1. Imperial Marriage
"Han people are born noble and will never be slaves."
Yellow sand filled the sky, and a lone plume of smoke rose straight up. A round, red sun hung over the Shule River, casting a thin layer of gilding over the calm water.
Xu Youcai was so blinded by the light that he could not open his eyes. He could sense that there were enemies approaching from behind, but unfortunately, his large cast iron axe was stuck in the ribs of another enemy and he could not pull it out for the time being.
He was too simple-minded to think that he could first release the axe to deal with the person behind him. He only thought that since he was tough and thick-skinned, he might as well take a knife first and then finish him off after pulling out the axe.
Just as the enemy's scimitar was about to touch his flesh, a sharp arrow pierced the air, grazing his shoulder and plunging straight into the heart of the enemy behind him. Then, with several more "whoosh" sounds, several Shatuo men standing nearby fell one after another, struck by arrows.
"General!" Xu Youcai shouted angrily, "Leave me a few, you'd better!"
"Oh, you dare to make a sound?" The speaker was a skinny little man, as thin as a monkey, with a slightly hunched back. "The general is in a bad mood today, so don't be a fool."
Xu Youcai gasped and said, "Damn, I forgot, I forgot."
As soon as the words fell, another invading Shatuo man died from a sharp arrow not far away.
"Waaah..."
A deep horn sounded.
The Black Flag Army soldiers, who had been bloodthirsty on the south bank of the Shule River, finally came to their senses, put away their spears, and stood solemnly beside the corpses.
Xu Youcai hunched his shoulders and chose the route with more people, intending to sneak back to the camp and hide without anyone noticing.
Unexpectedly, a deep, imposing voice called out to him from afar.
"Xu Youcai, do you need to pee?"
Xu Youcai immediately stopped, turned around, and put on a half-crying, half-laughing expression, saying obsequiously, "It's not in a hurry, General, please give your orders."
In his wide, dark eyes, a figure carrying a longbow and a heavy sword slowly walked towards him. The heavy sword was half a person's height, with a blade half a finger's thickness, and had an ancient and solemn appearance.
"Just now... you wanted to trade injuries for injuries?"
"No, no, how could that be? I'm not stupid."
"Is that so?" The voice was calm at first, but then suddenly turned cold. "Think it over before you speak!"
As they were talking, the heavy sword suddenly pressed down on Xu Youcai's shoulders, burying his feet three inches into the yellow sand.
The brothers who usually boasted and joked around were now keeping their eyes down, silently taking two steps back, and starting to count the sand at their feet.
Xu Youcai deflated and whispered, "The Shatuo people's scimitars are weak and can't hurt me... Hmm."
The heavy sword on his shoulder felt even heavier.
He knew that his shoulder would be ruined tomorrow.
His gaze slid down the dark blade of the heavy sword, landing on the general's sharp jawline, and then above his dark eyebrows and eyes. No matter how many times Xu Youcai looked at him, he was always frightened by his sharp eyes, feeling as if they were eagles circling the top of Mount Nichijin.
Clearly, Xiao Pingchuan was not satisfied with his answer at this moment.
Under his piercing gaze, Xu Youcai changed his tune, saying, "Of course, knives don't have eyes. This time it cut my back, next time it might cut my neck. I shouldn't have let him get close, and I shouldn't have been so eager to take credit..."
"Alright," Xiao Pingchuan sheathed his heavy sword, tossed the longbow to him, and turned to leave. "I don't want to collect your corpse. If this happens again, pack your bags and get out."
Xu Youcai quickly tucked his battle axe into his waistband, held the longbow in both hands, and followed closely behind him, saying, "Yes, yes, General, you are right."
After taking two steps, Xiao Pingchuan suddenly stopped, turned his head and said, "What are you following me for, looking for milk? Go and bring Zhu Xiegebo to the general's tent."
Xu Youcai abruptly stopped, bowing and scraping as he said, "Hey, hey."
No one dared to breathe loudly. After respectfully watching him walk away, they rushed forward in a swarm, vying to touch the longbow in Xu Youcai's hand.
"Goodness, such a stiff string. It's only thanks to the general's strength that others could even pull it open."
"Get your dirty hands off! Who gave you permission to touch me like that?" Xu Youcai slapped their hands away one by one.
"Touch, touch, it's a rare opportunity."
"Get out of the way." Xu Youcai started kicking people. "Instead of wasting your time, you should hurry up and count the heads. The general is heading south the day after tomorrow. You can't go back with military merits."
"Heh," the short man sneered, "At this time, military merits are a death warrant; people are trying to cover them up, and you're still thinking of bringing them back to the capital?"
