Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 413 Surrender, we can't defeat him (13,000 words)

His brushstrokes flow like dragons and snakes, his spirit soaring like mountains and rivers.

A sharp aura swept over him, like a series of sharp blades, even making Li Er feel a stinging pain in his eyes.

Surrender.

Or die.

Simple, yet brimming with an undeniable air of dominance.

Of course, if one doesn't have the strength to match that statement, then it's not domineering, but pure foolishness.

Li Er's fingers trembled slightly, his eyelids lowered, and he slowly put down the letter in his hand, the written side facing down. No one but him could see what was written on the letter. A slight smile even appeared on his handsome face as he looked at Ji Peng and Ji Gang: "I'd like to trouble you two brothers and ask you to tell the Marquis that I need to think about this matter further."

His attitude remained as humble as ever.

Ji Gang frowned slightly. He knew the contents of the letter. "He can endure what ordinary people cannot; he is indeed a remarkable person."

He glanced at Li Er, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and turned to leave with his brother. There was no noise, argument, or even fighting as he had imagined; the whole process was far calmer than expected.

Li Er stared at them until their figures completely disappeared from sight. Only then did his expression darken, his face becoming gloomy and his eyes filled with an indescribable meaning, as if he were experiencing unbearable humiliation or utterly perplexed confusion.

"Your Highness, what does the letter say? Let the brothers see it," a military leader couldn't help but ask in a gruff voice.

"Could it be that the imperial court wants to offer amnesty?"

"What conditions did the dog emperor offer?"

"Let's make this clear beforehand: if the imperial court wants to offer us amnesty but doesn't give us a third-rank official position, we absolutely will not agree."

"Gold, silver, jewels, and beautiful women—none of them can be missing..."

"Hahaha, you good-for-nothing! You're still thinking about beauties at a time like this. Once you become an official, you'll have all kinds of beauties you could ever want!"

The county government office was in a state of commotion.

Many military leaders were in a good mood, generally believing that the imperial court wanted to offer amnesty, since Ningguo's current military strength was simply not enough to suppress all the rebel armies, and amnesty was definitely the most cost-effective approach.

As for the five thousand elite troops outside, and the large army whose existence is unknown, these military leaders mostly believed that it was just a commotion deliberately created by the court to exert pressure.

Seeing his brothers laughing and joking, Li Er's face grew increasingly gloomy. Finally, he turned the letter over and changed its orientation: "Gentlemen, take a look."

In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on the letter. Several people's faces darkened immediately, their fists clenched uncontrollably, and their knuckles turned white.

Those who were illiterate were scratching their heads in frustration.

"Mr. Gao, what does this say?"

"Mr. Liang, please tell us about it."

Similar sounds continued to be heard.

Mr. Gao's face had become somewhat distorted. When Mr. Liang suddenly heard someone call his name, his body trembled uncontrollably. He took a deep breath and slowly said, "It says... surrender."

"Just these two words?" A military officer looked displeased. "Don't try to fool me just because I can't read. Even if you can't read, you can still count. There are clearly five words on this."

Mr. Gao looked up, glanced at the military officer, and grinned: "Or die."

Surrender.

Or die.

Even the most uneducated person understood what those words meant. In an instant, the entire county government office fell into a deathly silence, and every face was filled with shock. The next second, the shock turned into anger at being humiliated.

boom.

One of the military leaders could no longer control himself and slammed his hand on the tea table beside him.

The military leader was already fat and strong, with superhuman strength. In his hatred, he slapped the tea table, which could not withstand the force. In an instant, the tea table shattered into pieces, and even the teacups smashed to pieces on the ground.

"You bastard, how dare you humiliate us like this?" the burly man roared.

They thought the imperial court was offering high-ranking positions and generous salaries to pacify them, but who would have thought it would be a choice between surrendering or dying?

Among the many chaotic armies, the Minwang lineage, though not large in territory or numerous in troops, was by no means a coward who could be easily bullied.

