The Tyrant’s Cannon Fodder Male Empress Chapter 92

Chapter 92

<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>

As the Fifth Prince led three reserve teams to Baisu Trench, the commander of the entire army, Tong Ningzhao, had already strategically encircled the valley.

Thinking that all the enemy horses on the other side of the river had been eliminated, they were surprised to see the Tong family’s army almost intact, stationed where Father Emperor was in danger.

The Fifth Prince’s first reaction was anger. Tong Ningzhao, as the Deputy Commander, should not have let the Emperor suffer any harm as long as he was alive. Yet, at this moment, Tong Ningzhao was unharmed, while the Emperor faced unexpected danger. What face did he have to live in the world?

Deputy Commander Tong was taken aback by the troops brought by the Fifth Prince.

He had not yet dispatched anyone across the river for reinforcements, but the news spread rapidly. What was even stranger was that the one leading the reinforcements was the Fifth Prince, not the Crown Prince.

At this moment, the Fifth Prince’s dark and serious expression made him realize that he had to offer an explanation.

Tong Ningzhao dismounted with a leap, knelt on one knee, and first apologized to the Fifth Prince. He explained that yesterday afternoon, during the hour of the Rooster, he led the main army to engage in a decisive battle with the Khitans at Qiaomai Mountain. Two thousand elite Tong family guards and six thousand cavalry were prearranged to accompany the Emperor in holding the second line.

After Tong Ningzhao’s main army defeated the Khitan forces and pursued them for over ten miles, he received a report in the middle of the night. It stated that the Emperor encountered an ambush at Baisu Trench. He immediately abandoned the pursuit of the remaining Khitan forces, turned around, and rushed to Baisu Trench. Unfortunately, he arrived a step too late. The Emperor had been captured.

In the evening, the Khitan King, accompanied by five hundred personal guards, fled along the western mountain. The military scouts discovered him and urgently reported back.

Upon learning this, the Emperor made a prompt decision to lead the troops in pursuit. His intention was to capture the King and force the remaining Khitan forces to surrender. However, he fell into the Khitan King’s cunning trap and was ambushed.

Now that the Emperor was in the hands of the Khitans, Tong Ningzhao dared not make rash moves. He could only surround Baisu Trench and engage in negotiations with the enemy’s envoy.

“Is His Majesty unharmed?” The Fifth Prince, prepared for a desperate battle, felt a sense of helplessness. He set aside any reprimands for Tong Ningzhao, overwhelmed with both anxiety and concern, only hoping that Father Emperor’s life was not in jeopardy.

Kneeling on the ground, Tong Ningzhao’s face showed signs of difficulty. After a brief moment, tears welled up in his eyes. With red-rimmed eyes, he told the Fifth Prince, “When His Majesty was besieged, he was struck in the side by an arrow, but the wound is not deep. The envoy said the wound has been cleaned and stitched up by the military physician.”

The Fifth Prince’s face turned pale instantly. With a swift motion, he unsheathed his dagger, looking towards the three-sided encircling mountains. He roared in anger, “Where do these Khitan dogs hide!”

“Your Highness, please calm down!” Tong Ningzhao took a few steps on his knees, tearfully advising, “It’s crucial to bring back His Majesty first! For failing to protect the Emperor, this subordinate deserves a thousand deaths. But before death, I will ensure the Khitan dogs’ bodies are torn into a thousand pieces!”

The Fifth Prince, anxious and infuriated, swung his dagger into the nearby soil slope, releasing some of the pent-up anger. Only then did his mind regain the ability to think. He urgently said, “What are their demands! No need for further negotiation! Agree to everything, bring Father Emperor back to the camp for treatment without delay!”

“I understand, Your Highness. During the negotiation, there was no hint of bargaining. The Khitan envoys requested our entire army to withdraw within the borders, allowing their remnants a safe exit.”

The Fifth Prince, after a brief contemplation, hurriedly said, “For now, the priority is to rescue Father Emperor. Just comply with their demands!”

Tong Ningzhao replied, “This subordinate is worried that the Khitan dogs might go back on their word. Hence, I suggested having the Khitan King accompany our forces to return within our borders for the agreed-upon hostage exchange.”

“Absolutely,” the Fifth Prince exclaimed urgently. “They must provide hostages!”

“The envoy has just conveyed this request to the Khitan King. Now, we wait for his sincerity.”

