Chapter 151 Affection "I love you." "Me too."...

It rained in Yongdu for several days, but it finally stopped last night.

At dawn, a pale golden crack appeared in the clouds. The crack gradually widened, and the clouds were dyed a translucent, quenched gold. As the sunlight sank further down, it sprinkled like golden particles onto the rooftops of the imperial city.

Xie Wenjun supported one side of the coffin, and sixty-four Imperial Guards dressed in white simultaneously lifted Emperor Xuanyuan's coffin and slowly moved it out of the Taiji Hall.

The funeral procession began at the Meridian Gate of the Imperial Palace, with officials weeping and wailing as the procession led the way along the central axis out of the south gate of Yongdu's inner city. The Grand Eunuch led the way, scattering money along the route, while people along the way wore mourning clothes to welcome and send off the deceased. Outside the south gate of the inner city, the imperial carriage carrying Emperor Xuanyuan's coffin to Emperor Guangdi's Mausoleum was parked in front of the city gate, and the Imperial Guards worked together to lift Emperor Xuanyuan's coffin onto the carriage.

The dragon-drawn carriage, with its wheels turning, was still being pulled and pushed by sixty-four Imperial Guards towards the mausoleum of Emperor Guang, while civil and military officials escorted it on foot.

The mausoleum of Emperor Guangdi is solemn and surrounded by dense forest.

Rong Jun, with his sword at the ready, followed Xie Wenjun. Only twenty Changning Guards accompanied them on this trip; the rest had already secretly laid in ambush in Guangling County at the foot of the mountain.

Chen Liangyu stood guard outside, and Xie Wenjun didn't see that familiar figure after entering the mausoleum area. But she knew she was there.

The auspicious time has arrived.

The chief priest, in charge of welcoming and sending off the gods and reading the prayers, stepped forward, chanted the sacrificial text, and comforted Heaven, Earth, and the ancestors.

The officials bowed their heads and knelt, and sobs rose from all sides.

The rituals and procedures were elaborate and complex.

The eunuchs presented the prepared sacrificial jades, such as the green jade tablet and the red jade tablet, along with bundles of silk. Xie Wenjun personally placed them on the altar at the entrance of the underground palace to pay homage to the spirits.

Five grains and three kinds of sacrificial animals were offered to the late emperor.

The three sacrificial animals—cattle, sheep, and pigs—were carried up, followed by the five grains of millet, sorghum, rice, beans, and wheat, offered in turn.

Xie Wenjun held a golden goblet, filled it with fine wine, and slowly poured it before the stone gate of the underground palace. The wine seeped into the cracks in the stone, offering it as a sacrifice to the souls sleeping beneath the earth.

The dragon-drawn carriage, pulled by the ceremonial guard, glided slowly down the paved wooden tracks toward the underground palace.

Funeral music and tolling bells rang out together, and wailing shook the heavens.

After the coffin was placed in the underground palace, funerary objects such as figurines, chariots, and utensils, as well as the imperial edict and posthumous title inscribed with Emperor Xuanyuan's achievements, were successively sent in and placed in various parts of the underground palace. Finally, the temporarily excavated stone gate began to close with a rumbling sound.

As the mournful music lingered, the Dragon Martial Army guarding the underground palace suddenly moved.

Jiang Shuli was a little dazed. Why did he have to make a move at this time?

"Let's do it!"

Someone shouted this out loud, and the Longwu soldiers closest to Xie Wenjun drew their swords and instantly sprang into action.

"Protect the Emperor!"

Rong Jun drew his sword.

The orders from Changning Guard sounded almost simultaneously with those from the Longwu Army, and the clash of weapons abruptly replaced the mournful music and cries.

Although the Changning Guard was small in number, its members were all highly skilled, selected from among the best. In the blink of an eye, they surrounded Xie Wenjun, creating a safe area and repelling the attacking Longwu Army. In the same instant, a squad of elite guards rushed out from the side hall where the underground palace met the spirit path, drawing their swords and facing the Longwu Army directly.

Seeing that the Longwu Army had already started fighting with the Changning Guards beside the Princess, Jiang Shuli had no choice but to obey orders and drew his sword at Rong Jun.

Rong Jun knocked two Longwu soldiers to the ground with his sword. A powerful blade came down in front of him. As Rong Jun raised his sword to parry, he saw the person coming and recognized him as Jiang Shuli, the commander of the Longwu Army.

"Stop protecting him, you're the one who's going to die!"

Upon hearing this, Rong Jun immediately understood what was happening. He engaged the Dragon Martial Army in combat, managing to distance himself from Xie Wenjun, and shouted, "Protect His Highness!"

The Changning Guard escorted Xie Wenjun as they retreated towards the sacrificial hall.

