Chapter 62 [VIP]
Liu Nuo's heart pounded, and a clear look of panic appeared in his eyes.
He forced a smile and said ingratiatingly, "You must be from Liang. My surname is Liu, and I come from Aur City."
The leader of the Xiliang people sat on a tall horse, looking down at him with disdain.
The border between the two countries has always been turbulent. Over the years, even though he couldn't speak the official language of Daqi, he could still understand some of it.
However, Liu Nuo couldn't understand the Xiliang dialect. Seeing the group whispering among themselves, he cautiously asked, "May I pass by?"
He bowed deeply inside the carriage, his face beaming with smiles.
"He's an official!"
"Hahaha, it really is a fat sheep."
"Should we capture him and trade him for some gold, silver, and beauties with Daqi? Staying at the border for too long means only rough women come and go. Tsk, there are only a few decent-looking ones in that village ahead, but they're not delicate enough and lack something. Everyone says that Daqi's beauties have skin like jade, so how about we trade this official for them?"
Liu Nuo still didn't understand, but seeing the smiles on their faces, he assumed it was a response to their kindness.
He felt reassured and continued, "Daqi and Daliang have been friendly neighbors for generations and have always been harmonious. We are all brothers. If you need anything in the future, you are welcome to come to me."
He patted his chest and said, "I am by no means that kind of barbaric warrior; I have always been on friendly terms with the Great Liang."
The bearded leader glanced at him with a strange look, momentarily doubting whether he had misunderstood the Mandarin he spoke.
"Are you an idiot?"
The bearded man pointed at Liu Nuo, turned around and shouted, bursting into laughter.
Liu Nuo, unable to understand, continued eloquently: "Brothers of Daliang, as far as I know, there is a very prosperous small village not far to the west. If you are hungry, I can take you there to borrow some grain. As the saying goes, 'Propriety is the means, harmony is the essence'..."
The people of Liang could understand the official language of Daqi, but they couldn't understand those messy classical Chinese phrases.
The bearded man let out a cold sneer from the tip of his nose and said casually, "Forget it, just kill him. He's an idiot."
"So stupid, the Great Qi wouldn't spend gold and silver to redeem him."
"Keeping them is just a waste of food."
He even said he'd take them to the village to borrow grain. Either he's stupid, or he thinks they're stupid.
The people of Daqi were the most cunning. The bearded man was too lazy to use his brain and simply waved his hand: "Go!"
Just as Liu Nuo was about to lament that it was all the fault of the border people for being too unkind, forcing them to become outlaws, his eyes suddenly widened, and his suddenly contracted pupils reflected the Xiliang people charging towards him on horseback with their swords drawn.
The guards also drew their weapons.
Before Liu Nuo's eyes flashed a blur of blades and blood. A guard who was blocking the carriage was stabbed in the chest by a cold-blooded man. Warm blood splattered on Liu Nuo's face, and he was completely devastated.
He shouted, "Hurry, hurry up and get up there!"
The guards scattered and fled in all directions, while the Liang people laughed and chuckled as they killed them one by one with a single slash.
Blood splattered all over the ground.
Liu Nuo was so frightened that her legs trembled.
His guards were all brought from the capital, given to him by the Prince of Jin.
He thought they were powerful and extraordinary, and he turned a blind eye to them occasionally snatching a few daughters or young wives, only to find that they were all good-for-nothings.
"I am the military supervisor of Aur City, a fifth-rank official. I wish to forge an eternal bond with the Great Liang..."
He mumbled incoherently, a friendly smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, a smile that looked more like a grimace.
The bearded man picked up the wine pouch hanging from his waist, took several sips, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, dragged him out of the carriage, and threw him on the ground.
The wine bag was empty, so he turned it upside down and shook it a few times, splashing a few drops of wine onto Liu Nuo's face. Liu Nuo was so scared that he didn't even dare to wipe it off.
The bearded man clicked his tongue in displeasure, tossed the wine bag aside, and, as if teasing prey, deliberately rubbed the blood-stained tip of his knife against the man's body.
One after another.
The strong smell of blood hit her nose so hard that Liu Nuo almost fainted, her eyes and nose a mess of tears and snot.
