This means that the King of Qinghai can visit Yanbei whenever he wants, and you have no way to do anything about it. Moreover, Cuiwei Pass is located at the junction of Helan Mountain and Cuiwei Mountain. To the east is a plain without any natural barriers and there is no strategic location to defend. If one wants to stop the enemy from Qinghai, they can only build a Great Wall thousands of kilometers long along Cuiwei Pass.
This is such a huge joke.
But fortunately, since that time, the King of Qinghai has never come out again. It seems that he was just free that day and went out for a stroll to tell Yan Xun that he had such a neighbor. Yan Xun did not dare to be careless. He continuously sent people to Qinghai to gather intelligence and went to Cuiwei Pass several times in the hope of contacting the King of Qinghai. At the same time, he set up a defensive barrier in the southwest and arranged for garrison. This gave Daxia a chance to catch its breath.
He Xiao and the others told her all these things one after another. In the past two years, Chu Qiao seldom went down the mountain.
It was very quiet at night, and you could even hear the barking of dogs in the houses down the mountain. Everyone went to sleep. Chu Qiao looked at the stars in the sky and sat alone until dawn. Everything happened without warning. The news of the Datong Guild's rebellion was like boiling oil, which suddenly exploded with crackling sparks in the rainy weather of Huihui Mountain.
Chu Qiao looked at the man in front of her with blood on his shoulder and frowned as she pondered these sensational words.
"Sir, please come down the mountain. If you don't go, Datong will be completely destroyed!"
Chu Qiao looked at him quietly and didn't speak for a long time. The news of the rebellion of the Datong Guild had just been reported by the Qiulan City defenders in the morning, but soon after, this man came to tell her that Yan Xun wanted to completely eradicate the Datong Guild, had removed Miss Yu and Mr. Wu from their military power, and had captured Datong generals such as Xia Zhi and Xi Rui. Datong's base Wangcheng had been razed to ruins, and now His Majesty was pretending to recall Princess Huanhuan's Huoyun Army, wanting to wipe out the princess.
Chu Qiao was unwilling to believe such words, and her reason also told her not to listen to rumors so rashly.
Although Yan Xun's methods are ruthless, he is not stupid. At this time, eradicating the Datong Guild might be excusable, and eliminating Mr. Wu and Miss Yu could barely be accepted, but why should we eliminate Huan Huan? But Wan Wan is his biological sister. Although she is a believer of Datong and was raised by Datong, she would not necessarily turn against her brother because of Datong.
"You go down the mountain first."
“Sir!” The man knelt on the ground with a thud and kowtowed, “Please save Datong, sir. Only you can save us now.”
The sound of his kowtow was so loud that after a while, his head was covered in blood. Chu Qiao frowned at him, but finally turned around quietly and walked into the house. The door slowly closed, leaving the man looking at her sadly with desperate eyes.
Chu Qiao originally did not have a very good impression of the Datong Guild. Apart from Mr. Wu and Miss Yu, she rarely interacted with the others. She used to think that they were just a group of people who abused their power and had ulterior motives, but later she gradually discovered that this was not entirely the case. Most of the members of the Datong Guild were dedicated believers and fighters. They were like the Mohist believers in ancient China, good at fighting, well-learned, and kind-hearted.
Such a person, if guided properly, could be of great use. Kill him? Yan Xun doesn’t know how to do that.
Chu Qiao thought so, suppressed the uneasiness in her heart, and waited quietly for the follow-up news.
However, things went completely against Chu Qiao's expectations. Within two days, wars broke out in the inland areas of Yanbei. Many guilds were surrounded and suppressed by the army, and the leaders of Datong suffered a devastating disaster. The killing came so fast that they didn't even get a glimpse of the news before it happened. Everything was like a long-brewing flood that suddenly submerged them and no one had time to make any emergency response.
The next night, the messenger asking for help climbed Huihui Mountain again. There were twenty people in the group, but only one person made it up the mountain alive. The knight on horseback was covered in blood, and one of his arms was only connected to his shoulder by a piece of flesh, as if it would fall off at any time.
He looked at Chu Qiao, unable to speak. He just used one hand to laboriously unbutton his shirt. His red undershirt was stained with sweat and blood, but one could still make out the thin handwriting written in blood on it: Ah Chu, help us, Zhong Yu.
Chu Qiao was silent for a long while, and finally stood up slowly. The cold night wind blew across her slender body. She took a deep breath, and then said in a deep voice: "He Xiao, prepare the horses, and go down the mountain!"
A gleam of light suddenly flashed in the cavalryman's eyes, and then he fell headfirst to the ground with a sharp arrow stuck in his back, deeply embedded in his vest. No one could imagine how he managed to climb up the Huihui Mountain.
Chu Qiao brought only twenty guards with her. She put on a cloak and raincoat and rushed into the boundless night. The cold rain continued to wash her eyes, and the ominous premonition gradually engulfed her. She no longer wanted to think about it. The war horses were galloping, the night was dark, and the road seemed so far away.
There are now less than a hundred people left in Miss Yu's three thousand guards, and everyone is seriously injured. But when they saw Chu Qiao and others riding towards them, they still jumped up from the ground like wild beasts, staring at them hungrily.
In the pouring rain, Miss Yu was lying in a thatched hut. When I pushed the door open, she was sleeping. As if she heard a voice, she slowly opened her eyes, her pale face slightly darkened. She didn't seem surprised to see Chu Qiao, and smiled quietly, "You're here."
