The mountains and rivers are full of tears
The sky was covered with dark clouds and the sound of weapons was heard.
The smell of blood mixed with thick smoke broke through the sky, and the ground was littered with horrifying broken limbs and body parts.
“Ahem…”
Sadaka leaned against the ruins, clutching his bleeding abdomen tightly. His silver-grey armor was stained and spotted, and it was almost impossible to tell what it originally looked like. It just hung on his body in tatters.
They lost, they lost...
With his hair disheveled, he gasped and looked up at the blood-stained sky, his scarlet eyes filled with despair and death.
It was his fault. He should have advised the king not to go to the Chanyu's court...
Who could have thought that the Chanyu would be so cruel as to attack the king!
"Your Majesty..."
Sadaka's throat was filled with an uncontrollable smell of sweet and fishy blood. He loosened his hand that was pressing on the wound and crawled to the side with difficulty.
Blood soaked through the armor and flowed onto the ground in large pieces, leaving a black and red mark.
“Huh…huh!”
When the chill from excessive blood loss began to spread throughout his body, he finally grasped the longbow, and - an arrow that shone with coldness.
The deafening sound of horse hooves came and went. He gritted his teeth, as if he could not feel the pain of the wounds on his body bursting open, and pulled the bow with all his strength, aiming at the silver figure under the flag in the center of the battlefield.
Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!
Sadaka's vision began to go dark, making it difficult for him to see his target. However, the blood in his body, which was almost drained away, began to boil excitedly, and even his hands were shaking uncontrollably.
Before everything was completely dark, he saw the stray arrow flashing with a blue-white light and piercing out sharply from the bowstring.
"General!"
The wind, smoke and sand flew, and the ground fell with a heavy sound.
*
Before the Cold Dew season arrived, news of the great victory in the northern border was rushed to Tiandu over a distance of 800 km.
The thin letter was placed on the long table in the Qinzheng Hall, but Ji Mingxiu felt heavy in his heart and did not want to open the letter for a moment.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to suppress the panic in his heart, then calmly opened the letter and read it word by word.
Everything was just as he had imagined. The forged letters signed by him made Xu Yan's plan of separation quite smooth. The Chanyu thought that the overall situation of the border war had been decided and Daxuan was already in his pocket, so he naturally could not tolerate a rebellious King Tuqi.
There was an even thinner blank letter stuck to the back of the victory report, which could not be detected without careful observation. Ji Mingxiu carefully took off the letter and gently heated it with a candle beside him. This was a secret letter between him and Xu Yan.
Suddenly, Ji Mingxiu's expression froze, and the letter slipped from his cold fingertips and fell lightly to the ground.
"Gu Zian..."
He staggered and held onto a corner of the long table. The overwhelming grief was like a surging tide that completely drowned him and made him almost lose the ability to perceive. He could not see or hear anything, and there was only the piercing roar that seemed to come from the depths of his trembling soul.
"His Majesty!"
Qiu Ling, who was waiting on the side, hurried forward to support Ji Mingxiu. His hands were shaking violently but he dared not use force. He could only try his best to let His Majesty lean on him to avoid bumping on the cold and hard corner of the table.
What on earth could make His Majesty lose his composure to such an extent?
Thousands of guesses suddenly arose in his mind, and finally he turned his attention to look at the letter on the ground.
Just a short line of words.
"The general is seriously injured and his life and death are uncertain. I hope we can make a plan in advance."
*
In late autumn, snow begins to fall from time to time in northern Xinjiang, and the biting cold wind is bone-chilling.
On the desolate ancient road, a horse-drawn carriage was speeding along in the midst of the rustling wind.
"cough."
Ji Mingxiu huddled in the carriage, holding a hand warmer and wearing a cloak, but still felt that the weather was too cold to bear. He stretched out a frozen hand and slowly lifted a little of the heavy curtain.
The cold mountains outside the window are all white, and the sky and the earth are the same color.
"It's cold outside, Your Majesty, be careful to catch a cold."
Cheng Tianfeng, who was sitting in the front room driving the car in simple outfit, put down the reins in his hand and stepped forward to block the cold wind and frost.
