Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 750: Chapter 585: The Challenge is Issued, Intimidating the Eight Cities

“This is a warning, Sovereign Lord, that you and those with abilities have been granted power because the Buddha holds dear the virtue of kindness, unwilling to subject the people to utter devastation! The might of the Phoenix Sovereign must not be defiled! Should there be a next time, be it minor unrest or major chaos, in Red Rock City, everyone will be shown no mercy and killed without pardon!”

Having said these words, Xiao Cui sheathed her dagger and vanished into the streets, leaving behind only a fading silhouette.

The crowd of onlookers, their minds trembling, gazed at the more than thirty corpses before them with fearful swallows of saliva.

Kill… without pardon!

The first time the maids serving under the Phoenix Sovereign shouted these three words, the one hundred thousand stationed troops and thirty thousand vassals in Red Rock City were slaughtered to the last…

Now, the reek of blood in Red Rock City hadn’t even cleared, yet their avarice clouded them, forgetting the lightning-fast decisiveness in the Phoenix Sovereign’s killings!

The might of the Phoenix Sovereign must not be defiled!

Kill without pardon!

This phrase echoed in everyone’s hearts and spread rapidly!

For a time, although Red Rock City remained bustling with activity, people looked towards the inn with boundless reverence in their eyes!

There, the Phoenix Sovereign of the Southern Border resided!

That Phoenix Sovereign, decisively ruthless with the force of thunder!

In that moment, no more did any citizens of Red Rock City dare to quarrel over credit. If you have the ability, take it openly, may the capable prevail!

Disputes, brawls, better forget them!

Haven’t you seen a dark-red figure patrolling the streets of Red Rock City?

That is the Sovereign Lord’s personal maid! One of the six maids who breached Red Rock City’s one hundred thousand defending troops!

Dare to brawl, and she’ll slit your throat within minutes, without even asking why!

So just bury your heads and clean up the mess. The Gu women of the Hongfu Family, with their booklets, will document your contributions. Best to nip any thoughts of brawling or disputes in the bud, because if you fight, your life will be forfeit!

What use is gaining the upper hand if you’ve lost your life?

For a time, the grace of the Phoenix Sovereign shone over Red Rock City, and at the same time, well, so did her tyranny!

“My lady, that’s quite a tactic!” Xiao Cui marveled at the newly orderly and compliant Red Rock City, looking at her own lady with admiring eyes.

“Grace and authority combined, governing effortlessly, it suits quite well with the way I, a lazy person, handle things!” Gu Changsheng reclined in the inn’s main hall, with eyes only half-open, “I simply bestowed a bit of grace and made an example by killing one to warn the others, and they’ve become quiet. This does indeed show that they are just a group of harmless citizens.”

“Still, my lady is ingenious. If it were up to me alone, even with all ten of us, we might have conquered the city but would have left the aftermath. I never imagined that my lady could actually bring this city into submission and elicit such a sense of belonging from its people!” Xiao Cui was truly astounded by her lady’s ability to strategize over the human heart.

“This is nothing, just a grand view of the situation. After you all have fought in countless battles, it will naturally become clear to you,” Gu Changsheng said softly, her eyes closed, “I’ll rest for a while. Wake me when that evildoer brings back the remnants of the Miaosu Clan.”

“Yes!” Xiao Cui looked at her weary lady, her heart full of tenderness, and immediately responded with obedience.

After the battle on Red Rock Mountain, Gu Changsheng had lingering fears; the pain of cutting flesh and bone, and wounds from excessive blood loss were still there. Now that everything had settled, she was truly exhausted.

With Gu Changsheng, the Phoenix Sovereign, residing in the inn of Red Rock City, that grand and magnificent mansion in the city center remained forgotten. The remaining vassals were more active than ever in repairing the city, because, barring any surprises, this city’s power would be divided among these surviving vassals—with the exception of the supreme position of City Lord, reserved for the Hongyan Clan. The rest presented a chance for them to rise to fame and make their names known!

This city, it belongs to the citizens! It belongs to them!

It was their Sovereign who granted them this city, where the capable may assume power!

An unprecedented sense of self-governance and the baptism of changing elites swept over the city, which had been ravaged by war…

Inside the Miaosu Mansion, the remaining five maidens, led by Zhou Mu, commenced a fierce battle, six against thousands!

This time, they could not use explosives; they could not even use their killing moves because the people of the Miaosu Clan could not die yet. Not until the whereabouts of the White Tiger Gu were confirmed could these resistant opponents be allowed to die!

The sounds of killing filled the mansion, yet the busy vassals outside the mansion did not react in the slightest.

The awe they held for the Sovereign surpassed all else. They needed only to perform their own duties; anything else was not for them to concern themselves with!

While the nearby cities were unaware of the sudden conquest and renaming of Miaosu City to Red Rock City, the tremors and cataclysmic upheaval of Miaosu City were vaguely perceived by them!

The city walls surrounding Miaosu City mostly belonged to vassal cities of the Miaosu Clan. As they hesitated over whether to send reinforcements to Miaosu City, a woman with a bright yellow silk fabric atop her head appeared beneath several neighboring cities.

