Chapter 49 Attendant Shiqi
"It's...it's you. What brings you here?" General Xi stammered.
"Who is this...?" The strategist felt that the newcomer's face looked familiar, but he couldn't remember it at first, so he asked.
"Sister-in-law, you...you..."
Upon hearing General Xi's words "sister-in-law," the strategist suddenly realized what was going on.
The visitor was none other than Guan, the widow of General Xi's second elder brother and Xi Luo's second aunt.
Second Aunt Guan, leaning against the wall, finally caught her breath and continued to scold, "Look at your hair, it's all white! Haha, you can have gray hair? Where's my husband? I'm asking you, where's my husband?!"
General Xi's lips moved like a fish's mouth, but he couldn't reply for a long time.
Guan scoffed, "Who are you trying to impress with this pathetic act? Do you think anyone will care about you? Fine, make yourself even more pathetic, the whole city will be buried with you, then you won't be alone, huh?"
General Xi's cloudy eyes trembled for a moment, but then returned to their lifeless state.
When Guan saw that he had no reaction, she felt a tightness in her chest. Her right hand was congenitally malformed and slightly atrophied, and would occasionally spasm. She had to hold her arm tightly in place, otherwise she would definitely slap his face.
She continued to stab General Xi with blunt words, "You've schemed and plotted so much just to protect Xi Shun, but have you ever thought about what the rest of us think? You don't even care about your son Feng Shuo, what a heartless person you are."
Suddenly, she murmured sadly, "And he... only told me the truth when he was about to breathe his last." Her husband, who had never cared about her crippled arm, was always such a gentle person; she thought he wouldn't hide anything from her. Unexpectedly, in his final moments, he gave her a thorn, piercing her heart deeply. Even at his last breath, his concern was still for the Xi family, even for an outsider, not for her and their child! But how could she resent him! How could she bear to resent him!
General Xi remained silent, his breath seemingly imbued with death. The strategist, though trying to avoid suspicion, was too late; he could only stand aside, his expression complex as he gazed at the ground in deep thought.
“You’re the one who should be going to the Yellow Springs! Your second brother has worried about you his whole life, and what are you doing here? Do you want him to become a sinner? Did he raise such a useless person like you? If you cause the entire city to die, who will respect him? He toiled his whole life for the entire Xi family and for the Feng family’s adopted son. In the end, does he want to bear the eternal infamy of being the brother of a sinner who destroyed the city? Are you even human?! How could you bear to do that?!” Guan Shi cried out in anguish, each word dripping with blood.
After a while, Guan thought that General Xi was still hiding in the clam shell and unwilling to face her. Just as she was about to continue cursing, General Xi suddenly knelt down and kowtowed three times heavily in the direction of the city.
Guan didn't know who he was worshipping—the common people? Or her husband?
Before Guan could figure it out, General Xi suddenly turned to her. At that moment, his cloudy eyes cleared up and became bright and clear.
General Rhinoceros silently put on his helmet, wiped the dust off his armor, and the light shone back on the armor plates, making them gleam.
“Sister-in-law is right. Even if I, Xi, am to die, I should die before the people. I have wronged the people… These days, the people I have resented are the Emperor. So I remain still, waiting for the Emperor to come, just to hear a word of apology from him.”
"However, this is my fate, not His Majesty's fault. It was my aim that wasn't directed at the true enemy—" A flame blazed in General Xi's eyes, a flame that illuminated the people's hope, "Even if I go to hell, I will drag those petty villains of Feng Kingdom down with me, leaving not a single one alive!!!"
"Sister-in-law, once I have defended the city well and slaughtered every last traitor of Feng Kingdom, I will return to you with my head." General Xi bowed deeply to Madam Guan.
Guan's eyes reddened, but he did not express his gratitude. "Blind loyalty, foolishness. Those in high positions have power, profit, and even the common people in their eyes, but they have no regard for 'us'."
General Xi smiled for the first time in a long time, a smile full of bitterness, yet with a hint of relief, "The moment I separated myself from the people, this was destined. Not just 'us'."
The strategist beside him finally sighed, his eyes gleaming, but he said nothing more.
Guan also fell silent.
Just as General Xi was about to descend from the watchtower to personally inspect the military situation, two soldiers suddenly ran up and reported that a riot had broken out among the people below. They claimed that their family members were sick but could not get medical treatment because the clinics and medicines were monopolized by wealthy merchants. They threatened that if they were not allowed to leave the city, they would all perish.
Without hesitation, General Xi raised his thick eyebrows and immediately ordered them to lead the way down the spiral staircase.
However, what no one expected was that, in the instant General Xi turned around, one of the soldiers drew a dagger and rushed towards the Guan family.
