Chapter 185 Bitterness A single tear suddenly fell from the corner of his eye.
Helian Chuan dismounted and casually tossed his riding whip to the attendant who was rushing to greet him.
He had just finished resolving a dispute in the tribe regarding the demarcation of grassland boundaries. The May sun had turned the grasses covering the hillsides green, but it also brought the first signs of intense heat. In the afternoon, the sun gradually intensified, and his bronze skin was slightly damp with sweat.
He had just entered the main tent, and before he could even lower the arm that had been lifting the curtain, his attendant Batu stepped forward, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
"Chief," Batu bowed and said in a low voice, "You instructed me this morning to watch over the two young masters..."
Helian Chuan paused, rubbing his temples: "Did they run off again?"
Batu sighed and nodded: "Yes. They went out on their pony early this morning, saying they were going to pick the Sarilang flowers that had just bloomed yesterday, and that they would be back before lunch, but we haven't seen them yet... I think the two young masters have probably gone to the desolate hills again."
Helian Chuan understood immediately. He waved for the other servants to leave, leaving only Batu, and said with amusement, "Going to see that 'strange person' again, huh?"
Batu lowered his head, tacitly admitting the guess: "It was my negligence that I failed to take good care of the two young masters."
Helian Chuan waved his hand, showing no intention of blaming the servants.
He himself was well aware of how formidable his younger siblings were. They were at the age when cats and dogs disliked them, wishing they could fly to the heavens and dive into the earth, and as cunning as marmots on the grasslands, once they emerged from their burrows, they were nowhere to be found.
In particular, they recently found an interesting new toy—a mysterious person who suddenly appeared in the wasteland south of the tribe.
"Send two more people to search in the direction of the desolate hills. If those two little brats still know their place, they should be back by now." Helian Chuan's tone regained its usual composure as he ordered, "Bring them to me directly after you find them."
"Yes, Chief."
Batu lifted the curtain and slipped out. Helian Chuan sat down in front of the low couch covered with snow wolf skin in the tent. After a busy morning, he suddenly felt a little thirsty as he relaxed. He picked up the silver bowl and drank the mare's milk wine in one gulp.
As a member of a branch of the Di Rong royal family with mixed bloodlines, Helian Chuan, though a tribal leader, was not highly regarded and held a relatively low position within the royal family. The grassland region he governed was not prosperous, and among all the tribes, it was the farthest from the Di Rong royal city located in the Yanran Mountains, making it feel like an exile.
Yanran Mountain. Thinking of this, Helian Chuan stopped playing with his curved sword.
He had heard the battle reports from Yanran Mountain. His cousin, the current Di Rong King Helian Da, had declared war on Dongxi a few months ago, using Longcheng as bait to set up an ambush, luring the enemy deep into their territory, and annihilating 15,000 Dongxi troops in a great victory.
The renowned Eastern Xi War God Gu Baifeng also met a violent end at the hands of his cousin, his bones buried in Yanran Mountain.
The entire Di Rong tribe was overjoyed and celebrated, and their morale soared.
The scimitar in his hand began to spin again. Helian Chuan thought casually that the strange man who suddenly appeared on the wasteland was most likely a Dongxi soldier who had managed to escape from the ambush at Yanran Mountain.
His younger siblings were two very curious little ones who loved to ride horses around. It was a complete accident that they found this deserter in the vast wilderness.
When they first met the foreigners, they excitedly ran back to tell Helian Chuan about their great discovery. Helian Chuan happened to be looking at a map at the time. Upon hearing this, he glanced at the location of the people they had discovered and had already roughly deduced their origins.
Helian Chuan remained completely unmoved.
He would neither hate the Dongxi people to the point of wanting to kill them all, nor would he show kindness for no reason and take the initiative to use his own tribe's food and water to help a foreigner.
Helian Chuan didn't take the matter to heart, but his younger siblings were clearly different from him. The two children began to frequently sneak out of the camp, riding their horses a long way to see the strange man. They would travel several miles, fall down a few times, and wonder if he was alive or dead.
The children ran back and forth on the grassland with great enthusiasm, and after returning to camp, they kept chattering away with Helian Chuan.
Even though Helian Chuan didn't want to listen, he was forced to learn a lot about that strange man.
My sister Medo said that the strange man's clothes were all torn, he was filthy, and his hair was a mess, so we couldn't see his face. He just kept walking forward, and he walked much farther today than yesterday! Probably... probably as far as from our tent to the stable!
My younger brother, Ono, said that the strange guy seems to have forgotten how to walk. He spends most of his time crawling, only occasionally managing to stand up and stagger a few steps. His pace is incredibly slow; perhaps his leg is injured? He's even fallen a few times. However, he doesn't seem to have any intention of giving up. Even crawling, he manages to move forward a tiny bit each day. He's so tenacious!
Helian Chuan listened to this every day, and a corner of his heart stirred slightly.
The younger siblings said that the strange man would open his mouth to catch rainwater and drink it when it rained, which meant that he had run out of water. If he didn't have any water to drink in the next few days, he would die a violent death on the vast grassland.
Even so, that strange man would still crawl several miles forward every day, which truly amazed the listeners.
If they were deserters, even if they returned to their homeland, they would not have a good end. Even though this was the Di-Rong tribe farthest from Yanran Mountain, it was still two hundred miles from the border of Dongxi. Ordinary people could not possibly return to Dongxi alive on foot.
