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Inside the Beishuo camp, flags hung limply, occasionally being blown by the wind, making dull snapping sounds.
Several generals gathered in the shadows not far from the golden-domed royal tent, their eyes occasionally glancing towards the tightly closed tent door. There, their Khan had been alone for a whole day and night, forbidding anyone to approach.
"Has the Khan really gone mad..." A young captain lowered his voice and subconsciously pointed his finger at his temples. "For a princess of the Southern Dynasty, this, this is simply..."
"Shut up!" another general shouted in a low voice.
"The Great Khan, with his unwavering resolve and commanding vision of the steppes, would he be so blinded by a woman from an enemy nation? This move must have a deeper meaning! Perhaps a ploy to confuse the enemy?"
"What's the deeper meaning? To confuse the enemy?" The former captain couldn't help but retort, "As the regent princess of an enemy country, you're carrying out the funeral rites for our Beishuo Grand Concubine and welcoming her into the royal ancestral mausoleum? This will not only fail to confuse the enemy, but will only make the entire Southern Dynasty united in hatred of our enemy and fight us to the death! This is clearly, clearly..."
He couldn't find the right words, he just felt it was ridiculous.
A general nearby suddenly spoke up: "If it's not a ploy... then it must be true love?"
As soon as this word was uttered, several people shuddered at the same time and looked at each other.
They followed Tuoba Hong in his battles and were used to seeing him being decisive in killing people. But had they ever seen him lose his composure like this over a corpse?
But if it's not true love, how could...
"What are you all doing here?" a hoarse shout came from behind him.
Everyone turned around in shock, only to see Tuoba Hong standing at the entrance of the tent without them noticing.
Overnight, he seemed to have lost his soul and could not hide his loss.
"Send an order."
His voice was as rough as if it had been ground by sand and stone. "The entire army shall break camp and retreat to the royal court."
"Khan, what about Shanshan City..." a general asked subconsciously.
Tuoba Hong's gaze turned towards the earthen city in the distance, and a trace of emotion that could almost be called pain flashed across his eyes.
"Let him go. No one in the city will be held accountable."
"Her... Ning Lingyi's remains must be buried according to the highest standards. Use the finest coffin and the most stable carriage, and carefully escort her."
"Notice to all departments: from now on, she is the deceased Queen Consort of this king, and will be buried in the royal ancestral mausoleum."
The soldiers' faces were filled with confusion and surprise, but no one dared to question Tuoba Hong's authority.
Then, the Beishuo army began to retreat like a silent black tide.
The luxurious hearse in the middle of the army, covered with the emblem of the Beishu royal family and guarded by layers of elite guards, looked particularly dazzling and strange.
On the way back, Tuoba Hong rode his horse past the coffin several times without saying a word.
He looked ahead, but his mind was wandering.
He is proud. He has been extremely strong-willed since he was a child. He was bullied by his brothers and excluded by his ministers. Everything he has now was won back by him. He has always been proud.
He has even seized the position of Khan, so what does it matter if he seizes the whole world?
Before he went to the Southern Dynasty for the first time, he had already decided to conquer the world. In his eyes, there was no opponent in the world who could match him.
Even with Ning Lingyi, at the beginning, he only regarded her as a beautiful embellishment, just like his mother to his father Khan. Of course, he had more affection for her.
He had thought back then that as a princess marrying him, she would definitely be weak, and he was willing to pamper her a little more and give her some support.
Because she was really beautiful and worthy of being by his side.
But he never expected that Ning Lingyi would actually do something big and become his only opponent. On the surface, he was wary of her, but secretly, he was delighted. The stronger she became, the prouder he was.
Only a woman like this is worthy of him.
Over the past few years, he had thought more than once that after conquering the Southern Dynasty, even if she became a prisoner, he would still marry her, not only because they were engaged, but also because...
She is the only one in this world who is qualified to be his wife.
But now, she is lying in this coffin, she is dead.
His wife died.
*
At this time, the Southern Dynasty's Northern Expedition Army had its central military camp.
The flickering candle stretched the figure's shadow to appear longer and shorter, while the howling night wind outside the tent added a bit of desolation.
Xue Cheng had just finished dealing with a batch of military affairs and was rubbing his swollen forehead. A group of soldiers surrounded him and were discussing the battle situation.
Suddenly, there was a violent commotion outside the tent, as well as suppressed crying.
Before the guards could pass on the message, the curtain was pushed open and Wang Zhen returned.
He practically crawled in, his armor tattered, his face stained with blood and tears, his left arm, tied haphazardly with a torn battle flag, still seeping with blood.
"Great General!" The moment Wang Zhen saw Xue Cheng, he seemed to have lost all his strength. He fell to the ground, banging his forehead heavily on the cold ground, sobbing uncontrollably. "I am incompetent! I deserve to die! I deserve to die!"
