The provisions arrived as promised.
Tang Yisu hurried as fast as he could, finally delivering the provisions safely and soundly.
The roads were indeed slippery from the rain, and a small cart of grain really did overturn. The delay caused by the rain was real, but so was his deliberate stalling.
The arrival of the provisions quickly solved the food shortage problem for the border garrison.
The previously tense atmosphere instantly became lighthearted and joyful as the soldiers watched the provisions being steadily transported into the city.
Qu Dubian also conducted his own inspection. Only after confirming that everything was in order did he have the men store the provisions away.
He looked at the soldiers' happy faces, and his own spirits lifted. With a hearty wave of his hand, he announced, "Extra rations tonight!"
They had been eating so sparingly over the past few days; now they could feast for a meal.
The soldiers who transported the grain cheered with joy, "Thank you, General!"
"How generous of the General!"
"You think this is generous?" Qu Dubian laughed. "Next time we push deep into the grasslands, we'll snatch all the cattle and sheep from the Northern Frontier folks, and we'll eat meat every single meal."
The soldiers burst into laughter.
Ye Lianyang ran over from the very front, holding a small cloth bag. "Your Highness, there's also this. Lord Tang gave it to you before he left, saying it was a gift from the commoners of Xianghe Commandery."
Qu Dubian opened the small cloth bag and took a look.
They were Cangyan flower seeds.
Small, black, round pellets that looked plump and cute.
Qu Dubian rubbed the small cloth bag, recalling the memory of the commoners seeing him off when he was in Le'an County.
Ye Lianyang asked curiously, "Your Highness, what is this? Can it be eaten?"
"Is eating all you can think about?" Qu Dubian said speechlessly, flicking him on the forehead.
The meaning behind these seeds was the very reason they fought on the battlefield.
Cangyan flowers did not require special care. Qu Dubian rode his horse out of the city, found a hill with a water source, and planted these seeds.
He wondered if the scorching sun and bitter winds of the border would allow these flowers, which only bloomed in the watery region of Xianghe, to sprout.
He looked back at the hill.
Perhaps one day, the barren mountains of the Northern Frontier border would be covered with vibrant, little blue flowers.
—
Late at night.
Qu Dubian sat by the table, his hands clasped and resting against his chin. He stared at the writing brush on the table and spoke aloud,
"Liuliu, use the shadow network to investigate two people."
Yi Shier appeared. "Who?"
Qu Dubian said, "The first is Tang Yisu. I want to know who he truly serves. The second is Cui Rong. For this one... just find out whatever you can; don't force it."
He didn't want to be emperor, but he needed to know who was the mastermind pulling strings to hinder them during wartime.
The poison wouldn't truly harm him, and for the sake of his loved ones, he could temporarily endure it. Although the struggle for imperial power and brothers killing each other was chilling, being born into the royal family made it not entirely incomprehensible.
However, a qualified crown prince could be ruthless and could fight for power, but he should never use the lives of the border soldiers as a bargaining chip.
The person who came up with the idea of withholding the border army's provisions to force him to take poison—
Must never ascend the throne.
Otherwise, even if he retired due to illness, he feared he would never have true peace.
Second Brother, Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother.
These few people flashed through his mind. Qu Dubian hypothesized about all of them and surprisingly found that his intuition told him he would only feel most at ease if Fourth Brother took the throne.
Unfortunately, Fourth Brother, just like him, had no such ambitions.
After a while, Qu Dubian belatedly realized that his train of thought—calculating for his own interests—was no different from what the other princes' factions were thinking.
He sighed softly in his heart.
Yi Shier said, "Our shadow network has not yet deeply penetrated the officialdom. Tang Yisu is the Deputy Envoy of Waterway Transport. He moves around frequently, so I'm afraid he won't be easy to investigate."
He felt somewhat puzzled in his heart.
Having followed His Highness for many years, he was quite familiar with the people His Highness knew. He could be certain that His Highness had never interacted with Cui Rong before, let alone Tang Yisu.
They had only met once, and suddenly he wanted to investigate him. Was it because of the provisions? But the provisions had already been delivered.
Qu Dubian pondered, "Investigate what his relationship with the Envoy of Waterway Transport is really like, as well as his background."
Yi Shier replied, "Understood. Cui Rong seems to have gone to the villages and towns near Shanming Pass. I will have someone track him."
