Chapter 64
"Attack."
Wen Yu slightly raised her eyes, signaling Zhao Bai to continue.
Zhao Bai said: "Yan Que claimed they had shaken off Pei Song's men that day and were about to turn back immediately to find you. It was Mian Yue who found them and said you had been captured. While leading them to rescue you, they fell into Pei Song's ambush and everyone was killed by random arrows. Yan Que was struck by an arrow and buried beneath the pile of corpses. He lost consciousness from excessive blood loss, which allowed him to escape death."
"Later, he crawled out from under the bodies and was rescued by a farming family. Due to his severe injuries, he could only recuperate at the farmer's home initially. After his condition improved, he sent a letter to Fengyang and continued searching for you in secret. Little did he expect Fengyang would have fallen by then, completely cutting off any news of you. It was only after learning you had issued a denunciation against Pei Song that he began tracking your whereabouts southward."
After listening calmly, Wen Yu simply said: "Ensure he is properly settled, and erect memorial tablets for the fallen soldiers to honor them."
Zhao Bai bowed in acknowledgment.
Wen Yu added: "Regarding the Zhou Family Manor Guards from Yongcheng I previously asked you to send people to find - if there's even one survivor, bring them back and settle them properly too."
Zhao Bai responded: "This servant understands."
After these instructions, Wen Yu put away the map: "Help me change clothes, then summon Lords Li Xun, Liu Chong, and He Kuan."
Mozhou
Pei Song dismounted and tossed the reins to the guard who came to greet him at the camp entrance.
While the Southern Border already enjoyed warm spring, the northern lands had only just begun to thaw. The warhorse still snorted plumes of white breath.
Gongsun Chou stood at the entrance of the central military tent, nodding with a slight smile: "Congratulations on your great victory, my lord."
Pei Song lifted the tent flap and entered, allowing attendants to remove his heavy cloak before sitting by the fire basin to warm his stiff, freezing hands. "Wei Qishan has grown old, and his son is utterly useless. Once my army crosses the Cheval de frise river and breaks through Zhuozhou, taking Youzhou will be like entering unguarded territory!"
Though aware this victory called for celebration, Gongsun Chou cautiously advised: "My lord is indeed mighty, but Wei Qishan remains a veteran general who has guarded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun for years. This time he merely withdrew from battle due to old illness, or perhaps... to test his son by placing Wei Pingjin at the frontlines. Losing one strategic city hardly cripples the Wei army. My lord must not let down your guard."
As Pei Song buried two sweet potatoes in the ashes, he noticed Gongsun Chou's increasingly cautious tone, similar to other advisors. Pausing, he said: "Speak freely when you have guidance, Master. Though I've often rebutted you, I've always pondered your words carefully."
Gongsun Chou's sparse beard trembled over his gaunt chin, tears briefly glistening in his eyes as he solemnly cupped his hands: "To advise and support my lord is this subject's duty."
Pei Song leaned forward, elbows on knees, watching the flames: "The world fears me. I hope you do not."
Gongsun Chou's clasped hands trembled slightly, but before he could voice deeper sentiments, a guard reported outside: "Minister, a message from Pingzhou."
Pei Song said: "Bring it in."
The guard promptly delivered a letter.
After reading it, Pei Song handed the letter to Gongsun Chou, who hesitated: "Shall we use the old woman?"
Pei Song said: "Not yet."He asked, "Did Southern Chen reject our proposal?"
Gongsun Chou nodded.
Pei Song sneered, "I even promised to cede the six prefectures north of Pingzhou to Southern Chen, yet they still refused the offer. Could it be that they truly believe they can monopolize the entire Liang empire?"
Gongsun Chou replied, "Those remnants of the former dynasty indeed have some tricks up their sleeves, thoroughly stirring up the south into complete chaos. Seeing the unstable situation, Southern Chen naturally isn't content to merely guard the empty promise of you granting them the six prefectures north of Pingzhou in the future."
Pei Song then smiled, with a hint of madness in his light tone, "Then let these rivers and mountains also taste the blood of Southern Chen."
Gongsun Chou was skilled in reading people, and once again he saw the ambition to unify the Central Plains in this young ruler he had chosen. However, Pei Song, though decisive in slaughter, often made mistakes because of a woman.
After some thought, Gongsun Chou cupped his hands and said, "There is one more matter. Because you have been fighting on the front lines, it hasn't been reported to you yet."
Pei Song said, "Speak freely, sir."
