Yao Yong slapped himself one after another, blood gradually appearing on his lips.
Wei Yun watched with a calm expression. Everyone present knew why Yao Yong was delivering these slaps. When Wei Yun had beaten the drum to appeal for justice in Huajing, he had already made the past events known to the world. What Yao Yong and Zhao Yue had done was no longer a secret in Da Chu.
No one dared to come forward to stop it, nor did anyone stand up to say, “Prince Wei, that’s enough.” So the slaps continued one after another, until finally, Yao Yong’s lips were bloodied and his face swollen. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as he looked at Wei Yun, suppressing his anger, and slowly said, “Prince Wei, is this enough?”
Wei Yun didn’t answer him. He bent down, stood up the memorial tablets of Wei Zhong and Wei Jun, turned around, and only said, “Go and count the grain. For the sake of the people, I won’t kill Lord Gu. You can take him back.”
With these words, Wei Qiu came forward and had people release Gu Chusheng.
Gu Chusheng was so weak he couldn’t even stand. The advisor behind Yao Yong hurriedly came forward to support Gu Chusheng, anxiously saying, “Lord Gu, are you alright? You’ve done so much for the country and the people, yet Wei the thief treats you like this. It truly chills the hearts of the people!”
This advisor was more adept at reading the situation than Yao Yong. Gu Chusheng raised his eyes to look at him, and smiled a bit, seeming very tired. He neither nodded nor shook his head, but sighed and said, “I’ve been waiting for General Yao for a long time!”
As they spoke, Wei Yun had already led his people away. The soldiers brought Wei Qingping and the grain to the outskirts of the city. Wei Qingping was the daughter of King Wei, who was still neutral. If they harmed Wei Qingping, it would push King Wei to the other side. It was precisely because of this consideration that Wei Qingping became the one to go to Qingzhou for disaster relief.
Wei Qingping led her people to the city gate, glanced at Gu Chusheng, put her hand on his, and frowned, “How did you end up in such a state?”
Gu Chusheng smiled with difficulty, “Thank you for your concern, Princess.”
Wei Qingping checked his pulse, confirmed there was no problem, then nodded and said, “Alright, let’s set off.”
With these words, Yao Yong quickly had people prepare to depart.
After Wei Yun returned to the city, he turned to Qin Shiyue and asked, “Are the troops ready?”
“They are,” Qin Shiyue calmly replied, “Awaiting Your Highness’s orders.”
“Go after them,” Wei Yun said lightly, “You lead the troops to pursue and harass Yao Yong, but don’t engage in direct combat. I’ll lead the main force to attack southern Qing.”
“Understood,” Qin Shiyue responded coolly. Wei Yun didn’t say much more, just nodded and turned to go back to his quarters.
In terms of military tactics, he was quite different from Chu Yu. If Chu Yu emphasized speed, Wei Yun emphasized the unexpected.
Now, he planned to openly have Qin Shiyue attack Yao Yong, while secretly occupying southern Qing from the south. With Shen You already occupying northern Qing, once southern Qing was taken, they could simultaneously attack Yuishui in the middle. Yuishui was Qingzhou’s most formidable natural barrier; once Yuishui fell, Qingzhou would be as easy to traverse as flat ground.
With Qin Shiyue now leading the main force to harass Yao Yong, Yao Yong would inevitably divert troops to guard Rongcheng where he was. As long as some troops were diverted from the southern Qing, Wei Yun would immediately lead the real main force to attack the southern Qing. By then, southern Qing would be as easy to take as reaching into a bag.
The key to all this lay in whether they could seize that crucial time difference.
Yao Yong wasn’t a fool. At first, they would need to use the real main force to harass him. Once Yao Yong issued the orders to redeploy troops, the key would be how to bring the main force in time before Yao Yong could react.