Since that strange man was a soldier going to war against an enemy country, he must have understood this principle.
If it were him, he would simply end his own life with a single blow, dying a quick and painless death, which would be better than dying from the sun, starvation, or thirst.
Just as he was deep in thought, he heard light, quick footsteps outside the tent.
The tent flap was suddenly flung open, and two small figures, carrying the scent of grass and sunshine, slipped inside. Their little faces were flushed from the sun, beads of sweat glistened on their foreheads, but their eyes sparkled like obsidian in the sunlight.
It was his younger brother and sister, Ono and Medo.
Meiduo ran to his side first, her little face still showing a hint of guilt as she tried to get away with a cute pout: "Brother!"
Ono stood a little straighter, trying to appear composed, but his shifty eyes betrayed him.
Helian Chuan put down the silver bowl and glanced at them: "Have you had enough fun? The Sarilang flowers in the south are so beautiful that you don't even want to eat lunch. Why didn't you pick some for me?"
The two children immediately wilted.
Ono lowered her head and whispered, "Brother, we were wrong..."
"We're just going to see if that person is still there..."
Helian Chuan could tell from the children's darting eyes that they weren't reflecting on their actions and were quite preoccupied.
Medo leaned closer and took his hand. "Brother, do you think that strange man might have encountered a pack of wolves? Is his horse dead?"
"He's all alone, without food or water. Will he die?"
"How could he die?" Helian Chuan smiled. "Aren't you two kids still there? When he gets too hungry, he can grab you and devour you alive, then you'll be alive again, won't you?"
Ono's eyes widened, and Medo stammered, "Brother, you're talking nonsense! We...we're all human beings, how could anyone eat people? Let alone eat them raw!"
"Your Uncle Yuwen can eat raw venison," Helian Chuan grinned, trying to scare the children with ill intent. "If someone is starving to the point of madness, human flesh isn't out of the question."
Ono and Medo were so frightened that they huddled together. A passing maid, Saren, was amused and said, "Chief, why do you always lie to children?"
Helian Chuan relaxed his brow and said lazily, "I'm warning them not to get close to strangers, especially those of unknown origin."
"We didn't get close!" Ono hurriedly explained. "We used our telescopic vision to see from a great distance! That strange man definitely couldn't have detected us."
His younger brother, Ono, possessed a "thousand-mile eye" he had bought from a merchant from the Western Regions. It was a cylindrical, hard object containing a transparent stone, through which one could see things at extremely far distances. This allowed them to safely observe the strange man's movements from a distance without being detected by him.
Before Helian Chuan could speak, Meiduo whispered, "Brother, that strange man only crawled a mile today, and then he stopped moving and just lay there in the sun for half a day. Do you think he's about to die?"
Ono said seriously, "But that strange man definitely doesn't want to die. We saw him with our clairvoyance; he's carrying a knife! If he wanted to die, he could just slit his throat with that knife and die instantly. I guess he wants to go home, he wants to live, and he doesn't want to die."
Helian Chuan was amused by them. He raised his hands and vigorously rubbed the two little ones' heads: "What are you talking about? Who would want to die for no reason? Look at those people fighting outside, which one of them doesn't want to go home alive?"
"It's easy to want to die, but it's hard to live."
Ono and Meiduo cried out in protest as he rubbed them. The two little ones finally managed to break free from their brother's clutches, but when they looked up, they found that Helian Chuan was no longer smiling. He had a handsome face with high eyebrows and deep-set eyes, and when he wasn't smiling, his dark eyes seemed to suck people in, making it impossible to look directly at him for long.
"elder brother?"
Helian Chuan snapped out of his daze. He was silent for a moment, then suddenly turned to Batu and said, "Go and prepare my horse."
Batu looked slightly surprised, but immediately replied, "Yes!"
Helian Chuan stood up, looked at the two children with surprised expressions, and smiled with narrowed eyes: "After hearing what you said, I'm a little curious too. Come on, take me to see that strange person you mentioned."
Despite being on the verge of certain death, they refused to yield, refused to bow their heads, and continued to crawl towards their inevitable death. This cannot be simply summarized as a will to survive. Behind such a powerful will often lies a strong persistence in what has not been accomplished, or rather, a sense of unwillingness to give up.
I'm not willing to accept this, that's all.
Helian Chuan had a guess in his mind, and that guess gave rise to a crazy idea.
He needed to see it for himself. To confirm whether that person was worth the risk.
The vast grasslands are covered with a whistling north wind.
Helian Chuan, accompanied by two children and his attendant Batu, rode towards the southern wilderness on three horses.
The iron hooves swept across the boundless green grassland and came to a low hill. Ono and Meiduo were the first to pull back the reins. The four of them dismounted one after another. Helian Chuan took the "clairvoyance" that Ono handed him, which was carefully wrapped in thick velvet cloth, and held it up to his eyes.
The field of vision zoomed in instantly.
The afternoon sun shone brightly on the rippling green waves of grass. A figure lay prostrate on the ground, almost blending into the green of the grass.
His hair was a tangled mess, covered in grass clippings and dirt, obscuring most of his face. The color of his clothes was indistinguishable, whether they were jet black or a stained deep crimson. He lay there motionless for a long time, like a tattered rag carelessly discarded.
