Was she trying to offer him amnesty?
Throughout history, there had been plenty of cases of rebels being granted amnesty.
When rebels proved difficult to deal with, or suppressing them would strain the court to its very bones, the court would choose to offer them amnesty.
Give them some minor official post.
Then send them off to guard the frontier.
And just like that, a thorn in the court's heart could be easily removed.
In truth, those rebels understood perfectly well that, although they had become a grave threat to the court and were throwing their weight around,
They still lacked the strength to fight the court head-on.
The court only feared them because it had yet to get serious.
It would not pour vast sums of money and troops into wiping out rebels.
Instead, it would choose a less costly approach.
Mu Xuehuang looked straight at Ning Yuanzhou. Up close, he did not have the slightest air of a rebel.
Instead, he resembled a scholar, his mind brimming with learning.
His eyes, in particular, were unfathomably deep. Only someone who had truly weathered life's rises and falls could possess such a gaze.
Having simulated Ning Yuanzhou's life, Mu Xuehuang knew his experiences like the back of her hand.
As the founder of Flowing Sand, his life could certainly be called legendary-
He had risen in an age of turmoil;
Abandoned the path of cultivation;
All to lift up the suffering masses;
Had she not been the reigning Empress, Mu Xuehuang might have admired him greatly.
They came from the same place. Being fellow townspeople brought them even closer.
Unfortunately, she was the reigning Empress.
She could not allow Great Li's foundations to crumble in her hands.
Persuading him to surrender was the best-and only-solution she could think of.
"Your