Hongfu Su’s face turned pale with shock as she heard this, and she lifted her head in disbelief and confusion.
"What? Are you unwilling to abandon your old surna? If that’s not the case..." Gu Changsheng saw her reaction, raised his eyebrows slightly, and was about to continue.
"No! It’s not that I am unwilling!" Hearing this, Hongfu Su imdiately prostrated herself on the ground, "It’s just that Hongyan is among the six most supre and noble surnas in the Southern Borderlands, and though I am kin through marriage, I have no right to carry their surna! I am grateful for the Sovereign’s regard; it’s not that I fail to appreciate kindness, but this matter is of great significance, and I cannot accept Your Majesty’s favor!"
"But, after all, the Hongyan Clan has withered due to the affairs of my maternal family..." Gu Changsheng’s face darkened as he thought of the Hongyan Clan, now left with only six n.
"Sovereign, it is the integrity of a distinguished family to serve one’s lord with loyalty, and I am proud to have such a kinship with the Hongyan!" Hongfu Su bowed her head, her eyes welling up with tears of empathy for the plight of her kin.
Feeling a strange heaviness in his heart, Gu Changsheng half-closed his phoenix eyes before speaking again, "The integrity of a distinguished family? Even among the Six Halls, there are those who lack the decency you ntion! The Three Palaces and Six Halls hold such exalted positions in the Southern Borderlands, and the Phoenix Clan has ruled for a thousand years, nurturing their aloof status, only to be repaid with their betrayal. What use do I have for them?"
With her red sleeves fluttering, Gu Changsheng turned regally, the aura of a ruler palpable, "If the Three Palaces and Six Halls cannot serve , I will erase their nas from existence. If the Southern Borderlands cannot fall into my hands, I will personally turn it into a purgatory. Hongfu Su, you received guidance from Hongyan Jiaojiao and helped stabilize Miaosu City. Since you do not wish to take the Hongyan surna, I will not force you. The Huaheng Clan, one of the Six Halls, has been slaughtered by , leaving the fertile lands of Red Sun Valley ownerless. I will bestow upon you their status. Once I overturn the Southern Borderlands and revitalize the Phoenix Clan, you shall take your people and settle in Red Sun Valley. As long as the Phoenix Clan rules, Red Sun Valley shall be the eternal fief of your Hongfu Clan!"
"Sovereign!" Hongfu Su’s eyes widened in disbelief upon hearing this.
Seeing her like this, Gu Changsheng smiled, "I am generous to those who have been kind to my maternal family, and to those who rember past favors. There is no need for you to refuse. It’s settled then. I gift Red Sun Valley to you, and this Miaosu City, now linked to Red Rock Mountain, I shall grant to the Hongyan Clan. Once I pacify the Southern Borderlands, I will personally seek wives for the six sons of Hongyan Jiaojiao to continue the Hongyan Clan’s lineage!"
"Your subject—no, your servant—thanks Your Majesty for your heavenly grace!" Overwheld with emotion, Hongfu Su finally found her voice and bowed to the ground, full of gratitude.
Gu Changsheng watched her animated reaction with a smile and dismissed her with a wave of his hand, "Well then, go. The affairs of Red Rock City are now yours to manage; do not disappoint !"
"As you command." Upon hearing this, Hongfu Su respectfully withdrew, her heart brimming with gratitude.
Gu Changsheng sat in the main hall of the inn, watching the excited Hongfu Su move as if she were walking on clouds, and he couldn’t help but shake his head in amusent.
Within monts, the news of the Hongfu Clan’s favor spread throughout Red Rock City; the remaining populace, when they heard it, were exceptionally astonished.
When Xiao Cui reported back to Gu Changsheng with this news, he nodded in satisfaction. Hongfu Su had indeed navigated through the Miaosu Clan’s territory with ease; she was a woman of insightful mind indeed!
In tis of chaos, heroes erge; fortunes are sought amidst peril. Suddenly, the remaining citizens of the city looked upon the Phoenix Sovereign, who had attacked them unawares, with awe and from a distance. What sort of place was Red Sun Valley? That was a piece of the fertile land in the Southern Borderlands! To put it nicely, there were thousands of acres of good farmland there; to speak bluntly, it was like a land filled with gold!
And just like that, because the Hongfu Clan helped the Phoenix Sovereign manage the newly renad Red Rock City, the wealthy Red Sun Valley beca theirs?
This was indeed... quite a magnanimous gesture!
It wasn’t that no one wished to perform well in front of Gu Changsheng, but seeing the hundreds of Gu won bustling through the streets and the constant fighting at the Miaosu Mansion, they quickly abandoned their unrealistic fantasies!
To pledge loyalty and share in the fortunes of a troubled ti, one needed the capability to do so!
For a mont, the sentints towards the Hongfu Clan in Red Rock City beca complicated, with so people envying them and others feeling jealous...
At that mont, Hongfu Su appeared on the streets and retold Gu Changsheng’s words. The Phoenix Clan once ruled the Southern Borderlands for a thousand years, their might still residual, and when she spoke of Gu Changsheng’s rembrance of their old allegiance, she was moved to tears. Finally, she ntioned that with Red Rock City changing hands, many official positions remained vacant...
The implication was clear!
May the capable attain it!
Before long, the newly acquired Red Rock City was abuzz!
