Chapter 1152

A hundred-zhang high platform, raised from piled earth.

This is not an easy thing, but to topple a tall building, one only needs to pull out those few load-bearing pillars, and his chain reaction will turn the whole building into rubble in an instant.

The Uyghurs are now like a tall building with its load-bearing pillars pulled out.

The speed of collapse is also swift enough to catch nearly everyone in Zhongtian off guard.

The battle between Chen Wuji and the Uyghurs was originally the most attention-grabbing major event in Zhongtian, with countless people discussing it daily, speculating on the final outcome of this war.

On this matter, whether one has read books or not, everyone can voice their own opinions, though those who have read books speak more convincingly.

But the vast majority of mainstream opinions did not anticipate that the war would progress to this point in such a short time.

Of course, this is only the vast majority, not all.

Still, someone predicted it.

Among them, there is one who has long been criticized on the Yue Tan.

He is the County Magistrate of Mei County, Xu Li.

Because he has long spent money publishing his shocking and unconventional opinions, which run contrary to secular mainstream views, this man has been nearly cast into the ranks of heretical paths by countless scholars.

Yet this sage remains unrepentant.

Others curse others, he speaks his own, neither interfering with the other, as if completely unaffected.

Others are pursued by various organizations seeking their views, even needing to pay to see them, but he not only pays for himself, his self-published works are all filled with condemnation.

However, this time, this man has vindicated himself.

In the current public opinion environment, Xu Li has securely occupied the hot search list.

His judgment on the Chen Wuji-Uyghur battle cannot be said to be without difference; it can only be said to be identical, as if standing beside Chen Wuji, watching him deploy troops and arrange formations.

Besides Xu Li, in this war, another matter has also stirred up a frenzy of discussion across all of Zhongtian.

That is Chen Wuji's martial artist corps numbering in the tens of thousands.

This number of tens of thousands is the guess given by Zhongtian people based on the Huihe War.

They believe Chen Wuji's martial army should total around eighty thousand, not too many, and as for fewer……

What has already been shown in the Huihe War is eighty thousand, and fewer would not be less either.

They simply dare not believe Chen Wuji still has more martial troops.

Cultivating a martial artist is not easy.

This is the consensus of Zhongtian people.

They do not believe Chen Wuji has the ability to cultivate more martial troops, harboring various speculations and petty thoughts, thinking Chen Wuji, out of caution, deployed all his elite forces and crack troops in the Huihe War.

This news made all the lords of Zhongtian feel a chill in their necks.

Chen Wuji was already very formidable; now you tell me that boy has under him an eighty-thousand-strong martial army?

Then damn it, what's the point of fighting? Just surrender outright.

As for this news, those who know have long known.

At present, those who know are mostly of ordinary strength and inferior intelligence capabilities.

When this news arrived, it was like a blow to the head, leaving them numb. They find it hard to believe and hard to accept, but this seems indeed to be that damned fact.

And among them is Fu Jiuyou of Bai Sha Jun.

After receiving the news, he violently killed several maidservants, then opened his treasure vault hoarded for years, began sending people to nearby sects for urgent friendly contact, and simultaneously recruited widely from the Jianghu martial artists to expand his forces.

After doing these two things, Fu Jiuyou's heart remained uneasy.

After all, that is eighty thousand martial artists!

Fu Jiuyou hastily summoned his subordinates and sect elders, held a two-day closed-door meeting, and then decided……to present tribute to Chen Wuji.

He must turn the nominal refusal of vassalage he previously stated in his letter into a real one.

Even if the mountains are high and the roads long, the journey perilous, tribute must be arranged, to ease this relationship bit by bit, and then strive to gain as much time and choice as possible for himself.

……

"Marquis, Deng Zhao, who occupies Eyun Jun, has sent an envoy saying he wishes to lead his troops to surrender and personally come to see the lord; he is already on the road."

Zhao Chen held a thick stack of memorials, reporting to Chen Wuji item by item.

These are all urgent military affairs sent to the cabinet.

Non-urgent cabinet matters have already been handled; now they are all piled on Chen Wuji's desk, and he need only glance at them and then approve, without needing to present and discuss them in court as now.

"Send someone to receive him." Chen Wuji said.

This is already the third local lord today willing to surrender.

However, the weight of the previous two was less, merely occupying one or two prefectures each.

Deng Zhao is one of the Southeast Three Heroes, his power mainly concentrated in Eyun Jun, but simultaneously radiating to three surrounding jun, sparsely occupying seven prefectures in those three jun.

Southeast Three Heroes, Deng Zhao is the closest to Chen Wuji; further east lies Fu Jiuyou.

To the south lies the Shi Shi clan occupying two jun.

They, like Fu Jiuyou, are clan forces, only more official and longer-established. This clan has stood in the southeast for who knows how many years, truly a stubborn household.

As Chen Wuji knows, they have served as hereditary inspectors for three dynasties.

In those two jun, no one can shake their position.

The greatest difference between the Shi Shi clan and Fu Jiuyou is that Fu Jiuyou is a clan leader, i. e., a clan bandit in official documents, while the Shi Shi clan is official.

The Shi Shi clan opened up that land; the Former Shu Emperor issued an edict to eternally guard the southeast, and the two subsequent dynasties did not change it, still granting the Shi Shi clan this privilege.

"Lord?" Zhao Chen called softly.

Chen Wuji, who was reading documents, lifted his eyelids, "Anything else?"

"Just receive him?"

"Otherwise?"

Hmm...

Zhao Chen's expression froze slightly, as if there really was nothing else.

"Deputy Officer obeys the order!"

In just one day, too many local forces had surrendered; he was so excited he couldn't control himself.

Zhao Chen glanced covertly at Chen Wuji.

As expected of the lord, the more forces that surrendered, the calmer he became.

Calm, he too must stay calm!

This is nothing—just a small scene.

The Uyghurs have been destroyed; with such overwhelming deterrence, it's perfectly normal for these big and small lords nearby to surrender. Those who stubbornly refuse to surrender are the ones with excrement for brains, unable to distinguish facts.

"Anything else?" Chen Wuji asked.

Zhao Chen looked at the document below, his expression suddenly like constipation.

That was an imperial edict.

"My lord, the court has issued an edict, ennobling you as Prince Zhen'nan, entrusted with Ping Zhang Guo Wu Shi." Zhao Chen, grinning, relayed the content of the edict to Chen Wuji.

Chen Wuji set down the document in his hand, "Is the court doing this to insult me?"