Ch.24 A Match Between Them

[February 17, City of TianAn has been secured. While a small troop was sent to attack the TianAn’s city gates to act as a decoy, the main troop took this chance to break down and infiltrate from another wall. An assassination attempt has also been stopped in time. The Southern General and commander have been slain and the enemy army has been thoroughly defeated. This General is relieved to declare that the City of TianAn has now been successfully reclaimed. However, this victory will not last long. The war has truly exhausted the soldiers on the frontlines and the people’s hearts are starting to carry dissatisfaction. This General does not believe that TianAn City can endure another wave of battle. Therefore, with all due respect, Wu Zhe Yan, Leader of the Imperial Hounds and acting General of the Southern Expedition, implores the Emperor, His Majesty. Please, for the citizens, for the kingdom and, for the stability of the Imperial Court, the Southern Expedition must come to an end. It is time for a temporary truce.

Wu Zhe Yan]

The messenger read out Wu Zhe Yan’s report and his voice rang loudly and clearly in the Imperial Court. Once he reached the end of the letter, the court broke out in voices of different opinions.

“Your Majesty! This subject believes that General Wu Zhe Yan is right! Our resources are scarce, and our military strength is deteriorating. The Southern Expedition cannot drag on anymore!”

“Your Majesty! This subject cannot agree! We have finally managed to grasp a victory and we should be using this momentum to push forward instead. Why pull back when we have just started to turn the tide?”

“That’s right! Even if we do not take over the Southern territories, we must still at least take back the City of LingCheng that we’ve lost.”

“Didn’t you hear what the General has said? The war has exhausted the soldiers on the frontlines!”

“Then, why don’t we call back the soldiers at the borders?”

“Please refrain from jesting. If the soldiers guarding the borders are moved to the frontlines, who will fence off the Barbarians’ attacks? Besides, did you not see what the East has just tried to do? They might also take this chance to invade from the border.”

“General Wu Zhe Yan’s words are indeed worthy of heavy considerations.” A calm voice broke through discussions which were slowly starting to get heated up. In front of Xu Shi Jing, no one would dare interrupt him. “We may have lost LingCheng City, but at least we have managed to keep our Capital safe.”

“So,” the Fourth Prince stood forward, a small smile playing on his lips, “is Sir Xu saying that we should surrender even though we were the ones who started this war? Then what was the point of the Southern Expedition? To give away our lands?”

Those words were spoken while facing the Gifted Scholar but only the few people there who were sharp-witted enough to read between the lines could guess that his words were directed at the Emperor.

Xu Shi Jing met his eyes unfalteringly, “knowing when to retreat is also a victory. And it so happens that now -where we have the upper hands by virtue of General Wu’s successful reclamation of TianAn City- is the perfect time for that.”

~~

Few days later…

Luo Yue had been going around the military camp, taking in the state of the soldiers, horses, and weapons since the early morning. After all, while they might have managed to secure a victory, she still needed to prepare for a possible counterattack.

A few days ago, the soldiers were still guarding against her but lately, hell must have frozen over because their attitudes have taken a complete change. Luo Yue caught the grin on Xiao Liu’s face and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

The boy raised both hands. “I didn’t do anything! I’ve just been just following Ping-ge around to help the soldiers out. Somehow, I ended up making friends with them. Then, they wanted to know why Ping-ge and I have pledged allegiance to a lady… I might have started bragging about my Lady a little bit…”

At first, the soldiers had looked down on her gender, not taking seriously her identity as a strategist sent from the royal court. Then, her actions on the archer tower, her plan to take over TianAn City, and most importantly, her annihilation of the assassins in the forest had spread among them like a wildfire. Coupled with Xiao Liu’s song of praises, their impression of her had changed in the blink of an eye.

She was cloaked in her usual immaculate white robe, walking around like a gentle drop of morning dew. If they had not known what she was capable of, they would have thought her to be just another docile lady. But now that they knew, in the eyes of the armoured soldiers, they could clearly see the cold elegance she was eluding under a gentle façade.

What a charismatic lady!

The soldiers greeted her loudly, showing her their full reverence. Even after she had walked past them, their eyes were still shinning as they followed after her footsteps.

‘I should have worn a mask.’ Luo Yue’s eyebrows twitched as she thought. She was finding these worshipful eyes all too familiar from her days as the God of War.