"Brother, is he not moving anymore? We saw him like that this morning, he only moves occasionally." Meiduo said softly, her tone filled with a child's innocent worry about the passing of life. "It seems like he's really dying."
Helian Chuan put down his telescope and said calmly, "Perhaps he's already dead."
As he expected, he had reached his limit. Without food and water, death was the only possible outcome in this wasteland.
The tiny flame that had ignited in his heart was extinguished and dimmed again.
He was just a dying enemy. No matter what delusions Helian Chuan might have, this man was of no use to him.
He turned around, ready to call his younger siblings to leave.
Just then, Meiduo let out a soft "ah," tugged at his sleeve, and pointed into the distance.
Helian Chuan paused, and Ono snatched the telescope from his hand, held it up, and exclaimed, "He moved!"
"Brother, brother!" The clairvoyant was shoved back into Helian Chuan's hands, and Ono excitedly pulled him along, saying, "Look!"
Helian Chuan grasped the telescope and raised it to his eyes.
The figure, which had been motionless, suddenly raised its arm very slowly, reached into the grass beside it, and then its ten fingers dug into the ground, grabbing a handful of grass and the soil under the roots, and clenching it tightly.
The mud-covered hand trembled, yet with unusual determination, it grasped the handful of grass mixed with mud and stuffed it into its mouth.
He didn't even try to shake off the soil from the roots; he just chewed them with difficulty and force, his throat bobbing violently.
After finishing one handful, his hand reached out again, grabbed another handful, and stuffed it into his mouth...
The brilliant golden light fell on that drooping, dirty profile, as dazzling as a raging fire. Helian Chuan couldn't see the strange man's expression, but he could see his trembling jaw in the tangled hair. A few glistening drops of water fell between those almost savage movements, like burning stars.
He stared directly at the moment when a person abandoned their dignity and chose life.
Helian Chuan's heart was struck hard by this scene.
He had seen countless warriors brave on the battlefield, and he had seen the fear and pleas of the dying, but he had never seen such a silent and resolute struggle.
“Brother, he’s eating grass…” Medo’s voice was clear and crisp, her tone both innocent and cruel. “Soil doesn’t taste good, is he very, very hungry?”
Ono subconsciously looked up at his elder brother, but his eyes widened in surprise.
Helian Chuan had thick eyebrows and bright eyes that, when looked directly at, would be swallowed by a deep blackness. But at this moment, his eyes suddenly burst forth with a fierce light and flame. In that all-consuming blackness, Ono saw endless rainbows, more intense than the most brilliant and dazzling sunset he had ever seen on this grassland.
Ono was stunned for a moment, and Helian Chuan had already tossed him the clairvoyant. With a long stride, he mounted his horse in three quick steps.
He pulled on the reins, and the taut muscles in his arms peeked out from his thin sleeves. Helian Chuan smiled at the two children, raising an eyebrow:
"You stay here, I'll be right back!"
"elder brother!"
Ono only had time to call out to him once, but Helian Chuan had already ridden away on horseback.
Medo tugged at Ono: "It looks like my brother went to save that person, look!"
Helian Chuan did act impulsively, but when he rode his horse to the grassland, the man crawled forward a few dozen steps and then lay down on the ground and stopped moving.
He dismounted and walked a few steps to the man.
The young leader grabbed the unconscious man by the arm, hoisted him onto his shoulder, whistled, and stepped into the stirrups, seemingly in a very good mood.
The majestic mountains, their verdant slopes shimmering in the sunlight, were all bathed in the torchlight of the setting sun. A steed galloped away, its hooves pounding the undulating waves of grass and golden light.
...
A hundred miles away, at Linlu Pass, dark clouds loomed over the city, threatening to crush it.
He Chan sat in the chair, her eyes revealing an undisguised weariness and heaviness.
The military reports piled up on the desk were like mountains, pressing down on her shoulders and making it hard to breathe.
General Gu and Princess Chang ventured deep into the Yanran Mountains, only to be ambushed and killed, their 15,000 elite troops wiped out by the enemy. When the battle report reached the interior, He Chan could hardly believe it; her wrist, which had never wavered even when gripping the heavy iron sword, trembled violently.
The news caused a great uproar among the soldiers and common people in the area, with cries of grief echoing for three days straight.
Immediately following, urgent news arrived that the main force of the Di Rong had secretly traveled for several days, crossed the border, and launched a fierce attack on the western border of Dongxi, capturing a city.
Half a month has passed since then, and the immense grief still hangs over the border like a continuous dark cloud.
"General!" The captain of the personal guard strode in, his voice low but filled with barely suppressed excitement, "The man has been captured!!"
He Chan suddenly raised her head, a sharp glint in her eyes: "Bring him in!"
Soon, a middle-aged man with his hands tied behind his back, dressed in the uniform of a mid-level general, was pushed in. His face showed resentment and a hint of panic, but he forced himself to keep his spine straight.
This man, surnamed Li, held the rank of Colonel and was a minor figure in the Gu family army. He was usually quiet and unremarkable.
Jiang Feiyan stood beside He Chan with her hand on her sword, her whole being like a sharp blade drawn from its sheath, her killing intent even stronger than two months ago. At this moment, she was staring intently at Lieutenant Li with icy eyes, as if she would cut him down with her sword at any moment.