His eyes caught a glimpse of Ji Mingxiu's fingertips, which were curled up in his sleeves and frozen purple, and then he carefully held them in his broad, warm palms.
Your Majesty has been in poor health to begin with. In previous years, you had to be protected in every possible way when you were in the palace. Have you ever suffered so much?
Thinking of this, his tone inevitably carried a hint of complaint.
"Your Majesty's hands are so cold, and you don't know how to be considerate of yourself."
"Do you also think that I came to Northern Frontier on impulse?"
Ji Mingxiu raised his eyes and glanced at Cheng Tianfeng indifferently, then slowly withdrew his hand and put it back into his long sleeves.
"Drive. It would be best if you could get there today."
Cheng Tianfeng felt uneasy at Ji Mingxiu's cold glance. He knew that it was his own presumptuous behavior that made His Majesty angry, but he didn't know how to remedy the situation, so he could only retreat reluctantly.
In the carriage, Ji Mingxiu leaned on the soft cushion with a tired look. In order to hurry up, he was very concise this time, only bringing Cheng Tianfeng with him, and even Qiu Ling was left in Tiandu by him, so as to cooperate with Su Yuanbai to create the illusion that he was still in Tiandu.
The reason why he was so low-key was, on the one hand, because as a king, it would be harder than climbing to heaven for him to leave the capital openly. The ministers had been arguing with each other for half a month and still couldn't make a decision. Even if all the regulations and rules were agreed upon and arranged, when he finally arrived in the Northern Frontier, he might not even be able to make it to the seventh day after Gu Zi'an's death.
On the other hand, he wanted to prevent the noble families from reacting. Now that the situation on the border had been determined, if Gu Zian was still there, the bulk of the credit would undoubtedly be his. But if something really happened to Gu Zian, he didn't want the people placed in the barracks by the noble families to take advantage of him.
Therefore, he had too many reasons to come to Northern Xinjiang, and it was definitely not just for Gu Zian alone.
However, these reasons could be used to convince Qiu Ling, Su Yuanbai, and Cheng Tianfeng, but they could not deceive himself.
"Who am I doing this for?"
Ji Mingxiu murmured to himself, his brows filled with an unresolved worry. He couldn't figure it out and was unwilling to try to figure it out.
The suffocating grief that day was not fake, the heavy panic in his heart was not fake, but the indifference and the calculations of all the rules and regulations that frightened him after he woke up were also not fake.
He seemed to begin to understand his father's thoughts more and more. How could there be so many pure things in this world?
In the end, the sun and the moon are silent, and the water passes without a trace.
*
Perhaps it was God’s mercy, but when Ji Mingxiu and Cheng Tianfeng finally arrived at the military camp, the snow that had been falling all the way had stopped and the sun was faintly visible.
"His Majesty."
Xu Yan had been waiting in person at the agreed place early. After all, the general was not awake yet, and it would be safer to keep the emperor's visit to the Northern Frontier a secret.
"Um."
Ji Mingxiu got off the carriage with the help of Cheng Tianfeng, and then signaled Xu Yan to lead the way.
"Your Majesty, do you want to go to the general's tent first or... take a rest first?"
According to the previous arrangement, he should have taken His Majesty directly to visit the general, but he lowered his eyes and caught a glimpse of His Majesty's pale lips and thin chin hidden in the heavy black cloak, and he couldn't help feeling worried.
"No need."
Ji Mingxiu pursed his lips. He didn't know why he felt so confused. He had traveled a thousand miles, and now that she was so close, how could he feel at ease if he didn't take a look?
The sun was shining brightly but without a trace of warmth. Ji Mingxiu walked faster and faster, and did not stop even though he had a fit of coughing.
Suddenly, just a hundred meters away from Gu Zi'an's tent, Ji Mingxiu stopped in panic.
Fortunately, Cheng Tianfeng supported him all the way behind him, so he did not stagger and fall to the ground.
Not far away, the noisy crowd came and went in disorder, the sound was harsh, sharp and miserable.
He looked up at the misty sky helplessly, and sadly felt that the sunlight seemed to be shrouded in a color of decay.
Or, am I late?