No one reacted to these words, clearly not the first time they had heard them. Only Xu Youcai shouted, "Reward those who have done good and punish those who have done wrong. I don't care about all that."
The short man spat at him, "Get lost! Do you know what it means to be so powerful that you overshadow your master? That's a death sentence."
"I don't know!" Xu Youcai stuck the axe at his waist into the ground. "If you ask me, we should just storm the capital and let that old emperor see what's going on, so he won't keep finding ways to torment our general."
As soon as he said this, everyone immediately agreed.
"That's right, if we don't beat that damned emperor into submission, is the general really going to go back and marry a village girl?"
"A country girl, for someone like me to be with a country girl is like a turtle and a mung bean. Would a general be a match for me?"
"Tsk, if you can't speak properly, then shut up."
"No, our general should marry princesses and noble ladies. Why should we be forced to marry a village girl just because the imperial decree says so?"
Half a month ago, an imperial edict was issued from the capital, bestowing a marriage upon the dignified First-Rank General of the Cavalry, Shen Suqin, the second daughter of the Shen family, who had been raised in the countryside since childhood.
For this arranged marriage, the old emperor sifted through all the eligible noble ladies in the capital, finally managing to find the powerless and insignificant Shen family from the back alleys. The head of the Shen family was an orphan who managed to secure a leisurely position as a court attendant in the Xuanhe Palace by marrying Princess Changtai.
The Shen family has two daughters of similar age. The eldest daughter is the biological daughter of the princess, but the old emperor refuses to give her even that much face and insists on marrying her to the second daughter, who is born out of wedlock.
“It’s already good enough that the old emperor allowed the Xiao family to have an heir,” the short man said. “Alright, everyone, leave.”
"Sigh," Xu Youcai sighed deeply.
"Fuck!"
"Let's call it a day, let's call it a day."
Everyone dispersed with dark faces, except for Xu Youcai, who lagged behind.
He glanced at the direction Xiao Pingchuan had left in the distance, and remained lost in thought for a long time.
He was one of the first to join Xiao Pingchuan in starting the uprising.
The Xiao family was a well-known family in their area, owning about a hundred acres of dry land and employing seven or eight tenant farmers, of whom his family was one.
He watched Xiao Pingchuan being born. The young master was intelligent from a young age, and the schoolteacher said that he was a promising candidate for the imperial examinations. The Xiao family put a lot of effort into supporting his studies.
Later, the Shatuo people marched south, burning, killing, and looting. Jinzhou, where they lived, was the northern gateway to the Great Liang Dynasty and was the first place to be plundered by the Shatuo people.
In order to escape the disaster, everyone abandoned their homes and businesses and became refugees.
The Xiao family was no exception.
The Xiao family was kind, and they treated their tenants very well. They all remembered their kindness and wanted to stay with them forever.
Gradually, leaders of displaced people in various places stood up to organize people to fight back and protect themselves, and the Xiao couple also organized people.
Later, after the Xiao couple died in battle, Xiao Pingchuan stepped forward to take over the hundred or so men from his parents, calling them the "Black Flag Army," and began to distinguish himself. He was thirteen years old that year, and Xu Youcai was nineteen.
Eight or nine years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Most of the refugee armies were wiped out, leaving only Xiao Pingchuan's force. The imperial court appointed him as a General of the Cavalry, and he led the Black Flag Army to defend the northern border in a miserable manner.
Today, the Black Flag Army numbers over 100,000 and is stationed on the south bank of the Shule River. From the air, one can see tens of thousands of tents densely packed along the riverbank; these are the Black Flag Army's barracks.
In the very center of the camp was the general's tent, which had a few more sheepskins than the others. Inside, there were tables and chairs for meetings and carpets for sleeping, all crammed together.
Xu Youcai dragged the prisoner into the tent and threw him to the ground with a bang.
"Zhu Xiegebo, thirty-two years old, younger brother of the Shatuo chief."
Xu Youcai spoke expressionlessly about the information he had gathered from his investigation. Their spies had now penetrated deep into Lingwu City, the settlement of the Shatuo people, so it wasn't difficult for them to find out these things.
Zhu Xiegebo, who had just sat up from the ground, looked grim. He sat cross-legged on the ground, looked up at Xiao Pingchuan, and said contemptuously in broken Chinese, "I am the king, and this is how you lowly Han people treat your king?"
"The King?" Xiao Pingchuan sneered. "Should we go ask Zhu Xie Zhishen if he agrees?"
Zhu Xiegebo raised his eyelids. "Alright, General Xiao, let's not laugh at each other for being no better." His eyes slowly darted over the tattered sheepskin tent and the rickety table and chairs. "Who would have thought that a great general of the Great Liang would live in such a dilapidated place?"
