Great Xia.
"Your Majesty, please have some more!"
Inside the palace, the coquettish voices of beauties echoed endlessly. The Emperor of Great Xia, his face flushed with drunkenness, said, "Guards, blindfold me and let's see which of my beloved concubines I can catch."
A few breaths later, the sounds of laughter and playfulness grew louder as the Cloud Emperor circled the pillar, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Where is the Emperor?
The young general waited anxiously outside the hall. Hearing the laughter inside, Chen Chi closed his eyes to calm himself down.
"Eunuch Liu, this general has urgent business to discuss with the Emperor."
"General Chen, His Majesty has ordered that no one is allowed to enter the palace to disturb us, so please do not make things difficult for this servant."
After struggling for a few seconds, Chen Chi resolutely knelt down and, mustering all his strength, spoke:
"Your Majesty, I, Chen Chi, have an urgent report from the border!"
After three consecutive shouts, the commotion inside the hall finally ceased. Emperor Yun, disheveled, rushed to the hall entrance. "Chen Chi, you'd better really have something urgent to discuss with me!"
"Your Majesty, an urgent report from the border: Da Ning is amassing troops and is preparing to attack our Great Xia."
"Da Ning?"
Emperor Yun was stunned for a moment, then spat at Chen Chi, "Don't think I'm deaf and blind. Da Ning is at war with Da Qing, how could they possibly attack Da Xia?"
"Your Majesty, this is a memorial written by my father himself. Please take a look."
Emperor Yun flipped through the memorials, and a look of horror immediately appeared on his face.
"Quickly...quickly organize the army, send your father to the border as fast as possible, and you too, you go too."
At the same time, in Daning.
With the training session over, Gu Qingyan finally had a chance to catch his breath.
The army has now arrived in Int, and battle will begin soon.
"Jiang Yan, what are you thinking, kid?"
Several soldiers walked up to Gu Qingyan. Because Gu Qingyan was young and often didn't smile, everyone in the army liked to tease him a few times.
"Thinking about when we can go to war."
"Pshaw! You've got guts!"
The crowd laughed, but Gu Qingyan looked straight in the direction of Daxia.
The Prime Minister had told him that the pillar of the Great Xia Dynasty was not the Cloud Emperor, but the Chen family.
The Chen family is to Daxia what the Marquis of Dingyuan's mansion is to Daqing.
The old general of the Chen family is already over sixty years old this year.
"Do you think General Chen will be leading the troops again this time? If so, the Great Xia will be in dire need of manpower."
"That young General Chen is also a promising talent. Perhaps Emperor Yun will use him this time."
"Who gave you permission to discuss military matters here?"
Ling Ku's face was stern, and the soldiers immediately lowered their heads and became as quiet as chickens. "General."
"If you have that energy, then give it to me for more training."
Everyone left dejectedly, but Ling Ku smirked, "Reliable sources say that both Chens will be coming this time."
"knew."
Gu Qingyan also got up and walked towards the training ground; he just felt sorry for the Chen family.
......
General Chen was the first to arrive at the border.
The call to attack sounded, and the elite soldiers of Daning poured out of Yincheng in droves.
Gu Qingyan, holding a long sword, charged at the front of the group.
Even though General Chen was a brilliant strategist, the Great Xia Dynasty couldn't hold out for even an hour and had to hastily retreat to the city to avoid battle.
"The defeat of the Great Xia is inevitable. Within three days, our army will surely capture the border city of the Great Xia."
Amid the jubilant morale of the Daning army, Gu Qingyan appeared somewhat troubled.
"You must have achieved great military merit this time. You look thin and small, but you've cut off more heads than I have."
Gu Qingyan gave a slight smile. "Thank you for the compliment."
The laughter in the crowd was tinged with admiration, and the image of Gu Qingyan charging forward with his head down was deeply imprinted in everyone's minds.
Sure enough, the border city of Daxia was breached in just two days.
The soldiers of Da Ning cheered as they entered the city, searching everywhere for traces of General Chen.
"Jiang Yan, I need to talk to you."
Gu Qingyan paused for a moment, then calmly followed behind a soldier.
After many twists and turns, Gu Qingyan was led to the end of an alley where there was a dry well. General Chen was sitting next to the dry well, his body covered in bloodstains.
"Young master, Chen Yan wants to commit suicide by jumping into the well."
Seeing Ling Ku's respectful attitude, Chen Yan raised his eyelids and looked at Gu Qingyan.
"General Chen, if you are willing to surrender, our Great Ning will certainly treat you well."
"You are just an ordinary soldier, what right do you have to negotiate with this general?"
"I am the Crown Prince of Da Ning."
In an instant, Gu Qingyan's aura was fully revealed.
Chen Yan was clearly stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly, "Heaven is going to destroy my Great Xia! Heaven is going to destroy my Great Xia!"
"Why?"
Why did he let Chen Chi lead the troops to retreat while he stayed in the border town, knowing that not surrendering meant certain death?
"My life is as light as a feather compared to the century-old reputation of my Chen family."
"If we lose the border town, I, Chen Yan, will not regret dying."
Chen Yan stared intently at Gu Qingyan. Why was Da Ning so lucky? It wasn't enough to have Emperor Zhaoyuan; Heaven had also bestowed upon Da Ning such an outstanding crown prince.
"Our Great Ning is going to destroy Great Xia this time."
As soon as Gu Qingyan finished speaking, the light in Chen Yan's eyes went out completely.
"If General Chen does not surrender, his entire family will be sacrificed. Is General Chen unmoved by such a heavy price?"
The young crown prince, as vibrant as the rising sun, stands in stark contrast to the gray-haired, aging general.
"After decades of war, I think... the fate of Great Xia is sealed. I only beg you not to harm the people of Great Xia; they are innocent."
"And the Chen family has its own mission."
After leaving those words, Chen Yan still threw himself into the well.
With a loud thud, Gu Qingyan felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
Gu Qingyan seemed not to hear Ling Ku's calls. If the Chen family was like this, what about his uncle?
If such a scenario were to repeat itself, what choice would the uncle make?
For the sake of Daqing, every generation of Marquis of Dingyuan died on the battlefield.
"Young Master."
Ling Ku followed closely behind Gu Qingyan, watching him walk aimlessly.
"Ling Ku, must the Chen family die?"
“If Chen Yan surrenders, the deaths of the Chen family ancestors will have been meaningless.” Ling Ku said softly, so from the beginning, he never thought he could persuade Chen Yan to surrender.
"Can......"
Gu Qingyan didn't say what he was about to say, but his uncle was just like Chen Yan.
The incident in Hengxian County was justified and did not harm the people of Hengxian.
What happens after that?
What would my uncle do if Daqing and Daning were merged into one, and Daqing were erased from the map?
Will it end up like General Chen is today?
Gu Qingyan stopped in his tracks, suddenly realizing that the Prime Minister... the Prime Minister wanted to use the Chen family to give him a hint!
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