“Yes!”
“Wait!” The scout turned his horse around and was galloping madly toward Dong Qingyue when Akxie called him back again. “Be polite. Tell that Great Zhou general to please not interfere in this battle! Otherwise, you’ll be enemies with Tianfeng and Xiliang!”
“Yes!” The Tianfeng Kingdom scout rode swiftly to Dong Qingyue and loudly conveyed Akxie’s words.
Dong Qingyue laughed upon hearing this. His war horse beneath him pawed and neighed, wanting to charge forward. Dong Qingyue pulled the reins with one hand to control his mount, sneering: “Wasn’t I clear enough? From today onward… Rongdi is our Great Zhou’s horse ranch! Anyone who dares violate our Great Zhou’s borders—our Great Zhou elite soldiers will fight to the death!”
The Tianfeng Kingdom scout turned his horse around and galloped back to relay the message to Akxie.
Akxie squinted and leaned forward, resting one elbow on his knee, looking at Dong Qingyue mounted at the front of the Great Zhou forces, his expression murderous.
“General, should we withdraw?” Akxie’s subordinate asked.
With Akxie’s personality, he would normally make that arrogant Great Zhou general learn the elephant army’s power, but his master had said that dealing with Great Zhou and Great Yan people couldn’t use the same methods their Tianfeng ancestors had used against Hanying Kingdom and Mengshe Kingdom.
Akxie shouted: “Send the order—first withdraw six li and make camp!”
Horn sounds arose from Tianfeng Kingdom’s elephant army. The giant elephants raised their trunks and trumpeted, then all slowly turned around, following behind the lead elephant carrying Akxie as they departed.
But Dong Qingyue didn’t dare relax, sending out scouts…
Only the last trace of twilight purple remained in the sky. The entire grassland was replaced by stars overhead, with only torches flickering wildly in the wind.
Before long, scouts returned on horseback: “Report…”
Dong Qingyue became alert.
Three scouts leaped down before their horses fully stopped, kneeling on one knee with clasped hands: “Tianfeng Kingdom’s elephant army withdrew six li to make camp!”
Six li… that distance wasn’t far at all.
Dong Qingyue gritted his back teeth and shouted: “Dong Changlan! Dong Changmao!”
After Bai Qingyan’s ascension, Dengzhou army learned that Dong Changlan was still alive—not only alive, but had trained an extremely formidable cavalry force in Rongdi territory.
Dong Changlan and Dong Changmao both pulled their reins and came forward: “Your subordinate is here!”
“Dong Changmao… return to Dengzhou to transport provisions and supplies. The Dengzhou army will camp here! Send people quickly to the capital to inform His Majesty not to worry. As long as I, Dong Qingyue, am alive, I won’t let Tianfeng Kingdom step one foot into our Great Zhou territory!” Dong Qingyue said gravely.
“Yes!” Dong Changmao accepted the order, turned his horse around, and galloped back toward Dengzhou with cavalry.
“Dong Changlan!” Dong Qingyue called again.
“Your subordinate is here!” Dong Changlan immediately responded.
“I order you to immediately take ten thousand troops and rush to Rongdi’s imperial city to assist the Ghost-Faced Prince of Rongdi in seizing Rongdi’s imperial power!” Dong Qingyue said.
“I accept the order!” Dong Changlan’s eyes blazed. Just as he was about to turn his horse around, he heard Dong Qingyue call him back.
Dong Qingyue clenched his teeth and beckoned to Dong Changlan. Dong Changlan immediately pulled his reins forward, asking quietly: “Father?”
Dong Qingyue gripped Dong Changlan’s arm tightly, his voice extremely low: “You must… protect A’Yu’s safety! This child has suffered too much…”
Dong Changlan knew the Ghost-Faced Prince was his cousin Bai Qingyu, and nodded forcefully: “Father, rest assured. Your son will risk his life to protect his cousin!”
