Chapter 139
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After capturing all the remaining Luozhou rebels, the Chu army sustained fewer than two hundred casualties. The results of the battle were commendable.
“Even without your use of the ‘Capture the King’ move this time, I could still annihilate this group of insurgents,” said Prince Yan as he returned to the camp, clearly dividing the credit and placing himself in the top position.
“The road on the hillside is not easy to cross, is it?” Evil Ninth Brother asked, his mouth curling. “When I arrived, I saw Sixth Brother slipping with every step, rushing towards the rebels with reckless abandon. In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he covered a distance of seven steps. By the time he reached his destination, the insurgents had already scattered. I was genuinely worried for my Sixth Brother. If I had been two steps later, the rebels would have likely descended from the mountain.”
“Hahaha!” The Deputy General on the side burst into laughter until he noticed the vengeful eyes of Prince Yan, which left him choking with laughter. He coughed and, after a while, spoke reasonably, “Most of our troops are gunners and artillerymen. Not to mention the fact that we are far less agile than the local fighters on the hillside, even in a flatland battle, we would be at a disadvantage. Fortunately, Your Highness arrived in time, otherwise in this engagement, we would have suffered losses of over a thousand soldiers from the gunner and artillery units.”
When Sixth Brother heard this, he lowered his head. Xie Duo finally straightened up and spoke in a more relatable manner, “Using the artillery unit as infantry, with a loss of over a thousand men, that can still be considered a major victory. If it weren’t for Sixth Brother’s accurate choice of ambush points to lure the enemy deeper, this battle would have been truly unpredictable in terms of the outcome.”
Prince Yan’s expression brightened again. He waved his hand with satisfaction. “It’s just a minor skill.”
This time, it was his Ninth Brother’s turn to laugh uncontrollably with joy.
After discussing how to use the captives to lure the enemy, several deputy generals rose and took their leave.
In the spacious tent, only the two brothers remained.
Watching Old Ninth attentively hunched over, shelling peanuts, Prince Yan felt an inexplicable sense of reassurance.
The invisible and intangible barrier suddenly vanished. Even when sitting together in silence, it didn’t feel as distant as it did before.
Xie Duo didn’t show any of the previous vigilance. He didn’t notice that Sixth Brother had been observing him all along. After shelling a plate of peanuts, he pushed it in front of Sixth Brother and said, “You eat.”
Prince Yan smiled and replied, “You eat.”
“I saved this especially for you. Have you been scrimping on your own meals these past few days and keeping your stomach empty for the soldiers?”
Prince Yan nodded with contentment. “I feel at ease. I’m not hungry.”
“Hurry and eat,” Xie Duo urged. He solemnly tapped the low table with his index finger. “These are peanuts personally peeled by the War God. If you don’t eat, it’s like disrespecting the Great Chu’s War God.”
Prince Yan glanced at him. “You came all the way from the capital, bringing only two bags of rice and this small bag of peanuts?”
Xie Duo lowered his eyelashes, remained silent for a moment, and then mischievously said, “I actually brought a lot of delicious pastries, but I ate them all on the way. Only these are left. I thought of trading a cup of water with Sixth Brother to quench my thirst.”
Prince Yan couldn’t help but laugh. Xie Duo, with a pair of small tiger teeth, also laughed. As they were laughing, Prince Yan noticed something and turned to ask him, “You didn’t really bring just over a thousand people out of the capital, did you?”
“No,” Xie Duo said seriously, “In fact, I didn’t bring anyone out of the capital. Mother Empress wouldn’t allow me to leave. Senior Minister Xu advised me to prioritize the bigger picture and not use the city’s defenses. All the civil and military officials at court reached a consensus with Senior Minister Xu. I had to feign anger and stay confined in the Eastern Palace, letting my tutor assist Third Brother in handling the state affairs.”
“What? You escaped from the capital?”
Xie Duo narrowed his eyes dangerously and reminded him to choose his words carefully, “In the War God’s vocabulary, there’s no such word as ‘escape’.”
“Stop chattering. Let’s focus on the matter at hand,” Prince Yan said nervously. “Why are you being so reckless? Both of us are no longer in the capital. If someone suspects this, Senior Minister Li could use it as an opportunity to demand Old Seventh to represent the throne. Won’t you be handing over the authority you’ve painstakingly gathered to Senior Minister Li for nothing?”
Xie Duo shook his head. “Senior Minister Li won’t go against Father Emperor’s wishes.”
Prince Yan felt somewhat relieved at his words but was still puzzled. “Since you didn’t bring an army out of the capital, where did these over a thousand soldiers come from?”
“These are all your supply troops.” Xie Duo raised an eyebrow. “I estimated that your supply troops should have reached the vicinity of Lutong. So, as soon as I left the capital, I followed the official road and caught up with them. I had them unload the heavy artillery and firearms at the relay station, leaving a unit to guard it. The rest were divided into two teams, one to transport provisions, and the other to rush to our aid overnight.”