He Chan dismissed the bystanders, leaving only Jiang Feiyan and two absolutely reliable bodyguards. She stood up, walked to Lieutenant Li, her gaze calm yet carrying immense power.
"Lieutenant Li," her voice was not loud, but it carried the weight of a thousand pounds, "do you know your crime?"
Lieutenant Li shouted, "This humble general knows not what crime I have committed! General He, why have you arrested me without cause?"
He Chan said coldly, "In the past half month, three generals in our army have been investigated for suspected treason. Two have been executed and one has been imprisoned. Lieutenant Li, you are the fourth and the last."
Tell me, why you?
"Please, General, investigate thoroughly! This humble general is utterly loyal to Dongxi and to General Gu!!"
He Chan interrupted him, took out an inconspicuous bone wolf head talisman from her sleeve, and threw it in front of him. "This bone talisman was found in a hidden compartment in your barracks. There are also some notes you left in the stable that you couldn't completely destroy, recording our army's marching route. They are all in your handwriting. Do you recognize them or not?"
After the tragic news from Yanran Mountain and the fall of Xijing City came one after another, He Chan knew that there must be a traitor in the army, and that the traitor was of a high rank.
For the past two weeks, she and Jiang Feiyan have been quietly investigating and uncovering several small fry, and all the clues have eventually pointed to the usually low-profile Captain Li.
The operation concluded today, with irrefutable evidence.
Lieutenant Li's face turned deathly pale instantly, his lips trembling, yet he still tried to defend himself: "This is a frame-up! Someone has framed my subordinate!"
Jiang Feiyan stepped forward and shouted sternly, "You scoundrel! You're the one who leaked General Gu's marching route and battle plan to Di Rong?! Speak! Why did you do this! General Gu has treated you well!"
Lieutenant Li trembled, and all color drained from his face. He knew the evidence was irrefutable, and there was no point in denying it now.
He raised his head, laughed three times, and his eyes revealed resentment: "Treat me well? Hahaha... What a fine way to say 'treat me well'!"
“My Li family has been valiant soldiers for three generations, and has made meritorious contributions in battle. However, my father was dismissed and investigated by the Gu family for disobeying the orders of the Gu family’s direct subordinate generals in one battle, thus saving the lives of his men. He died in despair!”
"I have served in the army for twenty years, fighting to the death, but because I am not a disciple of the Gu family, I have never been promoted and can only languish in this position of captain! Those aristocratic scions control the border troops and treat them as their private property. Have they ever given us poor people a way to survive?!"
He Chan listened quietly, her face expressionless, until he finished speaking before she spoke: "So, for your own personal grudge, you are willing to betray your country and collude with the enemy, bury 15,000 of my Dongxi's elite troops, cause General Gu, who dedicated his life to the country and its people, to die on the battlefield, and put Her Highness the Princess to death?"
Her voice was soft, yet like a cold knife, dissecting all of Lieutenant Li's high-sounding excuses, leaving only the ugliest betrayal.
"I..." Lieutenant Li opened his mouth, but under the gaze of those all-seeing eyes, he couldn't utter a word of explanation.
"Take him away." He Chan turned away from him, sat back in her command seat, and said in a resolute voice, "According to military law, those who collude with the enemy and betray the country shall be executed by slow slicing and their heads shall be displayed at the gate of the camp for three days as a warning to others!"
The resentment and madness on Lieutenant Li's face quickly faded, replaced by endless fear.
"No...no...!" he cried incoherently, then knelt down with a thud. He crawled forward a few steps, his voice trembling with sobs, "General He! I was wrong, I was wrong, but I never expected it to turn out like this...I didn't betray the country, I really, really only sent some insignificant messages!!"
"I thought... I thought at most it would just be a defeat and some loss of troops. I never imagined that 15,000 elite troops would be wiped out. I never intended to kill General Gu or Her Highness the Princess! If I had known it would end like this, I would never have paid any attention to the Di Rong people! I deserve to die, but I was just out of my mind. I never did it on purpose!!"
Tears streaming down his face, he kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, "General, please spare my life! Give me a chance to atone for my sins! I'm willing to identify Di Rong's contact person, and I'm willing to tell you everything I know!!"
He Chan turned her back, and the guards dragged the shouting Lieutenant Li out without hesitation.
Silence returned to the hall.
Jiang Feiyan's chest heaved violently, clearly still furious: "To just let him die like that is too easy for him!"
He Chan rubbed her temples, feeling even more exhausted: "The traitor has been eliminated, and the morale of the troops can finally be somewhat stabilized. We can't worry about him now; we have even bigger trouble ahead of us."
Suddenly, a messenger rushed in, his voice trembling with tears: "General! Something terrible has happened! The granary in the west of the city is on fire!"
He Chan and Jiang Feiyan's expressions changed drastically, and they stood up abruptly!
"Go!" He Chan shouted, grabbed the sword leaning against the table, and rushed out of the hall with Jiang Feiyan.
Thick smoke billowed from the west of the city, and flames illuminated half the sky. By the time they arrived, although the garrison and civilians were desperately trying to put out the fire, the largest granary had already been mostly engulfed in flames.
In the chaos, He Chan personally directed and coordinated the operation, while Jiang Feiyan rushed into the fire to lead the soldiers in rescuing the grain stacks that had not yet caught fire.
The fire was not completely extinguished until dawn.
