“Qingyi, you’re injured?” Bei Ye, who had been hiding in the Northern Li great general’s tent all along, looked up to see Wei Qingyi being helped inside by his personal guards, his battle robes stained with blood. He was so startled that the teacup in his hand slipped and clattered to the ground.
Wei Qingyi’s face was somewhat pale. Seeing the worry in Bei Ye’s eyes and his faintly trembling hands, he gave him a reassuring smile. “A-Ye, there’s no need to worry. They’re only minor wounds. It’s nothing serious. I’ll be fine after a few days of rest.”
Bei Ye waved away the two guards and personally took up the medicinal powder to treat Wei Qingyi’s wounds. “Did the battle not go well?”
Wei Qingyi frowned before giving a slight nod. “I don’t know what happened today, but the Great Yan troops were unusually spirited. Our army suffered a heavy defeat.”
Bei Ye’s hand paused as he applied the medicine. “Unusually spirited? Ever since Great Yan took Southern Yue, the fighting in Southern Zhao has also gone smoothly for them. When have the Great Yan troops ever lacked morale?”
What he did not say was that the Northern Li army was also facing Yue Fuguang’s Yue forces. Though they had not directly clashed with Wei Qingyi’s army of one hundred and fifty thousand, Bei Ye had heard plenty of reports. The forces led by the neighboring Marquis of Pacifying the West had encountered them and failed to gain even the slightest advantage, taking quite a beating instead.
It was said that whenever the Northern Li forces encountered Yu Boming, a member of the Yu Family, on the battlefield, they would take a detour. No one dared to kill him outright.
When the news reached the capital, that old bastard Bei Ji was so furious that he smashed a great many things. He even issued several successive reprimanding edicts, yet no one truly obeyed them.
After all, the emperor could kill them only once. But if the Divine Maiden’s second brother truly died at their hands, that would not be a matter of dying just once.
In an instant, Bei Ye’s thoughts raced through all of this. Wei Qingyi, however, shook his head firmly. “Today was different. Those men fought as if they had no regard for their own lives. The entire Great Yan army descended like ravenous tigers, killing until their eyes ran red.”
Bei Ye was clever, and he knew Wei Qingyi well. “You suspect that something has happened in Great Yan—something we don’t know about?”
Wei Qingyi nodded slowly. He clasped Bei Ye’s slender hand tightly. “A-Ye, I have a terrible feeling. I’m afraid that this time, Northern Li… may suffer the same fate as Southern Yue. We may be doomed.”
Bei Ye let him hold his hand. A flicker of struggle crossed his face. “Qingyi, I understand the Goddess Yue’s strength and terrifying power even better than you do.”
He tried to tell him everything he knew, but he could not force out a single word. He nearly suffocated himself in the attempt.
“I originally thought that when Northern Li encountered Great Yan, we would have only two options: defeat or negotiation.” He gave another bitter smile and shook his head. “I was wrong. I failed to see the situation clearly and ignored Beiyue’s warnings.
“I truly believed that after Great Yan conquered Southern Yue, they would merely teach Northern Li a lesson and then withdraw.”
“Now it seems that Great Yan truly intends to unify the realm.” It was laughable that he had been blinded by the throne. Even after witnessing Yue Fuguang’s otherworldly, unfathomable methods, he still could not let go of his desire for that position.
He did not know whether this refusal to give up came more from his desire to sit upon that throne, or from wanting to prove himself to his imperial father—to make the old man realize that he had chosen the wrong person.
Whatever the reason, the moment he heard that Wei Qingyi was leading the army, Bei Ye had felt as though he had been possessed. He believed this was his chance to turn his fortunes around. Ignoring Beiyue’s advice, he had done everything possible to return.
But after several months of fighting between Great Yan and Northern Li, Northern Li had already lost two cities. They had fought battle after battle, both large and small, without achieving even a minor victory.
Wei Qingyi did not find this surprising. “If you and I were standing in Great Yan’s position, with such national strength and the Goddess as our powerful support, we would also fight to the very end.”
He shook his head. “Not to mention that Great Yan’s gunpowder strikes are like the wrath of the heavens. Their armor is stronger, their weapons sharper, and their equipment more advanced. We simply cannot compete with them.”
Though those words sounded like he was bolstering the enemy’s prestige and undermining his own, they were an undeniable consensus throughout the Northern Li army.
He drew the treasured sword at his waist. Its blade was covered with more than a dozen chips of various sizes. This was a priceless sword, yet when it met the blades wielded by Great Yan’s soldiers, it was no match for them either.
Reports of Northern Li’s successive defeats continued to reach the ears of Bei Ji and his ministers. Some officials even tried to blame every failure on Wei Qingyi.
“Your Majesty, I impeach General Wei Qingyi for shrinking from battle and missing critical opportunities, thereby causing our Northern Li army to lose three cities in succession. He deserves the death penalty!”
Bei Ji did not answer at once. Instead, his gaze swept across the ministers in the hall. Under the pressure of his stare, they all lowered their heads.
“Chancellor Wei, what is your view of Censor Cui’s impeachment?” His expression was calm and his voice solemn. Only when he thought of the three lost cities did his brows crease slightly.
It was impossible for Bei Ji not to feel pain and fury over the loss of those three cities. But he knew more than the ministers did, and what he knew disturbed him even more.
That was also why, despite the fact that Wei Qingyi had lost three cities and should technically have been executed, he had not punished him.
Chancellor Wei’s face remained composed. He stepped forward, bowed, and said, “Your Majesty, I believe Censor Cui’s impeachment is nothing more than baseless nonsense born of ignorance.”
He appropriately allowed a trace of grief to show on his face. “Your Majesty surely knows the situation at the front better than any of us. Great Yan has superior weapons and the might of gunpowder behind it. This… is not something our Northern Li soldiers can make up for simply by charging forward without fear of death.”
Northern Li had no steel. Nor did it possess a will as unyielding as steel. When faced with gunpowder powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth, even if his son exhausted every ounce of his ability, he could not carry the army along with him.
He quickly glanced up at the emperor seated upon the dragon throne. Their sovereign understood this better than anyone.
“When faced with the might of gunpowder, the harder our troops charge, the greater their casualties will be.” He took a scroll from his sleeve. “Your Majesty, this is a method my son Qingyi risked his life to devise for countering Great Yan’s gunpowder attacks.”
After Bei Ji had read it, Chancellor Wei continued, “Though it cannot fully neutralize the advantage of gunpowder, it should at least reduce the casualties among our soldiers to some extent.”
Bei Ji nodded slightly. “General Wei has been thoughtful.”
At those words, someone’s eyes flickered.
Their emperor had always favored Chancellor Wei and regarded Wei Qingyi as a nephew and younger member of the family. Even when Wei Qingyi and the Fifth Prince Bei Ye had caused such an indecent scandal, he had not punished him severely.
He had always called him Qingyi. Yet now he addressed him by his official title. Some people could not help but wonder whether this was truly a sign of the emperor’s respect for General Wei.
