Chapter 437 No Retreat
Zhang Lin screamed and cried in fright.
"Brother, stop blowing smoke, brother! Blood, blood!"
"Lin-di, don't cry, listen to your brother..."
The flute music stopped for the moment, and Ji Ruyan gently instructed Zhang Lin, just like before in Liuyun Village...
...
On the official road, the mighty army rushed forward, its roar like rolling thunder.
Suddenly, they heard the neighing of warhorses ahead, and one of them stopped.
"Miss Lu, what's wrong?"
Hearing the commotion from a distance, Gu Chengzhou quickly returned.
Watching Lu Qingqing dismount her horse, bend down by the roadside to pick up something, and seem to be in a daze.
"The hairpin fell and hit a rock, breaking the jade on it."
Lu Qingqing looked up, her eyes filled with surprise and doubt.
Gu Chengzhou looked at the silver hairpin in her hand.
Not only was the jade broken, but the hairpin was also deformed from the impact.
Since meeting Lu Qingqing, she has always gone out without makeup and only wears ordinary silver jewelry on her head.
This hairpin is quite exquisite, with jade that is emerald green and dripping with moisture. Although it is inlaid with silver, it is not an ordinary piece.
Gu Chengzhou didn't think too much about it, only assuming that she felt sorry for him.
"It's alright, I'll have His Highness send you a whole bunch later. The ones from the palace are truly beautiful."
Lu Qingqing didn't say anything more about it and put the hairpin back in her hair.
How far are we from Gucheng?
"Half an hour."
"Okay, let's go!"
Lu Qingqing mounted her horse, calmed her racing heart, wrapped a scarf around her neck, and continued riding.
However, there seemed to be moisture, drifting in the cold wind.
Half an hour felt like an eternity.
They finally made contact with the soldiers who had dispersed the civilians from Gucheng.
Then, they sent a signal and abandoned their horses to go up the mountain.
The howls of wolves and roars of tigers echoed through the mountains, a mournful lament like a final song.
A giant bird flew overhead, leaving behind pieces of blood and flesh.
Lu Qingqing almost fell on the rocks.
"Ji Ruyan..."
Am I too late?
"General Gu—"
A group of people ran over, terrified and overwhelmed with grief.
"It's chaos, complete chaos, so many wild beasts..."
"His Highness told us to leave quickly, he's losing control..."
"The Western Liao army fled into the mountains again, and the river was completely stained red..."
"The corpses of wild beasts, the corpses of men..."
Lu Qingqing could no longer hear the rest.
It felt as if my soul had fallen into endless darkness, my throat was being choked, and even breathing felt like being torn apart by a dull pain.
Going against the will of Heaven and disrupting the laws of the universe.
Those who harm living beings will also suffer the consequences.
he……
"His Highness is missing! He's been captured by a mountain eagle!"
"General Zhang went after them, but he couldn't catch up, none of us could catch up... Waaaaah..."
These seven-foot-tall men didn't cry when they were slashed and covered in wounds, they didn't cry when they knew they were going to die in the mountains, but now they are all crying in unison!
“They’ve been captured by the bandit leader…” Gu Chengzhou murmured.
He looked up and saw another eagle fly by, its blood-stained claws dropping a human arm.
His eyes were filled with terror. Without hesitation, he leaped forward, even at the cost of crashing into the rocks, just to catch that arm.
Fortunately, the arm was dressed in the clothing of the Western Liao people.
It's not Your Highness...
"Keep looking, keep looking," Lu Qingqing said.
"He's not dead."
They must not die.
"Miss Lu?"
Everyone looked at her.
Lu Qingqing's eyes were bloodshot, but she didn't shed a single tear.
Looking at everyone, he said with absolute certainty, "I said, he's not dead. Even if he lost control, he still has the strength to control a mountain eagle. That mountain eagle must have taken him to a safe place."
Keep searching.
"Yes, His Highness is the Son of Heaven, blessed by the heavens, and nothing will happen to him!" Gu Chengzhou also realized.
Regardless of the circumstances, with a formidable enemy at hand, we must not allow morale to be disrupted.
Your Highness will not die!
Even if it means searching the entire mountain, we must find it!
The team dispersed and searched the entire mountain.
They rescued the seriously wounded soldiers, retrieved the corpses from the riverbed, and also killed the lone Western Liao soldiers.
