Chapter 270 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Even if the sky collapsed, he would not leave. That was because on his shoulders he carried her love.
The cold wind caressed his eyebrows as he saw the young scout return on horseback. The scout’s back was bent as a dozen arrows were embedded in his back. Even with that, he did not fall, and instead, he tied the spear to his horse. Piercing the spear into his chest, he forced his dead body to return. Before his chest, the armor had been torn apart. On the white clothes, there were a few words written in blood: Southeast, 15km, light cavalry, 10 thousand.
Zhuge Yue looked at this young warrior and lowered his head. After a long pause, he lightly said, “You have done well.”
With that, the spear that had been under stress for a long time had finally penetrated through the body of the soldier. The dark red blood spurted out from the back as the young soldier fell off the horse. The horse neighed in sorrow as it licked the soldier’s face, pacing up and down.
“King!” A bodyguard ran over. Holding onto a thin old man, he shouted, “We found him!”
The man was already over 60-years-old. In this era, that was considered a rarity. He was really thin, but it was apparent that his mind was clear. Despite his disorderly appearance, his eyes shone with intelligence. Zhuge Yue observed him, before slowly nodding. “This teacher seems really healthy, and should be able to handle the harsh conditions of traveling long distances with ease.”
“You… Qinghai is a land of the barbarians. They are all uncultured and uncivilized. This old man is a scholar, how can…”
Zhuge Yue’s eyes rolled as his stared straight into the old man’s eyes. With a voice that was slow and steady, he radiated pressure, “I traveled thousands of miles personally and brought huge forces with me. Seems like this doctor thinks that I did not express enough sincerity.” This statement was so casual, yet it was filled with murderous intent. This made the old man, Gao Qingzhu, freeze in his tracks.
From Qinghai to Cuiwei, they had pa.s.sed through countless provinces. With that, they had left behind so many soldiers. Such authentic sincerity, who dared to claim otherwise?
“Invite Mister Qingzhu onto the carriage.”
“Understood, Your Highness!”
Even though Maoling City was completely untouched by the battles, the officials did not hesitate to let the Qinghai army into the castle. With the upheaval of the West Meng Continent, the Xia Imperial family retreated to the Northern lands, along with the conquering of the Empire by Yan Bei. Yet, even though all the garrisons had surrendered to Yan Bei, many of the garrisons were still unchanged. As such, to them, Zhuge Yue, as the former Grand Marshal of the Xia Empire, was like an old friend to them.
As the Qinghai army entered Maoling City, the civilians thought that the Imperial forces had begun their counterattack. Countless men carried axes and blades in hopes of joining the army, and civilians even gave them food. The streets were full of happiness, completely unlike a city that had just fallen.
“King.” Guo Huai carried with him a huge, heavy blade as he ran over. Wiping away the dust on his face, he loudly asked, “The Yan Army is here. What should we do?”
Zhuge Yue looked to the southeast, and without changing his expression, he calmly stated, “We fight.”
At that moment, the entire army erupted into a wave of jubilance. This group of soldiers was the elites of Qinghai. From the moment they set off from Cuiwei Pa.s.s, they had been cowering and covering their tracks, retreating from every battle. This resulted in their pent-up frustration. At this moment when they finally heard that they could fight, everyone cheered.
It was dusk when the Yan Army finally arrived, yet they did not initiate an a.s.sault but merely surrounded the city in a siege. Zhuge Yue immediately could tell that they were waiting for reinforcements. The moment that the reinforcements arrived would be extremely disadvantageous to him. On the same night, before the Yan Army had completely finalized their formations, the Qinghai army charged out of Maoling, and after three waves of a.s.sault, the Qinghai army managed to tear open a gap in the rock solid encirclement of the Yan Army and escape from the siege. These 10,000 soldiers were not regular forces but were merely reserves that were immediately summoned due to the fall of Maoling. Such a force would naturally be defeated by the elites of Qinghai.
At that moment, the entire line of beacons along the Great Yan Empire was set ablaze one by one as the various elites forces were sent out. Yet, Qinghai’s war horses were extremely fast. Those elite forces arrived only to see the wave of dust left behind by the Qinghai army.
