Is it credible?
What she didn't say was that A Qiu was the only one who could ride alone, fearless of death, to escort Li Chongyu, the "immortal war god" of the Shuofang Army.
The army values heroes and loyalty. This matter will spread throughout the land, and the three major military factions of the Southern Dynasty—the Jianzhang Army, the Shuofang Army, and the Northwest Army—will surely hold this newly emerged successor of the Junior Tutor in high regard.
A Qiu, somewhat embarrassed, scratched his head with his other hand and said, "I didn't know the Pei family's archery was so famous. If I had known, I wouldn't have dared to be so presumptuous as to take the hit."
Fan Liancheng glanced at her again and said noncommittally, "You are neither for fame nor for profit, nor afraid of hardships and dangers. You only do what you should do. This is why I respect you on behalf of all soldiers." At this moment, she finished bandaging A Qiu's wounds and bowed to Li Chongyu, saying, "Liancheng has now fulfilled her adoptive mother's request. The vanguard battalion of the Shuofang Army has now regrouped under the general's command and can be expected to return safely to the north. Liancheng will take her leave now."
Everyone knows that Fan Liancheng is the adopted daughter of Marquis Yongding, Fan Ying. However, A Qiu did not expect that Li Chongyu had more than just Gu Yi as a friend in Jianzhang Capital. He also had Fan Ying, who was far away in the northwest, entrusting Fan Liancheng to take care of him. From this, she also realized that Fan Liancheng had not been idle tonight either. She had rushed back from the Jianzhang Army's northern camp, asking the Crown Prince and Gongyi Xiu to suppress the northern camp in her place. One of the reasons was that she wanted to personally mobilize the Shuofang Army stationed at Beining Pavilion and lead them out of the city.
At this point, looking across Jianzhang, only Fan Liancheng could accomplish this. Only with her influence and prestige among the women of the Fan family in the Southern Dynasty army, and her current position as the commander of the Flying Phoenix Guard and the Central Army, could she successfully lead this 3,000-strong vanguard battalion of the Shuofang Army out of the city when Jianzhang was filled with hostility.
Ultimately, however, it was inseparable from Xie Tiao and Sikong Zhao's suppression of the two major camps of the Jiankang Army. If the Jiankang Army were to mutini upon hearing that Pei Yuanli had died at the hands of Li Chongyu, then even Fan Liancheng alone would not be able to withstand such pressure, and the entire Shuofang Army would inevitably be annihilated.
The Li and Fan families were old friends, but this was the first time Li Chongyu had met Fan Liancheng. And upon meeting her, she had done him such a great favor. But Li Chongyu was not at all reserved. She stretched out her large hand, grasped Fan Liancheng's hand, and said generously, "Sister Fan, thank you for your trouble. Please give my regards to Yinggu on my behalf."
Fan Liancheng's expression was unreadable behind his mask. He simply shook his hand and said calmly, "My godmother has told me many times that all men are brothers under heaven, and all soldiers are one family. Why talk about each other?"
Li Chongyu then said to Chu Mao, “When I intended to come to Jianzhang, Uncle Chu repeatedly tried to dissuade me, saying that the Southerners were cunning and absolutely untrustworthy. But I said that no matter how untrustworthy they were, I had to personally set foot on this land to see for myself before I would give up on the Han regime. Seeing that he couldn't dissuade me, Uncle Chu decided to personally lead the vanguard and come before me. Now,” he pointed to A Qiu, Fan Liancheng, and Gongyi Xiu, who was still standing in the distance, and continued, “Uncle Chu has already seen it all with his own eyes. There have been feuds and infighting. The Southern Dynasty has both been kind and resentful to me. Chongyu would like to ask Uncle Chu, what is your conclusion regarding whether the Southerners are trustworthy?”
Only now did A Qiu realize that Hu Miaorong's husband, a senior musician and a military officer in the vanguard, actually disapproved of Li Chongyu's move to form an alliance in the south.
