Looking at the Sword by Lamplight (Twenty-four)
The moment Xi Zhongting heard Wen Chaohua's words, he could clearly sense Bian Hongqiu and the Central and Western Border Army commanders beside him reining in their horses and retreating a few steps. Whether it was this action or a premonition of Wen Chaohua's next words, the veins in his arms began to throb. The palace a few steps away was in shambles. His "wolf pack" was dutifully blocking the other side of the palace, while he had been led to the front line and suffered.
Xi Zhongting's chest was filled with a heartbeat of resistance.
The "young Master Chen" in Wen Chaohua's words made his ears blurry. He recalled the pure and clean sea area leading from Ming Hunzhou to Zuodan Eighteen Continents. Compared with the "soak of heads" on the other side of Xiliuhai, there was only one soul determined to die. The mortal body that once carried the soul was holding a "token of love" sent by Xi Zhongting but never replied.
He stared at Wen Chaohua coldly, his handsome and sharp eyes almost containing the edge of a knife.
The opponent said nothing, but Wen Chaohua continued to sing the play.
"Speaking of which, none of these empty-handed civil and military officials within the four borders are as perceptive as she, a lowly female official who relied on her mother's promotion and doesn't even have a proper official seal. We, armed with a forged imperial edict, could have freely opened the entire Eighteen Continents, but upon our arrival, we were stopped at the gates of Ming Hunzhou. The imperial army is pursuing us. General Xi, you probably don't know how anxious and embarrassed we are because of this young Master Chen's strict defense."
She paused, and at this moment, Xi Zhongting saw an almost "vicious" expression on her face.
"—Until the prince ordered me to deal with her, and I saw her face."
"General Xi's portrait of his beloved is spotless. Young Master Chen is incredibly talented, and I believe General Xi is also a rare talent, and he wouldn't be so impulsive. Therefore, I'm taking advantage of Ming Hunzhou's isolation at sea and asking the prince to capture the prefects of several coastal cities. I'll forge a letter from the general, pretending that the imperial court is in chaos, and ask the prefect of Ming Hunzhou to provide some relief and discuss a good strategy."
Imperial edicts and military orders are difficult to forge, so is a general's letter also difficult to forge?
Chen Lanye might have checked the news after receiving it - but she couldn't find out whether it was true or not, because the court was really in chaos. Emperor Xue was poisoned by several kinds of poisons and could not take care of himself. Old King Liang was still clamoring to go to Shangyang border to fight a decisive battle with the barbarians. The royal relatives and nobles were almost reduced during the reign of Emperor Wu. Xi Zhongting was so alone that he couldn't even take care of the affairs of Ming Hunzhou where the emperor was far away.
However, Wen Chaohua was also certain that a man's handwritten letter alone would not be enough to impress a "female official." If Chen Lanye had truly devoted her heart and soul to their relationship, they wouldn't have been forced out after entering Ming Hunzhou. Besides forging the letter, they had also sacrificed lives in other cities, causing them to cry and riot under Ming Hunzhou, and then transferred their own men to hide in these cities. The Ming Hunzhou troops were repeatedly deceived by the officials' selfish desire to sacrifice others for their own benefit. After more than half a month of back-and-forth, just when they were at their wit's end, heaven finally granted them a stroke of luck.
In Daohai City, they arrested a group of imperial envoys who came from the capital to deliver a letter.
The imperial envoy held a token of his loyalty, a glittering pearl. In a desperate move, Wen Chaohua ordered the prefect of Daohai City to deliver the pearl, and miraculously, the door to Ming Hunzhou was opened.
Wen Chaohua certainly wouldn't explain the twists and turns. She stared at Xi Zhongting, whose eyes seemed to be dripping with blood, and stabbed him in the heart. "When this young Master Chen saw it was the general's letter, he immediately opened the city gates." She laughed cheerfully. "So, General Xi, your 'letter' got her to open the gates. You guaranteed several cities in it, but they played it safe. As soon as the prince's men entered Minghunzhou, they welded the city gates shut. No matter how hard those who escaped from Minghunzhou tried to get help, they refused to offer a helping hand or even send a letter."
"You know what Miss Chen is like. She's lucky enough to be more like my aunt than I am, so I forced dozens of children to come before her and force her into the prince's tent. General Xi, I wonder if you've ever seen her cry?"
Her words, whether true or false, were like a steel knife. Xi Zhongting had a splitting headache and had already pushed the sword away a few inches in his hand.