"No, don't kill me."
The last guard died under their blades. The fear of death enveloped him, and he pushed himself back with his hands on the ground until his back hit the carriage.
"I have money."
Liu Nuo nervously untied the purse and handed it over with both hands. He had come out to ask Master Changfeng to help him untangle the talisman, and he had brought a lot of silver with him.
The bearded man snatched it away, weighed it in his hand, and smiled with satisfaction: "It's really a plump sheep."
They slaughtered three villages, but the combined strength of those villages didn't match that of this fat sheep.
"Let's go buy some wine later!"
"Hey, boss, it seems like he's hiding something."
The bearded man's knife tip veered, slicing open Liu Nuo's collar. The sharp blade easily cut his skin, and a fine jade pendant fell off. The bearded man raised his hand and pulled it away.
"They actually dared to hide it."
The bearded man twisted his wrist and stabbed him through the shoulder with a knife.
The pain and fear reached their peak, and he awkwardly adjusted his posture to kneel down, repeatedly begging for mercy with a sob in his voice.
"Don't kill me, don't..."
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he inadvertently caught sight of a familiar figure.
The joy of surviving the ordeal surged up wildly.
Just a few hundred meters away on a small hill, Miss Gu, who came from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, was leading her horse and looking in this direction, with hundreds of people behind her.
There's hope.
"Help me!!"
He shouted loudly.
He waved frantically at them.
The Duke of Zhenguo's family is a powerful military clan in Daqi. Now, the Liang people are rampant within Daqi territory and even want to kill him. They have every right to protect him!
They will save him.
They'll kill these Liang people!
The bearded man from Xiliang also looked over, his brows furrowing. Although he didn't know who it was, the group clearly outnumbered them.
Judging from the appearance of this official, he might actually come and meddle in other people's business.
When they came to Daqi, they never clashed head-on with the Daqi army, so they always returned unscathed.
Tsk.
"I was planning to play for a while longer."
"Kill them. Let's go!"
The bearded man swiftly brought down his knife.
Liu Nuo saw a knife swinging towards him, its blade reflecting his terrified face.
Liu Nuo's eyes widened to their limit.
"Help me!!"
Why didn't you save him!
As military generals, they should be willing to die for their country and be wrapped in horsehide!
Why not kill these Liang people? Why not save him?
"save……"
"Gu..."
A line of blood appeared in his pupils, and his consciousness completely dissipated.
Until the very end, his gaze remained fixed on the small earthen mound not far away.
Gu Zhizhu sat on the back of the jade lion horse, his face expressionless, his eyes piercing.
Qi Fu, the captain of the Thousand Machine Battalion, watched her retreating figure with admiration in his eyes.
The young woman asked him to find this group of Liang people and subtly tip them off that a fat sheep would be passing through their area. This task was indeed easy; the Liang people couldn't live without alcohol. All he needed to do was pretend to be an ordinary citizen and speak to them from a distance while they disguised themselves to go to town to buy wine, and he would naturally incite them.
Unexpected.
Liu Nuo actually came.
"Young lady, how did you know..."
Is it rare for a young woman to possess such precognitive abilities?
"It's that talisman."
"After the talisman was swallowed, he would think about whether the talisman was harming him whenever he encountered the slightest problem."
“He felt guilty and wanted to save his life, so he went to Shangxu Temple.”
This road is the only way from Aur City to Shangxu Temple.
Qi Fu was full of praise.
Everyone says that Third Master Gu is incredibly resourceful and can anticipate the enemy's moves on the battlefield. Miss Gu's skill in this area is no less impressive.
Only Qingmei remained calm; she was used to it!
"Big sister, is that talisman really that vicious?"
With a flick of her wrist, Gu Zhizhuo revealed a talisman she had peeled from the wooden box between her fingertips. As for the one she had Liu Nuo swallow, it was merely a practice drawing she had casually made on a whim.
"Once we get back to Beijing, we can ask someone and find out."
Gu Zhizhuo is skilled in medicine and compass. She also knows about talismans, but is only proficient in some of the most commonly used ones, such as peace talismans and tranquility talismans.