Although he did not approve, he risked his life to lead Li Chongyu.
Of course, this must also be partly due to the fact that his wife, Hu Miaorong, was specially invited back by the Imperial Concubine Chen of this dynasty. In order to protect his wife's safety, he decided to go south with her.
But Hu Miaorong was ultimately unable to return to the north, and instead remained in Jianzhang City, where she had grown up.
This was not the work of any individual from the Southern Dynasty. Chu Huaiming had already reported the details to his father, Chu Mao, who was aware of it.
For some reason, A Qiu felt that neither she nor Fan Liancheng were people who had never seen the world, yet they were both inexplicably nervous at this moment.
To be honest, even if you brought Xie Lang, the emperor with the highest status in the Southern Dynasty, and Shangguan Yuqi, the most detached and indifferent person, just to hear Chu Mao's conclusion, I'm afraid these two would still be nervous.
This question concerns conscience, and also the price paid by our predecessors with their blood.
Whether it was the death of Li Mingyuan, the death of Hu Miaorong, or the hostility and ambushes that the Shuofang Army and Li Chongyu encountered along the way, anyone in the Southern Dynasty who still had a conscience would find it difficult to feel at ease.
In the twenty years of peace since the Southern Dynasty, has there truly been no bloodshed of Li Mingyuan? While Pei Yuanli has been enjoying fine clothes and luxurious residences all these years, hasn't Li Chongyu been fighting one hard battle after another in the north, forcefully stopping the Hu horses from advancing south?
While he acted for his own survival, it cannot be said that the Southern regime was not under his protection.
Even beside Chu Mao, his son Chu Huaiming waited anxiously for his father's reply.
Chu Huaiming had dealt with A Qiu many times. He had joined forces with her and Xiao Chang'an to fight against Su Rouhua, the leader of the Hidden Moon Clan. After being injured, he was saved by Gu Yi, the young master of the Great Yan Clan, with his true energy.
He was well aware of his father's importance in Li Chongyu's eyes, and knew that once his father made this conclusion, he would decide whether he would be friends or enemies with A Qiu and the others.
As Li Chongyu once said, the Shuofang Army was not his own army, and veterans like Chu Mao were enough to represent the views of most people in the Shuofang Army.
Chu Mao's thin, withered face was expressionless. His gaze, however, was silently fixed on the direction of Jianzhang Palace.
The air was so still you could hear a pin drop; everyone held their breath, waiting for Chu Mao's answer.
Even Chu Huaiming couldn't sit still any longer and finally urged, "Father!"
Chu Mao's sharp gaze then turned back, first sweeping over Fan Liancheng, but finally settling on A Qiu's face.
The moment his gaze fell upon A Qiu, it swiftly shifted from sharp to tender, a tenderness tinged with sadness.
A Qiu couldn't help but wonder, when he looked at himself, was he seeing the chief white-robed dancer in the Southern Dynasty court on the Mid-Autumn Festival night, the moment when Hu Miaorong received the imperial decree from Consort Chen, or the white-robed dancer at the state banquet twenty years ago to welcome Li Mingyuan, who later became his wife?
In a person's life, some memories are beautiful, while others are unpleasant and sorrowful. How can we judge them until the very end?
He spoke, his voice hoarse and seemingly irrelevant, saying, "Jianzhang is indeed a beautiful and unforgettable ancient capital."
The women of Jianzhang are also very beautiful.
They are so beautiful that once you have seen them, you will forever remember the sorrow of losing them.
General Mingyuan was like that, and so was he.
Fan Liancheng had completed her mission by bringing the army back to Li Chongyu intact. She bowed to Li Chongyu and A Qiu one last time, then spurred her horse and rode back to the city gate.
Upon seeing this, Gongyi Xiu, who was standing at the city gate, bowed respectfully from afar, and then rode back to the city together with Fan Liancheng, who had come on horseback.
Pei Yu, who was on the city wall, had long since disappeared.