General Xi realized something was wrong, but just as he lifted his leg and opened his mouth, the dagger had already pierced through Guan's red vest and was about to plunge into her abdomen—
At the critical moment, two figures darted out from the shadows. One used the tip of his sword to deflect the dagger, while the other knocked the soldier down from the side and pinned him down with his knee.
General Xi also turned around in time, swiftly extending his arm to clamp down on the neck of another soldier to prevent any accomplice. He then discovered, as expected, that this soldier was also holding a poisoned dagger.
"How vicious!" General Xi, enraged, kicked the man's kneecap, shattering it, and slammed his head into the ground, where blood splattered everywhere.
Guan only paled for a moment before tidying her disheveled hair, regaining her composure, and bowing slightly, saying, "Thank you both."
The two bowed slightly, their silver scorpion waist tokens swaying in the breeze.
General Xi and the strategist immediately recognized him and exclaimed in surprise, "You!...Has His Majesty arrived?!"
Two Silver Scorpion guards stood behind Guan Shi, who smiled faintly and said, "Still on the way, right? Uncle, how do you think I got in?"
The three city gates of Langcheng have not been raised for a long time. The city walls are four or five zhang high, and there are defensive fortifications outside the walls. There are two sentries every ten zhang. In addition, Langcheng has a natural protective cliff, which is famous for being easy to defend and difficult to attack. Therefore, there is no possibility of sneaking in.
That leaves only the secret passages used to transport grain between Langcheng, Yuncheng, and Tianhecheng.
"His Majesty has already broken through Yuncheng and Tianhe City?!" The strategist and General Xi were greatly shocked.
.
The border area between Langcheng and Yuncheng.
Under a clear blue sky, the lush green grassland was dotted with a continuous range of tents, some with rounded tops and others with pointed tops. Scattered among them were a few temporary thatched sheds and wooden houses. The edges were surrounded by wagons and sharp wooden fences, with barbed wire and other defensive fortifications, and heavy troops were stationed to guard the entrances and exits.
Within half a day, such a formidable fortified camp had been built here to prepare for the upcoming full-scale war.
The powerful generals of Yuncheng and Tianhecheng gathered in the camp of the Poison King to discuss military matters.
"Your Majesty, all the rebels and traitors in Yun City have been arrested and brought to justice. The ringleader is General Chen's son-in-law. He used General Chen's daughter and grandson as hostages to force General Chen to cut off communication with the government and neighboring cities. This man colluded with the people of Feng Kingdom to brainwash the populace, using fame and fortune as bait, prioritizing those who understand Feng Kingdom's language for positions of power, tricking the people of the city into learning Feng Kingdom's language, and forcibly using Feng Kingdom's silver notes and government silver, intending to assimilate Yun City and transform it into Feng Kingdom's territory and citizens." The Yun City Lieutenant General reported the military intelligence.
"Why go through all this trouble? Isn't what they want land?" someone asked, puzzled.
"Of course it's because some people aren't stupid enough to actually hand over the city, so they've chosen this underhanded approach—like boiling a frog in lukewarm water. It's just a stopgap measure," the Poison King sneered.
However, this also gave him a chance and allowed the people to catch their breath. Fortunately, a massacre of the city did not occur.
Yuncheng was not as well-defended as Langcheng. A canal ran through the city, and the city's underground waterways were also quite extensive. As a result, the Silver Scorpion Guards sent by the Poison King had already infiltrated the city and lay in wait.
After figuring out the general situation in the city, they went to rescue or win over the capable generals, then kidnapped General Chen's family members who were under house arrest, joined forces with General Chen, and finally used the reputation of the Poison King to incite dissatisfaction and resistance among the people of the city, thus breaking through from within and taking back Yun City in one fell swoop.
As for Tianhe City, the initial situation was not much different. However, General Yu was even more resolute. Upon seeing her subordinate's betrayal, she immediately beheaded the traitor and fled. Later, with the help of many citizens, she went into hiding, some even sacrificing their lives to protect her. This caused the Silver Scorpion Guards to go to great lengths to find General Yu, who then offered a plan. They began to unite the people and stage a large-scale "switcheroo," secretly exchanging identities between ordinary citizens and numerous soldiers of the Nian Kingdom. On the surface, the army remained the same size, unable to move freely due to the Tiger Tally, but in reality, the soldiers had already changed into peasant clothes, wielding farm tools and scrap metal, and together they captured an armory in the city. After that, the real counterattack and retribution began.
That battle was truly magnificent! The two thousand-strong armies of Feng Kingdom, along with scattered rebel forces, were routed, with many either captured or killed, and only a handful escaping.
