Chapter 248.2: Hello Chang'an
Chapter 243: Rotten to the Core
“…He Wei has been dead for more than twenty days already. I don’t believe that everyone in Jiangnan, inside and out, has been completely kept in the dark by Li Yi! Yet not a single person dares to speak out or step forward—every one of them is just harboring their own schemes and pretending to be deaf and dumb!” Chang Kuo spat from horseback and cursed, “Rotten! All of it’s rotten through and through!”
“Yes, rotten to the core,” Suining looked ahead at the muddy official road, her brows tightly furrowed.
Through that rotten surface, one could see that the hearts of the people were no longer united.
Since Her Majesty took the throne, all the discontent accumulated in various places seemed to be erupting at once under Xu Zhengye’s cry of “Restore the Li dynasty’s realm.”
These past two days in Hezhou, she had also heard news of uprisings breaking out in many places.
That manifesto written by Luo Guanlin in the beginning had been extremely inflammatory, and now voices responding to Xu Zhengye were rising from various regions—not just within Jiangnan.
Those responses, true or false, were just like Xu Zhengye’s so-called “loyalty to the Li clan”—merely a banner for personal gain. Now, everyone was a Xu Zhengye; everyone wanted to become a Xu Zhengye.
This meant the prestige of the court and the Holy Empress would inevitably be weakened. And once prestige was weakened, many of the Emperial decrees would be obstructed or carried out perfunctorily.
Therefore, the imperial envoy dispatched this time was of utmost importance—if his ability were lacking, it would be hard to mobilize sufficient troops swiftly in such a volatile situation.
And if the envoy happened to be a fool...
The thought made Suining’s scalp tighten. If her teacher suffered from an intolerance of stupidity, then she herself had a phobia of fools.
The world was vast, and it could tolerate thousands of fools; being born foolish was no crime. But if a fool was placed in an ill-fitting position, it became a great disaster.
Li Yi was an excellent example of that.
This time, she and Old Chang must rush ahead to intercept Li Yi. In a sense, it could be called taking the lead themselves. Out of concern for whether reinforcement could arrive in time to support them, Suining asked, “Have you heard who the imperial envoy sent by decree is this time?”
Old Kang replied, “A military officer, though we couldn’t learn exactly who. But it’s confirmed that the leader of the delegation is that Wei Shilang from the Marquis of Zheng’s household.”
So it was Wei Shuyi who was coming.
Suining was somewhat surprised.
That man, full of subtle schemes to the point of inspiring trypophobia, was certainly no fool.
However, Jiangnan’s situation was chaotic and perilous; he was, after all, a bona fide civil official... Never mind, she would at least wish him good luck.
——
After another day’s travel, though Chang Kuo still had not received any news from the imperial envoys, five thousand reinforcements had joined them.
They encountered Chu Xing and his men.
Earlier, Chu Xing had been ordered to block the rebel forces of the Xu clan near Sishui, but midway through the campaign, he ran into the dire problem of food shortages. He had repeatedly sent messengers urging Li Yi for supplies, but what they received was pitiful—barely enough to feed ants.
A battle fought without rations could only end in death.
Chu Xing tried to raise provisions locally but could not hold out long. Hungry soldiers soon lost morale, and after suffering a fierce assault, his troops took massive casualties—of tens of thousands, only five thousand managed to break through and escape.
That day, though Chu Xing fought until exhaustion, he still managed to mentally curse Li Yi’s ancestors eighteen generations back.
Afterward, hearing that his own general was defending Hezhou against the rebels, he made a bold decision—he ordered the remaining five thousand troops to march straight to Hezhou.
Scouts sent ahead by Chang Kuo spotted their traces on the way, and the two sides were thus able to meet.
Those five thousand soldiers were like starving refugees. Chang Kuo immediately ordered dry rations distributed so they could fill their stomachs.
Watching Chu Xing and the others devour the food ravenously, Chang Kuo felt both anger and heartache.
Fortunately, the people of Hezhou were loyal and generous, having prepared plenty of rations for them. Otherwise, Chang Kuo would not only have pitied his men but also his dwindling food supply.
Once they were fed, Chu Xing carefully recounted to Chang Kuo the entire battle of Sishui.
In the end, feeling deeply ashamed, he knelt to plead guilty. Regardless of other factors, as the commanding officer of the campaign, having suffered such a crushing defeat and horrific casualties, he was filled with grief and guilt.
“Get up, this isn’t your fault!” Chang Kuo’s expression was grim. “I’ll grind Li Yi’s bones to ashes to honor our fallen brothers!”
Suining said nothing; she simply reached out and helped Chu Xing up by the arm.
The moment she did, she realized his arm beneath the sleeve was emaciated.
They steadied their emotions and continued their journey.
On the road, Chu Xing finally found a chance to speak with Suining. “I heard tales of the lady’s valor in Hezhou, slaying enemies on the battlefield—I thought it must be a rumor... never imagined it was truly you, Lady Chang.”
Her presence here already shocked him deeply, and when he heard, “At Hezhou… that Ge Zong—was it really the lady who killed him?”
Before Suining could answer, Jicai Niangzi beside her spoke up, “Could that be fake? I was right there watching with my own eyes! One stroke of Young Miss Chang’s blade, and that dog’s head came clean off!”
Chu Xing’s eyes widened in astonishment.
So he had actually trained such a formidable disciple?
Update delivered—good night
No comments: