Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors-Chapter 545 - 277: Fight to the Death with the Jin!_3

"Come, guys, the weather is nice today, let’s go to the brothel and listen to some music,"

Having said that, these several government officers completely ignored the Jin merchant and turned to walk towards the side’s brothel.

The knife was simply thrown onto the ground.

The wanderers looked at each other and then picked it up with doubt.

The face of the Jin merchant turned deathly pale, "Help, help!"

However, this time, he didn’t get far before he was subdued and pinned to the ground by several wanderers.

Such scenes were unfolding everywhere in the Qi Dynasty.

Even in the towns occupied by the Jin soldiers, cases of Qi people picking up weapons and ferociously attacking, killing Jin soldiers were countless.

And the government officers originally siding with the Jin, all tacitly chose to turn a blind eye and even gleefully joined in.

Because the wind had changed!

An emissary from Jin had been killed right in the court, let alone ordinary Jin people?

Though no one knew the truth about what happened in the court, the rumor that an emissary struck the emperor sounded unreliable, but what mattered was that once the court proclaimed this incident to the world, it was making a statement.

It meant the court was ready to fight with the Jin to the death!

Under such circumstances, did the truth of the matter still matter?

Not at all.

Perhaps there were relatively innocent among the Jin people killed everywhere, but upon reflection, one would realize they were not innocent at all.

If they were innocent, were the Qi civilians, who were massacred and plundered during the countless Jin invasions, innocent?

Most of these Jin merchants had enjoyed the benefits brought by the strength of Jin Country, they had run amok on the lands of Qi with impunity, and even in times of trouble, the Qi government officers would stand by them.

Whether they were involved in illegal dealings or simply conducting normal business, they all reaped enormous profits, all tied to the Jin’s invasions.

Having enjoyed the benefits, it was now time for them to face the consequences.

All in all, a wave of fury had been set off from top to bottom.

Northern Expedition, had become a unanimous decision among the citizens of the Qi Dynasty!

As for the Jin, their first reaction was of course, great anger.

They could never believe the Honey Drape’s explanation, nor could they believe that Zan Mo, as an envoy, dared to attack the emperor of Qi in the Golden Throne Hall and severely injured several ministers.

Actually, the Jin were well aware that this emperor was their best ally.

If they really killed this emperor and replaced him with one determined to carry out northern expeditions, along with General Han Fuyue, what would happen?

Therefore, the Jin’s attitude towards Emperor Gaozong of Qi had shifted from initially wanting him beheaded to now coercing and bribing him.

Under such circumstances, how could Zan Mo possibly act on his own to assassinate the emperor?

The Jin accused Qi of being dishonorable in warfare, not only having killed their envoy but also trying to tarnish their reputation.

Meanwhile, the response from the Qi court was bold and confident.

It was Zan Mo who had attacked first! What, you don’t believe it? Go ask him yourself!

After all, no one else had witnessed what happened in the court; whatever we say, goes.

Besides, look at what you’ve done to our emperor—injuries so severe he can hardly care for himself confined in the palace, have you ever seen such an act of self-injury? How could we possibly strike our own emperor?

Both parties stuck to their opinions, clearly, no one could persuade the other.

So, let’s fight!

General Han Fuyue rose again, commanded the national troops, divided them into four routes, and swore to carry out a northern expedition.

Three months later, the Qi Army’s forces reached right below the walls of Yan Jing City.

This outcome was not surprising.

The Jin soldiers had already suffered losses during the previous northern expedition, with infighting breaking out everywhere.

Wanyan Sheng had seen through the true character of Emperor Gaozong of Qi and Qin Huizhi, hence he pretended to be strong but actually hollow, leading these two to wrongly kill General Han Fuyue and sign a peace treaty extremely favorable to the Jin Country.

But now, just as the treaty was about to be finalized, it was torn up.

General Han Fuyue took command once again, and this time, he had the full support of the Qi Dynasty!

The Rebel Army of the Northern Land also played a significant role once again.

Originally, the Rebel Army of the Northern Land had risen in arms under the brilliant strategy of "connecting He Shuo", ready to support General Han Fuyue from both inside and outside, and the lost territories would have been quickly regained.

However, the retreat orders from Emperor Gaozong of Qi and Qin Huizhi directly betrayed these rebels.

Had there been further delays, Wanyan Sheng would have been able to free up forces, turn back, and annihilate these rebels, establishing military settlements and firmly taking control of these lands for the Jin Country.

Therefore, General Han Fuyue lamented, "Ten years of efforts, all lost in one day."

At that time, he had already clearly understood that after this retreat, the court would not gather a large army and supplies to conduct another northern expedition for several years.

And once this opportunity was missed, the entire situation in the north would become completely different.

But, the Qi Dynasty foolishly swallowed the previous commands and continued the northern expedition!

Furthermore, logistical supplies were even more abundant, and the army’s morale was very high.

Thus, the losses of those opportunities during this period became insignificant, and due to the highly efficient operation of the entire Qi Dynasty system, this northern expedition proceeded even more smoothly!

The only thing that made General Han Fuyue somewhat puzzled was, where was the emperor?

The last time he was brought to the court, it turned into a fan meet-up, with colleagues who usually interacted with him lining up for his autograph, as if they were seeing him for the first time.

And the emperor never showed up from the start to the end.

General Han Fuyue naturally found this confusing, and later, hearing that the emperor had been seriously injured by a Jin envoy and was recuperating in the depths of the palace, he proposed to visit him proactively, but the high officials tactfully refused.

He was urgently sent away from the capital to lead the troops.

This situation was suspicious, but for General Han Fuyue, there was no need to delve into it. As long as the court could still supply provisions and logistics, then continue with the northern expedition!

The unprecedented accomplishment of reclaiming Yan Yun was right before his eyes.

However, upon arriving at the gates of the Yan Jing City, the battle became not so smooth.

Because the dynamics of the attack and defense between the two sides had changed.

Yan Yun had separated from the Central Plains long ago, and their sense of identification with the Jin Country was even higher than with the Qi Dynasty.

Before, General Han Fuyue had been able to sweep through the north with the Qi Army because these places were mostly old territories of the Qi Dynasty; as soon as the grand army arrived, not only did the Rebel Army rise up, but many civilians also spontaneously collaborated.

The Jin soldiers, seeing the overall situation was unfavorable, naturally would not stubbornly confront the Qi Army in these places, and could only keep retreating.

But in Yan Yun, the Jin soldiers had been well-established for a long time, there were no Rebel Army or insiders, and moreover, the Jin were the defenders and the Qi Army the attackers.

Worse yet, the combat will of the Jin soldiers here was extremely high, and even their individual combat strength seemed to have noticeably increased.

This made General Han Fuyue realize that taking down Yan Jing City was not going to be as simple as he thought.

Holding the army at the strong city, delaying for a long time, with reinforcements gathering from all sides... by then, it would likely be dangerous.

In actual history, the defenses of Yan Jing City were not this formidable.

In this historical slice, Xingtian had infused a vast amount of Demonic Qi upon these strong cities, strengthening the Jin soldiers here.

Clearly, he knew that even with enhanced Jin soldiers, they would still struggle in open-field battles against the players, so he put all his hopes on defense.

It must be said that this was quite a challenging situation in the era of cold weapons.

Even General Han Fuyue, a commander of renown, was somewhat at a loss.

And just when he was frowning with concern in the grand tent, several officials from the Ministry of Industry in the capital came to visit.

"General Han, I have a few blueprints here that can help you break through this strong city!"

Li Hongyun, Cui Huowang, and a few other players set down their Divine Machine cases from behind their backs, their words brimming with confidence.