Chapter 138
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“The urgent military order to mobilize the garrison has left the capital.”
The Empress anxiously asked, “How long until they can arrive?”
“The first batch of light cavalry can reach the battlefield within fifteen days.”
“So long!” The Empress looked at Xie Duo with concern. “Can your Sixth Brother hold out? Do they have enough food?”
Xie Duo looked at her with a blank expression, remained silent for a moment, and confessed, “Sixth Brother’s troops only brought enough supplies to reach Luozhou. They’ve already consumed ten days’ worth of provisions. Even if the soldiers endure hunger, they can only last for another seven days, or else they won’t have the strength to face the enemy.”
Upon hearing the grim news, the Empress felt her head spin. Her body weakened as she slumped to the side. Xie Duo reached out to support her and helped her sit in a nearby chair.
Xie Duo lowered his head and reassured, “Mother Empress, there’s no need to worry too much. The rebel forces took advantage of the terrain and launched an ambush, but our casualties are just over a hundred, indicating that the rebels are in a weaker position and pose no significant threat. Even if there is real danger, our elite cavalry is more than capable of covering Sixth Brother’s urgent retreat.”
The Empress shook her head in anguish. “Don’t you understand A’Guang’s personality? If the soldiers can’t evacuate safely, will he be willing to retreat on his own?”
Xie Duo didn’t respond.
The Empress weakly waved her hand and instructed her son, “Go, bow to the Bodhisattva, pray for the Bodhisattva’s blessings to help your brother survive this ordeal.”
Xie Duo remained still.
“Hurry, go!”
“Mother Empress,” Xie Duo spoke with a deep voice, “What good is praying to gods and Buddhas? At a time like this, you should consider who is still worthy of your trust.”
The Empress, in a state of panic, murmured an apology to the Bodhisattva and then sharply reprimanded her son, “No nonsense, young man!”
“Have I done wrong, Mother Empress?” Xie Duo, with an expressionless face, looked at her. “Father Emperor devoted half a lifetime to the study of the mystical, and when faced with a great crisis, not a single immortal came to help. It was I who bore the burden, dealing with those treacherous conspirators. Now, with Sixth Brother in trouble, I requested the capital’s defense forces for urgent aid during the court meeting. Senior Minister Xu and his group didn’t respond. Can we trust them? Can we rely on them?”
The Empress numbly snorted and spoke hoarsely, “That Xu person is no longer of any hope. He thought you would give up your position as Crown Prince and willingly hand it over to your Sixth Brother. But after you took charge, you surprisingly targeted him first. Now, he’s too busy seeking his own safety to be concerned about your Sixth Brother’s fate.”
Xie Duo’s gaze narrowed slightly. “Yes, that man is utterly unreliable. Mother Empress and Sixth Brother can only rely on me now.”
The Empress looked at her son with anticipation. “Do you have a plan to save your brother’s life?”
Xie Duo looked at her with determination, “With just five thousand light cavalry following me out of the capital, in four days, we can certainly drive back or even annihilate the rebel forces and rescue Sixth Brother.”
The Empress looked surprised. “Five thousand? Your brother leads over ten thousand troops and they’re besieged. How can five thousand men save them?”
“I can do it, Mother Empress.”
“No! It’s too risky. If you go, you need at least twenty thousand soldiers. Let other Generals lead them. Your brother isn’t here, and you can’t take such a risk.”
“I can only mobilize this many troops. If we gather more, it will alert the court, and that will surely reach Father Emperor, and I won’t be able to leave the capital.”
“Nonsense!” The Empress, with tears in her eyes, said, “Your brother’s fate is uncertain, and you want me to watch you go with five thousand men to your doom!”
Upon hearing this, Xie Duo’s calm demeanor showed a hint of confusion as he looked at the Empress.
He had intended to remind his mother that he was the only one she could rely on, to prevent her from attempting to conspire with Prince Yan’s faction in his absence. However, he hadn’t expected his mother to forbid him from leaving the capital to rescue his brother.
“You are not allowed to go anywhere. Behave and stay in the palace!” The Empress, struggling to rise while supporting herself with an armrest, displayed a rare, imposing expression to her younger son. “Your Father Emperor may not have the authority to restrain you, but I do! Even if you’re the Crown Prince now or in the future, I still have authority over you!”
Seeing her son’s shocked expression, as if he’d been stunned, the Empress took a deep breath, slightly softening her emotions and spoke gently, “Your Sixth Brother is trapped in a dire situation, and the fate of Great Chu rests solely on your shoulders. Your Seventh Brother is unreasonable and blindly follows Senior Minister Li’s orders in all matters. If you recklessly endanger yourself, and something happens, how can I go on living?”
The mother and son remained silent, facing each other.
Xie Duo whispered, “It seems, in Mother Empress’ eyes, I am at least more reliable than Seventh Brother.”
The Empress furrowed her brow. “That’s natural. Your Seventh Brother has mental illness, and you’re not unaware of that. He and I both rely on you and your Sixth Brother.”