The Fifth Prince tightened his grip on the hilt, contemplating for a while.

Thinking of the arrow that struck Father Emperor and recalling his eldest brother’s trust, he felt the immense pressure on his shoulders. After a long pause, he turned to Tong Ningzhao with determination. “We cannot delay Father Emperor’s rescue. I will be their hostage! Once you bring Father Emperor back, immediately cross the river and withdraw the troops.”

“How can Your Highness be put in harm’s way! If hostages are to be exchanged, I will naturally stand in your place!” Tong Ningzhao objected.

“These Khitan dogs are so cunning. Why would they agree to exchange an emperor for a warrior?” The Fifth Prince’s decision was firm. Just as he was about to discuss post-withdrawal negotiations with Tong Ningzhao, the Khitan envoy hastily arrived once again.

•••

Spending a sleepless night, Xue Yao was still figuring out ways to rush to the front lines.

As dawn broke on the second day, he suddenly heard an abrupt system notification:【Participated in altering the fate of Lu Jinan’s death. Based on the merit ratio, your reward is 75 Whitewashing Points. Please continue making efforts】.

This reassuring notification sound instantly relieved Xue Yao’s tense nerves.

The Crown Prince survived!

Indeed!

Because he wasn’t deposed, he still held military power. With so many soldiers and horses, the Crown Prince must have brought the Emperor back unharmed, like stealing him back!

Truly, he was his favorite idol!

Before Xue Yao could fully rejoice, he heard another system notification:【Level 1 hidden quest accomplished. Extra rewards: 999 free draw chances, and 3 times the chance to win a one-in-a-hundred-thousand special item.】

Xue Yao was momentarily stunned.

Hidden quest?

The reversal of the Crown Prince’s supposed death was actually a hidden quest?

At this moment, he had no mood to contemplate what strange rewards he had received. He only thought that since the Crown Prince was fine, his own fifth cub should also return unscathed.

It was just uncertain if the Emperor in this world could survive.

Xue Yao suspected that in the novel, the Emperor died from tetanus. If he could bring the Emperor back from the front lines, he would have to figure out a way to personally administer the antitoxin to treat him.

The Crown Prince’s current foundation was unstable. He could not afford to lose the Emperor’s protection.

The novel mentioned that the Emperor intended to use the Tong family’s army to eradicate the Wokou pirates and sea bandits. Once maritime trade became unobstructed, he planned to gradually diminish the Tong family’s influence within the court. Unfortunately, before reaching this stage, the Emperor passed away prematurely.

In this world, he hoped the Emperor live long enough to fulfill his plan.

Moreover, despite the Emperor being fickle and ambitious, he was not entirely without merit. He didn’t have particularly nasty habits, was quite diligent in governance, and showed some sense of responsibility towards his sons.

Plus, he showered Consort Xi with extreme favor. Without him, the Seventh Prince’s status in the harem might plummet.

Considering various factors, Xue Yao didn’t wish for the Emperor to pass away so early.

A day later, the first batch of urgently retreating guards escorted a carriage and arrived at the northern camp.

The Emperor had been brought back, and the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince also returned.

However, there was no sign of the Crown Prince and the Fifth Prince.

Xue Yao felt a bit worried but reassured himself, considering that the quest altering the Crown Prince’s fate was marked as completed. He decided to calm down and first find a way to infiltrate the medical team to treat the Emperor’s injuries.

Having prepared to treat tetanus beforehand, Xue Yao not only had the necessary medicines but also had a wooden syringe crafted by a palace craftsman. Now, it remained to be seen if the Emperor would accept his unconventional medical methods.

Due to his renowned expertise in epidemic control and disease treatment in Pingrong County, Xue Yao thought it wouldn’t be difficult to request joining the medical team. After all, among the military physicians accompanying the expedition, there was a physician who knew him, and he had already been hailed as a miracle worker in the Imperial Institute of Medicine.

Being a human microscope able to see bacteria, Xue Yao’s unique ability had been extensively praised by the senior imperial physician upon his return to the palace.

However, he underestimated the difficulty of the situation.

Initially, his participation in the medical consultation was welcomed. However, when he proposed his special “medicinal concoction” and explained the need for injecting it into the Emperor’s body with peculiar tools, the faces of the military physicians present turned pale.

Silence hung in the tent for what felt like an eternity. Xue Yao finally realized that he was dealing with the Emperor as his patient, and these military physicians simply lacked the courage to experiment on the sovereign.