Xue Cheng's heart sank. He stood up suddenly, shaking the table. "Wang Zhen? What happened to you... Where's His Majesty? Where is His Majesty?"
"Beishuo...that scoundrel Tuoba Hong!" Wang Zhen raised his head, his face stained with blood and tears. "He betrayed us and attacked us with tens of thousands of elite troops! I fought tooth and nail, fighting bloody battles. My brothers...we were almost dead! I barely managed to break through, allowing Your Majesty to escape...but there's still no news of Your Majesty! I searched along the way, but only saw scattered corpses of my comrades. General! I'm afraid, I'm afraid Your Majesty..."
He couldn't continue speaking and could only bang his head against the ground again.
"What did you say?"
Xue Cheng felt a black screen before his eyes and a buzzing sound in his ears, as if the whole world had collapsed in an instant.
He stumbled forward, clutching the corner of the table tightly to keep his balance. "Your Majesty disappeared after breaking out? Fell into the hands of Beishuo? Wang Zhen! Ten thousand troops protecting you! You! How dare you...!"
The overwhelming rage instantly devoured Xue Cheng's sanity.
He suddenly drew the sword from his waist and pointed it at Wang Zhen's throat: "A thousand deaths? How can a thousand deaths redeem your sins? I will skin you alive right now! You still have the nerve to come back? Why don't you just die!"
Wang Zhen closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face. He wept bitterly and offered himself up to be killed: "I acknowledge my crime... I beg you, General, to grant me death! I have no face to live..."
"General, calm down!"
The other generals in the tent were also shocked by the devastating news, but seeing Xue Cheng furious and wanting to kill Wang Zhen, they all rushed forward to stop him.
"General! This is strange! Tuoba Hong suddenly appeared, and the disparity in military strength is not a crime of war!"
"General Wang has fought with all his might, he's been severely wounded, and his men are nearly wiped out! How can he possibly kill another brave warrior?"
"The most urgent task is to confirm His Majesty's safety and find a way to rescue him! Killing the general in battle will do nothing and will only damage our army's morale, General!"
"Yes! Your Majesty is blessed with great fortune, so nothing may happen! Perhaps they are temporarily separated..."
Everyone was talking at once and making persuasion, and the tent was in chaos.
The tip of Xue Cheng's sword was shaking violently. He looked at Wang Zhen, who was kneeling on the ground and asking for death with wounds all over his body, and then looked at the generals around him who were filled with grief, anger and anxiety. His heart ached!
He had to chop this man to death with one sword!
But he can't mess around!
He is the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition Army. If something happens to His Majesty, he will be the mainstay of this army. He must not be the first to cause chaos!
Wang Zhen! Wang Zhen! He cursed in his heart.
"Ah!" Xue Cheng let out a painful roar and swung his sword down fiercely!
With a loud crack, a corner of the nanmu desk was chopped off, and wood chips flew everywhere.
Leaning his sword against the ground, Xue Cheng's chest heaved violently. After a long while, he used all his strength to suppress the surging blood and energy: "Get up... Everyone, get up."
He glanced at Wang Zhen and said after a while, "I will record your crime for now. Now is not the time to judge it."
He thought a lot, so much that it was difficult to express, but it also seemed that he only thought of a little and made a decision in an instant.
"Send an order! Send an urgent message for eight hundred miles, divided into three groups, and report this matter secretly to Prime Minister Wang, Prime Minister Chen, Prime Minister Nong, and Concubine Yu in the capital! Be careful with your words, just say that His Majesty was attacked and temporarily lost contact, and our army is searching for him with all its might! Do not discuss life or death rashly!" He must stabilize the court and must not lose his composure first.
"Send a message to the entire army! From now on, all troops will reduce their strength and firmly hold the existing key points. Be especially vigilant in the direction of Beishuo! Without my order, no one may attack or retreat even a single step!"
"Send ten times more scouts! Keep a close eye on the Beishuo army's movements, especially Tuoba Hong's headquarters! Report any unusual movements immediately!"
"Continue to wipe out the remaining Western Qiang forces! The battle must continue! We must not give the enemy any opportunity to exploit!"
With His Majesty missing, the Northern Expedition Army is leaderless. Outside, the powerful enemy Beishuo is eyeing them covetously. Inside, the remnants of the Western Qiang are still unsettled. Furthermore, undercurrents are surging within the court...
He must hold on, he must steady this giant ship that is about to face stormy waves, until a clear order comes from the capital, or until he confirms the worst news.
The generals in the tent obeyed the order in a solemn manner, and the atmosphere was as heavy as iron.
Everyone understands that the sky may really be changing.
*
The news finally reached Wang Mengzi's army.
