The cheers of the Jin soldiers on Yanxun Pass reached outside the city walls.
Xie Maoliang and Jiang Wenpei both turned to look at Qiu Jie standing on the dragon carriage.
Qiu Jie wore a clown mask, so her expression couldn't be seen. All that could be seen was that her hands were tightly gripping the railing in front of her, her ten fingers pale and trembling slightly.
“Miss Qiu, the Fifth Prince is probably in grave danger,” Jiang Wenpei said. “Without the Fifth Prince’s army, ordinary soldiers alone are unlikely to be able to fight against the Great Jin Army.”
Xie Maoliang said, "Goddess, let's retreat as soon as possible."
"Su Wan, Su Wan," Qiu Jie pounded her fists on the railing, making a loud thud, "How is this possible?"
Jiang Wenpei said, "Miss Qiu..."
“Shut up,” Qiu Jie turned to him. “Didn’t you say that as long as we used the resources of the family of divine healers, we could easily defeat any army?”
Jiang Wenpei could not refute this, and could only say, "I also don't understand how the other side managed to restrain the Fifth Prince's army."
"Go and bring more medicine over and inject all the soldiers here," Qiu Jie shouted, pointing at the Southern Chu soldiers in front of her. "There are still tens of thousands of soldiers here. As long as we inject them with the medicine, we can defeat the Great Jin army. Go quickly!"
Jiang Wenpei said, "Miss Qiu, we don't have that many potions. These two thousand vials are the last of our stock."
On the city wall of Yanxun Pass, Wei Jingzhuo appeared and said loudly, "Soldiers of the Southern Chu Army, your Fifth Prince has already died in battle. It is not too late to withdraw your troops now. If you are still stubborn, this will be your burial ground."
When the Southern Chu army heard that Chu Kai was dead, they were thrown into chaos.
Chu Kai was the commander of this army. With their commander dead, the soldiers immediately scattered, abandoning their weapons and shields, and fled in panic.
Qiu Jie shouted, "Don't let them escape! Stop them and make them go back to attack the city!"
Seeing the soldiers running around in disarray, Xie Maoliang said, "Goddess, our situation is hopeless. We should retreat quickly."
Xie Maoliang had over a thousand soldiers under his command, his trusted confidants. These were the men who had besieged Suiyang, trapping Su Wan and Chu Mingyao inside the city. Later, he led them to join Wei Shao's punitive expeditionary force. After Wei Shao was executed, he and his soldiers surrendered to Southern Chu.
He ordered the soldiers to escort Qiu Jie in a retreat. Jiang Wenpei had no choice but to follow suit.
Halfway there, a messenger on horseback arrived and handed Qiu Jie a letter, saying, "Goddess, the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty has issued a decree here."
King Chu Chang of Southern Chu has passed away, and his princes and princesses are not in the capital. As the most revered being, the ministers of Southern Chu sent a messenger to deliver this letter to Qiu Jie.
Qiu Jie angrily said, "I'm not watching anymore."
Xie Maoliang stayed behind and called the messenger over, saying, "The goddess is angry. You can give me the letter, and I will present it to her later."
The messenger handed him the letter, and upon looking at it, he saw that the sealing wax had been removed. He asked the messenger, "Who was so bold as to open and read this letter?"
The messenger said, "It is Your Excellency, the messenger from the Great Jin clearly states that the Goddess is the criminal who assassinated the Emperor of the Great Jin, and requests that we hand her over to the Great Jin for trial according to law. After reading the letter, Your Excellency instructed me to deliver it to the Goddess."
Xie Maoliang waved for the messenger to leave and opened the letter to read it.
The letter, sent by Wei Wuji, the newly established ruler of the Great Jin, claimed to have conclusive evidence that Qiu Jie was actually Bai Zhiyi from the Duke's mansion, who poisoned Emperor Kangping and murdered Consort Li. It demanded that Southern Chu no longer trust Bai Zhiyi and hand her over to the Great Jin for trial.
After reading it, Xie Maoliang finally understood. The reason the Prime Minister of Southern Chu gave the letter to Bai Zhiyi was to let her know. He had been unaware of what had happened in the court or how Emperor Kangping had died. Only now did he understand.
He caught up with the imperial carriage with the letter in his hand and whispered to Bai Zhiyi, "Goddess, the Emperor of Jin has sent a letter saying that you assassinated Emperor Kangping. The officials of Southern Chu have already seen it, and we can no longer return to the city."
Bai Zhiyi snatched the letter away, tore it into pieces and threw it away, saying angrily, "Don't be too smug, I haven't lost yet, let's go to Guijiangkou."
Xie Maoliang also felt that there was nowhere else to go, and that the best course of action was to run away before the Southern Chu Kingdom turned against him.
There's a harbor at the mouth of the Gui River where you can take a boat directly to towns in southern Da Jin. Go there, rob a few large ships, and you can escape.
Unexpectedly, following Bai Zhiyi led to the Great Jin issuing arrest warrants and the Southern Chu also rejecting him.
Seeing the group turn and head towards the harbor, Jiang Wenpei quickly caught up with the imperial carriage and said, "Miss Qiu, you can't leave. The patriarch ordered that you absolutely cannot leave."
“Who said I was leaving?” Bai Zhiyi said. “I haven’t lost yet.”
Jiang Wenpei didn't know what Bai Zhiyi was referring to, but he was relieved to hear that Bai Zhiyi wasn't leaving.
It was evening when the group arrived at the harbor on the Gui River. There were several fishing villages outside the harbor, with about four or five thousand households. When the people heard that the goddess had arrived, they all came out to see her, young and old, and knelt down to worship by the roadside.
Bai Zhi ignored the crowd and let the imperial carriage continue its journey, passing through the village and arriving at the harbor. She dismounted from the carriage, stood on the embankment of the Gui River, and looked at the surging river, murmuring to herself, "It's not over yet, I can still win."
Xie Maoliang, standing behind her, thought she was talking nonsense and could only say, "Goddess, victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. We can fight again another day."
Even so, he felt there was no hope left. The Great Jin Dynasty had issued a warrant for Bai Zhiyi's arrest, and Southern Chu, for its own survival, would surely have to hand her over. He himself had detained the Western Rong crown prince and his wife, and had even bombed Wei Jingzhuo. He felt that in this vast world, there was nowhere to go.
A soldier came to report: "Goddess, the Great Jin army has begun marching towards the capital and should arrive at the capital by noon tomorrow."
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