After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 981 - 966: Evil Thought

Zhao Shen led his less than 2,000 brothers to attack the Imperial Palace Annex. Captain Shi closed the city gate, responsible for guarding it, giving no chance for the enemy army to enter the city.

However, Zhao Shen thought that if Xun Xiu had long harbored rebellious intentions, he would have secretly moved troops into the city long ago, making it unnecessary to storm the city today.

Thus, the place where Zhao Ming and the Little Emperor were now must be very dangerous.

He pondered deeply but felt that his thousand men couldn’t win, so he called a few brothers and pulled some Zhao Family Army members to act as guides, saying: "I already know where the Imperial Palace Annex is, no need for you to lead the way. You take them through the streets and alleys, beat gongs and drums, gather all the citizens in the city, find all the Zhao banners, and have them pose as the Zhao Family Army."

The soldier was stunned and asked: "How is this method feasible? The citizens in the city have never been trained."

How many cities has Zhao Shen witnessed fall and lives perish along the way, and how many of the soldiers defending the city were trained?

He said: "Don’t you all say that the Great General is highly respected among the populace and her call can rally many? If that’s the case, then use this advantage."

"I don’t know all the insider details of the Xun Family Army’s rebellion, but the Xun Family Army was also commanded by the Great General and received many benefits from her. I don’t believe all the soldiers are willing to follow Xun Xiu in revolt," Zhao Shen said. "They might just be lacking a trigger, and what we’re lacking is time. The citizens in this city can awaken that trigger and also buy us time."

This soldier had followed volunteers from logistics and the school to learn literacy and had listened to Zhao Hanzhang’s lectures. Hearing this, he disagreed: "This exposes all the city’s citizens to danger. The Great General said that when we defend the city, it is to protect the citizens. If the city stands, then the citizens stand. If it means survival for the citizens, the city can be taken, but the lives of the citizens cannot be disregarded just to defend a city."

Hearing this, Zhao Shen looked at him in surprise and asked: "What’s your name?"

The soldier replied sternly: "I’m Feng Wei. Even if the gentleman wants to proceed with military punishment, I will still say this."

"I’m not your general, so I have no authority to enforce military punishment," Zhao Shen said. "From what you’re saying, you’re willing to abandon a city to protect the citizens?"

The soldier sternly nodded.

Zhao Shen then asked: "What about Your Majesty and Governor Zhao and the other ministers?"

The soldier froze; he didn’t care about the Little Emperor because he wasn’t the Little Emperor’s soldier; he was the Great General’s soldier. But he couldn’t ignore Zhao Ming.

That was the Great General’s uncle.

The soldier was troubled.

Zhao Shen said: "For the sake of the country, we can only execute this risky plan. You say that there are only ten thousand Xun Family Army soldiers in the city, but I know there must be more than that. Xun Xiu is considered a famous general, and the Imperial Palace Annex is just an ordinary mansion. How long can it be defended? So we must have enough manpower to execute the strategy of feigned troops."

"The envoys seeking help have already gone out, and at the latest, they will arrive by tomorrow morning. So regardless, we must hold out until tomorrow."

Feng Wei gritted his teeth, and finally turned and left.

He took Zhao Shen’s men and, beating gongs, moved through the streets and alleys, loudly recruiting citizens as soldiers.

At first, everyone kept their doors tightly shut, but upon hearing that Zhao Hanzhang’s uncle, Governor Zhao, was also trapped in the annex, they began to open their doors and peek outside.

Seeing the soldiers, a young man in a brown cloth coat gritted his teeth, went inside to fetch a long fork, and asked, "Are you the Zhao Family Army?"

Feng Wei’s eyes lit up and he immediately said, "Yes, look at my face. I’m often at the East City Gate guarding. Do you recognize me?"

The man looked carefully at his face, found it indeed familiar, and went out the door holding the fork, saying: "I will go with you."

As his words fell, the neighboring residents also opened their doors to peek out, hesitated for a moment, then closed their doors, only to shortly come out carrying hoes and silently follow.

The doors of the alley opened one after another, the able-bodied men carrying weapons they could find walked out. Some households even had two able-bodied men come out; a young boy came out with a fire-tending stick but was pushed back by his older brother;

Then came the young mothers, as there weren’t that many able-bodied men in the city to begin with.

Feng Wei saw them and wanted to refuse, but a thin, twenty-four or twenty-five-year-old woman calmly said: "The Great General is also a woman, and there are female soldiers under her command. What you men can do, we women can also do."

Upon hearing this, Feng Wei no longer refused, moving through the streets and alleys, calling out all the citizens he could, and meanwhile, Zhao Shen had already led his troops to the main street of the annex, encountering the Xun Family Army besieging the Royal Villa, and the two sides engaged in fierce battle.

Just as Zhao Shen predicted, this so-called Royal Villa couldn’t be defended at all; Xun Xiu had already led his men and charged in.

This was originally just an ordinary mansion, the home of a wealthy family in Meng County. To command the front-line military affairs, Zhao Ming and the Little Emperor retreated here, and he immediately cleared the house for them to reside.

Because it is the Emperor’s residence, it was grandly named the Imperial Palace Annex, but in reality, the walls are less than two meters high, and except for the main door, all other corner doors could be kicked down with one foot.

Therefore, when Xun Xiu suddenly launched his attack, this mansion was completely defenseless against him.

Oh, by the way, not all of the Zhao Family Army’s ten thousand troops in the city were in the annex, of course not; this mansion is only so large, how could it possibly accommodate so many people?

There were less than a thousand soldiers patrolling within the mansion, but the surrounding manors had all been requisitioned by Zhao Ming, with the Zhao Family Army camped nearby, allowing quick reinforcements, but ultimately they couldn’t withstand Xun Xiu’s attack. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

After all, the Zhao Family Army had also been spread out to guard the city gates, with guards at other places as well. Xun Xiu must have sneaked his troops in.

At this moment, Zhao Ming stood with his sword in the main hall, behind him was the trembling, pale-faced Little Emperor, while the court officials could barely hold it together, though their faces were a bit pale.

The front door was tightly shut, and outside, three teams of soldiers were striving to prevent Xun Xiu from breaking in.

The sound of battle grew closer, and arrows occasionally shot through the doors into the hall. The soldiers inside the hall immediately raised their shields to block the incoming arrows.

One stray arrow shot through above the door frame and whizzed toward the Little Emperor’s position, only to be cut down by the guard beside the Little Emperor with a blade.

The arrow had lost some of its momentum after passing through the frame and was easily deflected, but it still startled the Little Emperor. With his legs weak, he looked at the broken arrow at his feet, and at ten years old, he couldn’t help but burst into tears.

Zhao Ming glanced back at him, emotions churning in his eyes. For a moment, a thought flashed through his mind: if Xun Xiu broke in, should he perish with the Little Emperor and Prince Yuzhang, rendering all of Xun Xiu’s schemes void?

He wanted to emulate Zhao Hanzhang by wielding the Son of Heaven against the Dukes; without the Son of Heaven, what could Xun Xiu use to resist Zhao Hanzhang?

Once Hanzhang returned, with a single call, Zhao’s Family Army could attack, and the country could be quickly stabilized.

But if the Son of Heaven were to fall into his hands, Xun Xiu might truly leverage the Emperor against Hanzhang, plunging the nation into chaos once more.

Yet such thoughts conflicted with his long-standing beliefs, leaving Zhao Ming deeply conflicted; he was undoubtedly bewitched by Zhao Hanzhang. How could he entertain such treacherous thoughts?