No wound hurt as much as this kind of claw wound—flesh torn open to the bone. When applying the medicine, the powder had to be sprinkled directly into the raw flesh; the stinging, the aching, the pain was beyond description.
Applying the medicine was like pouring salt, or chili water, onto a bare open wound!
And every single wound, every patch of mangled flesh, had to be dusted with the powder—only then would it heal quickly!
The female mercenary behind her winced in sympathy for every inch of Ziqing’s ravaged back, while Ziqing herself acted as though that back, not a single part of it unbroken, didn’t belong to her at all. She stared intently at the map, occasionally setting down her brush to mark a note.
“My lady, does it hurt?” the female mercenary couldn’t help but ask.
“Mm,” Ziqing answered offhandedly. Her calm reply left the mercenary at a loss for how to continue.
“Are we ready? We have to leave before dark. If we press our advantage now and break through Xiliang’s defensive line, tonight is the best time—their guard will be at its weakest!”
The gunpowder on hand was already limited, and after dealing with the Xiongnu, no matter how carefully she’d rationed it, there was almost none left.
Under these circumstances, she understood clearly that she couldn’t rely on gunpowder alone—she had to rely on tactics, and with tactics, timing was everything.
The gunpowder could only be saved for the hardest position to crack, for the most critical moment.
The female mercenary glanced at the map, puzzled, and asked, “My lady, aren’t we attacking the Xiongnu?”
Only then did Ziqing smile, teasing, “The Xiongnu are Prince Yao’s prey. Do you want to fight him for them?”
“I wouldn’t dare!” the mercenary laughed too.
But Ziqing turned serious, pointing at the terrain map, and said quietly, “The battle for the northern frontier will end at the northern highlands. Push past the northern highlands, and we’ll suffer for it.”
At Jun Beiyue’s speed, with no worries left behind him, he would surely be in the middle of his decisive battle with Min Han Muder right now. And this decisive battle wasn’t about expanding territory—it was about forcing Min Han Muder to surrender, to beg for peace!
What was at stake was the bargaining chip at the peace conference!
Jun Beiyue had more than enough strength to push past the northern highlands—but it was deep winter now, and Da Zhou’s troops had no experience fighting long-term in the bitter cold, especially the three western-frontier armies under Jun Beichen’s command.
Once they crossed the northern highlands, the Xiongnu could simply drag Da Zhou’s troops to death through attrition alone. Compared to Xiliang, the Xiongnu were a much harder bone to chew—there was no way to swallow them whole in one go!
On this point, Jun Beiyue surely thought the same as she did!
And for Ziqing to strike out from Mobei toward that front would be futile!
Xiliang, on the other hand, was a completely different matter. Situ Haonan and Wanyan Lie were locked in a stalemate. Once she broke through in the northeastern part of Xiliang and drove straight into Xiliang’s heartland like a single blade, she didn’t believe Wanyan Lie could hold on!
And more importantly, for her and Jun Beiyue, the western front mattered far more than the northern frontier!
Because only if she won more concessions from Wanyan Lie would she have the standing to make demands at the future peace conference—only then would she have more leverage to bargain with the Emperor of Xijing!
What they wanted wasn’t just victory—it was Mingsha Mountain!
After the medicine was applied, Ziqing didn’t rest. She immediately gave the order to move out.
She had just mounted her horse and was about to ride off when she suddenly saw a stream of fire in the forest at the foot of the mountain, brilliant as a flowing light, drifting slowly from the woods toward the small town of Mobei!
It was the people of the Mobei town, carrying torches on their way home. Ziqing, who had been anxious to leave, found herself stopping without meaning to.
She watched the flowing fire drift slowly into the town of Mobei and gradually vanish, replaced by lights kindling one after another, scattered like stars—from this angle, brilliant as the night sky.
Not long ago, a friend had given her a whole garden full of stars, too.
She wondered—among all these flowing fires, these kindled lights—was there also a lamp lit for his way home?
Not until the sky had gone completely dark did Ziqing finally turn her horse around, raise her whip, and give the order: “Toward the Xiliang border—move out!”
Soon, a company of horsemen swept away like the wind, and the cliff fell silent once more. In the darkness, a figure gradually emerged—tall and slender, graceful as an immortal.
