Chapter 48: War of Public Opinion

Everyone was shocked.

Has this young master gone mad?

Five thousand bandit soldiers, coming with such momentum, and he is actually this happy?

Liu Zheng smiled and nodded, saying: "Shen Xing, draft two documents immediately. Send one by fast horse to the Liangzhou Prefecture, and send one to the Yangzhou Prefecture!"

Shen Xing's eyes lit up as he heard this: "What does the young master mean?"

Liu Zheng laughed coldly: "A teacher must have a reason to march. Notify Liangzhou of this matter first, to place our Yinzhou on legitimate ground! Then notify Yangzhou that the bandit soldiers are running rampant; if they in Yangzhou do not eliminate them, then we in Yinzhou will!"

Everyone felt their scalps tingle.

No one had expected Liu Zheng's ambition to be this great.

Before anyone else could say anything, Shen Xing was already trembling with excitement: "Young master, does the young master want to let Yangzhou fall into chaos first, while we in Yinzhou watch from the sidelines?"

Liu Zheng smiled: "Exactly, this is a war of public opinion!"

"Give the order to tell those bandit soldiers: if the Yangzhou Prefecture cannot raise those twenty thousand taels in seven days, can they wait another seven days? Then find a few quick-witted people to go to the streets and alleys of Yangzhou to spread rumors that the bandit soldiers are causing chaos and that Lu Zhengyi has long been colluding with the mountain bandits and Bandit."

Shen Xing slapped his thigh and shouted: "Seven days after seven days, how many seven days there are!"

"As long as we drag this out, Yangzhou will surely fall into chaos!"

Liu Zheng smiled slightly.

Just as he said before, since ancient times, mercenaries and reinforcements have always been the most dangerous existences. The former have no loyalty or discipline to speak of, while the latter directly covet your city!

If it were only a thousand Scattered Soldiers, Liu Zheng would not have taken it to heart.

But since five thousand had come...

Then Liu Zheng really had some ideas.

Previously, Yangzhou had been repeatedly troubled by Bandit, and the common people could only get the Bandit to retreat by handing over money and grain. Today, once this "rumor" goes out, even if it is false, it will become true!

By then, the hearts of the people in Yangzhou will be unstable, and conflict between them and the mercenaries will be unavoidable.

And as for Liu Zheng's side, sharpening weapons and feeding horses, training troops while waiting for battle—when the time comes, he can take advantage of the weakness, enter Yangzhou City directly in the name of "suppressing bandits," and wouldn't Yangzhou then also be in Liu Zheng's pocket?

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

He had not expected that only a few months after transmigrating to this ancient era, before his own territory had even developed, there would be an opportunity to expand his territory—as for the Liangzhou Prefecture side? The document had already been delivered there, so they could not say anything. By the time they reacted, Liu Zheng would have already controlled Yangzhou.

War!

For the first time, Liu Zheng was this close to war, and he seemed to have already smelled the unavoidable scent of blood in this war.

What is war?

War is a violent act that forces the enemy to submit to our will.

Therefore, if one wants to make the opponent submit, one must use every possible means! Expecting to display one's benevolence during war? That is absolutely impossible!

With these few orders from Liu Zheng, the entire Yinzhou became busy once again.

Qin Zhangfeng was responsible for the merchant escorts between Yinzhou and Yangzhou, with a pavilion every mile and a guard post every hundred paces, and he was also responsible for the Formation Training at the Shen Gong Workshop.

Meanwhile, the Fine Iron Workshop and Weaponry Workshop of the Shen Gong Workshop also began forging through the night.

Three days later.

The document from the County Marquis Mansion, sent by fast horse, had already reached the Liangzhou Prefecture.

Wang Lin, the small soldier from Yinzhou responsible for delivering the letter, did not quite understand why the young master had repeatedly urged him to deliver this document specifically to Chen Ruoshi.

So after he arrived at the Liangzhou Prefecture, even though several Executives and Counselors took turns questioning him, he remained tight-lipped, insisting that he would only speak if he saw Chen Ruoshi.

