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As the frosty moonlight seeped through the window lattice, Liang Hongyu woke up from the dull pain of a hangover. She reached out and stroked the cold brocade quilt, and the hazy memories of last night floated in her mind like broken jade.
"General! Urgently rush from eight hundred miles away!" The hurried knocking on the door by the personal guards tore through the morning mist.
The moment she unfolded the yellow silk imperial edict, the wax seal melted into a blood drop in her palm. Zhao Gou urgently summoned her back to the capital to question her for "unauthorized mobilization of private troops," but between the lines lay a deeper desire.
A few dry leaves fell from the old locust tree in the yard and landed on the bronze wine cup that she had drunk with the soldiers last night.
As the first snow of winter fell on the Xianren Pass Post Road, twenty Liang family guards, spears in hand, followed. Liang Hongyu looked back at the city wall, where the black armor of the defenders formed a dark mass of geese in the twilight.
At this moment, the sentry drum on the city wall sounded loudly, startling the crows and causing them to fly over her scarlet cloak.
In front of the city wall, Wu Jie ordered his men to bring wine. He took the pottery bowl, filled it with the strong liquor given by the emperor himself, handed it to Liang Hongyu, and said, "General Liang, this trip will be dangerous. I hope General Liang take care." Liang Hongyu leaned over to take the pottery bowl and drank it all in one gulp.
Wu Jie: "I reported the battle of Xianren Pass to the emperor and mentioned General Liang's contributions there. I don't know why the emperor only promoted me and convicted General Liang."
Liang Hongyu chuckled and said, "It's okay. This is an old score between me and the emperor. General Wu, don't worry about it."
Wu Jie understood what was going on. Although he was inside the Great Wall, he had heard that Liang Hongyu had been the emperor's concubine before, but for some reason she had been reinstated as a female general. He didn't want to pry into other people's private affairs, so he thought the emperor might be unwilling to let Liang Hongyu go and had found this excuse. So he said, "I'm relieved when you say that."
Liang Hongyu mounted her horse and said, "I'm leaving now. I hope General Wu takes care of himself."
The horse's hooves kicked up the snow that had just fallen on the ground. Liang Hongyu held the reins tightly and walked forward in the snow with twenty Liang family army guards. Behind her were the eunuchs sent by Zhao Gou to deliver the imperial edict and two thousand elite soldiers.
After riding for a while, they saw a group of people standing in a pavilion in front of them from afar.
After arriving at the pavilion, Liang Hongyu tightened the reins and stopped. She saw a man in front of her wearing a dark blue satin gown, a black fur coat, a jade crown to tie his hair, eyes like stars, and a tall and graceful figure. Although he was dressed in an ordinary way, it could not conceal the cold and murderous aura around him.
"General Han, you have a refined taste." She dismounted, "You've neglected the defense of Chuzhou City, and instead have come to this deserted pavilion to admire the snow."
Han Shizhong's knuckles turned white as he gripped the hilt of the sword, and an old scar on his palm was faintly hot - that was the mark left by him when he grasped the burning arrow feathers with his bare hands during the Huangtiandang fire attack in the fourth year of Jianyan to prevent Liang Hongyu from being hit by stray arrows and rockets.
"Han recently acquired a scimitar." He suddenly drew his sword and cut off a willow branch that flew into the pavilion. A flash of cold light split the branch into three sections. "It can cut iron like mud. I will give it to General Liang to defeat the enemy."
Liang Hongyu took the hilt. On the rhinoceros skin wrapped around the hilt was inlaid a red gem as big as a pigeon egg. The gem shone with red light in the sunlight, which just matched her name "Hongyu".
Han Shizhong looked over Liang Hongyu's shoulder at the eunuch who was delivering the imperial edict, and whispered in Liang Hongyu's ear, "General Liang, please go back and take a closer look."
Liang Hongyu's eyes flickered slightly, and she whispered to him, "I hope the general will go to Xianren Pass and take away my five thousand Liang family soldiers."
Han Shizhong opened his lips slightly and said, "Okay."
After saying this, he mounted his horse and said to Liang Hongyu, "I will do as General Liang said and go to defend Chuzhou City."
Before the morning mist dissipated, the crisp sound of a gavel could be heard from the teahouse on Lin'an Imperial Street.
The storyteller slammed the silver-wrapped folding fan on the table: "Let's talk about Liang Hongyu riding alone across the Immortal Pass at night. Three thousand fire crows' arrows burned the Jin soldiers to tears!" Qiufeng hid in the private room on the second floor and watched Jinxiu distribute the silver coins to several children.
