The entire camp was in an uproar. The Eastern Qin generals insisted on holding the city and waiting for Xiongnu reinforcements to arrive, refusing to let Da Zhou’s troops set so much as a foot into Eastern Qin’s heartland.
The Xiongnu generals, on the other hand, insisted one and all on abandoning the city and retreating, luring Da Zhou deep into the heartland, so that when the Xiongnu troops arrived, they could strike down Jun Beiyue and cut off any chance of escape!
Both sides had argued for the better part of the day, and still neither side would yield, with no resolution in sight!
The generals on both sides, of course, spoke for their respective commanders’ wishes. Minhan Mude’er and the Empress of Eastern Qin sat facing each other, separated by a long table and a clamoring crowd of people.
The Empress of Eastern Qin was seething with anger. Every word the Xiongnu generals said, she took in fully. Though the two sides argued back and forth, the Eastern Qin generals spoke with sound reasoning and solid evidence, while the Xiongnu generals couldn’t produce a single coherent reason for withdrawing—they simply roared and pounded the table, repeating over and over, “We’re withdrawing, withdrawing right now!”
Under ordinary circumstances, the Empress of Eastern Qin would have already flipped the table and had this lot dragged out and beheaded. But this was no ordinary moment—this was a critical juncture!
It was the Xiongnu who held the upper hand now. The Empress of Eastern Qin endured, and endured again. She knew that being harsh with such savages would accomplish nothing—only a soft approach would work!
Reining in her furious gaze, she rose slowly to her feet. With a raised hand, the Eastern Qin generals fell silent at once. Though seething with fury, they still had it under control!
But the Xiongnu showed no sign of stopping—if anything, they pressed in closer, growing bolder still!
“We’re withdrawing, withdrawing right now!”
“Empress of Eastern Qin, did you not understand when we told you to withdraw?”
“Withdraw! Withdraw! Withdraw!”
Several of them shouted in unison, pounding the table together. The Empress of Eastern Qin could scarcely believe it, and the generals beside her were nearly driven mad as well!
Didn’t these Xiongnu understand that when one side of an argument fell silent, the other side ought to quiet down too, at least for the moment?
These savages—what on earth did they actually want?
“Quiet! Can you not be quiet for even a moment!” Even the guards behind the Empress of Eastern Qin couldn’t help themselves, pounding the table repeatedly!
But the Xiongnu paid them no mind at all, pounding the table even harder. “Withdraw! Withdraw! Withdraw!”
Jun Beiyao watched from the side, a cold smile playing endlessly at the corners of his mouth. The Empress of Eastern Qin was, after all, an empress who had never truly been through a great war, and especially one who had never personally defended Eastern Qin’s northern frontier—she simply didn’t understand the Xiongnu temperament!
The ones who truly understood the Xiongnu temperament were the silent-killer troops under Xuanyuan Lige’s command, but without Xuanyuan Lige’s own orders, they would obey no one else’s command!
The Empress of Eastern Qin’s hands, pressed flat on the table, clenched tighter and tighter, bit by bit, looking as if she might explode at any moment!
But in the end, her patience held.
She lifted her head, and the sinister expression that had been on her face a moment before vanished. She looked across at Minhan Mude’er and smiled. “Crown Prince Minhan, I beg you—can we not speak this over properly?”
Beg?
That was precisely the word Minhan Mude’er had been waiting to hear. He had always responded to softness, never to force!
Never mind arguing with him directly—even arguing with his subordinates never ended well!
He had been lounging languidly in his chair, tilted back off the ground, but at the Empress’s words, his heart leapt with delight, and he immediately leaned forward. Only then did all the Xiongnu generals fall silent.
Minhan Mude’er curled his lips into a dissolute smile. “What was that you just said? This prince didn’t quite catch it.”
The Empress of Eastern Qin shook with fury, unable to get a word out, while the generals beside her had veins bulging on their foreheads one and all. If rage alone could wound, Minhan Mude’er would surely have been riddled with holes by now, not a patch of him left unscathed!
But rage only harms the one who rages—it cannot harm another.
Minhan Mude’er, seeming utterly oblivious to how furious everyone was, pressed on. “Your Majesty the Empress, what was it you just said?”
The Empress of Eastern Qin swore to herself, in this very moment, that her hatred for this insolent, wet-behind-the-ears brat before her was no less than the deep-seated enmity between Eastern Qin and Da Zhou themselves!
But she had already mounted the tiger and could not dismount now. She had no choice but to press on. Having already stooped this low, having already humiliated herself with those words once, what real difference could there be between saying it once and saying it twice?
The Empress of Eastern Qin silently swallowed down a mouthful of bile and repeated herself. “Prince Minhan, I beg you—please, let’s speak this over properly between us, shall we?”
Had the Empress of Eastern Qin been dealing with anyone else today, perhaps she would have been let off. But of all people, she had to be dealing with Minhan Mude’er—the single most presumptuous, most arrogant man under all heaven!
He laughed brazenly and turned to the generals beside him. “Did you all hear that?”
There were no longer words to describe the expressions on the faces of the Empress of Eastern Qin and the generals around her, while the Xiongnu men grew more delighted by the moment.
“Didn’t hear it!”
“What did she say?”
“Speak up!”
…
Truly, they were the most savage of peoples, the most unreasonable of peoples, the most arrogant of peoples.
“Prince Minhan, I beg you—please, let’s speak this over properly, shall we!” The Empress of Eastern Qin didn’t so much say the words as shout them. In that instant, a thought flashed through her mind that even she herself couldn’t accept—she wished she could shove Minhan Mude’er straight in front of Jun Beiyue and let Jun Beiyue teach him a proper lesson!
Of course, it was only a fleeting thought. If Jun Beiyue were the one to deal with Minhan Mude’er, then wouldn’t Eastern Qin and the Xiongnu…
The Empress of Eastern Qin didn’t even dare finish the thought. She had paid too great a price already—whatever means it took, no matter what, she could not lose this battle.
The third time, Minhan Mude’er finally claimed to hear her clearly, and burst out laughing. “Fine! Let’s talk it over properly, then—how shall we do it?”
The Empress of Eastern Qin let out a breath of relief and said at once, “Prince Minhan, if we withdraw and lure Jun Beiyue into the heartland, can we be absolutely certain of holding him there, keeping him from heading north?”
“You mean…”
The Xiongnu generals were savage, blunt, speaking with force rather than words, but Minhan Mude’er, for all his savage, domineering, wild bearing, was no simpleton—he understood the Empress’s meaning perfectly well, but pretended not to.
“Prince Minhan, from what I know of Jun Beiyue, once he takes this city, the three western-border armies he left behind will certainly follow close on his heels. I’m not saying this to dampen our spirits, but we must have a contingency plan. If Eastern Qin’s heartland cannot be held, and the flames of war spread to the northern frontier, that would pose a direct threat to your own nation’s territory,” the Empress of Eastern Qin said earnestly.
It sounded as though she were thinking of the Xiongnu’s interests, but in truth, it was all to preserve Eastern Qin’s heartland!
“How long can you hold?” Minhan Mude’er countered.
“We will hold to the death here, and hope only that your great army advances with all speed,” the Empress of Eastern Qin said earnestly.
Minhan Mude’er glanced sideways at Jun Beiyao, then suddenly burst out laughing. “Empress of Eastern Qin, what if this prince thinks you’re just trying to talk up someone else’s strength while running down your own?”
The Empress of Eastern Qin started slightly, about to argue further, but Minhan Mude’er cut her off. “This prince has no interest in listening to your crooked reasoning. Let’s have a match—whoever wins gets the final say!”