Chapter 13: Fiancé
Tao Cai walked back through the maze of the secluded gardens, navigating his way back toward the manor. His mind wandered as he walked, filled with thoughts of his fiancé Qing Xiu, the 4th child and young lady of the Shi Family that his Li Family owed its loyalty and service to. He couldn't help but think back to when they first met. He had only been 6 when he first met her, a towering and domineering presence that saved him from being hit by a stray arrow when his father and him went on a tour around the city.
It was only a few days after she had saved him that their own betrothal had been announced. While he couldn't have been happier to be with the girl that saved his life, she was less than pleased. On countless occasions she berated him for being a normal mortal, unable to cultivate. However, as days grew into weeks, and weeks into months, a bond formed between them.
Tao Cai smiled, laughing quietly to himself as he thought back to all the times they played together, and with the children of other lords. She was always the strongest of all of them, the only cultivator in their group of friends. Even the oldest and strongest boys were like nothing but toys to the domineering, tiger-like princess that was lady Qing Xiu.
The more he thought about his betrothed, the more he blushed and smiled, nervously fiddling with his fingers as he walked. He couldn't help but think about his future with her now. Like her, he was a cultivator, destined to be a martial noble of the Empire, warrior of its armies, and servant to the emperor and his dynasty. Now, he would fight alongside her, serving as her sword and shield just as she was his. The thought made him smile even more.
Eventually Tao Cai reached the end of the maze, walking through the back gardens before reaching a set of stairs that walked up onto the raised balcony that ran around the entire manner. Stepping up on the balcony, he met eyes with a group of patrolling guards.
"Young lord." The men spoke in unison, stopping as they bowed their heads. Immediately, two of them stepped out, walking hastily over the doors before opening them, saluting Tao Cai while bowing their heads.
"Thank you." Tao Cai spoke softly as he walked through the doors. While the rest of the guards continued their patrol, the two men that held the doors for him stepped in behind, quietly walking with him through the halls.
The three of them made their way through the halls of manor, maids and servants and guards alike bowing and saluting him as he passed them. He would eventually arrive at a side corridor, a pair of soldiers bearing the sigil of the Shi Family standing at its entrance.
"Young Lord Li." The two men bowed their heads, saluting Tao Cai. "The young miss is waiting for you."
"Then please excuse me." He nodded, walking past them alongside his modest escort. Walking down the corridor, he entered into a small sitting area. It was filled with a small retinue of Shi Family guards.
"We wish you a pleasant meeting with the young miss." The two Li Family guards which had been accompanying stepped back, bowing their heads. He glanced back at them for a moment, unable to contain his smile and blushing red face. He took several deep breaths as he walked forward but felt as if his heart was going to beat through his chest.
As he walked forward, he couldn't help but notice the Shi Family guards smiling and quietly laughing at the nervousness of the shy young boy in front of them. "I assure you the young lady is just as excited to see you, young lord." The clear officer among them spoke up. Tao Cai immediately recognized the man. Every time he met with Qing Xiu; he was always standing but a few feet behind her.
Tao Cai perked up a bit at his words. "It's been a while since I've seen her, so I suppose I'm a little bit nervous."
"Of course, just a little." The guard officer playfully retorted with a laugh. The other guards smile, all of them clearly holding in laughter of their own. However, before they can tease him anymore, the doors suddenly flew open.
Standing in the doorway was a young girl no older than 13 years old. She possessed flowing silver and black robes; an elegant cape-like piece of cloth draped over her left should bearing the symbol of a black winged lion with purple eyes, the symbol that had represented the Shi Martial Family for several thousand years. A sword was sheathed at her hip, and a silver circlet wrapped around her head, accenting her pitch-black hair and purple eyes.
Tao Cai stared up at her wide-eyed for a moment, gulping as he stood before her. She easily stood a head taller than him, looking down at the smaller boy in front of her. As their looks met, her eyes narrowed in a warm and welcoming gaze as a gentle smile crept across her lips. Kneeling down, she nodded toward Tao Cai. "My little lord." She spoke warmly as she pulled him into a strong hug. Tao Cai could help but blush, his face turning a bright red. He felt his whole boy grow hot as his heart started to race.
After a few moments he began to calm himself. "C-can you please release me?" He requested with a stutter. With a teasing smile that Tao Cai was unable to see, she let him go. Standing in front of him for a moment, she rose to her full heigh before yanking him by his arms, pulling him into the room before closing the doors behind the two of them.
The Shi Family guards stood in silence for a moment before they began to burst out laughing, accompanied a moment later by the Li Family guards.
"Your young lady is quite rough with our young lord." One of the Li Family guards spoke up as he wiped the tears from his hysterical face.
"She is indeed. She's always been wild, especially around her betrothed." The guard officer smile warmly as if remembering happy memories. "She is, to say the very least, smitten with your young lord."