Now, she understood why ‘he’ had been adamant that she concealed her face with a mask or a head armour around other people. Those things had really shielded her well from such troublesome stares.

Xiao Liu continued as he complained, “I don’t understand why the Emperor is forbidding you from revealing your identity. Won’t the morale here boost immensely if they know they’re aided by the God of War herself?”

“Are you inciting me to go against royal decree, Xiao Liu?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Xiao Liu nervously shook his head. “I swear I didn’t say anything to disclose your identity! I was just-…!”

He bumped his head against Luo Yue who had suddenly stopped.

“What’s wro-…?” he held his tongue when the glint from a giant sword placed beside Luo Yue’s neck reflected on his face. “Wu-… Wu Zhe Yan!”

Wu Zhe Yan towered over Luo Yue, his smile tight and his body still smelling of alcohol -presuming from last night. He spoke through clenched jaws, “hey, kitty.”

Luo Yue raised her head and met his eyes, the cold touch of the sharp blade against her neck unable to faze her at all.

“Crazy dog,” she acknowledged, her lips curled slightly to a smile of her own. “Were these few nights of defeat not enough for our General?”

“What defeat? I clearly saw you stumbling when you left yesterday.”

“Hallucinating,” she pretended to muse at him as she nodded. “Drunk indeed.”

“You-…!” his golden eyes flashed as the grip on the giant sword tightened.

A thin, red line of blood suddenly blossomed on Luo Yue’s neck.

The smile on her face slipped away and she reached for the sword. Wu Zhe Yan had not expected her to grab the sharp blade so boldly with her bare hand and he quickly pulled back. They glared at each other as a dangerous spark flew between the two. The tension heightened so much that even the soldiers around them could not speak up. Then, out of the blue, he cracked up and as usual, Luo Yue has neither the slightest idea nor any interest to know why.

“Let’s spar,” he said in the end.

“You will die.”

“No,” he corrected her. His eyes darkened and they looked awfully cold in contrast with his smile. “I decided a long time ago that I’ll only die on the battlefield.”

Wu Zhe Yan turned and walked towards the empty place where the soldiers would usually train. Qi has been with his lord long enough to recognise the hint of seriousness hidden in his eyes. He found that the situation had turned a little dangerous as he quickly ran after Wu Zhe Yan.

“Lord,” he whispered, “let’s not be hasty… She’s the strategist the Imperial Court has sent. Even if you hate the Court, you can’t bully the weak.”

Wu Zhe Yan’s eyebrows furrowed as he took off his armour and placed them by the side, “are you blind? You’ve stayed by my side for so long and you still can’t tell? Take a good look, Qi. Our little lady is by no means weak.”

Qi blinked in surprise. He had never heard Wu Zhe Yan regarding his opponent so highly before. He took another good look, not at the lady, but at his lord, before he thought to himself, ‘The Lord… seems serious this time. God, keep both of them alive, or I would rather follow them than clean up their mess.’

By this time, most of the soldiers had already gathered and they watched with opened jaws as the Leader of the Imperial Hounds challenged their strategist to a sparring -death- match.

They understood that their General was the rumoured Mad Dog, but why was their strategist going along with his recklessness?

Indeed, if it had been the usual Luo Yue, she wouldn’t have bothered getting herself into such troublesome matters. However, when it came to him, she found herself a little annoyed, a little intrigued, a little stirred, and very much bothered.

She stood in front of the racks of weapons and thought for a while before she reached out for a long spear.

“My Lady, you’re using a spear?” Xiao Liu followed behind. “What about your fan? I’ve never seen you touch a spear in the past 5 years.”

“Too conspicuous,” she said nonchalantly as she waved the spear around and got herself used to it. Wu Zhe Yan was already suspicious about her identity; she didn’t need the rest of the soldiers recognising her as well.

“Lady,” Xiao Liu gulped, “why don’t you stop here? Look at him, he’s the Mad Dog of the Capital! The Leader of the notorious Imperial Hounds, the Emperor’s personal troop! The one person who would kill anyone without a second thought! He definitely won’t let the fight end until one of you is dead! Let me go call Ping-ge over, he-…”

“Stop fussing,” a fan smacked down lightly on Xiao Liu’s head.

“An armour, at least…?” he asked hopefully.

Luo Yue thought she heard a shadow of ‘that person’ in Xiao Liu’s concern, but he was not ‘that person’ and thus, she merely replied, “I loathe that stuffy thing.”