Ziqing remained rooted to the spot. This bunch of Xiongnu soldiers, who had just charged up the hilltop like madmen moments ago, was now fleeing down the mountainside at that exact same frantic speed!
That kind of speed, admittedly, deserved a certain measure of sympathy.
But Han Ziqing had never been the type to simply turn and walk away just because she’d decided she was done bullying someone who’d been bullying her.
Straightening her clothing and hair, calmly wiping the bloodstains from her face and body, Ziqing walked to the cliff’s edge and looked down at the Xiongnu soldiers who had already fled all the way to the base of the mountain.
“My apologies. I forgot to mention — this princess consort’s habits differ from Prince Yao’s. On any battlefield, I fight only one battle: either total victory, or total defeat. There’s no such thing as half measures.”
The moment she finished speaking, she gave a sharp wave of her hand, then suddenly launched herself into the air, retreating steadily backward, further and further away.
At that same moment, the mercenaries, already prepared and waiting, ignited the gunpowder they’d concealed in ambush beforehand!
“Boom!”
The sound rang out, and down below, the Xiongnu soldiers curiously looked up — only to be met with a series of thunderous blasts, “Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Explosion after explosion, deafening and world-shaking, like an avalanche, like a mountain collapsing, entire waves of snowballs and massive boulders came surging down the slope in overwhelming force!
The sound of explosions, wails of agony, the roar of the collapsing mountainside — deafening, earth-shaking, as if some cataclysmic upheaval had struck. Thick white smoke billowed everywhere — truly, an awesome display of destructive power!
No one knew how much time had passed before everything finally began to settle.
Everything fell into deathly silence, with only billowing white clouds of smoke lingering, in no hurry to disperse.
After a long while more, the wind swept through, and the white smoke gradually began to clear, slowly revealing a scene of complete devastation!
The small hilltop was gone. The rotting corpses were gone. The slave army at the base of the mountain was gone. Nothing remained at all!
Everything had vanished into thin air along with the small hill that had been utterly obliterated.
Only churned, scattered snow and earth remained, mingled together, undulating across the landscape — not a single tree or blade of grass left in sight.
No one would ever know exactly what had happened here. All they would know was that an entire Xiongnu army had been wiped out completely in this place, without even a single corpse to be found.
All anyone would know was that in this battle, the Princess Consort Yao had single-handedly taken on a thousand enemies and won a decisive, brutal victory, alone.
This particular battle would, before long, become not only a legend told across Xijing, Xiliang, and the Xiongnu, but would even become an eternal, unsolvable mystery throughout the Central Plains regions of Longyuan — though, of course, that’s a story for another time.
As the white mist cleared away, Ziqing walked step by step across the mingled snow and earth, coming to a stop before a large stone.
“This rock is quite the tough one, still standing after all that.” she said with a smile, in good spirits.
“Master, this batch of gunpowder truly is remarkably powerful. It’s just a shame it’s so difficult to mine.” the mercenary said with a smile as well, quietly letting out a breath of relief!
There had simply been too many Xiongnu soldiers. To conserve gunpowder, the master had had no choice but to put herself at risk, wiping out the majority of the Xiongnu troops first before deploying the gunpowder, ensuring the Xiongnu soldiers had no chance to flee!
There was no need to pursue the survivors either — after all, there were only three of them! If they chased all the way into Xiongnu territory, on enemy ground, everything would become far more complicated.
Ziqing said nothing, gazing thoughtfully at the large stone beside her. Her fair, delicate face, streaked with a few traces of blood, looked not the least bit haggard for it — instead, it possessed a different kind of beauty, a fierce, iron-blooded elegance, softness intertwined with strength, so striking it was impossible to look away.
“This stone…” she suddenly spoke. The two female mercenaries had no idea what she was planning, watching her with curiosity, when Ziqing suddenly smiled. “This one will do. Anything that can withstand a gunpowder blast and remain standing is worthy of serving as Da Zhou’s border marker.”
A border marker?
A border marker was, of course, a stone monument erected to mark the boundary line between two territories.
