Inside the Sword Pavilion, Xiao Lie and others knelt before Prince Fu's temporary palace.
Xiao Lie was the first to shout, “Qin Shuai is mighty!” Immediately, everyone else followed suit, shouting, “Qin Shuai is mighty!”
Qin Xia sat on the ground, waved his hand, and smiled, “Please rise, everyone. After taking the Sword Pavilion, Shu City is not far. We will rest for a month to replenish supplies and manpower. We will see which soldiers are willing to surrender, and for those who are not, we will strip them of their armor, give them provisions, and let them make a living elsewhere.”
“Yes!” Everyone responded and then dispersed, leaving only Xiao Lie in the temporary palace.
Once everyone had left, Qin Xia beckoned Xiao Lie forward, “Listen carefully, those who want to leave cannot be let go before we capture Shu City.”
“This…”
Seeing Xiao Lie's puzzled expression, Qin Xia sighed and explained, “The disciples within this Sword Pavilion are all from Shu City. If we let them return home, wouldn't our plan to attack Shu be exposed? Next time, bring more surrendered soldiers, and have our own people guard this place to prevent any incidents.”
After speaking, he pondered for a moment and added, “Old soldiers will lead the surrendered ones. Not only that, but you also need to do ideological work with the surrendered soldiers.”
“Ideological work?” Xiao Lie was no longer looking at Qin Xia with an expression of mere admiration; he was now looking at Qin Xia as if he were his own father.
“Remember, if we want people to truly recognize us, then we must have them agree with us in certain areas. Aren't we overthrowing a tyrant and making a thousand li of barren land grow rice? You can use this point to make them identify more with our army!”
At this point, Qin Xia proudly took out a silk handkerchief from his in my arms. It was sewn for him by his mother, with a large character for 'righteousness' printed on it.
He handed the handkerchief to Xiao Lie and said with a flourish, “This is our ideology. With this character for 'righteousness,' every person in the army will be like a brother, and we will be tightly bound together.”
Xiao Lie, walking out of the temporary palace, was stunned. He clutched the handkerchief tightly, unsure what to say. Perhaps this was the charm of his general!
He still remembered that when he finally walked out, Qin Shuai looked at him with a confident expression and said, “This ideological work is entrusted to you!”
This was a task Qin Shuai had given him. At this moment, his eyes seemed to erupt with burning flames—it was the fervor of his own determination and his resolve not to betray Qin Shuai's trust!
With these thoughts, Xiao Lie walked confidently towards the military camp.
After completing these tasks, Qin Xia finally let out a long breath and turned to look at the women in the temporary palace. They were currently changing Prince Fu's bed, the stench of which even Qin Xia found unbearable. But he seemed to remember that he hadn't asked these people to change it?
He got up from the ground and walked towards the side room. Since he grew up, he rarely slept in beds. Firstly, he didn't need much sleep, and secondly, he couldn't find a bed that fit his physique.
So, looking at such a large bed, he still felt a hint of secret joy, but then reason told him, if he slept here, how would the soldiers in the camp view him?
The women, seeing him walk in, immediately knelt on the ground in fear. He waved his hand and said, “Everyone, please rise!”
Watching these women tremble and kneel upon seeing him, he guessed they were terrified by his earlier act of stomping Prince Fu to death and spinning his arms like propellers.
But how should he deal with these women?
Just as he was still pondering what to do, the women prostrate at his feet slowly rose. Their gentle movements and delicate hands attached themselves to his legs.
Immediately after, Qin Xia saw these women slowly open their cherry-red mouths, which startled him. He quickly broke free, stepped back, and reprimanded, “What are you doing?!”
The several delicate beauties looked at him, their eyes filled with a peculiar innocence, and said, “To bathe you, my lord.”
This was the first time Qin Xia felt disgusted since coming to this world, not by these women, but by Prince Fu, whom he had stomped to death earlier.
He often heard people talk about the dog emperor, but now he truly saw firsthand what these so-called princes and nobles were like. What kind of torment had Prince Fu put these women through?