The quartermaster in charge of the inventory, his face covered in soot, knelt before He Chan, his voice trembling: "General! The granary... more than half of the grain in the granary has been burned! The remaining rations are probably... probably only enough for the entire army for ten days..."
Ten days!
On the western front, Fu Yao's army was still fighting the Di Rong day and night, consuming physical strength and resources every moment; Jiang Feiyan had to lead troops to patrol various important passes and suppress any possible disturbances; the daily food consumption of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians inside the pass was an astonishing figure.
Even if a message were immediately sent back to the court and provisions were urgently transported to the border, it would be too late in ten days.
Once this news leaks out, the morale of the troops, already uneasy due to the commander's death, will collapse instantly. Panic will spread like wildfire, military discipline will be rendered meaningless, and looting, mutiny, or even a mutiny will be possible.
He Chan clenched her fist, her gaze sweeping over the trembling quartermaster in front of her, and then over Jiang Feiyan beside her, who was waiting for orders with her lips tightly pursed.
She said, enunciating each word clearly, "This matter must never be publicized. Anyone present who dares to divulge even a single word and undermine morale will be subject to military law, regardless of their status, and will be executed without mercy!"
He Chan's gaze was sharp as a knife, carrying an undeniable determination that made everyone who met her eyes involuntarily lower their heads, feeling a chill in their hearts.
Immediately, she turned to Jiang Feiyan and said quickly, "Feiyan, pass down the order: starting today, the rations for the entire army, including yours and mine, will be halved. All stored grain will be centrally allocated, with priority given to supplying General Fu Yao's soldiers fighting on the front lines. There must be no mistakes."
Jiang Feiyan frowned and subconsciously asked, "What about the garrison troops and civilians inside the pass..."
“We’ll shoulder this together.” He Chan interrupted her, her expression resolute. “Tell everyone that the imperial reinforcements and supplies are on their way and will arrive soon! Until then, I, He Chan, will live and die with Linlu Pass!”
The actual losses from the burning of the granary were strictly controlled to a very small extent. On the one hand, He Chan sent someone to deliver a military report back to the capital for help by express courier, and on the other hand, she quickly transferred grain to the surrounding military towns.
For the next two days, the two worked almost non-stop, suppressing several small-scale disturbances, redeploying the city's defenses, and meticulously managing their meager food reserves.
Just when everyone was on edge, thinking they could barely hold on and wait for that elusive turning point—
Another swift horse, trailing billowing dust, shot back from the front lines like a deadly arrow, bringing Fu Yao's military report.
Jiang Feiyan took the military report, glanced at it quickly, and her face became even more grim: "Achan, General Fu Yao has an urgent report! The Di Rong seem to have divided their forces and are showing signs of moving towards the eastern front. She requests reinforcements, at least three thousand men, otherwise the eastern pass may be in danger of falling!"
If the eastern front is lost, the Di and Rong tribes can advance unimpeded and threaten the heartland of Dongxi, with unimaginable consequences.
Jiang Feiyan volunteered without hesitation: "General, I can do it. Let me lead the troops!"
He Chan closed her eyes briefly, then slowly shook her head: "It's not a question of who goes."
Holding the military map, her gaze lingered on the troop deployments and supply routes: "Our supplies are already stretched thin, barely enough to support our existing defenses. How can we possibly support a three-front war after the division of forces? The supply convoys also need protection, which will be another expense... The remaining food can only last for seven days."
Her expression was grave: "If we do not receive any more food supplies within seven days, our army will collapse before the Di Rong even attack!"
Jiang Feiyan fell silent. She was brave and skilled in battle, full of vigor, and could cut through enemy lines without breaking a single armor piece, but she couldn't conjure up food.
Short of food, surrounded by powerful enemies, the death of their commander, low morale, and unrest... Linlu Pass seemed to have become an isolated island, about to be submerged by the tide of despair.
He Chan closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, her eyes were filled with determination: "Send down the order to gather all the remaining provisions and prioritize the supply of General Fu Yao's main force on the western front! As for the eastern front... I will personally write to Fu Yao and tell her to hold out for another five days!"
"I'll think of something else within five days!"
What other options were there? Everyone knew this was practically a dead end. The atmosphere was oppressively suffocating.
In this despairing silence—
"Woo-woo-woo-woo-"
Suddenly, a long and urgent horn sounded from the watchtower atop the wall.
Immediately afterwards, a cacophony of carriages and horses came from outside the pass, mixed with the shouts of alarm from the guards.
Everyone in the hall was stunned and looked at each other in bewilderment.
He Chan and Jiang Feiyan exchanged a glance, and without prior arrangement, they quickly walked out of the military camp and hurried towards the gate.
Climbing the tall gate wall, facing the howling north wind, He Chan gazed into the distance.
At the end of the official road leading into the pass, a convoy of carriages was speeding toward Linlu Pass, their iron hooves thundering and dust billowing.
At the front of the procession, several golden flags fluttered in the wind, and streaks of flowing, dazzling light tore through the overlapping dark clouds. The setting sun once again descended upon the world. The long convoy passed through the desert and forest, and through the shadow of war, as if it were walking on the light of heaven.
He Chan stood motionless, and the guards on the wall seemed stunned by the sight, until a soldier on the watchtower exclaimed, "It's the Jin family's convoy from Suyang!!"
Before they could even think about the reason, just as He Chan and Jiang Feiyan turned around and headed down the wall towards the city gate, another guard rushed over, walking hurriedly.
