The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 287 Your Fate

Cao Xijin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt death approaching. He knew that death was coming, but he couldn’t do anything but wait. This feeling made him crazy.

Li Ye could have captured Bozhou City earlier, but he just wanted to leave it alone and use it as bait to catch more of the Weibo Army... This kind of behavior was really hateful, which made Cao Xijin completely lose his dignity. As a leading general, he was humiliated to the extreme.

Cao Xijin squinted his eyes and pointed at Li Ye in the air. He yelled at this life and death enemy, “Li Ye, you are a chaotic thief. Today, even if you conquer Bozhou, my father will also avenge me! You go against the trend of the times and rise to war, but in the end, you will die! The King of Longxi is helping Weizhou County, and you can’t win! If you are smart, you’d just run back to Pinglu...”

The voice of Cao Xijin stopped abruptly, and the shadow flashed in front of him. Then, he felt lightness and the sights in his eyes quickly regressed. It turned out that he had been caught by the neck by Li Ye and was lifted from the city head into the air!

“You... you...” Cao Xijin struggled, but it did not help. His face quickly turned blue and purple.

Upon seeing this scene, the Bozhou military officers of the city head were all horrified.

Looking at the height of Li Ye, some cultivators who wanted to rescue Cao Xijin all felt helpless. They could not go to that position!

Li Ye took a look at Cao Xijin, and his eyes were full of contempt. “You are dead, so what’s the point of saying so much nonsense?”

“You... you will die... I will wait for you to accompany me...” Cao Xijin struggled.

“Will I?” Li Ye waved his sleeves, and suddenly the wind blew the city head to hundreds of steps. The Bozhou army officers on the city head were smashed by the wind and fell down to the bottom of the city, and there were countless dead people. The Pinglu army officers, who took the opportunity to capture the city head, launched a fierce attack on the unsettled and horrified Bozhou defenders, and there was blood everywhere.

“Now, who is dead?” Li Ye looked indifferent. “Just because of a sentence you said, your people and your warriors lost their lives. Do you think that you are a hero by cursing me? Gotta be kidding me.”

After Li Ye got to the city holding Cao Xijin, he dropped him into the crenelated parapet wall. The parapet wall collapsed, and the masonry covered Cao Xijin. He was stuck in the crack of the stones, and he kept vomiting blood from his mouth. His limbs completely could not move.

Cao Xijin stared at Li Ye. “You are a bastard, a dog thief! If you are courageous, just... kill me!”

“You want to die? This can’t be up to you. It’s up to me.” Li Ye looked at Cao Xijin from above, and there was no feeling in his eyes. “Remember the messenger I sent in Weizhou, right? You cut up his ears. When two armies are at war, no one can behead the messenger. What you had done made me very unhappy. If I am not happy, someone will have to pay the price. Someone, come here!”

Zhao Polu happened to be nearby, so when hearing the words, he immediately rushed over and cupped his fist. “Commander in chief!”

“Bring me the Cao family and children in the Bozhou garrison. Find them all and bring them to the city head,” Li Ye ordered indifferently.

“Got it!” Zhao Polu accepted the order and left.

In the eyes of Cao Xijin, there was strong horror. “What... what do you want to do?”

As a commissioner family, the Cao family was naturally the first big family in Weizhou. The people’s statue in Weibo was not ordinary. Most of the brass in the descendant trilogy brought back by Cao Xijin were people of the Cao family.

“You will know soon.”

The Pinglu army had already attacked the city, and the gate of the city had been opened. The Bozhou army was either defeated or joined the enemy and there were still a few resisting. Not long after, Zhao Polu sent dozens of people of the Cao family to come over here. They were different relatives, but they were all the blood of the Cao family.

They saw Li Ye, knowing that disaster was coming, and most of them quickly kneeled down and begged for mercy. But there were also some who were strong-minded, glaring at Li Ye, but they were all tied up, and there were also Pinglu army officers standing behind them, so they could not do anything.

Li Ye glanced at Cao Xijin. “If you dare to cut up the ears of my messengers, you should know what it means. Now it is time for you to pay the price. Cut off their ears and limbs!”

Hearing Li Ye’s words, the expressions of the people of the Cao family changed. Even the strong-minded men were pale and sweaty, and soon, they all begged for mercy.

Cao Xijin’s eyes were widened, his features were distorted, and he struggled to stand up. He growled, “Li Ye! You are a bastard. You are crazy and you must die painfully...”

Li Ye stepped on Cao Xijin’s face and shoved him into the crack of the stones. He also put his words back on him and sneered. “Injuring the court messenger is the same as rebellion, and you should be put to death by dismembering the body, and all your relatives will be connected. What it is called to put one to death by dismembering the body? That means cutting with a thousand knives. Now you should understand what kind of price the Weibo Army will pay after they have attacked the Pinglu army.”

Cao Xijin’s face was bloody, but he couldn’t speak. He could only make a noise from his throat.

The screams sounded one after another. Under the command of the Pinglu army, dozens of Cao family members all had their ears cut off and hands and feet broken. Their blood flowed to the ground, and the strong-minded men were also smashed in the pool of blood, and half of them passed out.

Li Ye retracted his feet and glanced at these people and said disgustedly, “All of them should be put to death. They should be exposed to the public for three days in the city head. Let the people of the world look at this. If someone controls the troops, values themselves high, and disobeys the authority of the court, what kind of fate will they get?”

“Got it!”

No one could see the original appearance of Cao Xijin’s face, as his flesh and blood blurred his features. He shouted, “Li Ye, if you are a man, you should kill me! Just kill me. You are a bastard. If you are courageous, then you should kill me!”

