Chapter 53 There is indeed a messenger in Yongdu, but I'm still worried.
Startled, Chen Liangyu released the person in her arms and hastily wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
They retreated step by step, as if they had done something wrong.
Xie Wenjun turned her back to straighten her clothes, and when she turned back, Chen Liangyu was pouring water from a teapot on a tea table a few feet away from her, and almost lost her grip.
The more silent you are, the more embarrassed you become.
Chen Liangyu wanted to ask Xie Wenjun if she was thirsty, but noticed that she had already straightened her clothes, was sitting upright, and had tea in front of her. She handed her a fresh cup of tea and then quickly lowered her head.
Xie Wenjun also deliberately avoided her gaze. After a long while, she asked, "What are your plans after returning to Yongdu?"
I just picked a random phrase to ease the awkwardness in the flower hall.
Chen Liangyu paused, her hand holding the teacup still. "Give my parents a proper burial."
"And then what?"
“After that, I want to go back to the Northern Territory, back to Dingbei City.” Chen Liangyu thought of Jing Rong and counted the days since he left the Northern Territory. It had been eight years already. “So many years have passed. I left her there and haven’t been back to see her for so many years. She must not be very happy.”
Xie Wenjun asked, "Who is he?"
"Her name is Jing Rong."
Jingrong...
Xie Wenjun remembers her, "I know her."
You know?
Xie Wenjun said, "Her name is on the military merit list of the sixteenth year of Xuanyuan."
After the Battle of Dingbei, the Marquis of Xuanping submitted a list of military merits, many of whom were no longer alive. The court would award ranks according to their merits and then provide corresponding pensions to their families based on the ranks bestowed upon them. A very few people had their names specially marked, indicating that they had no living family members.
Jing Rong is not a soldier.
With so many names on the register, it wasn't worth paying attention to. So many people died in Dingbei, no one would bother to investigate the background of each person on the military merit register. It was just a matter of a red annotation and that was it.
But Xie Yu noticed this name. "Why is there a woman here?"
Chen Linjun had two trusted lieutenants, one named Jingming and the other Jinghe, whom Xie Wenjun had always known. Since the name also contained the surname Jing, she naturally assumed that this person was the brother of Chen Linjun's two lieutenants. At that time, she had asked her elder brother, Xie Yu, about it, and he replied, "She was Chen Liangyu's maid, an orphan. A woman of great talent, what a pity."
The imperial palace had placed a group of people, known as "inspectors," both among the common people and in the court, even in the residences of various officials. Xie Wenjun viewed these people as troublemakers within the court, primarily responsible for monitoring what officials ate, where they went, and who they met, as well as thoroughly investigating the backgrounds of their wives, concubines, servants, guards, and maids. Although these people held no official rank, not even a nominal one, and were forbidden from revealing their identities, they were inexplicably dedicated and self-important.
After the Crown Prince became regent, Eunuch Sun, who served Emperor Xuanyuan, handed over the Bureau of Personnel Inspection to Rong Jun. As a result, Xie Yu knew everything about the families of officials in the court. The Xuanping Marquis's family, which was a powerful clan guarding a region, had to investigate even the origins of a fly and submit a memorial to the emperor.
Xie Yu hesitated for a moment when approving the document.
It wasn't because Jing Rong wasn't a soldier yet she was entitled to military merit and court compensation—her military achievements were undeniable—but because she was a woman. Having never served in the army and being a woman, such a situation provided ample reason for the Crown Prince, a member of the imperial family, to pause for a moment amidst his busy schedule.
It was only for a moment.
"Is Marquis Xuanping confused? What is he thinking?"
Once the person is dead, that's it. Xie Yu didn't linger on this trivial matter for long, and wrote a red edict approving it.
Xie Wenjun was only familiar with the name Jing Rong, but she knew Chen Liangyu very well. She would hear about her several times a year from other people, but Emperor Xuanyuan mentioned her the most, especially to Xie Yu, and was very generous in his praise.
Later, she repeatedly made military achievements, and after the Battle of Dingbei City, her name became a topic of conversation among the palace ladies, who showered her with praise.