Soon they were faced with the final line of defense—the Cangming Mountain Pa.s.s. After crossing this mountain, they would arrive at the Qinghai Cuiwei Pa.s.s. The night before, the warriors of Qinghai had all polished their weapons in preparation for the difficult fight ahead.
Wearing his cold armor, Zhuge Yue raised his arm as a snow white eagle landed on his wrist and stretched out the leg that carried a letter. He carefully read the contents of the letter twice before putting it in his chest, as though he was personally experiencing the warmth of the words. It was as though he was holding a warmer in the frigid winter.
Everyone had things that were extremely precious to them. To some, it was wealth, to some, it was authority. To him, it was just one person.
He was never a kind person. It was only because of her that he willingly withdrew his devilish side. Yet, that did not mean that he had already forgotten how to kill.
He slowly raised his head. The dark skies seemed so low that even the stars were about to fall out, as though he could grab them if he reached his hands out. The wind blew from far away, as though carrying with it the scents unique to Qinghai. His heart was like the tall gra.s.s in Qinghai, lightly swaying in the winds.
On the second day, they could see formations of enemies that numbered 8,000. Different from the previous encounters with the Xia forces that were forced to defect, and the reserves of the Yan Empire that were newly recruited, they were native to Yan Bei, born in the seas of blades and rains of blood.
The winds at the borders were always cold, as it swept across the vast lands, lifting up a wave of gra.s.s. The Qinghai soldiers tightened the black bands around their wrists as they firmly gripped their blades and coldly looked at the enemies facing them. An intense will of battle arose in the battlefield. It was as though even the winds that lightly blew past resounded with the rolling of the war drums.
Yet, at this critical juncture, there seemed to be some kind of panic in the formations of the garrison of the Cangming Mountain. Zhuge Yue, who was still atop his horse, frowned as he noticed that the garrison slowly parted and opened a path in the middle. The heavy doors opened. It was as though they had laid a red carpet before the Qinghai army.
“What are they doing?” there were soldiers who asked quietly.
“It must be a trap! The Yan Bei dogs are playing a trick on us.” The crowd entered a commotion like a drop of oil had just dripped into a pot of boiling water.
Zhuge Yue looked at the Yan Army that was in dead silence as he frowned. Time pa.s.sed slowly in this strange circ.u.mstance. The Yan Army was quiet, not taking any action. The Qinghai army had not made any movement either. The ocean of gra.s.s that was knee-high lightly swayed in the light wind.
Zhuge Yue’s horse stepped forward. Guo Huai immediately stood before him and anxiously cautioned, “King, beware that it might be a trap.”
“They dare to open the gates before me, how could I not have the courage to walk over?” Zhuge Yue’s voice was soft and his tone was flat, but the contents of his words ignited the desire to fight in the entire army. Zhuge Yue lifted his head and lightly chuckled as he pointed his sheath at his soldiers and asked aloud, “Who dares to follow this King to head over?”
“This man is willing!” At that moment, the entire Qinghai army erupted into cheers. Their voices were like thunder rolling across the entire land, creating a small tremor in its path. The 3,000 strong Qinghai force followed behind Zhuge Yue as they charged to the grand gates.
300 meters, 150 meters, 100 meters… They were close, so close they could see the faces of each Yan Bei soldier and their will to fight. Yet, none drew their blades, and no sounds of war sounded out. Just like that, they pa.s.sed through the Cangming Mountain Pa.s.s, through the doors that they expected to only pa.s.s through after losing many of their brethren.
As they entered the vast plains, the heavy gates closed behind them. The pitch black war flag hung high above the castle gates. It was like someone was watching them as they left. Zhuge Yue quietly looked one for a while before turning around and instructing Guo Huai, a native Qinghai general who rose through the ranks, “Inform Yue Qi to bring his men back.”
Guo Huai was slightly taken aback. To cooperate with this operation, General Yue Qi and General He Xiao had led 30,000 troops and hid in the vicinity of Zhen Huang City. Should something go wrong, they would immediately attack Zhen Huang. With the cooperation of the remaining troops of Xia Empire, they would disperse Yan Bei’s attention such that they could return with ease. Yet, informing them to return just like that would be a waste of their previous effort for them to infiltrate. Yet, Guo Huai did not comment and merely followed the instructions. Before long, Qinghai appeared before them.
