Having already been tormented by Xu Yuanhua to the point of fear, Li Yuan dared not vent his resentment on him. Instead, he inexplicably began to hate Jin Yin, who had been used as a fig leaf but had run away unruly.
Why don't you just die?
If you die, everyone will be better off. Why don't you just die?
Li Yuan thought maliciously, then heard a familiar voice and struggled to lift his heavy head to look.
A familiar face looked at him with a bright smile, as if it had seen something very funny, and tears welled up in the corners of its eyes from laughing.
The beautiful woman with a radiant smile, which should have been a delightful sight, appeared ghostly from afar, swaying precariously on her horse and nearly tumbling off again.
“Ghost—ghost—” Li Yuan pointed at Hua Cai with a pale face and wide eyes.
Xu Yuanhua already disliked Li Yuan, and Li Yuan's howling made his morale plummet. If the situation hadn't been so inappropriate, he would have liked to whip this useless fellow so he'd be bedridden for months.
"What nonsense are you spouting!" Xu Yuanhua rebuked Li Yuan with a gloomy face, showing no intention of giving him any face.
Hua Cai finally finished laughing, cleared her throat, and chuckled as she looked at Xu Yuanhua: "Why does this—uh—deputy general seem to know me? I don't have any impression of you. Hey, you wouldn't happen to be afraid of this general and want to find an excuse to curry favor so that this general will spare your lives, would you?"
Hua Cai genuinely looked down on the two people in front of her, and as soon as she saw an opportunity, she decisively started mocking them.
"This young lady is quite eloquent." Xu Yuanhua, wanting to avoid seeing Li Yuan, shifted his gaze to Hua Caixiu's beautiful face, and his eyes immediately lit up.
"I had heard that the Yue Kingdom was leading the army this time, but I didn't expect it to be a beauty. It seems that the Yue Kingdom has no one else to rely on, and has actually appointed a woman to take charge of the overall situation." Xu Yuanhua's interested gaze fell on Hua Cai's face: "How about it, little lady, come back with me and become my queen? You will enjoy endless wealth and glory. Isn't that better than dying here? I have seen countless beauties, but I have never tasted the life of a female general."
As Xu Yuanhua spoke, his gaze toward Hua Cai became increasingly meaningful.
"How dare you be so presumptuous—" Slandering the commander is a slap in the face to everyone. Before Hua Cai could even respond, the junior officers beside him had already raised their weapons in a fit of rage.
Hua Cai smiled slightly and raised her left hand, instantly silencing the young soldiers.
"To have captivated His Highness the Regent like this is truly my fault. If the Regent were to surrender with his entire army now, perhaps I, moved by your sincerity, would consider giving you a chance to compete for the gatekeeper position, who knows?" Hua Cai sneered. "A grown man whining like this, should we just fight or not? Stop with the talk of friendship and admiration. Is this the only way Li Kingdom and Qiu Kingdom have managed to survive until now?"
Hua Cai rolled her eyes at the two people in front of her, one pale-faced and the other ashen-faced.
If you're going to fight, then fight. Stop talking so much nonsense and you have no self-awareness. If verbal battles could determine victory or defeat, Li Qiu would have been pinned to the ground and annihilated by her long ago.
Xu Yuanhua was furious. He raised his left hand high and was about to give an order when he saw Hua Cai's expression suddenly change. She looked at him in surprise.
What, scared?
Xu Yuanhua sneered. Hua Cai was a woman after all; when it came to actually making a move, she became cowardly.
He glanced twice more in the direction of the Yue army camp, his brows furrowing slightly.
The time should be almost up, so why is there still no movement?
Enough, if we wait any longer, this woman will start to get suspicious.
Xu Yuanhua outwardly disregarded the female general from Yue, but inwardly he dared not truly believe it.
What kind of place is Yue? It's the only one of the four kingdoms whose advantage lies in its people. To stand out in such a place and become the commander of an army of 100,000—if the King of Yue really just randomly picked a woman, then Yue...
It's been wiped out countless times already.
There can only be one reason: this woman is more terrifying than most men.
"Your Highness, this is bad! It's heading towards our camp!" Xu Yuanhua had just made up his mind to attack when he heard his adjutant's cry of alarm.
Military camp? What's wrong with the direction of the military camp?
Xu Yuanhua quickly turned his head to look in the direction of Qiu's camp and saw a large plume of thick smoke rising straight into the sky.
"Oh dear, it seems your rear area is on fire." Hua Cai blinked, feigning surprise, though she was also somewhat puzzled.
When she saw thick smoke rising from the direction of Li Qiu, the surprise on her face was genuine.
They burned the country's provisions once, so it's inevitable that the country will retaliate.
As it turned out, her guess was correct. As soon as the two armies met, Xu Yuanhua not only didn't make a move, but also kept talking nonsense, frequently glancing behind her with increasing doubt and anxiety in his eyes, which made her completely certain of this.
However, with Yue Chen staying in the camp, Hua Cai wasn't too worried.
Yue Chen is no pushover. Xu Yuanhua really dared to send people to flank and launch a surprise attack. Whether he can fight back is another matter, but at least he should be able to keep those people there forever.
Hua Cai looked at the unusually conspicuous thick smoke in the distance. Yue Chen was annoying, but his abilities were undeniable. She really couldn't figure out how he had managed to burn Li Qiu down in such a short time.
"We're retreating." Xu Yuanhua glanced at Hua Cai with a grim expression. "Truly worthy of being chosen by the Emperor of Yue. Such a deep scheme indeed. I've learned my lesson. Farewell."
Xu Yuanhua gave Hua Cai a gloomy look, then waved his hand, about to order the army to retreat.
Is he really going to retreat already? Xu Yuanhua is far too cowardly.
Hua Cai was speechless. The difference in troop strength between the two sides was not significant. Even if she did send people to flank from behind, it was still worth a try given the dispersed forces.
Having risen to the position of regent, how could Xu Yuanhua not have thought of this? Why is he in such a hurry to return? Could it be that he left something very important to him in the Qiu army camp, or perhaps—a person?
"You think you can just leave after you've learned your lesson? Have you paid your tuition? Kill them all!" Hua Cai shouted, decisively raising her hand. Instantly, a large group of archers sprang out from behind her, nocking arrows and shooting them in Xu Yuanhua's direction without hesitation.
As Hua Cai instructed, the arrows only needed to hit the Li Qiu army without aiming. Under these conditions, the archers on horseback nocked the arrows, drew their bows to the fullest extent, and released them with incredible speed.
Countless arrows rained down into the sky, tracing perfect arcs before falling into Li Qiu's army.
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