The stench of slaughter had not yet dissipated, yet the entire city plunged into frenetic activity; Gu won took to the streets, seizing this chance to prove themselves, for only fools would let this opportunity slip by.
As the embers of war were still dying, Red Rock City began to thrive once again in this strange but sohow harmonious spectacle.
Though the Miaosu Clan had stood for a millennium, there were many within the mansion who stubbornly resisted. Zhou Mu sent Xiao Cui back to serve Gu Changsheng while he embarked on a ruthless campaign, secure in the knowledge that his wife could handle herself.
Gu Changsheng had faith in Zhou Mu’s capabilities and upon hearing the state of Red Rock City through Xiao Cui, he was thoroughly pleased. Hongfu Su was indeed a shrewd woman; with a mind astute enough to discern the Emperor’s will and yet have the thunderous ability to wield power!
To govern a city with a city, this was the rebirth she sought!
Yet, it was clear that Gu Changsheng was not satisfied with just this. Observing the inn’s waiter, who was trembling at the door, Gu Changsheng gestured Xiao Cui to co closer and whispered a few instructions.
The next mont, Gu Changsheng dropped a figurative bomb in the aftermath of Red Rock’s warti chaos, causing a massive stir.
"Nature forms yin and yang, and the earth joins them together; n and won are inherently equal. In the cities that the Phoenix Sovereign rules, regardless of gender, anyone with a skill may serve the Sovereign!" Xiao Cui stood in front of the inn entrance, holding a bright yellow silk cloth in her hands, as she sonorously declared.
For a mont, the entire Red Rock City was stirred.
n who had been hiding in the corners of the streets to watch the Gu won hustle and direct, felt their long-suppressed hearts beginning to flutter with agitation!
Gender equality? Both n and won can serve the Sovereign?
In the Central Plains, this might be a subject of jest, but in the Southern Borderlands, it was a world-shaking matter!
Won’s rights! The high regard of won! In the Southern Borderlands where won were revered, this proclamation was the n’s lifesaving straw!
Just monts after the decree was issued, countless n sward the streets. They picked up corpses from the ground, hoisting them onto their shoulders, and carried them out of the city. The mottled city walls were quickly cleared, and large scattered stones were moved aside by the n...
The won of Red Rock City were shocked, but since it was from the Phoenix Sovereign that they had won a place, and she did not mind whether they were n or won, what could they do?
No choice, they had to fight for it!
As a result, the struggle for power that had belonged to the won of the Southern Border beca a competition between n and won. In an instant, the entire Red Rock City was bustling with unprecedented vigor!
Gu Changsheng looked on with satisfaction at the newly cleaned streets, a slight smile at the corners of his mouth, he slowly spoke, "Great rewards bring out brave n, the ancients truly did not deceive !"
It was she who overthrew the forrly supre power of Miaosu City, she who slaughtered almost to extinction the original governnt officials and their attachnts of Miaosu City, and she who sparked this upward striving spirit in the hearts of the city’s population!
Struggle among heroes in chaotic tis is not to be feared; what is truly frightening is if the spirit of the people of a city is like a pool of stagnant water!
In that case, very good!
The aspiration to rise upwards is no cri, the spirit of the people in the Southern Border is not extinguished, very good!
"My lady, if this continues, might they not start infighting?" Xiao Cui was also startled by the passionate striving of the common folk, standing beside her own lady, she cautiously spoke with so concern.
"If they do, then you go, kill all those who are infighting, leave none alive!" Gu Changsheng’s Phoenix Eyes slightly raised, he spoke firmly.
He could tolerate the people having a heart to win fa and success, but he would not allow the winds of strife and infighting to rise, otherwise, it would disrupt all of his plans!
Xiao Cui heard her lady’s words, responded with a yes, and turned to walk out of the inn.
A quarter of an hour later, infighting indeed broke out in the city. It was between two small clans, the n from one family had taken the work of the won from the other, thus stealing their opportunity to showcase themselves! And what’s more, it was the n who had done the stealing?
Therefore, the won whose work was stolen imdiately summoned their Gu insects. Although they weren’t any remarkable Gu insects, they were still enough to give a robust man a hard ti!
The situation escalated just like that; which family didn’t have several n? Since the Sovereign had decreed that n could also earn rit through their own abilities, even if so families were reluctant for their n to co forward, seeing n from other families doing so made them restless!
The rit that n seized was also their family’s. Led by this thought, more and more well-known families began to let their n out!
n from their family were bullied by Gu won from another family? That was outrageous!
A small dispute quickly fernted into a standoff between the two families!
In no ti, the n and won from both families were brawling together, a total ss!
Upon receiving the news, Xiao Cui arrived on the scene. Seeing the chaotic situation, without saying another word, dagger in hand, her figure transford into a dark red streak, charging swiftly at the fighting mbers of the two families.
Regardless of gender, a slice through the throat, sparing none!
Blood, once again, flowed over the streets that had just been scrubbed clean.
The mbers of the two families were still clutching their blood-gushing throats, shivering on the ground.
In the blink of an eye, this woman dressed in dark red had claid the lives of more than thirty people from the feuding families!
At that mont, the onlooking citizens were dumbstruck, reduced to silence, afraid to move!
"You were allowed to strive for betternt, but who permitted you to fight and brawl under the Sovereign’s rule?" Xiao Cui glanced at the sprawled bodies on the ground, a hint of sharpness flashing in her eyes.
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