Just as the doctor stepped back, Zhuge Yue had walked in. The huge palace was filled with the scent of a relaxing incense. He waved the maidservants away and walked to the side of the bed and sat at the side of the bed.
She had become much thinner, as though she was a completely different person. At this moment, she was sleeping, and her breathing was rather stable. As she had just taken the medication, her complexion seemed in the pink of health. It could have just been a pseudo effect, but Zhuge Yue felt like after the old doctor had seen her, she seemed much healthier than before.
He had fought all along the way and had laid out a carpet that was red from blood, and was dead worried along the way. At this very moment, all that was converted to a sense of happiness and satisfaction.
Luckily… He silently sighed in his heart, admitting to the thoughts that he would usually never admit to.
Luckily she was fine.
On the baby’s cot beside the bed, there was a small sound. Turning around, Zhuge Yue saw a small kid looking at him with a pair of round, big eyes. The kid’s eyes were pitch black. He was still too young, and even his neck was still soft and could not be lifted up. Yet his fists seemed so strong as he looked at this guy who was suspiciously hanging around his mother’s bedside. Frowning, the kid looked at Zhuge Yue seriously.
Zhuge Yue looked at his son and felt surreal. He was lost for a moment as to what expression to face his child with. He lifted a finger and placed it by the side of his lips, indicating to him to be quiet in order not to disturb Chu Qiao’s sleep. The kid obvious did not understand his gesture. Perhaps he was hungry, as he picked up his feet and exceedingly naturally, he placed it into his mouth.
Zhuge Yue frowned as he thought What kind of habit is this? It’s so unhygienic. His long arm stretched over and pulled the feet out of the kid’s mouth, and following that, he glared at the baby.
Even though the baby was still young, he was capable of telling the att.i.tude of the other. As such, without any suspense, in the very next moment, this young child of Qinghai started to howl with all his strength. At that moment, the maidservants, nannies, servants, doctors, and everyone jumped to attention and appeared from all corners of the palace. Chu Qiao who was in a deep slumber woke up and sat upright.
“What happened?”
“Did the young child wet himself?”
“Call the doctor!”
“Your Young Highness, don’t cry. Look here, what is this?”
A group of servants rudely pushed a certain man out. The kid’s eyes swept past the crowd before finally stopping on his mother’s face. Looking extremely upset, he stretched out his chubby hands and sobbed. Chu Qiao hugged the baby in her arms and looked around. It was only then she noticed her husband that she had been separated from for a long time. Yet she frowned and snapped, “You bullied our son!”
“I did not,” Zhuge Yue immediately denied it and wanted to walk over. Yet, as though trying to counter Zhuge Yue’s words, the baby started wailing with an even higher intensity as Zhuge Yue approached.
“You still say you didn’t?” Chu Qiao stared at Zhuge Yue. “You are so old, yet you still bully kids!”
Zhuge Yue was enraged. Was this kid really his? Seeing how the baby rubbed even his snot on Chu Qiao’s clothes, his flames of rage burned. What is this? After he had gone through life and death to bring back the doctor, this was the att.i.tude that he received?
“Your Highness? You are covered in dust from travel. The doctor recommended that you leave first.”
Zhuge Yue glared at the maidservant, and the young girl almost fainted. Yet, even though he glared for quite a while, he was ultimately chased out of his own door by the doctor he had forcefully abducted.
“Ah! The young prince has wet himself!”
“Bring the diapers! Nannies, please come over, the young prince might be hungry.” The palace was in a mess as the servants rushed in and out without paying any attention to him.
This King of Qinghai was particularly miserable as he sat there with a long face. Somehow the situation was completely different from what he had imagined.
It should have been like this: A filial son, a gentle wide, a group of subordinates filled with reverence that looked up at him with tears praising his achievements. Yet this was completely different from his imagination. This son only knew how to cry and nibble on his feet, and his wife was in love with the kid.
He sighed and continued to sit there miserably.
“Meixiang, should the Young Highness wear these blue clothes or these beige-colored ones?”
“Missy, the Young Highness is vomiting, did he eat too much?”
“Ah, Your Highness, can you stand up? You are sitting on the Young Highness’ toy.”
Everyone had things that were extremely precious to them. To some, it was wealth, to some, it was authority. To him, it was just two people