Chapter 83
Chapter 83
“Attack together! Kill them and save the general!”
After a brief standoff, someone among the spies shouted.
The synchronized hiss of blades leaving their scabbards rang through the silent night.
Just as the spies surged forward in a swarm, more than seventy personal guards leapt lightly down from the high locust tree’s spreading branches.
The clangor of clashing steel erupted at once. Neither side gave a battle cry.
Once Pei Xianjing was certain every spy had joined the fighting, his hand tightened without mercy, snapping Yelü Han’s neck.
He lowered the corpse to the ground, drew the sword at his waist, and entered the slaughter.
After more than two hours, every enemy spy had been annihilated.
Pei Xianjing ordered, “Send the signal to Yelü Bao.”
One of his personal guards searched the spies’ corpses, found a signal flare, and lit it.
Pei Xianjing watched the burst of fire bloom in the sky and frowned.
“My lord, how should we dispose of Yelü Han’s body?” asked Pei Yi, the guard who had fired the flare.
Pei Xianjing said, “Sling it over a horse for now. I will have someone deliver it to the Qizhou front line.”
“Yes,” Pei Yi replied.
“My lord! My lord!” Huaishu County’s Magistrate Wang, dressed in his official robes, called out as he ran toward Pei Xianjing.
“Oh!” Magistrate Wang exclaimed when he drew close. “You are badly wounded, my lord. Allow this humble official to take you to the county yamen for treatment.”
“There is no need. They are only superficial wounds.” As Pei Xianjing spoke, he slowly wiped his blade clean and slid it back into its sheath.
His tone was mild, but carried unshakable resolve.
Seeing this, Magistrate Wang did not insist. Instead, he asked, “My lord, the spies in the northwest have been completely eliminated.
“Once the General of Distant Pacification wins his battle in Qizhou, will Great Ji no longer dare violate our border?”
Pei Xianjing’s brows drew together. He did not know how to answer.
The imperial court was far from clean.
Great Ji’s hidden spies had been eliminated, but the traitors who colluded with the enemy and sold out their country, yet had not been exposed, still lay in wait.
Great Ji possessed no firearms.
By all reason, their communications should never have required fireworks.
Yet a signal flare had been found on the bodies of these spies.
That could only mean firearms and ammunition had already reached Great Ji.
If it was merely finished weapons, the situation would not be so dire.
What he feared was that both the formulas and the craftsmen had been delivered to Great Ji.
If so, the day would inevitably come when Great Ji turned firearms against Great Yue.
In the end, Pei Xianjing did not answer Magistrate Wang’s question. He merely said, “I must trouble you to make the journey in person and deliver Yelü Han’s body to the General of Distant Pacification.”
Magistrate Wang nodded repeatedly. “This humble official obeys. I will set out at once.
“When the Qizhou army sees Yelü Han’s corpse, their morale will surely soar.
“And when that accursed Yelü Bao sees his own father’s corpse, he is bound to lose his composure.
“For the past several decades, Yelü Bao could come and go freely through Qizhou and even the surrounding prefectures and counties, burning, killing, pillaging, and plundering, all because Yelü Han supported him.
“Life is bitter for the soldiers on the frontier, and bitter for the people as well, my lord.
“Great Ji’s cavalry do not treat us as human.
“They capture civilians and use them to threaten our generals. How many commanders in the northwest have borne the disgrace of being called surrendering generals because they tried to save the people?
“But they… they tricked our generals into laying down their arms, then broke their word and tortured the civilians to death before their very eyes.
“Great Ji’s cavalry dragged our generals and our people behind their horses until they were torn limb from limb while still alive.”
“We have suffered so much, my lord.”
With that, Magistrate Wang lifted his robes and ran to Yelü Han’s corpse.
He pulled a small knife from his waist and held it aloft for a long while, but in the end, he did not stab the corpse even once.
* * *
Qizhou.
As the eastern sky showed its first fish-belly gray of dawn, Xing Shuwei slowly opened her eyes.
She shot upright and immediately checked her clothes. Only when she found them intact did she sigh in relief.
