Chapter 871: Dragon Rising (III)
Toyotomi Chiyo looked toward the guji shackled to the pillar. “Is it really necessary to interrogate them like this?”
Xu Kou replied calmly, “Stubborn offenders simply won’t confess without applying some extreme methods.”
Toyotomi Chiyo frowned slightly. “This likely goes against the Sage Commander’s instructions. Before the February offensive began, the Sage Commander clearly emphasized that pacification and appeasement should be the priority. Violence should not be used at will, and certainly not mass killings. The Sage Commander even quoted a Confucian Sage. If those from afar do not submit, cultivate virtue to attract them. Once they arrive, settle them in peace.”
Xu Kou replied with no change in expression, “Of course, I’m following the Sage Commander’s instructions. Pacification and appeasement are the priority.”
“This is your version of pacification and appeasement?” Toyotomi Chiyo questioned sternly.
“What else, then?” Xu Kou shot back. “If not for the Sage Commander’s instructions, at least half of them would already be dead, and their heads displayed on the city gates for all to see. Even the survivors wouldn’t be standing here dressed so neatly. But now, they’re still alive, merely detained. Isn’t that already a form of pacification and appeasement?”
“You—!” Toyotomi Chiyo exclaimed, exasperated.
Xu Kou responded coolly, “Lady Toyotomi, don’t forget—we’re at war. This is not child’s play.”
The two conversed in Central Plains official speech. With Toyotomi Chiyo dressed as a Daoist priestess, the shrine members thought she was from the Daoist Order.
It was not until Toyotomi Chiyo turned to the two ninjas and ordered them to stop in the Wa language that their assumptions were shaken.
One of the ninjas hesitated, saying, “Your Highness...”
The other remained unmoved. “Your Highness, we only serve the current Kampaku, and the present Kampaku is Lord Hidemochi.”