Chapter 360 Self-blame
When Shen Yuexi saw Mei Dai leading the cavalry to meet them, she felt both happy and worried.
The good news was that the Xiliang cavalry came to support the Xirong army just when it was in crisis. The worry was that with Mei Dai leading the cavalry here, Xiao Zhuo would definitely be short of troops, and it was unclear whether he could withstand Zhao Mu's attack.
She said to Shen Lan, "Sister, can you tell how many cavalrymen have come from Xiliang?"
Although she was also standing on a high slope, she only saw a large number of cavalry coming from the north and could not calculate the exact number.
Chen Lan's tone was filled with joy as he said, "About four thousand. Each cavalryman brought an extra horse. My brother-in-law already knows what happened here and has asked the Queen of Xiliang to come and meet us."
After hearing this, Shen Yuexi quickly began to calculate in her mind. Excluding the wounded, the Western Rong army should still have 5,000 men capable of fighting. Adding Mei Dai's cavalry, that's nearly 9,000 total. The enemy troops approaching from the south only had 8,000. 9,000 versus 8,000. At least they weren't at a disadvantage in terms of manpower, so even if the enemy wanted to attack, they would have to think twice.
She felt much more at ease, so she turned around and stopped looking to the north. Her eyes swept across the rows of Xirong thousand-man teams at the foot of the slope, and looked at the enemy cavalry rushing towards the south.
The enemy cavalry was getting closer and closer, and several yellow flags appeared and disappeared among the numerous flags. The rest of the Yan army flags clustered the yellow flag in the middle, making the yellow flag more conspicuous.
"Sister-in-law, those are the imperial flags," Su Mo pointed to the south with a nervous expression, "It's Bei Heng, he came in person."
"Ah, did my brother come after me personally?" Shen Yuexi was surprised and put her palm between her eyebrows to block the sunlight, squinting her eyes to look at the opposite side.
She searched for a long time but couldn't find Xiao Beiheng. The enemy cavalry had already swept to the front of the battle formation like the wind, forming a battle array and stopping just outside the range of the Xirong army's arrows. Behind them, the Xiliang cavalry also arrived, splitting into two groups to protect the Xirong army on either side. Both sides were cavalry, their horses tossing their heads and neighing incessantly, their hooves sending dust billowing across the battlefield.
Hu Gubie, who was standing at the bottom of the slope, looked up and called out to Shen Lan and Shen Yuexi, "Princess An, Military Advisor. The Queen of Xiliang has arrived."
With the clatter of galloping hooves, Mei Dai arrived on horseback, followed by several Xiliang generals. She reached the bottom of the slope, dismounted, and said, "Sister, Military Advisor. I have brought with me four thousand cavalrymen, who are now under your command."
Mei Dai and Shen Lan had fought in Xiliang for a long time, and their cooperation was already familiar. Shen Lan went down the slope to assign tasks to the generals. Shen Yuexi greeted Mei Dai and said, "Sister Mei, you came just in time. I was worried that the enemy had too many troops."
Mei Dai held her hands, but did not answer her first. She looked at Su Mo who was standing behind her and asked, "Why is she here?"
Su Mo walked over hesitantly and said, "Queen, I..."
She knew that if she fled with Shen Yuexi, not only would she lose her status as Queen, but even her status as Princess Ping would surely be stripped away. Thinking of losing so many things at once, she felt extremely conflicted.
Shen Yuexi saw that Su Mo was in trouble, so she said to Mei Dai, "Sister Mei, she came here on behalf of Xiao Beiheng to persuade us to surrender, and I won't let her go back."
Mei Dai raised her eyebrows after hearing this, and walked to Su Mo holding Shen Yuexi's hand: "Do you really want to go with us?"
Su Mo nodded hesitantly.
Seeing Mei Dai's face full of disbelief, Shen Yuexi quickly pulled Mei Dai's hand and said, "Sister, let me handle this matter. The enemy is right in front of us now, let's get through this first."
Mei Dai shook her head, looked across and said, "An enemy general has emerged."
Chen Yuexi looked up and saw that the Yan cavalry on the opposite side had separated to both sides, revealing a row of imperial flags with the emperor's flag in the middle. Under the flag was Xiao Beiheng, wearing yellow and white dragon scale armor, a red cloak with dragon pattern on his back, and riding a black horse. He was protected by more than a hundred imperial guards on each side.
