So he had personally watched the carpenter craft this wooden body for the Deputy General, hoping that after reclaiming the Deputy General’s head, the Deputy General could be buried intact!
Who would have thought that before he could act, Young General Bai had come!
Now that Young General Bai had personally gone to reclaim the Deputy General’s head, success was certain.
Gu Wenchang stood beside Shen Kunyang, looking at the lifelike body in the coffin. His eyes grew warm, and he raised his hand to pat Shen Kunyang’s shoulder, choking out: “Young General Bai will bring back the Deputy General’s head! You don’t need to blame yourself anymore!”
“Young General Bai has returned!”
Hearing this, Shen Kunyang and Gu Wenchang turned their heads toward the military camp entrance.
They saw Bai Qingyan riding a reddish-brown steed, taking the lead with a riding whip in hand as she charged in.
“Young General Bai!” Shen Kunyang and Gu Wenchang went forward to meet her.
Bai Qingyan leaped down from her horse, holding her father’s head firmly in her arms.
“Young General Bai, this subordinate ordered carpenters to make a body for the Deputy General! Please, Young General Bai… place the Deputy General in the coffin, so that the Deputy General can… can be buried with a complete body!” Shen Kunyang choked up and could not continue speaking.
She nodded, tightly holding her father’s head as she stepped forward and untied her cloak…
Her father’s cheeks had already dried and shrunken, completely sunken so that his refined and handsome appearance could no longer be seen. Her heart ached like being cut by knives.
She hated that she hadn’t been able to come to Nan Jiang earlier, to spare her father some suffering.
She also hated herself—the enemy was right before her eyes, she could pierce his heart with one arrow, yet she couldn’t kill him, couldn’t tear him to pieces!
The grief that burned her heart made her wish she were dead, biting her lips hard to suppress her trembling sobs.
So in her previous life, her father’s head had hung like this in the Western Liang military camp, and in the end, they had never been able to reclaim it!
She placed her father’s head in the coffin, her hands gripping tightly to the coffin’s edge, forcing herself to open her eyes wide and look at her father’s tragic appearance, secretly swearing in her heart… three years from now, even if she were shattered to pieces, she would… definitely avenge the Bai family and the Bai Family Army!
“Elder sister…” Bai Jinzhi gently tugged at Bai Qingyan, “Don’t look anymore! After we achieve victory… We’ll take Uncle home!”
Yes, after achieving victory, they could take their father home!
But what about the others of the Bai family whose bones were completely gone? How could she take them home?
It was now near the end of the Yin hour.
As soon as General Wei Zhaonian returned with the Bai Family Army that had ambushed the Western Liang forces, she would lead troops in a swift assault on Tianmen Pass.
Yun Poxing would never expect that after Bai Qingyan had taken two hundred men to raid the camp and reclaim her father’s head, she would turn around a second time and lead a large army to attack the Western Liang camp.
“Go request General Zhang Duanrui!” she ordered.
General Zhang Duanrui, who had just dozed off for a while, hurried over upon hearing that Bai Qingyan had returned…
Learning that Bai Qingyan had led two hundred men to reclaim the head of the Bai Family Army, Deputy General Bai Qishan, Zhang Duanrui admired Bai Qingyan even more, deeply feeling that the younger generation was truly formidable.
All the Bai family men had perished in Nan Jiang, and everyone in the capital said… the century-old military family, Duke Mansion, would surely fall from now on.
Who would have thought that the Bai family’s legitimate eldest daughter Bai Qingyan would fight her way out, her character, wisdom and strategy truly exemplifying the Bai family!
After Bai Qingyan finished explaining her strategic plans to Zhang Duanrui, she said, “The Western Liang army will never expect that the Jin army would raid their camp a second time! At this moment, the Western Liang army has seen over a hundred thousand troops perish in disaster, their commander defeated and fleeing for his life—their hearts are already filled with panic! Combined with our raid just now, the military camp was also set ablaze, This is precisely when they are exhausted and timid! This is also the best opportunity for our army to attack Tianmen Pass!”
