“Chong Heng! Big Brother! Where the hell are you going!?” As the sky had already darkened, Yang Wujiu, jostled by the horse until he felt nauseous, shouted loudly at the shadow ahead.
“Whoa—” Chong Heng pulled his horse to a stop, looking at the mountain peaks towering into the clouds, and furrowed his brow.
“Whoa!” Yang Wujiu stopped behind him, gazing at the gloomy and terrifying mountain before him, suddenly feeling a chill down his spine.
Chong Heng gripped the sword in his hand, turned to look at Yang Wujiu, and said impatiently, “Why did you follow me?”
“How can you even ask! I asked you to help me and you didn’t even give me a straight answer, so how can I not follow and ask? Besides, you looked at that paper note and ran off without a word. Aren’t you afraid the Emperor will punish you when he returns? What exactly was written on that note? Aren’t you afraid someone is deceiving you into a trap?”
The paper note in Chong Heng’s palm was already crumpled. He seemed to not hear Yang Wujiu’s words, “This is my private matter and has nothing to do with you. Go back!”
“No, I’ve already followed you this far,” Yang Wujiu said. “Besides, you haven’t agreed to my request yet.”
Chong Heng raised his eyelids and glanced at him, “I promised you, now scram.”
Yang Wujiu gritted his teeth, “No, this place looks bad at first glance. I must follow you.”
“With your mediocre skills, you’ll only add to the chaos,” Chong Heng said disdainfully. “If you keep following me, I’ll kill you and take your head back to Yang Man. Hya!”
Yang Wujiu was intimidated. He gripped the reins hesitantly, watching as Chong Heng was about to disappear on the mountain path. After struggling for a moment, he turned his horse around, “Hmph, what’s there to be proud of? This young master doesn’t even want to help!”
Chong Heng looked at the sky and arrived precisely at the location mentioned in the note. The abandoned temple halfway up the mountain looked like it had been deserted for many years. He held his breath and was about to kick open the tightly closed door when a familiar voice came from beside him, “Xiao Heng.”
Chong Heng drew his sword and turned his head sharply, meeting Tan Yishuang’s eyes.
Tan Yishuang removed her wide hood and glanced at the sword in his hand, saying flatly, “I thought you wouldn’t come to the appointment.”
“You should be in the Great Capital Imperial Palace. Privately running out, Master will not let you off,” Chong Heng said coldly.
Tan Yishuang gave a self-deprecating smile, “Do you think if I don’t run, Ziyu would spare me? I almost killed you, Xiao Heng. Ziyu considers your life more important than his own. If I stay, I’ll only meet a dead end.”
Chong Heng’s eyes grew slightly sore, “I… can help you plead for mercy.”
Tan Yishuang’s beautiful face looked pale in the dim light, her voice seeming to be covered with a layer of frost, “How will you plead? By making me marry you?”
Chong Heng looked at her, opened his mouth, his expression somewhat at a loss, “Imperial concubine, I—”
“Why humiliate me so,” Tan Yishuang laughed and sighed. “Xiao Heng, when Ziyu brought you to Xingqing Palace, you had just been born. My own child had also died shortly after birth. Ziyu, at such a young age, had calculated my pain of losing a child and dared to entrust you to my care. I treated you as my own child and considered myself not unkind. Where exactly did I go wrong to provoke such thoughts in you?”
Chong Heng pursed his lips, looking at her with reddened eyes, “The Imperial concubine is the one who treated me best after Master. If the Imperial concubine feels humiliated, then Chong Heng will withdraw these feelings and never mention them again.”
Tan Yishuang tightly gripped her sleeve, a flash of pain in her eyes, “When my child died, he was only three days old and had not yet been named. I only gave him a small name, calling him Ah Heng.”
Chong Heng trembled all over, his expression stunned and at a loss.
“I named you, I treated you well, but it was all a calculation by Liang Ye,” Tan Yishuang looked at him with a cold expression. “From start to end, you were nothing more than a shadow of my Ah Heng.”
Chong Heng, barely standing in for her Ah Heng, easing a woman’s pain of losing a child, exchanging this for the protection of the master of the palace master, stumbling and growing up in a cannibalistic inner court.
So after Liang Ye had the ability to protect him, he was no longer allowed to approach Kangning Palace. So upon knowing his feelings, Liang Ye’s face showed such a strange expression, and had even been indulgent for a time.
Because from the very beginning, it was known that he and Tan Yishuang were absolutely impossible.
Chong Heng gripped the sword in his hand, glaring at Tan Yishuang with reddened eyes, and said through gritted teeth. “Then please, Imperial concubine….come back with me. I can help cover the crime of escaping the palace. As long as you reveal the name of the mastermind, I will ask Master to forgive and forget.”
Tan Yishuang smiled slightly in the shadows, “Xiao Heng, haven’t you understood yet? You won’t be going back.”
“Your and Liang Ye’s lives will be left here.”
Countless figures surged from all directions of the abandoned temple, slowly closing in on Chong Heng.
****
The Eastern Chen army retreated overnight, and the Loufan army also had no intention of confronting the Northern Liang army alone. Liang Ye and Wang Dian gathered with many generals in the main tent to redeploy their defenses.
Jiao Wenbo’s 200,000 troops were drawn from the garrison troops of various southern prefectures and were to return along their original route, especially reinforcing the defense of the three southeastern counties. Jiao Yan was still stationed in Ningming County. Originally, Wang Dian thought it would be more stable to have him guard Chuansong and Anhan, but this was vetoed by Liang Ye. Chuansong and Anhan bordered the three southeastern counties, and the father and son were guarding half of Northern Liang’s territory. He was resolutely unwilling to change, and Wang Dian could only express understanding.