Back in Pingrong County, when other physicians disapproved of his methods, he could confidently let the results speak for themselves. But now, without a medical license, experimenting on the Emperor’s body was out of the question. He needed one of these physicians to follow his instructions and administer the antitoxin.

None of the military physicians dared to do so.

If the Crown Prince were present, he could have sought his approval for his unconventional treatment.

But now, the Third Prince was in charge of overseeing the Emperor’s care. Trying to reason with him was a futile endeavor.

The Third Prince even refused to disclose what had happened to the Sixth and Seventh Princes, let alone the fate of their elder brothers.

Helpless, Xue Yao could only wait, hoping that the Crown Prince would return tomorrow.

Three days later, the Great Qi army had all returned to the camp.

The Crown Prince and the Fifth Prince still hadn’t returned.

Meanwhile, the Sixth Prince had already learned a devastating piece of news from the commanders.

The Emperor, ambushed and captured, became a hostage for the Khitans, with the Fifth Prince standing in for the Emperor.

The whereabouts of the Crown Prince remained unknown. Before the Fifth Prince crossed the river, he claimed that the Crown Prince, acting on a secret imperial order, had crossed the river to reinforce them. However, there was no news from him now.

The generals suspected that the Crown Prince might also have been captured by the Khitans. The details, they assumed, would only be revealed during the negotiation for the exchange of hostages.

This news was nothing short of a thunderbolt.

How could the Crown Prince be captured by the Khitans?

Xue Yao pondered tirelessly. While the Fifth Prince voluntarily took the Emperor’s place as a hostage, confirming his sacrifice, the disappearance of the Crown Prince was indeed suspicious.

Regardless, the current situation couldn’t afford the Emperor’s demise.

One-fifth of the military authority was in the hands of Consort Tong’s brother, Tong Ningzhao. Three-fifths of the military authority, belonging to the Emperor, was now led by the Third Prince. The reserve forces, one-fifth, originally under the Crown Prince, had also been entrusted to the Third Prince, as he was the eldest prince currently in the camp.

Now, the entire western expedition army belonged to Consort Tong’s family and Consort Tong’s son. Xue Yao didn’t dare to imagine what might happen if the Emperor passed away.

The Emperor was recovering from his injuries in the imperial tent. While the arrow wounds weren’t severe, he was experiencing difficulty swallowing and facial spasms.

Though his consciousness was gradually fading, his past experiences in battles told him that soldiers displaying these symptoms usually didn’t last long.

At his bedside, only his third son, who had been crying incessantly since morning, was present.

The sound of crying became the Emperor’s lullaby. Every time he struggled to wake up and discuss important matters, the crying would quickly lull him back to sleep.

Perhaps it was just his body giving in to exhaustion, but in these moments, the once proud emperor needed a reason to mask his own weakness, and he chose to attribute it to his son’s crying.

During one of the numerous times he woke up to be fed medicine, the Emperor weakly pushed away the spoon, and in a hoarse voice, uttered, “Bring Jinan.”

The Third Prince immediately rushed forward, tearfully lamenting, “Big Brother was ordered to cross the river for reinforcement and is now missing. He’s likely fallen into the hands of the Khitan bandits!”

Ignoring the Emperor’s feelings, he collapsed on the bedside, crying as if in mourning.

This shocking news caused the Emperor’s heart to race for a moment. It took a while before he fully regained control of his breath, and he spoke softly, “Summon your brothers.”

The Third Prince’s crying choked for a moment, a hint of displeasure flashing through his swollen eyes.

Over the past few days, he used every means to prevent others from visiting Father Emperor, playing the role of a devoted son. He relied on Father Emperor learning about the eldest brother’s demise to pass the “weighty responsibility” into his hands.

The Emperor, with one foot already in the coffin, requesting to see his other sons naturally triggered a sense of crisis in the Third Prince.

For a moment, he contemplated deceiving the dying Father Emperor, claiming that his brothers had all been captured by the Khitans. However, he quickly regained composure.

His uncle had privately informed him that in the current situation, if the Emperor were to die, the Second Prince would surely willingly “cede the throne.” Even if not willingly, he could only be a puppet.

Obtaining the legitimate heirship with the Emperor’s endorsement was the best scenario. If not, it was fine too. Going along with the Emperor’s wishes to let him peacefully close his eyes was enough.

