654 The City of Wei Got Drunk (1/2)

It was still dark on the lakeshore when Ning Que woke up, as he did so before daybreak. He threw the remaining mutton into the ashes of a bonfire in front of him and walked to the carriage with Sangsang in his arms. Then he drove the carriage southwards.

The black carriage no longer moved as fast as it did in the days past. It started before dawn and arrived at the periphery of the city south of Shubi Lake only at high noon.

Sangsang had already woken up long ago and was leaning against the window. She looked at the increasingly familiar scenery outside without saying anything. Her facial expression remained unchanged until she caught the sight of the loess city wall in the distance.

Ning Que looked at the city in the distance and said, ”Take a good look at it. We may never see it again in the future.”

Their childhood in Min Mountain had been filled with blood and betrayal. It was not until they came to the City of Wei to join the army that they finally had a relatively peaceful life. Living in this city, they felt warmth of the human world for the first time. They lived there for many years, owned a home and had a lot of debts.

City of Wei was their real hometown.

Though Ma Shixiang served as subordinate general in the City of Wei for many years, he had never been promoted, for he had no noble origin and the lack of big wars between Tang Empire and Golden Palace made it hard for him to accumulate martial exploits.

In another year, he would retire from the military with honor and return his home in Langya County. He was very satisfied with this, because he had saved up a lot of money over the years. The only pity was the decrease in money from firewood cutting in recent years.

Since that guy left with his handmaiden, the City of Wei seemed to have run out of luck. The pressure on the border of the Tang Empire from Golden Palace in the Wilderness had been increasing. Although Golden Palace still dreaded to cross the border, cavalries of the big tribes often attacked the logistics caravan heading for Helan City under the guise of horse thieves. That annoyed the Seven Stockaded Villages, including the City of Wei, and even the entire northern border troops.

What worried Ma Shixiang now was another thing. He looked at the black cloud floating gradually towards the City of Wei, with his gray hair shivering slightly. He was wondering how to deal with those bigwigs in the city.

Many bigwigs came to the City of Wei recently together with hundreds of experienced cavalrymen. Two generals from the Military Ministry of the Tang Empire with dozens of crossbowmen, a dozen officials from Imperial Center Administration and three Lords from the Imperial Astronomers came to this humble border town for some reason.

It was said that situation of the other six frontier fortresses was similar. But it was obvious that the City of Wei was the focus of those bigwigs in Chang'an. There were several powerhouses from Southern Gate Temple among those Imperial Center Administration officials.

It seemed that the yamen of Chang'an transferred all its power over here and took over the right of jurisdiction over the border in a quite direct way. Surprisingly, the Northern Military Camp had no drastic response to this at all.

There was no absolute secret in the world. The reason why these people came to the City of Wei had pervaded over the days. People in the city were shocked, but they could do nothing but to accept it. Because they had seen the edict issued by West-Hill Divine Palace and realized that it was true.

As the dark cloud approached the city, Ma Shixiang's mind was getting proportionately weighed down. He did not know what he should or could do. He was so frustrated that he did not even hear the military order, when a high-ranking official from the Military Ministry announced it.

”General Ma, did you hear me? Go out of town with the cavalry now, rush to the cloud, stop the black carriage outside at all costs!”

The official shouted gravelly.

Ma Shixiang was a little relieved at his words and asked, ”We just need to drive it away?”

A Taoist from the Southern Gate Temple said in a gloomy mood, ”If there is a chance to kill the daughter of Yama, we will certainly not miss it. Tell your subordinates to act according to circumstances and cooperate with us.”

...

...

Hundreds of border cavalrymen went out of the City of Wei, among them – some horse carriages. Ma Shixiang, at the forefront, rode a horse silently, so did the cavalrymen of the City of Wei. In such a depressingly silent ambience, the troop came to a relatively higher meadow.

The black cloud had already crossed the meadow. It was so huge that its front end was about to enter the City of Wei, while the other end was still around Shubi Lake. No one knew how many miles it stretched in the sky.

The cavalry looked up into the sky silently, with complicated expressions on their faces. When they lowered their heads and caught sight of the black carriage moving slowly under the cloud, they could not help crying out in alarm.

All the adjutants and hundreds of cavalrymen looked towards their general at the same time. Ma Shixiang held the reins, blue veins clearly visible on his hands, with no expression on his face – issuing no command.

An official of the Imperial Center Administration got off the carriage, saw the black carriage in the distance and suddenly became serious. Then he shouted angrily when he found that no cavalryman around took any action, ”What are you waiting for?”

Ma Shixiang said, ”The order I received was not to allow the black carriage to enter the country. Now it is still outside of town, so we only need to wait.”

The Taoist from Southern Gate Temple shouted in a harsh voice, ”This is such a great opportunity to kill the daughter of Yama. What are you waiting for? Do you want to let that carriage go?”

There was still no expression on his face. ”As a soldier of the Tang Empire, I only execute military orders,” he said.

The official of the Imperial Center Administration hurried to a carriage at the back and shouted to the high-ranking official of the Military Ministry as he waved his arms angrily, ”The military must cooperate with us – you must immediately order the cavalry to attack!”

The Military Ministry official was silent.