He leaned forward, lowered his upper body, and raised an eyebrow mockingly, "Haven't you been paid your rations in a long time, have you?"
Xu Youcai, standing behind him, turned ashen-faced and raised his leg to kick him, but Xiao Pingchuan stopped him with a look.
"Just tell me what you want to do?" Xiao Pingchuan asked, his tone relatively calm.
The Shatuo tribe crossed the river this time under the guise of peace talks.
Even if peace talks were to take place, the Shatuo would pay a heavy price. Xiao Pingchuan had previously declared that if the Shatuo dared to cross the river, they would be killed if they wanted to fight, but only half would survive if they wanted to negotiate. In today's battle, they killed half of them.
Zhu Xiegebo's face showed a victorious expression, and he got up and sat down in the chair.
"Cooperate with the Shatuo," he said arrogantly, as if bestowing a favor, "let us go south, and we'll split the loot 30/70. If you join us, my brother will immediately make you a king of a different surname, and the loot will be split 50/50. How about it? Isn't it a very good deal?"
A moment of silence fell over the general's tent.
Xu Youcai silently took two steps back, gestured, and then, realizing that blood would still splatter on him, took two more steps back, almost leaving the general's tent.
Xiao Pingchuan coldly looked at Zhu Xiegebo, who was trying to be his equal, and asked in surprise, "You mean you want to invite me to plunder the Han people together?"
“Yes,” Zhu Xiegebo said, feeling uncomfortable under his icy gaze. He shifted his body and continued, “The Han court doesn’t value you, does it? Not only do they refuse to support your army,” he hesitated to mention the Black Flag Army, “they also want to seize power from you. What reason do you have to serve such a court? You should cooperate with us and make the Han people kneel on the ground as slaves!”
He became more and more excited as he spoke, feeling that his proposal was flawless.
“Let the Han people…become slaves and servants,” Xiao Pingchuan repeated the words slowly as he walked up to Zhu Xiegebo.
Zhu Xiegebo was forced to look up at him, barely managing to meet his gaze from above.
Xiao Pingchuan's features were extremely sharp, a result of his years of fighting. Zhu Xiegebo had known for a long time that he was handsome, but until today, he hadn't dared to look at him closely. Now that he saw him clearly, he suddenly felt that if Xiao Pingchuan joined the Shatuo tribe, most of the beautiful girls in the tribe would be seduced by him.
"So, how about it? Tempted?"
Xiao Pingchuan lowered his head, gently turning the wolf bone pendant on his right thumb, and said softly, "I am indeed tempted, but..."
"But what?"
Snap!
Xiao Pingchuan grabbed Zhu Xiegebo by the neck, the cool bone ring on his thumb embedding itself into the warm flesh, making Zhu Xiegebo shudder.
"you--"
Seeing that he could still speak, Xiao Pingchuan increased the force in his hands, lifting the man off the chair until he was at eye level with him. Then, he gritted his teeth and said, word by word, "Have you forgotten that I am also a Han Chinese?"
After saying that, he slammed Zhu Xiegebo onto the chair, grabbed his hair and mercilessly smashed his face against the top of the armrest. Each blow was harder than the last, and soon the armrest broke, blood splattered, and the warm blood spilled at Xu Youcai's feet.
Xu Youcai carefully moved two more steps away, touched his nose and thought, "The general's temper is getting more and more irritable."
After a long pause, Xiao Pingchuan lifted the bloodied and mangled face in front of him and, while the man was still conscious, patiently said, "My parents died at the hands of the Shatuo people, and my brothers and sisters died at the hands of the Shatuo people. You should be grateful that I still abide by that bullshit about not killing envoys, otherwise your head would have been chopped off long ago."
Zhu Xiegebo belatedly realized he was scared and desperately tried to pull his head back.
Xiao Pingchuan sneered and dragged him back like a dog. "Someone will take you across the river later, but remember to take a detour if you see him again. If you dare to come near me like you did today, you'll only have one path left—death."
After saying that, Xiao Pingchuan casually threw him on the ground. After admiring the intense fear in his pupils, he leisurely got up, lifted his hem, wiped his hands, and walked out.
After taking two steps, he seemed to remember something and turned around to stop.
The bright sunlight streaming into the tent sculpted his sharp, sword-like figure, making him appear exceptionally imposing. Zhu Xiegebo, buried in that mountain-like, heavy shadow, scrambled back two steps in fright.
“Remember,” he heard Xiao Pingchuan’s deep voice, “Han people are born noble and will never be slaves.”
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