He Chan stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw him, because this man was a personal guard she had specially arranged to protect Jiang Chiyin. If Jiang Chiyin had not had important news that she needed him to convey, he would never have come to find her so easily.
At this moment, the soldier was so excited that his face turned red, and his eyes alone revealed an uncontrollable ecstasy.
He cried out, "General He! Doctor Jiang... Doctor Jiang succeeded!!"
As the guards' shouts to open the city gates echoed through the sky, the dark clouds that had lingered over the border for half a month dissipated completely.
The moment the Jin family's convoy entered the city of Suyang, flocks of birds flew by, the sky was ablaze with rosy light, and the mountains and rivers were dyed in vibrant colors.
........
A month has passed since news of the deaths of General Gu Baifeng and Princess Wei Yihua reached the capital.
For the past month, the imperial court has been engulfed in bloodshed and turmoil.
The urgent military reports pushed the already turbulent Dongxi court into an even deeper abyss. All the officials in the court felt as if they were in the sea, being squeezed by the waves surging from all directions, unable to breathe.
The emperor, who sat high on the dragon throne, seemed to have gone completely mad.
The Imperial Advisor Qiu Wuzhu seized upon the emperor's weakness—his endless guilt and sorrow over the deceased Empress Yuan and the prematurely deceased Crown Prince. She also used her premonition of the death of the Eldest Princess to make it the final straw that broke the old emperor's spirit, and to make the emperor completely believe in her mystical arts.
Under Qiu Wuzhu's guidance, the emperor firmly believed that only by relying on the Venerable One's supreme power and holding a grand ceremony could the lingering resentful spirit of the Crown Prince be delivered, the ancestors be appeased, and the Eastern Xi dynasty be preserved forever.
For the next few dozen days, the entire Dongxi court was shrouded in an absurd and terrifying atmosphere.
The emperor no longer held morning court sessions, allowing memorials to pile up like mountains. He spent his days confined within the palace, indulging in the mysterious mysteries of destiny and exorcism. One after another, imperial edicts, costing enormous sums and wasting the people's resources, were issued from within the palace.
To construct the nine-story Soul-Suppressing Tower and the prayer altars scattered throughout the twelve two-hour periods of the capital, the emperor ordered an additional tax to be levied for disaster relief, nearly emptying the already strained national treasury due to the war. Countless laborers were forcibly conscripted to the capital, where they were forced to move massive stones and timbers day and night amidst whips and shouts, with many dying from exhaustion and their bodies lying strewn along the roads.
What followed was a purge-like upheaval in the court. Qiu Wuzhu used the pretext of conflicting celestial signs and the emperor's fate being unfavorable to him to sow discord between the emperor and his ministers, deepening the emperor's suspicion of several veteran officials.
Several censors known for their integrity were imprisoned and had their property confiscated for speaking out that building an altar was "a way to deplete the foundation of the state and bring disaster upon oneself." They were accused of slandering the emperor and disrupting the government. Two other ministers and vice ministers in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, who had repeatedly advised the emperor against large-scale construction projects on the grounds of an empty treasury, were falsely accused, dismissed from their posts, and demoted.
The executioner's blade was not only wielded against the poor and humble. The few remaining aristocratic families were not spared either; several family heads were stripped of their titles, and all their family members were banished from the capital.
Among the powerful clans, quite a few suffered significant losses due to investigations and crackdowns on the pretext of forming cliques for personal gain.
The once bustling scene of rivalry between aristocratic and commoner families in the imperial palace is now a deathly silence. Those who remain are either trembling, subservient echoers, or, like Rong Xuan, seemingly loyal and steadfast officials, but in reality, deeply cunning and secretly aligned themselves with the royalists, their allegiance yet to be discovered.
The old officials of the Qingliu faction did not refrain from resistance. One veteran of three reigns knelt outside the palace gates for three days, writing a petition in blood, vehemently denouncing Qiu Wuzhu as a national monster and imploring the emperor to repent and prioritize the well-being of the country.
However, this outspoken remonstrance only earned him an imperial edict stating that he was "old and senile, and had disobeyed the emperor's will," and he was immediately dismissed from his post and sent back to his hometown. A few days later, news spread from the capital that the old minister had died of grief and indignation on his way home, causing another huge uproar.
No matter how deeply Yue Yining and Xie Qingyu investigated the truth behind the Crown Prince's death, they made no progress; all the evidence pointed to the supreme ruler sitting high on the dragon throne.
In early May, the Third Prince Wei Ye entered the palace to pay homage to the Emperor, his clothes soaked with dew. During the audience, the father and son chatted about something, but Wei Ye lost control and smashed a vase in the Shengchen Palace. Before he could take any further action, the imperial guards broke down the door and subdued him.
The Third Prince, Wei Ye, was forcibly escorted back to his residence and placed under house arrest for offending the Emperor. The palace servants gossiped, saying that the gentle, kind, and benevolent Third Prince who cared for the world was gone, replaced by a strange, ill-mannered madman.
The Third Prince has destroyed his own defenses, the Eldest Princess's fate is unknown, and the Seventh Prince has withdrawn from the factional struggle. Now it seems that the only hope for inheriting the throne lies with the Fourth Prince, Wei Jing.
