Chapter 1160 - 1101. Pacification Of Qinghai Plateau & Liang Province
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(A/N: Don’t forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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Mang Xing joined the chorus of absolute hatred, glaring venomously at Cheng Li. "You absolute pieces of filth! You led their cavalry into our rear! My men died looking over their shoulders, thinking you were coming to save them! May your ancestors curse your names! May the heavens strike you down and let your bloodlines rot in the yellow springs for all eternity!"
Yan Xing and Cheng Li stood perfectly still. They did not flinch, they did not argue, and they did not offer a single word of defense. They simply looked down at the kneeling, screaming men with cold, detached, and entirely indifferent eyes, completely ignoring the torrential downpour of curses.
They had made their horrific, pragmatic choice, and the screaming of dead men would not change the fact that they were breathing while their former allies were bound for the executioner’s block.
Chen Deng stepped forward, raising a single, elegant hand. The sheer authority radiating from the strategist instantly cut through the warlords’ hysterical screaming, forcing a tense, heavy silence to fall over the hall.
"That is quite enough," Chen Deng said, his voice smooth, cold, and echoing with the absolute finality of an imperial judge. He looked down at the three bound men. "The time for alliances, oaths, and petty squabbles is entirely over. The League of Northwestern Lords is dead. You have been utterly defeated. I ask you now, formally and for the last time, will you surrender your pride, bend your knees, and pledge your absolute allegiance to His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Hongyi?"
Yang Qiu let out a harsh, barking, entirely humorless laugh. He looked up at Chen Deng, his eyes burning with a stubborn, unbreakable pride that had been forged decades ago.
"Surrender? Pledge allegiance?" Yang Qiu sneered, his chest heaving. "We do not want to surrender to you. We do not want your mercy."
He spat on the ground again, looking with utter disgust at Yan Xing and Cheng Li. "We decided long ago, when the world fractured, that we would not serve any master. We betrayed Cao Cao and the entire apparatus of Wei to form this League in the first place! We abandoned the central plains specifically so we could rule ourselves in these mountains. We fought for independence alongside these two treacherous dogs... who, in the end, betrayed us just as easily as we betrayed the Emperor of Wei."