Volume 5, Chapter 27: Scattered, Vivid Shadows of Apricot Blossoms (1/2)

Volume 5, Chapter 27: Scattered, Vivid Shadows of Apricot Blossoms

<blockquote class="Quote">On the seventh day of the fourtharht cavalry of the Daizhou aredly on their heels until reaching the border between Qin and Ze As the two ar arsun Ji had hidden all traces of their presence, including his marshal’s banner, as he laid in a troops trapped the Northern Han ar Records Volume Three</blockquote>

The an to warm and it was still cold Within the ss were abundant The plum flowers in the entire haathered bunches It was tender, beautiful, fresh, and clean Thewere the scattered and vivid shadows of the apricot blossos within the pavilion at the entrance to the hamlet The pavilion was surrounded on all sides by brocade curtains A brazier was placed at one side of the pavilion Upon the brazier was heated a pot of fenjiu¹ This copper pot could hold ten catties of alcohol and was s Wrapped in reat cloak, I sat on a chair covered with the pelt of an Asiatic black bear The cozy and war a breath to war interested in wine as I appreciated the apricot blossolanced at the copper wine pot Before I had even spoken, Xiaoshunzi had already understood Taking out a se copper one Afterwards, he poured a cup of warinally li the color of ah-quality white jade cup, I took a sip with satisfaction

At thisup a cloud of dust At their head was the dusty and travel-worn Prince of Qi, Li Xian Behind hiuards As he neared, Li Xian dise strides into the pavilion

Setting the wine cup down, I rose to respectfully welco not seen you for hness well?”

Li Xian studied reatly It was a good while before he spoke, “Suiyun, everything was as you expected I suffered consecutive defeats Were it not for the arrange that trap with a massive ar defeat However, Suiyun, although I had expected you tobeen aware of your arrangements I did not expect that Imperial Brother would send so many troops Are you not worried about the safety of the Is fro restless in Hanzhong I know all about it Are you not worried that someone would seize this opportunity to rebel?”

Sare as steady as Mount Tai His Io However, Zhe still has to beg for Your Iiveness Back when I learned that the Northern Han arht-hundred-er to deliver a petition, infor defeat at the Qin River Valley and requesting reinforceed before he broke out into laughter and replied, “So that’s why, that’s why Suiyun, your mind is truly intricate In your eyes, the ith Northern Han is ame of weiqi Presu for the situation onhim into a trap”²

With a smile on hness to worry about these trivial hness, you have suffered innumerable hardshi+ps these last several days Zhe has already prepared fine liquor as a reception for Your Ihness, you should first drink a cup”

Li Xian straightforwardly sat down in the chair Laughing heartily, he said, “Suiyun, I have now fully experienced your skills I can only be blaiven you a free hand to act, I definitely won’t ask too many questions The result was that I became one of your pawns This Prince will definitely not blame you because of these matters However, this Prince alive soestured with ht it before Li Xian With curiosity, Li Xian gazed at the case Just as he was about to stretch his hand out and take it, I smiled and explained, “The object within the case is not sohness, take a look after you’ve returned”

Not caring about that, Li Xian waved his hand and had one of his bodyguards accept the case Accepting the wine cup Xiaoshunzi handed over, he drained it in one gulp Languidly, he stated, “Originally this Prince wanted to resentfully coainst you If I could continuously score victories like a hot knife through butter, any arrangeht that Long Tingfei would be so for ly defeated? If I were not aware that you had ements beforehand and followed orders to lure the enemy into the trap, this Prince would likely have beco Li Xian’s dejection, I sternly chided, “Your Ihness’s words are in error The entire world knows just how forhness only led one hundred thousand foot soldiers and cavalry, while General Jing only had thirty thousand troops The enees Your I thedefeat at Qinyuan and unyieldingly fighting continuous battles against the Northern Han areneral In spite of the daers, Your Ihness personally lured the enefei have pursued south without the least bit of caution? In the following battle, it will only be the strong bullying the weak Your Ihness contributed the hness, please understand that these words come from the bottom of Zhe’s heart”

Li Xian’s heart warh he had fulfilled the objective that had been set beforehand, he had suffered a devastating defeat on the surface As a result, he inevitably felt distressed But after hearing Jiang Zhe’s laborious yet co, he picked up the jade cup Seeing this, I hurriedly picked up the silver pot and filled his cup with liquor

Sardless of victory or defeat, this journey was not wasted since Suiyun has personally served liquor”

Seeing the gloom in the Prince of Qi’sIn fact, I was also a bit sad because of the disastrous losses Although I intended to use these defeats to lure the enefei’s ferocity and ruthlessness truly leftdefeat to lure the enee of the defeats to retreat and lure the enemy However, since the situation was already settled, there was no need to speak of this to prevent the Prince of Qi fro him with a fewmy pale features become faintly flushed, Li Xian hurriedly asked, “Suiyun, how is your health? Did you suffer a relapse?”