“Go!” Dong Qingyue’s eyes reddened as he patted his son’s shoulder firmly. “Be careful!”
“General, rest assured!” Dong Changlan cupped his hands to Dong Qingyue and rode off swiftly with his cavalry.
Bai Qingyan dined with her mother, various aunts, and the Bai family’s loyal servants, thus celebrating her birthday.
During the banquet, Wei Zhong quietly reported to Bai Qingyan that Great Yan’s envoy to Zhou requested an audience. Bai Qingyan’s palms tightened—she estimated this was probably Xiao Rongyan sending someone with birthday gifts. She told Wei Zhong to have them wait first, and she would meet the Great Yan envoy after the family banquet. She also instructed Wei Zhong to tell Xiao Ruojiang, after the family banquet ended, to come see her in the study.
Physician Hong, Nanny Tong, and several aunts still treated Bai Qingyan as a child, giving her birthday presents. Bai Jinzhi and other Bai family loyal servants also didn’t forget—they all gave Bai Qingyan gifts, including Miss Ji, who had returned from Hancheng with Bai Jinzhi this time, presenting Bai Qingyan with double-sided embroidery she had made in her spare time.
That family banquet was extremely lively. After the banquet, Bai Jinzhi volunteered to escort her elder sister back to the study, wanting to plead on the way for her elder sister to let her depart for Nan Jiang—she was eager to see Tianfeng Kingdom’s elephant army.
Who knew that on the return journey, hearing Shen Qingzhu mention the matter of her elder sister sending her to investigate in Nan Jiang, she was quite shocked.
“No wonder Sister Qingzhu hasn’t been around lately—Elder Sister sent Sister Qingzhu to investigate General Guan!” Bai Jinzhi was somewhat puzzled. “But… General Guan is under Fifth Uncle’s command, part of the Bai family army, our comrade-in-arms! How difficult it was to find him again—why would Elder Sister have Sister Qingzhu investigate General Guan?”
Walking slowly along the corridor hung with hexagonal palace lanterns, Bai Qingyan said: “The information we received was that General Guan lost his memory and was deceived by the Yun family of Xiliang, who told him his name was Yun Lan. But if he truly lost his memory, why did he remember Huying Camp’s training methods? If we say… General Guan was forced to pretend amnesia; he should have explained this matter when he returned to the Bai family army. Yet General Guan was extremely angry, wanting to go to Xiliang to bring back the Huoyun Army…”
“I questioned Xiao Ruohai in detail about the scene when he first saw the Huoyun Army training. If General Guan could remember a complete set of training methods, why couldn’t he remember his surname and given name? Even if he couldn’t remember that… he should at least remember the Bai family army’s military flag! Yet… when General Guan later returned to discuss details with Xiao Ruohai, he said he had no impression at all. I’ve always harbored doubts.” Bai Qingyan looked at the frowning Bai Jinzhi. “Indeed, as you said, by rights… it wasn’t easy to find General Guan again, but the Bai family army also wasn’t easy to build. We must be cautious. So I didn’t let people spread the word, only sending Qingzhu to Nan Jiang to investigate.”
Bai Jinzhi thought for a moment and nodded: “Elder Sister’s considerations are correct. If so, we indeed should investigate thoroughly.”
Only after hearing Bai Jinzhi say this did Shen Qingzhu speak: “After I arrived in Nan Jiang, I discovered I couldn’t find anything suspicious about General Guan himself, so I went to Feng County to inquire about General Guan’s affairs. I only learned that General Guan joined the Bai family army in the early years because his wife and children were killed by Xiliang troops! General Guan was considered a somewhat famous figure in Feng County, but… General Guan had no close friends or relatives. Later, I learned from a schoolmaster that General Guan came to Feng County with his parents when he was thirteen or fourteen, just in time to encounter a Rongdi attack. After they helped rescue villagers, they settled in Feng County. Previously, some people knew about General Guan’s hometown, but later these people gradually died off…”