Martyrdom
Li Muyun left 30,000 troops to defend Pengcheng. Although some soldiers surrendered, very few did.
The 30,000 defenders vowed to protect the city to the death, fighting until their last breath.
After the Qiang enemy stormed the city, they massacred the inhabitants for ten days, leaving tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead, their bodies piled high, their eyes wide open in death. The entire city, wherever one could stand, was stained red with blood.
Even Qin Ziyou was shocked by this inhuman hell on earth.
"You didn't say these Qiang people wanted to massacre the city! What did the people do wrong? Why must they be exterminated?"
Li Changying was leisurely drinking tea in his house in the northwest. Upon hearing this, he simply smiled and said, "There aren't that many Qiang people. Most of them are our own people in disguise. Everyone has made contributions in attacking the city, and my father has agreed that all the people and treasures in Pengcheng will belong to them. This is just a small reward."
He should have been indignant, but now he felt completely powerless, as if his bones had been removed, leaving only limp flesh.
"We are likely to be scorned by future generations," Qin Ziyou murmured weakly, leaning back in his chair.
"Hmph," Changying laughed, "Don't worry, even if the historians are going to write about it, they'll write about Yang Fujin. If he hadn't opened the Zhongzhou Pass and let them in, would Pengcheng have suffered this calamity?"
"What should we do next?"
"Yang Fujin will send his men to take over Pengcheng. As for us, we will naturally be the 'great heroes' who save the Northwest!"
Qin Ziyou didn't understand what Li Changying meant, but she was unwilling to say anything more.
Ten days after the massacre, the Qiang people left Pengcheng with a large amount of spoils. Before leaving, they set fire to the ancient city.
At that time, Qin Ziyou had already left Pengcheng and was traveling on the ancient road of Suihuai. He still couldn't help but look back and saw the Wangyue Tower in the city collapse in the flames.
The city's inhabitants could never have imagined that this place, which had always given them peace and quiet, would be destroyed in such a way.
When news of Pengcheng's attack reached Muyun's ears, she had just come down from the battlefield, her face and armor covered in blood.
Having crawled out of a pile of corpses, and without even having a moment to rest, they had to accept this cruel reality.
The subordinates knelt together, their eyes red with tears, even the most unyielding men cried out: "Your Highness, Pengcheng has fallen, and our parents, wives, and children are all dead!"
How could Pengcheng have been captured? How could it have been!
She seemed dazed and even lost her balance; a woman quickly came over and helped her up.
The woman was robust and a head taller than Mu Yun; who else could she be but Dongfang Wuxia, who had left Lingnan!
Wuxia choked up, tears welling up in her eyes.
Mu Yun looked down at her and said with a bitter smile, "I was wrong, I shouldn't have let you come."
Wuxia knelt before her and cried out, "Your Highness, why should we bother with such matters!"
As teenagers, they were rescued by Madam Lu, and from then on they met and became acquainted. Later, the Lu family fell into ruin, and they separated, going their separate ways to the north and south. Now, they have reunited and are fighting side by side.
Before Mu Yun could even grieve, news of the fall of Pengcheng arrived, and another Qiang army attacked from the east.
Caught between two forces, there was no way out.
The remaining Northwest soldiers disregarded their own lives and fought the enemy to the last moment until they fell.
This time, it was Fan Shuang who took an arrow for Mu Yun.
Mu Yun looked behind Fan Shuang and saw the familiar man on horseback, an arrow already shot, and he was still pretending to draw his bow.
Qin Ziyou looked at her, his eyes no longer holding the purity he had when he first arrived in Pengcheng.
Fan Shuang and Mu Yun fought side by side for many years, and Fan Shuang shielded her from many arrows, but now, this is the last arrow.
From then on, there was no one left.
The once strong man, as robust as a bear, was shot in the chest with an arrow, blood gushing from his mouth, yet he still desperately urged her to leave quickly.
Arrows rained down, and he finally fell.
Unlike Guo Shunian, who was all alone, Fan Shuang had a lover, a singer at the Pengcheng Red Mansion.
After being redeemed and becoming a respectable woman, the singer no longer went out to show her face. She was five months pregnant and waited at home every day for her husband to return.
Pengcheng has fallen, and she should have no way to survive.
I hope we don't rush on the road to the underworld, so we can meet again there. Let's hold hands again, not drink Meng Po's soup, and not forget our past lives. Let's only ask that King Yama grant us a good birth, a safe and peaceful place to live. Even if we are poor, we can still be together for life, farming and weaving.
Wuxia gave Qin Ziyou a deep look. He was cold and ruthless, like a sharp arrow. He was no longer the young man that Jingwan had once loved.
Under the East Gate Night Market, regardless of the weather, the young man who always waited for his lover under the gate is long gone.
Qin Ziyou clearly recognized her as well; she was the maidservant beside Jingwan!
Wuxia pulled Muyun away, and with the remaining two hundred, they retreated to Honghe Ridge.
There was no way to retreat; beyond that lay a sheer cliff.
Wuxia helped her lean against the stone wall. She had been shot twice in the chest and abdomen, and it was already remarkable that she had managed to make it to Honghe Ridge.
A lone moon hangs in the sky; the night is not clear enough, and it's a pity that I can't see a sky full of stars.
Everyone was filled with grief and did not utter a sound.
Wuxia wanted to treat Muyun's injuries, but she stopped her.
Because of excessive blood loss, her face had never been so pale, and her usually strong voice, which used to be full of energy when she scolded people, had completely lost its vitality.