Looking at Xiao Beiheng, Shen Yuexi recalled the times when they raced horses together, and when they flew in the sky together in a hot air balloon. Now they were fighting each other, brothers fighting each other, and they were afraid that they would never be able to go back to the past.
A general of the Yan army rushed out from the battle array and shouted in a loud voice: "Traitor, the emperor is here, why don't you bow down?"
If we do not respond to the enemy's general's call, we will only boost the enemy's morale and destroy our own prestige.
Shen Yuexi first looked at Mei Dai to her right, then turned to look at Shen Lan down the slope, then weighed herself. It seemed that no one could shout so loudly. No wonder women had been excluded from battle since ancient times. Strength was another matter, but the mere fact of having a loud voice eliminated them all.
It would be amazing if Big Bear could build a megaphone, allowing a thousand people to shout at the other side simultaneously... But what materials are needed to build a megaphone? Electrical appliances like this are probably not easy to make.
She was just daydreaming when Mei Dai squeezed her hand and said, "Don't worry, sister. I'm here with the generals who are challenging us."
The Western Rong army also split up. Xiliang general Geng Hong charged out on horseback, roaring at the top of his lungs, "Bullshit! The emperor we recognize is Emperor Ming of Qi. His Majesty passed away last month, and the new emperor hasn't been appointed yet. How dare you call yourself the emperor?"
Geng Hong's voice was louder than the one on the other side, and Shen Yuexi was very satisfied. Before, when Geng Hong delivered military rations to Shengjing, she had thought that Geng Hong was quite gentle, but she had never expected that he would become a completely different person on the battlefield.
The Yan general on the opposite side said, "Your Majesty inherited the late emperor's decree to establish a crown prince in Zhaixing Tower and later announced it to the world. You are pretending to be deaf and dumb, and refusing to bow before the emperor. This is treason. Your Majesty is kind-hearted. If you abandon your arms and surrender, Your Majesty will spare your death. If you remain stubborn and refuse to change your ways, you will definitely join the traitor Xiao Zhuo..."
As he was talking excitedly, he heard a voice behind him. The Yan general stopped, turned around, listened to a few words, nodded repeatedly, and turned back to say:
"Let's not discuss this matter. Today, His Majesty is here to recover the Empress. If you release her, His Majesty will withdraw his troops and let you go."
Geng Hong was shocked when he heard this and wondered how the Xirong army was fighting this battle. Why did they even kidnap the queen? He had no say in this matter and turned back to look at Gaopo.
Mei Dai said, "Sister, I'll go down and talk to Xiao Beiheng." Shen Yuexi grabbed her and said, "Sister Mei, you watch from up there. This incident was caused by me. Let me go and talk to the other side."
It was she who urged Su Mo to stay here. This matter was caused by her, so naturally it was her responsibility to resolve it.
Seeing Mei Dai stop, Shen Yuexi took Su Mo's hand and said, "Brother thinks I kidnapped you. Go to the front of the battle with sister-in-law to let him know that you left voluntarily."
Su Mo did not comment, but just stared blankly at Xiao Beiheng in the opposite army formation.
She wasn't a good rider, having fallen off twice last night. Luckily, she was protected by someone nearby, so she wasn't hurt. This time, Shen Yuexi simply took her on foot. The two of them walked down the hillside, through the Western Rong army formation, and arrived in front of the battle. Shen Yuexi said to the Yan general, "My sister-in-law and I are here. Let my brother come out to answer."
The Yan army general turned his horse around and returned to the battle formation. Xiao Beiheng galloped out, reined in his mount in front of the two armies, looked at Su Mo, and said after a while:
"Momo."
Su Mo's body trembled slightly, and she looked at Xiao Beiheng with complicated eyes without saying a word.
Shen Yuexi said: "Brother, I didn't make things difficult for my sister-in-law. She came with me voluntarily. You should know why she did this."
Xiao Beiheng didn't respond to Shen Yuexi, but looked at Su Mo and said, "Momo, is this true? Are you really going to leave me?"
Su Mo still didn't answer. She stared at Xiao Beiheng blankly, her eyes gradually turning red.
