DLERB -Chapter 55 If I don’t feed them, will they rebel against me?

Ying Zheng looked at him and said nothing.

The wind over the fields rustled his black dragon robe.

Ying Ziye blinked and firmly shook his head.

“No.”

“Your son thinks Uncle Zhao Gao is a pretty good person.”

He spoke in a soft, childish voice, his expression pure and completely sincere.

Behind Ying Ziye, Li Si and Wang Jian lowered their heads even further.

The prince’s move was ruthless.

Those words—“a pretty good person”—were more lethal than stabbing Zhao Gao a hundred times.

Ying Zheng’s towering figure stiffened slightly.

He looked at his eight-year-old son.

That exquisitely delicate little face, those clear and innocent eyes.

All the questions he had prepared, all the probing he intended to do, were stuck in his throat.

What could he ask?

How could he ask?

To argue imperial politics with an eight-year-old child?

Ying Zheng suddenly realized he had nothing to say.

But Ying Ziye did not give him much time to think.

He released the hem of Ying Zheng’s robe and pointed toward a distant, solemnly standing steel-like formation.

“Father!”

His voice brightened again, filled with excitement as if presenting a treasure.

“Your son still has another surprise for you!”

Ying Zheng followed the direction of his finger.

Three thousand soldiers stood there—armored in worn gear, yet holding gleaming weapons.

Their warhorses stamped the ground uneasily.

A silent, wolf-like aura surged toward them.

Ying Zheng’s expression darkened.

Zhao Gao’s secret letter once again surfaced in his mind.

“Privately raising troops, plotting rebellion.”

“Private army?”

Ying Zheng uttered the words softly, yet the temperature around him seemed to drop.

Li Si and Wang Jian’s hearts rose to their throats.

It was coming.

The greatest test had arrived.

Yet Ying Ziye acted as if he did not sense the chill at all.

He shook his head vigorously, his face full of pride.

“Father, this is not a private army!”

“This is the ‘Divine Strategist Army’ your son formed to protect the Great Qin’s realm!”

“Divine Strategist Army?”

Ying Zheng repeated the name.

At this moment, Wang Jian stepped forward.

He knelt on one knee before Ying Zheng, his voice like a bell.

“Your Majesty!”

“These three thousand men were all the old, weak, sick, and disabled eliminated from the Lantian garrison!”

“In the past, they were burdens of the army, or vagrants in the fields!”

The old general raised his head, his aged face filled with emotion.

“It was the prince who gave them divine food so they could eat their fill!”

“It was the prince who gave them weapons so they could regain their dignity!”

“Though this army was formed by the prince, they eat Qin grain and stand on Qin land!”

“They are loyal forever to Great Qin—to you, Your Majesty!!”

Ying Zheng said nothing.

He held Ying Ziye’s hand and walked step by step toward the army.

The imperial guards moved instinctively to protect him.

Ying Zheng raised a hand.

All guards stopped.

He walked forward with his son alone, toward the three thousand ferocious soldiers.

As he approached, the wolf-like aura grew stronger and denser.

Finally, he stopped before the formation.

Clang—!

Three thousand soldiers dropped to one knee in unison!

Their weapons struck the ground heavily.

The sound merged into one unified roar.

So perfectly synchronized it made one’s scalp tingle.

“Divine Strategist Army, greets Your Majesty!!”

The shout rose like a tidal wave into the sky.

Even the distant civilians instinctively stepped back.

Ying Zheng scanned the soldiers.

Their armor was mismatched, many pieces damaged.

Their faces were weathered, marked with the roughness of common folk.

But their eyes…

In every single pair of eyes burned a flame.

Not numbness.

Not fear.

But a fierce will—born from being fed, from having hope, from being willing to fight to the death.

Ying Zheng’s gaze moved across each face.

Suddenly—

A one-eyed soldier abruptly stepped out from the formation.

His comrades beside him changed expression and tried to pull him back, but failed.

“Your Majesty!”

