YA Ch74: Social Death

Lu Yu watched helplessly as his older brother was killed, reaching out with a “Er Kang” gesture: “Big… A!”

Soldier A was dead just like that, and the top supporter immediately logged off. With so many people present, Lu Yu had no way to handle it and could only leave his brother’s “corpse” lying cold on the battlefield, continuing with the plot.

No matter what Hua Wenyuan said, Old Master Hua resolutely defended the city, determined to wait for the imperial reinforcements to come and personally kill his rebellious son.

The two sides were at a standstill.

At this moment, a fast horse came galloping from the south, shouting as it rode: “General Zhao has captured Fu County! General Zhao Ziyun has taken Fu County!”

Zhao Ziyun was the alias of Lu Yu’s cousin, Xie Chongyun. With immense strength, he was now capable of operating independently. While Hua Wenyuan was attacking the city, he had led troops to capture the nearby Fu County.

A smile immediately appeared on Hua Wenyuan’s face as he said to Old Master Hua on the city wall: “Fu County has been captured by our army. Now, the city of Yuanzhou is isolated. Father, if you wish to defend the city, then defend it.”

The entire Yuanzhou with its nine counties had been captured. Now that Xie Chongyun had also taken Fu County in the neighboring state, all paths for requesting aid to the city had been cut off. The city had no food supplies and could not hold out for long.

Hua Wenyuan was not in a hurry to attack the city and ordered to set up camp.

As the camp was set up, it was already dark, and torches were lit.

Looking at the torches spread across the outside of the city, Governor Li of Yuanzhou was distressed: “Jiangzhou has been occupied for half a year, and not even a single soldier has been sent by the court. The superintendent can’t be relied upon. General, why not just take my head and open the city gates?”

The court was now in disarray. The largest military force in the province was the Jiangzhou camp controlled by Hua Wenyuan, and Hua Wenyuan himself was a rebel, leaving no chance to fight back. The superintendent had been pretending not to know, just waiting to be transferred this year to leave this place and push the mess onto the next person.

Old Master Hua, upon hearing this, immediately became serious and said: “Why does Governor Li say this? Do not be anxious. I will certainly kill that rebellious son and take him to the capital to apologize to the Emperor.”

Governor Li shook his head: “Old General, do you know what Jiangzhou is like now? Ah, if I were twenty years younger, I would definitely have supported the young general. Unfortunately…” Saying this, he shook his head, sighed, and staggered away.

Old Master Hua was stunned, not understanding why such a loyal scholar would speak like this.

The steward next to him advised: “Master, the young master has already rebelled. We might as well follow him. Once the young master takes the throne, the Hua family will be the royal family, and you will be the retired emperor. I could also become a big general.”

Old Master Hua was infuriated and glared, “The big general of the royal family is a eunuch! You’d better castrate yourself first!”

The steward laughed: “Then let me manage a weaving bureau or the internal affairs office; that’s fine too.”

“Oh my heavens! We can’t rebel.” Hua Wenyuan’s stepmother, who came to seek advice, heard this and immediately collapsed on the ground, crying and shouting, “Rebellion means extermination of the nine clans. My family is in the neighboring province and will be implicated by that little bastard!”

“Master, something bad has happened!” A servant hurried in from outside, “The Cheng family has opened a small water gate, and the young master’s troops have entered!”

Old Master Hua was stunned with rage and cursed: “These pretentious scholars, they’re more harmful than helpful!”

The Cheng family, fearing Hua Wenyuan’s retribution, had taken the opportunity to open the small water gate in the south of the city to escape, but Hua Wenyuan’s scouts had caught them red-handed.

A small group of troops immediately charged into the city, and the south city was thrown into chaos.

Old Master Hua grabbed his spear and went out to fight, but saw Governor Li standing at the city gate, personally opening the big gate.

Hua Wenyuan rode into the city and looked down from a height at the respectful and emaciated Governor.

Governor Li bowed and said: “I am Li Shan, the Governor of Yuanzhou. The accounts of money and grain in the city are all here. I hope General will be kind to the people and not commit indiscriminate killings.”

Saying this, he drew his sword, ready to commit suicide.

Hua Wenyuan drew his bow and shot the sword away, dismounting quickly to grab Governor Li’s wrist: “Governor, do not seek death. Let’s first sort out the population and accounts of Yuanzhou with Hua, and then discuss further.”

With that, he dragged Governor Li toward the government office.

A subordinate hurriedly reported that a wealthy family claimed to be the General’s in-laws and refused to surrender.