His face darkened, and he said nothing, simply turning to leave. After taking only two steps, he heard a burst of weeping from behind him. Turning back, he saw some women had turned pale with fear, and some timid ones had even fainted.
“What have they been reduced to?” Qin Xia sighed at the sight and walked back. He grabbed a sobbing woman with one hand and, in the most delicate voice he could muster in his life, commonly known as a 'squeaky voice,' asked, “Why are you crying?”
The human throat is truly amazing!
He himself wanted to commit suicide hearing his own squeaky voice.
The women looked incredulous. After simply wiping away their tears, they explained, “Your Excellency, please do not leave. We concubines will serve you meticulously. This slave does not want to die!”
By the end, Qin Xia felt the woman in his hand trembling. He noticed that most of these girls, when afraid, would huddle in a corner—a lingering effect of frequent beatings and torment.
Only in a corner could they minimize the harm when being tortured. He carefully placed the woman in his hand onto the bed and said softly, “After you clean this bed, stay here. Don't go anywhere, understand?”
The command brought them a sense of familiarity. Some stopped crying and nodded repeatedly. They pulled some unconscious sisters up, quickly cleaned the large bed, which was nearly three meters long, and then everyone sat on the bed, looking at Qin Xia.
The girls were waiting for the next instruction from the tall man in front of them. Prince Fu used to make them clean up, and then he would begin to torture them in various inhumane ways.
They were now completely numb, having lost their own judgment for everything, because they had been treated as tools for so long that these people truly saw themselves as tools.
Their numb gazes fell on Qin Xia. For him, this feeling was not good, and he did not want to stay here long, so before leaving, he merely instructed them, “That bed will be your resting place in the future. Someone will bring you three meals a day. I have only one demand: you must never leave this room.”
Qin Xia's figure gradually receded, leaving the girls looking at each other, at a loss. At first, no one spoke, and the entire room was eerily quiet.
“What should we do next…” At this moment, a voice sounded in the crowd, and then everyone, by unspoken agreement, repeated the phrase.
The entire room began to grow noisy. Slowly, the first person suddenly started crying. Immediately, her crying seemed contagious, and all the girls at this moment burst into tears, like the cries of newborn infants. Standing outside the door, Qin Xia knew that this would be the rebirth of these girls.
He took a deep breath. With this problem solved, he should now go to the prison to inquire about some matters.
The Sword Pavilion's prison was located inside the city wall. Walking down the stairs from the top of the wall, Qin Xia could see the soldiers along the way showing strange expressions as soon as they saw him.
Their faces were filled with eagerness and longing as they looked at him. This expression always gave Qin Xia an indescribable feeling, but for now, it was more important for him to go to the dungeon.
Seeing Qin Xia's figure disappear, the soldiers finally dared to speak.
“Can Qin Shuai really summon wind and rain and ride clouds and mists?”
“Of course!” Another person nodded and smiled, “When we were attacking the city, I saw it clearly from below. Qin Shuai flew to the rooftop with one kick, and with just a slight wave of his hand, the city wall exploded.”
“A god descended to earth! Qin Shuai truly is a god descended to earth! General Xiao was right, our Qin Shuai should be a great hegemon of his time!”
In the dungeon, Weichi Pan Yue was tied up with iron chains and suspended. His eyes were hollow and lifeless, and he was only muttering, “God, a god has descended…”
Hearing footsteps, he finally reacted and looked up. When Qin Xia's figure appeared there, he could no longer suppress his inner excitement, and the iron chains on his body clanged together.
“God, Lord God, you've finally come!” Pan Yue was so excited that his wounds reopened, but he still ignored them and shouted, “Please, save Great Shang!”
“Save?” Qin Xia raised an eyebrow and snorted coldly, “Haven't you seen the situation clearly? Great Shang has rotted from the roots. What value does such a dynasty have left to exist? Though, a dynasty itself has no value in existing to begin with.”
