RWNEFE -Chapter 158 Persuasion to Surrender

In Dongchuan, winter always brought a scarcity of supplies. Not to mention snowstorms and warfare. The reason the provisions Shen Lanxi had were so varied was because Madam Song personally went from village to village, bartering with unmatched persuasiveness to gather everything!

If Madam Song hadn’t been targeted and had her general store seized by rivals, her whole family would never have been exiled.

Shen Lanxi pivoted on her heel and continued her inspection.

That day, all the soldiers from the three garrisons were assembled. Shen Lanxi raised the banner of exterminating traitors and led the troops overnight toward Shilipo.

They could have marched during the day, but Shen Lanxi deliberately chose night to further train the soldiers.

During a mid-route rest, the soldiers made a fire to warm their bread.

Wei Dongzhu pulled out a paper package containing two thick flatbreads, some pastries, and two eggs.

He warmed the eggs on the hot embers and handed a pastry to Shen Lanxi.

The soldiers of the three garrisons, along with Shen Yuanjing and the others, remained silent, hands extended toward the fire for warmth.

Shen Lanxi glanced around. Seeing that Wei Dongzhu hadn’t withdrawn his hand, she took the pastry from him.

Wei Dongzhu bit into his flatbread. Seeing that the eggs were sufficiently hot, he used a stick to pull them from the embers.

Since they were marching at night, they wouldn’t rest long.

He wiped the eggs clean with his clothes, then used a piece of cloth over his fingers to quickly remove the shells.

“Have an egg!” he offered.

Shen Lanxi looked at it: “I’m not hungry. You eat it yourself.”

Wei Dongzhu: “I heated two!” He didn’t withdraw his hand.

Shen Lanxi glanced at him, took it from his hand, and handed it to Shen Yuanjing.

Shen Yuanjing: “…”

“And aren’t you going to thank Master Hu?”

He instinctively clenched his fist and quickly said, “Thank you, Master Hu!”

Wei Dongzhu muttered darkly: “No need.”

Shen Lanxi then handed pastries to Shen Yuanjun.

Shen Yuanjun took them with a smile: “Thank you, Master Hu!”

That night, the kitchen had made two kinds of bread: one with meat, one plain.

Everyone unanimously chose the plain bread.

When the meat was prepared, it had been next to the corpses that had been whipped to death. All the soldiers had seen it: every strike tearing flesh and bone, until it was a bloody mess. Since that day, none had touched meat.

Normally, the soldiers would swarm any meat the kitchen made, but these past days, they would cover their mouths and avoid it.

Many of the young recruits had nightmares daily, sometimes even vomiting mid-meal.

All eyes on Shen Lanxi were full of fear. Wherever her gaze fell, people lowered their heads instinctively.

After a fifteen-minute break, the march resumed.

By the time they reached Shilipo, it was late at night.

“Xiao Fang, take men to capture Zhao Nanshan’s family!”

“Hu Zhu, you go issue the challenge!”

“Yuanjing, Yuanjun, Yuankun, Yuanxu, you lead your men to flank them!”

“Yes!”

They split into two groups and moved swiftly.

Scouts reported that Zhao Nanshan had 200 men stationed outside Shilipo to meet them, and had sent another 200 to escort his wife and children.

“Zhao Nanshan’s men are undoubtedly elite soldiers, but his forces are divided. Perfect—this will serve as a sharpening stone for my troops.”

Not far off came the sounds of battle, weapons clashing—Wei Dongzhu’s side had engaged Zhao Nanshan’s men.

“Let’s go meet Zhao Nanshan!”

“Yes!”

Zhao Nanshan was skilled. When Shen Lanxi approached, Shen Yuanjing and the others were already wounded. Though the outcome wasn’t yet clear, it was only because Zhao Nanshan had more troops. With equal numbers, some of Shen Yuanjing’s men would likely have already died.

Shen Lanxi, accompanied by twenty guards from Peach Blossom Valley and Guigu’s covert agents, rode calmly on tall horses.

Her long staff dragged along the ground, clanging like metal.

Zhao Nanshan swung his sword, beheading a soldier—the head rolled across the ground.

Shen Lanxi’s eyes, cold as an eagle’s, fixed on the head near her horse’s hooves.

Feng Wu shouted: “We are the righteous army, punishing traitors on behalf of Heaven! Those who lay down their weapons and surrender will not be killed!”

Zhao Nanshan glared fiercely: “Don’t listen to their nonsense! The kings here have all rebelled—what righteous army? They’re lying and deceiving you!”

Feng Wu: “Do not be obstinate. Do you realize he wants to drag you down a rebellious path? Think of your families—they would bear the name of traitors, unable to rest even in death!”

“If you continue to follow him, you’ll be disloyal, unfilial, unfaithful. Alive, you are traitors; dead, you will be whipped posthumously!”

Hearing the words whipped posthumously, a soldier’s hand trembled, and his sword clattered to the ground. While scrambling to pick it up, he muttered: “Brother Zhu, listen to him. He’s telling the truth—they really will whip corpses!”

Shen Lanxi raised an eyebrow. This soldier knew Zhao Nanshan’s men. Understandable—around here, family relations are so convoluted, shouting in the streets could uncover seven or eight tangles of relatives.

Zhao Nanshan saw his soldiers wavering and roared: “Don’t listen to him—they are the real traitors! What righteous army? That’s just a title they gave themselves! The Eastern Liao King has rebelled; I’m leading you to loyal ministers and generals!”

Surprisingly, Zhao Nanshan could speak persuasively—if he were in the front line, he would be a formidable voice for rallying troops.

“Do you still care about your families?” Shen Lanxi asked.

Zhao Nanshan frowned: “What do you mean?”

Shen Lanxi: “Your family is in my custody. If you resist, every one of them will be executed!”

Zhao Nanshan stared at Shen Lanxi, eyes burning with murderous hatred.

“Impossible! You’re lying. No one listen to her lies—they are disrupting our army’s morale!”

Shen Lanxi: “As expected of a rebel—he doesn’t even care for his family. Cold-blooded indeed.”

Feng Wu: “He plans to step on his family’s corpses to achieve fame and merit.”

Shen Lanxi, baffled: “What kind of merit is worth exchanging for the lives of your own kin?”

Feng Wu replied coldly: “What are family? His wife and children die, he can remarry and have more children. He has no parents; the family are all his wife’s relatives—they aren’t related to him. He can remarry ten or eight times; he’ll have as many in-laws as he wants.”

Shen Lanxi: “True, if you have no family, make your own!”

Zhao Nanshan’s fury boiled—he wanted to cut these two scheming people to pieces.

“Kill them! They’re all inexperienced fools! The one on horseback looks like a woman—don’t fear. Kill them; each gets a hundred taels of silver!”

Shen Lanxi sneered coldly: “You don’t care about your family, but what about your soldiers? Don’t you care about their families?”

Feng Wu: “Listen up! He doesn’t care for his own wife or children—why would he care whether you live or die, or what happens to your families? Is it worth following a man like this?”