Chapter 193: Going Out
Seeing Meipu staggering past her with a blood-stained sword in his hand, Shen Yuexi's mind started working again.
She turned around and shouted to Mep's back, "Can you please let these soldiers go?"
Zhang Song had led his troops to pin the hundred Western Rong soldiers to the ground, and there was wailing at the scene.
She had no feelings for these people. Her initial agreement to treat General Jia was a temporary solution. Now that Mei Pu was seeking revenge for the pain he had endured, she felt she had no say in the matter.
But General Jia was already dead, and killing his own soldiers was too cruel. This was like punishing the entire clan for the fault of one person, which she thought was wrong.
Mei Pu stopped and said without turning his head: "Xiao Kai and I have an irreconcilable relationship. Anyone who is his should die..."
Shen Yuexi looked at his empty left sleeve and shouted, "Then go find Xiao Kai. Taking revenge on these unarmed soldiers is something only a coward would do."
Mei Pu's body trembled, and he laughed: "Of course I am a coward, my father is also... our entire Mei family is also."
Shen Yuexi was speechless.
Maep is furious now, and she probably can't be persuaded.
She turned to look at the kneeling Jingzhou soldiers. They held their heads in their hands, their faces ashen. The Xiliang soldiers' swords were at their necks. At Meipu's command, their heads would fall to the ground.
Dozens of them heard her conversation with Maep and looked at her pleadingly.
"Mrs. Shen, please leave quickly," Mei Pu said, "It is not appropriate for a woman to be present at these bloody events."
"I won't leave," Shen Yuexi said, and immediately started to act like a spoiled child. "I'll leave only if you let these people go. They're just pawns. Even if you kill them, they can't hurt Xiao Kai at all."
Mep didn't move.
Shen Yuexi also stalemated with him.
She had stopped Xiao Zhuo when he wanted to massacre five thousand surrendered soldiers, and she still did so. She had always believed that those who had laid down their weapons and surrendered should not be killed. She would take care of five thousand people, or a hundred, regardless of the number.
"You're really... in the way." After a long pause, Mep finally said, "Why do you have to meddle in matters that have nothing to do with you?"
Shen Yuexi heard that his tone was softening, so she struck while the iron was hot and said, "Every wrong has its perpetrator. Xiao Kai harmed you. You should seek revenge on him. Defeat him in battle..."
"But I can't do it." Mep turned around and raised his left arm.
Shen Yuexi shut up immediately.
"Mrs. Shen, you are right. I am indeed a coward," Mei Pu said slowly, but his tone was different from before. "I knew I couldn't take revenge on Xiao Kai, so I wanted to vent my anger on these soldiers. It's my fault."
Seeing Mei Pu change his mind, Shen Yuexi showed joy: "Then you..."
"They don't have to die," Mep turned and walked towards the nearby city gate, "Let them go."
Shen Yuexi breathed a sigh of relief and came in front of the troops.
The soldiers were grateful for her rescue and kowtowed in thanks. Shen Yuexi said, "Although you have been spared, you are ill and cannot participate in the war. I will have the soldiers escort you to Xiaogang Village in the east. You will help there, and there is also medicine for malaria there."
After arranging the soldiers, she ran a short distance to catch up with Mep who had already entered the city.
"Prince Mei, wait a minute."
"Mrs. Shen, what are you doing here again?" Mei Pu still had his back to her. "What else do you want?"
"Mrs. Li and Li Wan are here too. You can't hurt them." Shen Yuexi was afraid that he would do something bad to Li Wan, so she said it in advance.
Maep shook his head and said, "I never meant to hurt them. Not before, not in the future."
Shen Yuexi thought to herself. Not being hurtful was just superficial. It was painful for Li Wan to be with a man who didn't love her at all.
Since Meipu said that he would not make things difficult for Mrs. Li and her daughter, she felt relieved.
After solving the problem of the Jingzhou Army and the problem of Li Wan, her mood improved and even Mei Pu's face didn't seem so scary anymore.
"Prince Mei, although your left hand is gone, perhaps I can make a prosthetic hand for you."
With the medical technology of her time, it would have been easy to reattach a severed hand. But Big Bear was just a universal manufacturing machine, not a surgical machine. While he couldn't reattach a severed hand, he could make a prosthetic hand for Miep.
"Prosthetic hand?"
Mep stopped and asked in surprise, then shook his head and said, "It's just to make me look like a normal person. It's okay if I don't want it."
