Chapter 217 War Horse
On the other side, after the meeting, Yun Chen returned to his tent and had no intention of washing up and going to bed.
Her mind was in turmoil, her mind full of turbulent past events and one thing:
War horse, war horse, war horse.
Whenever she feels upset, she always tidies up things. The cleaner her surroundings are, the calmer her heart will be.
She was busy in the tent for a long time, and took out a beautiful large carved wooden box. She couldn't help but slow down and sat down by the small window.
The box looked unremarkable from the outside, but inside was an exquisite silver plate with forty-eight squares.
In each small compartment was a pair of earrings, of varying sizes and lengths, some with pigeon blood rubies, some with purple pearls, some with cat's eye emeralds, and some with red gold inlaid with aquamarine...
Each one has a different style and shape, but they are all staggeringly expensive.
This was the gift Shan Ji sent to her when she was promoted to major general.
Just as the Eastern Palace Order was read out, a cool and arrogant Wuyi Blood Guard delivered the gift box to the Lion Army, causing Huo Gannian to mutter:
"This fellow Shan Ji is really oblivious to the dangers of the gods. Instead of being the leader of the Blood Guard, he's paying attention to the battlefield of our Lion Might Army. He almost arrived faster than the Eastern Palace Order! Look at his subordinates, their arrogant behavior is exactly like his!"
Yun Chen also comforted him: "Brother Feiyu and I have a childhood friendship, so of course he cares about me."
Yun Chen carefully kept this priceless gift and never opened it to take a closer look.
Firstly, she was afraid of exposing her identity as a woman. If people saw her with such a large box of earrings, even if they didn't mistake her for a woman, they would still think she was a pervert.
Secondly, she had been feeling depressed for a long time and had no mood to dress up.
After being comforted by Huo Gannian's antics of "digging wild vegetables" and "performing a cold-mixed poison", she felt much better and finally remembered to look through these earrings.
She picked up a pair of silver star sapphire earrings to look at them, then picked up a pair of topaz gourd earrings wrapped in gold wire and tried them on in front of the mirror.
In the mirror, the round beads fell beside her thin cheeks, making her look quite girlish and cute.
She looked in the mirror, and seeing her pale face, cold eyes and sorrow, she felt extremely unfamiliar.
With a "click", she put the mirror on the table, then looked at the moon hanging high in the night sky, lost in deep thoughts.
When she came to her senses, there were ashes of burnt red paper at her hand, and a blood-red dove was standing in front of the window, looking at her with its head tilted.
She then realized what she had done while distracted, and without caring whether the pigeon could understand her, she hurriedly said:
"I'm sorry you made such a wasted trip. I don't need the Wuyi Blood Guards for anything. I was just distracted for a moment and accidentally burned a piece of red paper. Do you understand?"
The blood pigeon obviously didn't understand. It glanced at the large box of golden earrings beside her, and obviously thought it was the "reward for hiring the unrighteous blood guards to kill people." It immediately flapped its wings and flew into the air. Yun Chen had no choice but to take off the earrings and quickly chase after it.
The pigeon flew away from the tent and quickly flew into the night sky. Yun Chen used all his strength, jumping and hopping, but he didn't even touch the pigeon's feathers.
So, under the watchful eyes of several night watchmen, they saw their newly appointed major general, as if possessed by a demon in the middle of the night, dancing and gesticulating at the air while shouting something:
"A good pigeon that doesn't complain is a great pigeon! Where's the little coal ball? Come here! Help me catch the bird!"
Seeing the pigeon flying farther and farther away, Yun Chen had to give up.
I originally thought that after the blood pigeon left, it would take Shan Ji at least ten days or half a month to rush over from Zhao State.
Who would have thought that in just two days, Shan Ji would appear in Yun Chen's tent.
At that time, Yun Chen had just woken up from a nap. When she turned over, she saw a blood-red figure suddenly emerging from the tent. The figure was full of evil spirit, and she was so scared that she almost screamed.
"Brother Feiyu, how did you sneak in? Is the defense of my Lion Army so lax?" she was surprised.