"You brat, are you here to cause trouble?"

"This is the Liangzhou Prefecture, not a place for you to throw a tantrum!"

"Beat him out with sticks!"

Seeing Wang Lin like this, the group of people became angry.

"What is the matter?"

Just then, Chen Ping and Chen Ruoshi had just returned from outside and, hearing the argument, came over to ask.

"My Lord, this small soldier from Yinzhou has quite a stubborn temper! He insists on seeing the Eldest Miss before he will state his purpose!"

"Oh?"

Chen Ruoshi looked over in surprise: "Yinzhou?"

Suddenly, her delicate body trembled slightly: "Has something happened to Liu Zheng?"

Chen Ping's expression darkened.

Wang Lin looked at Chen Ruoshi and asked for confirmation: "Are you the Eldest Miss Chen?"

"It is I!"

Only then did Wang Lin kneel down and shout loudly: "Miss Chen, Lord Chen, save my Yinzhou!"

"Five thousand bandit soldiers are attacking, Yinzhou is being slaughtered, I beg you, my Lord, to send troops to save us!"

Chen Ruoshi was shocked: "What did you say? Mountain bandits?"

"Five thousand mountain bandits? This, this, this, Father..."

Chen Ruoshi was clearly extremely anxious.

Chen Ping, however, laughed coldly upon hearing this.

How could he not know about this matter? The Liangzhou Order in Lu Zhengyi's hands, which read "Observe his character, correct his conduct, and act as the situation requires," was written by him.

Therefore, regarding this matter, he had originally intended to turn a blind eye.

He had not expected...

That little fox Liu Zheng was truly slippery. He had insisted on having this small soldier report this matter in front of Chen Ruoshi, which put Chen Ping in a difficult position.

"There is actually such a thing? Speak quickly!"

Chen Ping straightened his expression and said.

The soldier immediately recounted what had happened in Yinzhou. Upon hearing of the seven-day limit, Chen Ruoshi's face filled with anxiety: "Seven days, how can this be? Liu Zheng certainly has no preparations!"

Chen Ping also nodded and said: "But four days have already passed, leaving only three. Even if I were to dispatch troops from Liangzhou, it would be beyond my reach!"

Even for the most elite Cavalry, it would take about three days to get there, and they would still need to prepare provisions and weapons; time truly does not allow for it.

"Father, you must think of a Method!"

Chen Ruoshi was on the verge of tears.

Seeing his daughter's attitude, Chen Ping felt an even deeper chill in his heart, and his face showed his dilemma: "The mountain bandits must be destroyed, and I will order troops to suppress the bandits, but Yinzhou, I fear..."

Unexpectedly, the soldier clasped his fists at this moment and said: "My Lord, reinforcements will certainly be too late. The County Marquis wishes to ask for a 'Bandit Suppression Decree' from you, Lord Chen, so that our Yinzhou may have no worries about reason or law, and can fight the mountain bandits to the death!"

"Ah!"

Chen Ruoshi's face turned pale.

Chen Ping narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking to himself: Fight to the death? With your three thousand Garrison, you want to fight five thousand bandits to the death? Is this Liu Dahao's idea, or Liu Zheng's?

But regardless, for a man about to die, this request is not excessive.

Chen Ping stood up and shouted, his face moved: "County Marquis Liu generously resists the enemy, living up to the blood and spirit of our Liangzhou men! Bring the brush!"

Soon, a "Bandit Suppression Decree" was stamped with the seal of the Liangzhou Prefecture.

The soldier was overjoyed and rode away on his horse.

"Father!"

"Does Yinzhou really have the strength to resist the enemy? This, this can..."

After the soldier left, Chen Ruoshi felt panicked.

"A Bandit Suppression Decree?"

"What do they want this for?"

Chen Ping, meanwhile, had fallen into deep thought.

Suddenly, he had a very absurd guess...

Could it be that this father and son of the Liu Family have other motives?

