The north wind cut like a blade, making the bright red wedding dress dance like leaping flames.
Wang Jun’s face was blown even more pale white by the cold wind, like a sheet of dust-free, flawlessly pure paper, while her lightly pressed sandalwood lips were so brilliantly red.
Her hands gripped the reins, listening to the chestnut warhorse moving slowly forward snorting, exhaling white mist in the cold air. Her long dense eyelashes trembled slightly, but her heart harbored firm, proud resolve. Her deep beautiful eyes calmly accepted the gazes of thousands of Tangyi soldiers.
On the western bank of Wushou River, ranks of mounted infantry and cavalry divisions stood in orderly formation.
Apart from the constant snorting of warhorses and military horses exhaling white mist in the cold air, thousands of soldiers remained utterly silent, their gazes fixed as Han Qian and Wang Jun, wearing her wedding dress, rode side by side on horseback, slowly passing before the formations to inspect the troops.
As military orders were transmitted down through the ranks, even the most basic soldiers now knew the true intent of their concentration on the western bank of Wushou River.
They had gathered here to follow Han Qian and Wang Jun’s command—when they should tomorrow be holding the grand ceremony in Liyang City—to penetrate through the Shouzhou army’s Chao-Chu defense line and launch surprise attacks on key targets in the enemy’s heartland.
On one’s wedding day, turning a proper bride-welcoming journey into leading troops to raid the enemy—how utterly shocking and unconventional!
Ordinary soldiers also found this incredible, even somewhat absurd.
Yet it was precisely this incredible, even seemingly absurd action that meant the many soldiers at this moment felt not worry and resistance about the imminent campaign, but rather overflowed with another kind of indescribable surging emotion, as if this was how their lord and lady—whom they deeply supported and for whom they would not hesitate to entrust their lives—should be.
As if Wang Jun’s fiery red wedding dress had transformed into a brilliant flame burning fiercely in their hearts.
Han Qian led Wang Jun, spurring their horses up a small earthen slope, facing the cold wind that scraped across their faces like blade edges, taking in the entire temporary parade ground with a depth of about one li on the left and right sides east of the garrison village. The first batch of two thousand assembled elite troops stood like solid rocks in the bitter cold wind.
This morning, the temperature had dropped even further than the previous two days. Thin ice had formed on the surface of Wushou River, and the Chu River’s current had also slowed significantly.
Several tributaries of the upper Chu River originating from Wujian Mountain had shown significantly reduced water flow into the Chu River these past two days, which was the main reason for the Chu River’s slowing current.
Han Qian had also dispatched people to rush to Wujian Mountain, having Kong Xirong send men to investigate the phenomenon of northern tributary streams and rivers running dry.
They had not yet received a response from Kong Xirong’s side, so it remained unclear whether the dry streams were caused by freezing of mountain streams or by continuously decreasing rainfall after entering winter.
If the main channel of Chu River’s flow further decreased and slowed, and low temperatures continued, the Chu River, over one hundred zhang wide, might freeze solid this year.
The Zhegao River, which flowed out through Fucha Mountain and other peaks to join Chao Lake, had already begun freezing these past two days, requiring additional conscripted labor to periodically break the river ice to ensure warships could enter the waterway at any time.
Han Qian silently pondered whether enemy commanders such as Wen Bo, Zhao Mingting, and Wen Ruilin had already noticed this phenomenon. If they viewed this as a favorable factor for launching an offensive on the Chu River defense line, perhaps they were already secretly concentrating troops at southern front fortifications?
“My lord…” Seeing Han Qian somewhat distracted as he gazed at the northern wilderness, Tian Cheng called out softly to remind him.
Han Qian collected his thoughts, reined in his horse, and gently patted the neck of the chestnut warhorse beneath him, making it stand there docilely as he redirected his gaze to the soldiers on the parade ground.
Once upon a time, his heart had been filled only with thoughts of escaping fate’s stranglehold, struggling to survive. Grand ambitions like establishing lives for the common people and bringing peace to all ages were so distant from him. Selecting commanders and officers from among the lowborn had been merely a means to an end.
Yet he did not know when such thoughts had quietly changed.