“During war, emissaries should not be killed. I have come by the order of my Sovereign to deliver a declaration of war!” A Gu woman from the Hongfu Family, devoutly holding the bright yellow silk fabric above her head, calmly faced the dense array of spears and bows on the city wall. Under the gaping stare of the defending soldiers, she spoke out firmly, “The Phoenix Sovereign has conquered Miaosu City, renaming it Red Rock City, and the entire city has pledged allegiance. If the nearby cities surrender, raise the Surrender Flag within three days, and my Sovereign promises not to harm a hair on the head of any soldier or civilian who submits. Otherwise, three days after this declaration is delivered, all will be overtaken…”

At this point, the messenger paused, then raised her voice and continued loudly, “When that time comes, don’t blame my Sovereign for disregarding the kinship amongst the Southern Border Miao Ethnic Group. All soldiers and civilians in the city, not one will be spared, slaughtered without… mercy!”

“Yikes!”

“Heavens!”

“…”

As soon as the messenger’s words ceased, a myriad of gasps resounded from the city wall.

“What… what audacity!” The Defensive General on the wall took several deep breaths before regaining his voice, and spoke to the envoy delivering the war ultimatum below.

Hearing this, the messenger continued to hold the bright yellow silk fabric high, her face showing a trace of relief. She let out a long sigh, looked up, and said, “I know that the nearby cities are all vassal cities of the Miaosu Clan. To be honest, these three days of delayed onslaught were begged for by the Hongfu Family Head in front of the Phoenix Sovereign. If it were up to the Phoenix Sovereign, this declaration would have been unnecessary, for storming the city and slaughtering would have been swifter!”

“Do you know how the original Miaosu City fell?” the messenger raised her head and spoke undaunted. “The one hundred thousand defending troops of Miaosu City could not withstand the attacks of the Sovereign’s Six Maids. In just a single Shichen, the Six Maids swept through with godly might, capturing the city effortlessly, welcoming the Phoenix Sovereign into the city!”

“One hundred thousand defending soldiers, thirty thousand subordinate subjects, all slaughtered to the last man, not one spared! In the entirety of Miaosu City, only sixty thousand commoners remained! With the Sovereign taking over Miaosu City, remembering past kindnesses, she lifted the Hongfu Clan to power, granting authority to those with the ability to wield it!”

“Yikes!”

“Heavens!”

“…”

Once again, a chorus of gasps echoed from the city wall.

One hundred thousand defending soldiers, thirty thousand subjects? What did that even equivale to? Daylight had not yet faded, but why were they suddenly struck with such a dizzying sense of vertigo? As if the sky and earth had darkened!

Not half a day had passed! From the moment they heard the earthshaking sounds from Miaosu City until now, it had only been half a day!

One hundred and thirty thousand people, just like that, slaughtered?

This…

This was simply too terrifying to comprehend!

“My Sovereign, the ruler of the Southern Border for a millennium, the Phoenix Sovereign, must not bear to see the suffering of the Southern Border’s people. If the Surrender Flag is not seen within the three-day deadline, the cities will be stormed and slaughtered. I beseech you to weigh your options carefully. I have delivered my message!” After finishing her speech, the Hongfu messenger raised a crossbow, and while the faces of the city wall’s defending army changed dramatically, she shot the bright yellow silk fabric onto the City Gate, injuring no one, then turned and strode away.

Simultaneously, eight variously sized cities surrounding Red Rock City all received the same war ultimatum!

The same chilling statements, the same bright yellow declarations, all pinned onto the gates of the eight cities!

If the Surrender Flag is not raised within three days, they would storm and slaughter the cities!

The precedent set by Miaosu City was real slaughter, not diluted in the slightest!

Compared to Miaosu City, considered the first great city on the edge of the Southern Border Hinterland, the surrounding eight cities realized that the sum of their soldiers and civilians did not even reach the number of one hundred thirty thousand. Were they not enough for just barely half a day’s massacre by the Sovereign’s six maids?

What a painful realization, what a deadly deterrence!

Thus, the moment the war ultimatum was received, the city lords of the eight cities hastily gathered to commence a meeting.

Only three days, merely three crucial days for life or death!

Even if the Xiangka King wished to send reinforcements within that period, they would not arrive in time!

Therefore, they had to discuss the chance of victory in standing together against the enemy and… the feasibility of surrendering by raising the Surrender Flag!

Gu Changsheng had settled all his affairs and was resting in the inn, but the eight city lords who had received the ultimatum were in a state of indignant frenzy, ceaselessly convening one meeting after another, looking utterly despondent.

“Tell me, if they’re ready to storm and slaughter our cities, why bother delivering this piece of paper to disrupt our morale?” An elderly city lordess well past her fifties slammed the table, her old teeth clenched in frustration, “This Phoenix Sovereign doesn’t hold back in the least! Such palace scheming, without moving a single soldier, has already caused our morale to plummet!”

A somewhat younger city lord timidly spoke up, “Does anyone care whether what the Hongfu messenger said is true? One hundred thirty thousand soldiers and civilians! Not thirteen, not one hundred and thirty, just like that… really slaughtered?”

“Without the thunderous approach, the decisive killings and deterrent, how else could the remaining sixty thousand citizens of Miaosu City suddenly surrender?” Another city lord clutched his chest, speaking with residual fear, “One hundred thirty thousand! One hundred thirty thousand! One hundred thirty thousand still couldn’t withstand the assault of the Phoenix Sovereign’s six personal maids, and they say, during such a startling battle, neither the Phoenix Sovereign herself nor her betrothed lifted a finger…”