The soldier standing at the very front bowed his head and shouted, "My lord! I'm not going back! Even if I do, Duke Lodun will still send me out to fight you. He might even condemn me and have me beheaded for being defeated and captured! I want to stay and follow you!"
"I want to stay and follow you!"
"I want to stay and follow you!"
For a time, those willing to submit and surrender came in an unbroken stream. This was unprecedented in the New World. While attacking another's city, the local garrison had actually knelt down so willingly, begging to join them.
Ronglin said in a deep voice, "Do you know who I am fighting? Do you know where I will point my blade next? If you follow me to attack Lodun main island, what do you think will happen to your families? They will suffer! Your relatives and friends will become your enemies, standing before you with weapons drawn! Even so, do you still want to surrender to me?"
Once those words were spoken, many realized that in their moment of heated impulse, they had forgotten something so important. If they truly turned around and attacked Duke Lodun, they really might have to raise their weapons against their own relatives and friends.
Yet this young lord had considered matters so thoroughly for them. If they still could not support him, they would be too ashamed to go on living in this world.
"My lord!" A man dressed like a Commander stepped forward and lowered his head in salute. "We are deeply moved by your kindness, but the greedy, narrow-minded Duke Lodun will not let us go so easily. All the consideration you have shown us today may very well become his excuse to kill us tomorrow.