Xie Wenjun looked around warily, but still couldn't find Chen Liangyu.

Suddenly, several sharp arrows pierced the air, and the Longwu Army soldiers attacking Xie Wenjun fell one after another, struck by the arrows.

The arrow was shot from the direction of the ancestral hall.

The officials attending the funeral were already in complete chaos.

"Rebellion!" Amidst the exclamations, everyone instantly lost their composure, no longer caring about etiquette, wishing they could just disappear into the woods and bushes outside the sacred path.

In the chaos, a white horseman in black armor galloped from the northeastern forest pass.

Chen Liangyu ordered: "Left Valiant Guards, listen to my command! Escort the lords to the west side hall!"

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of guards behind him split into two teams. One team, holding shields, stood between the Dragon Warriors and the officials attending the funeral, while the other team carried the frightened old ministers and supported the trembling officials, retreating along the stone steps on the west side of the spirit path towards the side hall.

Rong Jun was besieged by Jiang Shuli and dozens of Longwu soldiers. He could only defend himself from the front and not the rear. The Longwu soldiers were well-trained and familiar with the structure of the armor. They aimed to stab at the gaps in the armor. Rong Jun was injured in many places on his limbs and gradually lost strength.

Chen Liangyu rode up, drew his sword and cleaved a path through the Longwu Army, then dismounted to face Jiang Shuli directly.

Several times more elite armored guards surrounded the Dragon Martial Army behind her.

The clash of swords immediately ceased.

Jiang Shuli, still confused, said angrily, "Wasn't it said that we would only take action when the Eldest Princess entered the Hall of Offering to the Retired Emperor's spirit tablet? Why is it happening so early?"

Giving the signal too early disrupted all plans.

Chen Liangyu tilted her head and smiled.

If we don't act early, how can we create a stir and fool the officials attending the funeral?

Jiang Shuli did not understand the deeper meaning of Chen Liangyu's smile. He angrily demanded an explanation from Chen Liangyu, but before he could see how Chen Liangyu had drawn her sword, he fell backward.

The Longwu Army, which was besieging Rong Jun, was dumbfounded.

If the commander is dead, whose orders should we follow? Should we kill Rong Jun or not?

Chen Liangyu bent one leg and squatted down, placing his palm over Jiang Shuli's eyes and wiping his eyelids to close them.

Then he got up.

"Jiang Shuli attempted to assassinate the eldest princess, but has now been executed."

The nearby Longwu soldiers threw their weapons to the ground and were escorted away by the guards.

Just then, the Dragon Warriors on both sides of the underground palace and the spirit path suddenly charged towards the underground palace with ferocity. In the midst of the battle, several arrows suddenly pierced Xie Wenjun, who was heading towards the sacrificial hall. Ignoring his injuries, Rong Jun drew his sword and rushed over.

Chen Liangyu was startled: "Who fired the arrow!"

The archers on the high floor of the ancestral hall were acting on her orders. If she didn't order them to fire, where did the arrows come from?

Several more arrows came flying through the air, this time aimed at her. Chen Liangyu swung her sword, and the arrows instantly changed direction, embedding themselves firmly in the base of the stone statue beside her.

It was a black-feathered arrow from the Imperial Guard.

A search of the surrounding area revealed that the sixty-four Imperial Guards who carried the coffin in the funeral procession had disappeared.

This time, Chen Liangyu pinpointed the direction from which the arrow came: in the woods east of the sacred path.

"Right Valiant Guard!"

"exist!"

Chen Liangyu pointed his whip towards the woods to the east, "Assassins! Kill them!"

Chen Liangyu yanked the reins and rushed to Xie Wenjun's side. The jade lion roared and stood on its hind legs, using its body to block Xie Wenjun. Chen Liangyu swung his sword backhand and accurately deflected a cold arrow that was aimed at Xie Wenjun's face.

Without stopping, Chen Liangyu leaned down, reached out and grabbed Xie Wenjun by the waist, then lifted her up and placed her on the saddle in front of him.

"Your Highness, Lord Rong, let's go!"

Archers, provide cover!

A hail of arrows instantly rained down on the woods to the east of the sacred path.

"Guards, protect the Emperor!"

Chen Liangyu spurred the horse's flanks and charged towards the main hall, which was situated on slightly higher ground in the northwest of the underground palace.

A few arrows still grazed past his ear.

Chen Liangyu lowered her body and held Xie Wenjun tightly in her arms. She spurred her horse on and galloped up the stone steps of the sacrificial hall. Finally, she stopped the jade lion at the hall entrance, tumbled off the horse with Xie Wenjun in her arms, dodged the stray arrows, and rolled into the sacrificial hall.

Chen Liangyu gasped for breath. After a moment, she asked, "Your Highness, are you injured?"

"No, what about you?"