Wei Yun had looked at the routes. Even before coming to Yuancheng, he had people clear out the mountain paths between Yuancheng and southern Qing. Originally, because it was a dense forest unsuitable for marching armies, mostly used by hunters, it was indeed a shortcut. Now Wei Yun had people clear out the paths in advance to facilitate the movement of horses and supplies. Most of the roads had already been cleared, just waiting for Wei Yun to set out.
Meanwhile, Qin Shiyue, having received Wei Yun’s orders, immediately pursued Yao Yong. Yao Yong, only halfway back, felt the ground shaking. He looked back to see dust rolling in the distance – it was Qin Shiyue leading his men in attack!
“Wei Yun, that untrustworthy scoundrel!” Yao Yong shouted in anger. But after cursing, he realized that Wei Yun had never said he wouldn’t take the opportunity to attack. However, there was no time to think more about it. Yao Yong could only shout, “Retreat! Quickly back to Rongcheng!”
The army received the order and galloped swiftly towards Rongcheng. Qin Shiyue pursued urgently behind, killing a batch of fleeing soldiers before stopping when Yao Yong reached the city gates. Then he set up camp outside Rongcheng’s gates.
Yao Yong chased to such a sorry state and already wounded, panted heavily inside the city gates, his heart filled with rage.
“This little… this little…” He searched for words to describe, but couldn’t find how to curse. Gu Chusheng stood beside him and said calmly, “General Yao need not worry. Rongcheng’s walls are sturdy. General Yao only needs to hold out. Once their provisions are exhausted, they will naturally retreat.”
Yao Yong didn’t speak. He glanced at Gu Chusheng, pondering his words.
Before he came, Zhao Yue had told him to carefully consider Gu Chusheng’s words. Now he dared not respond casually, but he also felt that Gu Chusheng wasn’t wrong. As long as they weren’t besieged, everything would be fine.
So he called over a soldier and said breathlessly, “Go up to the city walls and see how many people are outside.”
The soldier responded and ran up to the city tower.
It was already nightfall, and the tents had fires lit, appearing as a vast sea of twinkling lights in the distance. The soldier counted carefully for a long time before coming down and reporting quietly to Yao Yong, “General, there seem to be at least 80,000 troops out there.”
Hearing this number, Yao Yong thought seriously for a moment, then frowned and said, “It seems Wei Yun’s main force is all here. If he besieges the city, I indeed won’t be able to break out. This won’t do.” Yao Yong stood up and said, “Go out immediately and summon reinforcements from all directions.”
The soldier complied, but the next day, he anxiously reported, “General, Wei’s army… Wei’s army has surrounded the city!”
Yao Yong drew in a sharp breath, feeling grateful that he had sent out for help the night before.
He sat down, wiped off his sweat, and raised his hand, “Hold fast, absolutely do not open the city gates, ignore them!”
The struggle between Yao Yong and Chu Yu didn’t greatly affect Wei Qingping and Gu Chusheng. As soon as they entered Rongcheng, they began organizing disaster relief work.
Without Gu Chusheng overseeing, the disaster in Rongcheng was much worse than in Yuancheng, and Yao Yong had hardly any effective measures in place. When the two arrived, it was already a scene of widespread devastation. Fortunately, they had brought enough food. Gu Chusheng was responsible for distributing food, while Wei Qingping was in charge of medical treatment.
Gu Chusheng had once thought that the pain of losing Chu Yu would consume him, leaving him with nothing. However, in Rongcheng, he was so busy he barely had time to eat. No one had time to prepare exquisite meals for him; he could only sit in shacks with the disaster victims, drinking rice porridge. Yet he found that he hadn’t thought about that pain for a long time.
Even such thoughts only occurred to him late at night, lying on the hard bed, when he suddenly realized it.
The news of Wei Yun besieging Rongcheng spread quickly. At the same time, what spread throughout the world was Chu Yu’s reputation for cruelty.
