186 Lure the enemy deep into our territory
"You don't deserve to mention her."
The Southern Border Army, which had been unstoppable nine days ago, suddenly seemed to be unable to cope on the tenth day.
The crowd was defeated and fled all the way.
However, the soldiers of Nanyi Kingdom reversed their previous decline and pursued the defeated enemy troops closely without giving them a chance to breathe.
"How come the Southern Border Army has suddenly become like a paper tiger? We haven't had such a satisfying battle in ages!"
"I heard that Xie Qi was poisoned and is now unconscious."
"No wonder, the enemy is leaderless, and we have His Highness the Fourth Prince leading us. They are definitely no match for us!"
…
Late that night, in the dead of night, inside the main tent, the commander-in-chief of Nanyi State ordered his men to light more candles and carefully observe the terrain on the sand table.
At this moment, a scout suddenly reported: "According to my observation, the morale of the Daling army is low. In just one day, the number of stoves has dropped by 30%."
The commander said nothing, but heard his generals laugh and say, "Back when Wei Yiqun was here, he had already trained the Southern Border Army to the point where it couldn't withstand any adversity. Every one of them was a drunkard. Now, after only a few days of fighting, there are deserters. It's not surprising."
"Who says not? And that Xie Qi, the so-called young general? I think he just got carried away by his youthful achievements. He hasn't won a single battle against us! With a general like him, taking over the southern border would be as easy as taking candy from a baby."
…
By the twelfth day, only 30% of the stoves remained where Da Ling was marching.
The morale of the Nanyi army was even higher, and they all requested to launch a surprise attack at night to catch Da Ling off guard and take the commander's head back to the court for a reward!
Inside the tent, all the soldiers gathered around the sand table to discuss countermeasures, and most of them believed that they should pursue the victory.
However, there were also people who looked at the trend of the Southern Border Army on the sand table, frowning and thinking deeply.
"Why does the direction the Southern Border Army is fleeing in look familiar?"
Several other generals responded to this man, but were immediately ridiculed by the remaining generals.
"The soldiers under the Third Prince are certainly battle-hardened, so why are they still so timid?"
"I don't see how you look familiar. It's obvious that you are too cowardly to fight! No wonder you were never able to conquer the three southern states when you were led by the Third Prince."
"If it weren't for our Fourth Prince, would you have been able to fight so happily this time?"
There was a fierce quarrel in the tent for a while.
Amidst the commotion, the commander looked towards the familiar place the generals had mentioned.
It was a jar-shaped valley, easy to defend but difficult to attack. It was indeed a good place to lure the enemy deep into our territory and then annihilate them in one fell swoop.
"We will discuss this matter again at the hour of Yin."
He made the final decision.
That night, carrier pigeons spread their wings and flew back and forth between the two military camps.
After receiving the letter, the commander of Nanyi Kingdom raised his eyebrows slightly.
At the hour of Yin that night, the sky was filled with bright stars and a full moon hung in the dome.
The moonlight shines between the mountains, outlining their majestic appearance with light and shadow.
The commander looked up at the exceptionally bright full moon, feeling a little regretful.
It would be better if there was only a crescent moon or a crescent moon today. At that time, the night was pitch black. Even if Xie Qi could still force himself to fight him with his poisoned body, he had already lost his sight at night and would not be able to defeat him no matter what.
But it doesn’t matter. How can the human body withstand three kinds of poisons?
Xie Qi is definitely going to die this time.
His eyes grew increasingly fierce, and he immediately led his men in a surprise attack on the southern border army.
The Southern Border Army was frightened and fled forward.
However, the few remaining soldiers had no idea where they had run to, and suddenly they had no way to retreat, so they stopped in place one after another.
The Nanyi Kingdom's commander rode forward and said to the trembling and panicked enemy troops, "Send Xie Qi out to see me."
After a while, a female general walked out from the southern border army.
"I am now in charge of military affairs in the southern border. Nan Mingzhao, if you have any questions, please tell me."
"But I'm only looking for Xie Qi."
"If you want me to spare you and prevent so many soldiers from dying here, then let Xie Qi come to see me."
He glanced at the soldiers across from him, their legs trembling, and sneered, "Or is it that Xie Qi couldn't accept his defeat and didn't even have the courage to face me, and now he's fled back to the southern border with his tail between his legs?"
There seemed to be a burst of indignant noises among the Southern Border Army. Shen Yueying raised her hand and ordered everyone to restrain themselves.
Just as she was about to put her hand down, a soft laugh came from the top of the mountain.
The sound was clear and pleasant, wandering back and forth in the canyon which was narrow at both ends and wide in the middle.
"Nan Mingzhao, even back then, this general missed my father so much that he couldn't leave his words unspoken. Why do you miss me so much now? Is it because your father died, and you want to find a foster father right here?"
As the sound hit the mountain wall and was quickly blocked back, the entire canyon was immediately filled with this teasing voice.
The people of Nanyi Kingdom took a long time to identify the owner of the voice on the mountain.
Everyone squinted their eyes and looked carefully. In the moonlight, they saw the man standing on the top of the mountain in silver armor, with a spear in his hand shining coldly, but he was talking and smiling.
The night wind lifted the red cloak behind him. Everyone blinked again and finally saw clearly that the man was not someone else, but the enemy's commander, Xie Qi!
"He...didn't they say he was poisoned and unconscious? Why is he here again?"
The Southern Border Army's soldiers finally stopped pretending and laughed heartily, saying, "Since our general has said so, why don't you all kneel down and call me foster father?"
