Forced to Ascend the Throne after Transmigrating

Chapter 321: City Fall

They actually thought of using civilians as soldiers!

Huo Rong naturally could not agree to this. In his opinion, whether for the sake of the State of Chen or for the sake of the people, this was a stupid move.

Your Majesty, those people may have been in high and mighty positions for too long and do not take the lives of the people seriously enough. They have forgotten that pushing people too far will only backfire.

How could Huandu today withstand any more turmoil?

The emperor of the Great Zhou had already placed spies among the disaster victims. They seemed to be behaving themselves now, but in fact they were like haystacks. A slight spark could completely ignite the chaotic situation in Huandu City. As a general, Huo Rong could naturally see it clearly.

Huo Rong was sincere and earnest, and he gritted his teeth and submitted petitions many times, and finally… he managed to attract the envoy.

Probably because the Great Zhou army was approaching along the way, Huo Rong met one envoy after another regarding peace talks, so Huo Rong did not take it seriously at first, and even argued with the envoys sent by His Majesty, hoping to impress His Majesty and make him give up the idea. However, Huo Rong did not notice that although the leading envoy agreed on the surface, the coldness in his eyes grew deeper and deeper.

When Ye Shuo heard the news, he couldn’t help but look at General Xu standing beside him.

“…Luan Qingjian.” “The one following the envoy is Guo Tong?”

General Xu hurriedly saluted upon hearing this: “Your Majesty, it is the Sword Saint Guo Tong.”

The famous swordsman of Chen State now appeared in Huandu, and Ye Shuo couldn’t help but think a lot.

After a while, Ye Shuo took a deep breath and said, “Then Huo Rong…I’m afraid he can’t be saved.”

Poor Huo Rong, until now he still hasn’t figured out to what extent the superiors can be arrogant. Compared to the imminent crisis, as an emperor he cannot accept the disobedience of his subjects.

No matter how outstanding a minister is, he will never be better than his king.

“What a pity…”

General Xu standing by was silent, with mixed feelings. As a general, General Xu had lived decades longer than Huo Rong and could see things more clearly than Huo Rong. General Xu couldn’t help but feel sad for Huo Rong.

Or maybe, this is the fate of being a general.

Thinking back to the time when he, the old Duke of Zhen, and the others all went through this…

On the third day, seeing that Huo Rong was still using the same rhetoric, the envoy who was ordered to come finally read out the imperial edict as His Majesty had said. From that day on, Huo Rong and the right-hand man, would be removed and replaced by Guo Zhun and Liao Qing respectively. The implication of power division was not too obvious.

However, until this moment, Huo Rong still couldn’t understand. He thought that even if His Majesty didn’t like it, at most he would just replace the general who guarded the city. It wasn’t that Huo Rong was bragging. He didn’t dare to guarantee anything else. Just in terms of defending the city, Huo Rong dared to say that no one in the entire Chen Kingdom could match him. How could His Majesty be willing to do that?

Huo Rong even thought about it. If the people sent by His Majesty were defeated, he thought in his heart that if the people sent by His Majesty suffered a loss, he would take over later, and it was estimated that there would be no such big obstacles.

Facts have proved that Huo Rong was too naive. He actually thought that seizing power was the end. It was not until he drank a glass of wine and felt unbearable pain in his stomach after a while that he finally came to his senses.

Huo Rong really…underestimated the king’s cruelty.

Looking at the envoy standing beside him with a sarcastic look on his face, how could Huo Rong not understand?

It’s ridiculous that Huo Rong didn’t know his own limits. There were so many people available in the State of Chen, so why would the Emperor of Chen care about him? At most, he could just change him.

The envoy was a eunuch beside the Emperor of Chen. He had seen too many people who relied on their talents and pride over the years, and which of them had a good ending? No wonder Huo Rong was only a fourth-rank official after so many years. If it weren’t for the incident in Huandu, he would probably never be promoted to the third-rank official in his lifetime.

Huo Rong was not made of clay after all. After he felt something was wrong, he subconsciously wanted to fight back. However, a word from the envoy above instantly froze him on the spot.

“General Huo, if you don’t consider yourself, you should at least consider your family.”

“Do you know how many people will be buried with you if you strike with your halberd?”

The envoy was calm and composed, as if he was sure he could defeat him. With a sword master standing behind him, the envoy felt even more confident.

In the end, Huo Rong did not thrust out the halberd in his hand.

Huo Wu, who was standing by, was stunned for a moment, then he slammed the table and stood up: “The wine is poisonous, protect the general!”

Sensing that something was wrong in the tent, Huo Rong’s personal soldiers subconsciously jumped in. Seeing this, Guo Tong, who was behind the envoy, drew his sword without thinking.

However, in just half an incense stick of time, those personal soldiers fell to the ground, and the rest of the people were silent as a mouse, how could they dare to move at all?

Although Huo Wu had some martial arts skills, he was no match for the sword master. He couldn’t even get close to the old eunuch before Guo Tong pierced his chest with a sword.

Huo Wu could never have imagined that His Majesty sent the Sword Saint not to assassinate the dog emperor of the Great Zhou, but to kill them.

With a “clang” sound, Guo Tong put the Luanqing sword bestowed by His Majesty into the scabbard with an expressionless face.??