"No," Shen Yuexi said seriously, "I will try to make the prosthetic hand able to grasp as well."
Mep's eyes showed shock: "Are you serious?"
"Well, I need to find the materials first," Shen Yuexi thought to herself, "Wood is easy to break, so I'd better make it out of iron."
As she was pondering this, a soldier came running over and said joyfully to them, "Your Highness, Madam Shen, our army has won another victory and has pushed the Western Rong army to the Benniu River, sixty miles north of Zhangwu."
Mep said, "Take me there quickly."
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said the Xirong army has been driven into a desperate situation," the soldier excitedly told Meipu as they walked. "We can wipe them out in one battle."
Shen Yuexi was also surprised and delighted.
At first she thought she would have to fight a few more battles, but she didn't expect that the Western Rong army besieging Zhangwu could be defeated so easily.
Arriving at the prefectural mansion, Xiao Zhuo was about to leave when Mei Pu approached him and extended his right hand. Xiao Zhuo also extended his hand, and the two shook hands tightly.
"You are injured, so stay in Zhangwu," Xiao Zhuo said, "The prince will be entering the city soon. I'll go first."
"Okay, I'll stay here and wait for Jun Kai's return." Mep let go of his hand.
"Yuexi," Xiao Zhuo turned to look at Shen Yuexi again, "Don't stay here, come with me."
Shen Yuexi smiled and said, "I see, you just want to tie me to you."
She was eager to go to battle with Xiao Zhuo, and it was clear that Xiao Zhuo didn't want her to be alone with Mei Pu. The two of them hit it off immediately. It just so happened that she had changed into a short shirt earlier for ease of movement, so she didn't need to do anything else but set off directly.
He and Xiao Zhuo mounted their warhorses and rode out of the Zhangwu North Gate, galloping northward side by side. Along the way, the roadside was littered with discarded flags, swords, spears, shields, and broken-down carts. This showed the haste with which the Western Rong army retreated.
"The Western Rong army has been forced to the Benniu River, where the river is wide and the ice is impassable. They have an army blocking their way in front of them, and the river behind them," Xiao Zhuo explained to her on the way. "The result will be annihilation of the entire army."
"Then why not attack directly?" Shen Yuexi asked curiously.
"The Western Rong army also knows they're in a desperate situation. Like a tiger caught in a trap, they fight tooth and nail before dying," Xiao Zhuo patiently explained to her. "If we attack directly, they might make a last-ditch effort, and our army won't be able to resist. So, I'm ordering Qiu Liming and Song Zhen to lead the troops to surround them without attacking, so as to wear down their fighting spirit."
As they were talking, the two of them climbed to a high ground. The battlefield unfolded before Shen Yuexi's eyes.
A bright white river flowed from west to east, making a huge bend as it reached this place. The river bend was like a pocket, and she and Xiao Zhuo were now near the mouth of the pocket.
At the bottom of the pocket was the Xirong army's camp. At the mouth of the pocket, beneath her feet, was the Xiliang army's camp. The entire exit was completely blocked.
Judging from the battlefield, the Western Rong army had no way to escape. Xiao Zhuo's military prowess was truly divine, and in just two battles he had driven the Western Rong army into a desperate situation.
"How exactly does my husband command his troops?" Shen Yuexi looked at Xiao Zhuo with admiration. "The enemy is so obedient."
Xiao Zhuo smiled and reached out to stroke her head.
"My lord." Qiu Liming led a group of cavalrymen to the high ground, jumped off his horse, and said to Xiao Zhuo, "The Western Rong have already charged twice. We followed your orders and defended the camp. We did not engage in battle, but only drove them back with arrows."
"Their fighting spirit has been worn out," Xiao Zhuo said, looking towards the distant Xirong camp. He then mounted his horse and said, "Yuexi, follow me. We will win the next battle completely."
Shen Yuexi happily agreed and mounted her horse. They all descended the high ground and entered the Xiliang army camp.
Inside the main camp, tens of thousands of Xiliang soldiers had already lined up, ready to fight. Seeing Xiao Zhuo coming, they cheered loudly.
The same army, under Xiliang King Meicheng, had never won a battle, feeling extremely frustrated. But under Xiao Zhuo, they won two consecutive battles, forcing their former nemesis, the Xirong, into a desperate situation of annihilation. The Xiliang soldiers were filled with pride and worshipped Xiao Zhuo to the extreme.
"All troops, march out." Xiao Zhuo galloped in front of the army and shouted loudly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com