She had not only taken the strongholds of Bincheng Jiangyong and Luohe Chenhuai in succession, but she hadn’t even spared their families. Wherever she passed, not a single grain of food was left, nor any people.
Such unjust and cruel actions immediately drew condemnation from all over the world. However, after the condemnation, Yi, the Marquis of Huaiyang, the last of the three families who had refused to hand over grain, personally led a grain delivery to Yuancheng.
While Yi was on his way to Yuancheng, Wei Yun led his forces towards southern Qing.
At this time, Chu Yu was on her way to Huaiyang. Sun Yi, following behind her, asked in confusion, “General, Yi has already gone to deliver the grain. Are we still going to attack Huaiyang?”
“He didn’t deliver the grain on time, so there must be consequences. Why do you think we attacked these three families?” Chu Yu asked without turning her head.
“To intimidate?” Sun Yi thought for a moment.
Chu Yu, still looking ahead, spurred her horse, “Correct. So, if there are no consequences for not delivering grain on time, and late delivery is acceptable, how can we deter others? It’s just that since Yi has gone to Yuancheng, I won’t touch his family.”
As she spoke, Chu Yu heard the sound of hoofbeats in the distance. She frowned and raised her head, seeing another official road in the distance.
This road was the necessary route from Yuancheng to southern Qing. Now that Wei Yun was besieging Yao Yong, who could be passing on this road?
Chu Yu was on alert, but when the “Wei” character wrapped in the Vermilion Bird entered her sight, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
On two opposite roads separated by snow-covered grasslands, Chu Yu looked into the distance. The young man in silver-white armor, holding a long spear, his horse galloping swiftly. Across the wilderness, she saw him seem to smile.
Both sides’ troops were racing against time. Chu Yu’s heart beat rapidly.
She roughly understood what he intended to do. At this moment, she was rushing to Huaiyang, while he was rushing to southern Qing. She knew she shouldn’t delay him, but her pounding heart desperately tried to stop her.
One more look.
She thought just one more look.
In the past, she might have restrained herself, but she didn’t know what had come over her now. She felt the blood rolling in her body, and like a youth, once she wanted to do something, she couldn’t stop herself.
She suddenly tightened the reins and said to Sun Yi, “You go ahead without me, I’ll be right back!”
With that, she turned her horse and charged towards Wei Yun’s troops.
She hadn’t galloped far when she saw the young man in silver armor racing towards her from a distance.
She smiled, raised her whip, and increased her speed.
He seemed to understand instinctively. They trampled over the snow-covered earth, and then at the moment of meeting, they tightened their reins.
She panted softly and quickly said, “I’m going to Huaiyang. We can’t let Yi off so easily.”
“I know,” Wei Yun’s hot breath came out, condensing into a white mist in the air. He also said, “I’m going to southern Qing. Once I take southern Qing, Shen You and I will attack Yuishui from both sides.”
“I understand,” Chu Yu said. After these words, the two fell silent for a moment. They seemed to have so much to say, but time was too rushed. They needed to find the most important, the most urgent things to tell each other.
But even this moment of silence felt like a waste to Wei Yun, so he spurred his horse forward and suddenly embraced Chu Yu tightly.
He hugged her very tightly, very forcefully. His warmth made this late winter feel exceptionally hot. Chu Yu felt the heat rising, making her eyes warm.
“I miss you so much.”
“Me too.”
“Wait for me to come home.”
“Wait for me to come home.”
They spoke simultaneously, then were stunned. Wei Yun released her and raised his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. He pressed his forehead against hers, and after a moment, he took a deep breath:
“You go first.”
“Alright.”
Chu Yu looked up at him. That look was very greedy as if trying to carve this person into her bones.
Then she turned around and rode away.
She came decisively and left like a gust of wind. Wei Yun watched her silhouette disappear into the distance. After a moment, he too turned and galloped away.
Even though they were heading in opposite directions, their hearts were aligned. They neither let each other down nor shortchanged themselves.