Chapter 380: The Heart of Treason

Yuan Zhi was exposed and, feeling somewhat ashamed and angry, roared.

"My uncle has served Daliang with all his heart and soul, yet the Emperor was deceived by you all, suspecting my uncle of treason just because of a few fireworks, forcing my uncle to go to Shengjing and kneel for five hours before the Emperor's doubts were dispelled."

"Even if the Yuan Clan were to rebel, it would be because you forced them to!"

Xiao Moting smiled slightly.

Yuan Zhi was young and hot-headed after all, with limited experience in leading troops in battle, and unable to keep his composure, he admitted to wanting to rebel in just a few words.

Sure enough, as soon as Yuan Zhi finished speaking, the Yuan Family Army did not quiet down; instead, they became even more restless.

A few minor Leaders were even looking at each other and exchanging glances.

They had finally obtained official positions and were living decent lives, with elderly mothers and young children at home; who would want to have their entire clan executed?

At this moment, a great general behind Yuan Zhi whispered a piece of advice.

"General, please stay calm; do not be provoked by the words of the Prince of Northern Suppression."

Only then did Yuan Zhi come to his senses, realizing he had fallen into Xiao Moting's trap.

Treason is a heinous crime, despised by everyone.

If he admitted that the Yuan Clan had the intention to rebel, wouldn't that be acting against heaven and being attacked by all the righteous people in the world?

Even if one were to rebel, it could not be stated openly.

"Xiao Moting, you are so cunning!"

He gritted his teeth and cursed, then forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, took a deep breath, and laughed aloud.

"The Yuan Clan is loyal to the Emperor; how could we be rebels? We are clearly here for having performed meritorious service in saving the Emperor."

"The Prince of Northern Suppression was killed by the Fusang People, and the Yuan Clan sent troops to crusade against them, not only killing the Fusang People but also avenging you, establishing great merit; we should be rewarded by the Imperial Court!"

Xiao Moting raised an eyebrow sarcastically, "So, I should even thank the Yuan Clan?"

"Naturally, you should be thankful!" Yuan Zhi did not hide it and smiled proudly, "With this merit, it is not too much for my uncle to ask the Emperor for the title of National Preceptor, is it? From now on, the National Preceptor will oversee the state, share the Emperor's worries, and make decisions on court affairs for the Emperor, so the Emperor can rest at ease."

Zhang Yu had spoken out of turn earlier and, after being mocked by Qin Zhan, had been sulking in silence, but as soon as he heard Yuan Canghai wanted to be the National Preceptor, he was instantly enraged.

"Damn it, Yuan Canghai has quite the ambition. Who does he think he is, wanting to replace Zhou? Does he even have the ability?"

The Peasant Army behind him also began to curse one after another.

"What kind of thing is he? Zhou is revered by all the people; is Yuan Canghai worthy?"

"An old dog like him is worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as our Zhou? Come up here and die."

"Pah, let Yuan Canghai hurry up and die; he isn't even fit to be a mounting block for Zhou."

Everyone cursed crudely, and Yuan Zhi couldn't help but curse back, but he ended up losing the verbal battle.

Qin Zhan was left dumbfounded, "Is this Zhou Yanli really that well-supported?"

Xiao Moting was also slightly stunned; he knew Zhou Yanli had prestige among the people of Yannan, but he hadn't expected it to be this high.

If the general governing the Yannan Region were not Yuan Canghai, but Zhou Yanli, it would be a case of one call and a hundred responses.

I fear Zhou Yanli wouldn't even need to conscript soldiers; as long as he said a word, the people of Yannan would be like brainwashed, scrambling to go into battle, risking their lives to kill the enemy for him.

The thought of this scene was terrifying.

Xiao Moting was considered to have prestige in Beijiang, but he couldn't make all the commoners follow him fanatically, yet Zhou Yanli could.

Perhaps if Beijiang went to war with Yannan, he really might not win.

Yuan Zhi was cursed until his face was ashen, extremely angry!

He sat on his horse and pointed with his blade.

