Volume 5, Chapter 32: Blood Shed by Loyal Patriots (1/2)

Volume 5, Chapter 32: Blood Shed by Loyal Patriots

<blockquote class="Quote">General’s Tomb be erected in the wilderness, accohteous</ehteous Horse Mound Afterwards, the common people established a shrine at the back of the to and autuhteous would enter the shrine to pay their respects and frequently saw supernatural pheno Tingfei</blockquote>

On the nineteenth day of the fourth h the cloud layers, there were only a thousand or so Northern Han troops left, closely surrounded by the Yong army Yesterday, after the core of the Northern Han ared into the fray several ti that escape was impossible, he for army attacked from all sides Because the Northern Han soldiers were all ready to die, the brutal fighting lasted until sunset

Furious, Li Xian ordered the torches be lit and the battle continued into the night Only late into the evening did the Northern Han forin to collapse However, the disparate Northern Han army formed smaller circular forless resistance Many of the Northern Han soldiers with stoer thirstily drank horse blood and hungrily ate raw horse flesh Even then, they did not discard their weapons and surrender

Only when earlyarrived was Li Xian finally able to exter Northern Han soldiers aside frofei and his personal troops There were practically no prisoners Alht to the death Even when soer continue to fight, they would co taken captive The several hundred prisoners were either heavily injured or had lost consciousness fro unable to coazed at the trapped Long Tingfei His hands were clenched into fists and he was extreant voice ask frohness’s cohtly? In a mohness should be happy, no?”

Not turning around, Li Xian ridiculed, “So it is the Arer sulking?”

I could not help touching hed aardly Inwardly, I regretted offending the Prince of Qi the previous two days However, truthfully speaking, this wasn’t hout the world, it was only the scale of operations that was large In corieve and laratuitous loss ofof, my assets were divided into four sections The first section was composed of Southern Chu’s Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets The Pavilion secretly controlled thirty percent of Jiangnan’s commerce However, this did not mean that I could coe, the ed to iven a portion to the disciples from the Secret Camp There was only a small portion that re to my plans, after the world was unified, I would distribute all of my assets In other words, I could not casually sell off nor extravagantly withdraw funds from the assets nominally controlled by the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets In addition, in order to support the intelligence network in Southern Chu, I essentially couldn’t receive any of their profits

The second section was the Halcyon Inn run by Lü’er This was a business I controlled wholly and was responsible for communications between my other business assets and y andbusiness empire was enormous In short, the franchise’s cash floas barely balanced Although the profits would steadily increase in the future, I could not count on it for money at present

The third section were the shares I owned of the Hai fae profits from my shares and there was no need to explain that it was currently my principal source of inco funds, hoas it possible for me to have a paradise in theable to establish the Halcyon Inn?

As for the fourth section, it was the assets controlled by the Einally intended for these assets to serve as a way for the members of the Embroidered Union to support themselves in the future and prevent the their lost country Who would have thought that the profits would pour in? These members of the Embroidered Union were mostly elites with talent and social circles If they weren’t these kinds of individuals, hoould they have the intent of resisting Great Yong? With the hard work of these locals, the E day When I saw the accounts every year, I would be so happy as to grin froinally, the reason why I was unable to pick out the dangers and did not want to give up the Embroidered Union was because I did not want to part with these profits However, after learning Xiahou Yuanfeng’s demands, I immediately sobered up I helplessly discovered that I had to relinquish the entirety of the E from the Embroidered Union’s assets to my concealed forces I had deeply resolved to abandon all of its assets while having Chen Zhen deliver over ninety percent of the entire mobile assets to Lü’er via the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets Although I had done everything I could to reduce the losses and had only left behind the storefronts, thethese assets fronorantly wait for Xiahou Yuanfeng to take over, I still feltabout how my income would be reduced by forty percent every year, how could I not beat my chest and stamp my feet?¹

What, are riches and honor supposed to be transient? That’s utter hogwash Although I, Jiang Zhe, was not fond of power and reputation, I was still fond of wealth Without gold and silver, how could is support my family?² Could it be that I would have to e, it was Xiaoshunzi who had givenblow that yuan</eh I was able to spend a few years at ease and coed my entire life If I had been able to acquire an enormous fa a life of seclusion and enjoying landscapes of green hills and clear waters³ I would have boundless joy, spendingflowers, and fishi+ng Although my life would be a lot duller, I would be able to spend my existence carefree and without worries

Besides, based upon h it could just barely be considered healthy, if I did not have enough money to purchase all kinds of expensive and valuable ain toil for the sake of ht not necessarily be alive when Roulan and Zhen’er get married Money was essential in order to live cos from famous artists which I were fond of needed money The valuable and sole copies of books which I were fond of needed money Even the paper and ink that were used to write, the fragrant incense burned while playing the zither, and the rare and unusual plants filling the garden all requiredof it this way, the losses this ti carefully and at length, this was all because of Great Yong’s ier on Li Zhi as he was the ele was er out on her, I naturally could only take out sun Ji and Jing Chi, it was because they were Li Zhi’s trusted generals As a result, I had luether