"Mm, but this matter requires absolute secrecy to avoid alerting the enemy. The fewer people involved, the better," Qu Dubian furrowed his brows for a few seconds before finally saying, "...When we return to the capital, I might undergo some changes that could cause unnecessary worry."
Yi Shier was slightly taken aback.
"Changes?"
"When the time comes, you..."
Qu Dubian whispered in his ear for a moment.
—
Yi Shier went to investigate the information. He would occasionally leave the city, and his shadow was often nowhere to be seen.
While waiting for news from Zhennan Pass, Qu Dubian finished assembling the triple-bow siege crossbow and even installed movable wheels underneath it.
Xia Fuyang drilled the army and prepared the gunpowder.
Half a month later.
The deep chasm that connected Nanning and the Northern Frontier ignited with the smoke of an offensive attack.
Zhennan Pass.
The junction between the Northern Frontier and Nanning.
Hundreds of artificial transport chains formed by ropes and iron wires were engulfed by climbing flames, which frantically devoured these lifelines.
The burning flames fell into the abyss, resembling a shower of fire descending from the sky.
Xu Tingfeng flicked the blood droplets off his sword and reined in his horse, standing at the edge of the cliff.
He gazed at the opposite bank. In truth, the distance was so vast that from here, it was impossible to see clearly.
The sounds of slaughter behind him were deafening.
Destroying this path this time was crucial to the overall situation of the war.
As long as the Northern Frontier could quickly end the chaos of war, Zhennan Pass would also calm down.
He hoped his little nephew and Xia Fuyang were doing well.
—
The Northern Frontier Encampment.
"Your Majesty!"
The messenger soldier ran over, stumbling and crawling. "Reporting to Your Majesty, disaster has struck! The ropes over the chasm have been severed!"
Jirgal's eyelids twitched violently.
"Have the Great Zhou soldiers pushed deep into the grasslands and reached the chasm??"
The soldier replied, "No, it's the Great Zhou soldiers from Zhennan Pass! They cut off our weapon supply lines from the Nanning side! They moved very fast, as if they had known the location of the chasm all along."
Jirgal couldn't help but exclaim, "That's impossible!"
The location of the chasm was extremely secret. Even if Great Zhou wanted to sever it from the Zhennan Pass side, they would have had to painstakingly search for it.
And once they started searching, they would be exposed, and Nanning would definitely be on guard.
But how could Great Zhou have known the location of the chasm all along?!
—
Near the chasm.
Because the rope connections had been burned away, the Northern Frontier soldiers originally stationed here quickly evacuated.
Zhiyi and the others, who had made a great contribution by revealing the location of the chasm, were afraid of being discovered. They hid like little gophers for three whole days, ending up covered in dirt and grime.
It was only when they could no longer hear the shouts of soldiers and the sounds of horse hooves at all that they finally emerged.
Very cowardly, but safe.
Zhiyi's gaze was solemn. "They have all gone back. The chasm is destroyed. The final battle between the Northern Frontier and Great Zhou is about to begin."
A goshawk flew across the sky, and the feather it held in its beak fell to the ground.
Xie Lishan picked it up to look. A moment later, he smiled. "It was written to you by His Highness."
Zhiyi instantly came over. "What did Little Seven write?"
Xie Lishan translated it for her. In fact, it was only one sentence.
"Stay safe, Sister. Wait for me to come pick you up."
Zhiyi rubbed her eyes fiercely and carefully tucked the feather away.
"We can't stay here forever," she asked Agumudo. "Where did your old royal court move Aunt Axiang's tomb to? Do you still remember?"
Agumudo nodded. "At that time, we only had enough time to take away the queen's body. According to custom, we cremated her and buried her ashes in a remote place."
Zhiyi said, "We are going there."
-
Zhongyi City.
The army was ready to deploy.
Qu Dubian, clad in armor, stood on the city wall alongside Xia Fuyang.
"It is time."
Xia Fuyang said, "It is finally here."
Qu Dubian said, "We killed the Right Worthy Prince together. Let's see who can catch the Left Worthy Prince and Jirgal first."
"Alright."
Xia Fuyang smiled, his lips curling up, and he tightened his grip on his long spear.
"Soldiers!"
