Zhang Shizai carefully pondered your words, yet still shook his head. Clearly, he did not quite believe what you had said at the end.
The Red-Eyed Army would breach Bianjing? If a nation's imperial capital were breached, that nation would not be far from ruin.
Great Qi's national fortune had endured for fourteen hundred years. How could it possibly fall apart because of a single rebellion?
Though he greatly admired your insight, he still felt that your words were far too alarmist.
Xie Yuan was likewise full of disbelief. "Brother Guan, it might be believable a hundred years from now, but how could it happen now?"
He recalled the flourishing splendor of the Gathering of Beauties Banquet. Great Qi was still a dynasty at the height of its power—how could it collapse as swiftly as you claimed?
"Within five or six years, the world will descend into great chaos." It was as though you had already seen the beacon fires stretching across the heavens. "The armies of rebellion will burn the whole realm to ashes."
Zhang Yunzhi asked, "Young Master Guan, is that truly so?"
You nodded. "I would not dare speak recklessly. Though the Red-Eyed Army appears to be a rabble, it thrives upon the people's grievances. If the court insists on suppressing them by force alone, I fear it will only achieve the opposite result."
"The common people have suffered under the Nine Great Surnames for far too long."
Those words struck Zhang Shizai's heart like a heavy hammer, leaving him silent for a long while.
As a member of the Zhang Clan, one of the Nine Great Surnames, he naturally understood the weight of those words. Though the Nine Great Surnames had once stood in towering glory, their overwhelming power had gradually distanced them from the common