These last several days, I had washed my hands of all military matters on pretext of illness Of course, the reason I took out er on Li Xian was because I felt that he was fei and Lin Bi Besides, I was not particularly adept when it canored it completely How could I have expected that the situation would turn out like this? However, the current situation still left fei would be captured sooner rather than later Although Lin Bi and the Daizhou arh the eastern enca ar with seven thousand Daizhou troops, the Daizhou arth had been severely compromised In addition, based upon the infor out, it was impossible for Lin Bi to affect Northern Han’s situation Plus, her survival allowed Great Yong to have sorounds of mediation between itself and both the Northern Han royal fa was that Jing Chi was attacked by an assassin, allowing the core of the Qinzhou arthe time I resided in the Cold Courtyard, he would likely have lost his life This thoroughly exceeded my expectations However, because of Li Xian’s prosun Ji to not worry about Long Tingfei and Lin Bi, Zhangsun Ji focused upon pursuing the Qinzhou troops Although the Qinzhou arh and took the opportunity tothe Qin River to rescue the re troops were able to return to Qinyuan after Zhangsun Ji’s pursuit

At present, Zhangsun Ji had already blockaded the Qin River Valley and wastroops before the walls of Qinyuan It could be said that all of the prior objectives had been achieved Although it was not perfect—Jing Chi had been seriously injured and Li Xian felt that he had lost face—, this was still a decisive victory

Seeing Li Xian’s frosty face, I sighed and apologized, “This subject was indisposed by afor reatly offended Your IiveZhe’s words were only an excuse However, he could also hear Jiang Zhe’s re Zhe speak of his wife and children, Shen’er’s frail and naïve appearance eradually dissipated Additional thoughts in his h they had betrothed their children, the success of that futureZhe’s help As a result, a smile that was not a smile appeared on Li Xian’s face, and he set aside the , he replied, “This Prince also knows that we have won a great victory However, the manner of victory makes me feel quite vexed Not only was Lin Bi allowed to escape, even several tens of thousands of the re troops were allowed to retreat to Qinyuan Inevitably, this result is a bit of a fly in the oint’s serious injury from an assassin’s attack nity”

Seeing Li Xian hness, at present, the enerasp If we can capture Long Tingfei alive and present him as a prisoner to His Ilory”

Speaking these words, I had originally expected that I would obtain Li Xian’s endorse the eneh for Li Xian to feel proud and happy, and also make up for the face that he had lost this tiree, he actually frowned “That will be difficult This Prince has battled with Long Tingfei for many years and is well aware of his character That ant and is considered Northern Han’s martial deity If he were to be defeated, he would rather die than suffer the hu a captive Let alone others, if it were possible that this Prince would fall into the hands of the enele road We could take”

I shook inwardly With a whole new outlook, I regarded Li Xian Having suffered repeated setbacks andand dohness, the Prince of Qi, had already become as profound as the abyss—under the prerequisite of retaining his foraze to the battlefield, seeing the surrounded Long Tingfei and his personal troops Each and every one of their faces were extraordinarily tranquil The slaughter they had endured see their state of mind The looks on their faces were those adopted by true warriors ere facing certain death I sighed softly My belief that I could grasp other’s feelings was all in vain It seemed that I still had soht on the battlefield It was ifei

I remembered that so Palace, after the emperor was pursued into a hopeless situation by Wen Ziyan, he had wanted to h the statuses of Li Zhi, Li Xian, and Long Tingfei were quite different, there was soenerals They could die in battle, they could lose battles, but they could definitely not suffer the hu taken prisoner

All of a sudden, I gained a degree of respect and interest for the bloodiness of war It was time for me, this irresolute and weak individual, to personally watch the last elegance of this exceptional and capable general

At this h it’s ifei is willing to surrender, the mental shock upon Northern Han’s , Li Xian ordered a ceasefire At present, the current battlefield was entirely under the control of the Yong ar army ceased its assaults and only surrounded the Northern Han remnants, the desperate Northern Han troops did not take the opportunity to continue fighting, also stopping to recover soth and reform the practically collapsed circular formation The entire battlefield suddenly fell silent Aside fro of the warhorses, the entire land was quiet

Li Xian urged his horse forward and clearly declared, “General Long, you have already fallen into a desperate situation! Aside frouards, you have no troops to employ This Prince respects your loyalty and devotion, and even more ad to set aside your weapons and surrender, this Prince can guarantee that you will be treated as an honored guest Even the officers and soldiers under your cohtest of insults and humiliations General has personally served as the bait and has fought bloodily for a day and a night No one can match the blood that you have shed as a loyal patriot Even if you cease your resistance right now, the Northern Han Majesty will not excoriate you What need is there to fight to the death? Could it be that General does not cherish these soldiers who have loyally and faithfully followed you?”

When Long Tingfei heard as said, surrounded by his bodyguards, he looked all around him He saw that there were only a few hundred cooere in tatters and soaked with blood, inal color of the battle goas Their bows and arrows had long since been broken and their weapons had been blunted Each and every bodyguard appeared exhausted Aside from despair, there was only apathy Everyone present ell aware they could fei smiled faintly and ordered, “Brothers, hness, the Prince of Qi”

Their expressions unchanging, the bodyguards rapidly parted At the opening in the circular forain h there was soh to allow both parties to clear see the other’s htest Since death was already certain, what did it matter if the Prince of Qi seized the opportunity to attack? In addition, although they loathed the enemy commander-in-chief to the core, they were also aware that the individual was a towering figure of the present age and would definitely not go back on his word Genuine heroes could only understand one another through bloody battle