"My Lady, you don't know what the Vanguard Camp has become..." Goudan knocked his forehead against the blue bricks.
"The brothers won the battle with their lives, but they didn't get a single penny's worth of life-saving medicine. Uncle Zhou... Zhou Daniu, sigh! You certainly don't know him, but his right arm was cut off at the root."
"But the military supply department only handed down rotten medicinal roots covered in green mold. When applied, the bleeding wouldn't stop, and the flesh completely rotted away..."
"To cover up the deficit in the medicine silver he embezzled for the nobles, He Minghu deliberately stopped the medicine for the wounded soldiers' camp. He said the higher-ups didn't issue coffin money, so when they stopped breathing, they could only be wrapped in straw mats and thrown into the back mountain to feed the wolves."
"Dozens of veterans who had rendered meritorious service just suffered and rotted to death alive on the communal beds! The military doctors just squatted by the charcoal braziers to keep warm, not even taking a single glance!"
"I really couldn't bear to watch it anymore. I took the meat bricks Centurion Xu issued to me, secretly climbed over the camp wall, and went to the mutual market thirty miles north to exchange for two packs of dried herbs. But as soon as I climbed back, I was caught by Ma Jin'an's supervisory camp."
"That beast Ma Jin'an, wearing a brand-new peacock rank badge uniform, sat in front of the central command tent warming himself with a carved hand warmer. He didn't even look up before condemning me to death for privately selling military supplies and secretly communicating with the barbarian market, saying he was going to hang me on the watchtower!"
"To save me, Centurion Xu led people to charge the central command tent, but Ma Jin'an was already prepared. He mobilized three hundred heavily armored modao swordsmen to surround the centurion."
Goudan gritted his teeth.
"Ma Jin'an was afraid! He was afraid that winning the battle would mean rewarding merits, and rewarding merits would mean checking the accounts. Once the accounts were checked, the bottom line of him and He Minghu embezzling military supplies would be completely exposed!"
"He found an imperial physician and publicly took out a clay pot with a broken bottom, insisting that it contained gunpowder and saltpeter, which generates heat when exposed to water.
He pointed at our noses and cursed, saying that the batch of meat bricks contained heavy sugar and salt, mixed with a mess of things, and that the brothers ate them and suffered from internal fire and deficiency, acting as if they were mad.
He said that the night raid was not a great boost in morale at all, but the toxic effect of taking demonic medicine!"
"He poured all the dirty water on the Xu family's head, saying that Centurion Xu privately altered the rations, intending to create great chaos in the army and rebel!"
After hearing all this, Xu Qinghuan sat on the grand armchair, not even changing the frequency of her breathing.
But Li Sheng knew that this was when his master's murderous intent was at its heaviest.
Everything made sense now.
No wonder Ma Jin'an and He Minghu dared to risk universal condemnation to torture a centurion with a strong background to death.
Because the batch of military rations Xu Qinghuan sent not only saved people but also became a trigger, almost digging out all the roots of trouble they had buried.
To keep the lid on, they could only turn Xu Zhan into a madman who took drugs, went crazy, and colluded with the enemy to commit treason, completely erasing that great victory.
Behind this, there might also be the tacit approval of Qi Enming, the Minister of War in the capital, or even the shadow of Xu Jie, the Senior Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.
As long as Xu Zhan died, this black pot would be firmly buckled on the Xu family's head.
At that time, not only would the bad accounts of the Northern Frontier be settled, but even the Chengyi Count's Mansion in the capital would be buried along with it.
What a move to pull the firewood from under the cauldron.
What a move to point at a deer and call it a horse.
They thought that fabricating a charge could trample the Xu family to death in the mud. They thought that this Northern Pacification City was high as the sky and far from the emperor, and the knife handle in their hands was the rule.
The night wind squeezed in through the crack of the door, blowing the candlelight on the table to jump wildly, pulling her shadow extremely long on the blue brick wall.
She didn't speak, just rested her right hand on the pure gold wooden box.
With a click, the box lid was pushed open.
She gripped the sword hilt, and with a clang.
The clear and ringing sword chime slashed open the dead silence of the main hall. The gold-mounted Emperor's Sword was unsheathed, bringing up a dazzling cold gleam, the blade reflecting the candlelight and circulating cold murderous intent.