Upon hearing this, Pan Yue shook his head like a madman, “No, it's not like that.” His eyes were full of confusion. Could Great Shang really be beyond saving?
“There's still hope!” Suddenly, as if he had figured something out, he looked up sharply at the man in front of him and roared, “You can save Great Shang! You were sent by Heaven to save Great Shang…”
“Shut up!” Qin Xia could no longer listen to this guy's nonsense. His face was dark, and he really wanted to slap the fellow, but he was afraid of accidentally knocking his head off. He could only patiently say, “I am no god. I am merely a being of flesh and blood.” (Emperor: Exactly! This is what I want to see!)
At this moment, Weichi Pan Yue lowered his head. Seeing this, Qin Xia stepped forward, grabbed the young man's head, and said in a low voice, “What I want to do is to destroy and rebuild the entire Great Shang. Weichi Pan Yue, you now have only two paths before you.”
Pan Yue struggled to look up at the man in front of him. At this moment, a ray of sunlight from the dungeon window outside shone directly on Qin Xia.
He stared blankly at the man in front of him. What was the difference between this and the god in his heart?
This beauty, he was just a guard who only wanted to protect a wise ruler. When he was assigned to guard that Prince Fu, he truly felt his world go dark.
His elder sister, who had raised him since childhood, had stopped speaking to him after hearing about it. Prince Fu's name was known far and wide. The children of Shu City all said that Prince Fu was so fat because he ate babies. But only he knew that Prince Fu had done things even more terrifying than that.
That guy had no regard for people like them; he treated the common folk like food. The women in the temporary palace were replaced in batches, and piles of bones were moved out.
Even he himself began to worship gods after serving Prince Fu. Pan Yue only hoped that when he went to hell, he could be reincarnated quickly.
Now, Qin Xia's eyes reflected his own figure as he said, “The first path is to continue serving Prince Fu. In the end, I will personally behead you, and the two of you can meet on the Yellow Springs Road. In the end, all your martial arts will come to naught.” Upon hearing this, his bones trembled.
“The second path is to join me in attacking Shu City. I have already investigated your family background. You have an elder sister in Shu City, don't you?” Qin Xia's tone was full of menace.
“Sister…” Pan Yue, whose eyes had been hollow, suddenly showed a glimmer of light. He looked up at the giant in front of him. What did this guy want to do to his sister?
Thinking of this, he no longer felt any fear, and full of courage, he roared, “What do you want to do to my sister! If you dare to touch a single hair on her, even in hell, I will never let you go!”
“Is that so?” Qin Xia sneered after hearing this. He looked out the window, saw that the time had come, and then looked back at the stairwell, where Xiao Lie waved and nodded at him.
Seeing this, he also waved his hand, and a woman slowly walked down the stairwell. Weichi Pan Yue's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at this woman. How could his sister be here?
Qin Xia personally unlocked the iron chains on Pan Yue, “Some soldiers from the Sword Pavilion still escaped back to Shu City. Considering that Prince Fu is dead, you certainly won't survive with the emperor. Your family might also suffer greatly from the dog emperor, so I sent people to bring your sister here.”
“Has my sister been well on the journey?”
His sister looked at Pan Yue and smiled, only shaking her head, “Qin Shuai sent people to fetch me. The journey was smooth, and the soldiers treated me, a mere woman, with courtesy. It is clear that this is truly a righteous army. If my brother has ambitions, he can surely achieve great things in this army!”
“This…” Pan Yue was stunned, unable to believe his sister would say such a thing!
He turned to look at Qin Xia, who waved his hand and said, “You don't need to have any doubts. If you are unwilling, you can go to Giant Deer City to settle down. I will not force you.”
Pan Yue looked at his sister, then at Qin Xia. He hadn't expected the man before him to have such a broad mind.
Qin Xia's series of actions completely changed Pan Yue's perspective. Pan Yue, disregarding his injuries, knelt on the ground, cupped his fists, and loudly declared, “This humble general is willing to follow the General through fire and water without hesitation!”