Shan Ji shrugged indifferently, unfolded a Shan Yin Yue waist badge in his hand, and said:
"I went to the Huo Gang's hall and stole your badges first, then handed them in at the gate. Your camp is heavily guarded, so it's not easy to sneak in."
Yun Chen opened his mouth halfway, not knowing what to say.
If you can't steal the military token, stealing the Huo Gang token to get in is also an option.
But if she wanted to walk in openly through the main gate, she would have to go through layers of checks and notifications. It was estimated that Shan Ji had already met Huo Gannian before he could come to see her.
As expected, Shan Ji looked unhappy and said:
"That brat Huo Gannian is a general, but he's so arrogant. One day I'm going to find a reason to deal with him!"
Yun Chen smiled and quickly stood up to pour tea for Shan Ji.
The tea was a little cold, so she poured it out and boiled a pot of water for herself.
Seeing Yun Chen acting like he was used to being independent and was very skilled in taking care of himself, Shan Ji frowned:
"Chen'er, you are a major general now, so you should be more confident. Let your personal soldiers do these small things, and don't tire yourself out."
Yun Chen laughed dumbly, wanting to say, "Do you want to hear how hypocritical you are?"
Knowing that Shan Ji was doing her good, she did not refute him, but instead chatted about each other's recent situation.
When Yun Chen learned that Shan Ji had really killed the leader, usurped the throne and become the new leader, and had moved the entire Wuyi Blood Guard to Nan Country, he could not help but be shocked:
"Be careful, don't let the other Blood Guards follow your example and covet your position as Sect Leader."
Shan Ji snorted coldly, "Can Huo Gan Nian tie with a Blood Guard?"
Yun Chen nodded in agreement.
Shan Ji then said, "I can single-handedly challenge two hundred Huo Gan Nian. Do you understand?"
Yun Chen was speechless: "Uh... you seem to hate Anian very much. You use him as a unit of measurement when you hit people..."
It seems that he is not interested in continuing to talk about "Huo Gan Nian". Shan Ji asked:
"Are you looking for me to kill Jiao Zuotai? When do you want his head? Tell me."
Yun Chen was drinking tea from a cup and almost spit out a mouthful of water.
Shan Ji's words seemed to be asking her: "Do you like the little dog from the next village? I'll bring his head over later."
Yun Chen coughed twice, "No, no... I want to kill Jiao Zuotai, and I must kill him, but not now."
Jiao Zuotai's crimes are too numerous to list.
Although half a year has passed, Yun Chen always dreams of Dankou and Miaomiao at night... He dreams of the bloodstained kitchen, the big pot with steaming hot water, and Jiao Zuotai's cruel and vicious smile.
The scenes with the Black Scale Cavalry have become the deepest shadow in her heart. No matter when she is concentrating on military affairs or when she is whispering to Huo Gannian, she will always unconsciously recall those scenes.
Everyone only knew that Jiao Zuotai killed and ate prisoners, and Yun Chen was unfortunately caught when he was stealing the defense map and almost lost his life.
No one knew how Jiao Zuotai used the lives of Dan Kou and other Yancheng residents to play a cruel trick on her.
She had asked herself over and over again in countless late nights, what if she had not assassinated Jiao Zuotai at that time, what if when Dan Kou was stripped naked and Jiao Zuotai counted one, two, three to force her out, she would have stood up immediately.
Then will Dankou, Dankou’s brother, Miaomiao, and so many ordinary people in Yancheng die?
Probably still will.
Jiao Zuotai had long suspected the matter of the list and that there was a spy infiltrated. He had also recognized her early on and had decided from the beginning to torture her psychologically.
Even though she knew Jiao Zuotai's malicious intentions, guilt, shame, and regret... still trapped her heart deeply and tightly like a swamp.
For a long time, she was ashamed of any happy emotions. Even if she smiled, she would feel cruel and treacherous.
She dreamed of cutting Jiao Zuotai into pieces.
But now that he has become the commander-in-chief and has troops under his command, Yun Chen knows very well how difficult it is to take the life of the enemy commander among hundreds of thousands of troops.
She couldn't let Shan Ji take risks just for her own hatred.
Besides, what good was Jiao Zuotai's death? The mastermind behind the three kingdoms' simultaneous invasion of the Nan Kingdom was still unknown, the man-eating Black Scale Cavalry was still there, and the territory occupied by the enemy had not been returned...