Xu Qinghuan held the sword with both hands, without the slightest hesitation, and slashed it down head-on at the mahogany desk in front of her.
With a crack.
Wood chips burst apart, and the mahogany desk was split into two halves right from the middle, collapsing with a crash. The files and teacups on it smashed all over the floor with a clatter, and the tea spilled on the blue bricks, spreading out a large dark water stain.
A broken piece of porcelain splashed onto Goudan's cheek, cutting a bloody gash, but he didn't even dare to dodge, biting his teeth tightly.
This sword slashed all the schemes to pieces.
The power struggle and gambling ended here; next were the rules of seeing blood on the knife.
"Li Sheng," Xu Qinghuan held the sword, the tip pointing obliquely at the ground, her voice cold.
"Here."
"Pass my order, assemble thirty personal guards." Xu Qinghuan stepped over the broken wood on the ground. "Everyone change into heavy armor and bring long swords."
"Remove all the cloth wrapped around the horseshoes."
Li Sheng suddenly looked up.
Removing the horseshoe cloth meant no longer hiding their tracks.
Heavy armor and long swords, this was going to be a head-on clash.
"My Lady, there are at least dozens of armored soldiers from the supervisory camp at the death row prison..." Li Sheng swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"Dozens?" Xu Qinghuan sneered. "Tonight, even if there are thousands, I will trample it flat."
"Go pass the order, assemble at the main gate in the time it takes an incense stick to burn."
"Yes!" Li Sheng cupped his fists, turned around, and took large strides out of the main hall.
Footsteps soon sounded in the courtyard.
The thirty personal guards of the Xu family moved extremely fast. They took off their nursing home uniforms and changed into the heavy armor brought from the capital.
Leather straps passed through the armor plates and were pulled tightly. Heart-protecting mirrors were tied to their chests, and face armors were buckled down, revealing only pairs of eyes showing murderous intent.
The iron armor leaves collided with each other as they walked, emitting heavy iron armor friction sounds.
Everyone held a horse-chopping sword in their hands, with thick backs and sharpened edges.
Over at the stables, the personal guards were squatting on the ground, using daggers to cut the cloth tied to the horseshoes.
Without the buffer of the cloth, the warhorses anxiously pawed the ground, their iron hooves smashing on the bluestone slabs, emitting crisp clattering sounds.
At this time, the door of the west wing room was pushed open.
Jenny Huang was seen holding a wooden box and stepping over the threshold. The two personal guards behind her also each carried an identical wooden box.
"Miss." Jenny Huang heavily placed the wooden box on the bluestone slab and lifted the lid.
Inside were neatly stacked dozens of thick bamboo tubes. The seal of each bamboo tube was coated with a thick layer of pine resin, glowing with a yellowish-brown luster in the moonlight.
"The moisture-proof layer is done." Jenny Huang clapped the dust off her hands. "The frost and dew of the Northern Frontier can't penetrate it. I left a three-inch fuse. The filling inside is a deadly ratio of five parts saltpeter, two parts sulfur, and three parts charcoal. From lighting to exploding, it's just enough for a horse to run ten paces."
Xu Qinghuan stepped forward and reached out to pick up a bamboo tube.
It felt extremely heavy in her hand.
"Is it enough to blow open the door of the death row prison?"
"The door?" Jenny Huang said proudly, "If everything in these three boxes is lit, it can blow half of the Northern Pacification City into the sky. Let alone an iron door, even the city wall can have a gap blown into it."
Xu Qinghuan put the bamboo tube back into the box.
"Bring them."
Xu Qinghuan mounted the horse.
She didn't wear armor, still in that everyday dress of a princess. The night wind rolled up her skirt, fluttering loudly. She held the Emperor's Sword in her hand, the tip pointing obliquely at the ground.
"Goudan." Xu Qinghuan looked down condescendingly at that soldier covered in wounds.
"Here..." Goudan was supported by two personal guards and barely stood straight.
"Lead the way."
"To the death row prison."
Thirty heavily armored cavalrymen, thirty horse-chopping swords, three wooden boxes full of black gunpowder.
The sound of horse hooves trampled through the night of the Northern Pacification City.
