The tide of history rolls on mightily—those who follow it prosper, those who oppose it perish. Yun Ye had failed to transform the ancients, but instead had been severely transformed by them. This was an extremely embarrassing matter.
To be honest, for the nobility, taking a concubine was no more important than buying a good horse. But this time was different. Yun Ye had always been concerned about Xiao Miao’s daily life. Although he had simply taken a liking to Xiao Miao’s excellent martial skills, and with Xiao Miao staying in the inner residence, he felt at ease doing anything—now things had turned out well. A lecherous middle-aged uncle showing concern for a young girl had ended up turning that young girl into his own concubine. This dealt a tremendous blow to Yun Ye.
Setting aside the moral deficiency, the matter itself had pushed Yun Ye onto a moral judgment stand. That feeling of standing naked on Zhuque Avenue came again, leaving him with nowhere to hide, nowhere to conceal himself.
What he could do now was shut his mouth, completely shut his mouth. As long as he showed the slightest unwillingness, it would completely ruin Xiao Miao’s reputation. Tang society held abundant tolerance for men’s philandering, but demanded extremely harsh standards for women’s virtue. The two princesses had merely taken a monk as a lover, and never appeared again in Tang high society. It was said they were now making the deepest penitence at Ganye Temple.
The rumors spread were too disgusting. The bedroom activities of the monk Bianji had been completely filled in by busybodies with their fantasies. So when Bianji was executed, the streets and alleys of Chang’an were filled with malicious speculation.
Therefore, all Yun Ye could do was shut his mouth. The family had grown very large, and so it had its own rules, and these rules would exceed the authority of Yun Ye himself as the master.
Love was not a necessity for Yun Ye. More often, what he needed was familial affection rather than romantic love. When lonely, marriage alliances were another magic weapon for fostering familial bonds.
Things were very abnormal, but Yun Ye no longer had time to consider these matters. At this moment, Xiao Miao was fighting bitterly on the battlefield. A journey of one thousand nine hundred li, seven defensive lines—all of which she needed to charge through relying on her own martial strength. Without equipment as formidable as that of the Great Tang soldiers, the battles were estimated to be proceeding with unusual brutality.
He adjusted the Camel City’s forward speed to level three. This was already the Camel City’s maximum speed. Only by reaching Ximitan City before the Dashi people arrived and extracting Xiao Miao and the others could he guarantee their safety. Otherwise, the allied forces of Tokharistan and Dashi would trap them tightly between Huolu City, Baghlan City, and Hunmo City, ultimately grinding them to death through superior numbers. He could not afford to lose people like Liu Fang, Dan Ying, and He Tianshang.
The situation there was too complex. The Dashi people, Tokharians, Dabolü people, and Turks were fighting each other to darkness in the delta region. The weakest force was Xiao Miao’s Angel Army. After he himself entered the Sasanian Kingdom, because this country did not resist, the Tang army could march freely through Sasanian territory without obstruction. The Dashi commander Yusuf seemed to be preparing to first deal with the small bug that had drilled into his sphere of influence, and then sweep toward the Camel City with the momentum of great victory.
Baghlan City was now shrouded in black smoke. Shouts of battle filled the entire valley. Moases wielded his longsword, fighting valiantly through the crowd. His two-handed sword broke through the Tokharian wooden shields, its powerful force breaking open their ribcages, revealing pink viscera clearly visible. There was no time for shock—the Turks were already less than a hundred li behind them. The Angel Army could only have a way to live if they desperately carved open a path. The large shield was already strapped to his back. The intense battle had made him forget the wounds covering his entire body. The cavalry led by Xerxes was launching the final attack, hooves pounding the earth like thunder.
Xiao Miao had already broken through the formation, charging out of the battle array alone on horseback. She shook the sweat from her head, circled her warhorse back, and charged into the chaotic battle array again. Moases and the others were still trapped inside the military formation and couldn’t get out.
The long lance easily tore through the Tokharian armor. The lance blade lightly pierced through the enemy’s throat. This was something Xiao Miao had learned from Dan Ying—use one less measure of strength whenever possible.
She had charged too quickly and inadvertently separated from her own troops. Unlike Dan Ying, who rode through the battlefield as if a king touring his domain—whenever his subordinates encountered danger or obstacles, he would go over and kill the most formidable enemies, break through the Tokharian battle lines, then once again calmly survey the battlefield.
Moases was fighting with a burly Tokharian. The two men’s ferocious fighting style left no one within five meters of them. Xiao Miao swung her flail and galloped past the Tokharian on horseback. The spiked flail head struck heavily on his head, and the Tokharian’s head immediately bloomed like a peach flower.
Taking advantage of the enemies scattering, Xiao Miao said to Moases, who was covered in brain matter, “Break through!” Having said this, the lance in her hand traced a large circle, knocking away two curved sabers that had been swung at her. She turned her horse’s head and once again served as the arrowhead of the wedge formation.
“Break through!” Moases shouted loudly, holding his giant shield in front of him and heavily charging toward the military formation the Tokharians had just formed. Days of continuous fighting had completely激发了 激发了 激发了 completely awakened the bloodthirsty side within Moases.
