medicine thereafter is another major matter.

These past few days, she and Afang have been arguing nonstop about this matter for several days...

Du Shanü's forehead ached from fatigue; as she walked, she again asked:

"Has the attendant who used to follow Ouyang Wu spoken? If we can find out who the traitor was who previously sold grain to them in the Cang Cheng county office, we should inform the Cang Cheng side early to avoid later complications... eh?"

Du Shanü spoke for a long time before realizing Chinu had not kept up; she found it strange and turned her head again.

Chinu still stood beneath the old, trembling locust tree, brows lowered, his words barely concealing a hint of resentment.

"Why aren't you arguing?"

"Afang is my 'dowry'; if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten this city...... Now you won't even speak harsh words to me?"

Using spies: explained as employing spies, from The Art of War, chapter 'Planning a Siege'.