Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

Xiao Ce was indeed somewhat surprised: "Hmph... those people from the new four great clans! They're as soft as worms when it comes to the Turks! But they're quite ruthless when it comes to their own people."

Yin Pan'er said with a grim expression, "Isn't this their usual style?"

"Your Highness, you will make a move, won't you?"

Looking at Yin Pan'er, Xiao Ce smiled and said, "That's right, this matter has indeed spiraled out of control. I initially just wanted to scare those Turkic dogs away. I didn't expect it to turn out like this! Are they even going to kill the city's guards?"

Yin Pan'er nodded and added, "The letter says this: only the heads of the four major clans are allowed to leave. Everyone else is to be killed without exception; they would rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free!"

Xiao Ce laughed and said, "Isn't that simple? Go and write back to Yang Changlin, tell the people the truth! Then organize the people and the guards. Those Turks won't be able to take it after a while, and they won't launch a full-scale attack!"

Yin Pan'er had some concerns: "Your Highness, what if... Besides, they probably don't have much food in the city."

"They left in a hurry and to avoid letting the people know. Didn't Yang Changlin's letter say that the heads of the four major clans didn't even take their guards with them? They certainly wouldn't have transported away large quantities of money and grain. I understand the thoughts of those Turks and the heads of those clans."

"In their plan, their opponents are like wooden stakes, unable to resist!"

"So their plan is definitely to kill everyone, and then keep everything in the city for themselves."

"Moreover, the news that the granaries in the nine cities of our Northern King Prefecture were burned must have reached the ears of the Turks. They are definitely waiting for us to fall into internal strife so they can launch a major attack on us!"

"So when they encountered resistance, they attacked for a while, but couldn't take it down, so they didn't bother too much! After all, in their eyes, it was just a city of plague victims. Even if they didn't fight, everyone inside would be dead in ten or fifteen days. The Turks wouldn't even lift a finger!"

"This can be seen as a test for them. As for this side..."

Xiao Ce gave an analysis.

Yin Pan'er nodded repeatedly, her eyes filled with admiration: "Yes, Your Highness, you are right... I will go and reply."

Xiao Ce pondered for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "I'll write it myself, and I'll also tell them how to defend this city."

...

In the city of Zenda.

The heads of the four new major clans, along with their families and a large group of trusted confidants, sneaked out.

They were greeted by Moses Ashina.

However, at this moment, Mos Ashina had wrapped himself up tightly.

Cai Yong asked Mos Ashina from afar, "Lord Moss, are you sure we don't need to bring the money and provisions we have inside?"

Mos Ashina said, "Don't worry, those people inside will die soon... They won't leave this place, and your money and supplies can't be separated from here either."

As he spoke, Mos Ashina looked at the other heads of powerful families.

"Have all the guards from your Kan, Liu, and Lin families been transferred here?"

Several people bowed and said, "Reporting to Lord Morse, they have all been transferred! They should arrive within three days."

They decided to kill everyone in the city of Zenda.

The Turks were too lazy to do it themselves, and also, contact with those people might lead to infection.

After the Turks reached a consensus, they ordered the other prefectural officials to mobilize the guards.

Let them do it.

Just as Xiao Ce said, these powerful clans and patriarchs dared not fight the Turks.

However, they are still very confident in attacking their own people, and they have tacitly accepted the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

Mos Ashina said, “Alright, we have set up a new camp for you. Stay there for a few days. Once you are safe, you will have escaped a disaster! After we conquer the nine cities of Beiwang County, you will have a good life ahead of you.”

Everyone nodded, and Lin Nan, who hadn't spoken until now, said, "Lord Morse, we can't really be sure if it's the plague inside. After all, only a small portion of the cases are actually infected, and the massacre was..."

“My father has made it clear: better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free! And those lowly people, if they die, they die; it will save some food! Everything is for the benefit of us noble Turks, understand?”

"Furthermore, none of Cai Yong's people have any objections? Do you have any objections?"