Ziqing drew out her dagger, Liuguang, and with full concentration, personally carved, stroke by stroke, into the stone, the three bold characters: “Da Zhou’s Border.”
What did these three characters mean?
They meant that from this point southward, this was no longer a lawless, unclaimed territory, no longer under the Xiongnu’s protection. From this point southward, from now on, it belonged entirely to Da Zhou’s sovereign territory.
How magnificent, Han Ziqing!
Her husband, Jun Beiyue, though the first in Da Zhou’s history to push all the way into an enemy nation’s territory, expanding Da Zhou’s northern frontier deep into Dongqin’s heartland, it was Han Ziqing who had become the very first to erect an actual border marker.
In a certain sense, Han Ziqing was, in fact, the very first person to expand Da Zhou’s territory at all.
She’d like to see who would dare call her a scourge now!
She had never argued directly with Prince Baxian or Imperial Physician Gu, but she was well aware of their disapproval, their grievances against her!
She never contested it — but that didn’t mean she didn’t care.
She simply had no patience for empty words. She preferred to silence them with facts instead!
Looking at these three characters, “Da Zhou’s Border,” so grand and powerfully carved, both mercenaries were left utterly awestruck, feeling that no man in the entire world could possibly match their master’s sheer force of will and courage.
This woman could either lie in wait, quietly enjoying the protection of Prince Yao, content to be an envied, favored consort — or, once she decided to act in earnest, she would no longer be merely a favored consort at all, but an untouchable, sovereign queen in her own right.
At that moment, another mercenary arrived leading a horse. “Congratulations, Master, many congratulations! On the northwestern front, Bingchan has also achieved a resounding victory — she’s waiting for you to come erect the marker there as well!”
Bingchan had, as expected, not disappointed her. Ziqing cleared the poison from her body, changed into a fresh outer robe, and then mounted her horse.
She had barely ridden off before Yingzi and the rest of the Shadow Guards, having finally dealt with that group of Nangong City’s elite fighters, arrived at long last.
The moment he’d heard the explosion, Yingzi had already known exactly what it meant!
Only, the scene before him now was entirely beyond anything he could have imagined!
“Good grief, Your Highness really went all out this time!”
He stared at the three characters “Da Zhou’s Border” for a long moment before finally snapping back to his senses, urgently giving the order, “Report to His Highness — the princess consort has already taken Mobei!”
He recalled that before Prince Yao had left, he’d mentioned that the princess consort liked this place — he intended to claim Mobei, defeat the Xiongnu and Xiliang, and formally request the Mobei region at the peace negotiations.
Yet, to everyone’s surprise, the princess consort hadn’t waited for any negotiations at all, simply seizing it outright — how magnificently domineering!
By the time Yingzi arrived at the northwestern front, Ziqing had already erected another border marker there, the same powerfully carved three characters, “Da Zhou’s Border,” engraved into a stone tablet!
The moment she saw Yingzi arrive, Ziqing smiled and said, “Guard Yingzi, I have a task for you — up for it?”
“Your Highness, just give the order!” Yingzi replied eagerly.
“Carry this marker stone and follow me.” Ziqing said with a smile, leaping onto her horse and galloping off toward the west!
West?
Heading straight west from here would lead directly to Nangong City, and beyond Nangong City lay Xiliang’s territory!
What exactly was this mistress planning?
The moment Ziqing rode off, several mercenaries followed right behind her. The archers Xijing had left behind, Ziqing had already arranged to remain stationed there.
Yingzi couldn’t quite make sense of it, but gritting his teeth, he shouldered the marker stone and immediately chased after her.
The horses galloped at full speed, cutting straight through a battlefield littered with corpses, coming to a stop right at the front gates of Nangong City. Yingzi, catching up, suddenly seemed to understand something, and couldn’t help but shoot the princess consort a look of profound admiration!
He hoisted the border marker onto his shoulder and set it down right at Nangong City’s front gate, and at that very moment, Nangong City’s massive gates suddenly swung open!