Xie Duo gazed at her, reminding her again, “This is the only way to ensure Sixth Brother’s safety. If you don’t let me leave the capital, Sixth Brother’s fate will be uncertain.”
“With your only way, you’re gambling with the lives of my two sons!” The Empress despaired. “If you dare to take risks, I’ll hang myself outside your palace immediately!”
This mournful, hoarse cry echoed between the temple and the corridors, continuously striking Xie Duo’s eardrums and entering his heart.
Like the gentle spring breeze, it swirled over the accumulated snow in his heart.
Over the past few months, the ice that had condensed deep in Xie Duo’s eyes began to crack, and the heavy, guarded gloom gradually melted away, revealing the innocence and expression that had been hidden from the light for a long time.
“Can my life be weighed equally with Sixth Brother’s?”
The Empress frowned, staring up at him. “What kind of talk is this? In Mother Empress’ eyes, both you brothers are equally important!”
Xie Duo squinted and smiled. “With Mother Empress saying that, I haven’t come to this world in vain.”
The Empress, staring at Xie Duo in a daze, suddenly had a flicker of understanding in her eyes. Her face turned pale. In these days, her son’s distant and cold attitude was finally explained.
Silence lasted for a while.
The Empress raised her hand and ordered all attendants to leave the temple.
As the grand doors closed, the dim candlelight illuminated the Empress’ pallid face. She took a step back, stumbling into a circular chair, and spoke in ahoarse voice, “When did you find out?”
Xie Duo stood in place. “The day Father Emperor was poisoned.”
Startled, the Empress looked up at him. “The Emperor was poisoned?”
“Mother Empress didn’t know?” Xie Duo was now certain that Father Emperor, in cahoots with Senior Minister Li, had deceived him, but he hadn’t expected even the person who poisoned him wasn’t his mother.
“The Emperor didn’t let me visit. How could I have known? Is it serious?”
“Father Emperor forbade visits, and Mother Empress never suspected anything?”
“The Daoist in the palace said that no one except the Crown Prince could see him. Your Father Emperor always believed in those half-immortals, so why would I be suspicious?”
Xie Duo looked at her. “When did Mother Empress find out, then?”
The Empress took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said, “About five or six years ago.”
Xie Duo was slightly surprised. It was much later than he had guessed.
“When you were little, you had a round face, chubby cheeks. I thought your face resembled mine, and your features followed your Father Emperor’s,” the Empress recalled in pain. “But by the time you were eleven or twelve, you shot up in height very quickly. I watched your face slim down day by day, making you look more like that woman. Moreover, I realized that after you were born, your Father Emperor replaced all the attendants in my palace. That’s when I started to have suspicions.”
“Mother Empress, do you hate me?”
The Empress was surprised. She opened her eyes to look at Xie Duo. “Hate you? Why would I hate you?”
“I replaced your own flesh and blood.”
The Empress furrowed her brow and closed her eyes. She struggled to speak after a long while, “I learned the truth too late. You’re the child I held in my palm and cherished for over a decade. Besides, I poured all the love and affection I owed to Seventh Brother onto you. How can I find it in my heart to hate you? I blamed the wrongdoing entirely on your Father Emperor, but I never imagined that your Father Emperor… Your Father Emperor actually told you about this! What does he want to do?”
“Father Emperor said the poison was from you. He thought you wanted to exploit the chaos to force me to give up the Crown Prince’s position, allowing Sixth Brother to take control.”
The Empress suddenly stood up, looking at her son in shock. After a long while, she abruptly moved forward and grabbed the front of Xie Duo’s robe, questioning him sternly, “The Emperor said this? The Emperor told you this?”
“Yes.”
The Empress stared at him in disbelief, choked with emotion, and tears fell in big drops.
Xie Duo reached out to help her sit back in the chair.
The Empress struggled to catch her breath, pounding her chest a couple of times. Finally, she gasped and said in extreme despair, “Your Majesty! You have such a cruel heart! I treated other people’s children as my own without any complaint, but you wanted my son to kill me!”
Xie Duo immediately knelt on one knee, grasped his mother’s right hand, and spoke with resolute strength, “I will never harm you, Mother Empress, and I won’t allow anyone to harm you.”
The Empress’ nose tingled. She bent down to embrace her son while weeping uncontrollably.
Four days passed in the blink of an eye, and there was no word from the capital yet. The provisions were running out.
It seemed that the rebel reinforcements hadn’t stopped, and if they continued to deplete their resources, the Chu army would be in dire straits.
Prince Yan sat in his command tent, growing increasingly anxious.
The rebel forces in Luozhou were now taunting and jeering just outside the city. Why was he avoiding a battle?
Was he afraid? If he was so timid, why bother to request battle again?
Should the blood feud of four thousand Great Chu soldiers still be avenged?
Why did he lack confidence in facing less than three thousand rebels?