As long as he held the power, the world would eventually be his, no need to create accusations of disrespectful actions during critical times. If, by chance, Father Emperor pulled through, he wouldn’t be able to escape the consequences.

The Third Prince, wiping away tears, consoled Father Emperor while secretly comforting himself. He still didn’t want his brothers to easily meet with Father Emperor, choking up as he urged Father Emperor to rest peacefully.

The weakened Emperor suddenly opened his eyes and cast a gaze at his son — a gaze of imperial fury.

It felt like being stared down by a fierce tiger. A shiver ran down the Third Prince’s spine. In a daze, he thought Father Emperor had reverted to his usual commanding self. Without a word, he humbly acknowledged and turned to send someone to bring his brothers into the tent.

Author’s Note:

Written for a few angry readers:

Every time I write scenes involving the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, there were people hurling insults, expressing disgust. To avoid this, I skip the setup and swiftly move on.

Even in the previous chapter when I briefly mentioned the serious illness of the Crown Princess, some cursed her, calling her useless, and expressed a lack of interest in a BG storyline.

I dare not delve into the Crown Prince’s psychological journey after reading the comments, fearing backlash for hinting at a BG storyline. Ironically, skipping this plotline led to criticism that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess lack emotional depth, portraying their connection as superficial.

The author, bound by constraints, felt on the verge of collapse while wearing literary shackles.

If Yaoyao were critically ill, Seventh Cub would immediately rush back. If I restrain from writing about the Crown Prince’s emotions, how could one understand the depth of his pain? If he wasn’t a sensitive person, he wouldn’t hesitate to whip a fake eunuch just because of his brother’s words.

When the Crown Prince went to see his critically ill wife, the battle was already decided. With the Khitans left with only a few thousand remnants, the Great Qi army could drown the enemy with a spit.

Moreover, the Crown Prince only held the military command token. In case of a need for reinforcement, he could only dispatch generals to cross the river. With the Emperor’s order not to let his sons cross the river, handing the command token to the Fifth Prince had no impact on the overall situation. After all, it would be the generals, not the princes, going into battle. The Crown Prince couldn’t predict from a god-like perspective that the Emperor, overseeing the second line, would fall into a trap.

Whenever I write a challenging and tumultuous subplot, without the protagonist effortlessly predicting and defeating the antagonists, there are readers who dislike it. I’ve received criticism since the Road to Shu subplot. I think by now, readers have realized that I enjoy writing about ordinary individuals struggling in the face of adversity and the greatness found in the ordinary. Actually, this looks quite exciting. Occasionally trying a change in taste is fun.

I personally enjoy reading stories that are either funny and silly or thrilling and exciting. If the protagonist is too all-powerful, and the plot device too grand, I find it hard to continue reading. This probably influences my own writing style. If my style doesn’t align with your taste, I’m genuinely sorry that I can’t be someone you like.

Style is challenging to change. I can only accept the fate of being abandoned by you. Considering this story has brought you laughter, let’s part amicably. Don’t let each chapter harm one another…

Additionally, here’s a summary of disliked plot comments from the beginning until now:

“Why does the Sixth Prince have so much screen time? He’s so annoying.”

“The Eldest Prince has too much screen time. Is he the main character?”

“Can’t we just skip the grain procurement arc? I came here for a funny daily life and raising children.”

“When will this kindergarten daily life end? I came for romantic interactions.”

“Why does Fourth Zhang have so much screen time? Can’t we skip it?”

“I don’t want to read about the Pingrong County quest. I came for CEO-style stories.”

“Is it necessary to describe the bubonic plague in such detail? Ancient people and doctors couldn’t be this foolish. Forcing them to be dumb just to drag out the time.”

“Stop writing about the Crown Princess. I won’t read the bg storyline.”

“If there’s no more romantic interaction, I’ll drop the story.”

“Explaining warfare in the plot is like summarizing ‘The Art of War’ for grandchildren. It’s just adding filler content and addressing common misconceptions.”

With the comments listed above, everyone can find resonance or disagreement. Everyone has different tastes. Trying to satisfy everyone’s demands, trimming and restricting, will result in a lack of highlights. For the angry fairies who cannot accept it, why not let this silly author self-destruct and go find a story that suits your taste?

If you enjoy this novel, support the Translator ginevre on her ko-fi account :))

<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>