In the court of the Beizhou Dynasty, there is always a sense of discord.

Logically, such a rebellious scholar, an advisor aiding the Beizhou Barbarians in invading the Central Plains, the more talented and more of Great Li descent, the more unforgivable they become.

Out of ten people, nine heads chopped off would not result in any wrongful executions.

However, this person had another alias, "Heart of Kindness and Gentle Hand" Yuo Zhongde.

Why did he have this alias?

Back when Yuwen Mu breached Dragon City, consecutively taking seven border cities, he followed the vicious practices of the Hu People, engaging in widespread massacres.

Whenever a city was taken, at least ten days would pass without sheathing swords, claiming to break the spirit of the Southern Dynasty, making people fear them like tigers, thus easing the difficulty of further invasions.

It was this "Heart of Kindness and Gentle Hand" Yuo Zhongde who proposed the renowned "Ten Strategies of Animal Mastery" and the philosophy of "Inner Sage, Outer King" for military and state governance, convincing Yuwen Mu to change his ways.

Also because of his strategies, from the borderlands to the Northern Central Plains, there were at least millions or tens of millions more survivors among the populace.

However, due to this strategy, the Beizhou Dynasty grew uncontrollably powerful, even in the eyes of the noble families in the north and south, it had a decent image, showing signs of unifying the world.

Why was this so?

The reason is simple.

Before Yuo Qiu proposed the strategy of conquering the heart, the practices of the Hu People were solely for pillaging, annihilating everything without considering post-conquest governance, acting like mountain bandits and robbers.

Regarding noble families and wealthy merchants, they would just plunder, exterminating families entirely, absorbing all their wealth.

As a result, everywhere was a desperate struggle, making it exceedingly difficult to proceed.

This led to severe losses, and after each conquest of a city or region, massacres were conducted out of spite.

But after implementing the strategy of conquering the heart, the Hu People learned to win over noble families, learned to appease the common people, spread rumors, and turned the conquered lands for their own use.

The noble families of Nanli, seeing a retreat path and benefits, felt less inclined to fight desperately.

Some people no longer cared whether the ruler above them was the Hu People; having negotiated terms, they directly switched allegiance to the Hu People.

In turn, serving as the sharpest blade of the Hu People, attacking the Nanli Dynasty again.

Anyway, as long as their families were untouched, they cared not whether the world was in chaos, nor whether the people of the Central Plains became enslaved, like pigs and dogs.

They did not care.

With just one strategy, Beizhou’s reputation soared, capturing seven states and eighteen prefectures within half a year, reaching Yujing City.

Meanwhile, Nanli was on the brink of collapse, its people scattered, rooted in Yuo Qiu’s "Ten Strategies of Animal Mastery," later known as "The Ten Strategies of Peace" by Beizhou.

From the perspective of the Nanli Royal Family, such a person was utterly unpardonable, worthy of being sliced thousands of times without quenching their resentment.

However, from another perspective, this guy saved the lives of millions, persuading the Emperor of Beizhou to lessen the slaughter. In the Central Plains, or rather in the Northern Land, there are definitely millions of people grateful for his deeds, making it inauspicious to kill him.

For Yuo Qiu, whose family was destroyed by the Ji Family of Nanli and the noble families, talking to him about national loyalty was utterly futile.

Thus, Chen Ping didn’t discuss the debate of the Huyi, asking him directly.

"What advice does Mr. Yuo have for the situation in Xingqing Prefecture?"

"General Chen doesn’t intend to kill me?"

Yuo Qiu was surprised.

He dusted his sleeves, trying to stand as tall as possible.

Even being a captive, the demeanor of a scholar must not be abandoned.

Since the painful loss of his prematurely aging wife and eight-year-old son being killed, he had not remarried.

At this moment, being alone, he was not overly afraid of death. But, if one can live, who would wish to die?

Especially when there’s so much he had learned, yet to be applied, leaving a deep regret for his lifetime.

It was like when he was eighteen, full of ambition...

He stood on a slope, holding a bunch of wildflowers, earnestly speaking to the girl still in her youthful bloom, with a faint blush on his face: "I, a person named Yuo, am filled with literary knowledge, shall never be inferior to others in this life. One day, I shall wear robes of honor, serving the Court above, bringing peace to the common people below, governing the nation, and pacifying the world..."

The vow of those years had long become a joke.

He himself had lived to become a ghost.

Yet, upon recalling those scenes and emotions in the quiet of the night, he couldn’t help but shed old tears.

"Why would I kill you? The merits and demerits of a thousand years will be judged by future generations. You assisted Beizhou in invading the Central Plains, that is a grievous crime, deserving death a hundred times over.

Being able to save countless lives, regardless of your original intentions, is indeed meritorious, and Chen cannot easily kill you. However, setting you free to serve Beizhou again is also not something I’m foolish enough to do."

Chen Ping refrained from deceitful words.

Stating plainly, I won’t kill you, nor will I release you if you are unwilling to serve.

The best outcome would be continuous captivity.

Decide for yourself.

With a slight gleam in his eyes, he continued: "The world is in chaos now, creatures wailing, sir, entering employment in Beizhou, surely you can see clearly...

During the reign of Great Li, people suffered, life was worth as much as weeds. But under Beizhou, even if Central Plains people wanted to live like weeds, they could not.

At least, weeds have days of sunlight, whereas pigs and dogs merely await the time of slaughter."

This wasn’t mere talk from Chen Ping.

He believed that as long as Yuo Qiu wasn’t foolish, he must have long seen through the matter.

The wolfish nature of the Beizhou Barbarians, although outwardly, they had changed strategies, showing a gentle face, was in fact used to win over noble families, to court the scions of the noble houses.

In essence, they truly did not regard the people of the Central Plains as human beings.

As they were constantly recruiting manpower, they could maintain various pretenses. Once they truly unified the world, the people’s suffering would only worsen.