Failure to eradicate evil is almost equivalent to encouraging its arrogance.
Therefore, she firmly believed that one day, she would meet Jiao Zuotai on the battlefield and let him die clearly at her hands.
As this was a military secret, Yun Chen could not say much, and only said:
"We are currently stuck in a stalemate with the Black Scale Cavalry, and it's difficult for us to storm Guying City. A big reason for this is that we don't have cavalry units as well-trained as the Black Scale Cavalry."
After a pause, Yun Chen's voice darkened and his expression became gloomy:
"We are short of war horses."
Now Shan Ji also fell silent.
He understood the current difficulties of the Lion Army, and even more so Yun Chen's predicament.
After a moment's thought, he said, "I'll go to Youzhou for you. Since you've already burned incense to the moon and summoned the Unrighteous Blood Guards, I'll do the work for you. I'll ask Huo Gannian for my reward—no, forget it this time."
After saying that, Shan Ji immediately stood up, looking as if he was going to go off to do his work immediately.
Yun Chen hurriedly stopped him: "Don't the Wuyi Blood Guards have a sect rule that they will remain neutral forever and never participate in any national wars?"
Shan Ji said nonchalantly, "I'm the head of the sect now. I'll abolish any broken rules."
"No, no, if you intervene in this matter, it will be equivalent to siding with the Nan Kingdom. The enemies of the Nan Kingdom will immediately become your enemies. It's too dangerous."
Yun Chen insisted on refusing, and Shan Ji almost blurted out, "Your business is my business! It's our family business!"
But before Shan Ji could say anything, the curtain was suddenly lifted.
A soldier came running over and said that an important order from the East Palace had arrived and asked her to go and receive it quickly.
For some reason, Yun Chen and Shan Ji looked at each other and had a strange premonition in their hearts at the same time.
After quickly putting on his armor, Yun Chen ran towards Huo Gannian's main tent.
From a distance, she saw a crowd of people outside the main tent.
Huo Gannian stood at the front, followed by Zhi Luo, Rong Jiang, Rong Yi and dozens of others.
She ran into the queue and stood behind Huo Gannian.
As the messenger unfolded the bright yellow Eastern Palace Order, Huo Gannian and others immediately knelt on one knee to greet him.
"The East Palace has issued an order:
"Today, we have a mighty army, valiant and resolute, capable of defeating our enemies and bringing them victory. They have rendered merit to our country and will be remembered for generations to come. However, while our soldiers are plentiful, our horses are scarce. Without strong cavalry, we cannot achieve victory. Without the city walls, our homeland will be difficult to recover. Therefore, I have specially ordered you to go to Youzhou to borrow horses, train your cavalry, and conquer our cities and enemies, defending our people!"
As soon as the messenger finished speaking, Huo Gannian did not thank him. Instead, he stood up, walked to Yun Chen and helped her up. Then, as if no one was around, he looked at her with a look that only Yun Chen could understand.
Everyone was surprised.
Holding back a strong sense of sourness, Zhi Luo threw the rules behind his mind, quickly took the East Palace Order from the side, and respectfully asked:
"Excuse me, sir, why did the princess suddenly ask us to go to Youzhou?"
The messenger was very displeased with Huo Gannian's indifference and said coldly:
"Youzhou's war horses are world-renowned. We're asking you to go, naturally, to borrow horses. Isn't it because you're short of horses that you're stopped here, preventing you from capturing Yingcheng? How is it that I've only been talking for so long, and you haven't heard a single word?"
"How dare you? We heard it all!" Rong Yi stepped forward, put his arm around the messenger's shoulders affectionately, and with a slight movement of his hand, he stuffed a large bag of gold into the messenger's sleeve and said with a smile:
"Don't be offended, sir. We are all unsophisticated people. Please forgive us if we have been negligent. We will definitely go to Youzhou immediately. However, the imperial decree did not specify who to borrow horses from."
The messenger's expression eased slightly, and he said, "Of course, I'll go find—"
Before he finished speaking, Yun Chen's low voice sounded:
"Youzhou Horse King, Lord Yunzhong."
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