Huo Rong could no longer control himself upon seeing this and spat out a mouthful of black blood. He looked at this, then at that, and suddenly burst into laughter, his face full of sadness.

“Heaven wants to destroy Dachen! Heaven wants to destroy Dachen!”

With such a monarch, how could the State of Chen not perish? !

“Huo Rong, you are so outrageous!”

The moment the words fell, the envoy’s face changed slightly, but before Guo Tong could make another move, Huo Rong had already died.

Looking at Huo Rong, whose eyes were wide open and whose face was ferocious like a demon, even the envoy felt a chill in his heart. He dared not look at him again after just one glance. The envoy hurriedly gave orders, asking his men to quickly get Huo Rong away.

“…What bad luck!”

After the tent was emptied, the envoy’s inexplicable nervousness slowly calmed down, and then Guo Zhun and Liao Qing took over Huandu naturally.

Upon hearing the news, Ye Shuo was speechless for a long time.

It’s ridiculous that such a great general as Huo Rong ended up like this.

As for Huo Rong’s family… since the envoy had already taken action, how could he really let them go as he said?

However, the flaw of Chen State was a real opportunity for their Great Zhou.

Ye Shuo quickly adjusted his mood and launched an attack that night. Without Huo Rong, the huge mountain pressing down on them was no longer there. With the abilities of General Xu and his men, it only took a few days for the Great Zhou to capture Huandu in one fell swoop.

At that time, rumours had already spread in Huandu. With such a big commotion before, how could the people of Huandu not know that the King’s capital was planning to use them as cannon fodder?

In addition, the more than 10,000 victims said that after the Great Zhou conquered the cities, not only did they not kill the people, but they also distributed a batch of seeds. More than half a year had passed, and the first few places that were conquered had already harvested a crop. The yield was unknown how much higher than the seeds on the side of the Chen State. After hearing such things many times, the people in Huandu naturally wavered.

Seeing that the food in the city was getting less and less, and the rumours from above were getting more and more tense, how could the people of Huandu not panic? So after Huandu was captured, the people did not resist, but instead breathed a sigh of relief. After observing for a few days, they saw that the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty really had no intention of attacking them, and even distributed a lot of food to them, so the people in the city became even quieter.

As long as there is food to eat, who would be willing to take risks? The people have lived like this for thousands of years, and they can be satisfied easily. Once Huandu is broken, Ye Shuo has already seen the remaining cities. The rest is just a matter of time.

Now that the Great Zhou is advancing with such force, we can take this opportunity to make a decisive move to avoid any further complications.

However, just after Ye Shuo and General Xu and others had finished looking at the map and discussing the next battle plan, they suddenly heard someone outside reporting that Huo Rong’s body had been discovered accidentally.

It turned out that after Huo Rong’s death, the people in the city were grateful for his kindness, and there were also people in the army who secretly lent a helping hand, so Huo Rong’s body was actually preserved. It was just that because Guo Zhun and Liao Qing were there, others didn’t dare to be so blatant, so it was inevitable that the place where Huo Rong’s body was buried was particularly simple.

General Xu subconsciously looked at Ye Shuo. In General Xu’s opinion, Huo Rong was an extremely difficult opponent, and he had delayed them here for nearly four months. The emperor should hate him very much. Not to mention the emperor, even General Xu sometimes couldn’t help gritting his teeth and wished he could eat him alive. Under such circumstances, it was understandable that the emperor was unwilling to treat him well.

However, what General Xu did not expect was that the emperor was not angry at all. Instead, he ordered people to choose a good place and bury Huo Rong again.

Seeing that everyone looked different, Ye Shuo said very frankly: “Although Huo Rong is an enemy, he is also an enemy worthy of respect.”

“If this man had not been born in an enemy country and was not loyal to the State of Chen, I would have wanted to take him into my account.”

It’s a pity that the emperor of Chen was too ruthless and didn’t give him this opportunity at all.

As for the envoy…Ye Shuo had no good expression at all.

In comparison, the envoy’s attitude was completely different. He was so arrogant towards Huo Rong before, but after being captured, he became so fawning towards Ye Shuo.

This envoy wanted to escape before the city gate was breached and Guo Zhun and Liao Qing were killed in succession. However, before he could get out of Huandu, he was caught by Ye Shuo’s spies hiding among the tens of thousands of disaster victims.

However, the more Ye Shuo did this, the more the envoy feared and fawned on him.

Ye Shuo thought about it and decided not to kill him. It was not because the other party was good at flattering him, but because the other party seemed to be someone close to the Emperor of Chen and knew a lot about the inner workings of the palace. Ye Shuo couldn’t help but be tempted.

If I can get some information from him that I haven’t heard before, it won’t be in vain.

The envoy originally planned to go back on his word and wipe out Huo Rong completely, but he didn’t expect that in just a few days, he would become a part of the game.

Seeing that Prince Ding of the Great Zhou Dynasty patted his chest and assured him that as long as the information he provided was useful, he would certainly plead for him in front of the Emperor of Zhou and spare his life, the envoy no longer cared about so many things at this critical moment. He had no choice but to tell him what he knew in a straightforward manner, without noticing the amusement in the eyes of the generals standing beside him.

At the same time, the Emperor of Chen also received news of the fall of Huandu City, and only then did he realise that some people could not be replaced so easily.