Zhang Duanrui nodded: “General Bai speaks truly! Because of the complete victory at Weng Mountain, the Jin army’s morale is currently high. If they know we’re going to reclaim Tianmen Pass, they’ll be howling with excitement! Let’s wait until we capture Tianmen Pass… then rest!”
“The morale of the Jin army will trouble General Zhang!” Bai Qingyan bowed.
“I will not fail General Bai’s trust.”
After Wei Zhaonian annihilated the Western Liang cavalry that had been sent to pursue Bai Qingyan, upon returning to the city, he saw soldiers ready and waiting to depart.
Bai Qingyan and Zhang Duanrui stood on the general’s platform with banners flying and braziers raised high, seemingly waiting quietly for his return.
Such a solemn atmosphere made Wei Zhaonian’s body tingle slightly. He rode forward quickly and cupped his hands: “This subordinate has annihilated the pursuing Western Liang cavalry at Huiping Road!”
“Thank you for your hard work, General Wei!” Bai Qingyan gripped the red-tasseled silver spear in her hand and stepped forward, addressing the Jin soldiers whose eyes all burned with raging battle fire: “Everyone, I have already led two hundred Bai Family Army soldiers to scout the Western Liang camp, and all two hundred returned without a scratch! The so-called fierce Western Liang soldiers… are not as indestructible and fearless of death as rumors claim! They are also human… invading other nations’ territories, slaughtering other nations’ people, they have guilt in their hearts—how dare they fight to the death? The reason the Bai Family Army’s legend of invincibility ended at the hands of Western Liang soldiers was because my grandfather Liu Huanzhang colluded with Nanyan and Western Liang, and Prince Xin held imperial gold arrows, forcing a battle! The reason the Bai Family Army has a legend of invincibility is that the Bai Family Army never engaged in invading other nations. From beginning to end, the Bai Family Army has only fought… to protect our borders, secure our people, and defend our mountains and rivers!”
Her voice rang out loudly: “Today! Whether it be the Bai Family Army or our Jin elite soldiers! All are fighting to protect our Jin people! Fighting to defend our Jin rivers and mountains! We are all invincible armies that are victorious in every battle and successful in every assault! We will protect our Jin people! We will defend our Jin territory! Those who dare violate our Jin, our Jin army will surely execute them!”
“Execute them!”
“Execute them!”
“Execute them!”
Whether the Bai Family Army or the Jin army, their emotions seemed ignited, becoming spirited.
Bai Qingyan leaped onto her horse and raised her red-tasseled spear high: “Depart!”
The soldiers all howled with excitement, following and clamoring about killing enemies and protecting the people.
Wei Zhaonian was also filled with passionate blood. He looked at Bai Qingyan on her red horse, knowing that from now on, the ten thousand Bai Family Army soldiers, including himself, would follow Bai Qingyan—who had brought them back from Weng Mountain—with unwavering loyalty until death, becoming Bai Qingyan’s battle axe, becoming Bai Qingyan’s support! Wherever her sword pointed… they would charge through life and death into battle!
That night, in Weng Mountain canyon, the fierce fire fueled by ten thousand corpses burned ever more intensely.
The war fires in Nan Jiang also blossomed everywhere.
After the fifty thousand Jin reinforcements that had made the long journey to Nan Jiang first defeated over a hundred thousand Western Liang troops at Weng Mountain canyon, the Jin army split into two routes—one led by Jin generals attacking Feng County, the other joining forces with the Bai Family Army to capture Tianmen Pass.
As Bai Qingyan had said, the Western Liang army had first suffered their commander’s defeat this night with over a hundred thousand troops dying in the Weng Mountain sea of fire, then been raided by the Bai Family Army, who set fires everywhere, leaving them in complete disarray! General Fang Zhonghui, whom the commander had sent to pursue the two hundred Bai Family Army raiders, had failed to bring back all of the Western Liang elite cavalry and instead brought news of the Bai Family Army and Jin army.
Who among the exhausted Western Liang army with scattered morale could have expected that the Jin army, having already conducted one sneak attack, would return for a second assault in one night?!