In the sky, a sliver of the setting sun shone as blindingly as dark red blood onto a patch of the vast grassland.
After a fierce battle during the day, blood mist filled the sky, corpses littered the fields, devastation was everywhere, smoke billowed from the ground, and blood stained the earth red.
The wind blew mercilessly, yet it couldn't dispel even a fraction of the thick, pungent smell of blood.
For nearly a hundred days and nights, Tuoba Hong had been standing in the pool of blood, just like now, watching helplessly as those who had been so lively and vibrant just moments before, the soldiers who had fought alongside him, fell and died one by one in an instant.
Or perhaps they couldn't bear the physical pain and torment caused by their serious injuries and ended their own lives, leaving them heartbroken and helpless.
Why? Why does the word 'war' exist in this world? Why is it so cruel? It takes away the lives of so many innocent people.
And now, he has finally become the very person he always hated the most.
He even began to wonder if everyone would eventually become like that. If so, what would be the meaning of life?
War stained his hands with blood. But this blood was not the blood he used to use to save lives; it was the blood of lives slaughtered one another, where victory and glory lay in whoever first deprived another of their right to life.
They used to use these nimble hands to heal the sick and save lives, but now they use them to raise swords high to accurately judge and coldly stab people in the most vital places.
Tuoba Hong stood there, stunned, looking at the shocking scene of tragedy before him. He then looked down at his trembling hands, which were outstretched, his eyes filled with tears, and his shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
Finally, unable to contain her grief any longer, she threw herself up to the sky in a furious outburst, letting out a heart-wrenching scream: "Ah..."
This shout was enough to shake the earth and change the color of rivers...
It wasn't until the next day, when a magnificent sunrise rose again, that he returned to the camp alone, his mind heavy with worries.
Suddenly looking up, he saw Tuoba Ze dismounting his horse furtively and in a hurry.
So he gritted his teeth and strode forward to him, angrily questioning, "Where have you been all morning? Do you know that our army was wiped out again yesterday?"
When Tuoba Zeyi met Tuoba Hong's cold and questioning gaze, the slight, barely perceptible evasive look in his eyes vanished instantly.
Instead, he pressed closer to him, seemingly more self-righteous than him, coldly staring into his eyes and casually saying, "What does the annihilation of the entire army have to do with me?"
Tuoba Hong was both surprised and angry at his response, saying, "So many people have died, and you seem completely indifferent. I searched for you for so long after yesterday's battle, where were you?"
Tuoba Zedun withdrew his gaze, turned to the side and let out a sigh of relief, then said to himself in a nonchalant tone, "Since you won't accept my suggestion, then why did you come to me? Why don't you try to implement your own plan!"
Tuoba Hong frowned deeply, staring at his face in astonishment: "Try it? This is war! How many innocent lives will be lost in a major battle? How can you say you'll try it? Is this something you can just try? You..."
Tuoba Ze coldly interrupted him, saying, "I've said it before, the Western Qin are coming with great force this time, and they are determined to take over our Northern Lie. The only way now is to use the Heavenly Horse Military Token to mobilize all of our Northern Lie's armed forces, and perhaps we can still fight. Otherwise, we can only wait to die."
"Did you... go back to ask your father for the Heavenly Horse Military Seal?" Tuoba Hong thought for a moment, then suddenly realized and asked him in surprise.
Tuoba Ze's heart skipped a beat. He stared at him for a moment, then looked away at the empty space on the other side and said, "No, I just went out for some fresh air. How could Father possibly give me something as important as the Heavenly Horse Military Seal?"
Then, she turned to look at him with a strange expression and said, "Even if it were given, I'm afraid it would only be to you, right?"
Just as Tuoba Hong was secretly beginning to have doubts, Tuoba Ze turned the tables on him and probed him.
As expected, Tuoba Hong felt a pang of guilt, and his tone softened slightly, but he still said angrily, "I told you long ago that I would never accept my father's decree to become the next king of this grassland. The only reason I agreed to come to the battlefield with you this time was to help you repel the Western Qin army. This grassland will ultimately belong to you alone, so don't think about it anymore. After the great battle is over, I will accompany my father through his final days, and then I will leave Beilie forever, never to see you again in this life."
Looking at Tuoba Ze's profile, he suppressed his inner pain, paused after saying this, took a breath, and then rallied himself to say, "Let's get down to business. What should we do next?"
Tuoba Ze chuckled contemptuously, thinking to himself, "I knew you wouldn't give up until you hit a brick wall. After deliberately letting you fight without restraint yesterday, it seems you've finally been awakened. Hmph, with your cowardly, incompetent nature, how can you compare to me? You actually dare to challenge me?"