Xerxes’s cavalry circled the perimeter like vultures. They put away their long sabers and sat on their horses continuously drawing their bows and shooting arrows. Dense volleys of arrows poured down upon the enemy like raindrops.
The enemy’s catapults began hurling stones at the chaotic battle array. This was the only method the lord of Baghlan City could think of to kill large numbers of enemies.
Giant stones flew wildly everywhere. People were constantly struck by the stones, bones broken and tendons snapped. If one was unlucky enough to be solidly hit by a stone, becoming meat paste was the only outcome.
Moases shouted for his subordinates to scatter. He had already witnessed with his own eyes two brothers who had been bought back with him from the slave market being crushed into meat sauce by the chaotic stones.
A huge city brick descended from above, falling with a whistling sound toward Moases, who was evacuating his subordinates. Just as it was about to fall on Moases’s head, a lance thrust across from the side, striking the city brick. The brick tumbled and grazed past Moases’s ear. However, the warhorse beneath Xiao Miao neighed and fell to the ground. Xiao Miao, having just deflected the brick, slowly stood up. She only felt severe tightness in her chest. Her throat sweetened, and she spat out a mouthful of blood.
Moases shouted loudly and threw his large shield over Xiao Miao, who was slowly falling to the ground. A fist-sized piece of rubble struck heavily on the large shield. The rubble broke into even smaller pieces, and the large shield also developed a large dent.
Moases had no time to check Xiao Miao’s injuries. He carried Xiao Miao on his back and tied her securely with cloth strips. Throwing away the longsword in his hand, he drew his two-chi-long short sword and roared for his subordinates to charge forward. At this moment, retreating was even more dangerous than advancing.
Ever since Xiao Miao fell from her horse, Dan Ying could no longer maintain his elegant demeanor. His powerful crossbow fired three times, and three enemy officers wearing armor fell from their horses. Dan Ying rode his horse swinging his modao, replacing Xiao Miao’s position and continuing to charge forward. After cutting down more than ten enemies, the Tokharians finally collapsed. Large numbers of deserters began turning back to run toward their own city.
Dan Ying’s warhorse was also mixed in with this crowd. The chain hammer in his hand had already been wrapped around his arm. Just as the city gate was about to slowly close, his warhorse neighed and leaped over the heads of enemies. When the gate was only two chi from closing, the chain hammer in his hand flew out like a venomous dragon, striking the head of the enemy general who was commanding his subordinates to close the gate. His skull shattered, and the headless corpse fell to the ground, blood spraying from the neck cavity like a fountain. This terrifying scene scared silly those soldiers closing the gate. At this moment, Dan Ying’s modao, aided by the horse’s momentum, struck heavily on the city gate. Amid the thunderous sound, the entire gate was struck by the tremendous force and swung violently inward. The modao in Dan Ying’s hand, already twisted like a pretzel, was flung out by Dan Ying. Two Tokharians standing dumbly at the gate were struck by the modao and carried far away.
The warhorse neighed and reared up. Its two front hooves heavily trampled on the other gate panel, and the entire city gate was then completely opened by Dan Ying.
Xerxes’s cavalry followed closely behind Dan Ying’s warhorse, flooding into Baghlan City like a torrent…
When Xiao Miao awoke, as soon as she opened her eyes she saw the tear-filled eyes of the Iris sisters. She felt her mouth was terribly bitter. Seeing that Xiao Miao had awakened, Iris chattered on for a long while. Xiao Miao had no mind to listen to her nonsense. She pointed to her water flask, indicating she wanted to drink water—her thirst was severe.
After drinking half a flask of water in one go, her stuffy chest finally felt a bit better. Only then did she remember the matter of using her lance to deflect that city brick.
“Moases wasn’t hit by a stone, was he?” Xiao Miao quickly asked Iris. At the time, she had only been concerned with her own discomfort and hadn’t seen the result.
“This old slave is fine!” Moases’s voice sounded from inside the room.
“Good that you’re fine, good that you’re fine.” Xiao Miao smiled with extreme happiness. As long as people were fine, even if the city hadn’t been captured, once she recovered, wouldn’t she still be able to capture it?
Xiao Miao suddenly froze for a moment and said to Moases with confusion, “You’re a free man. Don’t say things about being an old slave anymore.”
Moases shook his head and said, “From now on, I’m not. I am your household slave. This time no one forced me. I willingly surrender my freedom, my young lady.”
“In this life and this world, Moases will protect you. From now on, your happiness will be Moases’s greatest happiness.”
“That won’t do, Moases. I won’t sign a contract with you.” Xiao Miao immediately became anxious. The Yun family seemed to have only one servant, and that was Old Qian. If Moases went there too, the family couldn’t have two chief stewards.
“This is a contract of the heart, my master, not a contract written on sheepskin. Until death, this contract cannot be broken. It has already been written on Moases’s heart.” Moases bowed in salute, then smiled and prepared to leave Xiao Miao’s room.
“I’m about to get married!” Xiao Miao said softly to Moases with a flushed face.