Yepei stood to the side, lowering the gauze curtain for Huangbeishuang, then said, “This servant feels that the King is a man of great ambition. He’s domineering and autocratic. People outside say he wants to unify the entire desert! It seems these words are not false. What does Concubine Shuang think?”
Huangbeishuang turned her head to look at the busy figure outside the curtain and said softly, “We’re foolish! So foolish! I always thought that coming to Yunpei would bring unprecedented disaster, but I never imagined that this would be the most peaceful place.”
Yepei turned back to look at the seemingly sleeping Huangbeishuang and asked, “Has Concubine Shuang fallen asleep?”
Huangbeishuang smiled slightly, “Looking at people through gauze is like seeing flowers in the mist. Beauty isn’t quite the beauty you imagine! Ugliness isn’t quite the ugliness you imagine either!”
Yepei bowed slightly towards the bed and said, “Whenever Concubine Shuang says things we don’t understand, this servant knows something is about to happen. But for this servant, as long as we follow you, nothing else matters. Please rest well! Even if something does happen, you should at least have a chance to catch your breath, right? This servant will withdraw now. Zaiping and Daoqiu will take turns serving in the room today!”
As Yepei finished speaking, Huangbeishuang truly fell asleep. She must have been too tired, always on edge and cautious. Now she felt that this palace was surprisingly stable. As she closed her eyes, she suddenly murmured a sentence that sounded like, “Let’s just be kindred spirits!”
Huangbeishuang slept until midnight. When she woke up, she felt hungry and was about to get up to find something to eat when Nazhan walked in smoothly. Zaiping and Daoqiu were kneeling to the side, not noticing that she had awakened.
“Awake?” Nazhan sat on the edge of the bed, his expression gentle.
“Mm! Just woke up!” Huangbeishuang felt very uncomfortable. She understood in her heart that perhaps until now, she still couldn’t forget Qingyun. It wasn’t that she truly wanted to forget, but she felt that she shouldn’t let herself be so affected, almost unable to accept another man’s closeness. If this continued, perhaps even Nazhan’s good temper would wear thin.
“Are you hungry? Call Zaiping! Go and bring some supper for Concubine Shuang. You must be hungry after sleeping all day!” Nazhan’s consideration, so different from their first meeting, made Huangbeishuang’s heart a bit confused.
Nazhan turned his head to look at her preoccupied expression and asked, “Did you read the book I had Wu Jihai bring yesterday?”
Huangbeishuang nodded and said, “What does Your Majesty want me to do?”
“First, tell me what that one-character heavenly secret is?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The one-character heavenly secret is ‘Ba’ (霸, dominate). The two sentences that follow are annotations to it, meaning that although there are indeed people who can dominate a part of this vast desert, no one can unify it. One can become a king, but not an emperor!”
Hearing this, Nazhan smiled with satisfaction, “Do you think I can’t become an emperor?”
“Huangbeishuang dares not speak recklessly! But since Your Majesty showed me that one-character heavenly secret, you must agree with it very much!”
Nazhan looked at Huangbeishuang as if this time, the two of them had to settle something.
In that palace, never has a snowflake fallen,
In the deep courtyard, visitors always come in haste!
Even if the past is like the wind,
It still eats into the bones like ants!
I knew early on, I knew early on
One character can explore heaven’s will
I didn’t know, I didn’t know,
Following heaven but betraying oneself, how desolate and heartless!
Chapter Five: Blood-Spilling Cavalry
On the wild and vast desert, hearts are scattered, only flying sand cuts across, desolation everywhere. Perhaps someone might see from this land what splendor lies on the other side, but if they truly reach that side, they might feel it’s all the same after all. There’s no utopia in this world. Why not just eat this yellow sand, and drink that wild wind? Who knows if this isn’t another kind of heroic spirit! What was this place like five hundred years ago? All water? Or all mountains? In any case, someone once said it wasn’t a dry sea!
Of course, these romantic yet helpless thoughts certainly wouldn’t reflect on the citizens of Yunpei now, because they could revel in song and dance every night, and bathe in water every morning. They seemed to live in a mirage in the desert, remembering only exotic birds singing and night-blooming cereus under the moonlight!
“Leader! That’s Yunpei.”
Manhu’s broad back stood tall and straight as if the sight of such civilized vitality at Yunpei’s border had somewhat subdued his murderous frenzy.
“Hmph! Great nations are indeed different. Even the outermost defenses are formidable. It seems it won’t be as easy for us to take advantage as in other places!” Ruowen’s gaze, growing more dangerous, surveyed the distant border city of Guangping in Yunpei, his posture relaxed. The horse he rode was much larger than the others. If not for his imposing build and agile skills, it would have been difficult to sit so gallantly upon it. He gathered the reins in his hand and turned to leave.
“Leader?” Manhu behind him looked very confused.
“Let’s go to Masui in the west first. It’s easier to handle, and if Mangliu’s information is correct, Masui is now a ready-made feast for us!” Ruowen said a profound smile on his lips.
Manhu didn’t care either way, but he was a bit puzzled. How could the leader be willing to trust a spy organization like Mangliu? After all, they might provide false information.
He still remembered that day when they had just left a fallen city. Halfway through their journey, they were stopped by a man in black. The brothers, still excited from sacking the city, were all clamoring to cut down this brazen fellow. Unexpectedly, the man opened his mouth to do business, claiming he was willing to sell a piece of information that would greatly interest the leader for fifty gold coins.
The leader had remained silent, then suddenly laughed for a long time before swinging his sword and cutting off one of the man’s arms, saying, “Daring to stop me results in this outcome. If your information satisfies me, I’ll give you a thousand gold coins as compensation for your arm. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll chop you to pieces! No one can make deals with me!”
The man’s eyes flashed. He must have undergone rigorous training, showing no fear even in front of the leader. He swiftly bandaged his useless arm to stop the bleeding while replying word by word: “Masui, slave trade surplus, the king makes no restrictions, causing an excess of the slave population. This country is on the verge of revolt, ready to explode at any moment. If your excellency heads south, taking Masui as a stronghold should be an easy task.”
After listening, the leader looked at the man for a long time and asked, “Where are you from?”
The man answered, “Mangliu, we deal in all kinds of information, this is our business.”
The leader smiled, tossed down a bag of gold coins, and said nothing more.
Without any proof, Ruowen believed him.
Perhaps this was Ruowen’s intuition. After all, in many cases, even if you know everything, you might not necessarily make the right judgment. But intuition is different. Although it might be wrong, it’s certainly the most effective and quickest. And Ruowen deeply trusted his intuition.
As the Huang Tian Kuang Battalion headed south, they had plundered and massacred many small oases and fallen cities. Besides obtaining countless wealth and weapons, their numbers had grown from the original two thousand to now four thousand. Indeed! It’s not many, but every one of them is a madman, each able to fight ten. They captured a hundred and kept ten, captured a thousand and kept fifty. Those who ran were killed, those who betrayed were killed, those who retreated were killed, those who disobeyed were killed, those who showed mercy were killed… Anyone who couldn’t keep up had no future.
One can imagine what a scene of devastation and piles of corpses these so-called four thousand troops would leave in their wake.