“You truly are something. Bringing over a thousand supply troops and still daring to come for reinforcements? Aren’t you afraid of not being of help and risking your life for nothing?”
“Afraid?” Xie Duo narrowed his eyes with authority, turning away from Prince Yan and raising his thumb, pointing it at the inscription on the back of his armor. “Have you seen the words engraved on my armor?”
Prince Yan had no response and just laughed, carefully inspecting the armor.
After clearly seeing the words “War God,” Prince Yan immediately became furious. “Did you carve these words yourself? They look so ugly! I had a perfectly good set of armor ruined by you!”
Xie Duo turned around proudly and said, “It was my tutor who carved it for me.”
Prince Yan showed a face of disdain. “Xiaobai? Don’t make things up. Han Jiao writes beautifully. How could he carve it like this?”
“It really was him who carved it.” Xie Duo couldn’t help but laugh when he recalled it. “This armor is too hard, and he couldn’t handle it. He regretted it after carving the first word. It made his hands tremble, so he had to make the second word smaller.”
The mischievous brothers burst into laughter.
Prince Yan, after laughing, couldn’t understand and asked, “Why did he insist on carving those two words for you?”
This was a long story.
The day they returned to Xiyuan Hall, Xie Duo explained his rescue plan to Han Jiao.
When he mentioned that he would leave the capital overnight, Han Jiao panicked and absolutely refused to cooperate with his plan. He didn’t want Xie Duo to go to the battlefield alone.
To reassure Han Jiao, Xie Duo stayed in the capital for one night and prepared to set off early the next day.
Han Jiao was still worried, so he took Xie Duo to theWeapons Bureau, retrieved the set of armor designed by Xie Xiu, and had Xie Duo put it on before leaving.
The armor wasn’t fully assembled yet, and the parts that could change shape hadn’t been adjusted. In reality, it was no different from ordinary armor. However, Han Jiao insisted that he wear it.
Even so, Han Jiao was extremely anxious because Xie Duo had revealed the Emperor’s conspiracy to him.
In the novel, Xie Duo likely realized his mistake too late and committed an irreparable fault, which led to his self-destruction when he found out the Emperor had used him.
Logically, that kind of ending shouldn’t happen again. But Han Jiao couldn’t shake off his worries because in the novel, Xie Duo had encountered an ambush with Prince Yan before his tragic fate.
This made Han Jiao particularly frantic and irrational. He thought and thought but still refused to let Xie Duo go.
Xie Duo reassured him repeatedly, promising to act accordingly. If victory wasn’t assured, he would only focus on extracting Prince Yan from the battlefield and escorting him back to the capital.
Han Jiao reluctantly suppressed his emotions. He clung to Xie Duo and gave him many instructions. Reluctantly, he came up with a way to engrave words on the armor. He stayed by Xie Duo’s side for a long time before finally letting him go, still with reluctance.
Hearing Han Jiao’s panicked behavior, Prince Yan finally realized the extent of risk his Ninth Brother was taking.
Prince Yan felt a mix of emotions and stared at Xie Duo in silence. After a while, he reached out to touch the back of his brother’s head, but Xie Duo promptly swatted his hand away.
“What are you doing?” Xie Duo didn’t like being patted on the head by his elder brother.
Seventh Brother picked up the habit from Sixth Brother, and they both had a tendency to want to pat his head. Even in the presence of a large crowd, these two towering brothers acted like this, making it seem like their heads weren’t quite right.
If it weren’t for Seventh Brother being unable to handle the stress, Xie Duo would have resisted long ago. He didn’t need to coddle Sixth Brother.
“I don’t know.” Prince Yan’s nose inexplicably tingled, his lips tightly pressed together. He smiled at his Ninth Brother and, in a hoarse voice, said, “It feels like… it’s been so long, you little rascal… Where have you been these past few months? I thought… I’d never see the mischievous one from before again.”
The mischievous grin on Xie Duo’s face disappeared, his gaze becoming uncertain. He quietly looked at his Sixth Brother.
It really seemed like a long-awaited reunion.
“I’m sorry, Sixth Brother.” Xie Duo’s expression turned serious.
Prince Yan put his arm around his brother’s shoulder, their foreheads touching. After a while, he whispered, “I know, during these days, the burden on your shoulders has been too heavy.”
Xie Duo bowed his head in silence.
“I’ll make sure to do my best to share your worries from now on. If there’s anything I do wrong, you have to tell me, don’t keep it to yourself.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong.” Xie Duo raised his eyes and turned his head to look at him. “It’s because of Father Emperor.”
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Ya it’s true.. that scam Emperor.. he scam everyone include himself…., love? What love? He push his woman into madness, wise? What wise? Bring his legitimate children to making faction.. *humph