Hua Wenyuan raised his eyebrows and dragged Governor Li to the Cheng family.

Lu Yu, following Ming Yan to watch the excitement, suddenly saw a familiar figure peeking out from the crowd. Looking closely, it was Hong Wuyang, who had re-logged and was initialized!

“Damn it!” Lu Yu was startled and quickly grabbed him, “You… Yan-ge!”

Ming Yan quickly added a couple of notes to his older brother, drawing on a beard.

Hua Wenyuan looked over and asked Lu Yu: “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Lu Yu patted his older brother in coarse cloth short garments, “He wants to join the army.”

Hua Wenyuan glanced at him, said nothing, and nodded: “Just let him be arranged by Second Uncle.” With that, he stepped into the Cheng family’s residence.

Lu Yu was sweating in fright and gave his older brother a knee kick: “Why did you come back so soon? You should have waited until the morning session ended and come back in the afternoon. What if Hua Wenyuan sees you coming back so abruptly?”

“Sorry,” the older brother scratched his head awkwardly, “I was too anxious. This is a moment of triumph in the story. I needed to witness history, so I had Lao Yang help me come back up.”

Ming Yan drew a small soldier’s uniform for the older brother to blend in with the crowd.

Hong Wuyang grumbled as he tugged at his clothes: “I’ve turned into Soldier B. I’ve lost my cavalry status and military achievements.”

The bullet screen eagerly awaiting the top donor’s revival was already laughing hysterically.

[Revived, but not fully revived. Equipment is gone, level is gone, so tragic hahaha……]

[Soldier A revived as Soldier B, hahaha, not even given a higher rank.]

When the Cheng family saw Hua Wenyuan entering, they immediately kneeled all over the place, trembling like a sieve. It had been less than a year since the marriage arrangement, and now Hua Wenyuan had returned as a rebel.

The head of the Cheng family smiled and said, “General, although our marriage was not completed, we still have a close relationship. The Cheng family has officials in the court, so we really cannot just surrender to the General. However, this old man has a useless daughter, still waiting in the boudoir. Let her become a concubine for the General…”

This was an attempt to offer his daughter to Hua Wenyuan as a concubine, secretly siding with him while publicly not betraying the court to avoid implicating his family. Betting on both sides, hoping for benefits from both.

Governor Li shook his head silently.

Hua Wenyuan’s expression was cold: “The daughter of the Cheng family, I cannot accept. From now on, Yuanzhou will be Hua’s territory. If you do not wish to submit, then offer up your land and wealth and move your whole family out of Yuanzhou. Each person may keep ten taels of silver; those who hide wealth will be killed!”

The Cheng family’s faces turned ashen, like they had lost their parents.

Governor Li, however, praised: “General is benevolent.” If it were another rebel, not to mention the Cheng family’s past grievances with Hua Wenyuan, just for not submitting, they would have been slaughtered long ago, let alone being allowed to keep ten taels of silver.

The morning livestream ended, and Hong Wuyang was very happy with the fun. Just as he was about to discuss the plot with Lu Yu, his older brother suddenly made a video call.

Lu Yu glanced and vaguely saw a young CEO in a suit and tie on the semi-transparent screen. The man, sitting in an office chair, sternly reprimanded: “What are you messing around with?!”

Embarrassed to be scolded face-to-face, Hong Wuyang quickly ran outside.

Lu Yu didn’t pay him any mind and got up to unfasten Ming Yan’s seatbelt. As they finished tidying up, they saw the top donor’s older brother return with a long face.

“What happened?” Lu Yu asked with concern. It seemed a bit precarious with the key discussion about investment feasibility for Hongxiao Capital happening this morning.

Hong Wuyang’s face was all wrinkled, and after holding his breath for a while, he sent Lu Yu a video: “You can see for yourself.”

Opening the video, it turned out to be an internal meeting record from Hongxiao Capital. Lu Yu was surprised that his older brother didn’t mind showing him this.

In the meeting, an employee was introducing: “If we collaborate with Chenyu Technology, the intelligent brain we produce will be distinguishable from the ones already on the market, with broad prospects. Shenyu Technology is currently live-streaming, and their popularity is soaring.”

As he spoke, the livestream footage was displayed.

On the big screen, Hong Wuyang, dressed in cavalry armor, was full of excitement, suddenly shot down by an arrow from the sky, and fell off his horse. The bullet screen was filled with “hahaha,” “curse effective,” “wow, big brother died hahaha”……

“Mr. Hong, is that Wuyang?” a participant asked uncertainly.

The meeting room fell silent for a moment, and then someone couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.