Chapter 71: Disaster Refugees Become RebelsChapter 1346: Reckoning or Awakening

Cheng Fuzhao scrambled to his feet, facing the hundreds of soldiers who were at their wit's end and on the verge of being cornered. He roared furiously.

"This matter is solely He Long's fault, and it has nothing to do with any of you. I guarantee your safety, Your Highness will not implicate the innocent. But if you persist in your wrongdoing, even a celestial being would be unable to save you!"

At critical moments, Cheng Fuzhao, as the Governor-General of Gansu and Shaanxi, still commanded some influence.

After he spoke, many soldiers immediately fell silent.

After all, if there's even a sliver of hope, no one wants to die.

Seeing that the soldiers' emotions had somewhat stabilized, Cheng Fuzhao turned around and scrambled back to Li Chen, trembling as he said, "Your Majesty, I am a sinner who deserves death a thousand times over. But my subordinates are ignorant and clueless. Please, Your Highness, show mercy."

Li Chen looked down at Cheng Fu Zhao who was kneeling before him, trembling. After a long silence, he spoke in a cold voice, "As you wish."

After he finished speaking, he summoned Xu Wei to his side.

“With this imperial seal, you are to go to the Gansu and Shaanxi Guard camp and make contact with all officers of the rank of thousand households and above. You will seize military control from them. All military power within the guard is temporarily under your command. Anyone who resists or rebels will be punished for treason, beheaded first and reported later.”

Having finished speaking, he handed the token to Xu Wei. Li Chen glanced at the two remaining generals, who were trembling with anxiety, and said: "Since the founding of the Great Qin Empire over three hundred and sixty years ago, no local garrison troops have dared to plot treason. Now, I will see if the soldiers of this important town in the northwest are still the soldiers of our Great Qin."

After finishing his words, Li Chen swept his sleeves and entered the city first.

Two generals' faces turned pale, but when they dared to look up again, they were met with Xu Wei's icy expression.

"My lords, come with me. I want to use your words to persuade the other officers stationed here not to do anything rash. His Highness is not a bloodthirsty man, and he has compassion for life. But if they seek their own destruction, then they have no one to blame but themselves."

Two commanders looked at the bodies of their comrades still warm on the ground, as well as He Long's corpse not far away, their eyelids twitching. You call this being merciful

Xu Wei followed up, “You can't possibly think that His Highness came to your capital of Haojing completely unprepared The troops stationed in Zhili, Nanhe, and Chuanfu provinces are ready to mobilize at any moment. Do you prefer to cooperate with His Highness now, or wait for the imperial army to arrive and settle scores with each of you one by one”

These words completely shattered the psychological defenses of the two generals.

Rebellion against the imperial court is always a dead end.

Because of the vast difference in status and resources between the two sides, it's simply worlds apart.

They, even at their most arrogant, would only ever utter words about cooperating with the King of Ning, using his power to resist punishment from the imperial court. But they never once contemplated actually engaging in battle with the imperial army.

Political confrontation and military confrontation are two different things.

While the two generals meekly followed Xu Wei, gathering the hundreds of elite soldiers behind him, Li Chen had already stepped over He Long's body on the ground.

As he walked past He Qian, she suddenly lashed out. Since He Long's death, He Qian had been staring blankly, as if in a daze.

She contorted her face into a terrifying grimace, resembling a demon from hell, and screamed at Li Chen with bloodshot eyes: "Give me back my father's life!!!"

At this moment, Li Chen was alone, facing the reckless He Qian.

While Li Chen didn't know martial arts, he was a young man in his prime with a strong build. Although he lacked daily exercise, his physical advantage over He Qian, who was also an ordinary person, was evident.

He reached out and grabbed He Qian's neck, ignoring her frantic flailing hands that slashed at his arm, leaving trails of cuts. Li Chen tightened his grip suddenly.to admit, Zhao Xuanji, was formidable!"If it weren't for Your Highness insisting on imprisoning him and using him to threaten me into doing your bidding, he wouldn't be dead!" Duan Jinjiang wailed.Li...