Did she have a screw loose! Ten thousand rebel troops, though seven or eight thousand were killed by Xiao Nu's artillery, there were still about twenty thousand surrounded in the camp. These men were all elite rebels, and keeping them would definitely be a scourge!
"Don't rush them into the city just yet. I'll go talk to His Majesty," I said.
Li Yuanhao pouted, "Imperial orders are hard to defy. Official Wu, I can only stop accepting surrenders after you get the imperial decree."
He was actually giving me face. He hadn't refused me outright, just used the King of Hell as a shield. I knew my place and couldn't say much more. I had no choice but to activate the Gale Force technique and rush towards the circular mountain. I found the King of Hell standing with her hands behind her back, observing the battlefield from atop a large rock.
"Your Majesty, how can you accept the rebels' surrender!" I asked directly.
The King of Hell glanced back at me and said calmly, "To annihilate them completely would cost at least ten thousand of our soldiers, and it would take some time—"
Or, the King of Hell pointed southwest and continued, "Scouts report that ten thousand enemy reinforcements on horseback are heading this way!"
Ten thousand cavalry, not a lot, but enough to change the tide of the battle!
"But if we accept their surrender now, and the reinforcements arrive, the rebels can create trouble from the inside, wouldn't that be even more dangerous?" I asked, confused.
"Therefore, we cannot wait until then. We must kill them all, now!" The King of Hell made a slicing gesture.
"Kill them all? How?" I asked.
"You don't need to worry about that. Deal with them within half an hour," the King of Hell said. Then she turned and descended the rock from the other side. By the time I circled around, she had already mounted her horse and was preparing to return to the city.
Perplexed, I had no choice but to conjure the Gale Force technique again and run back to the city.
Zheng Baobao's injuries weren't serious. She was in the city organizing the surrendering rebels and directing them towards a designated area. She also had a pigeon perched on her shoulder, likely having received instructions from the King of Hell.
"Where are they being escorted to?" I asked Zheng Baobao.
"For now, they will be held in Grassland Gorge."
"What is that place?"
"A grove of trees to the east of the city."
"A grove of trees?" I pondered. I had walked along the city walls a few times before and was quite familiar with the situation in Erqi City. The eastern side of the city was a natural depression, indeed a wooded area, similar to the circular mountain outside, with trees like pines. However, it wasn't entirely forest. In the middle of the woods were many residents, about a hundred households, living in buildings resembling the stilt houses of the Yang Realm, possibly because the terrain was low and often flooded.
"Why send them there?" I asked again, questioning the decision to go the long way. The workshop area near the north gate within the city could have been cleared to house the rebels.
Zheng Baobao ignored me and rode ahead.
Xiao Nu also entered the city gate. Seeing me, she smiled proudly, "You saw it, didn't you?"
"I saw it. She's indeed a master. I'll try to take you to the Yang Realm later," I said.
"Really!"
"Really. But do you know why they're escorting the rebels to Grassland Gorge?" I seized the opportunity to ask.
"I don't know. King Xiliang's orders, is it His Majesty's command?" Xiao Nu was also puzzled.
Baffled, I had no choice but to ascend the city gate tower and observe the situation from a high vantage point.
The enemy's ten thousand cavalry hadn't appeared within the range of my physiognomy technique yet. I didn't know how far away they were. The rebels outside the city probably didn't know this news. They were entering the city in an orderly fashion. If they knew, they probably wouldn't have surrendered; if they held out for rebel reinforcements, they would still have a chance of winning.
About twenty minutes later, the vast rebel army finally entered the city completely. I also arrived at the eastern side of the city. Nearly twenty thousand rebels were crowded into a not-so-large depression. The hundreds of civilians living inside wanted to go outside the depression, but the rebels wouldn't allow it, refusing to let them leave. This was quite normal; rebels also needed hostages.
Moreover, not just these civilians, but about a thousand imperial troops were among the rebels. Ostensibly to maintain order, but actually as hostages. Twenty thousand unarmed rebels, surrounded by a thousand imperial troops armed with cold weapons, made for a completely controlled power dynamic.
After settling all the rebels, I suddenly noticed that the imperial troops on the periphery began to move rapidly, pushing cartloads of wooden buckets. I didn't know what they were for, perhaps to quench the rebels' thirst?
Behind them, more carts were pushed forward, carrying wooden boxes. These were visible because their lids were off, and they contained yellowish food that looked like millet porridge.