Wen Chaohua continued, "Now that the imperial court has recaptured Ming Hunzhou, I've heard the news of Lady Chen's death. What a shame she didn't get to live out her life with General Xi. I heard she was forced to go pearl hunting in the Xiliu Sea and drowned." Her gentle face, which had been narrating gently, suddenly changed to one of resentment, and even her voice became sharp. "Because she didn't know what was good for her, she stabbed the prince in the tent and ended up getting herself into trouble."
"General Xi, I'm really curious about what it feels like to force your beloved to death with your own hands."
As soon as she finished her words, Xi Zhongting slashed with a sword. The female official who had been protecting her rushed forward and took the blow, her head severed in an instant. Wen Chaohua was splattered with blood, her long hair dripping with blood and no longer fluttering. She showed no grief at all, but was filled with joy. She casually pushed the headless female official in her arms, looking like a brave martyr.
Xi Zhongting approached on horseback, tears evident in his stern gaze. His lips trembled unnaturally, and a hoarse wheeze echoed from his chest and throat. A general on the battlefield should be invulnerable to weapons. Yet, a few words pierced him to the core. The broadsword in his hand was so slippery that he could barely hold it, as if he wasn't holding a sword, but a body that had sunk into the sea, soundless and gone.
Wen Chaohua was far away in the western border, and the news he heard was indeed good.
He had forced Lan Ye to death. There were too many people in Ming Hun Prefecture who could have been killed all at once. He had already submitted petitions to the capital, pleading for mercy for the people of Ming Hun Prefecture. But he still refused to give in. He didn't know the whole story, but he simply hated Lan Ye for being the one who reopened the "life-buying fortune," so he used this incident to force Lan Ye to fish for another pearl for him.
With the will to die, she dived into a seaside village untouched for decades. It wasn't until the people on shore, aware of her condition, kowtowed to him and begged for mercy that he finally woke up and went back to the sea to search for her. And the pearl in Lan Ye's hand wasn't freshly fished; it was a token Xi Zhongting had sent her many years ago, hoping to invite her to the capital for assistance. A series of twists and turns, and countless lives lost, had brought them to this point.
The flames from the gunpowder explosion in Chunxiangzhou were still burning. Amid the sound of the flames, Xi Zhongting heard the curses from the people of Minghunzhou - a young girl who had once wanted to assassinate him after Minghunzhou was recovered almost cursed her so hard; he also heard his elderly father ask himself, "Why are you always so self-righteous?"
Xi Zhongting felt the bloody smell from his throat rushing up his nasal cavity. He coughed violently, and blood splashed from his mouth and nose onto his hands.
He casually rubbed it, and his feverish mind suddenly calmed down. He reached out and touched the protrusion on her neck, and the pearl was burned by his body temperature. He took a breath and slowly pushed the broadsword back into its sheath. He said in a hoarse voice: "You are so curious, why don't you try it yourself?"
At the same moment Chunxiangzhou was razed to the ground by the Western Border Army, the King of the Western Border, having already led seventy elite troops, escaped through a secret passage to the ferry. He ordered his men to push the prepared boat away. It was a warship, forged with the finest materials, rivaling the imperial court. Compared to the scout ship that Xi Zhongting had used to pierce the Kaiming Hunzhou with a few modifications, this one was capable of penetrating directly into the capital, unstoppable.
King Jingxi clutched the scroll. He knew Emperor Xue was terminally ill. Using his inherent understanding, he estimated the number of guards in the capital and the imperial palace to be more than sufficient. If he could return to Tongyunhai Palace, the place where Concubine Hui had raised him, and light a piece of incense, the product of years of cultivation, they would be reincarnated together.
He felt that he had been planning this for years, and all the people close to him, even Wen Chaohua, were sent down to block the court's firepower.
The ferry was filled with his men, and he had already tricked Xi Zhongting's troops into the city. No one could stop him from fulfilling his long-cherished wish. Standing at the ferry in a white robe, he truly looked a bit like an immortal. But he didn't indulge in his fantasies for long. When his men ushered him aboard, he caught a glimpse of the "iron chain boat" ahead from the unobstructed deck.
At the center of the "Iron Chain Boat" was a young girl, perhaps fifteen or sixteen, dressed like an ordinary fisherman, a sharp dagger tucked at her waist, a crudely crafted clairvoyant in her hand. Standing at the forefront of the storm, her voice wasn't as sweet and innocent as Jiaojiao'er, who had never experienced hardship. Instead, it carried a murderous aura that stung one's ears. She practically questioned, "Is this the King of Jingxi's boat?"
King Jingxi also recognized the origin of this "iron chain boat connection": "Is it from Hunzhou in the Ming Dynasty?"
