On the rain-soaked road, Ye Li rode at the head of the army, her delicate brows furrowed in deep thought. The Southern Marquis and others following beside her noticed her expression and asked curiously, “What troubles you, Princess Consort?” Ye Li shook her head and said, “Nothing, I’m just worried about the situation in Xinyang.” The Southern Marquis raised his eyebrows in confusion – the fall of Xinyang was already certain, what was there to worry about? Ye Li frowned as she looked at the roadside. Since they weren’t traveling on the main road, there was an endless stream of civilians fleeing from the northwest. Watching these families in their desperate state, Ye Li felt a complex mix of emotions. The current one-sided situation in the war was largely due to the open and hidden struggles in court. If preparations had been made earlier and reinforcements sent in time, how could things have come to this? In any era, the common people always suffered the most from the flames of war. Ye Li vaguely recalled a phrase her teacher had taught in her previous life – “When the nation rises, the people suffer. When the nation falls, the people suffer.”
“Princess Consort.” Zhuo Jing spurred his horse to catch up from behind, riding up beside Ye Li but staying half a horse-length behind as he spoke softly.
Ye Li slightly pulled her reins to slow down and turned to look at Zhuo Jing. He said gravely, “Word just came – Xinyang has fallen.”
Ye Li nodded, her expression unchanged. The fall of Xinyang had been expected by everyone. After pondering for a moment, she asked, “How is General Yuan?”
“General Yuan has withdrawn with his forces to Jiangxia. But…” Zhuo Jing hesitated for a moment, “We just received the news. The Western Ling army… has massacred Xinyang!”
“What?!” Ye Li’s face darkened, her usually gentle features instantly frosted over with killing intent. The Southern Marquis, who was closest to them, had heard Zhuo Jing’s words. His reins trembled before he quickly steadied them. He stared at Zhuo Jing without speaking. Zhuo Jing continued in a low voice, “After the Western Ling army entered the city, they clashed with the civilians. Afterward, General Zheng Bian, who led the attack into the city, ordered the massacre of Xinyang.”
“What is the Zhennan King of Western Ling playing at?”
“The Zhennan King wasn’t at the front lines. By the time he ordered it stopped, it was too late. Xinyang… at least two-thirds of the civilians died unjustly…” Zhuo Jing’s voice was hoarse. Since the founding of Eastern Chu, this was the first time an entire city had been massacred. Many soldiers found it impossible to accept.
Ye Li gave a cold laugh and spurred her horse forward. The Southern Marquis was stunned for a moment, looking questioningly at Zhuo Jing beside him. Zhuo Jing hesitated before following. Ye Li hadn’t gone far, stopping by the roadside to silently watch the passing refugees. Zhuo Jing said softly, “Princess Consort.” Ye Li glanced back at him, casually playing with her riding crop as she said, “Someone once told me that letting ordinary civilians experience war is a shame upon soldiers and the nation.”
Zhuo Jing tried to console her, “This isn’t Princess Consort’s fault.”
Ye Li shook her head and said with a cold smile, “Zheng Bian, you say… Prince Ding’s household has marked his head. I want his head to appease the spirits of Xinyang’s civilians!”
“Your servant understands. I guarantee Zheng Bian’s head will hang on Xinyang’s city walls within ten days!”
Seven days later, when the Zhennan King’s army approached Jiangxia, Lei Tengfeng, who remained in Xinyang, sent a secret message. Zheng Bian, who had also stayed in Xinyang, was found dead in his room, his head hanging on Xinyang’s city walls. Beside the head was a gracefully written character for “Ding,” clearly indicating the killer was from Prince Ding’s household. Upon receiving Lei Tengfeng’s secret message, the Zhennan King’s face turned dark as water. After pondering for a moment, he sent a reply to Lei Tengfeng, then ordered an intensified attack on Jiangxia.
Jiangxia was a small city, just over two hundred li from Xinyang. Its area was less than a third of Xinyang’s, surrounded by mountains on three sides with limited space. Yet this small city required Western Ling to expend as many troops as they had used to capture several previous cities combined. The Western Ling army, which had been unstoppable and seemingly invincible, finally witnessed the true strength of the Eastern Chu army in this small city. The Zhennan King, who hadn’t personally attended even the capture of a major city like Xinyang, now stood behind his army, watching from a hillside as soldiers from both sides endlessly grappled and killed each other in life-and-death struggles below. He watched as black-clad warriors on the city walls, seemingly tireless, continuously knocked down enemies trying to scale the walls.
“Your Highness, who would have thought a mere city of fifty thousand would be so troublesome? Should we consider other options?” a general standing behind him asked softly, his eyes full of frustration and shadow as he looked at the black figures on the city walls. This was the mark that the Mohist Army had carved into every enemy’s heart over the past hundred years with countless lives and blood.
The Zhennan King sighed lightly and said, “Fortunately, the Emperor of Eastern Chu doesn’t fully trust Prince Ding’s household.”
None of the generals behind him asked why, as they shared the same sentiment. If Eastern Chu’s ruler and ministers understood and trusted each other, how could they not rule the world?
“Attack day and night without stopping. We must take Jiangxia before Prince Ding’s reinforcements arrive!” the Zhennan King ordered harshly.
“Your servant obeys!”