Prince Yan clenched his teeth.
These rebels were not fierce Tatar cavalry. The difficulty in capturing Luozhoy was due to its advantageous terrain, not their strength. With ten thousand troops under his command, there was no reason to be so cautious.
If Ninth Brother were here, not to mention ten thousand against three thousand, even if it were three thousand against ten thousand, he wouldn’t retreat an inch.
The more Prince Yan thought, the more ashamed he felt.
If Ninth Brother were here…
What would Ninth Brother do?
Prince Yan carefully recalled Xie Duo’s elaborate judgment and analysis before the expedition.
“Our army has a numerical advantage. Before the battle, we should continuously send small units to harass various defensive points of the enemy and observe the disposition and character of the defenders.”
“Cautious defenders can be used as a feint target. We should appear to be launching a mock attack, creating a false threat, and encircling without attacking them. When they send a call for reinforcements to other defense posts, that’s when our hidden troops directly attack the post that has been relieved of its guard.”
“We must not waste the opportunity to reshape any favorable terrain. Sixth Brother, when it’s time for the soldiers to endure hardship, don’t give them any of that merciful crap. Mercy at this time is harming them.
“Before retreating, pretend to prepare for an attack, and before attacking, pretend to retreat.”
“As long as these three defensive points are connected, our army can launch an all-out offensive. Just remember one thing—attack where they must defend. Here, here, and this mountain trail must lead to their supply route. We should focus on guerrilla tactics. When the terrain doesn’t favor a direct confrontation, don’t force it. Just disrupt their rhythm as much as possible, lure them into going in circles, and we’ll definitely find their weaknesses.”
•••
When he first heard Xie Duo explain the strategy, Prince Yan felt his blood boil, with a clear and enlightened mind. Now, facing a mere three thousand rebels, he felt lost and truly had no face to return to the capital to face his own War God Brother.
Prince Yan suddenly opened his eyes, got up from the command tent, and began to observe the terrain inside, attempting to see everything around him through Xie Duo’s perspective.
Before the sun set, Prince Yan found a strategically advantageous location about five miles from the city gates. After careful observation, he finally made up his mind. He called his deputy and issued the first military order: “Order all soldiers to work through the night and level all the cover positions within two miles to the west of this spot.”
Early the next day, the rebel scouts who came to investigate the defensive point found that the city walls of Yucheng were deserted. The entire defensive point was eerily silent, as if it were abandoned.
Upon receiving this intelligence, the rebel commander immediately led his troops to the city and ordered soldiers to climb the ladders to the city walls.
Seeing that the Chu army had indeed withdrawn, the rebel commander immediately ordered his soldiers to climb into the defensive point, open the city gates, and set off in hot pursuit of the fleeing Chu soldiers.
However, after running less than six miles, a deafening rumble suddenly echoed from both sides of the slopes. There were shouts of alarm in the local Luozhou dialect: “Ambush!”
Prince Yan had done his utmost to set up this ambush, but the enemy responded swiftly. In their dire situation, they displayed their natural talent for mountain warfare. They abandoned their horses, dodged rolling stones, and climbed the slopes to engage the Chu army in close combat.
Although taken by surprise, this rebel force had already suffered over a thousand casualties. Prince Yan ordered the drums of war to be beaten and drew his sword, leading the charge into the enemy ranks.
The mountain reverberated with the sounds of battle.
The mountainous terrain was steep, and the Chu army was not as agile as the local people. Their numerical advantage couldn’t be fully exploited. Chu soldiers who were less skilled at climbing fell and rolled down the slopes. Prince Yan was growing anxious when he suddenly heard a peculiar horn sound in the distance.
As soon as they heard this strange horn, the enraged rebel forces from Luozhou suddenly began to retreat, trying to create distance between them and the Chu army.
Shortly after, a group of men below started shouting in unison.
They were not speaking the official language, so the Great Chu soldiers couldn’t understand. Concerned that the enemy might be up to something, they halted their attack and faced off with the rebel forces in silence.
It was a Luozhou dialect. Prince Yan was greatly surprised. He leaped to a higher vantage point to locate the source of the voices. There, he saw more than ten captured rebel soldiers kneeling at the foot of the mountain.
Among the captives stood a familiar tall figure in silver-white armor.
It was the new type of armor that Xie Duo had crafted for Prince Yan.
Prince Yan immediately recognized the individual and felt a great relief. Without questioning how he had stopped the desperate conflict between the locals and the Chu army, the Prince called out loudly, “You brat, why are you wearing the armor that Old Seventh made for me!”
The silver-armored youth tilted his head back, revealing a mischievous smile beneath the silver helmet. He casually replied, “Your armor? Then why does it have ‘War God’ engraved on the back? Unless you add ‘of Sixth Brother’ to it, it’s mine now.”
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It was the new type of armor that Xie Duo had crafted for Prince Yan.
Wasn’t it Xie Xiu (I think that’s his name)????