A few days ago, the Beishuo army that besieged him had retreated, and he still had some guesses about what Tuoba Hong was going to do next.
But I didn't expect it to happen today.
The messenger came tumbling over, his face pale and his voice trembling. "General! This is bad! People in Beishuo are saying that His Majesty was defeated in Shanshan City... and has passed away... That bastard Tuoba Hong has taken His Majesty's body back to the royal court..."
"They also said, they said they wanted to bury her with the ceremony of the Beishuo Queen..."
Death? His Majesty died? Beishuo Queen? Buried?
He understood these words individually, and he also heard the messenger's mouth opening and closing, but when put together, they formed an absurd sentence.
"Bullshit your mother!"
Wang Mengzi grabbed the messenger by the collar and almost lifted him off the ground.
"Say it again?! What's wrong with His Majesty? Who dares to curse His Majesty? I'll rip his mouth off!"
The messenger was so frightened that he babbled incoherently: "It's true, the people of Beishuo are saying... they've retreated... carrying banners and coffins..."
"Coffin?" Wang Mengzi seemed to be burned by the word and shook off the messenger.
He was spinning in circles, stepping on the pools of blood and corpses on the ground.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
He muttered to himself, his voice growing louder and louder, "That was His Majesty! It was His Majesty who led us out of Mingzhou! How could she die? How could she die at the hands of a scoundrel like Tuoba Hong? This must be a plot! It was His Majesty's plot! It was to trick Tuoba Hong into withdrawing his troops! It was to free us up and quickly chop off the head of that old dog, the King of Western Qiang!"
The more he spoke, the more reasonable it seemed to him. It was as if he had grasped a lifeline. He shouted to his subordinates, who were also stunned by the news, "Yes! That's right! His Majesty must have escaped long ago! Who knows where he's safe now, waiting for our good news! We can't make trouble! I'll chop down anyone who does!"
He snatched the water bag from the guard's hand, took a few big gulps, wiped his mouth roughly with his sleeve, and after his eyes became blurred for a while, they became fierce again.
"I don't care about that bullshit!"
His voice was like a bell, as if to dispel all the anxiety. "I only know that Your Majesty wants the King of Western Qiang dead! Then I will go chop him into pieces and feed him to the dogs! When I go to see Your Majesty with the King of Western Qiang's head, Your Majesty will naturally return!"
So he no longer paid attention to any news about Ning Lingyi, and even banned discussion of it in the army.
He threw himself completely into the war and launched an even more frenzied attack on the last of the Western Qiang's forces.
Every charge, every fight, seemed to be proving something to an invisible existence, but also seemed to be avoiding something.
War became his only hope. Only by immersing himself in bloody killing could he temporarily forget his fear. He thought that as long as he got the head of the King of Western Qiang, everything would be fine.
Unlike Wang Mengzi's madness, when the news reached Pan Hao's army, he was examining a map under the lamp.
Hearing the trembling report from his personal guard, the red pen in Pan Hao's hand dropped with a click on the location of "Wild Sand Plain". The bright red ink spot quickly spread out, like an ominous blood hole.
He stood there for a long time, motionless.
He has lived in the capital for a long time and is well aware of the intricacies of power.
If His Majesty really died for his country, this earth-shattering bad news would bring not only grief, but also a huge political storm that could swallow everything.
Prince Qing, Prince Jing, the Jing family, Concubine Yu, Prime Minister Chen, Prime Minister Nong... all the powerful generals in the Northern Expedition Army, the next step will inevitably be a reshuffle and brutal game of forces among all parties.
After a long silence, he slowly sat down and looked at the map carefully.
After the candle was half burned, he made up his mind.
He finally gave the order, his voice eerily calm: "Order, all troops immediately, secretly pack up, break all contact with the Beishuo army, and move southeast overnight to garrison in the Blackwater River Valley."
"I have issued a personal order. No one is allowed to go into battle without authorization, nor are they allowed to have unnecessary contact with friendly forces. All scouts are dispatched to monitor the movements of the Beishuo Army, as well as any unusual movements by Xue Cheng, Wang Mengzi, and other troops."
He must immediately jump out of the center of this vortex that is about to become extremely dangerous, conserve his strength, lie dormant, and calmly observe the direction of the wind.
The army he leads must not become a sacrifice for any ambitious person at this critical moment. He must do what he should do.
He also had some hopes in his heart, some unrealistic hopes.
Moreover, he glanced at the map again, perhaps there was hope.
*
The Northern Expedition suddenly fell into chaos due to Ning Lingyi's sudden death.
Hatred, suspicion, ambition, fear...
Beneath the hundred-foot cliff, there is a deep valley with only the desert wind whistling, blowing the sand and gravel, burying the traces and silently keeping its secrets.
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