Chapter 383: Chapter 383

Zheng Fan had thought the other party was only making a half-serious joke; who would have known this fellow was actually a complete simpleton! The war had just begun, and they had smoothly taken this prefectural capital. Had his head been caught in a door? He actually wanted to massacre the city?

Li Fusheng turned, his gaze sweeping over Zheng Fan, who was rapidly approaching.

There was a faint red glint in his eyes.

It was a look Zheng Fan had never seen before, as if a demon deep within Li Fusheng’s heart had awakened.

Of course, Li Fusheng couldn’t possibly have a real demon in his heart. According to Blind Bei’s psychological analysis, Li Fusheng likely suffered from a mental illness. Thıs content belongs to novel★fire.net

And it seemed to have progressed to a very serious stage.

In his previous life, such mental illnesses often appeared in serial killers. For these people, killing—hunting their prey—was practically a psychological addiction, harder to break than drug addiction.

Zheng Fan cupped his fist to Li Fusheng.

"You’ve arrived," Li Fusheng said.

Zheng Fan suddenly had a feeling that Li Fusheng was waiting for him, like a sick man calling for his doctor.

He was enduring, waiting for Zheng Fan to arrive.

Zheng Fan’s gaze swept past Li Fusheng to the line of high-ranking officers standing behind him. None of them, despite holding ranks and positions superior to his own, dared to speak to Li Fusheng at this moment.

Clearly, Li Fusheng’s prestige among his troops was incredibly high.

"My Lord, what are you planning?" Zheng Fan asked, feigning ignorance.

Li Fusheng’s hands gripped the wall bricks beneath him so tightly that Zheng Fan saw clear indentations appear on them. The scene was truly like an addict going through withdrawal.

"How did this city fall so easily!" Li Fusheng gritted his teeth.

The city fell too easily; it wasn’t satisfying at all! Too few people died; it wasn’t satisfying at all!

After such a long, arduous march, he had expected a grueling, satisfying battle, but instead, they had taken the entire city in such an anticlimactic way!

The greater the anticipation, the greater the disappointment!

Zheng Fan was startled. His gaze then swept over the dense crowd below the city gate tower.

Look at you all, he thought. Why couldn’t you be more resilient? Why didn’t you resist a little longer, fight a little harder? Now look what you’ve done. Defeated and surrendered so quickly, you’ve displeased our Boss.

"My Lord, this city now belongs to Yan."

Li Fusheng shook his head. "We will not be stationing troops here. We will continue south."

Looking at Zheng Fan, Li Fusheng continued, "We will not defend this city."

The established plan was indeed to continue south. They were currently in Shu Prefecture. South of here, taking a direct route without detours, lay West Mountain Prefecture and Beihe Prefecture. Beyond those two was Bianzhou County. Only after crossing the Bian River there could they be said to have truly reached the Qian State’s imperial capital.

"But this city is, nonetheless, Yan’s."

Li Fusheng chuckled, his laughter carrying a hint of coldness.

In that instant, Zheng Fan felt a chill creep up his spine. If he had the chance, he really wanted to ask the Earl of North Border if a mentally ill person could actually command an army.

"My Lord, you are our backbone."

Li Fusheng was somewhat unaccustomed to this battlefield. This was because hundreds of years of blood feuds between Yan State and the barbarians had escalated their enmity to the level of racial hatred.

Killing and exterminating the barbarians was politically correct in Yan State, and under this political correctness, Li Fusheng thrived like a fish in water.

More importantly, Yan State lacked the ability to develop and control the desert because it was too barren. Qian State, however, was different. Qian State was a rich prize that the Yan Emperor was eager to devour.

Li Fusheng extended his hand and placed it on Zheng Fan’s shoulder, saying, "But I really want to kill."

"My Lord, there will be opportunities. I implore you to endure a little longer."

"How do you plan on dealing with these people?"

The blood-red color in Li Fusheng’s eyes was slowly receding, meaning the man was gradually recovering from his previous extreme state.

"My Lord, our army advanced rapidly and thus did not carry many provisions. I suggest we first conduct a selection and confiscate assets from the wealthy and prominent families. Half of the grain obtained should be allocated to our army’s stores as supplies for our continued southward advance. Half of the acquired wealth and goods should be distributed as rewards to all soldiers to boost morale."

Li Fusheng narrowed his eyes slightly. "Continue."

Zheng Fan pointed to the dense crowd below. "Find some local military leaders or officials in Chuzhou City and elevate them to positions of power. My Lord, you should exercise your authority to act swiftly in this urgent matter and reappoint the heads of Chuzhou’s civil and military officials. Then, let them rebuild their own core teams.

Furthermore, when confiscating property and exterminating clans, it must be done ruthlessly. However, our Yan Army should not carry this out. Let them do it themselves, while our Yan Army soldiers are only responsible for overseeing it from the side."

"You mentioned we’d only take half the wealth and grain. What about the other half?"

"Distribute it among them, and to the commoners inside and outside the city."

Li Fusheng pressed his hands down slightly, pushing himself up from the wall to stand.

Zheng Fan continued, "However, the confiscation and extermination of clans—let them do that. But the distribution of grain and wealth—that, we will do ourselves."

"This is just my humble opinion, My Lord."

"Not shallow at all. Very profound."

Li Fusheng reached into his robe, took out a bright yellow booklet, and handed it to Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan opened it and saw that it contained policies for dealing with captured cities.