"I previously thought the enemy was the Qiang or Rong people, some kind of foreign tribes nomadic in the northwest. But until yesterday, when I saw those people who looked exactly like people from the Central Plains, I realized that my enemy was never a foreign tribe, but one of our own."
"And Qin Ziyou, he's here too..."
He killed Fan Shuang, and the person he killed had even pleaded for his life.
There was no foreign invasion; it was merely a power struggle among various factions within the Great Wei!
Wuxia was shocked: "Your Highness, you mean..."
Mu Yun gave a bitter laugh. How could she have imagined that, in order to seize the military power in her hands, her own people would collude with foreign tribes to put her to death!
She took a letter from her bosom and handed it to Wuxia: "Deliver this personally to Lu Chang. There are some things I... cannot say to him in person."
Wuxia could no longer hold back and buried her face in her shoulder, sobbing, "Your Highness!"
In the desolate Red River Ridge, only the sound of her weeping could be heard.
Those who heard it were all deeply saddened, and the soldiers, moved by it, also covered their faces and wept.
"Whether it's Li Ling or Yang Fujin, they will always cover up the truth about the Northwest. Find Lu Chang and tell him about this. Also, Yuan Cheng, please tell him that my relationship with him as master and servant is over."
Her flawless lips were bitten until they bled. She held Li Muyun's hand, which grew colder and colder—a sign that life was slipping away.
Time was running out. Mu Yun gritted her teeth, leaned against the stone wall, and stood up. The soldiers followed her, rising to their feet and picking up their weapons.
With her silver spear raised high, she was the first to rush out of Honghe Ridge, with the soldiers in hot pursuit, ready to shed their last drop of blood for the Northwest!
Meanwhile, outside the mountains, Qin Ziyou watched as reckless soldiers charged towards him, and Li Changying's words echoed again and again: "Kill Li Muyun, or your father will not believe you!"
After she rushed out, Wuxia couldn't bear to watch any longer. She covered her mouth and turned her back to her.
My heart is breaking, and tears are streaming down my face.
The sword pierced her throat, blood spurted out, and the princess, who had lived a life of honor, closed her eyes forever.
Upon seeing this, the enemy soldiers swarmed around him and dismembered him in the blink of an eye, each taking their 'spoils' in exchange for fame and fortune.
The blood-stained sword fell from Qin Ziyou's hand; he no longer had the strength to pick it up.
After failing to find Wuxia among the pile of corpses and concluding that she had escaped, Qin Ziyou sent men to pursue her, but they found no trace of her.
Upon returning from Honghe Ridge, Changying praised, "You did a great job! Father will reward you handsomely."
He numbly looked down at his hands, which he had washed countless times, yet were still covered in blood.
He quickly ran to the sink and washed his hands, scrubbing them vigorously over and over again.
Seeing him like this, Li Changying couldn't say whether she felt heartache or pity.
Taira
As Yuan Cheng passed Lishui, he saw a large group of people gathered on the east bank. They were all men, some transporting stones, others chiseling at the riverbank. The supervisors sent by the government would occasionally crack a whip to urge them to work harder.
Originally, the emperor only sent men to perform corvée labor to repair the dike on the east bank of the Li River. Later, the emperor had a new idea: he wanted to go boating on the Li River.
He didn't want to ride in a small boat; he wanted to ride in a large ship that was dozens of feet high.
There was simply no suitable timber available, so how could such a large ship be built? Even if it could be built, how could it float on such a shallow river?
Yang Fujin gave a signal, and his men naturally complied.
He understood the emperor's temperament; the boat trip was just a passing fancy, and he would forget about it after a few days once he found something else to do. So he simply agreed.
How much money can be embezzled from such a huge project!
The first thing to do was to open the dike and divert water.
When there were not enough conscripts in Pingdu, they were transferred from other places. Yuan Cheng looked at the dense crowd and asked, "How many conscripts are there in Pingdu now?"
Lingyu, the eunuch beside him, did some calculations and said, "Reporting to Your Excellency, more than a thousand people have been transferred here, and I heard that more will be transferred later."
More than a thousand people? That's way too many!
Gathering so many able-bodied men in Pingdu would easily incite a popular uprising!
Upon arriving at the palace, he went to look for Yang Fujin, but news of the fall of Pengcheng arrived first.
It was the first time Lingyu had seen the adult in such a state of panic. Although Yuancheng tried his best to hide it, Lingyu still noticed that his hands, hidden in his sleeves, were trembling.
"Pack your things, I'm heading back to Pengcheng immediately!"
Pengcheng has been attacked, why does the master still want to go back? Lingyu didn't understand, but she still obediently did things for the master.
Yuan Cheng left as soon as he finished packing his things.
As they traveled north, they received news faster and more frequently. When they arrived at Duma Post Station in Yanzhou, they happened to run into the messenger returning to Pingdu.
The messenger reported that Princess Li Muyun had fought a battle with the Qiang people and died at Honghe Ridge. Qin Ziyou of the Qin family continued the fight with the troops from the two prefectures supporting the northwest, and finally drove the Qiang people back to the northwest, averting a crisis in the northwest.
Yuan Cheng read it word by word, his hands trembling, over and over again.
The letter fluttered to the ground. He closed his eyes, his expression like a shattered piece of jade: "Impossible...impossible..."
Without resting for even half an incense stick's time, he rode his horse and galloped wildly northward.
How could such a vibrant woman die! It must be an enemy's scheme, or she faked her death to lure them in—it must be!
He found countless reasons for her to live in his heart, but it was precisely because of this that he felt heartbroken when the reality came to pass!
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