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As the evening fell, darkness slowly covered Yunzhou City.
Below the city walls, torches began to light up in the Azure Dragon Kingâs camp. Countless flames stretched far into the distance, with no end in sight.
After Xiao Ming revealed his identity, murmurs began to rise among the people below.
Last year, news of Xiao Ming driving out the barbarians had already spread across the Great Yu Empire through newspapers. Many commoners had heard of it.
The young man who had spoken earlier put away his arrogant look. He disappeared into the crowd, and a short while later, returned with a man in a black robe.
Xiao Ming looked at the scholar. The scholar looked back at him.
After a moment of silence, the scholar said, âGreetings to Prince Qi.â
In the dim light, Xiao Ming couldnât clearly see the scholarâs faceâit was Qi Zhengyuan.
He spoke directly, âAzure Dragon King, I donât understand why youâve brought your troops to Yunzhou. The disasters in Jizhou werenât caused by people. Though Prince Yong made mistakes, now the real enemy is the barbarians. You should see the big picture. Why would you do something that hurts your own and helps your enemies?â
The Azure Dragon Kingâs deep voice replied, âYour Highness, you may have misunderstood. I came here only because we have no food. The people are starving. I only hope Your Highness can lend us some grain. As a citizen of the Great Yu Empire, how could I ever think of cutting off the Qingzhou armyâs supplies?â
âRubbish! If youâre just borrowing food, why donât you go to another city?â Qi Guangyi asked angrily.
The Azure Dragon King calmly replied, âEven Your Highness has your troops ready for battle. How could the guards of other cities lend us anything? To them, we are nothing but rebels. Theyâd rather kill us on sight. But we are just starving people who had no choice but to take up weapons. I heard Your Highness is kind and willing to help victims of disaster, so I brought them here.â
His words were clear and steady.
Looking at the endless sea of people, Xiao Ming knewâif they were peaceful, they were refugees; if not, they were rebels.
He couldnât risk letting them into the city. If they caused trouble, he might lose the whole province, and Niu Ben and the others might never return.
This wasnât the time to act out of kindness. The people were under the Azure Dragon Kingâs command now, and they would do what he said.
But since the Azure Dragon King claimed he only wanted food, Xiao Ming tried to test him. âThere is some food in the city. If you want to borrow grain, how much do you need?â
âThree hundred thousand shi of grain,â the Azure Dragon King replied calmly.
Xiao Mingâs face changed. He said, âThatâs one shi per personâenough food for each of them for months. Azure Dragon King, are you trying to make things difficult for me?â
The Azure Dragon King remained calm. âYour Highness, the disaster in Jizhou wonât be over in just a few months. I donât think itâs too much to ask.â
At that moment, Xiao Ming understood the truth behind the Azure Dragon Kingâs words.
He was no longer just against Prince Yongâhe was going against the entire Great Yu Empire. He wanted to overthrow the court.
Now that the southern part of Jizhou was under his control, his eyes were set on Yunzhou, the nearest city.
And the rise of Prince Wei alongside him made the victims trust him more and more. They were willing to follow him in anything.
âYour Highness, the Azure Dragon King is rebelling,â Zhan Xingchang said coldly.
Xiao Ming nodded. At this point, the Azure Dragon King had shown his true colors.
Maybe at first, he had only wanted to help the starving people. But with each victory, his ambition grew. He might even believe that, with these people, he could reach for the throne.
And the Azure Dragon King likely knew that once he crossed this line, there was no going back.
He was gambling everything. He had chosen the perfect timeâwhen the Qingzhou army was away and the cityâs defenses were weak.
Once someone takes this path, talk of kindness or loyalty becomes useless. In this world, only winners are remembered.
So what now?
That was the question in Xiao Ming and Zhan Xingchangâs minds.
After a long moment, the two exchanged a look. With the city surrounded, there was only one option leftâfight.
âWhat a pity for the innocent people,â Xiao Ming sighed in his heart. These people didnât understand. They only believed the Azure Dragon King was right because he gave them food.
He never wanted to use force against disaster victims. But now, it seemed he had no choice.
Still, he gave one last warning. âAzure Dragon King, in front of you is the Qingzhou armyânot the useless soldiers of Prince Yong. Youâd better think this through.â
The Azure Dragon King replied, âYour Highness, Iâm only here to borrow food. If you refuse, then thereâs nothing more to say. I canât control starving people behind me if they get desperate.â
Xiao Ming snorted coldly. He no longer wanted to speak with him.
âHeâs too naive. These three or four hundred thousand people will eventually be wiped out by the Great Yu Empire. And he will fall with them.â
Even though the empire was weak, it still had enough power to crush a rebellion. If Prince Yong hadnât been busy fighting the barbarians, these rebels wouldnât have lasted this long.
Night fell deeper. The Azure Dragon King, having just finished his march, didnât seem eager to attack during the night. But the city of Yunzhou was now completely surrounded by hundreds of thousands of victims.
That night, the Azure Dragon King stared at the small city of Yunzhou.
Just as Xiao Ming guessed, he had taken advantage of Qingzhouâs weakness to act now.
Food in Jizhou was almost gone. Most of it was hidden in the city by Prince Yong, but now that city was surrounded by barbarians.
He didnât dare mess with the barbarians. A month ago, one of his 30,000-strong groups was crushed by just 10,000 barbarian cavalry.
Even though he had trained civilians into a kind of militia, they were no match for the enemy cavalry.
Attacking the barbarians would lead to disaster.
So he chose to face Prince Qi. To him, both Prince Yong and Prince Qi were royals. What difference did it make?
In his eyes, Princes Wei and Yan were far stronger, and he wasnât ready to challenge them yet.
Only after taking over all the land from Jizhou to Qingzhou could he begin to compete with those powerful princes.
Staring at Yunzhou City, his ambition kept growing. He was no longer a poor scholarâhe was now a commander of hundreds of thousands.
As he thought about how to take the city the next day, Xiao Ming was also thinking about how to capture the massive crowd of disaster victims.
Xiao Ming was determined. He could not allow the Azure Dragon King to sacrifice the lives of these people. But to capture them, some casualties would be unavoidable.
âYour Highness,â said Zhan Xingchang, âthe Azure Dragon Kingâs followers are just a disorderly crowd. They have no discipline or training. The peopleâs loyalty to him is also weak. I observed many of themâthey looked unsure and hesitant. So I believe we shouldnât stay behind the walls. Instead, we should go out and face them directly. Use the gunmen to scare them into surrender, and use cavalry to surround and capture them.â