Chapter 251: Impermanence and Recurrence
“Don’t come over here!”
Xiao Beiheng sat up suddenly and pulled the Yanque sword in his hand out half a foot.
The cold light of the sword's blade shone on his frightened face. His eyes quickly swept across the entire dark tent until he saw the orange-red lampshade on the table. He lowered his head and breathed a sigh of relief, relaxed his tense body, and slowly put the sword into the scabbard.
Su Mo sat up and looked at him with concern: "Did you have a nightmare again? Did you dream about Leng Shuang?"
"No." Xiao Beiheng placed the Yanque sword beside his pillow and lay down again, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling of the tent.
He dreamed of Xiao Kai. He dreamed that the headless Xiao Kai was looking for him to take his life and strangled him.
"Aren't we brothers? Why did you chop off my head?"
The headless Xiao Kai roared, grabbed his neck and shook him hard, waking him up from his dream.
Su Mo leaned over and took a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his forehead. "The army has entered Shengzhou. I'll ask a wizard to exorcise the evil spirit for you."
The Second Prince's army was swarming like locusts across the northern border. Xiao Beiheng adopted Song Zhen's suggestion and marched the army through the border, first heading east through Shengzhou and then north into Zhongzhou.
Xiao Beiheng held Su Mo's hand and turned to look at her: "Will it work?"
He felt that Su Mo's hands were warmer than his. Usually, Su Mo's hands were colder than his. Could it be that his hands were so cold?
Su Mo stretched out her other hand to pull the quilt over him: "It works. As long as the wizard exorcises the evil spirit for you, you won't have nightmares anymore. But I'm afraid you will continue to kill people..."
"Does Xiao Zhuo also have nightmares?" Xiao Beiheng closed his eyes and whispered.
Su Mo lay down next to him and placed her hand on his chest: "I don't know, but if he keeps killing, he will definitely have nightmares."
"I think I'm decisive in killing," Xiao Beiheng said, "I pacified two states."
Su Mo did not respond.
He could be ruthless and ruthless towards his enemies, but Xiao Beiheng was also ruthless towards those close to him. He seemed to have no regard for relatives or strangers, and it seemed that he could sacrifice anyone to achieve his goals.
Especially since Xiao Beiheng achieved a huge victory, this only strengthened his belief.
She didn't know how to persuade Xiao Beiheng. The only thing she could do was hope that he wouldn't go further down this path.
"Beiheng, I'm a little scared," Su Mo whispered, "I'm afraid..."
"What are you afraid of?" Xiao Beiheng turned around and held her in his arms. "I will soon become the crown prince, and you will be the crown princess. When my father abdicates, I will ascend the throne and become the emperor. Then you will be the heir of a country, and you will be extremely noble."
"I'm afraid that one day you will hurt your loved ones." Su Mo hesitated for a long time, but still expressed her concerns.
Xiao Beiheng chuckled.
He had returned to normal and said with a smile, "Leng Shuang is just a maid after all. As for Xiao Kai, although he is my brother, he is not born of the same father. He wants to seize Liangzhou, how can I let him go? My real relatives are my father, my mother, and you. I will never hurt you..."
At the end of his words, his voice dropped.
"What's wrong?" Su Mo looked up at him?
Xiao Beiheng hesitated and said, "I'm a little sleepy. I need to rest for a while. I won't talk about it for now."
He thought of Xiao Zhuo, who was still alive. Xiao Zhuo was his half-brother. Now only he and Emperor Yongde knew this secret. Concubine Mei Dai only knew that Xiao Zhuo was not Emperor Yongde's biological son. The rest of the people, whether Su Mo or Xiao Ming, were kept in the dark.
He comforted himself that killing Xiao Zhuo was just an exception because Xiao Zhuo would take away the honor that belonged to him.
Having paid so much, he deserves to be the crown prince and the emperor. How could he possibly give all this to Xiao Zhuo? No one would do that.
