51. The Traitorous General

"My Da Zhuang, he is only seventeen years old this year, he has not married yet, and has not left any children, all because of your grandson, he died, even the body was not intact, how dare you come to me to plead for mercy, give my son back to me."

An excited woman, just smashing eggs and leaves is not enough, she yelled and scolded at the women of the Yan family, and tried to break through the blockade of the outermost circle of soldiers and rushed to find Old Lady Yan to argue.

"And my son-in-law, my daughter has three children, one of whom is still crying for food, the main pillar collapsed, this family can't survive, that traitor must pay with his life."

The onlookers were obviously a little excited, pulling more and more people to break through the blockade. They couldn't touch the culprit for the time being, but they had to let these ignorant women and children who tried to threaten His Majesty and let the criminal out get retribution.

"Old lady, just take the ladies back. His Majesty will not see you."

The captain who guarded the imperial city was once a subordinate of General Yan. He always respected the Yan family. Now it was Yan Chu who made a mistake. He did not want the women of the Yan family to be implicated.

Now His Majesty does not seem to want to punish the women of the Yan family. For the mistakes made by Yan Chu, it is already a mercy outside the law. If His Majesty is angered now, I don't know what the outcome will be.

Now is the time when people are most resentful. More than 30,000 generals died because of the mistakes of Yan Chu, the main general.

In the past few years, Zhou, Ming, and Jiang have been recuperating and have always kept to themselves. Yan Chu, who was originally stationed in Bianzhou, actually took the initiative to lead troops to attack the border city of Ming. Although Ming is now short of troops, its comprehensive strength has always been far superior to Zhou. How could it tolerate Zhou's offense?

It's strange to say, I don't know if it's because Yan Chu led the army well, but when the army was less than that of Zhou State, the two countries fought evenly, and Yan Chu even won a few games occasionally.

Unfortunately, the royal family of Da Zhou was afraid, and they took the initiative to propose peace with Ming State. Considering the covetous Jiang State, and the emperor of Da Zhou took the initiative to cede ten cities in Bianzhou, I'm afraid this war will continue, and the casualties will naturally be more than 30,000 generals.

Originally, the generals were not subject to military orders when they were away. If there was a reason, Yan Chu's actions might not be properly resolved, but the bad thing was that his secret correspondence with Jiang State was found in his camp account, which stirred up a hornet's nest.

Originally, it was a strange thing for him to suddenly lead troops to attack Ming State, but when this matter was linked to Jiang State, it was easy to explain. I'm afraid Yan Chu had been bribed by Jiang State without knowing it. He led troops to attack Ming State, which could deplete the national strength of both sides. Wouldn't that mean that Jiang State would become stronger at that time?

Originally, Bianzhou was the territory of the Yan family army. If he concealed everything well, the capital would not notice it until the war had reached an uncontrollable point. Fortunately, Yan Chu's deputy general, General Fu Congfu, who was now named General of Chariots and Cavalry, acted decisively and joined forces with his confidants to capture and imprison Yan Chu, and immediately ceased hostilities with Ming and sent people to the capital to convey a message, which stopped the deterioration of the situation.

After Yan Chu was escorted back to the capital, he admitted that he led the army to attack Ming, but refused to admit that he had an affair with Jiang. Unfortunately, the evidence was overwhelming. All the letters he exchanged with Jiang were indeed his notes, and there was no way to argue about this.

Although he repeatedly pointed out that Ming and Jiang had wolfish ambitions and were probably ready to join forces to attack Zhou, rather than being attacked from both sides, he would rather take the lead and attack Da Zhou, whose military strength was weaker than Jiang, when he had the upper hand.

The Emperor of Jiang was the most cautious. He might sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the tigers, waiting for Zhou and Ming to be defeated before taking action. If they could successfully conquer the Great Zhou before that, there might be a glimmer of hope.

Yan Chu was taught since childhood that the Yan Family Army was the guardian of the people of the Great Zhou. As long as one of them was still alive, they could not let the iron cavalry of foreign races step into the land of Zhou.

Facing the threats from both sides, Yan Chu made a decisive decision and could only make this choice.

Unfortunately, no one listened to him, a traitor. Now the world is peaceful. Zhou and Jiang have signed a peace treaty with Zhou long ago and will not fight within 20 years. Instead, it was Yan Chu's approach that unilaterally tore up the peace agreement, causing the Great Zhou to cede ten cities and seriously hurt its vitality.

Yan Chu suddenly went from being a hero admired by the people to a complete traitor. The more than 30,000 soldiers who died on the battlefield also became evidence of his treason.

Everyone wanted to kill him. They forgot everything that the young general of the Yan family army had done to protect the people. They only believed in evidence and believed that this former hero had betrayed their Zhou country and failed everyone's trust.

Old Lady Yan didn't believe it. Her grandson was taught by her and her husband. She firmly believed that no matter which minister in the entire Great Zhou betrayed the country, her grandson would not.

Therefore, she was kneeling outside the imperial city now, just wanting to use her remaining prestige to give her grandson more life.

"Give me back my son's life, give me back my son's life."

A thin woman passed through the gap in the human wall surrounded by soldiers and rushed straight to Old Lady Yan. There were many people and no one knew who shot the cold arrow. The woman was pierced through the throat by a sharp sword before she got close to Old Lady Yan. She stared with wide eyes and died with eyes wide open.

