Qin Zhiyan frowned slightly, then suddenly turned around and walked toward the carriage, as if he didn’t want to look at these people for even another moment: “You can leave now. If you travel fast enough, you might still see your loved ones one last time.”
“What did you say?” “Don’t spread your demonic lies!”
The voices of Feng Yukun and Yan Pingxi rang out almost simultaneously. Qin Zhiyan paused slightly but didn’t turn back, saying indifferently: “Fengya City borders the Northern Xiongnu territory. Now that you’ve rashly followed me all the way to Nanjiang, Fengya will surely be destroyed. From today forth, the Feng and Li clans shall be extinct from Great Qin.”
“Prince Xuan!” Li Qun was greatly shocked upon hearing this. Ignoring Yan Pingxi’s furious glare, he hurriedly asked: “What do you mean by those words?”
“General Li has served in the military for many years. Must this prince explain such a simple matter to you?” Qin Zhiyan slightly raised his head, looking at the goose-feather snow filling the sky, and said gravely: “This winter is truly cold. I heard that large numbers of cattle and sheep have frozen to death in Xiongnu territory, and many families have resorted to cannibalism. With Fengya as a major northern border city, do you think they will attack Fengya or not?”
“But?” Li Qun said gravely: “The Northern Xiongnu were greatly defeated by Your Highness outside Yanmen Pass. How could they possibly recover so quickly to attack Fengya?”
“Li Qun, you joined the army at fourteen and served as a general under my command for two years. Do you really not understand my character at all?” Qin Zhiyan suddenly turned around, his eyes sharp and piercing as they looked over. Those eyes flashed with brilliant light—where was the appearance of a sickly patient? Li Qun hadn’t expected him to suddenly bring up past events and didn’t know how to respond, staring blankly at the man in his blue robes and black hair, feeling an ominous premonition slowly rising from the bottom of his heart.
“With you pack of wolves and tigers lurking behind me with covetous eyes, how could I bear to drive the Xiongnu out of the northern territories so quickly?”
In an instant, it was as if a basin of cold water had been poured over his head. Li Qun’s face immediately turned deathly pale. Great Qin was different from Southern Chu and Eastern Qi. After the Qin state split, Great Qin’s clan families controlled regional power, each governing themselves, almost like small vassal states. So generals like Li Qun, though they had to obey national deployment, subconsciously prioritized family interests above all else. Like today, when they led troops thousands of miles to assassinate Qin Zhiyan, it was also out of consideration for family power.
Both the Li and Feng families were prominent clans of the northern territories, their family influence built up over hundreds of years to achieve today’s status. If Fengya were broken, both clans would instantly be reduced to ashes. Even if they became trusted ministers of the Eastern Palace Crown Prince, the loss would outweigh the gain. Thinking of this, Li Qun made an immediate decision. His cold iron armor clanged as he knelt on the ground, saying gravely: “This minister has been deceived by treacherous people and deserves ten thousand deaths. But there are tens of thousands of innocent civilians in the northern territories. Once the northern border is breached, allowing the Xiongnu to drive straight through, Great Qin’s territory will immediately collapse, with beacon fires everywhere. Please, Your Highness, have mercy on the northern civilians and save the northern territories!”
Feng Yukun was also a clever man. His brow furrowed as he also knelt on the ground. The six hundred elite cavalry they brought were all northern border troops—if the northern border was breached, their homes would be destroyed. A mass of black armor all prostrated on the ground. The four hundred men brought by Yan Pingxi stood among the crowd, watching these changes in terror, their scalps tingling, almost ready to kneel down together.
“Thirty li from here to the border city, light the border beacon fires. When Mu Cheng sees them, he will naturally rescue the northern territories. By now, the Yan Regiment should have already reached Fengya.”
Qin Zhiyan’s voice was indifferent, but to the ears of Feng and Li, it sounded like thunder. The Third Prince’s Yan Regiment cavalry were unmatched in fierceness, causing the northern Xiongnu to flee in terror at the mere mention of their name. Before coming, they had received intelligence that the Yan Regiment’s three hundred thousand troops were currently stationed outside Yanmen Pass, garrisoned in the newly acquired Xiongnu territory. They hadn’t expected they had already reached their home base at Fengya. It seemed Qin Zhiyan had long anticipated their moves on this journey, so two months ago during the decisive battle with the Northern Xiongnu, he had already secretly left poisonous fangs to restrain them.
Thinking of this, his entire body was nearly soaked through with sweat. Li Qun said gravely: “Thank you, Your Highness, for the grace of not killing. If the crisis at Fengya is resolved, we will surely repay Your Highness’s great kindness in the future.” With that, he exchanged a glance with Feng Yukun, and with a roaring cry, they led their cavalry thundering away.
Yan Pingxi’s eyes were bloodshot with rage as he said gravely: “The vengeance for killing my father—today I must make you pay blood for blood!” With that, not even glancing at the troops of Feng and Li, he said sternly to his own four hundred men: “Capture the traitor Qin Zhiyan for me. If he resists, kill him on the spot—life or death doesn’t matter!”
Qin Zhiyan stood in place, laughed coldly once, and didn’t move at all. Yan Pingxi’s subordinates stared blankly at this Prince Xuan, who was hailed as Great Qin’s war god, and surprisingly didn’t follow Yan Pingxi’s orders at all.
“What are you all standing around for? If we return empty-handed this time, not one of you will survive when we get back to the capital!” Yan Pingxi flew into a rage and shouted angrily.