Shen Yuexi noticed Su Mo's attachment to Xiao Beiheng and felt something was amiss. As the saying goes, a marriage lasts a hundred days, and a hundred days of marriage is as deep as the sea. It was unrealistic for Su Mo to immediately break off her feelings for Xiao Beiheng. What should she do? Su Mo knew that Xiao Beiheng had killed Emperor Ming of Qi, but she couldn't seem to make up her mind.
Su Mo was kindhearted. Not only had she saved her sister Shen Lan's life, she had also helped her at the most critical moment. She couldn't stand by and watch, and she had to lend a hand. Thinking of this, Shen Yuexi decided to go all out. She had to swallow her pride and scold Xiao Beiheng, forcing him to give up. Even if she was ridiculed as a shrew, it didn't matter.
She steeled herself, put her hands on her hips, raised her eyebrows, and said to Xiao Beiheng fiercely:
"You're still pretending to be pitiful here. Don't you know how hard you hit her? I was right there watching, and her face was so swollen! Today, as your sister-in-law, I'm making the decision to make her leave you, a scumbag. If you dare to shamelessly chase me again, I'll scold you every day, believe it or not."
She was already pregnant, and her protruding belly was conspicuous, drawing close attention from both sides. Now, she had transformed into a shrew, cursing in the street. Both sides, unable to even glance at each other, saluted. Many soldiers gaped, their tongues numbing.
Mei Dai and Shen Lan, who were standing on the slope, were also stunned.
Chen Lan said to Mei Dai, "Queen, my sister used to be very quiet, why did she suddenly become like this?"
Mei Dai whispered, "That's not true. She scolded me like this before. Not only me, but also my father..."
"Wasn't the Queen angry at that time?"
"No, she was right to scold me, and I couldn't refute her. I could only cry."
Chen Lan groaned, turned around, and saw Chen Yuexi cursing even more vigorously.
"...You think you can bully her at will just because you're her husband? Did she marry you just so you can beat her up? I won't tolerate you, you bastard. Hurry and write a letter of divorce. You and your husband are done with each other. Whoever has paper and pen, give it to him now!"
Su Mo stood beside Shen Yuexi, stunned. She reached out and pulled her sleeve, saying, "Sister-in-law, there are so many people watching. It's so embarrassing."
"It's okay. Today, I'm going to be shameless and scold him," Shen Yuexi tossed her sleeves. "What emperor or prince? A man who even dares to beat his own wife, how dare he show up in public? If it were me, I would have hit myself to death with a piece of tofu. How dare he even come to me?"
As she spoke, she lowered her head and pretended to bang her head against the wall, thinking that Xiao Beiheng was arrogant. If she humiliated him like this, he would get angry and start a war with her army. Then Su Mo would not have to go back. This was the method of provoking him. If Xiao Beiheng got angry and came to challenge her, she would immediately drag Su Mo back.
But when she looked up at Xiao Beiheng, she found that Xiao Beiheng's face was full of sadness and he didn't look angry at all.
"You're right to scold me, sister-in-law," Xiao Beiheng lowered his head, "I was indeed too harsh on Momo before. When I think about how I treated her, I feel very sad. I was indeed wrong."
If Xiao Beiheng had been angry, Shen Yuexi would have continued to scold him. But now that Xiao Beiheng had directly admitted his fault, she suddenly found it difficult to speak. People are often scolded for refusing to admit their mistakes. No one has ever admitted their mistakes and still been scolded.
Su Mo stretched out her hand tremblingly and said, "Bei... Bei Heng."
"Momo, I was wrong." Xiao Beiheng dismounted, took two steps forward, and extended his hand, saying, "Please forgive me. My father has passed away, and my mother no longer cares about me. Without you, I will only have nightmares."
Su Mo burst into tears and unconsciously walked towards Xiao Beiheng. Shen Yuexi hugged her and said, "Don't go over there yet."
"Momo, come back to me." Xiao Beiheng stretched out his hands, "I won't hit you again. Let the past be the past. No matter what I did wrong..."
Su Mo was held by Shen Yuexi. She was afraid that if she struggled, she would hit Shen Yuexi's belly, so she didn't dare to move. She just turned her head and cried, "Sister-in-law, just let me go back."
Shen Yuexi didn't know what to say. It wasn't a good idea to keep holding on to her like this.
Just when he was in trouble, he heard Mei Dai's shout from behind.
"Wait a minute, I have something to say."
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