That elderly scholar, with a body light as a swallow, flew forth. The Qi army’s relentless killing had not ceased.

He soared over the human world, a “slaughter field” resembling hell itself.

Under the cold, appraising gazes of several autumn-blooded army generals, he flew towards Chongxuan Chuliang.

Peripheral vision was consumed by slaughter. Ears heard naught but sounds of sorrow.

A look of sorrow graced that man’s face, yet before Chongxuan Chuliang, suspended in mid-air, his waist was straight, his spine unbent, projecting an air of remarkable backbone.

“Who are you?” Chongxuan Chuliang inquired.

“This old man is from the Yang Country… the former Yang Country’s Red Tail County Governor, Huang Yixing!” The elderly scholar bowed in response.

Having performed the briefest of rituals, he urgently spoke: “The Great Commander employs troops like a god, today’s single battle extinguishing a country, destined to be renowned throughout the world! However, when two armies clash, contention and slaughter are expected. To slay the surrendered is inauspicious! In ancient times, those who yielded were spared death, a proper conduct of military strategy. Why does the Great Commander order slaughter? This old man truly cannot bear for the Great Commander to bear this wicked name, and thus risks death to advise!”

“You already know me, you should know my name.” Chongxuan Chuliang’s hand still held Yang Jiande’s head. Upon hearing these words, he merely spoke faintly, “Can ‘Fierce Slaughter’ be any more evil?”

Huang Yixing’s gaze unconsciously drifted towards Yang Jiande. Beneath the mass of blood and filth, Yang Jiande’s wide-open eyes seemed to stare directly at him.

He instinctively averted his gaze, his voice trembling as he said, “Great Commander, Heaven possesses the virtue of cherishing life…”

Chongxuan Chuliang interrupted him: “Heaven also possesses the authority to take life! These soldiers dared to resist Heaven’s troops; how can Heaven’s authority be upheld without killing them?”

“The Yang Court accumulated weakness for a hundred years, three generations respecting Qi! Ultimately, it still fell to the great army’s invasion. General, why is this so?” Huang Yixing could hardly conceal his indignation. “Soldiers protect their homes and defend their country; what crime is there? On the battlefield, it is merely each for their own master, contending for life and death. Now that victory and defeat are decided, Great Commander! The slaughtering blade should be sheathed!”

“Your meaning is that my Great Qi raised an unrighteous army and invaded this place?” Chongxuan Chuliang narrowed his eyes.

“Dare not harbor such intent!” Huang Yixing pleaded. “The Yang Court is corrupt, the Yang monarch has lost virtue; arriving at this point, their crimes are deserving! But the Yang people are innocent! Qi and Yang have been allied for generations; when did the Yang people ever slightly deviate?”

“Ah, you people.” Chongxuan Chuliang extended a finger, practically pointing at him. “Always arrogant, claiming wealth and nobility as if Qi’s honor is your honor, as if Qi’s strength is your strength, merely parasitic vines on Qi Country’s body! Now that the great tree must clear obstacles to growth, do you still feel glorious?”

Huang Yixing was stunned for a long time, then spoke with difficulty: “Today the state is extinguished, the Yang clan’s ancestral temple is without descendants. This may be Heaven’s will! However…”

His voice gradually rose: “Since the Yang Court is extinguished, this place is now Qi soil, the Yang people are now Qi people; where is the reason to slaughter one’s own people? Moreover, now the North has Jing Mu, eyeing us with tigerish intent, the South has Evil Xia, clinging to old hatred. The West has Strong Jing, observing the world with heroic gaze! Though Qi is strong, how can it fix the people’s hearts with killing?”

Chongxuan Chuliang merely let out a cold laugh: “Yang Jiande rashly moved a great army, with the arrogance of a small country, offending the face of a great country. Originally, I was prepared to utterly destroy this domain. It is a certain young friend’s plea that led me to undertake this troublesome matter. You speak to me of what dog-fart reason, of entangled interests! Will I, Chongxuan Chuliang, listen?”

Though not explicitly stated, the “young friend” in his mouth was naturally Jiang Wang.

And this “plea” was, in fact, a falsehood.

To defeat Yang Jiande, Chongxuan Chuliang was indeed prepared to force the entire border military and civilians of Yang Country to their deaths, but that was only the worst-case scenario. No matter how fearsome his name spread, he would not, in a situation where victory and defeat were decided, still seek to utterly extinguish the Yang domain.

Only Chongxuan Sheng knew that this was to elevate Jiang Wang’s name. Ultimately, its essence was an important step in the “dividing the spoils” phase after the war, with Chongxuan Family’s Azure Sheep Town as the banner, re-establishing order.

