Happy New Year ~ In the evening, there was a chapter titled "A Stick of Plum Wine, White Clothes Return to Beiliang".
When Hsu Fengnian woke up, he opened his eyes and turned his head to look. He discovered that the sun was shining brightly outside the window. Under the illumination of the light, the dust near the window could be seen clearly, but the room was somewhat dim. Hsu Fengnian retracted his gaze from a distance and saw a fat man sitting on the edge of the bed like a small mountain, Beiliang's Protector-General Chu Lushan. So it was this fellow's existence that blocked out the sunlight.
Chu Lushan, whose back was facing the sunlight, said in a somewhat hoarse voice, "After Sir Nangong brought Your Highness to Huaiyang Pass, he left without saying goodbye. I couldn't stop him."
Hsu Fengnian, whose lips were dry, slowly sat up. His breathing was not smooth. A person's back was actually very thin, and the so-called heart of the back was extremely close to the heart. After being hammered by Tuoba with all his strength, it was naturally not as simple as injuring his muscles and bones. Fortunately, Hsu Fengnian was far too familiar with injuries. After being sick for a long time, he became a doctor. Following the Wudang Da Huang Ting Heart Sutra, he looked inside himself and roughly understood the extent of his recovery. He opened his mouth and asked, "Where's the iron spear?"
Chu Lushan softly said, "It's in the coffin."
Hsu Fengnian nodded. "Tell Second Brother Yuan to have the banner of the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry take down and send it here. As for the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry, tell them that they need a new banner. If someone tries to stop them, there's no need to act forcefully. When the time comes, I'll personally explain to those cavalry generals."
Chu Lushan said, "Reporting to Your Highness, Yuan Baixiong has left for Youzhou's Calabash Mouth. As for the matter of changing the banner, Your Highness need not worry too much. Old Qi was originally an old member of the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry. Now that the spy report of Old Qi's death in battle has already spread throughout the border army, I believe that no one will say anything."
Hsu Fengnian crossed his hands over his abdomen, not looking at Chu Lushan. "If I had arrived at the Longyan Plains a moment earlier, I wouldn't have died."
Chu Lushan shook his head. "If? In that case, if the Protectorate General did not accept the suggestion of the three White Horse Crossbowmen, would Sun Ji and Wei Musheng not have to die? The battlefield was constantly changing. Life and death could not be blamed on others. There were not so many ifs. So what if he's dead? "
So what if he died?
It was a very understatement.
Hsu Fengnian turned his head to look at this notorious man. The Xu family had dominated the Northwest for 20 years. What else could it be if it wasn't a military town? Chu Lushan had a notorious record and held a high position in Beiliang. The historians of the future would certainly not be stingy with their penmanship to condemn him. Perhaps his name would be even more infamous than Hsu Fengnian, the leader of the Beiliang cavalry. Hsu Fengnian was not infuriated by Chu Lushan's heartless words. It was not only because Lu Qiu 'er, the adopted son of Butcher, was fated to be a part of Beiliang's honor and disgrace. It was also because Xu Xiao and Li Yishan believed that this man's talent in military strategy was closest to Chen Zhibao's and that he was a true candidate for the Marshal of Beiliang. One could even say that if not for Chu Lushan's public flattery, the young men of the Beiliang Frontier Army would have leaned toward Chen Zhibao. The succession of Hsu Fengnian would not have been easy, and even more blood would have been spilled. One Huaihua Great General Zhong Hongwu would have been far from enough. But the true reason Hsu Fengnian had chosen to remain silent was because this man before him was as imposing as a mountain. He had once led his cavalry to conquer Shu, had once turned the tide in the first battle of Beimang, and had even personally led his eight thousand Yeluohe Cavalry to stifle Dong Zhuo's plans. Thus, this man surnamed Chu, who had spent nearly thirty years on the battlefield, had far more right to speak on the battlefield than Hsu Fengnian, even if Hsu Fengnian was a grandmaster of martial arts evaluation, even if Hsu Fengnian was the King of Beiliang.
Chu Lushan clenched his fists and rested them on his knees. "Parting in life and death, all good things must come to an end."