At first I stared at hi, “It isn’t that serious It is only that Zhe is incapable of enduring exhaustion Now that the situation has been settled, the re will naturally be taken care of by Your Ihness Zhe can convalesce for a few days and quickly recover”

Becooof off You still need to advise on the follow-up plans Should Long Tingfei and Lin Bi be captured or killed? How should our ar up, I gazed at the fleeting clouds on the horizon Shness, is there a need to ask me about these issues? Only Lin Bi, because of her effect upon the Daizhou army, is difficult to handle If possible, it is best that Your Ihness tries to capture her alive There is also anotheralive? Does Your I the ambush at the river valley, I ordered the troops to specifically capture a Northern Han officer,” answered Li Xian with a frown “However, he claifei’s ruthlessness, our troops practically all perished in the sea of fire It is unlikely that Xuan Song was able to escape this disaster”

I sighed, “When I learned that General Xuan wasin action, I performed a divination The divination hinted that he was able to make a fortuitous escape from death That is why I have had hopes of his survival Now that Long Tingfei’s army is trapped here, Qinyuan will definitely fall into disarray We need to dispatch scouts and spies to investigate If General Xuan is still alive, we can use this opportunity to rescue hih Xiaoshunzi’s brows knit slightly, he did not respond He ell aware of the guilt that Jiang Zhe frequently felt because of Xuan Song He was so ill being partly because of this However, he was unwilling to leave the young master’s side

Li Xian interjected, “I also worry about General Xuan’s fate How about this? Have Su Qing lead the experts within the army She is quite capable and will definitely not fail this h General Su is quite capable, Duan Wudi is not to be underestimated Before, he was defeated by General Su because of his old emotions However, it is very difficult for General Su to succeed now In addition, if Qinyuan contains experts from the Devil Sect, General Su by herself would be useless if she is outnumbered General Xuan’s survival is of the uto, I will not be able to rest easy As forhas already returned I can have hizhenzi”

Seeingmaster has decided, I will personally hness, please look after young master’s safety”

Li Xian promised, “Do not worry After I’ve set up ca that this matter was decided, I s Chi? I’ve heard that he’s unhar, Li Xian responded, “That felloorried that you will punish hio He clai surrounded No matter what I said, he refused to come with me to see you”

I smiled serenely and asked, “Is he worried that I will punish him for the massacres he committed?”

Derision flashed across Li Xian’s eyes as he answered, “I don’t knohy Suiyun would take hih, he would know that you wouldn’t bla circureat distances If he wasn’t decisive in his slaughter, he would likely have been eh you are vicious andothers forget that your heart is as hard as iron”

Not caring or taking notice of the Prince of Qi’s assessh I do not blame him, I have to punish him It may be assumed that His Ireat deeds will probably be wiped out After all, Great Yong ultimately has to pacify the population of Northern Han”

Li Xian s, “I am disinclined to pay any attention to these matters, since Imperial Brother will decide it Suiyun, since Lin Bi cannot be killed, do you have any way of destabilizing the morale of the Daizhou army? Over these last several days, I have had the chance to experience firsthand just how formidable the Daizhou army is If this elite cavalry arht”

I freely spoke, “As for the Daizhou ar will depend on the barbarian’s cavalry With spring arriving at Yanmen, the barbarians will assault Daizhou within ten days The troops that reainst the elite barbarian cavalry, their spirit will be unable tois bedridden, the generals left in Daizhou, Lin Chengyi and Lin Cheng’er, are fierce enough, but lack intelligence As for the youngest daughter, Lin Tong, she has never led troops The situation will likely bode ill As long as this news is spread, the Daizhou army will lose all taste for battle If the decisive battle is not fought within ten days, it is possible that Lin Bi herself will be unable to control the Daizhou army”

Just as Li Xian was about to nod his head, a plate shattered Hearing this, Li Xian looked over Within the apricot blossoht under the pink blosso fear on his face and his complexion was pale At his feet were the shattered pieces of a plate of china, the ground streith scattered dried fruits and pastries Li Xian was stunned He recognized this youth as Suiyun’s subordinate attendant, Chiji Li Xian had met him several tiht now