"I don't have any either."

To protect her from the last hidden arrow, Chen Liangyu was almost completely on top of her, his right hand supporting himself with his long sword, his knee accidentally hitting her waist, their positions so close that there was no gap between them.

Xie Wenjun pressed half her face against the floor tiles of the ancestral hall. "Get up first."

"Don't move! The arrows haven't stopped!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than another arrow struck a pillar at the palace gate. As the arrow trembled, Chen Liangyu instinctively pressed the princess down further, making her position even more awkward.

Chen Liangyu said, "There's still a group of Longwu soldiers guarding the main gate of the mausoleum area. You should go through the northwest forest pass, where our men are guarding. It will be slower to go along the mountain road. Perfect timing, I'll go and clear the road back to Yongdu for you first."

Xie Wenjun chuckled to herself.

"General Chen has actually openly defied the imperial decree?"

Chen Liangyu knew that her stance would be impossible to hide in front of Xie Yuan this time. From the moment Xie Yuan went back on his word after ascending the throne, expelling female students from the Imperial Academy and abolishing the women's examination, she knew that their relationship as ruler and subject could never be truly harmonious again.

Now, he has suppressed the military merit book of the Yunhui Army and abolished the awarding of ranks to female soldiers. Everything she sought seems to have vanished in the blink of an eye.

She lowered her head and kissed Xie Wenjun on the forehead.

Fortunately, the person in front of me is always a fellow traveler.

Chen Liangyu said, "Just fight for what you want, and I'll go through fire and water for you."

She suddenly remembered something extremely important that she had never told Xie Wenjun.

"Your Highness," Chen Liangyu called softly.

Xie Wenjun looked at her and said, "I'm here."

"I love you."

Before long, Rong Jun and the remaining Changning Guards also retreated to the main hall. The hall doors were tightly closed, and several Changning Guards used their bodies to hold them shut.

Chen Liangyu then jumped up and dusted himself off.

"The main gate of Emperor Guangdi's Mausoleum is guarded by the Longwu Army. Jiang Shuli is dead, and we don't know which of them received secret orders. The people in the woods on the east side look like they came down from the palace. We don't know who ordered them. In any case, we can't leave through the main gate."

Rong Jun said, "They were Imperial Guards carrying the coffin, about sixty men in total."

The Imperial Guard was directly under the command of Jiang Andong.

Xie Wenjun asked Rong Jun, "How are your injuries?"

Rong Jun said, "It's just a superficial wound, nothing serious." He then went to the side and simply bandaged the wounds on his legs and feet.

Chen Liangyu thought for a moment and said, "Jiang Andong instigated it? That doesn't make sense. He values ​​family connections so much. The Jiang family's connections are due to the 'Records of Ten Thousand Officials.' He wouldn't be so foolish as to oppose His Highness. There must be someone else behind it all."

Xie Yuan's lifeline was in Xie Wenjun's hands, so he wouldn't be so reckless as to order the Imperial Guards to take Xie Wenjun's life.

Xie Wenjun also dusted off his tattered sleeves and said, "He will be loyal to whoever he is relying on."

"Empress Dowager."

It was common knowledge throughout the court and among the people that Xie Wenjun and Xie Yuan were vying for power, so it's not surprising that the Empress Dowager harbored murderous intentions towards Xie Wenjun.

The sounds of weapons clashing outside the main hall gradually subsided. Inside, people heard someone climbing the steps outside the hall, their heavy footsteps clearly identified as military boots.

The voice of the Left General of the Valiant Guard came from outside the door: "Princess, General, all the rebels of the Dragon Martial Army in the mausoleum area have been captured, and the remaining remnants have also been brought under control."

The palace gates opened, revealing a scene of utter devastation within the mausoleum area. The remnants of the Longwu Army were being held back by the Xiaowei Guards, while the Yulin Army soldiers who had fired arrows from the woods had also been apprehended.

Chen Liangyu slightly bent his left arm and placed the Lancang Sword horizontally in the crook of his arm to wipe away a trace of blood from the blade.

Xie Wenjun stood not far away, watching as she sheathed her sword and mounted her horse.

Chen Liangyu reined in his horse, about to crack the whip.

“Ah Li.”

Xie Wenjun's gaze was fixed on her face, without a trace of his usual solemnity.

Chen Liangyu didn't quite hear what she said.

But I understood it from Xie Wenjun's lip movements.

Xie Wenjun said, "Me too."

A man and a horse, one white and one black, standing against the light.

Chen Liangyu's lips slowly curved into a smile, a smile that seemed to hold a thousand words of tenderness, and the gentle light in her eyes was brighter than the stars and moon.

With a flick of her whip, she resolutely rode off into another bloody storm.

Xie Wenjun ordered several sets of armor from the Xiaowei Guards to be removed and then put on the Changning Guards.