As they were talking, Xie Qi had already come down from the hidden path on the side of the mountain.
Under the moonlight, his silver armor shone brightly.
What is even more eye-catching is the unrestrained and ostentatious smile on this man's handsome face.
“…You are not poisoned.”
"poison?"
Xie Qi raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Which poison are you talking about? I, Xie Qi, have been poisoned so many times in my life. If you don't tell me which time it was, how can I answer you?"
Seeing that the person opposite him didn't answer, he continued to smile and said, "I guess you are talking about the time a few days ago? I'm really sorry, the medicine you sent me..."
"I didn't eat it."
The person in front of him was laughing wantonly and ostentatiously, with a smug look on his face that made one grit one's teeth.
It seems that he received false information.
He looked into the crowd but didn't see the person he was looking for.
Xie Qi raised his hand, and immediately someone came out from the dark corner of the mountain wall, bringing a man who was tied up and had his mouth stuffed with cloth.
Afraid that the other party couldn't see the man's appearance clearly, Xie Qi thoughtfully asked for a torch.
"You are looking for him, I suppose?"
Under the flickering flames, He Yu's panicked face appeared.
"Your Highness, we've been deceived! This person discovered me a long time ago! Ever since I poisoned you, I've been arrested. The letters I've passed on to Your Highness were not written by me!"
Xie Qi shrugged helplessly, looking like he deserved a beating.
"Indeed. Those letters were all written by me. I was the one who told you that more than half of the Southern Border Army had fled. I was also the one who told you that the Southern Border Army chose to flee to Mengyuan Valley simply because it was the only way forward and they were panicking and had no choice. I was also the one who suggested that you seize the opportunity to pursue and annihilate them in one fell swoop."
"As you can see, all of this is me luring the enemy deeper into our territory."
At the mention of Mengyuan Valley, someone in the Nanyi army suddenly realized, "I remember now! This place... this is exactly where the Daling Nan'an King and his wife died in battle twelve years ago!"
There was an uproar among the Nanyi National Army.
Xie Qi raised his lips and sneered: "More than ten years have passed, and I thought that the people of Nanyi had forgotten about this matter. I didn't expect that there are still people who remember it."
"You may forget this, but we, the soldiers of the Southern Border Army, will never forget it."
The frosty look in his eyes grew stronger, and once one met his gaze, one could not help but feel a chill all over the body.
Finally, he raised his hand lightly, and countless Southern Border Army soldiers appeared on the cliffs on both sides of the canyon, all holding bows and arrows.
"Like the prince and princess and our fifty thousand soldiers back then, pierced by arrows, or fight us hand-to-hand with real swords and guns. Everyone, choose one."
However, the opposing commander had a cold expression on his face and pointed the long sword in his hand at him.
"Xie Qi, I want to fight you first."
Before Xie Qi could respond, Shen Yueying stood in front of him with a gun.
"No, it's still light out today, and you are already restricted. You can't fight."
"let me."
"General Shen."
Xie Qi pushed away Shen Yueying's spear and rode forward.
Staring at his old rival across from him, he said word by word, "I've fought this guy for so many years, and the only one who can kill him in the end is me."
One of the two men was holding a spear, the other a long sword. They were both very tall, and when they fought on horseback, one was like a dragon, the other like a tiger. Their shadows moved with them, and their movements were so fast that it was difficult to tell who was who.
After a few moves, sparks even flew from the friction between the weapons.
Xie Qi feinted his spear, then pulled it back to stab the opponent's face, finally stopping just half an inch in front of the opponent's throat.
"You are not Nan Mingzhao."
He suddenly said with certainty.
“…”
The person opposite raised his lips and chuckled, then raised his hand and tore off a human skin mask from his temples.
"Nan Si?! You're not dead?!"
He looked at the sunken scar on his neck, which was where Xu Qinghe had stabbed him in Caoqu Township.
But at that time he should have chased after him and killed Nan Si immediately.
No, that's not right.
From the time he appeared in front of Xu Qinghe and Nan Si, to the time he chased and killed him again, there was indeed a period of time when Nan Si was not seen.
Could it be that at that time...
Yang Ye raised his lips and smiled, "The one you killed was just one of my men. Xie Qi, do you really think you can kill me?"
Xie Qi immediately came back to his senses and advanced the spear in his hand another half inch, with the tip of the spear already against Yang Ye's neck.
"So what? I don't mind killing you again."
"Like now."
Yang Ye continued to smile: "If you kill me, aren't you afraid that Qinghe will hate you, or that my daughter will seek revenge on you in the future?"
He spoke in a low voice, and the two of them were in an open space in the canyon, so people around them could not hear their conversation clearly.
But Xie Qi's face immediately turned cold: "You are not worthy of mentioning her, nor are you worthy of mentioning my, Xie Qi's biological daughter."
Yang Ye knew that Xu Qinghe had told him everything about his past.
Would such a proud person like her actually tell her beloved about the difficult and fragile time she had?
You see, even in his heart, he had already tacitly accepted that she liked the man in front of her.
Yang Ye sneered and decided not to argue with the person in front of him anymore.
"So what if she's your daughter? So what if she likes you? Xie Qi, the news of you being poisoned and unconscious has caused a lot of controversy. Do you think Xu Qinghe, who's far away in Jizhou, knows about this?"
"If she knew, would she sacrifice herself to get the antidote for you?"
"You might as well guess. I'm the one leading the troops here now, so where did the real Nan Mingzhao go?"
【Author’s words】
Revised chapter titles and endings
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