She lifted the bed curtains and climbed down. Then she caught sight of the familiar osmanthus cakes on the Eight Immortals table.
That anxious, unsettled feeling surged into her heart once more.
“Miss Yu, are you awake?” A woman’s voice came from outside the door, interrupting Xing Shuwei’s thoughts.
“Mm,” she answered.
“Then may I come in?” the woman asked.
Only after Xing Shuwei answered “Mm” again did a woman enter.
It was the herb merchant’s wife from the previous day.
The woman was a little plump and had a kind, benevolent face. “This humble woman is Xu Liangcai’s wife. I am a healer skilled in medicine.
“Miss Yu must have exhausted herself by working in the wounded soldiers’ camp all day these past several days.
“Otherwise, a single stick of calming incense could never have made you sleep so deeply.
“When I saw how soundly you were sleeping, I took the liberty of sending word to your residence and keeping you here to rest.”
As she spoke, the woman took out an exquisite sandalwood box. “I noticed that the calming incense worked well for you, Miss, so I specially prepared some for you. I hope you will not turn it down.”
She passed the box to Xing Shuwei and opened the lid-
The scent of osmanthus swiftly drifted out.
Although the incense was not lit, its fragrance was much the same as the scent from the burner in the carriage the previous night.
Only then did the tension in Xing Shuwei’s chest finally ease a little.
She had nearly died of fright!
She had fallen asleep just like that in the carriage, only to wake in an unfamiliar residence!
Who would not find that terrifying?
With her heart finally eased, Xing Shuwei bowed.
“Thank you, Madam, for looking after me.”
Then she accepted the sandalwood box and said politely, “In that case, I will accept your kind gift.
“If it is convenient for you now, Madam, let us go and inspect the herbs.”
The woman smiled and called in two tall, powerfully built maids.
They carried in a piping-hot breakfast and arranged it on the Eight Immortals table.
The two maids walked with such force and vigor that when they turned, their broad movements made their skirts snap through the air.
One glance was enough to show that they were no ordinary maids, but women trained in martial arts.
Xing Shuwei narrowed her eyes at their departing backs. Then she reconsidered. Qizhou was ravaged by war at present, and many herb merchants who risked coming here to do business paid high prices to employ martial artists. There was nothing strange about it.
The woman said, “Yesterday, when we saw that Miss Yu had fallen asleep and would not wake, my husband feared the army camp needed the medicinal herbs urgently, so he delivered them there overnight.
“Oh, he merely thought that sending them a few hours earlier would let the wounded soldiers use them sooner and spare the General of Distant Pacification some worry.
“In truth, this was all done at our backer’s wish.”
“Your backer?” Xing Shuwei grew puzzled again. “I thought this was your husband’s business.
“Is your husband not a well-known herb merchant in Panzhou?”
The woman waved a hand, and Xing Shuwei saw that her palm was covered in calluses.
“We do run an apothecary, but there is also a wealthy backer behind our venture to sell medicinal herbs in Qizhou.
“Our backer said that the General of Distant Pacification is a great hero of Great Yue.
“Not only this shipment-the medicinal herbs sent in the future will also be excellent and inexpensive.
“There is no need for Miss Yu to hurry to pay the silver.
“And since I am skilled in medicine, the army camp may summon me at any time if I am needed.”
Hearing this, Xing Shuwei’s brow creased slightly. For some reason, she suddenly thought of Pei Xianjing.
But then she reconsidered. The Duke of Qi’s estate was impressive only on the outside. It should not possess enough silver to do such things.
Pei Xianjing was an honest official with clean hands. He certainly could not have enough private wealth to keep providing the Qizhou army camp with excellent medicinal herbs at low prices.
She was thinking too much.
It must be because she had been having nightmares lately, dreaming that Pei Xianjing had captured her and taken her back, that she now startled at every shadow.
Suppressing her thoughts, she said, “Thank you, and please thank your husband and your backer as well.
“Once I have gone to the army camp, inspected the medicinal herbs, and settled the account, I will send the silver to this residence.
“You are people who understand the greater good. On behalf of the people of Qizhou, I thank you.
“I will not trouble you for breakfast. I should return home first.”