Chapter 353 An Either-or Situation
Seeing that Heiying’s face gradually become pale, showing a kind of dying helplessness, Qin Yunuan opened his eyelid and checked carefully. Leng Shuang seemed to be a little flustered.
“Madam, I…” Leng Shuang took a step closer.
“It’s none of your business,” Qin Yunuan turned her face to comfort Leng Shuang, “Besides, even if you don’t kill him, Sima Ray will kill him. Even if he isn’t killed by Sima Ray, he will be punished by me. How can he leave safe and sound after bullying my people?”
Leng Changxi glanced at Heiying and ordered his servant, “Take him back.” After saying this, he stretched his hand and pulled Qin Yunuan directly onto the horse. When he passed Tuoba Wuyu, he nodded with concern, “Thank you for your hard work.”
Qin Yunuan sat behind Leng Changxi. Putting her arms around the edge of Leng Changxi’s armor, she lowered her head slightly, “It’s so surprising that…”
“Nothing is surprising,” Leng Changxi seemed rather calm after so many betrayals and schemes, “There is nothing impossible in this world. However, it’s good that while Heiying is useless now, Zhuge Qingtian, a dark horse, is reliable. What’s more, the royal family of East Qin tortured his mother and then hunted him down for a kill in the past. Sima Ray was involved in all of this. We have no common interests with Heiying. No matter he follows us or Sima Ray, he can get whatever he wants anyway. However, we have a common enemy with Zhuge Qingtian, which means we have common interests. Also, we’ve made a match between him and Her Highness. Although Her Highness hasn’t woken up yet, they owe us a debt of gratitude. Zhuge Qingtian, we can rely on him.”
“Qingyu hasn’t been getting better yet. However, Zhuge Qingtian has almost found all the medicinal materials I need. You needn’t worry about it anymore.”
“Good,” Leng Changxi raised his head. The bright red feather on his silver helmet fluttered with the wind. He moved his gaze to the place far away, which was the direction Sima Ray had fled. Now Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan had the same consensus on Yu Haitang. Although he still had the title of Yu Haitang, inside there was Sima Ray’s soul in his bones. With Yu Haitang’s appearance becoming more and more like Sima Ray, his heart was also a hundred times more vicious.
Heiying’s body was buried hastily. The poison Sima Ray gave Heiying was highly toxic. Obviously, he had never thought of leaving Heiying alive. According to Qin Yunuan’s order, Zhuge Qingtian had climbed up the cliff on the east side in the evening and picked epiphyllum, the last medicinal material that needed to be used to treat Mu Qingyu.
Qin Yunuan was holding the epiphyllum. Its white petals were soft and big. Indeed, it was a good epiphyllum that could rarely be seen. It seemed that Zhuge Qingtian had also spent a lot of effort this time.
“It’s okay. The medicinal materials are all here,” Qin Yunuan closed up the cuffs that were rolled up when she was treating in the wounded battalions, “General is waiting for you in the camp for discussion. Now that you have just been promoted to Vice-General, you must perform well to achieve a feat, which will be the guarantee for you and Qingyu’s future.”
Now that Qin Yunuan had said this, it meant that she could cure Mu Qingyu. Zhuge Qingtian nodded in a pleasant surprise and strode into the camp.
Now the army of West Xia had taken down a line of defense like spitting a bamboo. Soon it was already close to the Royal City. If the army set off tomorrow, it could reach a close distance outside the Royal City within three days. However, while entering the hinterland of Qi, all the trouble had followed.
Leng Changxi ruled the army strictly. Not only didn’t the army disturb the residents along the way, but it also gave out army provisions to the hungry and refugees when it reached some villages and cities that had been depressed because of the war or Sima Ray’s retreat. Therefore, the army had been popular all the way. Although Leng Changxi had previously been wanted by Sima Ray, his name as the god of war in Qi remained. What was more, the unreliable accusation of collaborating with the enemy inherently made no sense. Most people still chose to believe in Leng Changxi.
There was nothing wrong with the residents. The worry was the local officials. Qi had long had peace only on the surface ever since Sima Ray took power.
However, under Sima Ray’s despotic power, nobody dared to take the lead to rebel. From the local officials commanding many troops to governors and magistrates, they all adhered to the strategy of pouring oil on troubled waters, turning a blind eye to Sima Ray’s attempt to usurp the throne. After all, despite under home arrest in the palace, the emperor was still alive now. Although Sima Ray’s evil ambition was obvious, everyone remained silent since he bore the title of governing the state temporarily.
As for the central government, those officials who were clearly opposed to Sima Ray had been assigned to the frontier or imprisoned under various excuses by him. Although nobody was executed explicitly, the fate of both was no more than a dead end.
Qi had been struggling painfully under Sima Ray’s despotic power. The appearance of Leng Changxi seemed to have muddled the outwardly peaceful waters.