She had never seen such a talisman before.
She could sense a strong malice from above; she noticed it even through the wooden crate.
She could guess its general purpose, but as for the rest, she had no idea.
Gu Zhizhuo looked down into the distance. The bearded man kicked Liu Nuo's headless corpse, then mounted his horse and galloped away.
The others, each carrying a money bag, followed closely behind, chatting and laughing.
Liu Nuo's head still stared wide-eyed at them.
He looks down on military generals, slanders their glory, and tramples on their bloodshed and sacrifice. In the end, he even wants them to save his life? Dream on!
Thinking of his bewildered expression and unseeing eyes before his death, Qi Fu felt an immense sense of satisfaction.
Look at this, this is the Western Liang people he thought could be educated with the way of the sages. How come his mouth, which is so well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, didn't make the barbarians spare his life?
Gu Zhizhuo stroked the horse's head on the jade lion, as if talking to himself, or perhaps to him.
She said, "To kill an official appointed by the imperial court without authorization at the border is a crime equivalent to treason."
"We cannot move."
Qi Fu's suggestion to secretly kill Liu Nuo was also foolish.
Unless the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion immediately rebels, it would be handing the emperor a handle against them.
“We can’t kill them, but we can kill the people of Xiliang.”
Since there are people from Xiliang nearby, why not take advantage of them?
Moreover, Jiang Youzheng said he would not let Liu Nuo submit a memorial to complain, but how could Gu Zhizhuo entrust such an important matter to someone else?
A living person can file a complaint.
The dead cannot file a complaint.
A faint smile escaped Gu Zhizhuo's lips: "Do you understand?"
Her radiance carried an innate majesty that stirred a sense of submission within him. In that moment, Qi Fu, in a daze, seemed to see his own faith reflected in her.
"Young lady, should we go after her?" He raised his hand and made a slashing motion as if he were about to strike with a knife.
"Need not."
Gu Zhizhuo raised his hand and said, "Unauthorized military action at the border is also considered treason."
"Captain Qi, have someone keep an eye on these Liang people. You go to Aur City and give Commander Jiang a heads-up."
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Qi Fu accepted the order without hesitation, bowed, and rode away with a few men.
Qi Fu didn't go directly to Aur City. Instead, he continued to disguise himself as an ordinary citizen, asked a traveling merchant for directions, and then "casually" mentioned that he had seen Liang people robbing people on the road. Liang people robbing people was nothing out of the ordinary, and the traveling merchant laughed at him for being naive.
"It's common for people from Liang to come to the Western Frontier to rob, kill, and commit murder. Bloodshed is a daily occurrence. We wouldn't dare come without hiring a caravan of about a hundred men."
"But this time, the one they robbed was an official. He claimed to be the military supervisor, but the Liang people chopped him down with a single blow."
"Really?"
"There was a lot of blood not far ahead. I was terrified and ran away as fast as I could. Luckily, I wasn't discovered."
"If it's an official..."
The traveling merchant gritted his teeth, barely managing to keep the second half of his sentence from being uttered.
If it were an official position, that would be wonderful!!!
If it weren't for these military supervisors from the capital interfering, how could the Western Frontier have fallen into such chaos!
One of the military supervisors was robbed and killed by the Liang people!
This exciting news spread among the merchants in less than half a day, reaching all thirteen cities in western Xinjiang.
After Liu Nuo left the city, he never returned. Jiang Youzheng was afraid that Liu Nuo was dead, so he went to the city himself. When he saw the decapitated corpse, he almost couldn't suppress the smile on his face.
He sighed, "How did Lord Liu end up outside the city?"
Liu Nuo's clerk, looking frightened, quickly said, "Lord Liu intends to go to Shangxu Temple."
Why did I go to Shangxu Temple for no reason?
Oh, right. Jiang Youzheng suddenly remembered that when Miss Gu left, she had asked about Liang Ren's whereabouts.
Could it be...?
Jiang Youzheng's heart skipped a beat.
At that time, he told Miss Gu about how the Liang people would occasionally invade and massacre people, making life difficult for ordinary people.