They found Zhang Lin unconscious, having fallen down into a ravine.
He was the one who had been chasing after Shan Diao all along, and the one who finally learned about Ji Ruyan's situation!
Lu Qingqing noticed that his legs were badly frostbitten and had turned purple!
If we wait another half a day, we'll really have to have our limbs amputated!
They lit a fire, kept him warm, gave him acupuncture, and fed him hot water, finally waking Zhang Lin up.
"Qingqing, my little sister..."
Zhang Lin tremblingly took out a blood-stained purse.
“I’m sorry. The young master said, I’m sorry, he said I’m sorry…”
Zhang Lin apologized several times in a row. He wasn't repeating himself; Ji Ruyan had said those words exactly as they were spoken. He was simply repeating them verbatim.
Lu Qingqing snatched the purse, her throat tight with pain.
"There's nothing to apologize for, what is there to apologize for?"
She knew he had done his best, and that it must have been the last resort.
It was them; they were late.
"The Crown Prince said that if the Great Gan is saved, and the Prince of Qing'an becomes emperor, the Gu family army will protect Qingqing for life."
If you fail to protect Daqian, he'll make you live in anonymity, whether it's as a pearl or a jackal... He'd rather you live an ordinary life.
A bright pearl shines, but wolves and jackals lurk around it.
Even without him saying it, if the Western Liao really conquered Daqian, she would definitely run far away.
but……
"We can preserve it. The massive effort won't destroy us."
"Ji Ruyan is still alive..."
Zhang Lin opened his mouth, his eyes having cried several times, and he couldn't cry anymore.
He wanted to say that when the bandit leader captured Prince, Prince was already like a dead man, unresponsive, with blood flowing from his mouth and nose.
It's all his fault for having such weak legs; if he hadn't rolled into the ravine, he might have known where the prince had been taken.
This is a vast snow forest. Even if the mountain eagle didn't kill him, and they can't find him, who will treat the prince who is so badly injured?
"Keep looking, you'll find it eventually."
Lu Qingqing gripped her purse tightly.
She felt that her luck wasn't that bad.
She couldn't believe that after God had made her father's body disappear without a trace, He would also make the person she loved suffer like this.
They didn't even give her a chance to save him.
Ji Ruyan, you must live.
Please.
...
Outside Shangjun City.
After half a month of peace, the Western Qiang once again rallied their forces.
No, people have been gathered.
Ma Quan is dead.
Despite trying to save it for half a month and using countless medications, the horse still couldn't be saved.
The King of Western Qiang was furious.
Having received permission from the King of Western Liao, he mobilized all his troops and personally led the expedition!
They were determined to wipe out the entire Gu family army.
An hour before the battle began, Gu Chengye sent men to send all the military doctors away.
Qiaoxiu and Sixi were confused.
"Wasn't it said that if the Western Qiang started a war, the army would retreat first? Now we only have 5,000 men, how can we be a match for them?"
The strategist smiled calmly and said, "How could we possibly retreat? If we hand over Shangjun City, it will only embolden the Western Qiang. If we give up Shangjun City, the next city will be Jiaozhou, then Hetai, Chizhou... and finally, the entire Dagan."
Four Joys Little Doctor, Clever Little Doctor, we soldiers guard our homeland and are the backbone of our nation.
There is no retreat, only death in battle.
Si Xi and Qiao Xiu were stunned, and then tears welled up in their eyes.
Aren't these people about to die?
"Someone, quickly escort the two young miracle doctors away."
Inside the main tent, Gu Chengye was already dressed in armor.
The tent flap moved, and a person slipped in without announcing himself.
He glared at her, about to reprimand her, but suddenly stammered, "Madam?"
"Why haven't you left yet, and why are you dressed like that?!"
Wen Qingyu was also dressed in armor, and he looked quite convincing, with his hair standing up and exuding a heroic air.
"My husband, I want to go with you. We'll live together, and we'll die together."
"No!"
"Agreed!" Wen Qingyu's reasons were sound:
"If you had left me an heir, I would have had hope even after you left. But you didn't. You know my nature; I would never find another man in this life. Rather than live a miserable and lonely life, I'd rather go with you."
Gu Chengye's tiger-like eyes immediately turned red.
His foolish wife.
If he had known this would happen, he would have done his best to leave her with a child, even if he was injured these past few days!
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