Chapter 97: Because I Really Have Ancestors!

Armor leaves clanged outside the door; inside the room, silence reigned.

Lin Dao's smile gradually faded; he sat there, spreading his hands in a gesture.

"I meant my heart for the bright moon, but alas, the bright moon shines on the ditch."

He leaned forward, his expression grave and his words earnest, making a final effort.

"I swear by the Luo River."

"As long as you all are willing to dispose of the Qiao Commandery Huan clan, I will agree to accept you."

Wang Shu was unmoved, coldly laughing repeatedly.

"Swear by the Luo River?"

"Does the Marshal think this old man has never read history books?"

"If the Marshal is willing to swear by the name of his ancestors, we would be willing to believe."

"No." Lin Dao immediately shook his head and refused.

His so straightforward refusal instead left Wang Shu not understanding "why is this?"

"Because I really have ancestors!"

The room once again fell into silence.

I don't know how long passed; the red-faced Wang Shu stood up, "Marshal!"

He took a deep breath, his gaze locked on Lin Dao, "There are so many high-ranking families under heaven; can you kill them all?"

"Without us, how shall culture be transmitted?"

"Without us, who will serve as officials for you!"

"Probably yes." Lin Dao earnestly replied, "The barbarian tribes can slaughter millions."

"You high-ranking families, can you have millions?"

"As for culture, monopolized culture has no meaning."

"You officials who rely on mythical stories like Wowa Qiuli to get your positions, don't make me laugh."

"We high-ranking families indeed do not have millions." Wang Shu caught his breath, "But those who depend on us for a living are far more than millions."

"Marshal surely isn't planning to let his hair down and wear his robe left-lapel, becoming a barbarian?"

"Impossible." Lin Dao shook his head repeatedly, "Actually, this time I came, the troops I brought across the river are not even twenty thousand."

"If as you say, facing millions, each person urinating once would also drown us."

Wang Shu's heart suddenly let out a huge sigh of relief.

Actually only ten thousand-plus troops?

Originally thought that he, Lin Dao, was bringing a hundred-thousand great army; many people in the Imperial City had been scared into peeing their pants.

If there are only ten thousand-plus troops, as long as we can hold the Imperial City, waiting for the Diligence King Armies from all directions to arrive, perhaps we can counterattack!

Wang Shu happily fantasized about counterattacking, even curling the corners of his mouth, revealing a light smile.

As if already seeing hundreds of thousands of Diligence King Armies surrounding Jiankang City so tightly that not even water could leak through.

The soldiers by Lin Dao's side were few, one by one worn to death, finally leaving only this begging-for-survival Marshal alone, kneeling before everyone begging to survive—the dream scene.

"You wouldn't think I would arrange armies to encircle and suppress the high-ranking families, right?"

Lin Dao sighed, "Armies are used for fighting wars."

"." Wang Shu looked at him in doubt, not understanding what this sentence meant.

"I have already made arrangements here."

Lin Dao took out a stack of proclamations and handed them to Wang Shu.

"Proclaim to the soldiers and civilians of Jiangzuo."

"Jin has perished; lands originally belonging to Jin, soldiers and civilians under heaven may take them for themselves."

"Simply put, I want to make the common people of Jiangzuo divide your fields, divide your goods, divide your estates, divide your livestock, divide everything of yours."

Wang Shu flew into a rage, "Who dares!?"

He heavily exhaled, "We high-ranking families all have private soldiers, retainers, and followers!"

"Those poor ghosts and mud-legged peasants who can't even eat enough, still want to divide fields and land?"

"Private soldiers will slaughter them all!"

"Don't be so impulsive and hot-headed." Lin Dao kindly comforted, "Then have you seriously thought about it: I can take Jiankang City in one battle, so why surround the Imperial Palace but not attack the city?"

"." Wang Shu's heart suddenly rose with a sense of foreboding.

Feeling something bad was about to happen, but not knowing where the bad lay.

Then he heard Lin Dao's explanation: "It is precisely to use you as bait, to lure the local tyrants and powerful families from all over Jiangzuo, the private soldiers, retainers, and followers of high-ranking families, the Sima imperial clansmen from all regions, to bring troops to come rescue the Diligence King."

"The armored soldiers I brought will eliminate them one by one; that is what armored soldiers should do."

"Wait until your private soldiers, retainers, and followers are all dead; who else can stop the commoners from dividing fields and land?"

"Just relying on those noble scions who took Five Stone Powder until they behaved wildly and unrestrainedly?"

"They find it hard to write with brushes; what cursive script they produce—could they possibly lift a sword?"

Lin Dao's move was called inciting the commoners to wage a people's war.

Ordinary temptation cannot incite millions of commoners to take up hoes, wooden clubs, and dung forks.

The only possible temptation is land!

For the Agricultural People, the importance of land even exceeds life.

The commoners taking up hoes, wooden clubs, and dung forks will face suppression by the thugs raised by the high-ranking families.

Lin Dao previously deliberately let those fleeing high-ranking families surge into the Imperial Palace, in order to use them as bait to draw all the thugs over.

The commoners holding dung forks cannot beat those thugs.

But the armored soldiers of the Beggar Army could cut them all down!

Without these thugs to suppress them, the clansmen of the high-ranking families of Jiangzuo naturally could not withstand the uprising commoners.

Otherwise, who would really think they could rely on over ten thousand armored soldiers to cut through all of Jiangzuo?

Wang Shu's body swayed, his face red as blood.

He trembled as he stretched out his hand, pointing at Lin Dao.