After a moment, Han Qian drew a breath, raised his voice, and declared resonantly:
“Last year at this time, the Liang army surged southward. Tangyi City was like a lone boat drifting in raging floodwaters, liable to capsize at any moment. Looking back a hundred years, Jianghuai has also been a contested battleground where not a single city could avoid changing hands several times, and countless common people were like ants, drifting everywhere, their lives and deaths without support. Last year at this time, someone advised me that I should lead everyone to withdraw to the southern bank, avoiding the sharp edge of the Liang army and Shouzhou rebel forces. But looking at the thousand-li wasteland covered in bones, I thought to myself: if we only think of avoiding the enemy’s edge, only think of fleeing to safer places, in the end where will be our home where we can establish our lives and protect our families? All you soldiers, tell me—in these years you’ve drifted everywhere, have you found even one place where you could establish your lives, a utopian land spared from the ravages of war, a place to stand? I am not one who avoids the enemy’s edge. I decided to remain on the northern bank, not even thinking of merely defending the lone city of Tangyi. After all, while we regard Tangyi as our home, a single fortified city can provide us little beyond preserving our lives. We need vast lands to build houses, cultivate fields to plant mulberry, cotton, and grain. Only then can we have homes to live in, grain to eat, clothes to ward off cold. Only then can we truly protect our families so they no longer drift about, no longer starve or freeze to death in wilderness and streets, and not need to sell them into slavery to survive like dogs under others’ cruel bondage. Yes, over the past year we have done well. Countless soldiers used blood, sweat, and even their lives to fight for this land and home where our children can dwell and multiply. But we cannot forget—the Shouzhou army are wolves and tigers who still watch from the side, ready at any moment to pounce and bite our throats, devour our flesh and blood, and strip away everything we desperately grasped. In fact, over nearly the past year, they have never abandoned such efforts, and they will never abandon such efforts in the future. When facing wolves and tigers, besides fortifying our fences and guarding our gates closely, we must actively go out, take up the swords and crossbows in our hands, and strike them fiercely, strike them painfully, strike them down. Only then will our homes be peaceful. Only then will our wives, children, and elderly be well-fed and well-clothed. Everyone knows what day tomorrow is, but as commander of Tangyi’s soldiers, I dare not forget my duty for a moment, dare not forget the wolves and tigers beside us for a moment. In this battle, we do not know how many sons will die on the battlefield, how many sons will forever part from their families. But what I can do is campaign together with all you sons, strike the wolves and tigers, and defend our home.”
Yin Peng and the two Wang clan elders stood in the distance. As outsiders, they had no qualifications to participate in the military council Han Qian convened, but to avoid suspicion, they would not leave this place or send anyone away.
After today, they would still proceed to Liyang according to the established itinerary to attend the wedding banquet, even though neither the groom nor the bride would appear in Liyang tomorrow.
Of course, not having left today, they had the fortune to witness Han Qian’s process of mobilizing the troops.
No matter how much disdain they might feel deep in their hearts for Han Qian’s words, hearing the soldiers on the parade ground shouting with boiling blood, the sound rising and falling like ocean waves at this moment, they had to admit Han Qian’s words were effective.
A year ago, most of Tangyi’s soldiers had still been refugees drifting aimlessly, their lives without support, their wives and children hungry and sick. What they most desired was a small plot of land to cultivate, a small thatched cottage the whole family could squeeze into for shelter from wind and rain, and fabric—even tattered—that would at least prevent them from freezing to death on cold nights.
At bottom, initially they only longed to live basely.
Han Qian gave them land and houses, gave them full bellies and warm clothes, and gave them hope of not being enslaved. Now at this moment, on his wedding day, Han Qian personally commanded the army on campaign so their hope would become more solid, more real—how could this not make these soldiers’ blood boil?
Perhaps during the Jinling Incident, the source of how the Chishan army, though clearly weak, could fight so tenaciously lay right here?
Even looking at the collective background of Tangyi and Xuzhou’s commanders and military officers, the vast majority came from lowly origins—quite a portion were directly from refugee or slave backgrounds.
Han Qian’s words likewise made their hearts surge with boiling blood, even willing them at this moment to die on the battlefield, perhaps?
At this moment, Yin Peng suddenly thought of his own background. Truth be told, in his early years he had been merely household troops of the Wang clan, equivalent to a slave or servant.
Han Qian paid no attention to what waves might be stirring in Yin Peng’s heart in the distance. Seeing the time was about right, he waved his hand, signaling each division to depart in sequence according to their predetermined routes, embarking on the campaign…