Chuansong and Anhan were handed over to two generals unfamiliar to Wang Dian. Liang Ye assigned Lu Shu to the northern military’s defenses. The urgent task was to reorganize the northern military. The more than 200,000 troops Liang Ye brought filled a significant portion of the northern military’s gaps, with another portion settled in Chilan and handed over to Bian Feng.
The border defense line, riddled with holes, was barely repaired after this battle. At least for the next few years, there would be no major changes or renewed conflicts.
As dawn approached, everyone dispersed. Wang Dian and Liang Ye remained before the Northern Liang map, eating and discussing the next deployment.
“You’ve thrown Bian Feng in Chilan County, a place where even grass doesn’t grow, and he thinks it was my suggestion,” Wang Dian leaned against a small table and drank some porridge.
“After all, you’re jealous,” Liang Ye grinned, squinting at Chilan County’s geographical location.
Wang Dian stuffed a small pickled vegetable into his mouth and looked at the defense map. “Chilan, Chuansong, and Chengyuan counties surround Huadong County. You’re afraid Eastern Chen won’t understand your desire to reclaim Huadong.”
Liang Ye crunched the pickled vegetable, letting out a cold laugh. “Capturing Huadong to support you, saving me from your constant complaints about having no resources.”
Wang Dian bit a piece of flatbread, swallowing it with difficulty along with the porridge, “Indeed, we’re poor. If we don’t think of something soon, we won’t even be able to gather military wages for the latter half of the year.”
Liang Ye said, “The official system has already been changed, might as well change everything else.”
“I’ll be the sacrificial lamb, and when I return, those wolves and tigers in the capital will tear me apart,” Wang Dian kicked his leg, “Don’t use me as a weapon. Find someone else.”
“Like who?” Liang Ye asked sincerely.
Wang Dian said without moral scruples. “Like our respectable Sixteenth Brother.”
Both of their faces simultaneously showed a malicious smile.
Wang Dian, frowning, ate half a dry flatbread and after discussing with Liang Ye how many people to bring back to the capital, suddenly asked, “Where’s Chong Heng? Haven’t seen him for half a day?”
“He’s not in your tent?” Liang Ye asked.
“Didn’t you assign him a task?” Wang Dian countered.
They exchanged a glance, lifted the tent flap and went outside, where the sun had already risen.
Although Chong Heng loved to play, he was always responsible. Whenever Liang Ye appeared, he would obediently follow. If Liang Ye asked him to watch Wang Dian, he would stay by Wang Dian’s side without leaving. Such a situation of not seeing him for a day and night was truly rare.
“Is he sick?” Wang Dian said with some concern. “These past few days he’s been complaining about the army’s food and going into the mountains to hunt wild game.”
“His body is even healthier than mine,” Liang Ye whistled, but waited a while and Chong Heng did not appear as he usually would, suddenly popping out from somewhere.
“Liang Ye!” Wang Dian’s voice came from Chong Heng’s small tent.
In an unfamiliar wooden box lay a broken long sword.
Liang Ye picked up a piece, the engraved characters were all too familiar to him.
Years ago, when he was having a sword forged, Chong Heng had insisted on casting the hilt himself. When Liang Ye disagreed, Chong Heng threw a tantrum, crying and making a fuss – typical of a fourteen or fifteen-year-old. It was so annoying that it gave Liang Ye a headache. In the end, most of the best materials were used to cast this sword, with only some scraps left to make a dozen or so willow leaf knives.
Wang Dian also recognized this as the sword Chong Heng used to cherish like a treasure. He pressed down on Liang Ye’s shoulder, “Chong Heng’s martial arts are strong. Since they’ve left the sword here, they must want to lure you over. Chong Heng might not be in trouble. Don’t act rashly.”
Liang Ye coldly laughed, “Zhen thinks they’re tired of living.”
Although Liang Ye didn’t say it, Wang Dian knew how much he cared for Chong Heng. He personally cooked for him, taught him martial arts, brought him along when leaving, and even the order for Chong Heng to follow him was more about guarding than protecting. Even a biological brother might not receive such treatment – it was as if he had raised half a son.
“Sipan Mountain?” Wang Dian took out a wooden token from the box, feeling the name was vaguely familiar. Suddenly he realized, “Outside Chuanbei City, the source of Chang River, a day’s journey from here. Sipan Mountain has treacherous terrain. What would Chong Heng be doing there?”
Liang Ye took the wooden token, looked at the characters and laughed, “Want Zhen to go alone?”
“What nonsense,” Wang Dian’s face turned cold. “Send three thousand light cavalry to destroy their mountain base. They really think they’re something.”
Liang Ye patted his shoulder, “Makes sense. Zhen will go mobilize troops. Don’t be anxious.”
“I’m not anxious,” Wang Dian said, “He’s not even my subordinate.”
Liang Ye pried open his tightly clenched fist, “You’re not anxious, but you’re ready to block a knife for him so readily?”
Wang Dian glared at him without good humor, “Get lost, hurry and go rescue someone.”
As soon as dawn broke, each general had pointed their troops toward their respective stations. Liang Ye planned to bring 120,000 men back to the capital, but unable to resist the soldiers’ complaints of poverty, he dispersed 30,000, leaving 90,000. They had already packed up the camp and were preparing to set out.
Liang Ye’s 90,000 personal troops advanced with the Anhan’s army. Just after Liang Ye and Wang Dian emerged from the small tent, Liang Ye received a secret letter, his expression darkening.
Wang Dian glanced at him and took the letter, which was written in Cui Qi’s handwriting.
[Turmoil in the capital, return quickly.]
