There was still an hour or two before dawn, and the big tent was still lit with candles and people moving around.
At first, Xiao Nanhui wanted to pay attention and eavesdrop on what the generals in the tent were discussing, but this time the tent was surrounded tightly and she couldn't hear a word.
She was already very tired, and her eyelids were already drooping from staying up all night.
However, thanks to the irresistible sleepiness, she temporarily forgot about Xiao Zhun and Bai Yun, and followed the team that was disbanding the camp back to Sanmu Pass in a daze.
Xiao Zhun didn't know what he said to the emperor, but he actually saved Bai Yun's life. Together with Bai Rui, the youngest child of the Bai family, they returned to Quecheng under the escort of the Black Feather Camp.
Xiao Nan thought about it later and realized that it was probably because the encirclement and suppression plan to capture Bai Heliu had failed, and Tiancheng needed some bargaining chips in his hand, or someone to convict.
Bai Heliu escaped.
After abandoning his wife and children, he disappeared alone on the rugged and treacherous horizon of the green frontier, like a ghost that provoked war, as if he had never existed from beginning to end.
Over the next month, the main task of the Tiancheng army was to eliminate the remnants of the Bai family that had infiltrated every corner. Small groups of soldiers continued to surrender. Most of them were former members of the Tiancheng Yueze Army. In the past ten years, they had left their homes, their accents had changed, and they were living on the salaries of others. Even if they surrendered, they could not regain trust, so they had to be temporarily placed as prisoners in the garrison near Tongcheng.
Finally, as the year draws to a close, the phoenix returns to its nest.
The team headed by the emperor set out on their journey back to the city.
Along the way, there were constant reports of the Bai clan's bandits being intercepted in various places, most of which were along the Nujiang River at the junction of Jizhou and Chizhou, and in the northern Zhongshan. These two places were the only way for Jizhou to enter Chizhou from the north and south. It seemed that they were trying to raid the capital while the throne was not returned.
The Nujiang River had been plagued by floods for years, and the Yanchi Camp had been stationed there all year round. However, Zhongshan was mostly mountainous and sparsely populated, and it was not originally a permanent location for the camps. How come there was suddenly an army that could stand on its own?
Xiao Nanhui suddenly remembered that about a year ago, the emperor sent Xiao Zhun to Zhongshan to suppress bandits.
She had been resentful at the time, believing that Xiao Zhun, a great general, should not be ordered around like this. But now it seemed the bandit suppression was a sham, while the garrison was real. Under the guise of suppressing the bandits, they extended their reach into places they rarely visited, quietly laying the groundwork for a future recapture...
This was definitely a long-planned move.
To march and fight a war takes but a moment. But to raise an army and deploy its battle array is not something that can be done in a day.
In the emperor's bottomless heart, the stone representing the recovery of Bijiang had already been thrown. What she saw now was just a few ripples on the surface of the lake.
But the more this happened, the clearer the doubts in her heart became.
Did Xiao Zhun know all this? What about her? What was her position in this carefully planned chess game, and what role did she play?
When the armies awarded merit, she was naturally credited with a major contribution, but most of her unfamiliar colleagues in the Light Battalion had no idea what she had actually contributed to the battle. Only occasionally, when she and Su Pingchuan looked at each other from afar or passed each other in the ranks, would the two of them make a brief eye contact, confirming that everything in the past was not an illusion, but a real fact.
It is said that Hao Bai received a lot of benefits for his contribution in treating the emperor, but he told Xiao Nanhui that he had refused the reward with great dignity. He only asked for a carriage to load the exotic flowers and plants he had collected from all over Bijiang, and couldn't wait to take them back to Wancheng.
Afterwards, Xiao Nan felt that there must be something else in the carriage, but he never had the chance to confirm his guess.
After all, when she prepared the carriage, she had reserved a seat for Wu Xiaoliu. Without the fat man, the empty seat would have been quite large.
She had originally wanted Wu Xiaoliu to follow Hao Bai back to Wancheng. After all, it was a place with year-round humidity and warmth, abundant resources, and a fertile land known for its feng shui. But Wu Xiaoliu insisted on following her, claiming he wanted to broaden his horizons and gain some experience in the imperial capital. But after just a day of riding, Wu Xiaoliu was complaining of a broken butt. She couldn't really just abandon the fat man on the road, so she found another logistics vehicle carrying supplies and stuffed him in.
Aside from the Yanchi Sixth Battalion and the Subei Third Battalion, which guarded Bijiang, the rest of the troops returned north to reorganize. Xiao Nanhui followed the Guangyao Battalion on their journey for several days, lost in thought. Only when they reached Tongcheng did they finally realize that the war, which had been provoked over a decade ago, was now truly over.
The north wind still blew, but the smell was different. It was an indescribable smell, a mixture of the green smoke of burnt wood and the warm white smoke exhaled by the crowds of people, full of the aroma of fireworks.
The joy of the approaching New Year was everywhere. Sometimes she looked at the city streets, villages and towns that were gradually becoming bustling, with the lonely smoke of the desert falling behind her, and she felt as if she was born and raised here and had never left here.
As soon as we entered Chizhou, the heaviest snow since the beginning of winter fell.
Unlike the barren and harsh ice in Kishu, the snow here is soft, falling on people in clumps like cotton, as if God could not bear the cold weather and specially added quilts for passers-by.
At this time of year in previous years, if she wasn't away with the army, she would have already prepared firecrackers and lanterns for New Year's Eve at home. She had always loved being lively, but Xiao Zhun was always quiet, which made her afraid to make the atmosphere too noisy. Du Juan would secretly take her to set off a string or two in the backyard, and that was one of her happiest moments every year.
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