"Damn it, I've never been humiliated like this in my life. I'll fight them to the death!" Another burly man suddenly stood up, his metal armor creaking as it rubbed against the ground. "Your Highness, leave this matter to me. A thousand soldiers, watch me slaughter those five thousand good-for-nothings outside."

"I want the imperial court to understand that this is the price they pay for humiliating us."

While shouting, the burly man pressed down on the hilt of his knife and rushed towards the door, clearly intending to mobilize his troops and then launch a major attack.

"Shi Lei, stop right there."

At that moment, Mr. Gao could no longer hold back and let out a loud shout.

The two gentlemen were usually very refined and spoke softly. Occasionally, if a military leader spoke too rudely, he would be reprimanded by the two gentlemen. No one expected that Mr. Gao would raise his voice so dramatically. Even Shi Lei couldn't help but shrink back and looked at Mr. Gao with some fear: "Mr. Gao, what's wrong?"

That was so loud, it startled me... I didn't have the nerve to say it out loud. As a military officer, to be frightened by a scholar's roar was really too embarrassing.

Only then did they realize with astonishment that both gentlemen were deathly pale, trembling like leaves, and beads of sweat were seeping from their foreheads, rolling down their faces. Their robes were also soaked through.

Li Er's expression grew increasingly grave. His instincts told him that something was wrong. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind: "Gentlemen, is there something wrong with that Marquis of Champion?"

As expected, upon hearing the words "Champion Marquis" again, both Mr. Gao and Mr. Liang trembled violently. Mr. Liang, in particular, seemed to have all his strength drained away instantly, his legs unable to support his body, and he sat down on the ground with a thud. He looked up at Li Er, his eyes filled with fear and despair: "King Min, submit."

"No, old man Liang, didn't you say there were three other options before? We could strike first or retreat. Why are you telling us to surrender now?" Shi Lei frowned and shouted in a muffled voice.

Mr. Liang's face was ashen, as if covered in gold paper. Upon hearing this, he mechanically shook his head and said, "It's no use. We can't escape at all."

"With the Champion Marquis in the lead, even if we wanted to strike first, it would be useless."

Mr. Liang seemed to be thinking of some extremely terrifying scene, and his body trembled uncontrollably. Many military leaders in the county government office could even hear the sound of Mr. Liang's teeth chattering: "It can be confirmed now, the other side only has five thousand people, there is no large force."

“Only five thousand, then we…” Shi Lei and Xu Ying’s eyes lit up.

“Five thousand…that’s enough.” Mr. Liang smiled bitterly: “Even if we only have thirty thousand soldiers now, or even fifty thousand or one hundred thousand, I’m afraid we still wouldn’t be a match for the Marquis of Champion’s five thousand soldiers.”

Upon hearing this, many generals wore strange expressions, looking at Mr. Liang as if he were a madman.

Does this person have some serious illness?
Thirty thousand to five thousand, the advantage is definitely in my hands.

Even if those five thousand were elite troops, so what? Their men weren't cowards who feared death. With a six-fold numerical advantage, how could they possibly lose?

Several people couldn't help but want to make sarcastic remarks, but Li Er waved his hand sharply, stopping them immediately. After a brief hesitation, Li Er squatted down, grabbed Mr. Liang's arm, and helped him up from the ground, letting him sit in his chair. Seeing that Mr. Liang was panting heavily, Li Er gently patted his back until his breathing gradually calmed down. Then, carefully choosing his words, he slowly began to speak: "Sir, do you know this Marquis of Champion..."

In an instant, Li Er could clearly feel Mr. Liang's back muscles suddenly tighten.

After a few breaths, it gradually eased.

Taking a deep breath, Mr. Liang desperately suppressed his fear and nodded: "I know."

"The Marquis of Champion, whose surname is Song and given name is Yan, was originally the son of a concubine in the Song State Duke's family. Because he was not favored, he was married off by the Song State Duke to Princess Tianxuan, the eldest daughter of the eldest princess, as a marriage to bring good luck. He was both a prince consort and a son-in-law who moved into the daughter's family."

