Chapter 87: Lust makes one lose their minds "She already likes me"...
Life is always unpredictable.
The Yun Kingdom army marched towards Qingjiang.
Since the fall of Hengye, Qingjiang has been under martial law, its gates sealed. The soldiers defending the city knew full well that they had made a decisive move. Facing the vast, silver-armored Yun Nation army, the city was doomed to fail. They had no choice but to fight to the death. All they could do was sacrifice their lives to buy a moment's respite for Jingzhou and Lin'an.
The drums are beating.
The heavy sound of drums came from the Yun Kingdom's army, one after another, even the dust on the city wall was shaken down.
On the distant horizon, a silver-white line slowly emerged. As the sound of drums approached, the line became wider and closer.
Countless white armors reflected a cold and dazzling light in the sunlight, long spears were like a forest, and flags covered the sky, crushing forward step by step.
In the center of the army, a huge flag with the word "Xiao" on it fluttered in the wind. Under the flag, a man sat upright on a horse, wearing black armor and a black cloak, with an upright posture.
Even though they were far apart, his arrogant and cold gaze seemed to penetrate the space and fall on the crumbling top of Qingjiang City.
The war has begun.
Several days of fierce attacks failed to force Qingjiang City to fly the flag of the Yun Kingdom. This isolated city, thanks to the desperate defense of the Northern Kingdom's abandoned soldiers, actually withstood wave after wave of attacks from the Yun Kingdom army. The city walls were covered with corpses and blood flowed like a river.
The corpses rotted, stunk, and became infested with maggots in front of the city wall, but this did not in the least reduce the momentum of the Yun army's siege.
On the fifth day, a light autumn rain fell. After the rain, the sky and the earth were dyed red gold.
The attacks in the past few days have caused a lot of damage to Qingjiang. The city walls and gates have long been overwhelmed. Both sides know that the result will be tonight.
Flints flew towards the Qingjiang city walls, and the few remaining soldiers had no time to pay attention to the burning wall. The heavy city gate, which had been tightly closed for days, suddenly groaned and slowly opened from the inside amid the deafening sound of war drums and shouts of killing!
A blood-soaked Northern general, astride his warhorse, spear in hand, charged out at the head of the charge. Behind him came the few hundred remaining soldiers, wounded and with torn armor, charging headlong into the tightly guarded lines of the Yun Nation army!
This fearless charge actually tore open the front line of the Yun army, causing considerable chaos.
Amidst the chaotic army, Luo Wan, Jiang Cichen and others in the front row rode their horses to meet them.
She originally wanted to end the battle quickly, as the siege army was exhausted after these days. However, after several rounds of fighting, the general's face flashed by several times, which made her feel somewhat familiar.
Just when the tip of her sword was about to cut the opponent's throat, a soldier beside her suddenly blocked her sword.
A casual word of concern, almost drowned out by the shouting and screaming, reached Luo Wan's ears accurately.
"Mingli, are you okay?"
It was just a brief pause, and soon the battle broke out again.
Luo Wan couldn't believe it. Wasn't Chi Mingli exiled?
She broke through the enemy with a few moves and fought with the man again, tentatively calling out, "Chi Mingli."
The man was startled when he heard this, and raised his hand to wipe away the blood and sweat that covered his eyes, revealing a face that was exhausted but still recognizable in its old appearance.
His originally delicate skin was tanned to a wheat color, and there were tiny scars on his face, making him look completely different from the pampered man he had been in the capital. But the outline between his eyebrows, and his eyes, which were now bloodshot but held a hint of disbelief, told her that this was Chi Mingli.
Huge shock and astonishment overwhelmed Chi Mingli like a tide. The shouts and cries around him seemed to fade away in an instant, and the only thing left in the world was the familiar yet unfamiliar face in front of him.
Luo Wan also looked at him, with a complex and difficult to discern emotion in his eyes, including shock and guilt.
She guessed that Qingjiang's new young general might be a young man who had participated in wild hunting or poetry and martial arts competitions, but she never expected that it would be the exiled Chi Mingli.
"Why are you here?" Luo Wan asked.
Chi Mingli acted as if he hadn't heard her and said urgently, "Chi Wanwan! Gu Sihan said you were helping that traitor Jiang Cichen. That was a lie, wasn't it? We Chis wouldn't commit treason!"
At this moment, Luo Wan had nothing to hide. She said calmly, "My last name isn't Chi, and I'm not Chi Wanwan. Chi Wanwan is a girl I have a connection with. I entered the Chi Mansion, collected evidence of your parents' crimes, and even presented it to you to avenge Chi Wanwan and her mother."
