Dead silence.
For an instant, the entire hall seemed to suddenly fall into the void, and there was no movement except the faint sound of falling snow outside.
In the end, Li Wutong chose to give up.
They gave up more than a million people in Huailing City in exchange for Dafeng's survival.
As said before, it's hard to say whether her decision was right or wrong.
But if we analyze it solely from the current pros and cons...it seems that she has no other choice.
Refuse?
There is no doubt that Ning Yongnian will kill Li Qi immediately, and Huailing City may still be massacred.
In this way, they are really "death to make their ambition clear".
I would rather die and subjugate my country than bear the unreasonable charges...
It was obvious that Li Wutong did not want Dafeng to perish under any circumstances.
Therefore, she could only accept such a condition.
"..."
"Plop..."
Sitting down weakly on the wooden chair, Min Zhongguang sighed painfully, but did not say anything after all.
The same goes for other great envoys.
Everyone's expressions were different, but they all chose silence at this moment.
There is no doubt that no matter what the considerations were, they all acquiesced in Li Wutong's decision.
Even though everyone knows the consequences of this decision.
"emperor......"
On the other side, Sima Cong's expression was also complicated.
He turned to look at Ning Yongnian, and saw the latter nodded slightly, and then called the eunuch to his side again.
Pick up the pen, dip it in ink, and put it down.
Soon, the fifth and final article of the "Huailing Alliance" was recorded in writing.
Sima Cong took a deep breath and handed the note to the young eunuch.
The latter took it in his hand and immediately walked towards the palace door step by step under the gaze of everyone...
After ten breaths, the note will be handed over to the etiquette officer waiting outside the palace.
After twenty breaths, the drum sounded three times.
After thirty breaths, the etiquette officer will read out the contents of the note to all the people waiting on the long street outside the government office.
After that...
The 100,000 Daning troops stationed in Huailing City would seal the city gates and then massacre all the millions of unarmed people in the city.
It may take one day to massacre the city, it may take two days, but it will not exceed three days at most.
After Huailing is completely turned into a dead city, Ning Yongnian will return to Daning with the "Huailing Alliance" signed by both parties and the troops still in Dafeng.
At that time, Li Wutong had "got his wish" to save Dafeng and Li Qi's life.
She had given up too much for this result.
It can even be said that everything that can be sacrificed is sacrificed.
Therefore, when she saw the young eunuch walking towards the palace gate step by step, she felt a feeling of both despair and relief in her heart.
"Squeak..."
The door of the palace was pushed open a gap, and the cold wind mixed with snowflakes squeezed in from outside the house.
The moon is dark and no one can see it, and the mausoleum is covered with heavy snow.
Daning soldiers on various city walls were already ready to massacre the city. They would seal the city gates and unsheath their swords as soon as Wu Ding gave the order.
However, at this last moment, just before the young eunuch was about to walk out of the hall, a person who should not have spoken at this time suddenly spoke.
"stop."
"I don't agree!"
"..."
...
The cold wind is biting and the chill is chilling to the bones.
The center of everyone's attention was Li Qi, who looked extremely calm.
From the time he surrendered at the city gate to today, Emperor Dafeng has been playing dumb for more than a month.
He was hung on the city wall and suffered humiliation.
He watched with his own eyes as batch after batch of great warriors died tragically at his feet.
Even just now, Meng Shi, who had fought for him through life and death, silently waved his hand and committed suicide behind him...
Li Qi endured all of this.
From Ning Yongnian's eyes, he could see that the former believed that he was really stupid.
But even so, Li Qi could no longer pretend at this moment.
"emperor!"
The first exclamation came from Min Zhongguang.
The latter didn't know that Li Qi had been pretending to be stupid before, so he was inevitably shocked now.
He staggered up to Li Qi and fell to his knees with a bang. He looked up and shouted with tears streaming down his face:
"Your Majesty! You, you are okay!"
"emperor!"
"His Majesty!!"
"..."
The next moment, more Dafeng envoys also reacted, trembling and lying on the ground with extremely excited expressions.
Some of them may have guessed that Li Qi was pretending before, while others just thought that he suddenly "recovered" from his illness.
But no matter what, Li Qi returned to normal, and they had a backbone.
Just like that, the hall instantly fell into chaos.
But in the eyes of the Dafeng officials who were extremely excited and the Daning envoys who were extremely shocked, Li Qi just looked directly at Ning Yongnian and snorted coldly:
"Hmph, what a plan."
"..."
"You're not bad either."
Ning Yongnian squinted his eyes, and the surprise in Ning Yongnian's eyes slowly faded: "I almost thought you were really stupid... What? Are you going to continue the performance?"
"I just don't think it's necessary to act anymore."
Shaking his head calmly, Li Qi didn't have the slightest bit of cowardice that a "surrender" should have.
"Ning Yongnian, I know very well what you think."
"Now that the Wei family is getting stronger and stronger, your army must withdraw to Daning."
"But you are not willing to leave like this, so you want to use this method to drive a wedge between the government and the public."
"Huh, that's really a good plan!"
"..."
In just a few words, Li Qi completely exposed Ning Yongnian's plan.
But Ning Yongnian did not deny it, but nodded with a half-smile.
"Yes, that's exactly what I planned."
"But what can you do?"
"Now there are 100,000 Daning soldiers in Huailing City. Regardless of whether you agree or not, the people in the city will eventually die."
"And you have to risk your life in vain..."
"Are you risking your life in vain?"
There was no trace of panic or hesitation on Li Qi's face, and he interrupted with a sneer:
"Ning Yongnian, there is no need to talk about this between you and me."
"You should know the meaning of my death."
"..."
What is the meaning of my death...
When Li Qi said this, everyone instantly understood its meaning.
Yes, regardless of whether Li Qi agrees or not, Ning Yongnian has the ability to massacre the city.
But if Li Qi really died, then the nature of this massacre would change from "Dafeng gave up on the people of Huailing" to "Ning Yongnian massacred the people of Huailing."
By then, even if the Dafeng royal family no longer exists, the people of Dafeng will definitely hate Ning Yongnian deeply. The latter will undoubtedly have to pay a huge price if he wants to swallow Dafeng in the future.
Therefore, if Li Qi does not agree, there is a high probability that Ning Yongnian will not actually massacre the city.
On the other hand, if the "Huailing Alliance" cannot be achieved, then Ning Yongnian will most likely kill Li Qi directly and take Li Wutong away, allowing Dafeng to temporarily "subjugate" the country at least in name.
Thinking about it this way, the game between the two sides is actually very clear.
What Ning Yongnian hopes is to leave behind a Dafeng that is riddled with holes and exists in name only.
Li Qi’s purpose is exactly the opposite——
Even if he himself dies and his country is destroyed, he still wants to protect the reputation of the Li family and the lives of more than a million people in Huailing City!
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