A sharp arrow pierced her heart. Although it was hastily bandaged, there was no medicine and no one dared to pull out the arrow.
When Ping'an saw this, his eyes turned red and he said with a sniffle, "I'll go find Uncle Dalie." After that, he opened the door and walked out.
The room gradually became quiet, with only two women in white remaining. Chu Qiao half-knelt on the ground. With her eyesight, she could tell at a glance how serious Miss Yu's injury was. She swallowed the bitterness in her heart and said softly, "Miss Yu, what happened?"
Miss Yu took a deep breath, coughed lightly twice, and a few unhealthy red spots appeared on her face.
"Changqing's taxes were harsh, and the local people rebelled. Several leaders of the guild were involved. Now that the matter has been exposed, there is no turning back."
"You participated as well?" Chu Qiao frowned tightly and said in a deep voice, "How could you be so confused? Participating in the people's rebellion is equivalent to directly rebelling. Yan Xun didn't trust Datong in the first place, so why were you so careless?"
"Haha," Miss Yu smiled softly, her chest rising and falling slightly. Her eyes seemed to be wandering, as if she was looking at Chu Qiao, but also seemed to have passed her and looked far away. She said quietly, "You didn't see that Changqing suffered a snowstorm last year, and the pasture was not good this spring. Large numbers of livestock died. At this time, robbing them of their last bit of food for the winter is tantamount to taking their lives." Miss Yu glanced at Chu Qiao and continued, "Your Majesty is preparing for war and wants to capture Cuiwei Pass before winter, so he is conscripting soldiers and grain. Some people have already starved to death. I knew this would be the result, but I had to do it."
Chu Qiao bit her lips, her nose ached, she held Miss Yu's hand tightly, unable to speak.
"Ah Chu, you are a good kid, but your life is too hard. I hope you can understand that not everything in this world can go according to your wishes. Many times, even if we work hard, we may not get what we want. You are still so young, and there are still great times waiting for you."
Miss Yu smiled gently, the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes were like a soft breeze, enveloping the two pools of clear water in her eyes, and her voice seemed to float from the sky. Chu Qiao half-knelt on the hay, covering her chest with her hands. Blood flowed out silently, staining Chu Qiao's white robe red. She bit her lower lip tightly, tears welled up in her eyes, and her face looked sad and pale.
"Miss Yu, hold on, I'll go find a doctor safely."
"No..." Miss Yu shook her head gently, her face was like the snow on the peaks, her thin shoulders and arms were cold. She raised her head and looked at the dilapidated roof. Outside, the wind was howling and the rain was pouring. She seemed to remember a lot of things in a trance.
At the last moment of her life, time passed quickly before her eyes. She seemed to have returned to fifteen years ago, on Wolong Mountain, where the maple leaves were red and the petals were falling. She stood in the maple forest in early autumn, looking at the figure in a rustling green shirt and ink-black hair.
She seemed to still remember the sunshine at that time, shining warmly on her shoulders, like a mother's gentle hand. There was a guqin placed on the stone table nearby, with a few maple leaves falling on it. The sunlight shone through the leaves, casting mottled shadows and leaving behind a flickering halo. He turned around from the red maple leaves, smiling softly, looking at her tenderly with eyes as bright as water, and stretched out his hand to her, "Ayu, why did you get up so early?"
No one ever knew that she actually didn't like the so-called politics of power, nor did she like military tactics and strategies. Since she was very young, she had hoped to have a family, learn needlework and poetry like an ordinary girl, marry a considerate husband when she grew up, pick flowers in spring, listen to the sound of rain on cold nights, and live a smooth and peaceful life. Saving the world and controlling the universe have never been her dream.
However, he had great ambitions and aspirations. He cared about the people and could not stand the injustices in the world. He went to the mountains to study just to learn the art of slaying dragons in order to save the world. So, when he studied military tactics, she delved into political politics; when he studied industry, she studied business; when he learned to understand people's livelihood, she tried to figure out his superiors' intentions; when he was kind to others, she was strict with her subordinates. She studied military tactics and strategies day and night, just so that one day she could follow in his footsteps and advance and retreat with him.
The master was very knowledgeable and knew what she was thinking at a glance. Instead of trying to stop her, he taught her everything he knew. But when she was going down the mountain, a letter was quietly placed in her bag. It was a long time later that she discovered it. After opening it, there was only one word in it: stupid.
Fifteen years passed in a flash. She had spent her entire life in military service, worked hard, and experienced many life and death experiences. Fortunately, he had always been by her side. No matter whether it was a storm or cold snow and frost outside, they always stood together. As time goes by and the world changes dramatically, everything in the world has changed beyond recognition. For the sake of power, fathers and sons become enemies, relatives turn against each other, and lovers betray each other. Only they have always remained true to their original intentions and held on to the beliefs in their hearts without wavering.
However, there are some words hidden in her heart that have never been spoken out. For more than ten years, they have been together and apart like this, and she always feels that there will be opportunities in the future. As the days go by, they are busy, rushing around, and pursuing their dreams, but they never think that maybe one day, they really will no longer have any chance. Those words that had yet to be spoken, those feelings that had been suppressed for nearly twenty years, those emotions that were as gentle and calm as the mulberry fields in early spring, finally, lost the opportunity to be vented forever.