"I believe General Qin will make a decision in his heart. The idea that women should be confined to deep palaces and homes needs to change!"
"The future generations are shaped by one female hero and heroine after another. They have used their flesh and blood to forge a new Great Wall..."
Gender equality?!
Miss Gu.
That war broadcast you mentioned, I watched it, saw it, understood it, was shocked by it, and believed it!
But.
How can thoughts deeply ingrained for decades be broken overnight?
Qin Vice General smiled somewhat sarcastically, perhaps mocking himself, laughing at his own unwavering loyalty that led to such an outcome.
"What are you daydreaming about again?!"
"General Qin, oh no, Qin Vice General, this is a good opportunity for you to make merit."
"I'm thinking of your best interests. If you redeem yourself this time, His Majesty might be pleased and reinstate you to your original position!"
"The process doesn't matter, what's important is the result! As long as we can capture the Elder Princess, what does it matter if some civilians die?!" Guan Pei sat high on his horse, looking at his former superior with suspicion and pride.
Qin Vice General said nothing more, leading fifty thousand soldiers away from the main troops, circling around to approach the south gate of the plague city.
While the imperial court's fifty thousand troops were advancing on all fronts.
Inside the plague city.
The Elder Princess was on a call with Gu Sang, discussing soldier allowances and new rules.
Although the Elder Princess wasn't watching the live broadcast when Lin Lin's incident happened, hearing about it afterwards still felt like a punch to her heart, painful, throbbing, and numbing.
The Elder Princess took a deep breath. She didn't want to see such human tragedies again!
Such a kind and beautiful girl shouldn't be troubled by rumors.
She was powerless in Lin Lin's case, but in the plague city, in her future kingdom.
This kind of thing must never happen again!
With this in mind, the Elder Princess looked at Gu Sang with determination and said, "Sang Sang, I've decided to promulgate a law. Anyone who spreads unfounded rumors, once investigated and proven true, and has caused certain harm to the person being rumored about, will have words carved on their face."
"Those who spread unverified rumors causing harm to the person being rumored about will receive twenty lashes and have to parade around the city once, as a warning to others!"
Gu Sang's eyes lit up immediately: "This law is good. In our world, it's because spreading rumors has no cost. When a scumbag can't pursue a girl, he spreads rumors that she's slept with someone."
"Seeing a girl wearing clothes worth over a thousand yuan, they'll immediately spread rumors that she works at a bar in private, is kept by someone, or is involved with her boss."
"There are too many instances of such rumor-mongering about women."
"It's not just girls. Even among work colleagues in competitive relationships, they can't compete fairly and have to resort to spreading rumors and causing trouble."
"And those who are meek and timid in real life turn into internet trolls online, spewing filth. These people do this because there are no consequences for spreading rumors, so they run wild on the internet."
"If rumor-mongers had words carved on their faces, words that would accompany them for life and could never be washed away, then the number of rumor-mongers would drastically decrease. Moreover, in the future, when they try to spread rumors again, others would see the words on their faces and not believe them."
Gu Sang thought this idea was brilliant. When dealing with certain people, kindness invites bullying, so the law must be strict.
Now that the soldier allowances have been finalized, they're just waiting to be announced.
And some rules for survival also need to be established.
With the plague city as the center, serving as the main base, slowly conquering one territory after another!
"Elder Princess, fifty thousand imperial court soldiers are marching towards us from a few kilometers away."
The Elder Princess's call with Gu Sang was taking place in the living room when Advisor Xu walked in from outside.
This person was recommended to her by Strategist Fang and was considered quite clever.
The Elder Princess kept him by her side to handle miscellaneous matters.
Hearing the report, the Elder Princess raised her eyebrows, her eyes showing no fear or trepidation, calmly saying: "Fifty thousand soldiers? This incompetent fool wants to annihilate me in this plague city."
"Too bad, it's too late."
"Advisor Xu, tell General Zhou to bring out the cannons!"
"It's time to teach this useless person a lesson!"
After Advisor Xu left with his orders, the Elder Princess went to the city wall along with Gu Sang.
After waiting for a while, they saw dust rolling in the distance, and an endless line of fifty thousand soldiers marching rapidly towards them.
Zhou Qichen looked ahead and saw that the commander was actually Guan Pei, who used to be a vice general, while General Qin was nowhere to be seen.
Zhou Qichen's face showed deep thought.
Then he said to the Elder Princess: "Elder Princess, General Qin is not in the ranks. I fear they've divided their forces and will attack from another city gate."
The Elder Princess stood on the city wall, looking into the distance and nodding: "General Zhou, take the trained special forces and set up an ambush at the back gate!"
"We are few in number. General Zhou, you don't need to kill many people, just ambush and raid, try not to let our soldiers suffer casualties."
Zhou Qichen smiled proudly: "Elder Princess, please rest assured. I can't guarantee everything about the special forces I've trained, but when it comes to using terrain for ambushes, they can definitely be said to be worth a hundred regular soldiers each!"
With that, Zhou Qichen handed over the cannon troops to Advisor Xu.
He then led the hundred or so special forces he had trained to guard the back gate.
Guan Pei led the army to stop at a safe distance. At this time, a person walked out from the army to shout at the city wall.
The imperial court messenger's voice was loud and full of momentum: "Elder Princess, His Majesty has sent General Guan to lead fifty thousand troops to attack the plague city!"
"If you know what's good for you, you'll come out of the city and surrender early!"
"Otherwise, with the army at your doorstep—"
Before he could finish speaking.
Something jaw-dropping happened—
What did he see?
What did all the imperial court generals see?
Only to see!
The city gate was slowly opening from the inside at this moment.
This made the shouting person lose confidence.
No, how could they surrender so quickly?
Shouldn't they have persisted, then hesitated a bit?
The shouting person looked back at Guan Pei. Seeing the city gate open, Guan Pei laughed loudly.
While laughing, he said mockingly and proudly: "Hahaha!! A bunch of rabble, and they call themselves rebels? They're scared stiff at the sight of fifty thousand troops!"
"I've always said, what earth-shattering things can a woman who's only fit to be a wife and mother do?"
"One look at our army and they're scared to death!"
"Let alone that these are elite troops. The Elder Princess, being a weak woman, is afraid— Hey, what's that??"
Guan Pei's words came to an abrupt halt, followed by a startled exclamation.
At the wide-open city gates, several pitch-black objects were being pushed out from inside. No, these things looked like they were made of iron, and they were much larger than fire pokers.
These objects had wheels underneath and were being pushed out by several soldiers.
Lined up in a row, there were as many as five of these things.
They gleamed with a mysterious black luster under the sun.
Guan Pei stopped laughing and shouted dubiously at the Elder Princess on the city tower, "Elder Princess, what is the meaning of this? If you've already surrendered, why haven't you come down to face your punishment?!"