Li Ye said scornfully, “Whether I am a man or not and whether I am courageous is none of your business. Haven’t you figured it out? You are now even worse than a dog. Come, cut off his ears, break his hands and feet, and send him to Weizhou. I came to Weibo just for a transition. Doesn’t the Weibo Army dare to attack the Pinglu army? Then let Cao Zhongming have a good look at this. If they are to be against me, what kind of fate will they get?”

While saying this, Li Ye smacked his sleeves and bounced dust. He was unwilling to look at Cao Xijin anymore and stepped away.

Behind him, there was a scream of Cao Xijin, who could not resist.

......

At midnight, Cao Zhongming walked back and forth in the room, looking anxious, completely sleepless. He was also a high-powered person. People who had experienced great winds and waves would not be so restless at ordinary times. But this time, it was different. The military report that Cao Xijin sent back made him restless.

Those 3,000 cavalrymen did just one round and made 10,000 of them lose a quarter. Was the opponent actually a military general? In this world, how long had he not been a military general? Last time people knew about it, it was during the An-Shi Disturbances.

There were thousands of casualties. Although Cao Zhongming felt painful, he did not make himself out of order. But the follow-up military report returned from Bozhou would make Cao Zhongming feel shocked. Facing the Pinglu army’s siege, the Bozhou defenders suffered so many casualties, which was too many to be expected and unacceptable.

Cao Zhongming knew that Bozhou City could not be kept, so he urgently ordered 50,000 soldiers to help. Cao Xijin was his eldest son and the best son of spiritual cultivation. In the future, he would follow in his footsteps and become Weibo Commissioner. If Cao Xijin had a problem, Cao Zhongming could not bear it, and his wife would have to fight with him.

“Report! Commander in chief, the Bozhou military report, very urgent!” The chief of the government, holding the military report, rushed to the yard. Cao Zhongming had already made the pro-guard leader wait outside the city. Once he got the military report, he would bring it back.

When Cao Zhongming stepped out, he went to the yard and took the military report. He just looked at it for a minute and couldn’t help swaying, and his face changed. “That bastard! Cao Jincheng is a bastard. He was ambushed even before he arrived in Bozhou City! 5,000 troops, countless deaths, and injuries! This kind of good-for-nothing, what do I want him to do?”

Cao Jincheng was a general of Cao Zhongming. He sent Can Jincheng to save Bozhou City. Naturally, he valued him. What Cao Zhongming didn’t want to get was such bad news. For Cao Zhongming, this military report was a bolt from the blue. Cao Jincheng did not arrive in Bozhou, then was Bozhou City...?

“Pass my order, smash Cao Jincheng according to the military law!” Cao Zhongming was angry and gnashed his teeth. Seeing his military order, he could no longer control the anger and embarrassment. Now, he was full of concern for Cao Xijin.

“Prince An, Li Ye! You are so vicious! So vicious!” Cao Zhongming crushed the military report, and his body was raging in the wind, and his Spiritual Qi broke out. “Li Ye, you are a bastard! How dare you treat the Weibo Army like this. You are attacking my city, and you are still thinking about trapping my army. If you don’t put Weibo in your eyes, aren’t you afraid that I will die with you?!”

Cao Zhongming turned around and immediately ordered, “Summon the generals, and I will conquer Li Ye, the dog thief!”

The pro-military immediately took the order and left and did not mention it again.

From time to time, Cao Zhongming sat in the political hall. Weibo’s senior officials and his trusted subordinates and advisors came one after another. People gathered together to discuss the issue of recruiting soldiers to conquer Li Ye.

“Li Ye is so rampant that we must fight him to the death!”

“Commander in chief, it’s important to save Bozhou at the moment, and it can’t be delayed.”

“Li Ye is really mad, saying that he would attack Hedong. I think he is rushing at our Weibo! His ambition must be finished with a great army, and the Pinglu army will be swayed by Weibo and we should let him know how powerful we are!”

“Yes, we must do this. Let the imperial court and the people of the world know that Weibo is not easy to challenge. ”

Everyone was filled with indignation, and they all wanted to fight. It was also considered to be morale. Cao Zhongming immediately made a decision. “The troops stationed in the states will gather in Weizhou, and I must take off the head of Li Ye...”

His words had not yet finished when the voice of the pro-inspector chief was heard outside the hall. There was still trembling in his impatient horror. “Military commander, the big Childe is back!”

“The big Childe?”

“The big Childe is back?”

When hearing this, Cao Zhongming was shocked and couldn’t help smiling. Regardless of whether Bozhou City was lost or not, that Cao Xijin could come back was good news for him. Bozhou City was just a city, how could it be more important than his son?

Cao Zhongming immediately got up and stepped outside. “Where is he?”

With only one glance, Cao Zhongming was stunned in place. Unlike what he expected, Cao Xijin did not stand in the courtyard, but was carried by four guards, lying on a wooden frame, his entire body covered with blood.

Cao Zhongming was shocked, and his heart was particularly uncomfortable. It was like being slashed and his breathing was a mess. However, he still tried to be calm as he walked over to Cao Xijin. In any case, as long as the person was back, even if he was injured, it was not unacceptable. The commissioner department had many elixirs that could cure him of this.

“Father...” Cao Xijin suddenly woke up, struggling to bow his upper body, and weakly looked at Cao Zhongming.

Cao Zhongming saw the appearance of Cao Xijin as if he were struck by lightning, and he became stiff. Cao Xijin’s ears were gone, his hands and feet were also shackled, leaving only four flat wounds wrapped in bloody cloth. The whole person was weak and it looked like he had only one breath left.

“My child! How can this be?!” Cao Xijin sighed in anger and could not help spurting up a mouthful of blood.