NOVGO.NET Chapter 1344: Chapter 1339: Opposition Pushed to the Extreme
Chapter 1344: Chapter 1339: Opposition Pushed to the Extreme
Everyone followed his gaze, landing on Lin Sisi.
Lin Sisi subconsciously touched the Youming Knife at her waist. “Me?”
Did Chen Ruobai want to kill her?
“If you could be persuaded to defect and were granted the highest position, making you the First-Rank Female General of the Great Cheng Dynasty, in her eyes, you would be half of the Great Cheng Dynasty.” Chu Yihan’s gaze toward Lin Sisi grew intense.
Lin Sisi suddenly knelt down. “Your Majesty’s discernment is clear. Until death, I could never be used by others; in this life, I am loyal only to the Emperor and my most respected master!”
She clasped her fists, her gaze earnest as she looked at Chu Yihan with absolute reverence and admiration.
She would never betray Chu Yihan.
Her monarch, her master!
“I didn’t say I would take you as my disciple, rise.”
Chu Yihan’s handsome and stern face was expressionless. Lin Sisi touched her knife and stood up, whispering, “You didn’t say it, but you gave the sword manuals anyway, what’s the difference?”
She was teaching her nonetheless!
She didn’t care; she now had a master!
Su Yingxue noticed her little schemes. When traveling, Su Yingxue strapped sword manuals and military books to her belt, her presence devoid of any trace of rouge and cosmetics. Instead, her dashing military bearing and obsession with military strategy and martial arts were extraordinarily distinct.
Inside Qiongzhou City, chaos reigned. Xin Yi, who had tirelessly suppressed the upheaval continuously for three days, and her troops were wearing thin. Chen Ruobai had sent forces to resist Chu Yihan’s army, and their corps of manipulated corpses had greatly diminished. One mobilized troops, one trained the manipulated corpses; both were severely drained.
In the middle of the night, Xin Yi, sword in hand, entered Qiongzhou Prefecture. When she met Chen Ruobai, she gasped heavily and spoke apologetically, “Princess, I am incompetent. There are uprisings in all the regions with men instigating the rebellions and women supporting them. They even burned down the houses Your Grace bestowed upon your female officials and rescued many men. The city walls are under attack all day. We might be running out of manipulated corpses, and in two days, when Chu Yihan’s army bears down, Qiongzhou City won’t hold.”
Chen Ruobai was also exhausted, her enchanting, delicate face terrifyingly pale. Training the manipulated corpses immensely drained her spirit, and she had not rested in a long while. Now that she finally took a break, she assured Xin Yi, “Do not be afraid. After tonight, Qionzhon City will stabilize.”
“Tonight?” Xin Yi was mildly shocked.
“Zhuo Qing misses her husband and son, right? Let her meet them.”
Chen Ruobai’s mouth curved into a sly smile, a hint of disdain flickering in her eyes.
As Chu Yihan breached her city walls, she would show him how his walls were broken!
At night, large groups of manipulated corpses charged toward the Ruo Shui Pass, and the sound of war drums awakened the entire area.
Inside Qiongzhou City, though, only one place was in turmoil.
Zhuo Qing was released to her own home. Originally the daughter of the Prime Minister and the wife of a left General, she longed to return to her husband and son at the General Manor, knowing their lives were fraught with hardships. Thus, as soon as Chen Ruobai set her free, she rushed back to see them.
What awaited her at home was not her struggling husband and son but a piercing weapon coming straight at her.
“Thud!”
The little boy plunged a spear into Zhuo Qing’s abdomen. Caught off guard, the pain struck her just as she clearly saw the scorn and deep hatred in her husband and son’s eyes, a hatred that desired her elimination.
Zhuo Qing cried out in pain, “Hubby, Heng’er, I…”
“Don’t call me hubby! You abet tyranny, a filthy and unchaste woman! The chaos those women brought upon Qiongzhou City is a disgrace beyond measure! Women should only attend to their husbands and teach their children to be good and virtuous! But you, you dared take on the role of a man, becoming a female Prime Minister, wielding power to recklessly take lives and indulge in debauchery! You are nothing but doom itself; today, I will rid Qiongzhou City of you, you demoness!”
The man, his cheeks hollowed and hateful as if facing a sworn enemy, thrust his sword at Zhuo Qing.
In that moment, Zhuo Qing’s heart shattered.
She loved them; she had always vehemently advised Chen Ruobai not to treat them so harshly, and even risked opening the city gates to seek help from the Emperor detained by Ruo Shui, hoping to restore the former glory of Qiongzhou City.
But they…
Although her young son’s martial arts skills were feeble, the spear that entered her flesh was vividly stirring her blood and flesh.
So all that she had fiercely defended and desperately protected was merely… her own wishful thinking?
“Lord Zhuo!” Xin Yi arrived and kicked over the child, saving Zhuo Qing from her husband’s grasp.
Starving them for days, no matter how skilled their martial arts were, they could not compare to Xin Yi, and the female soldiers behind her easily subdued them.
Zhuo Qing, clutching her bleeding abdomen, glared hatefully at the kneeling man, “Women should only attend to their husbands and raise children? You think women deserve to be debased by you all their lives? Just because one is born a woman… why should she be humiliated and betrayed by you, yet still have to serve you with virtue and modesty?”
She was born into nobility, well-versed in literature, and even the Emperor had praised her. Had she been a man, she would surely have held a position at court.
But she was merely a woman, destined only to be a wife, to serve her husband and raise children.
Now…
“If Lord Zhuo still wishes to serve her husband and raise children, I can plead for these two on your behalf, sparing their lives so your family can leave Qiongzhou City and no longer toil for the princess,” Xin Yi advised Zhuo Qing following Chen Ruobai’s instructions.
Zhuo Qing coldly scoffed, her face ashen, “Serve my husband and raise children? They are not worthy!”
Zhuo Qing staggered out of the General Manor and ran to Chen Ruobai, her eyes filled with furious hatred as she kowtowed, “What the princess said is true, men are inherently despicable, oppressing women, using us for their pleasure! Why shouldn’t we rise up in resistance, why should we spend our lives laboring and sacrificing for them?”
At home, she obeyed her father; after marriage, her husband. But what had she gained?
Her talents had no outlet; her husband and children had discarded her like worn-out shoes, branding her licentious and shameless, greedy for pleasure…
“Heh!” Zhuo Qing scoffed bitterly, a storm brewing in her eyes.
Chen Ruobai was pleased with her reaction, personally helping her up and treating her injuries, instructing her to rest well.
But Zhuo Qing’s spirit grew stronger; she cared little for rest, telling Chen Ruobai that in two days, she could quell the chaos within the city.
She had Chen Ruobai release the imprisoned official’s wives’ husbands and had Xin Yi watch over them. These locked-up men, fierce and cruel, each returned home only to vent their frustrations and abuse their women.
The longings and hopes of those noble women were brutally shattered; their feelings towards men were only fear and loathing.
Compared to dying at their hands, wielding power, taking the offensive, and dominating over men was far better, providing them much-needed safety.
Zhuo Qing also wrote the “Proclamation to the Women,” with flamboyant talent and grandeur, invigorating all the women of Qiongzhou City to not dwell on men, but to refine their temperaments and skills. Those with talent were employed by Chen Ruobai; those with wealth helped support the city, setting up schools for women and martial arts halls, ensuring that all women could learn, gain, and achieve independence.
The intense opposition between men and women in the city was brought to a breaking point by Zhuo Qing.