Rong Jun said, "I remember what His Highness instructed me to say."

The group clasped their hands in a fist salute: "Yes!"

Then, disguised as the Xiaowei, the Changning Guard sneaked into the west side hall where the officials who had come to pay their respects were hiding, and circled around to the window.

The side hall was especially quiet. The ministers huddled in the corners and no one dared to speak. Only when the noise outside subsided did they dare to put their ears to the wooden windows to listen for any sounds.

They've already started chatting under the window.

"Have you heard? The Emperor wants to abolish the hereditary system. Do you know what the hereditary system relies on?"

"Isn't that Princess Jiangning's 'Records of Ten Thousand Officials'?"

"That's right! If His Majesty wanted to abolish the hereditary system, he first had to abolish the 'Records of Ten Thousand Officials.' The Princess disagreed, which led to her assassination. Tell me, how many times has this kind of assassination attempt happened now?"

...

They chatted idly and vividly.

Someone even brought out half a bag of sunflower seeds from somewhere, and the group chatted and ate them enthusiastically.

The west wing hall was even quieter, with only a few faint noises occasionally coming from inside the windows, but no minister spoke up to reprimand or argue.

Xie Wenjun exited the mausoleum from the northwest pass and walked down the mountain road. When he arrived at the city of Lingyi, the last rays of sunset were sinking below the ridgeline.

The Changning Guards had already gathered at the pre-arranged location.

It was a farm, and a carriage was parked there. Xie Wenjun climbed onto the carriage shaft and entered the carriage.

On a small table in the carriage was a bulging oil paper package.

Xie Wenjun was curious about who had put something in her carriage. When she opened it, she found a package of neatly cut square pieces of shortbread.

***

Chen Liangyu quelled the Longwu Army in the forest area outside the Guangdi Mausoleum, left a few elite guards to settle the officials who came to the funeral, drew his sword, rode his horse, and cleared away the roadblocks that were blocking Xie Wenjun's way back to Yongdu along the official road.

Ambushes were constant along the way. The hundred-mile journey felt like traversing hell.

Blood was spilled, and men and horses fell to the ground.

Smoke and dust rose slightly on the official road leading to Yongdu, indicating that there were still ambushes.

Until the city gates of Yongdu finally appeared on the horizon.

She was just about to catch her breath.

However, the city gate was heavily guarded, and a glimpse of bright yellow at the crenellations made Chen Liangyu's heart sink.

Xie Yuan's gaze was icy as he looked down at the people below the city who looked as if they had crawled out of a sea of ​​blood.

He stood on high ground and watched her return, bleeding profusely. She constantly switched between sword, spear, and bow, and even fought hand-to-hand. She no longer held back any strength; every move she made was a life-or-death struggle.

On the city wall, the imperial guards' archers drew their bows and nocked their arrows.

It was aimed at her.

Chen Liangyu reined in the jade lion, stopping it just outside the range of the arrows. She was covered in blood, and the jade lion was breathing heavily.

Jiang Andong led his Imperial Guards out of the city on horseback, with his guards arranged in three columns behind him, their spears pointing diagonally at the ground, the tips of several spears forming a dense, cold forest. The Imperial Guards usually carried waist swords; carrying tasseled spears meant they were there to apprehend people.

The caning was carried out in the center of the city gate, with each strike of the cane heavier than the last.

Until Xie Yuan called a halt, Chen Liangyu was dragged to him by the Imperial Guards. As she was dragged, her bloodied knees scraped the ground, leaving two thin trails of blood.

Two Imperial Guards grabbed her shoulders and forcibly lifted her off the ground before letting go. Chen Liangyu staggered and knelt down, the long, trailing blood finally ending below her knees, merging with the bloodstains from her palms pressed against the bricks.

The figure in bright yellow remained silent for a long time, and stood still for a long time.

Then he asked, "Chen Liangyu, to whom are you truly loyal?"

Chen Liangyu kept her eyes down, letting her disheveled, blood-stained hair cover her face.

Her kneeling figure exuded a sense of loneliness and isolation.

"Throughout my life I have served on the battlefield, guarding the vast and mighty borders and protecting the peaceful and prosperous lives of the people. I am loyal to the well-being of all people."

"I receive the Emperor's grace and enjoy the Emperor's bounty, and I am loyal to the Emperor."

"But I am a general, not a lackey. If Your Majesty commands me to protect the borders and quell the rebellion, I will gladly die for it. But if Your Majesty commands me to draw my sword against Her Highness the Princess..."

"Your subject will not obey the imperial edict!"

"Your subject is willing to accept the death penalty!"

Author's note: Those who want to see the battle damage, come out and take a few steps. Is this enough damage?

Thank you for reading this far!