When the soldiers and generals of Tianhe City came to report, they were filled with pride and spoke with tears in their eyes.
The recapture of both cities occurred the day before they temporarily set up camp to rescue the Xi family.
When he received the good news from Shuangcheng while preparing to go to Langcheng, he was deeply shocked and could not calm down for a long time.
Shinju hadn't expected the King of Zhen to act so swiftly, likely having already laid the plan the very night he left the capital. He also hadn't anticipated the King of Zhen's scheme would be so effective, hitting the bullseye in the shadows. Ultimately, it was because the person behind it all lacked popular support. Otherwise, this rather unorthodox strategy would likely have failed.
At this moment, listening to the subsequent reports from the twin cities, Shinju's eyes were filled with admiration and appreciation for the King of Poison.
The King of Zhen could feel the burning gaze from behind him, and suddenly chuckled, startling General Yan, who was drafting a declaration of war.
General Yan, unaware of what King Zhen was laughing about, only knew that the declaration of war against Feng Kingdom that King Zhen had asked him to draft had serious problems. He hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, isn't the wording of your declaration of war a bit too… too direct, even arrogant?" He dared not imagine how furious the other side would be upon receiving it. However, this thought was quite clever, so General Yan stopped his internal grumbling and drafted the declaration of war for King Zhen as requested.
King Zhen glanced at the forced serious expressions of his subordinates and felt a strange itch in his heart. He then asked the True Monk behind him, "Does Little Keiko also think that my war letter is inappropriate?"
When Shinju was suddenly called out, his Adam's apple bobbed slightly. He rubbed his nose and secretly swallowed back the metallic taste in his throat.
He was multitasking, focused solely on cultivation, and missed the part about the challenge letter. He could only vaguely recall it during a brief moment in his dantian before replying, "Your Majesty wrote it so well! We should strike at their vitals. If they do the first day, we'll do the fifteenth. They attacked three of our cities, and not only will we take them back, but we'll also march north to attack their three border cities! Aren't they constantly trying to smear Your Majesty, saying that you are ambitious, coveting their territory, and intending to expand your land? Instead of turning the tables on us, we might as well just confirm it and actually take all three of their border cities!"
"..." The challenge letter from the King of Zhen only stated that he would attack one city! General Yan gasped, his right eyelid twitching uncontrollably, and sweat almost dripping onto the Xuan paper.
The generals from Yuncheng and Tianhecheng nearby all turned to look at Zhensu. They generally had a bad impression of eunuchs, and some had even suffered at the hands of the supervising eunuchs. Furthermore, they naturally disliked this pretty boy; if it weren't for their blind trust and worship of His Majesty, they would almost have thought this young man was actually His Majesty's favorite, given that he had been brought along at such a young age. Therefore, they viewed Zhensu's words with utter disdain, inwardly cursing: "This is a treacherous minister! Completely ignorant of military strategy and affairs, yet he dares to spout such nonsense, claiming that conquering three cities is as easy as drinking tea and eating—utterly deceptive and misleading!"
The generals who had followed him all the way from the capital had long since cast aside any prejudice they held against Shinju. They felt that someone could speak their minds and offer the King of Poison some comforting words—it was not just good, it was wonderful. Thinking of this, a smile of relief appeared in their eyes.
The King of Poison remained silent, tapping his fingers erratically on the table.
Everyone could only remain silent. Some of the generals were uneasy, wondering if Eunuch Qing's words would embarrass King Zhen; others were gloating, secretly eyeing Masakatsu. Masakatsu, unaware that he had miscalculated the number of cities to be attacked, also began to have doubts, unsure if he had stepped on King Zhen's landmine.
Shortly after, the Poison King's phoenix eyes flashed with murderous intent as he said in a deep voice, "Xiao Qingzi's words have reminded me. One city is not enough to serve as a buffer zone; three border cities are the safest bet. The Feng Kingdom has always been arrogant; this time, let them open their eyes and see who is truly strong and who is weak. The declaration of war need not be changed, but my mind is made up—all generals, listen to my command! Once the gates of Langcheng open, follow me to lead the troops out, drive out the enemy, and capture the three border cities of the Feng Kingdom!"
"We swear to follow Your Majesty to the death! Kill!!!" All the generals knelt on one knee in unison, their thunderous shouts echoing across the camp, shaking everyone to their core.
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Author's Note: The True Immortal, mistaken for a male favorite, will later be mistaken for someone's lover.
Mayuko: A male favorite? Me?
King Zhen: I hope it's true. (Secretly pleased)
Isn't this chapter quite long? (lying down)
[Edited] Added details that Masaya unintentionally misrepresented the number of sieges.
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