“A mere commoner dares to openly plot assassination against an imperial prince—what audacity!” A clear voice suddenly rang out behind Yan Pingxi and the others. Yan Pingxi was furious, thinking it was some soldier speaking out of turn, and angrily turned around, shouting sternly: “Who goes there!”
But as soon as his words fell, he saw a silver cold gleam suddenly shooting forward like a projectile, carrying fierce sharpness as it whistled through the air!
Terrible screams erupted simultaneously, merging into a earth-shaking explosion. Countless people watched in stunned silence as a silver cold gleam attacked with lightning speed, the bright silver light suddenly wrapping around Yan Pingxi’s neck, then flying back along its original path the next second.
But Yan Pingxi suddenly widened his eyes, a trace of panic instantly flashing through his pupils. In the deathly silence, everyone seemed to hear the sound of flesh and bone shattering. Yan Pingxi’s body immediately collapsed to one side in a grotesque posture, a circle of fresh blood instantly flowing from his neck. The next second, his once elegant and handsome head had already fallen lifelessly to the ground, raising clouds of dust.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. When everyone looked up in terror, they saw on the high mound a handsome young man with bright, clear eyes sitting proudly on horseback, holding a sharp dagger in his hand. The dagger was connected to a silver-white silk ribbon, now tightly wound around his arm. Fresh red blood slowly dripped from the dagger into the snow, splashing into small dark red whirlpools.
“Your commander is dead—why aren’t you running yet?” Qingxia smiled faintly, spurring her horse as she slowly descended the slope, as if standing before her were not four hundred soldiers fierce as wolves and tigers, but a group of old friends.
“It’s you?” A voice of surprise suddenly rang out. Qingxia looked sideways and saw it was the black-clothed man she had tied to a tree that day.
The man stared fiercely at Qingxia, saying hatefully: “You’re also the one who ambushed Master Li and Master Feng?”
Qingxia raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
The black-clothed man suddenly said coldly: “Brothers, now that Master Yan is dead and Masters Li and Feng have defected, if we return to the capital like this, not only will we die horrible deaths, but our families won’t be spared either. At this point, only by fighting with our backs to the wall do we have any chance of survival!”
With that, he suddenly drew his longbow and shot fiercely at Qin Zhiyan.
The arrow came with fierce momentum, but before it could reach Qin Zhiyan, it was knocked down by the Eighteen Iron Guards. The black-clothed man drew the long blade from his waist and said gravely: “Those who want to live, follow me!”
Heart-shaking weapons shrieked in the night wind, roars rose to the sky. Under the pressure of life and death, they temporarily forgot the intimidation of Great Qin’s war god and followed behind the black-clothed man, charging toward Qin Zhiyan and the others!
Tremendous shouts of battle and horse hoofbeats rang out. In the firelight, human shadows flickered as black-armored cavalry wielded blades and shuttled across the wasteland. The Eighteen Iron Guards protected Qin Zhiyan, row after row of fire arrows shooting rapidly, but how could they match several hundred opponents?
Long-range combat instantly turned into close-quarters melee. The circle formed by the Eighteen Iron Guards gradually shrank. Wails filled the air, blood spurted out, and human figures fell in great masses, but new people immediately filled in from behind, joining the new battle circle.
Qingxia cut down a black-armored soldier with one stroke, secretly cursing her woman’s compassion. With Yan Pingxi dead and enemy morale in chaos, if she had killed that black-clothed man that night, this catastrophe would have been instantly resolved—how could it have turned into the current situation?
At this moment, a rumbling sound immediately arose. Qingxia froze, then quickly turned back to look. In the distance across the wasteland, countless dark shadows were rapidly approaching through the night, their black armor identical to the fighting crowd before them!
The enemy actually had reinforcements?
She suddenly recalled Yan Pingxi’s instructions to the black-clothed man yesterday to go back and report. It seemed they didn’t completely trust the Feng and Li clans either and had kept reserves. Thinking of this, Qingxia knew there was no hope of breaking through at all.
Dull rumbling sounds continued overhead. Qingxia looked up and saw large patches of snow rolling down from the mountain peak. A bold idea suddenly arose in her mind. Without time to think carefully, Qingxia put her fingers to her mouth and blew a sharp whistle. A fine horse instantly arrived like wind and clouds. From the bundle on the horse’s back, she pulled out the hook and rope she had used against the disguised water bandits at Jialing River that day. Qingxia nimbly mounted her horse, grabbed the hooks and ropes, and charged into the crowd.
Heaven and earth were dim and yellow, blood and mud mixed together. Under the advance and retreat tug-of-war, the roads were gradually blocked by corpses. Qingxia was agile, rushing into the crowd in the blink of an eye. She targeted horses, not people, skillfully and swiftly inserting hook after hook deep into the warhorses’ necks. At this time, with battle cries thundering, who would notice if warhorses were being sabotaged? Qingxia was like a loach, nimbly weaving through the crowd. Suddenly she jumped down from her horse’s back and tied dozens of ropes to her own horse’s legs.
“Sorry!” Qingxia said quietly, then suddenly raised her dagger and stabbed it fiercely into the horse’s flank. The warhorse immediately neighed loudly, angrily rearing and kicking as it charged forward.
Just as it began to gallop, more than twenty ropes simultaneously went taut, and patches of bright red flesh were suddenly torn from more than twenty warhorses!