Miss Gu has returned a very generous gift to Western Xinjiang!
Jiang Youzheng's heart started beating even faster.
Jiang Youzheng gripped the sword at his waist and said coldly, "The Liang people killed an official of our court. This matter must not be tolerated!"
He didn't send out troops recklessly! It was the Liang people who killed a high-ranking official of the imperial court first.
Jiang Youzheng, no longer dejected, spurred his horse back to Alwu City to mobilize troops and surround and kill the Liang people who were causing trouble in the western frontier.
Qi Fu caught up with Gu Zhizhuo at Luoxia Pass.
They had just set up camp. Gu Zhizhuo leaned against the campfire, gazing at the flickering flames, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
Qi Fu said with great enthusiasm, "Young lady, Commander Jiang has led his troops to kill all those Xiliang people, leaving only one survivor who was sent to the Prince of Jin's heir."
Jiang Youzheng was a thoughtful person. Gu Zhizhuo nodded slightly. He had deliberately kept this witness alive as a testimony to completely sever ties between her and Liu Nuo's death.
It was the Liang people who killed Liu Nuo.
It was absolutely not the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion interfering in border affairs.
Qi Fu said angrily, "They kidnapped about ten girls from nearby villages and tortured them to death. Only two survived and they were insane. Everyone in their village was killed and they had nowhere to go, so Commander Jiang took them back to Aur City."
His gaze was icy cold as he roared, "You cold-blooded bastard! Utterly despicable!"
Back then, the Duke had demoralized the Liang people, and could have enjoyed at least ten years of peace. However, the Great Qi Kingdom retreated like a defeated nation, allowing the Liang people to freely cross the border and slaughter civilians.
The Liang people, like the Di people, would hide when they were afraid of being beaten, but would immediately make a comeback if they found that the Great Qi was weak.
Gu Zhizhuo said with a faint smile, "It all depends on whether Commander Jiang can seize the opportunity."
"Big sister, I don't understand."
Gu Yique didn't understand and asked directly.
Gu Zhizhuo turned his head and explained to him gently, "The military supervisors of the twelve cities in the Western Frontier have now discovered that even they will be killed by the Liang people. They should be afraid. If Commander Jiang can seize the opportunity, unite with the generals of the twelve cities to incite them, and force the Prince of Jin's heir to agree to defend the city at all costs and send troops to patrol, he will surely rise to prominence and at least be promoted one rank."
"This girl is truly kind-hearted," Qingmei thought to herself. She wasn't just giving Jiang Shougong credit; she was bringing hope to the ordinary people of Western Xinjiang who were living in fear.
"Alright, go and rest."
Gu Zhizhu patted his head: "We're leaving for Beijing first thing tomorrow morning."
"I can't sleep," Gu Yique said coquettishly. "Big sister, can you tell me a story?"
"Oh no! If you don't go to sleep, I'll prick you with a needle."
Qingmei smiled gently and turned the campfire even brighter.
They came on light horseback, but on the way back, they carried a coffin and traveled much slower.
It took nearly half a month to reach Youzhou.
Before entering the capital region, Qi Fu led the Thousand Machine Battalion ahead of them, and they needed to return to camp secretly in batches.
"Young lady, this humble general takes his leave."
Qi Fu clasped his hands in a fist salute, eager to return to the military camp. He wanted to tell his comrades that, apart from the young master, the young lady was no less capable than anyone else!
Gu Zhizhuo and the others did not delay and headed straight for the capital.
As they approached Shili Pavilion, Gu Yique suddenly exclaimed with delight, "Big sister, look! There are Kongming lanterns!"
Gu Zhizhuo reined in the horse and looked up.
In the azure sky, hundreds of Kongming lanterns danced in the air, like birds taking flight towards the blue sky.
"Father..."
"My father promised me when he left the capital that he would take me to release sky lanterns when he returned."
"Father, we're back."
"I'm taking you home."
The tears that had been suppressed for so long could finally be held back.
In the Shili Pavilion, Xie Yingchen stood tall and elegant in a blue robe.
When Gu Zhizhuo rode up on horseback, he smiled slightly at her and extended his hand.
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