Gongsun Chou then took a letter from his sleeve and presented it to Pei Song. "This was intercepted from the letters sent by Lady Jiang. She... has uncovered your true identity and attempted to inform those remnants of the former dynasty."
Just from the name on the envelope, Pei Song couldn't tell whom the letter was addressed to.
But since Gongsun Chou said the letter was sent to Wen Yu, and the envelope had already been opened, he took out the letter inside.
After scanning through it quickly, the corner of his mouth suddenly lifted. "So she still has a way to contact Han Yang."
He returned the letter to Gongsun Chou and said, "No matter. Let her send it. This actually does me a great favor."
Jiang Yichu hadn't seen Pei Song for a long time.
Dressed in coarse cloth, she was washing clothes by the river. The icy water from the newly melted snow had turned her fingers red, with her pinky slightly swollen and already frostbitten.
Having finally finished washing the basin of clothes, she raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead when a foot stretched out from behind and mercilessly kicked the basin of freshly washed clothes back into the freezing river.
Having endured endless bullying these days, Jiang Yichu didn't even turn to see who had kicked over the basin, instead reaching out to retrieve the clothes being carried away by the current.
If these clothes were washed away, she would inevitably face punishment upon returning.
But then a hand reached out from behind, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her forcefully backward.
The grip of the five fingers nearly crushed her shoulder blade.
"The clothes..." Jiang Yichu was pulled back by the great force, falling onto the ground. Her hands were scraped by the rough gravel at the riverbank. Her face was pale from the cold, with disheveled strands of hair falling over her eyes, looking utterly pitiful.
The words on the tip of her tongue were swallowed back when she saw the instigator, cloaked in a heavy fur coat and leaning against a tree. She pressed her lips tightly, ignoring the pain, and scrambled up to continue retrieving the clothes, most of which had already been carried away by the river.
Pei Song pressed her slender shoulder, forcing her to stay in place, his lips curling in a malicious and cold smile as he leisurely asked, "Sister, you've never washed clothes for me. Whose clothes are you washing now?"
He seemed completely indifferent, as if it didn't matter at all.
Forced to meet his gaze, Jiang Yichu's nose and eyes were red from the cold, her disheveled hair blown by the wind across her face. Her slender neck and delicate collarbones trembled slightly in the chilly wind as she said, "Please don't make things difficult for me, Minister. If these clothes are lost, Lady Zheng and the others will blame me."Pei Song took a moment to recall who the Lady Zheng she mentioned was.
The only woman he had brought to Mozhou was Jiang Yichu.
At the time, his injuries had just healed, and his subordinates, displeased with how he had risked himself to save Jiang Yichu, believed he might have been swayed by her beauty. To appease them, they scoured Mozhou for other beauties to present to him.
Irritated by the noise and fearing Jiang Yichu would become a target of resentment, he accepted them.
After several fierce battles on the front lines, he had almost forgotten those women existed.
He smiled faintly and said ambiguously, "So it's them..."
As the garment drifted further away in the river, Jiang Yichu struggled with all her might but failed to break free from Pei Song's grip. Her eyes reddened as she looked at him. "Please release this condemned woman, Minister of Works."
The term "condemned woman" seemed to provoke Pei Song. He abruptly tightened his grip on her chin, yet his face broke into an exceptionally charming smile, his tone deceptively light. "Ah-Jie, do you know why they bully you?"
Jiang Yichu glared at him with red-rimmed eyes, refusing to speak.
Pei Song leaned in close, his breath warming her pale cheeks as he drawled, "Because they are favored. In this world, people always fawn over the powerful and trample on the weak."
As if trying to bewitch her, he released her chin and gently wiped away the tear at the corner of her eye. "Why are you crying, Ah-Jie? Is it grievance? But if you wished, you could easily surpass them in favor."
In that moment, Jiang Yichu's eyes filled with profound sorrow, as if she were seeing a long-lost person through him. Her voice was hoarse as she said, "Don't call me Ah-Jie."
Pei Song's gaze shifted strangely.
Jiang Yichu continued, "My Ah-Huan died fifteen years ago."
Pei Song suddenly laughed—a wild, unrestrained laugh that shook his entire frame beneath his cloak. Yet his eyes held a ruthless madness. "Everyone in this world wishes for my death, but what can they do? Not only have I survived, but I've slaughtered the clans that framed my Qin family and the unjust imperial house, reducing this rotten Great Liang to dust!"