"People have been killed. The Yan family has killed people. Where is justice and where is the law."

After the woman died, the already boiling public resentment suddenly rose to an uncontrollable level. The human wall formed by the soldiers was about to be broken up.

Old Madam Yan's expression was stern. She knelt outside the palace gate for two consecutive days with a haggard face. Even though she had never been angry when the people threw rotten eggs and smashed vegetable leaves, she was actually angry.

The person who just attacked her was definitely not here to help her. In fact, a thin woman could only hit and pull them a few times at most. Old Madam Yan didn't care about this little pain. The unknown archer shot and killed the little woman. This was putting the women of their Yan family on the fire rack.

But it was precisely because of this that Old Madam Yan was more convinced of her grandson's innocence. This time, it was a conspiracy against the Yan family by those who were hostile to the Yan family.

"Everyone, please listen to me."

Old Lady Yan stood up tremblingly with the dragon-headed cane given by the late emperor. She had been kneeling for two consecutive days, her knees were swollen, and her blood circulation was blocked. When she stood up, she almost knelt down again.

"Pa——"

"What did you say? You taught the traitor who killed our family, and you have to pay for our children's lives." A handful of rotten vegetable leaves hit Old Lady Yan's face. No one knew where these vegetable leaves came from, and they smelled of disgusting feces.

"I am Yan Qiu, married into the Yan family at the age of sixteen."

She did not stop talking because of the people pointing at her.

"When I was nineteen, I gave birth to the eldest son Xun of the Yan family. In the same year, my father-in-law died on the battlefield against the Qiang State. When I was twenty-three, I gave birth to the second son Wei and the third son De of the Yan family. The following year, my husband's two younger brothers died on the battlefield of the former Qi State."

Old Lady Yan spoke in a loud voice. She did not cry when she spoke, but her eyes were red and her body was trembling.

"When I was forty-five, my eldest son, second son, third son, fourth son and youngest son all died in Yan State. In that battle, they defended the border town in the north of our Zhou State. That year, my fourth son was sixteen and my youngest son was fourteen. Both of them were unmarried. I was heartbroken, but I knew that they were heroes."

The people who were still noisy gradually calmed down. They seemed to have sobered up from their hatred and realized that these women in front of them were not only Yan Chu's grandmother and mother, but also the widows of heroes who had sacrificed their lives to protect the people of the Great Zhou.

Looking at the women who were kneeling outside the palace gate in a state of embarrassment, those people suddenly felt guilty for some reason.

"My father is a hero, but my son is a coward. Isn't this more shameful?"

Someone in the crowd said this. Some people thought it was right. Could the merits of their ancestors cover up Yan Chu's mistakes? Although these women deserved sympathy, they should never come to the palace gate to plead for the traitor.

"My grandson followed his grandfather to the battlefield when he was twelve years old. He is almost nineteen this year. He has thirty-four cuts of various sizes on his body, four of which are almost fatal. He is the only male in our Yan family, but from the beginning, we, the elders, have never thought about raising him well. He started practicing martial arts when he was just five years old. How many times have we watched him return victorious, take off his armor to reveal the bloody bandages, how many times has he survived and almost died, as a grandmother, as a mother, we are more heartbroken than anyone else."

Old Lady Yan beat her chest. This is the only child left to her by her second son. She is more heartbroken than anyone else. Other children are jumping and playing at that age, while her little tiger is braving the scorching sun and cold wind, practicing the Yan family's martial arts with his grandfather day after day. Every time he follows his grandfather to fight, she wakes up from a dream, her grandson is in trouble. She has lost five sons and can no longer bear the blow of losing her grandson.

Old Madam Yan was crying. She had already sobbed so hard at this time, and the women of the Yan family who were kneeling behind her were all crying.

Because the people the old lady talked about also included their husbands and their fathers.

"My grandson once told me that the Yan family army is the Yan family army of the Great Zhou. The mission of the men of the Yan family is to protect every citizen of the Great Zhou. I don't believe that a child who can say such a thing will be a traitor. If he really does something unforgivable, the old woman will be the first to do it. As his grandmother and the one who taught him since childhood, I will also give you my life."

After the old lady said this, she threw away the dragon-headed cane and knelt down heavily to the relatives of the fallen soldiers who came to seek justice.

The people who were originally gathered there gradually dispersed to both sides. I don't know why, this apology feels unbearable.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, before this war, General Yan was still a hero praised by everyone. If a person wants to change, can he really change so quickly?

Maybe it was really as the old lady said, and she should thoroughly investigate the matter. Maybe there were indeed some doubts that they didn't know about?

"Old lady, ladies and young ladies, His Majesty has summoned you."

A eunuch hurried out and was a little stunned to see that Old Lady Yan was not kneeling towards the palace, but towards the people.

"Is His Majesty willing to see us?"

Old Lady Yan was overjoyed, and so were the other women of the Yan family. They supported each other to stand up, then rubbed their knees and calves, and waited until they could get used to walking before following the eunuch to the palace.

As soon as the women of the Yan family left, the onlookers naturally dispersed.

Because of the heartfelt speech that Old Lady Yan had just given, the mentality of everyone present seemed to be less intense than before.