The one-eyed soldier shouted at the top of his lungs.

His voice was rough and hoarse.

“We people were all useless to begin with! We were the trash of the army—men waiting to be expelled and go home to die!”

Everyone was stunned by his sudden outburst.

Wang Jian’s heart sank instantly.

It’s over!

This foolish man!

But the one-eyed soldier didn’t care at all. He fixed his lone eye tightly on the emperor standing above him.

“It was the little prince! The little prince gave us food!”

“It was the little prince who gave our wives and children potatoes so they could survive!”

He suddenly slammed his chest, armor plates clanging sharply.

“I don’t understand any great principles!”

“Whoever feeds me, I’ll give my life to him!”

“Anyone who dares touch the little prince—I’ll fight them to the death!!”

His emotions surged to the extreme.

“Even if it’s Your Majesty, we would—”

He didn’t get to finish.

A comrade beside him lunged forward like a starving tiger and covered his mouth tightly.

“Mmph! Mmphmm—”

A deathly silence fell over the entire formation.

All the officials accompanying the emperor turned pale with fear.

This was outright disrespect!

A crime worthy of exterminating the entire clan!

Li Si’s palms were drenched in cold sweat.

Yet—

Ying Zheng did not rage.

He looked at the one-eyed soldier still struggling beneath the hand covering his mouth.

And he laughed.

Not a cold laugh.

Not a mocking one.

But a genuine, appreciative laugh.

“Heh…”

“So it’s a group of honest, rough-speaking soldiers.”

He turned to Wang Jian.

“This army has been well trained.”

Wang Jian froze for a moment—then overwhelming joy surged through him.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!!”

At that moment, a young figure stepped out from the ranks.

His armor was incomplete, only simple leather protecting him, yet he stood straight and composed, his face calm and refined.

He walked to the front of the formation and knelt on one knee before Ying Zheng.

His movements were precise, neither servile nor arrogant.

“Deputy Commander of the Divine Strategist Army, Han Xin, pays respects to Your Majesty.”

Ying Zheng studied the young man.

Very young.

But his eyes were bright—and calm.

Like a deep, still pool.

“You are the talented man newly discovered by the Regent Prince?” Ying Zheng asked slowly.

Han Xin raised his head and met the emperor’s gaze.

“This minister does not dare claim to be a talented general.”

“I was merely a ruffian from the streets of Huaiyin. It was the prince who did not despise me, who taught me military strategy and entrusted me with responsibility, which led to what I am today.”

His voice was calm and clear.

Ying Zheng looked at him.

“If I order you to hand over military command, would you obey?”

Without a trace of hesitation, Han Xin replied:

“This army already belongs to Your Majesty. You may take it back at any time. I will obey.”

He paused slightly, then added:

“However, I beg Your Majesty—this army was formed from the Regent Prince’s sincere filial devotion. Please do not punish him.”

Ying Zheng’s expression showed no emotion.

He asked again:

“If I intend to kill the Regent Prince, what would you do?”

The question landed like thunder.

Everyone held their breath.

Even the wind seemed to stop.

All eyes focused on Han Xin.

It was a question that tested the very heart of loyalty.

To the sovereign, or to a benefactor?

Han Xin fell silent for a moment.

Then he lifted his head again.

“Your Majesty.”

“I would remonstrate with my life.”

No rebellion.

No resistance.

Only offering his life as counsel.

“Good!”

Ying Zheng laughed loudly.

“Good—‘remonstrate with one’s life’!”

He turned his gaze to Ying Ziye, who had been silently watching.

That gaze was complicated beyond words.

“You brat… you really are skilled at winning people’s hearts.”

Ying Ziye pouted and tugged at Ying Zheng’s sleeve, looking aggrieved like a child.

“Father, I didn’t win anyone over.”

“I just gave them food.”

The smile on Ying Zheng’s face slowly faded.

He looked down into his son’s innocent eyes.

Then he suddenly asked:

“If I don’t give them food, will they rebel against me?”