Just what kind of person is he, with his dazzling brilliance?
"Royal brother."
Xie Yu had just put away his vermilion brush and took the opportunity to answer her, "Yes, what is it?"
"On the day the army returns to the capital, I want to go out of the palace to take a look."
A wave of emotion welled up in Chen Liangyu's nose. She hadn't expected that someone she'd never met would remember Jing Rong. It wasn't a big deal, but it suddenly brought tears to Chen Liangyu's eyes; its significance to her was extraordinary.
That was the person who grew up with her, inseparable for over a decade.
Her soul has departed, but her voice and appearance remain; she has never appeared in my dreams.
She naturally didn't want Jing Rong's eighteen years of life to end up as nothing more than a handful of yellow earth and a few ink marks on the military merit list. If her name was remembered, she would no longer be just an insignificant skeleton among the thousands who died on the battlefield in Dingbei.
Chen Liangyu also found a chair and sat down, and began to talk to Xie Wenjun about some trivial things from the past. "As far back as I can remember, my father and elder brother would always trick me into drinking. They would watch me grimace from the spiciness and they would find it amusing. Later, I refused to drink anything they offered me."
"The soldiers in the camp teased me, calling me 'Little General.' Back then, whenever there was a banquet, people would always say, 'Which soldier who goes into battle doesn't drink and eat heartily? How can you be a general if you don't drink three jars of wine?'"
"But actually, many people in the army can't hold their liquor. Drinking is strictly prohibited in the camp. Only when there is a great victory or a festival will my father hold a banquet in the mansion and drink with the soldiers. We only drink once a year, so how can we hold our liquor? After drinking less than half a jar of wine, we are completely out of it. How dare you laugh at me?"
"Jingrong brewed good wine, but she refused to accept that others said that about me, so she brewed fruit wine. The wine she gave me was different from the wine she gave to others. I could drink a lot of that jar without getting drunk, at most my face would turn a little red. Later, I drank more than ten generals under the table. After that, they probably got bored and no one forced me to drink anymore. Jingrong's fruit wine was sweet."
Xie Wenjun listened silently, and after she finished speaking, she said, "If there's a chance, take me to see her. To see Jingrong."
Chen Liangyu replied, "Okay, definitely."
"Do we really have to go back to the North?"
Chen Liangyu fell silent at her question.
But she remained certain that she would return to the Northern Border. When she returned to Yongdu with her parents in the sixteenth year of Xuan Yuan, she considered herself merely a passerby in this bustling capital. Sooner or later, she would go back.
The North is desolate; beyond the city gates lies an endless wilderness, littered with rubble and barren of vegetation, where the wind turns the sky yellow. On this pristine land, both humans and animals retain, to varying degrees, the primal cruelty and savagery of life. The army stationed in the North, besides defending against external enemies, frequently has to dedicate troops to peacekeeping, resulting in almost daily incidents of malicious attacks and murders. In the depths of winter, when food is scarce, wolves from the wilderness will even enter the city to attack and prey on people.
Life is constantly threatened, so violence becomes a means of survival.
Therefore, when Chen Liangyu stepped into Shangyong City, thousands of people lined the streets and cheered, leaving her momentarily at a loss for words. In a northern city, if there were crowds gathered together making noise, it could only mean a popular riot.
How can a noisy, shouting crowd be compatible with the word "peaceful"?
At that time, she found it difficult to find words to describe how she felt. Later, Zhang Jialing came back to life and kept saying that he came from thousands of years in the future. From his nonsensical ramblings, Chen Liangyu finally found the word that could explain everything.
civilization.
She finally understood the Confucian and Taoist principles of governing the country and the eight-legged essay system for selecting officials, and she also understood why this world respected scholars.
She wanted to return to the North and try to drive out the foreign enemies and barbarity from that land.
For the rest of my life, I will safeguard the peace and stability of this region.
There was another reason. She initially thought that promoting women's education would be easier to implement in a place like Yongdu, where academic atmosphere was strong and Confucian scholars were numerous. However, she completely overlooked the fact that this contradicted the current way of governing the world. She gradually discovered that the more a city valued learning and reading, the more corrupt it became.