Chongxuan Sheng’s ideas may have some naive aspects, but one point he made was correct: the Chongxuan Family indeed needed a bright figure, or at least someone who “looked bright.”

Because as for fierce figures, Chongxuan Chuliang himself was sufficient, and as for a banner that could soothe hearts, there truly was no suitable candidate.

Of course, perhaps there were other reasons, only not sufficient to be spoken aloud…

“This humble Huang, in this life, has only knelt to Heaven, Earth, Monarch, and Father, never bending to others!”

Seeing Chongxuan Chuliang’s attitude, Huang Yixing suddenly knelt in mid-air, right before him.

With a virtual collision of knees, a *bang* sounded: “Willing to kneel for the common people! Beg the Great Commander to pity the common people of Yang Country, and not again kill the innocent!”

The sound of war blades slicing open necks, the spurting of fresh blood. The sounds of miserable screams, of cries of pain, of pleas for mercy, the strange calls of those driven to kill…

All the sounds of slaughter annotated what was happening.

Chongxuan Chuliang gazed at Huang Yixing for a long time, then said: “Military orders are like a mountain; this commander has no reason to retract the command. However, your courage moves me. You are one of the few loyal and upright individuals in Yang Country. For your sake, this commander can spare the common people of Yang Country death, as long as they sincerely submit… Are you willing to transmit this order for this commander?”

His meaning was that there was no longer any room for change.

Seeing that the matter could not be delayed, Huang Yixing virtually pressed his hands together in the air, bowed his body, and touched the back of his hands with his forehead, tears flowing as he said, “This old man is willing to go!”

And then that person turned and shot away, never looking back at the battlefield.

Chongxuan Chuliang also paid him no mind, merely lifting Yang Jiande’s head, holding it level with his gaze, and suddenly sighed: “The Yang Court has lost the hearts of its people; how could it be the fault of you alone?”

His subordinates, accompanied by guards, arrived with a jade box.

He placed the head into the jade box, looked at it once more, then closed the lid.

“Send it back to Linzi,” he sighed.

In the entire Yang Country, the only heads worthy of being sent back to Linzi to boast of accomplishments were Yang Jiande’s and Ji Cheng’s.

At this time, Chongxuan Sheng walked over with difficulty, his face brimming with killing aura: “Great Commander, do you truly want to bestow this name upon him?”

Chongxuan Chuliang first glanced at him, merely nodding his head: “On the battlefield, life and death are commonplace.”

“Fourteen is not dead!” Chongxuan Sheng said, then added, “I regret that of the soldiers under my command, five thousand remain only seven hundred!”

Chongxuan Chuliang offered no comment, merely returning his previous question: “Since he is the type to buy fame and sell his country, just give him some fame!”

And then he turned directly back, heading towards the main camp, no longer looking at the battlefield behind him.

Since he, Chongxuan Chuliang, had issued the military order, this 210,000 strong Yang Country army must be utterly exterminated.

Huang Yixing seemed loyal and earnest, pitiful even. However, as the Red Tail County Governor, he did not enter the battlefield before the war, could not save his monarch or die for his country during the war, and only rushed out afterwards to advise against the slaughter.

While there might have been some righteousness to his actions, it was likely more for the sake of protecting his reputation among the common people.

To say he risked his life to protect the common people is misleading. In this situation, Chongxuan Chuliang killing him would have had more severe consequences than slaughtering ten thousand troops.

Why did the Yang Court lose the hearts of its people? Besides the lack of a capable monarch, it was precisely because these officials of the Yang Court each harbored their own ideas, whether for fame or profit, each for personal gain.

Thus, Chongxuan Chuliang called Huang Yixing the type to buy fame and sell his country.

That man did not hesitate to trample upon the Yang monarch and the Yang Court, instead extracting himself cleanly, as if the entire country was polluted and he alone was pure. But as the Governor of Red Tail County, that man was undoubtedly in the higher echelons of the Yang Court. How could he not have been involved in the Yang Court’s past decisions? Ultimately, this man only considered his own reputation, and did not care about his homeland!

But despite this, he still wanted to fulfill that man’s fame. Because with such a person existing, it would be convenient for Qi Country’s rule in this place.

The more evil the Yang Country’s traitors were, the better for Qi Country’s ministers.

Jiang Wang in Azure Sheep Town was one flag, called a worldly paradise.

Huang Yixing in Yang Country was also one flag, called rectifying chaos.

With these two flags, there was no worry about not receiving the hearts of all the people of the Yang land.