When food prices climbed so high that no one could afford them, Qingshan City fell into total chaos.

“Are they going to let us live or not?!”

Shouts like this spread, and gradually, people in Qingshan City began to riot. They stormed grain shops and broke into homes to steal rice and flour.

When matters got out of hand, chaos exploded completely.

As the unrest erupted, the authorities immediately sent people to put it down. But the mobs were too big. With no choice, they called in troops from outside the city.

For a while, the whole street rang with the sounds of smashing and fighting.

“Those government soldiers get food! And we get none! The Righteous Army? What a joke! Time to rebel! Screw this!”

“Kill them!!”

But these people were starving, hadn’t eaten a full meal for days. How could they defeat these well-trained soldiers?

In less than half a day, the uprising in Qingshan City was completely crushed.

The city gates were shut that same day.

No one was allowed in or out!

After this happened, no shop in Qingshan City dared open anymore. No one set up stalls. Everyone hid at home, surviving on whatever tiny scraps of food were left.

The old man hurried to report to the Young Master.

“Young Master, there was a riot outside. It’s been put down.”

The old man was careful. Yan Ruchu was lying in bed, weak and dizzy.

Yan Ruchu sat up in bed. “Are we running out of grain in Qingshan City?”

The old man hesitated. “The old grain was mostly supplied to the army. There’s not much left within the city walls, so…”

Yan Ruchu raised an eyebrow. “Set aside a portion. Open soup kitchens. Calm the people’s anger first, then we’ll plan.”

The old man’s heart sank. “Young Master…”

“What?”

“It’s not enough.”

The old man said quietly, “Even if we ration strictly, the remaining grain… won’t be enough to feed all those desperate people.”

Yan Ruchu fell silent upon hearing this.

“There’s too little grain left…”

That was eighty thousand mouths to feed. Qingshan City had fertile land, but with the drought, feeding eighty thousand was simply impossible.

Yan Ruchu sighed and waved his hand. “You may go.”

Seeing this, the old man asked no more and withdrew.

Yan Ruchu got out of bed. He walked towards the study and found Master Zhu again.

“Master Zhu…”

The scholar, seeing Yan Ruchu arrive, looked somewhat surprised. He nodded in acknowledgement, then asked why Yan Ruchu had come.

Yan Ruchu sat down. He took a slow breath. “I must ask again, Master Zhu. Are you truly without any solution?”

Hearing this, Master Zhu paused. He was silent for a moment, then sighed.

“There are two possible paths.”

A gleam appeared in Yan Ruchu’s eyes. “So, Master, you do have methods.”

Master Zhu shook his head. “Measures of last resort, hardly worthy of being called methods.”

Then he began to speak.

Master Zhu said, “The Righteous Army is trapped like a turtle in a jar. Only one plan offers a sliver of hope. But that hope would vanish in an instant.”

Yan Ruchu understood. “A fight to the death…”

Master Zhu nodded. “Even if you manage to break through the three thousand Xiang Army outside the city, the Righteous Army will suffer heavy losses. By the time Xiang reinforcements arrive, leaving Qingshan City… will be certain death.”

“And the second plan?” asked Yan Ruchu.

Master Zhu was silent for a moment. “Your Highness… do you know why this great drought has come?”

Yan Ruchu was stunned. “Master Zhu… what do you mean?”

Master Zhu looked at him. “Your Highness, you should be dead.”

Yan Ruchu’s mind reeled. He suddenly felt dizzy. He swayed on the chair, almost falling off.

“This great drought… is it because of me?”

Yan Ruchu asked this.

Master Zhu’s expression was grave. “Heaven’s Will is difficult to oppose. Even I… cannot prevail against it.”

Yan Ruchu sat in the chair. For a long time, he did not speak.

He suddenly felt it was absurd.

Years of effort, gaining the land of Abyss River… hoping to restore the glory of the Jing Era. And all it took was a word “Heaven’s Will” to wash it all away.

So what had he been doing all these years?

Meaningless things?

“Pathetic…”

A bitter self-mocking laugh escaped Yan Ruchu’s lips. His body shook with each hollow chuckle.

At that moment, he felt himself falling into an abyss.

Master Zhu was also confused.

For a moment, he couldn’t determine if the man before him was truly the one his Master had chosen. If it was Yan Ruchu… why would Heaven oppose him like this?

How could his Master choose someone Heaven itself had turned against?

Yan Ruchu left the study, utterly defeated.

After Yan Ruchu left,

The scholar sitting in the study suddenly paled.

“Cough…!”

A mouthful of blood splattered onto the book before him.

Master Zhu’s face was deathly white, blood staining the corner of his mouth.

Some truths simply cannot be spoken lightly. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He had underestimated the backlash from violating the Heavenly Dao. Just saying those two things had almost shattered his Soul Spirit.

……

Three more days passed. Qingshan City was now in utter chaos.

Forced entry and robberies happened constantly. Mobs even tried to storm the Yamen to seize grain. Fires broke out everywhere on the streets, lighting up the nights.

Huge flames seemed like signs of the end.

When Yan Ruchu stood on a high building, gazing at those fires, the last shred of hope in his heart vanished.

He could not escape Heaven’s Will.

“If I leave… will things get better here…?”

Yan Ruchu no longer wanted the fight.

He sighed deeply and said to the old man beside him, “Even if we survive this calamity, another disaster will come. Fighting for an empire like this… isn’t worth it.”

“Bring me ink, brush, and paper…”

That night, by the light of the city burning, he wrote his letter of surrender.

A few days later, the letter reached the commander of the Xiang Army camped outside Abyss River.

Inside the surrender letter, there was only one condition:

[…I implore the Prince of Xiang to treat the Righteous Army kindly; relieve this suffering Green Mountain City; restore it to what it once was.]

The letter traveled swiftly from the Xiang camp straight to Shangjing.

On the second day after sending this letter,

Yan Ruchu went to the military camp outside Qingshan City.

“This journey has been full of hardship and travel. I wanted to restore the glory of the Jing Era… Who knew Heaven toys with mortals? Before us is certain death… no escape.”

“By sacrificing only one man… my generals and soldiers can live. The people of Qingshan City can live. It is the best of the bad choices…”

Yan Ruchu let out a bitter laugh. “You soldiers… have simply followed a pitiful, worthless king.”

That day, the entire camp fell silent.

As soldiers, how could they not understand?

Tens of thousands of soldiers slowly laid down their weapons.

“Your Majesty is merciful!!”

“Your Majesty is merciful!”

Tens of thousands of voices rose from the camp.

Yan Ruchu watched this scene. He let out a long sigh and began walking towards Chang Guan Pass.

In the late Huai Xu month of the fourteenth year of Xinglong.

The Southern King surrendered at Abyss River. The chaos across the Southern Region… ended here.

The Prince of Xiang, moved by the world’s suffering, spared all eighty thousand Rebel soldiers, absorbing them into his army. He ordered grain warehouses opened everywhere to relieve the disaster and calm the famine, protecting all the people across the land.