A mere son-in-law.

Upon hearing this, many people curled their lip, clearly showing their disdain.

After all, in any era, it is looked down upon for a man to be a live-in son-in-law. Only those incompetent men would live off a woman.

Just from the expressions on their faces, Mr. Liang understood what they were thinking. He couldn't help but sneer and continued, "The Marquis of Champion, also the Prefect of Pingyang, this man has another title..."

"The Jingguan Madman!"

For a moment, everyone looked on with suspicion.

"The so-called Jingguan is a mountain of human heads. Jingguan fanatics like to use human heads to make mountains."

Now I understand everything.

Holy crap, what kind of weird hobby is this? It's so perverted!
Why play with heads? There are so many games out there.
This person must be mentally ill.

Imagine a mountain made of human heads... You can faintly hear the sound of swallowing saliva. Although it is still unclear what abilities this Champion Marquis has, this strange hobby alone is enough to send chills down one's spine. Even Shi Lei, who had been the loudest, became quiet.

After all, although he was not very educated and was rather slow-witted, he did not want his head to become something for others to play with or to be used as material for building a mound of corpses.

"In the summer of the nineteenth year of Ninghe, Japanese pirates invaded Ningping. Song Yan created the Mandarin Duck Formation and used five hundred guards from the Princess's residence to resist the attack of five thousand Japanese pirates, killing a thousand of them. The remaining Japanese pirates were terrified and fled. Song Yan had already sent people to pour hot oil into the sea. Dozens of ships could not escape it. When the Japanese pirates fled to the coast, the sea was instantly set ablaze, and four thousand Japanese pirates were burned to ashes in the raging fire."

Mr. Liang's voice was somber, sending chills down everyone's spines, as if a cold wind were blowing through them. Images of thousands of people struggling and screaming in the flames, only to be burned to a crisp, filling the air with the stench of their carcasses, involuntarily surfaced in their minds. A dense layer of goosebumps involuntarily rose on their skin.

"The corpses were collected by Song Yan, and five thousand heads were chopped off and used to build three mounds of corpses."

"Several days later, three groups of Japanese pirates joined forces on the high seas, gathering an army of 30,000 to invade Ningping once again. By this time, Song Yan had recruited and trained 3,000 soldiers to defend against the pirates. Although they were only new recruits who had been trained for several dozen days, their performance on the battlefield was no less than that of veteran soldiers who had fought a hundred battles. It is said that these 3,000 men were like 3,000 tireless monsters. They carried their swords and cut all the way from the gate of Ningping County to the sea, killing and wounding countless Japanese pirates. Song Yan had also sealed off the coastal area with strong oil in advance. When the Japanese pirates fled to the sea, a fire instantly engulfed tens of thousands of them."

"In the end, all 30,000 Japanese pirates were either hacked to death or burned to death; not a single one survived." "Seven more mounds of Jingguan were erected outside Ningping County."

No wonder he's called the "Jingguan Maniac".

At that moment, almost everyone thought Mr. Liang was bragging. How could anyone in the world be so brave? Three thousand against thirty thousand, and he still managed to wipe out the entire enemy army? Even if you were to chop down thirty thousand pigs, it wouldn't be something you could do in one night, would it?

Since the uprising, Minwang's rebel army had been largely blocked by government troops and cut off from news. They could hardly imagine that such a formidable figure had emerged in Ningguo.

"Because of his two defenses against the Japanese pirates, Song Yan was appointed as the governor of Pingyang. At that time, Pingyang had just been trampled by the Jurchen cavalry, leaving nine out of ten houses empty, no roosters crowing for miles, and white bones filling the fields. Song Yan was furious and led several thousand soldiers to defend against the Japanese pirates. He resolutely stepped into the Jurchen territory and slaughtered an entire tribe, more than 20,000 people, regardless of age or gender, leaving no one alive... It is said that their standard for killing was based on the size of a cartwheel. Those taller than the cartwheel were to die, while those shorter than the cartwheel could live."