The girl drew her dagger with a "swish" sound, "I was not yet born when Your Highness entered Ming Hunzhou, but I have been thinking of you for many years. Let me tell Your Highness my name. I am an orphan. My last name is Chen Pingzhou, and Chen is the same as Chen Lanye's Chen." She finished her name with gritted teeth, and the dagger was as bright as if it had been forged. With the obstruction of all the survivors in Ming Hunzhou, she finally did not let it be stained with Xi Zhongting's blood.
Her words brought back painful memories for King Jingxi.
Chen Lanye, who preferred death to dishonor to defending Ming Hunzhou, stabbed him repeatedly, nearly paralyzing him. He hadn't believed a young woman, freshly widowed, could stir up any trouble, but he stumbled and nearly lost his life in Ming Hunzhou. He died on his bed, his spirit fading. All his attempts to confront the court and recuperate had become a sham.
But he's not one to learn from his mistakes.
Besides, the girl in front of him was too small, with her thin ankles sticking out from her wet trouser legs, as if she couldn't stand steadily on the sea.
King Jingxi snorted coldly, not wanting to argue any further, and ordered the warships to break through the "wall".
His ship was certainly sturdy, and the elite troops he had painstakingly trained were no less capable than any other navy within Dayu. But these children before him, perhaps even fully grown, had all grown up in the waters off Minghunzhou. They had grown up amidst the devoted love of their fathers and the ingrained hatred they had witnessed over the years. When a blade flashed, even the sea breeze retreated.
Far from restricting their movement, these small boats, linked by iron chains, proved remarkably flexible. The chains were made of the last batch of black iron from Ming Hunzhou, and the swords and spears of King Jingxi's troops could not cut them. The warships circled more than ten times at the ferry crossing. King Jingxi, after all, was old, and his face was ashen, nearly fainting.
While feeling dizzy, he heard the sound of iron chains being tightly wound.
These little brats, raised by the sea, their arms and legs so thin they could break at a snap, were surprisingly strong enough to shatter a thousand pounds. Dozens of them were about to shred the warship to pieces! King Jingxi snorted again, but his snort didn't finish—he heard the fragile cries of the battlefield. With a "creaking," he could no longer hold onto the warship. He lurched violently to the left, and a guard rushed over to grab him, sweeping him into the sea at top speed.
"Bang!"
The carefully crafted warship was like a thin wooden board, shattered by a punch!
The turbulent current and the suddenly shattered warship collided, and King Jingxi, who had swallowed a bellyful of water, jumped into the cold sea like a dumpling, his whole body aching. He frantically scrambled around, trying to grab a lifeline.
What pulled him out of the sea was an iron chain that Chen Pingzhou had removed from the boat, like tying up an old, weak, and still howling vicious dog. She and her companions, like King Jingxi, had their skin and flesh scratched by the fragments of the exploded warship, but she was so excited that she didn't feel the pain. She dragged King Jingxi ashore by his neck in a rough manner.
Even though this traitor is old, he has lived a life of luxury over the years and can breathe a few more breaths than the soldiers who fought for him.
His originally elegant white robe was now stained and wet. Seeing that he was holding on to the scroll so tightly, Chen Pingzhou handed the chain to his companion, stepped forward and broke his wrist cruelly, almost like torture. He still didn't realize what obstacle he had encountered on the road to his grand plan, and he couldn't scream clearly. He watched his hands loosen limply, and the scroll soaked in sea water was opened by Chen Pingzhou.
Then, the girl flew into a rage and gave King Jingxi a kick in the heart.
She didn't know that this bizarre King Jingxi had killed so many people and brought chaos to Dayu for decades, just to survive for thirty-five years to find an illusory reunion. She had never seen the deceased Concubine Hui, and only recognized that the person on the scroll was very similar to Chen Lanye. In addition, they had been soaked in water, so she naturally thought that this traitor was disgusting and still fantasizing.
King Jingxi curled up in pain, truly becoming a drowned dog.
Her companions hurriedly pulled her back. Chen Pingzhou forced herself to swallow the anger that was pent up in her heart, rolled up the scroll with shaking hands, and stuffed it into her arms. The King of Jingxi had planned and orchestrated countless strategies, but the final outcome was so disastrous that even the word "sloppy" was an understatement. Chen Pingzhou quietly felt the sea breeze for a while, but before it cooled her down, she remembered that before the fall of Ming Hunzhou, Chen Lanye had met her alone and said to her, "Pingzhou, I'm handing Ming Hunzhou over to you. I know it's been hard work for you, but you must remember not to act on impulse. Don't trade anger for something that could bring you benefits."
Chen Pingzhou gritted his teeth and fought back the tears that he couldn't stop.