Those who rise through the ranks by reading books are rigid, outdated, and extremely xenophobic. They are unwilling to share their benefits with others, especially women. If the soil is unsuitable, the seeds sown will hardly survive.
With Xie Wenjun in Yongdu, and Shen Yan and Gu Xie supporting her, once the Imperial Academy reopens, the rest can be dealt with gradually. Then she can temporarily relinquish control and return to the Northern Border to forge a new path.
Chen Liangyu didn't say a word, but Xie Wenjun already knew the answer.
She asked, "Yongdu, is there no one you can't let go of? What about Third Brother? Don't you care about him anymore?"
"Your Highness Prince Shen?" Her surprised expression flickered across her face before she finally understood what Xie Wenjun was referring to. That year, she had used her merits to curry favor with Emperor Xuanyuan and asked for a marriage decree. Now, that memory was hazy, so distant that it seemed like something from a past life.
Chen Liangyu suddenly chuckled, "Your Highness still remembers how young and ignorant you were?"
"Remember."
Xie Wenjun's voice was very soft, almost trembling, "What are you laughing at?"
"I laugh at how reckless and unrestrained I was back then, simply because I had my father and brothers backing me up. If it were now, I would never dare to be so reckless again."
The shadow on the ground stretched out and approached. Chen Liangyu squatted down in front of Xie Wenjun, holding something in his hand. "There is indeed someone in Yongdu, and I'm worried about him."
Iron letter tube.
He handed it to Xie Wenjun and explained the key points and uses of the iron letter tube. Chen Liangyu said, "As long as I'm not dead, it can find me."
She never wanted to see Xie Wenjun lying on the verge of death in the Qing Mansion again. She was truly going crazy.
"And what about you? Without the mail tube, how will you contact Marquis Wu'an?"
“With Uncle Yan here.”
Xie Wenjun put away the mailbox and said, "There will be other moves from Yongdu soon. Before that, I need to meet with Heng Jinan."
"Be careful in everything." Chen Liangyu thought for a moment. "Zhao Mingqin may not be able to persuade the garrison commanders in the southern border in such a short time. I will get there as soon as possible."
Several recruitment points were located in bustling areas, and when Bu Ping'er arrived on horseback, long, winding queues had already formed. Only one place seemed completely disorderly, with a large crowd gathered around, loudly discussing something, and one could vaguely make out words like "women" and "join the army."
Bu Ping'er dismounted and stood there motionless for a long time.
The thing that Zhao Zhouqing, a man of great ambition, could never let go of until his death was accomplished so easily by another person just a few years later.
"Is your injury healed?"
Chen Liangyu walked up from behind, with a woman dressed in a lanyi and with a refined appearance standing beside her.
Bu Ping'er washed her face, changed into a clean and neat set of light armor, and held a fine sword in her hand. She truly had the bearing of a daughter of a military family.
I wasn't wrong about it.
"It's just a superficial wound; it'll heal in a few days. I've brought someone with me."
Chen Liangyu turned her head and saw that Bu Ping'er's attendant was leading an old man with a missing arm.
Jiang Bojin was so angry he almost snorted through his nostrils.
He stared at Chen Liangyu without saying a word.
Bu Ping'er said, "I heard you were looking for a man with a missing arm. When I came here, I happened to see this man stealing rice seeds in the fields. He was seen and ran away very fast. I thought he must be the man you were looking for, so I caught him with a fishing net."
Chen Liangyu waved his hand, "Kill them, kill them."
Jiang Bojin scoffed, "Kill me, and the flying flies will be gone too."
"Then keep it for now."
This angered Jiang Bojin. "How reckless!"
Chen Liangyu left him aside for a moment, then pointed to the messy recruitment point and said to Bu Ping'er, "I'm leaving you here. You'll have to redeem yourself through meritorious service."
Du Peisun personally retried Bu Ping'er's case, and, understanding that there were valid reasons for her actions, changed the sentence from beheading to exile. So, once Bu Ping'er was able to move, Du Peisun urged Zhao Mingqin to release her, packed her up, and sent her to Chen Liangyu.