Chi Mingli frowned: "You lied to me."
Luo Wan didn't have time to worry about whether the lie he mentioned referred to the situation in the capital or at this moment. The battlefield was filled with smoke and was obviously not a place for casual chatting.
Qingjiang will be breached, and those defenders who rush out will die.
She felt guilty towards Chi Mingli. The evil deeds committed by the Chi couple should not be imposed on their children.
Luo Wan said simply: "I'll let you go, you can find a place to live."
Before he could finish his words, a long sword from a Yun country soldier suddenly stabbed at Chi Mingli silently from behind!
Chi Mingli focused all his attention on Luo Wan and was completely unaware of the danger behind him.
"careful."
Luo Wan grabbed Chi Mingli's arm, trying to control him to avoid the sword, but it was too late.
The dull sound of the sharp blade piercing through the leather armor and sinking into the flesh seemed so insignificant amid the deafening shouts and cries of killing.
Chi Mingli's body trembled violently. He felt no pain at the moment of the piercing. He just felt his whole body lose strength. He staggered and fell to his knees on the ground with the spear in his hand.
He raised his head and looked at Luo Wan, blood gushing out of his mouth. He tried hard to force out a smile with a little bit of relief.
"It doesn't hurt," he said.
Luo Wan had witnessed death many times and had also accepted the deaths of people around her, but none of them was like this, forcing her to watch someone slowly walk towards death.
It seemed quiet around here.
Chi Mingli's hand holding the gun slid down a distance. Luo Wan squatted down and helped him straighten his helmet. Seeing the pair of eyes under the helmet, there was no longer the murderous look on the battlefield, nor did he see Luo Wan's shock. Only the fragility and desire of a lost child remained.
He murmured in a very light and vague voice: "Eldest sister..."
This was the first time in a long time that Luo Wan heard him call her "elder sister".
Chi Mingli's voice drifted to Luo Wan's ears again on the wind:
"I... really want to... go home..."
"Let's go back to Hongwenguan and attend class. Tell Master Pei to stop bullying Mingshi..."
The light in his eyes quickly dimmed, and his body could no longer support him and he fell forward.
Luo Wan watched Chi Mingli's figure fall heavily in the blood, with mixed emotions. Facing Chi Mingli's death, she was even stunned for a moment.
In a trance, Luo Wan saw a bony hand stretched out in front of her. Looking up along the hand, she saw Jiang Cichen. She slowly reached out and took his hand, and Jiang Cichen pulled her up.
Qingjiang City was captured and the war came to an end.
After a great disaster, there will always be a great epidemic. Coupled with the impact of the plague in Weizhou City, Jiang Cichen immediately sent people to dispose of the bodies after the battle. The soldiers of the Yun Kingdom were buried individually, but for the soldiers of the Northern Kingdom, it was just a mass grave.
The attack on Qingjiang City was different from the battle to capture Weizhou. Weizhou surrendered after a short period of resistance, while the defenders of Qingjiang fought to the last man. This was also the first time Luo Wan truly felt that war could kill so many people.
The attack on Qingjiang City was different from the battle to capture Weizhou. Weizhou surrendered after a short period of resistance, while the Qingjiang defenders fought to the last man. This was also the first time Luo Wan truly realized that war could cause so many deaths.
On Qingjiang Mountain, tombstones stretch for miles, with no end in sight.
"Is it like this every time you go on an expedition?" Luo Wan asked.
"No." Jiang Cichen said honestly, "Most of the time, when a city's defenders see the situation is irreversible, they will voluntarily surrender to avoid casualties. Cases like Qingjiang's are rare. Not everyone is fearless and not afraid of death."
Perhaps it was the slight sense of guilt in her heart, or perhaps it was the brief relationship they had as siblings, but Luo Wan did not throw Chi Mingli's body into a mass grave, but buried him in a secluded place on Qingjiang Mountain.
She looked at the small, newly built grave and whispered, "He used to admire you very much."
Jiang Cichen smiled calmly and said, "Then he should hate me very much now."
Yes, I hate it very much.
Everyone said so, so Chi Mingli was convinced until his death that it was the Jiang family who had betrayed the country and Jiang Cichen who had sold out his master for personal gain. Gu Sihan even cleverly dragged her into the affair, making Chi Mingli believe that even the Chi family had a traitor.
Luo Wan turned her head to look at him and asked, "Have you ever thought about overturning the verdict for the Jiang family?"