She simply broke the King of Jingxi's other hand and legs, tied him to her back with iron chains, blew a long whistle, and the horse, with only its mane wet after a melee, stepped over the chained boat and went ashore, carrying her and Dayu's sinner of decades, and the trophy of this final battle, to Chunxiang Island.
The horse galloped away, leaving a trail of water on the ground.
Wen Chaohua glanced contemptuously at the bloodstains left on the ground by Xi Zhongting.
She did not want to live past this night, and had already begun to recall her decades of hard work. She suddenly felt very regretful - she regretted that when King Jingxi seized power, she should not have taken people out of the capital city, and should have taken the head of Emperor Xue and taken over the Taiji Palace. In this way, he would be the master of the imperial city for life, and would not have to worry about planning how to return to the old site of "Tongyunhai Palace", and she could have stayed with the prince for many more days.
Of course, she wouldn't blame King Jingxi for not being clear-headed.
At least they didn't know at that time that Prince Liang was unwilling to stay in the capital. Before that, this prince was more like Emperor Xue's father than Emperor Ling. Who could have thought that he would leave as soon as he said so?
Thinking of the old King Liang, Wen Chaohua came up with a lot of excuses to delay time.
She turned her gaze to Bian Hongqiu, who understood what she meant and took another step back with the reins.
"What is your Highness Prince Liang afraid of? I'm just a little girl whose situation is hopeless. Can I say a few words and send the entire Prince Liang's Mansion to hell?"
Bian Hongqiu pondered the silence on the other side of the city gate. He knew that Xi Zhongting's troops at the ferry crossing had not yet captured King Jingxi, so he pricked up one ear and listened: "I'm all ears."
Wen Chaohua couldn't really explain the conflict between the old Prince Liang and Emperor Xue, so he blurted out, "The Prince of Liang's Mansion has been guarding the western border for over a decade, serving with unwavering loyalty. I wonder if they've ever considered the fate of being abandoned after their time is up!"
Bian Hongqiu said honestly, "I have thought about it, so we must capture the King of Jingxi. This should help our Liang Palace gain the favor of His Majesty."
Wen Chaohua opened his mouth and said, "I'm afraid the prince has gone to Ming Hunzhou again. If you want to catch him, you're dreaming!"
Bian Hongqiu spoke the truth again: "I don't think so. Otherwise, I would have just captured you. Why would I listen to you shaking the morale of the army here?" With a smile on his face, he quietly pushed away the sword, touched Xi Zhongting's back with the hilt of the sword at a just right distance, and then waved his hand at the Western Border Army behind him, and the entire army immediately fell back and rushed forward.
The enraged Wen Chaohua really didn't take Bian Hongqiu's little trick seriously. In the blink of an eye, he detonated another batch of explosives - hidden on the high wall.
The explosion caused eight hundred casualties to herself, but she had it in mind and dodged at the critical moment.
The attendants guarding her, the bewildered officials, and the distraught Fang brothers on the high walls all perished in this comical manner on Chunxiang Island. This wasn't the end of it; the remaining people were divided into two groups. The remaining people, still willing to obey Wen Chaohua, dug out the last of the explosives, forcibly tied up the frightened officials, and pushed them to the front.
Amidst the flying dust, the sound of horse hooves finally arrived from afar.
Wen Chaohua, who was about to burn his own life, put down his "butcher knife" as if he had sensed something.
When the dust settled, her husband, whom she had been so eager to protect, was thrown off his horse like a stray dog. Wen Chaohua stopped, then screamed and pounced on him.
The creditor, who had just collected his debt from Minghunzhou, looked back at Xi Zhongting, who was looking at him, with a pale face. He smiled grimly, "bearing the humiliation and bearing the heavy burden," and said, "I am glad that I have fulfilled my mission, General Xi."
Before the full crescent moon appeared in the sky, all those still holding out on Chunxiang Island were captured. The Western Border Army began searching for any unexploded explosives. All officials who surrendered were imprisoned, with Wen Chaohua and the grief-stricken King of Jingxi placed under guard. The rebellion that had once torn Dayu apart finally came to an end in a less-than-spectacular manner.
Before dawn, another urgent letter from the ailing Emperor Xue arrived in Xi Zhongting's hands, along with questions and urgings from the Crown Prince Regent. Xi Zhongting, who served as both a minister and a friend to the Emperor Xue, sensed a connection. In the night, without anyone's consent, he single-handedly beheaded the King of Jingxi, not even having time to place a box. He hurried back to the capital in his dirty clothes from a night of confrontation with the enemy.
In prison, Wen Chaohua committed suicide in despair.
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