Bu Ping'er finally managed to squeeze in. There was an old table and chairs covered in wormholes, and a wooden sign with a few words written in cinders: "Recruiting Female Soldiers".
The area in front of the stall was bustling with activity, everyone talking at once, yet the roster remained a blank sheet of paper, completely empty. Not a single person had enlisted.
As soon as Chen Liangyu turned around, a woman in black appeared. Her head was covered by a veil, revealing only half of her face and one eye. It was vaguely visible that her face had been burned by fire.
Recruiting female soldiers?
Bu Ping'er said, "That's right."
The woman in black glanced at the recruitment roster, then at the crooked wooden sign with its mouth and eyes askance, "Do you need a military doctor?"
Gu Xie followed Chen Liangyu to various recruitment sites in the city. During their conversation, they mentioned a local custom in the Linxia Cangnan area.
Chen Liangyu was completely petrified, and slowly began to speak: "A willow hairpin, could it have such a meaning?"
Now it was Gu Xie's turn to be surprised. "You gave the princess a wooden hairpin, wasn't that your intention?"
"Of course not!"
Chen Liangyu vehemently denied it, stating firmly, "How could I possibly have any thoughts of disrespecting the princess?"
"Her black hair is gradually tied up with a jade hairpin, her loyal heart always remembers the purple-gold crown." Gu Xie recited this line.
This poem is very simple. Just by listening to it, one can imagine a woman putting up her long hair in front of a bronze mirror. She is now a married woman and cherishes a deep and devoted heart, always thinking of her general husband who is far away, wearing a purple and gold crown and fighting on the battlefield.
But what does this have to do with her and His Highness? Apart from the fact that she is indeed a military commander, it has nothing to do with her.
"It is a custom in this area to carve a wooden hairpin by hand and give it to your sweetheart as a sign of inviting them to commit to a lifetime together. If the recipient accepts the hairpin, it means they agree."
Chen Liangyu looked puzzled.
With a furrowed brow and a look of shock, she distanced herself from Gu Xie. The space between them, which was originally less than two feet, could now fit three or five young children.
Gu Xie: "...General Chen, you've misunderstood."
Chen Liangyu had heard of homosexuality and the love of mirror-grinding before; there were many bizarre stories of illusions, but she had never actually seen one in person.
Gu Xie, however, seemed completely unfazed.
They say that talented men are romantic, but talented women can be just as irresistible when they're romantic.
Without asking a single question, and despite the fact that this custom existed in Linxia and was not widely known, Chen Liangyu was quite displeased that someone would conclude that she harbored improper intentions towards the princess based solely on an unintentional act.
"Even if General Chen is not familiar with the local customs, he should know that gold hairpins and ornaments are personal items. Is it inappropriate to give such a gift to someone who is not close to you?"
The clouds in the sky suddenly pressed down very low, and Chen Liangyu's mood fluctuated violently, unable to describe the feeling.
Hearing Gu Xie say that, she was indeed afraid that Xie Wenjun might misunderstand something. Besides, she had let Xie Wenjun act recklessly yesterday, and she herself had lost her temper in that situation. For the first time in her life, she wanted to desert.
Soon she began to ponder another question. Having known each other for so long, even if their relationship had been lukewarm for the past few years, she believed that after going through life and death together day and night, they could be considered "intimate" with each other.
The motivation for carving hairpins from wood is simple and practical: they are lightweight, sturdy, and easy to obtain materials from. If you lose one, you can easily find a piece of wood and carve another one. There are plenty of them.
Why did she carve the wooden hairpin by hand? She couldn't explain it; she just felt like doing it at the time, so she did. She never imagined she could buy one at the market.
She wanted to make a hairpin by hand. While carving the hairpin, she was even certain that she would personally put it in Xie Wenjun's hair after it was finished.
After much thought, she could only say, "I have failed to live up to the trust placed in me by Empress Huixian before her death."
Author's note: Thank you for reading this far!
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