In just half a day, the lyrics of "The Fire Phoenix Conquers the Enemy" had spread to all twelve city gates along with the flower vendors' baskets.
"Your Majesty, are you aware of the recent rumors?" Prime Minister Zhao Ding stopped the eunuch delivering the imperial edict outside Chengxuan Hall, his dark court robes stained with frost. "Even three-year-old children at Zhuque Bridge can sing General Liang's Breaking the Formation Song."
The glazed tiles of the Lin'an Palace were covered with a thin layer of frost. Zhao Gou played with a green jade paperweight and watched her straight figure cast in front of the palace.
Liang Hongyu was still in her military uniform, with snowflakes from Xianren Pass still condensed on her armor.
"What a 'Fire Phoenix General,'" the emperor sneered, his gilded armor scratching the grooves of his military talisman. "Even my own chroniclers are recording your heroic deeds."
Liang Hongyu: “--------” This is exactly the result she wanted.
"My beloved concubine, do you realize your mistake?" Zhao Gou walked from the throne carved with dragon patterns to the center of the hall. He ran his fingertips over the waist belt of her armor and whispered in her ear.
Liang Hongyu stared at the winding golden paint on the Panlong Pillar, vaguely recalling the bloody battle on the city wall that day.
When the Jin army's iron harriers' scimitars cut through the army's flag, it was these hands that wielded their spears and pierced the enemy general's throat. "If I am truly guilty," she suddenly raised her eyes and smiled softly, "why doesn't the emperor ask the people of Xianrenguan?"
Zhao Gou threw the teacup violently, and the broken porcelain scattered like stars in front of Liang Hongyu's knees.
The gilded cauldron billowed with the scent of ambergris. He gripped her jaw with such force that it seemed as if he could crush jade. "Do you really think I'll let you go and live with Han Shizhong?"
"Your Majesty, please don't forget that I am no longer your concubine." Liang Hongyu said in a deep voice.
"Since I can't get your heart, I would rather destroy you." Zhao Gou clamped her neck tightly, staring at her charming face like peach blossoms, with a hint of cold hatred in his eyes. He was so good to her, but he still couldn't keep her heart. He really wanted to cut open this heart to see if it was made of stone.
Zhao Gou saw that her face was slightly flushed due to suffocation, her lips were slightly open, as if she wanted to shout but could not make any sound. However, there was no panic in her eyes, but a stubborn calmness.
Gradually, her breathing became weaker and weaker, and he felt her vitality slowly disappearing in her hands. He was suddenly scared, afraid that she would disappear before his eyes, so he let go.
As Zhao Gou loosened her hand, Liang Hongyu fell to the ground, gasping for breath. After she regained her breath, she glanced at Zhao Gou beside her. He was staring at the hand that he had just clamped her with a dull look, and his mind seemed to have wandered out of his body. He looked very painful.
She didn't understand why he looked so miserable when she was the one who almost died. Her heart softened suddenly, remembering the day they'd ridden their horses hunting together, remembering how he'd covered her with a blanket while she slept, remembering all his kindnesses. Although he wasn't a good emperor, he'd always doted on her. If Concubine Pan hadn't been banished to the cold palace, she might still be in the palace. No, she should be more clear-headed. He had so many concubines, how could he be so devoted to just her? Just because he loved her now didn't mean he would always be. Life was long, and she had so many more things she wanted to do. How could she be trapped in this deep palace forever?
Thinking of this, she said to him gently, "How do you know I haven't given my true heart to you? I just don't want to be a caged bird in your palace. What I want is to gallop across the battlefield and be a free and unrestrained female general. Do you understand, Your Majesty?"
As dusk stained the palace walls purple, Zhao Gou, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly turned to her and said quietly, "Okay - I'll let you go."
The snow particles drifting in from the window hit the glass lampshade, tearing the emperor's shadow into countless lonely fragments. His figure was projected on this hall like an old man.
He could let her go because of their past relationship, but how could he tolerate Han Shizhong?
"As for General Han..." He paused deliberately, looking at Liang Hongyu's suddenly tense jawline, "How could I allow him to marry the woman I love?"
When Liang Hongyu heard this, she felt a chill down her spine. She understood that this was an emperor's last bottom line and dignity.
She knelt and swore, "I swear here that I will never marry anyone else in my lifetime. If I break this oath, I will die miserably at the hands of the Jin people."
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