The arrow missed its mark, cut off halfway by A-Qiu. Even if she still had the strength, she had no face to fire a second arrow, as it was obvious that she was inferior in skill.
Only when Ah Qiu arrived at this moment did he feel his blood and qi churning, and his internal organs aching terribly.
At the state banquet, in order to protect Li Chongyu, she was struck by Mu Huaying's full-force palm strike in front of the table. At that time, she forcibly suppressed her injury. When she received Pei Yu's arrow, even her tiger's mouth was split open, which was like adding insult to injury.
She has a strong physique and a recovery speed far exceeding that of ordinary people. However, Mu Huaying and Pei Yu are by no means ordinary martial arts masters, but rather outstanding individuals from the Southern Dynasty.
Seeing that her face was a little pale, Li Chongyu immediately asked, "Are you alright, sister? If not, I will have Huaiming escort you back to the palace. From here on, I can return north on my own."
Now that there was no one else around, and he no longer needed to hide anything, he called him Ah Qiu directly.
For some reason, A Qiu intuitively sensed that the Shuofang Army soldiers all breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Li Chongyu call her "sister." Chu Mao was the most relieved among them.
A Qiu, of course, had no idea that everyone was worried that Commander Li Chongyu was getting too close to her, a woman from the Southern Dynasty, and feared he would suffer the same fate as his father. Now, hearing the way he addressed her, they knew that Li Chongyu had no other intentions, and they breathed a sigh of relief.
Others may not know, but Chu Mao had seen her perform on stage as a dancer and was deeply impressed by her beauty. It was only natural that he feared Li Chongyu might also be bewitched by her beauty.
A Qiu took a deep breath and regulated his breathing several times before saying, "It's alright. I must send my brother to the mouth of the Yangtze River. There, a junior master will meet him, and it will no longer be Jianzhang Master's territory. Only then will my brother be truly safe."
Seeing this, Li Chongyu felt that what she said made sense, and said, "In that case, please hold on for a while longer, my sister. It would be a great help."
Someone brought over the other horse that originally belonged to A Qiu. A Qiu mounted the horse and said, "It's alright, let's leave this place as soon as possible."
Seeing this, Chu Mao and his generals were even more relieved: if a man were in love with a woman, he would never knowingly make her endure her injury. These were definitely siblings, and they were absolutely not being polite to each other.
Now that they were in the army, ordinary people couldn't get close, so A Qiu felt much more at ease. This army consisted entirely of cavalry, and they had already left the city and were on the main road, galloping along, raising dust with their hooves. Fortunately, they were mostly passing through quiet suburbs late at night, so they wouldn't frighten the villagers.
Before they had gone far, they were already close to the banks of the Yangtze River when Li Chongyu suddenly said to A Qiu in a serious tone, "Sister, I would like to trouble you to accompany me to another place."
When Chu Mao heard that he suddenly wanted to leave the main force, he naturally refused and advised, "If our army of three thousand men leaves Jianzhang now, it will attract a lot of attention. For safety's sake, it is better for you not to leave the main force without permission."
Li Chongyu said confidently, "Because the main force is moving forward, it has already attracted all the enemy's attention. I can leave quietly without being noticed. I will take a shortcut and will definitely meet up with you by the river before dawn."
Among the crowd, Chu Mao was the oldest and held the highest position. Seeing that even he himself could not convince Li Chongyu, Chu Mao could only look at A Qiu and say, "Miss, please also try to persuade the Marquis. This is no joke."
In his earlier years, only Hu Miaorong could persuade those who didn't believe him. Even in the Youzhou military camp, Li Chongyu's stepmother, Madam Yao, could persuade him. To be fair, Li Chongyu was a man of his word, daring and adventurous—a born commander. However, he was also extremely filial to his mother and held Hu Miaorong, who had raised him, in high esteem, perhaps to compensate for the pain of losing his mother in his early years.
Little did anyone know that as soon as A Qiu heard that Li Chongyu was going elsewhere, her mind raced and she had already guessed seven or eight parts of the truth.
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