“General, as far as I am concerned, the surrendering letter from the officer in Qingzhou is not trustworthy. He is just a tiny officer, does he have the ability and confidence to help us open the gate of Qingzhou? However, once we can pass across Qingzhou, we can escape the 300,000 soldiers of Sima Ray’s army stationed south of the Royal City. The officer may be a junior. I think that we’d better act after a second thought.”
A vice-general who was more conservative looked worried.
“The words are inappropriate. Vice-General Tuoba is from West Xia, so you may not know much about Qi,” a young soldier from the Leng Army said slowly, “A lower-class officer as he is, he is in charge of the transportation of salt and trade in the state. Although the position is low, his power is great. What’s more, there is much profit. Once there is money, there is power. With power in hand, there will be more money. Young as this officer is, he has traveled to many places and learned much. From my perspective, he must be a courageous and knowledgeable person. He must have heard that we attack fast and successfully with victory near in the future, so he asks for sincere cooperation with us. What’s wrong with it?”
Every word of the young general seemed to mock the pedantic and timidity of the vice-general from West Xia, which was exactly what Leng Changxi worried about. The nearer the victory was, the more he was afraid that the army of West Xia and the Leng Army would conflict with each other.
The Leng Army was brave and fearless, walking ahead all the way. They were the first to keep out the arrow and the first to enter the trap. It was a miracle that they had only had the loss of two people so far. However, the soldiers in black armor of West Xia were the main force of the army. What was more, they had the supreme glory in West Xia, which always made them proud. Although they knew that their individual strength was not like the Leng Army, there were 200,000 of them. If they rose in revolt, Leng Changxi could not control them easily at all.
“Alright. You don’t need to say anything more. You two are not thinking from the standpoint of the situation of each other. All you think about is how to persuade the other and how to prove you are right. I have said before that whether it’s the West Xia army or the Leng Army, we are both a family and our purpose is the same. If anyone dares to make trouble at this very moment, don’t blame me for turning my back on old associates.” Leng Changxi had rarely been so harsh no matter to the generals in West Xia or the Leng Army.
Both sides remained silent until a soldier’s report came from outside, “General, there is a secret letter from the front.”
An urgent letter with a chicken feather on it was delivered to Leng Changxi. The cyan seal on it made Leng Changxi’s brows slightly raised. Leng Changxi glanced at the people around him, leaned to one side, flicked the letter open and threw it away after reading it roughly, “It’s so strange. The letter of the officer of Qingzhou just came, and the letter from the senior official of Qingzhou also arrived.”
“Does he also want to surrender?” Zhuge Qingtian looked a little haggard. Now he needed to take the position of a military counselor, which had been vacant because of Heiying, while taking care of Mu Qingyu who was in a coma. He had taken it over just now, so his task was unusually heavy.
“Who knows?” Leng Changxi handed the letter to Zhuge Qingtian, on which there was the handwriting of Feng Xuejun, the senior official of Qingzhou. The words on the paper expressed the thought that seemed ready to surrender.
Zhuge Qingtian brought out the letter sent previously by the people of the officer of Qingzhou from the box. He carefully touched the paper and raised his head, “The paper is the same. It’s the official paper of Qingzhou. According to the ink marks, the officer’s letter is really one month earlier than the senior official’s letter. What’s strange is why they separate when both of them are prepared to surrender. If they can cooperate, they will surely have a much higher winning percentage.”
“There’s only one possibility,” Leng Changxi turned the jade ring on his thumb. His brows, which was like mountains getting together, dropped suddenly, and the corner of his lips raised a little, “One of the two people must be lying. One of them must be the spy of Sima Ray.”
Zhuge Qingtian’s hand paused. One of them was the officer in charge of economics, the other was the most senior official of Qingzhou. No matter which one of them was playing tricks, it was really knotty.
“Gather all the information about the two people before dusk. Do it immediately,” Leng Changxi knocked his fingertips on a hard mahogany desk. The jade ring on his thumb happened to knock on the corner of the desk, clanking.
“Okay,” Zhuge Qingtian bowed his fists and added, “How detailed should it be?”
Leng Changxi turned his head calmly, “Find out what kind of pants his ancestors wore in winter and the direction his family’s ancestral grave faced. Alright. Go.”
Zhuge Qingtian was dumb for a minute. Then he bowed his fists and walked away awkwardly.
“Okay. All of you should leave now.”
The men in the camp for discussion left gradually. In the evening, Qin Yunuan also returned from Mu Qingyu’s place, looking rather tired. She happened to see Leng Changxi holding a thick pile of files in his hand. The other half of them covered the whole table. Leng Changxi just got the information and read it hurriedly. Looking up to see Qin Yunuan come in, he only glanced at the files and shrugged, “Zhuge Qingtian is good. This is the information he gathered in half a day, which is excellent. He almost found out what color the bellyband of the servant girl was.”
Qin Yunuan sniggered, “Your way of describing it is really special.”
Leng Changxi shook the files in his hands and shrugged with a smile, “Would you like to take a look? I’m about to finish reading it. And I probably have guessed which one is the spy between the officer and the senior official. Come over and read it for me and let me see whether you think the same as I do.”