Shi Lei couldn't help but blink, then gestured to his waist: "Children always have a chance to survive, right?"

"The wheels are laid flat."

"Damn it." Shi Lei cursed again.

This time, neither of the two gentlemen was in the mood to criticize Shi Lei for his vulgar language, since they probably had the same thought when they first heard about the standard.

"This man's madness goes far beyond this. He had a good relationship with Jiao Junze, the prefect of Dingzhou. The two joined forces and, on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month before the New Year, braved the wind and snow to penetrate deep into the Jurchen heartland. They split into two groups. Jiao Junze led a large number of tribes to annihilate four Jurchen tribes, beheading more than 70,000. Song Yan, on the other hand, led several thousand cavalry directly to the Jurchen royal court. The mighty Jurchen royal court was completely slaughtered by Song Yan. Thousands of tents were burned to the ground, and all the food was burned. It is estimated that at least tens of thousands of Jurchen royal court members will starve or freeze to death this year."

"Currently, 70,000 heads are still piled up outside Xinhou County, waiting for the spring to thaw and then be turned into dozens of Jingguan (a type of human pyramid).

"In Pingyang City, Song Yan even defeated the 9,000 henchmen of the former Pingyang Prefect. More than 100 officials, including the Pingyang Prefect Qian Yaozu, were arrested, and their relatives were all killed."

"The Xilin Academy was massacred, and none of the hundreds of students survived."

"In the Eastern Mausoleum Imperial City, more than two hundred officials were killed by his own hands, along with thousands of their relatives. All of them were beheaded, and two mounds of skulls were built outside the Imperial City."

Mr. Liang's body trembled even more violently.

“You don’t know much about what’s happening outside, but I’m different. I escaped from Pingyang City and have been collecting information about Song Yan. To date, the number of people who have died directly or indirectly at Song Yan’s hands is no less than 100,000. He is a veritable butcher.”

"Now you understand why I said we should submit, right? We can't defeat him. Even if Song Yan only had three thousand or two thousand men, let alone five thousand, we probably still wouldn't be a match for him." After saying all the words that had been weighing on his mind, Mr. Liang suddenly felt much better.

Perhaps it was because of this fear that others shared it with me.

“I had been worried for a long time that the court might appoint the Marquis of Champion to quell the rebellion, but I never expected that day would come so soon.” Mr. Liang’s voice was full of bitterness.

After these words, everyone felt as if a heavy stone had been placed on their hearts, making it difficult to breathe. The fact that someone as proud and arrogant as Mr. Liang could be so frightened speaks volumes about the psychological trauma inflicted upon him by the Marquis of Champion. Even Li Er, compared to before, had lost some of his previous high spirits, his face gloomy and somber. To say he didn't harbor ambitions to conquer the world would be a lie; naturally, he was unwilling to surrender so easily, but a direct confrontation with Song Yan would come at a price he could not afford.

"Is there really no possibility at all?" After a long silence, Li Er slowly spoke.

"There is absolutely no hope." Mr. Liang's voice was resolute. Without witnessing those black-armored warriors killing people with their own eyes, one would never understand how terrifying they were.

"But, in the end, I'm still a little unwilling."

Li Er smiled with a slightly gloomy expression.

He will listen to the advice of others as long as what they say makes sense, but deep down he is actually quite arrogant.

Doing nothing and surrendering directly is ultimately not something he can do.

boom!
boom!
boom!
Just then, a muffled roar suddenly echoed over the fishing county.

On the table, the surface of the teacup rippled slightly.

Even the ground beneath their feet was trembling slightly.

This unexpected turn of events caused everyone's expression to change slightly. Could it be that the earth has turned upside down?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he saw a bodyguard, his face ashen, rushing to the county office: "Report, Lord Min, something terrible has happened! The government troops outside the city have launched an attack!"

hiss.