"The cattle and sheep of the Northern Frontier are waiting for us! Are you willing to follow me and the Seventh Prince to earn military merits? To seize the cattle and sheep?!"
The border soldiers had been resting and building up their strength, and they had long been itching for a fight.
"Earn military merits! Seize the cattle and sheep!"
The war between the Northern Frontier and Great Zhou broke out in full force.
After the stockpiled gunpowder was blocked by the shields the Northern Frontier had accumulated during this period, the Northern Frontier's momentum surged.
When the two armies faced off in the river valley, Jirgal personally came out to issue a challenge.
Riding his horse, he controlled the reins, pacing back and forth. Channeling his internal energy, he shouted:
"You killed my Northern Frontier's Right Worthy Prince! Do you still dare to charge our lines and kill me now?"
"You little brat who grew up drinking horse piss, don't tell me you're scared at the sight of this king! Come out!"
Qu Dubian was positioned in the center of the army. Hearing this, he let out a leisurely sigh, feeling pity for the limited cursing vocabulary of the ancients.
Who would be provoked by this level of insult?
He flashed a bright, toothy smile and shouted back, "I'm not coming out! Come over and hit me if you have the guts!"
Xia Fuyang chimed in, "That's right, come over yourself if you have the guts! Don't be like a lapdog that's anxious because it can't see its master!"
The Great Zhou soldiers burst into roaring laughter.
Qu Dubian said, "But if you really miss me that much, I suppose I can reluctantly reward you with a gift."
He clapped his hands.
On the war chariot, the drummers received the signal and began to beat the war drums in a rhythmic pattern.
The Great Zhou army instantly began to shift formation. The soldiers at the front parted to make way, revealing the weapons behind them.
These were Three-Bow Arcuballistas.
With a range of a thousand meters, these massive crossbows fired giant arrows and required the combined strength of twenty to thirty men to operate.
They could be formidable weapons for siege warfare, or an unstoppable driving force in large-scale field battles, an absolute nightmare for shields.
Each Three-Bow Arcuballista was wrapped up like an iron barrel, protecting the weapon while also shielding the operators inside.
At first glance, they looked like mobile monsters.
Jirgal narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance. "What is that thing?"
A bad premonition welled up in his heart once again.
Ye Lianyang, the commander in charge of the arcuballistas, issued the order: "Ready!"
The sound of grinding gears rang out as the bowstrings were pulled taut to their absolute limits.
"Fire!" Ye Lianyang commanded.
The sharp, chilling arrowheads tore through the air. The arrows were about three meters long and as thick as an adult's fist. In an instant, they flew right in front of the Northern Frontier soldiers holding their shields, and then...
Bang!
The shield of the first soldier was instantly pierced through. The sheer force of the impact sent more than ten soldiers behind him flying backward.
Jirgal's pupils shrank drastically, and he shouted sternly, "Hold steady! Defend!"
The Great Zhou war drums sounded again.
The horn for the charge was blown.
Qu Dubian and Xia Fuyang exchanged a glance. Just a moment before they separated to lead their respective troops, they bumped their fists together in unison.
"Let's have roast duck together when we get back."
"Understood, Your Highness."
......
Summer of the twenty-fourth year of Chongzhao, early September.
The war between Great Zhou and the Northern Frontier broke out in full. The Seventh Prince, Qu Dubian, and the General for Pacifying the North, Xia Fuyang, jointly attacked the enemy forces, besieged the army in the river valley, and emerged victorious.
Summer of the twenty-fourth year of Chongzhao, late September.
Cool winds rose in the Northern Frontier, and the weather turned cold.
Within a month, the Northern Frontier army retreated over a hundred miles. Jirgal submitted a letter of surrender, offering to marry a Great Zhou princess again or send a royal hostage to Zhou to forge a century-long alliance.
The Seventh Prince tore up the letter of surrender in public. Three days later, Emperor Chongzhao also issued an imperial decree rejecting the surrender, furiously rebuking Jirgal for his utter shamelessness.
Autumn of the twenty-fourth year of Chongzhao, October.
The pro-war faction within the royal court of the Northern Frontier suffered from internal strife and fell apart. Jirgal and the Left Worthy Prince fled in defeat with their army.
The two main generals of Great Zhou split up to pursue them, intending to capture the enemy leaders.