"As long as Beiyeji is still the emperor, the Jiang family will never be able to overturn the verdict. Even if Beiyeji is not the emperor, there will always be people who say that history is written by the victors."
Jiang Cichen took her hand, and Luo Wan could feel the tiny grains of sand remaining in his palm.
He said, "Rise and fall can happen in the blink of an eye, life and death in a moment. Whether one is a sinner for this life or a beacon for all eternity, that will be left for future generations to decide."
*
The desperate fight of the Qingjiang defenders also caused considerable losses to the Yun Kingdom.
Insufficient troops and food supplies were the most obvious problems. Yun State was already less wealthy than the Northern State, so capturing five or six cities in a row through strategic warfare was already a significant challenge. Furthermore, a portion of Yun State's forces were tied down by the Western Liang front. Extending the front at this point would have made them vulnerable to a Northern State counterattack.
To capture Lin'an and Jingzhou, we need to plan carefully and make thorough arrangements. The best option right now is to rest and recuperate.
The army retreated to Hengye, where Crown Prince Xiao Ce had already held a banquet to celebrate the victory. Seeing him in person, the generals' morale was once again boosted.
The bonfire in the military camp was blazing, and from a distance, it looked like stars in the dark night.
During this period, many soldiers came to drink with Jiang Cichen. Luo Wan didn't like drinking, and Jiang Cichen didn't allow her to drink. She just sat aside bored, watching some drunk soldiers howling with excitement.
Xiao Ce approached with a wine bowl in hand: "Come! Miss Luo, I offer you a bowl, so that you can finally see the true love in your heart!"
Jiang Cichen raised his hand to stop her: "She doesn't drink."
"Are you still angry with me?" Xiao Ce said, "Uncle was afraid that you would suffer a loss at the beginning!"
Xiao Ce always liked to call himself "uncle" in front of Jiang Cichen, but in reality Jiang Cichen rarely actually called him uncle, mostly referring to him as "Your Highness the Crown Prince." He felt that since their age difference was not that big, calling him uncle was really awkward.
Xiao Ce added: "The fact that you two are together now might be because of my unintentional push."
Jiang Cichen was dissatisfied: "She likes me anyway, what does it have to do with you?"
Luo Wan picked up the wine bowl and said with a smile: "This bowl, I also toast to Your Highness. I hope Your Highness can see the love in your heart as soon as possible."
Xiao Ce was a smart man. He had once taken the Crown Princess away in front of Luo Wan and Miss Xu at Junzi Terrace, so he naturally heard the hint in Luo Wan's words.
"I hope so."
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince raised his head and drank it all, but Jiang Cichen took over the bowl of wine from Luo Wan's hand.
Soon, some soldiers who had just been drinking with the prince came over to toast Luo Wan.
Jiang Cichen didn't pay much attention to her during their first glance at Jinxicheng, but he memorized her features. Even if she hadn't reached for her veil to draw his attention, the sight of her face alone was enough to captivate him. When he first brought her to the barracks, he'd heard Chen Nanyuan mention that some soldiers would privately discuss her, though no one dared to speak to him. Whether in the streets or the barracks, whenever he brought Luo Wan along, there were always plenty of eyes blatantly glued to her.
Jiang Cichen was so angry that he felt uncomfortable all over, so he simply bought a house in Hengye Street and hid her there.
Luo Wan saw that Jiang Cichen looked worried, so she said, "I'm tired, let's go back."
Jiang Cichen smiled and immediately ordered the soldiers who were still toasting around him to disperse, as they were about to leave.
The military camp was stationed on the outskirts of the city, some distance away from the residence.
As the two of them were about to take their horses out of the stable, Jiang Cichen suddenly threw the reins to the steward beside him, turned to Luo Wan and said, "I'll ride with you."
"Why?" Luo Wan asked, "Don't you have a horse?"
Luo Wan knew exactly what was going on in his mind, but she still had to ask him a question on purpose.
Jiang Cichen raised the corner of his lips slightly, and without saying anything, he put his arm around her waist, climbed onto the horse neatly, and held her firmly against his chest. He said confidently, "There's no reason, I just want to ride the same horse with you."
The sound of horse hooves clattered as they slowly walked out of the military camp and turned into a quiet mountain road.
Jiang Cichen lowered his head and leaned against Luo Wan's shoulder, nuzzling her ear and whispering, "It would be great if time could stay at this moment forever."
"Lust blinds one's mind, General Lingyun." Luo Wan said.
"Yeah." He didn't refute and responded softly.
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