Once he figured things out, he felt relieved, and even his breathing became steady. He closed his eyes and said to Su Mo, "Go to sleep."
At dawn, military advisor Song Zhen came to report military intelligence with a happy face.
"Your Highness, there's great news coming from the capital. It's from a messenger from the Prince of Qi, saying that Emperor Yongde has burned himself to death. The Prince of Qi has taken possession of the capital."
"Really?" Xiao Beiheng's face lit up with joy as he stood up from his seat. "Did father mention Xiao Zhuo?"
Song Zhen said, "They never mentioned Xiao Zhuo. They only talked about Emperor Yongde's self-immolation."
"Great!" Xiao Beiheng slammed the table and waved his fist excitedly.
He had been worried that Emperor Yongde would tell the truth to his father, Xiao Ming, but this outcome was so satisfying, so perfect. Now, he was the only one who truly knew the secret. He no longer had to worry about his father finding out the truth.
Xiao Zhuo no longer poses a threat to him, so there seems to be no need to hunt him down.
Seeing Xiao Beiheng's happy face, Song Zhen thought he was happy about Emperor Yongde's self-immolation, so he said, "Congratulations, Prince. I have another piece of news. Is it good or bad?"
Xiao Beiheng laughed and said, "There is actually such news."
"The good news is that the Second Prince was attacked by Xiao Zhuo in Xiaogang Village, his entire army was annihilated, and the Second Prince died. The bad news is that the Second Prince's army was taken over by Xiao Zhuo."
"Is Xiao Zhuo in Xiaogang Village? Where did he get the army?" Xiao Beiheng was a little bit unconvinced. "Wasn't Shen Yuexi the only one with him when he escaped?"
"I don't know the specific circumstances, but the Second Prince is indeed dead, and Xiao Zhuo has taken over the army."
Xiao Beiheng slowly sat back down and said, "The Second Prince's army has 40,000 men. Does that mean all 40,000 men belong to Xiao Zhuo?"
"Not really. Xiao Zhuo only allowed those who were willing to follow him to stay, and dismissed the rest, allowing them to leave freely. There are about 15,000 people left. For Xiao Zhuo, this is already a military force that he can rely on."
"Fifteen thousand people?" Xiao Beiheng lowered his head in thought.
Song Zhen waved his feather fan and said, "Your Highness, Xiao Zhuo is now in Xiaogang Village. We can take advantage of his precarious position and annihilate him with our 70,000 troops to prevent future troubles."
"No need. If we go north to eliminate Xiao Zhuo, we'll have to negotiate with the border guards. We're not sure about Zhao Mu's stance yet, so it's too much trouble." Xiao Beiheng waved his hand. "Besides, with Xiao Zhuo's army, they can't accomplish anything."
Song Zhen was stunned.
Xiao Beiheng directly rejected what he thought was a very good proposal.
He had previously heard Shen Yuexi mention that Xiao Beiheng was erratic and unpredictable, but he hadn't quite believed it. Now he realized what Shen Yuexi said was true. Xiao Beiheng had previously laid a tight net, going to great lengths to kill Xiao Zhuo. Now that he knew Xiao Zhuo was in Xiaogang Village, he hadn't killed him, simply picking up a troublesome excuse to dismiss him.
Who was it that said Xiao Zhuo must be killed?
Song Zhen couldn't figure it out, so he asked doubtfully, "Your Highness, how should our army act now?"
Xiao Beiheng said, "Forget about Xiao Zhuo. I'm going to the capital right away to reunite with my father as soon as possible. You quickly arrange the march and get the army moving forward as quickly as possible."
Emperor Yongde had died, and the second prince had also died. It was inevitable that Prince Qi would ascend the throne. He couldn't wait to go to the capital to enjoy the honor he longed for.
Song Zhen was confused. He held the feather fan and bowed, saying, "I will obey the order of the prince."
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