"Xiao Moting, today is your death day! Both you and Zhou Yanli will die here!"

"Charge, kill them!"

Before Xiao Moting could give the order, Zhang Yu raised his arms and roared, "Kill, slaughter the Yuan Family Army!"

"Kill!"

The Peasant Army behind him shouted in unison, scrambling to rush forward, and began to fight the Yuan Family Army at the entrance.

The two sides clashed at the door, the sounds of metal clashing and screams mixing together.

"Hey, why isn't this Zhang Yu listening to orders?" Qin Zhan shouted, "Prince, what should we do now?"

Xiao Moting looked up, "The entrance is narrow; Zhang Yu is engaging the Yuan Clan's troops, so you have people guard the corners of the walls to prevent the Yuan Family Army from climbing over, and kill anyone who gets in."

That would work too.

Originally, everyone was feeling low-spirited and even cowardly after a fierce battle and facing the Yuan Clan Army of over thirty thousand.

Now, it was a good thing; Yuan Zhi had no experience in battle and provoked the anger of the Peasant Army with a few words, which instead boosted everyone's morale, making them fight bravely.

It was just that the disparity in strength between the enemy and themselves was too great; even if they blocked the courtyard gate, they wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

……

In the courtyard, Bai Wei squatted beside Zhou Yanli, pretending to examine his injuries.

In reality, she was stalling for time to prevent Xiao Lujing from really dragging her away by force.

She was using her consciousness to take inventory of the items in the Warehouse.

She had just stored all the supplies the Fusang People had hoarded in the open space into the Warehouse, and that huge pile of things hadn't been sorted yet.

Now the Warehouse was a mess, piled with ores, antiques, grain, and more.

Not to mention, the Fusang People had brought quite a lot of weapons, but they were all packed in boxes, forcing her to rummage through them one by one.

Fortunately, using her consciousness to organize the Warehouse was much more convenient than manual labor; otherwise, how long would it take to open these hundreds of boxes one by one?

Soon, Bai Wei found the useful items.

After finding what she wanted, she finally let out a long sigh of relief.

At this moment, Xiao Lujing's urging reached her ears.

"Sister Bai, hurry back! If you don't go back, I will really take you away."

Leave?

She wasn't going to leave; saying she would just now was only to coax Xiao Moting, to steady him first before doing anything else.

The Fusang People left behind so many good things—food, drink, weapons, and equipment...

It is enough to use against the Yuan Clan's troops!

Even if they couldn't fight, if they holed up in this Dye House and held their ground, taking up weapons to defend rather than attack, they could stay for a year or half a year; they would drag the Yuan Family Army to death just by stalling!

At the courtyard entrance, the slaughter grew increasingly intense.

The ground was a pool of blood, littered with corpses lying helter-skelter.

The Yuan Clan's troops kept charging inside, while Zhang Yu led the Peasant Army, blocking the entrance and hacking away frantically.

On the courtyard walls, some of the Yuan Family Army had set up ladders, intending to climb over and enter.

Fortunately, the Fusang People had built a Warehouse here and had heightened and reinforced the courtyard walls, which added quite a bit of difficulty for the Yuan Family Army and made it not so easy for them to climb in.

The few Yuan Family Army soldiers who managed to scale the wall and break in were all swarmed by Qin Zhan and his men, who raised their blades and hacked them to death in a flurry of strikes.

Seeing that the Northern Frontier Army and the Peasant Army were fearless of death, Yuan Zhi roared sternly.

"Charge in, all of you! The Prince of Northern Pacification Xiao Moting and the National Preceptor Zhou Yanli are in cahoots, colluding with the Fusang to endanger Daliang!"

"Whoever kills Zhou Yanli will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver; whoever kills Xiao Moting will have their military rank jumped three levels!"

Xiao Moting hacked down a Yuan Family Army soldier, wiped the blood splattered on his face, and laughed coldly.

"I underestimated the enemy; I looked down on Yuan Canghai. He truly has played a massive game of chess!"