The court was out of balance, the borders were in crisis; the national treasury was empty, and the people were filled with resentment; the position of heir apparent was vacant, and the princes were incompetent and useless.
The Dongxi Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, and its decline was inevitable. Everything seemed to be in accordance with the predetermined fate of Heaven, leading to an irreversible demise.
The first summer rain finally fell, cleansing the turbulent city of Yanjing.
As the wind passes, the rain curtain is no longer straight. Countless silver threads connect heaven and earth, and a gray-white, hazy torrent surges across the world.
Xie Qingyu's departure this morning woke Yue Yining. These past few days of sharing a bed had made Yue Yining familiar with Xie Qingyu's embrace and scent; she had rarely been disturbed by his morning awakenings, this was the first time in months.
Yue Yining remained silent, her eyes closed, pretending she was still asleep.
The rustling sound of fabric rubbing faded into the distance, and the soft footsteps were almost inaudible.
Xie Qingyu would take out the outer robe and belt she would wear the next day the day before and hang them on the beam of the clothes rack to avoid making noise when opening and closing the wooden cabinet door when she got up to get dressed the next morning, which would wake her up.
Yue Yining listened to the sounds outside the bed curtains. Xie Qingyu would leave the inner room after putting on her outer robe and fastening her belt.
She waited for a long time before someone parted the hanging bed curtains, and a faint fragrance wafted out from the person's clothes, lingering on the skin of her neck.
A light kiss landed on her forehead.
After Xie Qingyu left, Yue Yining slowly opened her eyes, her gaze somewhat dazed.
After seeing Xie Qingyu off, the maid Nonghe turned back to the inner room, intending to wake Yue Yining for breakfast, but found a figure already sitting up on the bed. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly stopped behind the beaded curtain, saying softly and respectfully, "Lord Yue, breakfast is warm. Would you like to get up now?"
Yue Yining responded, "Okay, I'll get up now."
As Yue Yining sat down at the dining table, she asked casually, "Nonghe, go and ask if Lord Xie has already left the manor?"
Nonghe returned and reported, "Lord Yue, the guards at the gate said that Lord Xie's carriage just left."
Yue Yining nodded, indicating that she understood, and then remained silent.
Nonghe cautiously glanced at Yue Yining out of the corner of her eye, her heart pounding. She was a perceptive and intelligent person, and naturally she could sense the changes in Yue Yining over the past month.
The person who was originally gentle and cheerful has hardly smiled these days, but she is neither angry nor annoyed. She just lowers her eyes more often, making it even more difficult to guess what she is thinking.
Even Nonghe, a mere maidservant, could understand that Yue Yining was so preoccupied with political affairs, causing her great worry and exhaustion.
The two female officials who used to come to the mansion, Shen and Qiu, never came again due to job transfers. Female official Zhou was also not allowed to leave the palace at will. The girl Fu who could make the Grand Princess happy had also left. Later, the bad news of the Grand Princess's unknown fate was brought back to the capital.
One thing after another came crashing down on her, and even Nonghe herself felt breathless, let alone dare to imagine what Yue Ren must be feeling.
Although Lord Xie would come to keep Lord Yue company every day, she felt that Lord Yue was becoming more and more silent each day.
"Nonghe." Startled awake by Yue Yining's call, Nonghe quickly composed herself and answered, only to find that Yue Yining had already finished her breakfast and said to her, "If any guests come to visit today, be sure to wake me up."
Wake me up? Nonghe was taken aback and asked, "Does Lord Yue want to continue sleeping? Is there anything wrong with your body?"
“No, I won’t sleep now, but I don’t know later.” Yue Yining’s explanation left Nonghe puzzled. Perhaps because Nonghe’s expression was too interesting, a faint smile appeared on Yue Yining’s face. “Go ahead. If anything happens, I’ll call you.”
Nonghe: "Yes."
The door closed. Yue Yining got up, walked around the screen, and sat down at the table.
She took out the bamboo box at the bottom of the bookshelf and laid out the divination tools inside, which were almost covered in dust, one by one on the table: flint, bamboo strips, carving knife, silver needle, iron hammer, gold powder, firewood... and a complete piece of tortoise plastron.
Outside the latticed window behind her, the rain poured down, washing the banana leaves a vibrant green. The soft patter of the rain rustled through the gossamer-thin gauze. Yue Yining looked at the objects on the table and, for the first time, felt her wrists so heavy she could hardly lift them.
She was indeed hesitating.
No matter how many people she sent to the border to investigate, all she received was the undeniable news of Princess Wei Yihua's death.
But Yue Yining didn't believe that Wei Yihua was really dead.
Everyone thought that Wei Yihua was dead, that she had died in the defeat at Yanran Mountain that wiped out 15,000 men, and that she had returned to the battlefield with her maternal grandfather.
Even Lin Yuan, the senior official in the court who had always supported the eldest princess, advised Yue Yining to put aside her obsession and focus on the current political affairs.
Of all the people in the group, only Xie Qingyu stood by her side the whole time.
Xie Qingyu often held her and said, "Whatever Miss has decided, don't let what others say shake your resolve. I will plan for Miss's future, so there's no need to worry about anything else."
"There's only one thing I hope you'll promise me, Miss," Xie Qingyu said, "that you absolutely will not risk your life for anything."
This wasn't the first time Xie Qingyu had said this. He had mentioned it when they agreed on the three rules: he didn't want her to resort to divination with tortoise shells anymore.