Upon hearing this, Li Er's body trembled violently.

Just because he didn't agree to submit on the spot, but only said he needed to think about it, the Marquis of Champion launched an attack so brazenly? Is he that domineering?

Without a second thought, Li Er gritted his teeth and headed straight for the county town wall, followed closely by Mr. Liang, Mr. Gao, and dozens of military officers. To withstand the government army's attack, the city wall of Yu County had been rebuilt and reinforced, standing about four zhang high and twice as thick as before. While not indestructible, it was certainly not a fortress that could be easily breached. Standing atop the wall, Li Er felt a surge of pride.

Song Yan is a ruthless character.

But how could our side be inferior?

Now, with the advantage of the city walls, even if Song Yan had three heads and six arms, he would be no match for them.

Having been frightened by Mr. Liang's words, it was truly a disgrace... Thinking this, Li Er subconsciously looked down from the city wall...

That one glance almost made my heart stop.

Five thousand soldiers stood in neat rows.

Each one was covered in gleaming armor from head to toe, the metallic sheen shimmering in the sunlight, so intense that Li Er felt as if his eyes were being pierced.

No one knew the exact weight of those armors, but the moment five thousand black-armored warriors stepped forward in unison, the entire city wall seemed to tremble three times. The war had not yet begun, but the overwhelming pressure sent chills down everyone's spines, and their fingers gripping their weapons were beaded with cold sweat.

Like a thick, violently churning dark cloud, it slowly but heavily approached the county town of Yu County.

Dark clouds are threatening to destroy the city!
Nothing more.

Damn it, he only has three thousand armored soldiers under his command, and most of them are wearing rattan armor, leather armor, or half-body iron armor. How can Song Yan be so arrogant? Not only are all his soldiers armored, but they are also made entirely of fine steel from head to toe.
Is it great to be rich?

Does having money give you the right to bully people?

In that instant, Li Er felt a strong sense of despair, like a frail young girl being wantonly bullied by a nine-foot-tall strong man, yet powerless to resist.

Rumble…

Another step was taken.

It felt like trampling on everyone's heart, causing it to convulse and spasm.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could clearly see that many people had deathly pale faces, their throats were constantly moving, and they were swallowing saliva that kept secreting.

"Archers, prepare..."

Seeing that the five thousand black-armored soldiers had finally entered firing range, Li Er raised his arm and let out a loud shout, finally waking the soldiers on the city wall from their shock.

One by one, the soldiers hurriedly took out their military crossbows, drew their bows, and nocked arrows.

The next instant, a dense and chaotic rain of arrows swept forward.

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

The sounds of metal clashing came together.

The arrow struck the black armor, sending up a trail of sparks, and then... fell limply to the ground.

This black armor is terrifying beyond belief.

Even the most powerful crossbows in the army couldn't break through the defenses.

Just then, the five thousand black-armored soldiers finally stopped temporarily.

At the front of the battle formation stood a tall, slender man, eight feet tall, whose imposing presence was accentuated by his armor. They looked up and their eyes met in an instant.

In mid-air, faint sparks flickered.

Because of the helmet, Li Er couldn't see the other person's face, but he could see a pair of extremely cold eyes beneath the armor.

It is Song Yan.

He didn't recognize Song Yan, but he was inexplicably certain that this man was the Marquis of Champion, the Madman of Jingguan.

Immediately afterwards, Song Yan reached into his robes and pulled out a metal cylinder about a foot long and as thick as an upper arm.

Immediately, he took a step forward with his left foot.

Open your right hand as wide as possible.

Like a bowstring drawn to its fullest extent, with a whoosh, a thick, long, black metal column flew out of my hand, tracing a graceful parabola in mid-air, precisely crossing a distance of nearly a hundred steps.

With a loud bang, it slammed heavily onto the county town gate.

Li Er was taken aback. Could this man be trying to use that metal rod to smash open the city gate of Yu County?
Are you crazy?

The next moment...

Rumble, rumble!

(End of this chapter)