His voice trembled like a sieve: "You~ you're so poisonous~~~"

"You occupy the vast majority of the means of production," Lin Dao spread his hands, "yet let the vast majority of people not survive, turning them into your serfs."

"The Shang Dynasty fell how many years ago, and you still pull this stunt."

"The poisonous ones are you high-ranking families."

"Wow~ puke~" Wang Shu, struck by anger attacking his heart, suddenly clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Lin Dao was greatly surprised: "Anger to the extreme can make one vomit blood, and it's actually true?"

"Liu Hu," Lin Dao greeted, "arrange for him to rest properly under watch, and have the military doctor prescribe some medicine."

"You must also take him to the bank of the Luo River to witness the Sima clan seeking the Luo Goddess to fulfill their oaths; he cannot die now."

Wang Shu, already struck by anger attacking his heart, completely fainted upon hearing this.

The news that Jiankang City had been breached spread like it had grown wings, flying quickly throughout Jiangzuo.

After going through stages of disbelief, shock, and terror, people throughout Jiangzuo were all pondering what to do next.

By common logic, since the capital had fallen, everywhere should have been pacified by transmitted documents.

Even if there were loyal ministers, it would be hard to stir up any waves.

But what followed were also messengers from the imperial court and the high-ranking families.

They all claimed without exception that their group had endured brutal fighting before breaking out of the encirclement to send the letter.

The messengers stated that the city was breached by the Beggar Army.

Although they breached the city, their troops were insufficient, and they failed to breach the Imperial City.

The Son of Heaven and a host of senior ministers were still defending the Imperial City.

They sent an edict calling on all places under heaven to come and serve the king with diligence.

The enemy forces are not many; the rulers of the high-ranking families, and the Son of Heaven, are still here.

With these two prerequisites, the troops from all places serving the king with diligence soon began to gather.

In all of Eastern Jin, the strongest is Huan Wen, who guards Jingzhou.

Eastern Jin's most elite and best fighting troops are mostly with him.

But he cannot move.

On one hand, the newly attached Qiang are unstable.

If the main army leaves Jingzhou, it might cause the Qiang to slaughter Jingzhou.

Furthermore, Wang Meng on that side had long arranged for Qin Lang's main army to move southward, threatening the Jingzhou region.

If he goes to rescue Jiankang, he is extremely likely to lose the foundation of Jingzhou.

For Jiangzuo, the importance of Jingzhou is beyond doubt.

Huan Wen was anxious, but had no way.

He could only hope that the relief troops serving the king with diligence from all places could defeat the Beggar Army and retake Jiankang City.

"This is the army of Jiangzuo?"

Standing on the city tower, Lin Dao held up a telescope to survey the relief troops setting up camp.

This is a relief army serving the king with diligence from Guangling Commandery.

Through scout reconnaissance and drone statistics, there are about four to five thousand county soldiers, a greater number of private soldiers, and a large number of civilian laborers.

Eastern Jin's military system is a peculiarity arising from aristocratic families holding power.

Mid-level and above colonel-generals are basically controlled by the children of high-ranking families.

Those of ordinary background, no matter how capable, can only reach Zhuangzhu at most.

When these children of high-ranking families leave office, the court will actively bestow a batch of soldiers to serve as their private soldiers.

The strong and healthy are selected, from then on becoming the private retainers of high-ranking families.

The remaining court troops are old men and children.

As for why this is so, naturally because those holding power in the court are people of high-ranking families.

To put it bluntly, they are leeches sucking blood on the body of the court.

Besides this, each family and clan also independently recruits brave warriors to serve as retainers and guests.

Their military strength is stronger than the court's.

"White-Haired Soldiers, Child Army."

Lin Dao put down the telescope and instructed Liu Hu: "Lead the elite out of the city for a night raid tonight."

"Don't fight anything else, specifically target those private soldiers and retainers."

Liu Hu immediately saluted and accepted the order.

Lin Dao had once said that a night raid is a very difficult thing.

First, there are not many elite capable of night raids, after all, under the trouble of night blindness, the vast majority of people cannot see clearly at night.

Second is strict defense.

The surroundings of the camp are full of clear outposts and dark sentries, with various defensive facilities built.

Once they cannot break in, heavy casualties will inevitably be caused.

Precisely because of this, every successful night raid is worthy of being put in a textbook.

The reason Lin Dao now actively engages in night battles is because he has the backing of technology.

The elites he brought have almost no night blindness sufferers among them.

As for the various defensive works outside the camp, Lin Dao has hook machines.

Before hook machines, so-called defensive works appear that laughable.

At midnight Zi hour, several thousand elite armored soldiers, holding torches and formed in ranks, just like that swaggered out of the city.

It is called a night raid, but in reality it is more like a strong attack.

The Guangling Commandery troops' camps are separate, several large and small ones.

The largest one is where those high-ranking families of Guangling Commandery have gathered their private soldiers.

Inside the camp, defenses are strict; private soldier retainers wear armor and hold weapons, nervously awaiting the attack's arrival.

"Geji geji~~~"

Under the night curtain, a deafening monstrous sound comes from far to near.

Constrained by vision, the private soldier retainers can only vaguely see that in the darkness there is a vague yet extraordinarily massive thing slowly approaching.

That piercing sound simply makes one's hair stand on end.

Amidst terrified waiting, the monstrous and piercing sound finally arrives before the camp.

By the light of the air-dead wind lamps, as well as the torches and fire basins.

The private soldier retainers from several Guangling Commandery families finally see clearly.

"Monster ah~~~"

(End of Chapter)