Lin Nan waved her hands repeatedly to indicate that she did not.

Mos Ashina had no patience to waste words with them and waved his hand to have them taken to quarantine for observation.

The city was silent, despite rumors of a plague.

But the people had no choice but to stay at home!

Some of the braver ones tried to escape, but they were all killed by the Turks!

The Fang family is a gathering place for merchants with some reputation in the city of Zhenda!

These people were all participants in this fake plague. At first, they were overjoyed to see the Turks leave!

However, as the situation spread, their people planted next to Cai Yong kept sending back messages saying that the new four great clans were going to flee and massacre the city. Only then did they realize that things were getting out of control, so they went to find Yang Changlin.

Yang Changlin then received the news and reported it to Xiao Ce!

Now, they are all gathered together!

Yang Changlin just received a raven letter from Xiao Ce!

After reading the letter, Yang Changlin admired Xiao Ce even more. So many of them hadn't thought of this method!

He immediately summoned people over.

Everyone was stunned after hearing Xiao Ce's solution.

"Does the Prince want us to rebel?" the head of the Sun family asked, his expression not looking good.

The others also looked troubled: "Your Highness, do you have a better idea? Can you come and save us?"

These people have long been tamed; it's better to kill them than to let them rebel!

The reason they cooperated with Fang Haoshan and Yang Changlin in staging this fake plague was entirely because their situation was similar to that of Fang Haoshan's family at the time!

They've been driven to the brink of despair!

However, the Turks had already left, and the news of the massacre was only a rumor. He also felt that it might not necessarily happen!

They always think about the best outcome, even when there's no knife to their throat!

Yang Changlin said solemnly, "What are you thinking? There are Turks all outside Zhenda City. If you ask the prince to come and rescue you, aren't you just sending him to his death? Besides, the prince is not rebelling! He is acting in self-defense!"

"Now the four major clans and their own people have all left this place! The signal is very clear!"

“I know your concerns! So, all you need to do is step forward and use your influence and appeal to mobilize the city's guards.”

"Next, unite the people! Let me reiterate: I am not asking you to go out and kill the Turks! But to prepare you for when someone comes in to slaughter you! So that you won't be unarmed and have no choice but to kneel down and beg for mercy."

"Whether you like it or not is up to you! This is all the information I can give you."

The group of merchant patriarchs looked at each other, and then the Zhao family patriarch spoke up: "Commander Yang Changlin, I have a question I'd like to ask you. Please be sure to tell us the truth."

Yang Changlin sized up this cunning fellow, and the cunning Zhao family head remained silent for a moment before nodding.

"Go ahead and tell me. As long as I know the answer, I will definitely not hide anything. I will tell you everything I know!"

Yang Changlin still appeared sincere.

The head of the Zhao family spoke up: "When our people were receiving intelligence, they also heard about the Northern King County. They said that all the granaries in the Northern King County were burned down by Turkic spies."

"In Beiwang County, food supplies will soon run out, internal strife will erupt, and the city will fall. Therefore..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yang Changlin interrupted, "Nonsense, absolutely impossible! If that were the case, why would the Prince bother with these matters? He would just let you fend for yourselves!"

The Zhao family patriarch nodded awkwardly, "Yes, yes, yes... Commander Yang Changlin, please don't be angry... Please understand, we just want to survive... If the prince and the others can hold on, we might have a chance if we fight. But if the rumors are true, then the entire city will surely die."

Fang Haoshan, standing to the side, spoke up: "Don't you think you're all doomed if you don't rebel now? I don't care whether you do it or not, I'm doing it! If it weren't for the Prince, we would have been killed by the Turks a couple of days ago. Every extra day we live is a bonus!"

After Fang Haoshan spoke, several family heads echoed, "That's right, we're not rebelling. We're just letting the people follow us in self-defense. They can't kill us!"

Yang Changlin watched from the sidelines without saying anything more, observing their attitude.