So he spoke seriously, "If you're worried that asking Father for the Heavenly Horse Military Seal will make him suspicious and uneasy about the current war, then use my last absolutely foolproof plan..."
Before Tuoba Ze could finish speaking, Tuoba Hong firmly interrupted him: "No, that would kill many innocent people."
“But those are just a bunch of insignificant commoners, their deaths are not worth regretting,” Tuoba Ze then glared at him fiercely.
Tuoba Hong, filled with grief and indignation yet resolute in his attitude, said: "Even if they are commoners, they are still commoners of my Northern Lie Kingdom. No one can take their lives away. As long as I am here, you can forget about it."
The two immediately glared at each other, and began arguing fiercely...
Finally, Tuoba Ze stared at him intently for a moment, then turned his gaze away and sneered a few times, saying hatefully, "Hmph, then you can just wait for your country to perish and for death. I thought you would come to help me, but you've only made things worse. You're like a leopard that can't change its spots; you won't even know how to repent until you die."
He abruptly flicked his sleeve, then turned and strode angrily toward his own tent.
The two brothers were at their wits' end, completely overwhelmed by the encirclement of the Northern Lie Kingdom by Xuanyuan Han, and had no idea how to break through.
In every previous battle, just like the one before, the two held their own opinions and had no possibility of reaching a consensus.
If the Heavenly Horse Military Seal given to him by his father is used, his father will surely know that the war is in dire straits, and his illness can no longer bear the truth.
If the Northern Kingdom were to suffer another great loss at this critical juncture, it would inevitably affect the morale of the entire army and give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
Furthermore, if Tuoba Ze were to find out that his father had already passed the throne to him, given his temperament, Tuoba Ze would certainly not let it go easily. Who knows what impulsive things he might do to force his father to comply?
Even in death, the father was unwilling to hand over the grasslands to Tuoba Ze.
Tuoba Hong had no idea where Tuoba Ze had obtained those strange, insidious, and ruthless poisons, all of which were incurable.
"To catch the thief, first catch the king." After discovering the camp where King Xuanyuan Han of Qin was located, Tuoba Ze, in order to poison the Western Qin army to death without losing a single soldier, did not hesitate to poison the drinking water of all the herdsmen around him.
According to Tuoba Ze himself, the poison was called "Water Spirit," a colorless and odorless liquid that resembled water. Only a small amount, about the size of a porcelain bottle, was needed to contaminate the drinking water within a radius of dozens of miles.
Just a small sip of water containing this water spirit will cause the person's entire body to feel as if it's on fire after an incense stick's time, until their flesh spontaneously combusts, causing unbearable pain until death.
Thinking of all this, Tuoba Hong stared blankly at his departing figure, a look of melancholy on his face...
As soon as Tuoba Ze entered the tent, he slammed his hands on the table in the center, muttering to himself in exasperation, "How could this happen? Why did this happen? That damned old man, and that utterly stupid woman..."
As he spoke, he suddenly and forcefully overturned the entire table to the ground: "Crackling and crashing..."
Hearing the sound, the two soldiers, one old and one young, who had just entered, stopped in their tracks and stared blankly at the mess on the ground.
"How are things going with what I asked you to do?" Tuoba Ze asked the two men sharply as they entered, his voice filled with menace.
The two soldiers, one old and one young, finally came to their senses and stepped forward to greet Qi with clasped hands and a salute.
"Your Highness, we have followed your orders and poisoned the water source where Prince Qin, Xuanyuan Han, drinks. We believe that by tomorrow, we will see the Western Qin army lying dead on the ground. Then we will break out from there, launch a counter-encirclement, catch the Western Qin army off guard, and annihilate them. We will then take the opportunity to march south and strike at the Western Qin capital, taking Emperor Jing's head to appease the countless souls of our Northern Martial Army who died in this great battle."
Tuoba Ze seemed quite satisfied with the young soldier's rather impassioned words, and exclaimed loudly, "Well done, and even better words! A generous reward awaits!"
"Thank you for the reward, Your Highness." The young soldier said happily. The older soldier echoed him, but his smile was forced. Although he was not the one who poisoned the body, he was filled with a deep sense of guilt for being powerless to stop this man-made disaster.
"King Xuanyuan Han of Qin, you're still a mere bastard, yet you dare to run wild on the land of my Northern Lie Kingdom. This time, I, the prince, would like to see how you'll fight me! Hahahaha... Hahahahaha..."
After saying that, Tuoba Ze burst into laughter. His laughter was so loud that it seemed to want to echo throughout the entire grassland.
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