"General, urgent report! The Xiongnu have set up camp twenty miles away, and their army is estimated to be at least 30,000 strong."
Huo Xiaolong, who was reviewing official documents with a calligraphy brush in hand, raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, then smiled happily.
"Your second brother is finally back."
What happened before was just a small-scale operation; now it's time to see the real action.
Wang Dani raised her chin at her girlfriends and said
"Should I go and have a chat with Sun Zixi?"
"It's only twenty li, what's the rush? It should be close to us by tomorrow. Let's get some sleep first." The girl put down her brush, gently turned the pearl at her waist, and said to Da Ni'er.
With bright eyes and white teeth, her gaze sparkling, every movement so lively, the dark-skinned girl looked at Huo Xiaolong, who was feigning sleep before the general's desk, and said...
"Why don't you use your beauty to seduce and kill my second brother?"
The girl in red opened her eyes, looked Wang Dani up and down, and said with considerable disdain.
"How mean are you? He's still my brother."
"If you weren't born to the same mother, then you're not."
"Rules of the grasslands?"
"right."
On the battlefield, Huo Xiaolong granted Da Ni'er permission to talk to her second brother, but Sun Zixi had to accompany her, fearing that her second sister and brother would fight on the spot.
These aren't the small fry from before. If a fight really breaks out, I'll probably have to go up and help.
Having stayed in the Central Plains for a long time, I find the aesthetics of these nobility on the grasslands rather strange. They insist on shaving their perfectly good hair into a Mediterranean style, and then tying several small braids on top. The man is burly, about the same size as Erhei, holding a large hammer and riding a horse. Looking at the girl in front of him, the answer to who she is is obvious.
"Ya Lanqing?"
Before the man could speak, the woman beside him exclaimed.
This is her second brother's third concubine. It is estimated that she came to the battlefield to avenge her family after hearing that the tribe had been massacred.
Da Nier ignored her and looked at the man, saying...
"Second Brother, it's been a long time."
"Why is Fifth Sister with the Central Plains people?" Ya Lanyu asked directly.
"Because you want to kill all the members of the Yalan royal family, this concubine beside you is just an appetizer."
The woman was enraged by Dani'er's words, her face contorted with fury. Dani'er continued...
"You're always envious, aren't you? Your father was the tribal chief, right? I killed him with my own hands."
Sun Zixi's task today is to ensure that the two sides do not fight. As for whether the negotiations will succeed, he should not even think about it. If it were so easy to negotiate, why would we need to fight?
“We have come today to negotiate peace,” Sun Zixi said.
"How do we negotiate?" Ya Lanyu asked.
"The Yalan royal family has surrendered, and its people have submitted to our Great Yan. We will naturally teach you how to survive, so you will no longer suffer the pain of hunger."
That's just polite talk; who would agree to that? Asking someone to surrender right off the bat? How could that be possible?
The man, holding a heavy hammer, pointed it at Sun Zixi and said...
"Your Excellency has no intention of engaging in proper negotiations."
The heavy hammer was only a few feet from the girl's face; the enormous object could cover half of her body. Sun Zixi, holding the reins, stood tall and said without changing his expression.
"What do you mean by 'have a proper talk'? We've already come all this way, we can't leave empty-handed, right?"
"When did women start speaking in the Central Plains? Even on the grasslands, it's not like that." Ya Lanyu asked, looking at the women accompanying Da Nier and Sun Zixi.
In his memory, it was extremely rare for a female general to emerge on the battlefield of the Central Plains, but now, women were everywhere he looked.
"Are all the men dead? Standing behind women without any shame."
Sun Zixi raised an eyebrow, thinking to herself, "This man is quite something, rather clever, trying to sow discord right from the start."
The phrase "standing behind a woman" has two layers of meaning. The first, and most obvious, is that you're cowards, hiding behind women and refusing to come out. The second meaning is: you're willing to be subservient to women? You're respectable men, subservient to women, and lack ambition.
"Does the battlefield distinguish between men and women? I am a woman, do you think you will go easy on me? Whoever is capable stands in front. We men of the Central Plains are different from you. We will humbly admit our shortcomings and give women respect. As long as you are stronger than them, you can stand in front of them, regardless of gender."
Looking at Sun Zixi's incessant chatter, Ya Lanyu's eyes widened. The man, who was almost forty, made Da Ni'er feel a little disgusted.
But the girl remained unmoved, a smile on her face.
From the moment she entered the court as a woman, it meant that there would definitely be men with lewd thoughts about her. The girl was already prepared. No rush. Sooner or later, she would gouge out those eyes.
It's a bit dirty, I wonder if it would be okay for Huo Xiaolong to do it.
Da Nier drew her knife, pointing the tip at the man, and said...
"Who are you gesturing with that hammer? Take that weird look away, it's disgusting."
"Yalan Qing, as a member of the grassland royal family, how dare you disrespect your second brother?"
The woman standing next to Yalan Yu drew a curved knife from her waist, tightened the reins, and charged straight at Da Nier.
Sun Zixi turned his horse around and walked a little behind Da Nier. He only made one move when they met, and he didn't even see how Da Nier moved.
The dark-skinned girl took her hands off the reins, bent down to dodge the sharp blade, grabbed the woman's belt, lifted her up, and then threw her to the ground in one swift motion.
"Have you finished testing him, Second Prince?" Sun Zixi asked as he rode back.
For a mere concubine to dare to act without the man's orders, there's only one possibility: he's testing the waters, probing the strength of this group.
It's a pity that it was Da Ni'er who made the move.
“Since leaving the Imperial Court, Fifth Sister has become much stronger.” The man did not reply to Sun Zixi’s words, but looked at Da Ni’er and said.
"I can't compare to my second brother's innate superhuman strength."
"Father is dying." The man's sudden words caught the dark-skinned girl off guard.
"If you have the chance, go back and see him one last time."
After saying that, the man looked at Sun Zixi and said...
"Your negotiations have been rejected by the Yalan Royal Court. Since that's the case, then let's fight."
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