Jiang Yichu stared at him in a daze, tears tracing paths over her wind-chafed cheeks. She pummeled his chest with her fists, crying out, "Madman! You madman! If the Qin family suffered and you sought revenge, why become the Ao family's lackey? My husband wanted to save Great Liang, to rescue the suffering people crushed by corrupt court factions! Why did you kill him?"
"Save?" Pei Song sneered, gripping her chin once more as he stared coldly at her. "Could he have saved anything?"
With his other hand, he gently stroked her tear-streaked face, his tone a mix of sigh and murmur, yet his eyes remained icy. "You cherish all of Wen Heng's virtues only because he died young. In five or ten years, seated high on the throne with countless beauties in his harem, and you aged and faded, do you think his eyes would still hold only you?"
Jiang Yichu trembled uncontrollably, whether from the cold or the terror of his touch.
Pei Song's voice softened, laced with a condescending pity as he looked at her. "It's the same with power. Before he ascended the throne, he had to show the Purist faction, who supported him and his father, how noble their aspirations and grand their ambitions were. But once he became emperor, then what?"Pei Song sneered, "What does the common populace matter? What does the Party of Ao amount to? All they will do is continuously consolidate their own imperial power—how could they care whether the officials beneath them are loyal or treacherous?"
He lowered his gaze and murmured, "It wasn't the Mingcheng Emperor of that time who condemned my entire Qin clan—it was every Wen emperor who ascended that throne and would inevitably make the same decision."
Jiang Yichu trembled even more violently under his palm.
Pei Song curled his lips into a sharp, mocking smile. "This is what the entire Wen clan and the former Liang owe my Qin family. Is it not justified for me to slaughter them?"
A cold wind blew, causing the tears welling in Jiang Yichu's eyes to spill over. Staring at the man before her, she could only whisper two words: "Madman..."
Pingzhou
Due to the assassination turmoil, Pingzhou had been in a state of high alert for some time. The aristocratic families had recently become much more restrained in their actions.
Simultaneously, Pingzhou had dispatched envoys to Yizhou and Tao County to demand their surrender.
Li Xun had been working nonstop for days. His advisors frequently argued due to disagreements, and as the mediator, he had developed blisters on his lips just from trying to calm their disputes.
When news arrived from Yizhou and Tao County, he rushed without a moment's delay to deliver it to Wen Yu: "My Lady, that Xinzhou is utterly ambitious! Seeing your intention to persuade Yizhou and Tao County to surrender, they have revealed their trump card—the Northern Wei—and, just like us, sent envoys to urge their surrender!"
The room was filled with the scent of incense, delicate tendrils of pale smoke curling up from the Boshan censer.
A slender, pale hand gently brushed through the ethereal haze as a calm voice responded, "There is no need to panic. I am well aware of the situation."
Though Li Xun still did not know Wen Yu's strategy, her words immediately eased his tension. He wiped the sweat from his forehead—a result of his hurried pace—with his sleeve and asked, "After Xinzhou intervened, both Yizhou and Tao County seem to be holding out for better offers. What do you suggest we do now, My Lady?"
Wen Yu turned a page of the book in her hands without looking up, her voice clear and steady as she uttered a single word: "Attack."
Author's Note:
Dear readers, I apologize for the slow updates of this book. I always strive to polish it to the best of my ability, but I understand this isn't ideal for those eagerly following along.
I will update as often as I can each day, but when I feel the writing isn't up to standard or I hit a major block, I truly cannot bring myself to post. I want to take responsibility for this book and for all of you, which is why I refuse to publish anything half-hearted.
It might be hard to believe, but even now, with every chapter I write, I discard a significant amount of draft material. Every word I type is chosen with extreme care. I want you to feel that the chapter you paid for is worth it.
My progress in writing is slow, but with each book, I push myself to improve just a little. If even one reader who has followed all my works notices, "This author seems to have improved a bit compared to before," I would be overjoyed. For those reading my work for the first time, this is the best I can produce at my current level, and I am not ashamed of that.I truly understand how exhausting it is for everyone to wait for late-night updates. Many times I've wanted to stick to a fixed schedule, but due to writer's block and failing to achieve the desired quality, the update times ended up becoming chaotic again. I can only apologize to you all once more.
Dear readers who find waiting for updates too demanding, please consider putting this story aside for now. I'll continue writing at my current best capacity - even if progress is slow, I'll complete this story with utmost care, living up to your affection and expectations for this book.
This chapter comes with bonus red packets for everyone~
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