Because Xiao Ce gave him two choices: one was to organize them to rebel.

Xiao Ce gave Yang Changlin another option: if the people here didn't want to save themselves, they could secretly slip away with the Fang family, and he would send someone to pick them up.

Xiao Ce's thinking was simple: even if he led them in rebellion, they still wouldn't dare. Even without his involvement, various things would happen in the future that would turn them into fish on a chopping block, completely at the mercy of others!

Fortunately, these are all successful businessmen, and their greatest strength lies in weighing the pros and cons.

They reached an agreement shortly afterward.

“Commander Yang Changlin, we can step forward, but we don’t know how to lead troops into battle... and we really don’t trust those guards... so, could we ask you to lead us?”

Yang Changlin agreed without hesitation.

Next, they went to see the prefectural guards.

The corruption within the prefectural guards was rampant, and these merchants and the guard commanders all had some connections.

After they told the commanders of the imperial guards what had happened, these men went to investigate and found that all the members of the four major clans had fled.

They naturally believed them.

Faced with death, these people naturally chose to join them.

Yang Changlin then wrote a letter to the people in Xiao Ce's name.

This indicates that Xiao Ce was aware of the predicament and had already sent someone to deliver the antidote for the plague.

The antidote was actually just a random decoction made from a common herbal ingredient, since there was no plague to begin with.

The main purpose of giving people this herbal soup is to provide psychological comfort.

As a result, the merchant families, led by the Fang family, all came out. After taking the antidote, the symptoms of the blisters on their bodies had been almost completely relieved.

The people believed it without a doubt.

Yang Changlin then had someone distribute the medicinal soup and reveal Cai Yong and the heads of the four major clans' plans to leave and to massacre the city and eradicate the plague.

This immediately caused a huge uproar. The people hated Cai Yong, the prefect, for his inaction and betrayal of them.

Yang Changlin's call to action was met with immediate response.

These people all longed to become subjects of the Northern King.

Although they were both in the northern desert, news from the Northern King's County always came from different places, making them extremely envious.

Now that they have this opportunity to break free from the jurisdiction of a rotten prefect like Cai Yong and let the King of Mobei take over, they are all very enthusiastic.

Even though Yang Changlin said that Xiao Ce was temporarily unable to send troops to provide support and that they would need to hold out for at least half a month.

Neither of them backed down.

In fact, these people had long harbored rebellious intentions after being tormented by the Turks.

The only thing missing is a leader.

Yang Changlin's appearance immediately garnered widespread support.

...

However, wherever there are people, there will be traitors.

Among them were henchmen of powerful and influential families who discovered that the people in the city were planning a rebellion.

They felt that their chance to make a contribution had come.

Before the city gates closed, they ran out.

However, they never expected that they would be shot dead by the waiting Turkic soldiers as soon as they ran out of the city gate.

This terrified the traitors behind them, who turned around and tried to run back.

However, the Turks were not going to let them go and kept shooting.

Originally there were more than a hundred people, but now there are only twenty or so left.

And these people don't seem to have given up because of this.

They hid behind the city wall: "Gentlemen...we have something urgent to report! It's a matter of utmost importance!"

The Turks waiting there exchanged glances, and the leader said, "What do you want to say? Tell us!"

One of the men hiding behind the wall shouted, "Sir, the people inside are going to rebel! And the King of the Northern Desert has sent medicine to treat the plague... The plague is under control, you must find a way to stop them! Sir, please let us report to them in person!"

The Turkic soldier leader sneered, "Fine, come out now. I'll take you to see our Khan..."

A Turkic soldier standing nearby asked, "Captain, do you believe them?"

The soldier leader's face hardened: "Do you think I'm stupid? This is just to lure them out and then wipe them all out! Get ready, and shoot after they run out."

Hearing the words of the Turkic soldiers, more than twenty Han traitors stepped forward with their hands raised: "Thank you, sir! We are on the same side! We will not join them as enemies."

Whoosh!

Whoosh!Whoosh!