And she agreed to his proposal.
The political situation is stagnant and nearing a standstill. If she cannot ascertain whether Wei Yihua is alive or dead, the future looks bleak.
All the divinations related to Wei Yihua involved some degree of speculation about the fate of the nation. Because Wei Yihua was of royal lineage and possessed the destiny of a phoenix, apart from tortoise shell divination, other divination methods were merely a drop in the ocean, scratching the surface. However, if she were to use tortoise shell divination now, it would be a betrayal of her promise to Xie Qingyu.
What would the person who always looked at her with such tenderness do? Would he be disappointed? Would he be angry? She didn't think she had ever seen him angry with her.
The flint sparked a dazzling burst of light, and wisps of smoke rose up, mingling with the gentle, subtle fragrance of bamboo leaves in the room.
Yue Yining forgot how she fell asleep, only remembering that in a daze, she closed her eyes with her head resting on her arm.
She had a dream from a very long time ago.
At that time, Yue Yining was only four and a half years old. Because of the loss of her mother, she could only wander alone in the vast city of Luoshui. She did not know where to go, nor where to return. Although she had a mortal body, she was like a lonely ghost.
Yue Yining, who wanders the streets, is not a kind child.
At first, she honestly scavenged leftovers and scraps of grass to eat, but she found that she would never be full, always hungry, and would even wake up hungry on street corners at night. From then on, she understood that if she wanted to survive and grow up well, she had to fight for food.
She would even steal food from children younger than herself.
She remembers the first time very clearly. It was the first time she snatched food from a well-dressed child on the street. It was a fragrant dried persimmon that she had never eaten before.
If it were an adult holding it, she would never dare to touch it, even if she coveted it. But it was just a little kid wearing a floral cotton-padded jacket, not much taller than her.
It was a chilly late autumn day, and Yue Yining hadn't eaten hot food for a month.
So she acted decisively.
Yue Yining escaped quickly enough that by the time the child's cries attracted the adults, she had already disappeared into the alley with the persimmon in her mouth.
She stumbled and scurried away, as if wild dogs were chasing her. Her small body was filled with a heart pounding wildly, as if it were about to tear her chest apart.
She reached the deepest part of the alleyway when all she could hear was the whistling wind, and no one was chasing her.
Yue Yining squatted in the corner, holding the persimmon cake in her mouth with both hands; it was still warm.
She wolfed it down, her cheeks turning a deep orange-yellow like fallen autumn leaves. When she finished the last piece, she was so eager that she accidentally bit her hand, leaving a dirty finger chafed raw by the rough wall.
Only then did she realize that she was trembling all over.
Two lines of clear tears slid down her cheeks, the water stains spreading the colors of late autumn, as if a sudden, wet, cold rain had fallen, soaking her from the inside out, and the wind made her feel bone-chillingly cold.
Yue Yining hugged her knees, squatted in the corner, and cried.
She pounded her head, pulling at her disheveled hair, and sobs squeezed out of her throat, almost heart-wrenching.
She remembered her mother's words: to be virtuous and just, to neither steal nor take, is the mark of a truly good person.
A truly virtuous person would rather starve than steal food from others to fill their stomach.
She has failed her mother's teachings and can no longer be a good person.
She hated herself, even loathed herself for a moment. Why was she always so easily hungry? Why did she have to snatch this persimmon? She ate the persimmon, but felt so sad she wanted to die, and tears streamed down her face like a small river.
She watched helplessly as the kindness and ignorance in her heart slowly faded away. Even though she was forced to live a life of ignominy, she could never forgive herself for the evil she had done.
Yue Yining woke up.
The rain outside the window has stopped, replaced by a deafening chorus of cicadas and bright sunshine.
She gazed at the horizontal beam and bed curtains before her, realizing she was now lying in bed, her gradually clearing thoughts bringing back memories.
She tried to move her fingers, but found she couldn't.
Yue Yining slowly turned her head to look, and suddenly froze.
Xie Qingyu, dressed in a dark purple official robe, knelt beside her bed, a slender, pale wrist protruding from the sleeve of his robe, tightly holding her hand.
Her pale blue eyebrows furrowed into a menacing mountain, pressing heavily on her eyelids. Her raven-feather-like eyelashes trembled slightly, and a single clear tear suddenly fell from the shadows.
Yue Yining stared blankly as the tear disappeared into the brocade quilt.
For a moment, my mind went completely blank.
She couldn't help but look at the table, where there was an open wooden box containing three cracked tortoise shells.
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Author's note: My goodness, everything is so tough...
The next chapter will be better, the next chapter will be better! [Hands clasped in prayer][Hands clasped in prayer]
Helian Chuan picked up Yi Hua. The reason "he" is used instead of "she" is because they were observing from a distance and didn't realize Yi Hua was a woman. (Of course, they did realize it after picking her up.)
Sigh, I told my friend that I felt so reluctant to write this part. Although it was a plot I had decided to write long ago, I still couldn't bear to depict the scene of the princess eating grass and dirt in detail.
In the next chapter, Ningning and Yuyu will have a quick argument and then make up. The ending is coming soon. The next three chapters should all be over 15,000 words, and then the main story will end.
P.S.: I think I've sent red envelopes to everyone who commented on the last chapter. Please check if anyone left a comment but I missed sending one! [Sprinkling flowers]
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