It's just that he dared not even guess that Liu Zheng, under these circumstances, was still thinking about how to control Yangzhou.

If he said it out loud, who would believe it?

"What did he say, seven days again?"

Chen Kui, on his side, also received the news relayed from Yinzhou Prefecture.

Luo Xiongchao was drinking and having a good time, and upon hearing this, he laughed heartily: "Seven days it is, what harm is there in waiting seven days for him!"

"Exactly, they are meat on our chopping block sooner or later, they can't run!"

"I haven't finished playing with all the flower houses in Yangzhou yet; another seven days is enough, enough!"

A group of mercenary captains laughed one after another.

They didn't mind waiting a little longer; anyway, eating meat and drinking wine in large bowls here in Yangzhou, with countless women to play with, and acting like bullies wherever they went—for these mercenaries who had been drifting outside for years, these were rare, heavenly days.

"But..."

Chen Kui frowned: "General Luo, Yinzhou Prefecture couldn't possibly be unable to come up with twenty thousand taels of silver; they must be playing us for fools!"

"Hmm?"

Luo Xiongchao looked over with cold eyes: "Are you teaching me how to do things?"

Chen Kui was startled by the glare of this Bitter-Faced Yama and his whole body shook: "General, Chen Kui would not dare, it's just, it's just..."

"There is no 'just'. For these seven days, I won't charge you any extra money; just wait seven days for him!"

Luo Xiongchao waved his hand, appearing magnanimous.

Chen Kui dared not say anything else and could only smile bitterly and agree.

"I heard a girl is debuting at the Yihong Courtyard in Yangzhou today, let's go take a look!"

"General, General!"

Chen Kui wanted to shout, but it was already too late.

This group of military lords, with swords and blades at their waists, were already swaggering down the street, occasionally molesting decent women on the road.

And at this moment.

No one noticed a man wearing black clothes and a bamboo hat who had just slipped into the city. He happened to see Luo Xiongchao and his men acting like bullies.

"Who are these people? So arrogant?"

He walked up to a vegetable stall and asked deliberately.

The old woman said: "Shh, young man, don't talk nonsense! I heard they are Liangzhou soldiers here to stay for a few days; we can't afford to provoke them!"

In these chaotic times, the common people had long since grown accustomed to all this.

Liangzhou soldiers?

The man gave a cold smile.

Sure enough, just as the Young Master said, this Lu Zhengyi would certainly not tell the common people the truth.

A group of Scattered Soldiers, actually turned into Liangzhou soldiers?

If these common people, who were swallowing their anger, knew that these men were a group of Scattered Soldiers and even called themselves mountain bandits to Yinzhou, I wonder what they would think?

He squeezed the tightly covered basket on his back.

What exactly is the Young Master's brain made of?

To be able to come up with... such a shameless Method?

He found a tavern, sat down, and waited quietly for dark.

He waited until the curfew began on the streets of Yangzhou. Having already hidden himself, he crawled out from the side. He grabbed his basket with one hand and pulled out... those papers with the other.

Whoosh!

He scattered the sheets of rough paper, covered in writing, across the street.

That night, he walked through almost the entire Yangzhou City, from one end to the other.

The next day.

"What is this?"

"A portrait? No, there's writing too!"

"Which youngster here knows how to read? Come help me read this!"

People woke up to find these slips of paper at their doors, each with a portrait and a great deal of text. They began to run about telling each other, passing them around and asking questions.

"There are several thousand mountain bandits who recently attacked our Yinzhou merchants and plundered our goods; their crimes are punishable by death..."

"Threatening the government is an act of treason!"

"Bringing disaster to the countryside, they are loathed by both man and god!"

"This portrait is of the mountain bandit leader; anyone who kills him may bring his head to the Yinzhou Prefecture to claim five hundred gold!"

"Anyone with information who comes to report it may receive ten gold!"

People examined the portrait closely, and their expressions changed one after another.

It's actually him?

He is a mountain bandit?

In an instant, all of Yangzhou was in an uproar.