"Pig... pigsty!"

In an instant, Bai Chen almost fainted.

He wasn't a fool, and naturally understood what this insidious couple wanted to do.

They... they actually wanted him to sleep with pigs!

Sleeping with pigs, if this were to spread, he...

Bai Chen didn't dare to think further, his mind instantly in chaos.

However, in a daze, Xie Jin Yan had already gagged his mouth and stuffed him into a prepared sack, followed by a series of jolts.

When he opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by several fat sows.

The strong stench rushed into his nostrils, and the pigs looked as if they had been drugged in advance...

Each one of them watched him with predatory eyes, like wolves and tigers.

Seeing them approaching step by step, Bai Chen's legs couldn't help but tremble violently.

Looking again at Xie Jin Yan outside, who was approaching step by step with a medicine bottle in hand, he finally couldn't bear it anymore.

He shouted out, "I... I promise you! I promise to cooperate with you!"

"Very good, wouldn't it have been better to say so earlier? Why bother suffering this for nothing?"

Xie Jin Yan sneered. With a wave of his hand, two servants appeared from nowhere and dragged him out of the pigsty, one on the left and one on the right.

Bai Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But, he never expected that Xie Jin Yan wouldn't let him off so easily.

After being dragged out of the pigsty, he wasn't taken back to his room. Instead, he was blindfolded and taken to another village.

When he opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by dilapidated furnishings. The musty smell assaulted his nostrils, along with the rustling sound of rats scurrying about.

Besides that, there were several fierce-looking villagers standing at the door, each with a murderous glint in their eyes, as if they wanted to kill him.

However, when the Wei Dynasty Crown Prince raised his hand, the villagers retreated.

As they left, they didn't forget to spit on his face.

Bai Chen recognized them. They were all former believers who had once bowed at his feet.

Now, after only a few days, they had been won over by this Wei Dynasty Crown Prince?

A look of unwillingness and disbelief flashed in Bai Chen's eyes.

Even though he knew that the Wei Dynasty Crown Prince had used some tricks in the past few days, convincing the villagers that he was the one who had harmed them and caused the famine, that he was the one who had made them pay more taxes.

That he and the Prefect Wang had colluded to deceive the emperor and oppress the people of Yunzhou.

He knew that they no longer trusted him as they once had, and even harbored resentment.

But he couldn't understand how Xie Jin Yan had managed to make these villagers obey him in such a short time.

Watching the villagers retreat, Bai Chen finally couldn't help it.

He gritted his teeth, and with a trembling voice, filled with unwillingness and doubt, he asked, "Wei Dynasty Crown Prince, how... how did you do it?"

"I used nearly decades to make them completely trust me, but you've only been here for a few days?"

"Yes, you're right, I've only been here for a few days."

"But I have lived in the Wei Dynasty, on this land, for more than a decade. Compared to foreigners like you, I naturally understand my own people better, and I know what they need and what they hate."

Xie Jin Yan looked at him with a faint smile, watching the unwillingness and disbelief in his eyes.

In his trembling gaze, he added softly, "Young Master Bai, the people of a country, no matter how much they hate their court, will never allow foreign enemies to invade. At least, most of them are like that."

"What's more, now they realize that they've been hating the wrong person from the start. Perhaps over the years, the imperial court has been too far away and neglected its management, but that doesn't mean that the people of Wei will become people of Southern Yue. The people living in Yunzhou, their ancestors have lived on this land for generations, and they have been taught by their fathers since they were young. Even if they hate the current rulers because of the hardships of life, what they can think of is only to change an emperor, or to start an uprising, rather than to be ruled by foreigners. What would a Wei Dynasty ruled by foreigners be like? Not peace and prosperity, not a prosperous country and a happy people, but rather my Wei Dynasty people would become slaves of others. Even walking on the street, they would be discriminated against and despised by those foreigners."

"Finally, Bai Chen, you must understand that sometimes the higher you are held, the harder you fall. And, in this world, you are not the only one who knows how to strike at the heart."

That's right, in this world, he, Bai Chen, wasn't the only one who knew how to strike at the heart, how to manipulate public opinion.

If he could deceive the emperor and hide the truth, using false pretenses to fool the people, why couldn't he?

In fact, Xie Jin Yan hadn't thought of this at first.

It was Qing Wu who reminded him. Qing Wu told him that most people are loyal to their own country.

Perhaps they would not be loyal to a monarch, but they would definitely be loyal to their own country.

And most people hate deception and hate being played.

When they realized that their beliefs of the past few years were nothing but a scam, and a vicious scam of foreign invasion, then their former beliefs would turn into hatred overnight.

Especially the peasants who were already living in misery.

These people had not received much favor, but had lost their relatives and friends in the previous famine. To control Yunzhou, the first thing to do was to mobilize the peasants.

It was precisely this point that Xie Jin Yan used to slowly spread the news that was unfavorable to the Bai Yue Society and Bai Chen.

It was also because of this that he dared to take a gamble and reverse the situation.

Then, after the turnaround, he took advantage of the chaos to arrange his people in Yunzhou City.

The Bai Yue Society relied on ideological poisoning to control the people. Losing the support of the people was like a soldier losing his weapon. Even if they had a small number of elite troops, half of these elite troops were Wei people.

Once they discovered that they had been deceived, it would be even more difficult to control them.

After hearing Xie Jin Yan's words, Bai Chen naturally thought of these things as well. The color suddenly drained from his face.

He stared blankly and unwillingly at Xie Jin Yan, unable to say another word.

In a daze, Xie Jin Yan had already handed over a pen and ink. He coldly swept his gaze over him and ordered, "Bai Chen, I won't waste any more words with you. I want the map of your Bai Yue Palace, and also mark the location of Xie Qi Yun and the others."

"Finally, don't try to play tricks with me. If I can't come back alive and safe, you'll still be back in the pigsty, or the cow pen, or the doghouse. Anyway, there are plenty of places for you to go."

"You..."

Bai Chen did want to play tricks.

He was thinking of using some small tricks to hint to Bai Gang to come and save him.

But at this moment, Xie Jin Yan's words completely extinguished the hope that had just ignited in him.

This Wei Dynasty Crown Prince was truly malicious!

Gritting his teeth, Bai Chen reluctantly took the pen and ink.

About half an hour later, under Xie Jin Yan's stern gaze, Bai Chen drew the address of the Bai Yue Palace very clearly, stroke by stroke, and also explained the location where Xie Qi Yun was being held.

Taking the map, Xie Jin Yan immediately stepped out of the room, ordered two secret guards disguised as villagers to watch him carefully, and then walked all the way to a small house in the west.