"And our young lord is no less smitten with her." The guard responded with a pleased smile, happy that his young lord was so happy.
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Qing Xiu and Tao Cai sat quietly, opposite of one another on two seperate couches. Both were blushing, their faces filled with both joy and excitement.
"I'm glad to see you've returned home safe." Tao Cai smiled happily, his cheeks red and blushing. Qing Xiu smiled back at him, nodding.
"It was a long journey home, and I told my brothers that I would be coming here first." She responded with a gentle but commanding voice.
"Where exactly did you go?" Tao Cai questioned, sounding a bit confused. "My lord father never told me."
"Down south." Qing Xiu responded bluntly. "His majesty sent an order down to my father, commanding him to deal with a cabal of rebellious lords who had made an alliance with a powerful barbarian tribe..." She suddenly stopped in the middle speaking, pausing for a moment. "Well, not very powerful. They served better as playthings than as enemies." She smiled wryly, her eyes filling with a fiery expression. "So..." She began to continue. "Two of my older brothers and myself were dispatched alongside 10,000 men to deal with the problem."
She began to explain their exploits down south to Tao Cai, the boy listening intently as she described their campaign.
- - - - -
Their campaign began as they made their way down to the city of Chengxue. It was a small city located right on the border, ruled by a young and middling noble household known as the Bai Family. They had only been named rulers and stewards of the city recently, entitled as lords little more than 300 years ago. Despite their minor status, however, the Bai Family had managed to raise and maintain an army numbering 8,000 soldiers; it was made up of 6,000 medium cavalrymen armored in leather plates and chainmail, and 2,000 conscripted infantrymen who provided their own weapons and armor with little help from the city lord's mansion.
As the Shi Family approached the city, they decided to set up camp. Qing Xiu's older brother, Qi Liu, decided that they would engage the city's army on a nearby field with flat land. By all accounts, the foolish Bai Family lord wouldn't be able to resist such a perfect set up for their cavalry. While the previous lord wouldn't have fallen for such an obvious trap, a man recognized as a righteous and brilliant in tactics, the current lord was regarded only as a fat and ignorant fool.
Thus, Qi Liu deployed a force of several hundred men to spread out across the field to dig out small divets in the earth so that any cavalry charge could only be ill-fated. Closer to where their soldiers would be arrayed, he had them dig out larger pits and fill them with a handful of carved out spikes. Things developed exactly as Qi Liu expected.
In the morning, as their lines faced each other, the medium cavalry rushed across the open field, their weapons drawn and their hearts full of vigor. However, after only a few moments, the charge began to fall apart. Dozens of horses began to fall to the earth, the sound of snapping and cracking bones filling the air. Dozens quickly turned into hundreds as the charging riders fell over their already collapsed allies. Cavalrymen that charged past them quickly found themselves pelted with arrows and crossbow bolts or tripping in divets of their own. Any that got too close fell into the dugout pits, impaled upon the barbed wooden spikes placed beneath the hollow earth.
As the Bai Family's forces fell apart, the organized formations of the Shi Family charged forward, avoiding the divets and pits by barely noticeable markings that only they would recognize. Charging into the Bai Family ranks, the better armed and armored and trained Shi Family troops quickly cut them down as their limbs were cleaved by swords, their flesh pierced by spears, and their heads crushed beneath heavy clubs.
As the Bai Family's army fell apart, they quickly began to siege the city, protected only by a few thousand lightly armed and armored conscripts, and a few thousand more hastily armed peasants. With such a feeble defense, the city of Chengxue fell in only 2 hours. As the city burned, every member of the Bai Family was gathered and executed by public beheading in the name of the emperor. Any noble who supported them was stripped of their wealth and status before being put chains. They would be left to rot in the dungeons of the ruined city lord's manor, a ruin which now served as a command post for the Shi Family army.
- - - - -
"You and your brothers did all of that in a day?" Tao Cai loudly exclaimed in disbelief. He had read many war stories but was amazed to hear about such an exploit in person.
"Since the Bai Family commanded only three low-rank cultivators, the battle was quite easy. My brother defeated each of them with little effort. They were more like little boys mindlessly defending a drunk parent than warriors defending a lord." Qing Xiu pitied them as she shook her head. "For their trouble, he had their hands remove, and their eyes gouged out before casting them in the wilderness."
Tao Cai's eyes went a little wide as he listened. "Qi Liu has always been a bit cruel. It's a shame those boys didn't know before they raised their swords against him." Tao Cai shook his head with pity as well.
"Indeed, it was a spectacle I haven't seen since he brutalized the little princeling of the Ri Tribe when the boy tried to stab him." Qing Xiu shook her head once more. Tao Cai couldn't help but smile a little bit in reminiscence.
"Things only got worse for those foolish rebels..."