He held up a bright lamp, watching the receding clamor, forever standing quietly off to the side as he always did, guarding her from behind…
No one would have imagined that the battle at Mobei would be won by Han Ziqing so swiftly, so beautifully.
Once Ziqing set off, she never looked back. Xiliang’s border defenses turned out to be little more than a formality—within three days, the border pass had fallen.
Speed was the soul of war, and having broken through the Xiliang border pass, she took no rest. Following her predetermined route, she pushed straight through to the rear of Wanyan Lie’s main army!
This tactic was as bold as it was ruthless!
Not only had Wanyan Lie failed to anticipate it—no one on the entire continent of Longyuan had anticipated it, save for one person alone: Jun Beiyue.
And yet, in truth, a few days before the victory at Mobei, Jun Beiyue had already been fighting his final, decisive battle against Min Han Muder on the northern highlands. The Xiongnu troops were savage enough, but Jun Beiyue’s Tiger Army was even more merciless.
Fighting without a single worry left behind, throwing the full strength of Da Zhou into the battle—this was something Min Han Muder and the Eastern Qin Empress had never anticipated.
They had assumed that Da Zhou’s western frontier would be enough to tie down a portion of Jun Beiyue’s forces. They never imagined it would turn out like this.
Facing the full might of Da Zhou’s army, with their outdated weapons, outdated war chariots, and outdated strategy, the Xiongnu simply had no reserves left to draw on.
At this point, Jun Beiyue was simply waiting for Min Han Muder’s surrender, counting the days until he could make his way to Xijing.
“Report! Your Highness the Princess Consort, word has come from His Highness!” Yingzi came running, waving the battle report excitedly. At that moment, Ziqing was in her tent, poring over the route.
There had never been many troops stationed within Xiliang’s borders to begin with, and Ziqing’s elite force, being small, could move with ease—swift, sharp, and without dragging its feet, in no way inferior to a full army!
By now, she had pushed deep into Xiliang, winning every battle she fought, yet no one knew exactly how many troops she actually commanded. Nearly every battle had become a legend in its own right.
Seeing the victory report, Ziqing’s heart leapt with joy, and seeing the date on it brought her even greater delight—she hadn’t expected Jun Beiyue to move even faster than she had!
“I wonder if our victory report has reached him yet!” Ziqing couldn’t help but muse.
“Your Highness, it’ll probably still be a few more days. His Highness is far away on the northern highlands,” Yingzi answered honestly.
Ziqing’s victory report had already reached Situ Haonan long ago—but unfortunately, Jun Beiyue was still too far from Mobei.
This was the most terrifying thing about warfare in ancient times: information couldn’t arrive in time, and countless opportunities were lost because of it.
Not being able to share the joy of victory with him right away didn’t trouble Ziqing. She pointed at the map and said with a smile, “We’ll take this route, and swing straight around behind Wanyan Lie. Someone, send a sealed letter to Situ Haonan—tell him to move his troops in three days.”
Yingzi was overjoyed. “This time, we’ll definitely force Wanyan Lie to raise the white flag!”
“Your Highness, once Wanyan Lie surrenders, all we’ll have to do is wait for His Highness’s triumphant return. At the peace conference, Da Zhou will hold the strongest hand! Even the Emperor of Xijing will have to listen to us!”
Just the thought of the coming peace conference made Yingzi’s blood stir with excitement—after all, the leaders of all four nations gathering together to negotiate peace would be the first time such a thing had happened in the entire history of the Longyuan continent!
This one conference would decide the fate of Longyuan after the war!
Ziqing smiled faintly. “Looks like that’s a matter for next year.”
Amid this war, the days had flown by. Before anyone noticed, deep winter had arrived; before anyone noticed, the end of the year was drawing near; and before anyone noticed, the Spring Festival had come.
Hearing Ziqing’s remark, Yingzi only then realized that in just two or three more days, it would be New Year’s Eve again.
Thinking back to last year at this time, the entire capital of Da Zhou hadn’t known a moment’s peace—and this year, it seemed, more than half of Longyuan wouldn’t know peace either.
In times of war, it was always the common people who suffered most. She only hoped that all this displacement and suffering would end soon, that Longyuan would be unified, and that there would be no more war.
“My lady, in a few more days, will we be able to hear the singing sands of Mingsha Mountain again?” Yingzi suddenly asked.