The video takes us to ancient times; Li Er transforms into the Tongtian Emperor of Shu Han.

The greatest contributors were sitting below Dorgon at this moment.

Only a small portion of them were from the Eight Banners; the majority of the rest were generals who had recently surrendered.

They were the ones who had been silent the whole time.

These are the people Dorgon values ​​most right now.

His troops had suffered heavy losses, leaving only a little over a thousand men.

It is impossible to hold off an offensive of 100,000 troops with just a thousand or so men, no matter how chaotic the enemy forces are.

Do you really think everyone is Zhang Liao or Sun Quan?

The people who truly needed to defend the city were the surrendered generals whom Li Zicheng had sent in batches to be killed.

Unfortunately, his remarks were completely useless to the generals in the Central Plains, and even had the opposite effect.

"Isn't the term 'two-legged sheep' a bit too much?"

“We all come from the Central Plains. To put it bluntly, we were once the two-legged sheep you mentioned.”

"Promises of wealth and luxury are all empty words. Shouldn't you give us some basic respect now?"

Seeing that the people present had suddenly become excited, Dorgon did not panic. He simply raised his hand to indicate that they should listen to what he had to say.

“I am not saying that you are two-legged sheep. Those who know how to resist, like you, have never been sheep.”

"The two-legged sheep that I am talking about, which can be slaughtered at will and is not even the same species as you all, is a coward who is so weak that he does not know how to resist. Even knowing that disaster is coming, he only dares to stay in the place and obediently wait for death."

"Tell me, can people who watch their parents and wives perish under the butcher's knife without daring to resist or even bare their teeth be considered human?"

"On the contrary, you are all warriors. When the time comes, I will bestow them upon you as a reward. Whether you use them as slaves or kill them for your amusement, it is up to you. Isn't that enough respect?"

In other words, that shows enough respect.

For a moment, there were no more dissenting voices in the room.

Dorgon nodded in satisfaction at this situation.

"Since none of you have any further objections, then please fight to the death, for the sake of our Great Qing Dynasty, and also for your own future wealth and glory."

"What Li Zicheng was unwilling to give you, our Great Qing will never be stingy with!"

"I will charge ahead and show you what the most elite warriors of my Great Qing Dynasty are!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Dorgon walked out first.

The few remaining guards quickly followed.

Following them were a few Qing army generals.

The atmosphere only became heavy again after a large number of surrendered generals remained in the arena.

Although they were all defeated by the Qing army and captured because they did not want to die, it is unbelievable that they would turn around and fight for the Tartars, turning their weapons against their former comrades.

For some people, that mental hurdle is truly difficult to overcome.

"It seems that who sits on this throne has nothing to do with us?"

"When the rebel leader entered the capital, we didn't gain anything. Instead, we were sent here to die."

"Perhaps if a Tartar became emperor, he would be more generous than the rebel leader?"

After a long silence, someone finally spoke.

Everyone could hear the hesitation in his tone, but no one spoke up to refute it.

This is the case.

They followed the rebel leader in conquering the country and establishing his empire. When the rebel leader ascended the throne, he remained silent about the rewards he had given them.

Either rewards and punishments are not clearly distinguished, or they are simply forgotten.

They were forgotten when it came to bestowing rewards, but remembered when facing enemies.

"Perhaps the rebel leader has just entered the capital and hasn't had time to make arrangements for us roughnecks yet."

"I can understand that, after all, we have made great contributions, and how to settle us is indeed a problem."

Some people tried to speak up for Li Zicheng, but were quickly silenced by the glares of others.

"Your contributions are significant? It is precisely because our contributions are so great that we need to be even more worried."

"Didn't you hear what those Tartars were saying before? Li Zicheng's troops are moving strangely, and it's very likely that he's using the Tartars to eliminate his rivals."

"Then how can we guarantee that we won't be among the dissidents who are eliminated?"

"Since it's not easy to reward them, why not just kill them and then there's no need for a reward?"

It's no wonder they have such dark thoughts; these battles and the current situation are proving their suspicions to be true.

Now that the world is at peace, it is indeed time to eliminate dissidents.

Throughout history, most emperors have done the same.

From Emperor Taizu of Song's "releasing military power over a cup of wine" to Emperor Taizu of Ming's large-scale massacre of meritorious officials.

Of course, the latter might be because those meritorious officials truly deserved to die, but in the eyes of outsiders, it is essentially no different from slaughtering meritorious officials.

Even Emperor Gaozu of Han had the habit of discarding his bow after the birds were all gone. Among the founding emperors who were able to die peacefully, Emperor Taizong of Tang was probably the only one left.

But how many emperors in this world could be as confident as Emperor Taizong of Tang?

"So what do we do?"

"Are we really going to help the Tartars?"

"Turning weapons against former comrades?"

His three sentences left everyone present speechless.

Dorgon hadn't actually gone far outside the door; to be more precise, he was eavesdropping.

Despite his confident and eloquent speech, he was actually perfectly aware of the situation.

To think that one could defend a city with such a small force is nothing short of a pipe dream.

He was confident that he could launch a fierce attack against the more than 10,000 troops, or even rout them completely.

But with 100,000 troops, the quantitative change leads to the qualitative change; even if he were to exhaust himself, he wouldn't be able to kill them all in one round trip.

Being surrounded and killed in the chaos of battle was almost a certainty.

He could only hope that the generals from the Central Plains within his ranks would truly pledge their loyalty to him and turn their weapons against Li Zicheng in the capital.

Otherwise, he would have no choice but to obediently surrender the city and beg Li Zicheng to forgive him one more time.

"I haven't read much, but I still understand the principle that 'one general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand.'"

"Since the rebel king is unwilling to share his wealth with us, then don't blame us for overthrowing his wealth as well!"

"Don't forget, he was able to take control of the capital entirely thanks to someone!"

"Without people like us, where would he get his wealth and status today!"

"Crossing the river and then dismantling the bridge? Putting away the bow after the birds are all gone?"

"I'm going to tell him that he hasn't crossed the river yet!"

"No matter what you think, fortune favors the bold, so I'm going for it!"

Upon hearing this voice, Dorgon breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Immediately afterward, footsteps sounded inside the house, and he quickly took a few steps back, pretending to wait quietly.

As soon as the person inside pushed open the door and came out, he turned his head and reached out his hand.

"Welcome, warrior, you will become a meritorious official of my Great Qing Dynasty."

"And you can completely trust me. I promise that I will never mistreat anyone."

"Whether others can share in the wealth and honor is not for me to say, but in my Great Qing Dynasty, all your efforts will be rewarded."

"I will lead you to reclaim everything that rightfully belongs to you!"