Hsu Fengnian's lips twitched, a dazed look in his eyes as if he was thinking about the three hundred thousand steles behind Mount Qingliang. "There's no need to comfort me. I know that those names carved on these steles all have loved ones, just like Qi Dangguo. So no matter who dies, there will be people who will grieve. It's not necessarily me, Hsu Fengnian, who grieves the most. "
Hsu Fengnian paused for a moment. "But when I think about how I'll write so many couplets and so many 'spring' characters, just like in previous years, but the person who asked me for them every year is no longer here. Even if I wanted to give them away, I wouldn't be able to, and my heart would feel a little empty."
Hsu Fengnian raised his head. "Before my second journey through the jianghu, Xu Xiao took me to the bottom of Tide-listening Pavilion and saw that there were many memorial tablets there. At the time, I didn't quite understand Xu Xiao's feelings, but I do now. In truth, when Liu Jinu and Chu Hanqing of Hutou City died, I somewhat understood. "
Chu Lushan quietly listened to the young lord's soliloquy without any expression.
Hsu Fengnian got out of bed and staggered. Chu Lushan wanted to support him, but Hsu Fengnian smiled and waved his hand. Chu Lushan didn't insist.
Chu Lushan led Hsu Fengnian to a secluded courtyard not far away and stepped into the inner room. When he saw the cypress coffin, Chu Lushan took a few steps closer and said with a smile, "We couldn't find the best Nanmu in Huaiyang Pass, so we could only let Old Qi sleep with it. Fortunately, Old Qi was never a particular person in his life. I still remember that in the Western Wall, this guy could sleep with corpses as pillows. We went to find him several times, but it didn't work. Later, when we got to the northwest, Wangfei had to help Old Qi arrange the residences for the six of us. She was afraid that Old Qi would find a house the size of a sparrow's nest to fool her. Later, when he got married, Wangfei was the matchmaker. Old Qi Le agreed without hesitation. He probably saw his wife's face for the first time on the day of the wedding when the red veil was unveiled. Fortunately, Old Qi had a good life these years. He had been a military commandant for more than ten years, a fourth-grade official the size of a sesame seed, but he had never complained about anything. If it were me, I would have gone to my adoptive father and Wangfei to make a scene. "
Chu Lushan suddenly patted the coffin lid heavily, "Old Qi, don't sleep, Wangye is here to see you!"
Hsu Fengnian stared at Chu Lushan.
The latter smiled bitterly, retracted his hand, and glanced at the coffin. Chu Lushan whispered, "Sleep, sleep, Old Qi, your sleepiness is stronger than the sky. Even thunder can't wake you up. Only the words' when there is a war, carry the big banner 'are the most useful."
Hsu Fengnian stood by the coffin and looked outside the room. The sunlight spilled over the ground of the courtyard, covering it in a layer of gold. He softly asked, "What's the situation north of Hutou City and Liuzhou?"
When it came to important military matters, Beiliang Protector-General Chu Lushan was much more solemn. He sternly said, "In this battle on the Dragon Eye Plains, Beimang suffered heavy casualties, losing all of its elite scouts, including Wuya Lanzi and Heihu Lanzi. As a result, the central army led by Dong Zhuo and Murong Baoding was blinded. Of the eight thousand Dong clan cavalry, only a thousand or so returned. Of the six thousand Rouran cavalry, only around two thousand remained. The main reason is that after Hong Jingyan's death, the Rouran cavalry was leaderless. It will probably be quickly carved up by the various factions of Beimang. An unorganized cavalry army cannot be considered a fighting force. Most importantly, after the Dong clan cavalry and the Rouran cavalry were destroyed, the flexibility of Beimang's central army was greatly reduced. On the other hand, in Beiliang, Yuan Nanting's White Feather Light Cavalry has been preserved well. It's just a pity that Old Qi's Iron Stupa … "
Chu Lushan hesitated. "The deputy general of the Iron Stupa, Ning Emei, has been ordered by Old Qi to remain in the encampment around Qingyuan Army Town. She only has a few hundred soldiers. Even if we add in the remaining cavalry on the Longyan Plains, they only have two thousand cavalry. With the war at hand, it is not suitable to transfer soldiers from He Zhonghu and Zhou Kang's left and right cavalry. Otherwise, the two generals who have been suppressing their anger would really rebel. In this way, it will be very difficult for the Iron Stupa to fight alone in the second war. This is not good news. After all, the Iron Stupa is a precious cavalry force. On the battlefield, two thousand and four thousand are not the same concepts."
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
