Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

At the Wuzhao Army camp on Zijin Mountain, cart after cart of valuables were transported to Fu Chang'an's tent.

"Lord Fu, after the brothers have tallied the valuables, there are a total of 345,233 taels of silver and 1,200 land deeds. This is..."

The remaining miscellaneous items haven't been fully inventoried yet, but they're worth about ten thousand taels of silver. How should they be included in the catalog?

Holding the booklet, Tong Yuanshu cautiously sought instructions from Fu Chang'an.

Fu Lin'an waved his hand: "Seal them all up and send them to His Majesty when you have time. How are things going with the others?"

Tong Yuanshu made a throat-slitting gesture: "Those who dared to disobey have all been dealt with, and the rest have been sent to the border. No word of it will leak out."

Fu Lin'an breathed a sigh of relief: "I hope His Majesty will be satisfied with the task I completed."

Otherwise, when I get back to the capital and see how many people have been killed, I'm afraid I'll lose my head.

Tong Yuanshu: "Lord Fu, what should we do now? The Zijin Mountain highlands have all been occupied by foreign barbarians. This is not a solution..."

Fu Lin'an's eyes turned cold: "The foreigners' firearms are sharp. If we want to win, there is only one way: to take an unconventional approach and catch them off guard."

"How exactly will you surprise them?"

"Night raid."

Fu Lin'an's face was contorted with rage.

"When I was collecting the bodies, I had already sent people to investigate secretly. The high ground occupied by the foreign barbarians is quite scattered, with only about a hundred people in each area. We can take advantage of this to defeat them one by one."

Tong Yuanshu's eyes widened, and he hurriedly said, "But when General Zhang left, he repeatedly instructed us not to make any rash moves before he returned."

"Zhang Gui is old. Do you think he's still the same commander who single-handedly defeated the Xuechuan rebels sixteen years ago? He's not the same person anymore."

"The future of Wu Zhao Kingdom depends on us, the new generation of generals. In short, I am the commander-in-chief; you just need to obey my orders."

"But……"

Tong Yuanshu was still hesitant and was about to persuade him again when Fu Chang'an lost his patience.

"But what? If we can't drive out these foreign barbarians, the south won't be able to collect taxes next spring, and the Grand Canal will completely collapse. At that time, even Shengjing will face a food shortage! Who among us can bear the consequences?"

Because Fu Lin'an had received some education, he had a certain perspective and knew what the consequences would be if the important coastal tax-collecting area downstream of Jiankang fell into the hands of the Chu army.

His idea of ​​quickly recapturing Jiankang to ensure that next year's taxes could reach Shengjing smoothly was not wrong.

However, he seemed to have forgotten that Zhang Gui had already reached a verbal agreement with Shen Lang, and there was a good chance that the issue could be resolved through negotiation.

Shen Lang currently has no intention of occupying Jiankang for a long time and fighting to the death with Wu Zhao. His intention is to use the navy's high mobility to carry out a major purge of Wu Zhao's coastal defense line and force the Wu Zhao court to agree to his claim to sovereignty over Haizhou.

At this point, if Fulin'an were to break the contract and reignite the war, the situation would likely become even more difficult to manage.

But Fu Lin'an could no longer tolerate being humiliated and ridiculed by a group of foreign barbarians; his arrogant nature would not allow him to fail.

"Immediately notify all officers to come to my tent for a meeting!"

"Yes."

Seeing that he could not persuade him, Tong Yuanshu had no choice but to turn around and leave the tent to carry out Fu Lin'an's orders.

……

Inside Jiankang City, Lü Meng sat in Tong Dekang's home, listening attentively as he explained why he was unwilling to leave.

Tong Dekang said with a pitiful expression, "Sir, to be honest,..."

You might think we're respectable families living in the inner city, but look at us...

Look closely at this family; they're not even as well-off as the commoners in the outer city.

Lu Meng remained silent. Indeed, judging from the furnishings of Tong Dekang's house, it had absolutely nothing to do with the word "privilege," except for his physique, which was even fatter than Jiang Shangxian's.

"Sir, to tell you the truth, in the Emperor's eyes, we military families are no different from ordinary people."

He's nice to you because he needs our relatives to fight in the war and help supervise the people in the outer city.

But if you become useless, the consequences will be dire. Others may not know, but I've seen it with my own eyes.

"That year, about ten years ago, after nearly twenty years of fighting, Xuechuan was finally conquered. The Emperor was so happy that he held a banquet to celebrate and invited the families of all the military officers from various regions to come to the capital to congratulate us."

Thinking I could join in the fun and even get a taste of the imperial banquet, which I could then boast about to others that I'd seen the world, I went to Shengjing anyway, hoping to witness the capital's prosperity. But it was only then that I realized...

The Emperor's banquets were far more delicious than this. The festivities lasted for a month before finally settling down. Then, on the way back to our respective posts, I witnessed an unbelievable scene.

“Those families without men, without male heirs to supply the military camp, or without family members with cultivation talent, were all forbidden from returning to their posts and were all sent to the border regions to serve in the army.”

"Some people were unwilling to go, threatening to return to the capital to argue with the Emperor, but the soldiers in yellow armor simply killed all those who resisted."

After the killings, the bodies were cleaned up meticulously. Oh my god, you have no idea how horrified I was when I saw that!

At this point, Tong Dekang pointed to the cigarettes in Lu Meng's military uniform pocket and said with an embarrassed look, "Sir, can I have one? I've lived most of my life and never smoked such good cigarettes."

Lu Meng took out a cigarette case, handed him a cigarette, and then took out a metal lighter and lit it for him.

"This thing is great, it's so much better than my flint and steel and my fire poker."

Tong Dekang looked at the lighter in Lu Meng's hand with envy, and took another deep drag of his cigarette.

Lu Meng took back the lighter; it was a gift from Shen Lang, so naturally he treasured it.

This lighter would cost eight silver dollars in the State of Chu. It wasn't expensive, but it wasn't cheap either. The key point was that it was a symbol of fashion and status. However, most people in the State of Chu preferred to buy a pack of matches for two cents.

"You mean that anyone who is useless to Emperor Wu Zhao, regardless of whether they were once a member of the Wu camp, will be dealt with?"

Tong Dekang nodded: "Yes, sir, I saw it with my own eyes. Ever since I witnessed that scene..."

I made a point of looking into it, and that's when I learned that the families of those who couldn't provide soldiers for the imperial court would be disposed of whenever they had the chance.

However, this matter couldn't be handled openly; it had to be done secretly. As long as the person remained within the inner city of the garrison, there was no need to worry about being killed.

Of course, those with impeccable bloodlines, or those who are somewhat wealthy, can easily get away with it by simply spending a little money to bribe officials.

People like us are the ones who suffer the most. We're poor and have no money. To be honest, the silk coat I own was bought with money borrowed from a merchant in the outer city, and I still haven't paid it back.

"Not buying it is unacceptable; it's a matter of maintaining appearances, otherwise people will laugh at us."

Lu Meng wrote down everything he and Tong Dekang discussed in his notebook.

Just then, the communication jade slip at his waist rang: "Commander, the military commander has ordered us to keep a close watch on Jiankang City and ensure that the city remains safe and orderly."

Upon hearing this, Lü Meng instantly realized that something big might be about to happen, and replied directly, "I've come to find you so we can discuss this in person."

After saying that, he glanced at Tong Dekang and said, "Stay home obediently, or I can't guarantee your safety."