On the distant city walls, the gray-haired General Yuan Pei watched the seemingly endless enemy forces below with deeply furrowed brows. His eyes, which had seen much of the world, were bloodshot with exhaustion, but his back remained straight as an arrow, his gaze filled with determination to share Jiangxia’s fate.
“General Yuan.” Leng Qingyu hurried over. In less than a month since the campaign began, Leng Qingyu’s proud and indifferent young face was already filled with vicissitudes and defeat. Yuan Pei looked at him, shook his head, and sighed lightly, “General Leng, is something wrong?”
Leng Qingyu glanced at the distant waving banners and frowned, “General Yuan, keeping our forces confined within the city like this will surely damage the soldiers’ morale.”
Yuan Pei said, “General Leng need not worry. The Mohist Army’s morale won’t be crushed by mere days like these. Everyone understands that our forces currently have no hope of matching Western Ling in open battle. Holding firm and waiting for reinforcements is all we can do now.” Leng Qingyu looked at the soldiers defending the city walls, his eyes darkening. Yuan Pei was right – it wasn’t the Mohist Army’s morale that had been crushed, but rather the less than ten thousand city defenders he had brought from Xinyang. After their great defeat, these defeated troops were thoroughly broken. The relentless attacks by Western Ling soldiers these past days had made them as skittish as frightened birds. If this continued, trouble would break out among them before Jiangxia even fell.
“This is a battlefield, and my task is to hold Jiangxia. General Leng, momentary contests of pride won’t bring any benefit to our current situation. Western Ling’s soldiers are no weaklings. Once our mere tens of thousands enter their army of hundreds of thousands, we’ll be like water dropping into the ocean. We’ll simply be swallowed up.” Yuan Pei said earnestly. Leng Qingyu remained silent. He understood what Yuan Pei was saying, but he found the current predicament particularly hard to accept. In his first time commanding troops, he had ended up in such a state. In truth, the outcome of this war no longer had much to do with him. It was foreseeable that shortly, even if he escaped the Emperor’s punishment, he would surely be sidelined for life, never again having the chance to command troops in battle.
Attacking the city, defending the city.
Warriors from both sides fought tirelessly day and night, with corpses piling up and blood flowing like rivers below the city walls. The bodies of their men and enemies had long since become indistinguishable. Everyone seemed to fight purely on instinct. Yet Jiangxia had only fifty thousand troops, including those who had died supporting Xinyang. The actual number was less than forty thousand, and even adding the defeated troops who had retreated from Xinyang, they still numbered less than fifty thousand. Their enemy, however, had over two hundred thousand elite soldiers. These were troops the Zhennan King had spent countless efforts training over the past dozen years, truly elite among elite. Jiangxia’s defending forces grew fewer and fewer, and each moment seemed like the city gates might be breached, yet time passed minute by minute, and the flags of Eastern Chu and the Mohist Army still flew above the city walls.
Behind the Western Ling army, the Zhennan King stared solemnly at the tightly closed city gates in the distance.
“Your Highness, they can’t hold much longer.”
The Zhennan King didn’t speak, but his eyes were filled with respect for his enemy. Five full days and nights of continuous fierce attacks. With merely tens of thousands of troops, even he couldn’t guarantee holding out until now. This wasn’t something that could be achieved merely by having a clever and capable commander – it required the entire army to have unparalleled conviction and determination. After a while, the Zhennan King said gravely, “Continue! Take Jiangxia within the hour!”
More than an hour later, Jiangxia’s gates finally fell, heavy and slow. On the city walls, Yuan Pei, covered in blood, threw off his battle robe and shouted fiercely after glancing at the remaining warriors on the walls, “Kill them all!”
All the soldiers’ eyes had reddened. Having an enemy trample a city defended by the Mohist Army was their shame. They would wash away this shame with enemy blood. All soldiers threw themselves at the nearest enemies without regard for their lives. Fighting was everywhere – on the city walls, at the gates, in the streets.
Leng Qingyu stood at a street corner, watching the killing before him with eyes so red they seemed about to drip blood. Behind him was a group of defeated soldiers. Having fled from Xinyang, they could no longer fight, and no one asked them to take up arms again. Leng Qingyu turned to look at them and said gravely, “Do you see? They are Eastern Chu warriors just like you! When our cities fell, what did they do, and what did we do? It was my incompetence that lost Xinyang – do as you see fit!” With that, he drew his sword and charged out.
The defeated soldiers looked at each other. After a long moment, one person gripped his sword and followed. Then another, and another…
A group of soldiers, completely different from the black-clad Mohist Army, charged out from the street corner toward the enemy forces pouring through the city gates. The Western Ling soldiers, frustrated by the resistance to their entry, became even more savage, howling as they threw themselves at every Eastern Chu soldier. Blood instantly dyed the streets.
“Rumble—”
Earth-shaking sounds approached from the distance, causing everyone to pause in surprise. The surviving Mohist soldiers’ faces lit up with wild joy and vigor, “The Black Cloud Cavalry! The Black Cloud Cavalry has come! Reinforcements are here!”
On the wide street, a black mass of people charged forward with tremendous momentum and fierce killing intent. At their head, a man in red robes galloped forward, his clear voice full of killing intent, “Block the city gates! Don’t let a single enemy who entered escape. Left and right wings, take the city walls!”
“Yes!”