Fish Meat – Chapter 254
by Little PandaThe Tenth Year of Shunde
Like Snapping Dried Twigs and Pulling Up Rotten Wood (21)
Li Man and his men were killed in the explosion on the mountain, along with the Military Advisor, the Jixi tribe leader, the Jixi people, and Li Man’s troops—a total of twenty-three thousand dead.
With their deaths, the remaining one hundred eighty thousand troops immediately fell into disarray. Fortunately, Li Man had a fierce general named Jiang Yuan1 who emerged unexpectedly2 to stabilize the army, gathering the scattered units together and rapidly deploying forces.
The fierce flames on the mountain did not die down; massive tremors from exploding gunpowder could still be felt intermittently as Jiang Yuan launched his first attack.
Zhen Wenjun had no time to comfort Wei Tingxu, telling her to quickly return to the carriage and retreat to the rear. By this time, Xiao Xiao and Wei Jing’an had already charged forward, leading the charge, with Huang Bu also among the vanguard.
These three combined, though outnumbered, possessed an imposing momentum capable of swallowing mountains and rivers3. Jiang Yuan’s side had just suffered a heavy blow; even though he immediately stepped up to take command, morale was still shaken. The enemy vanguard’s long sabers swept out, and heads rolled one after another.
Wei Jing’an excelled at disrupting enemy formations. Seeing the enemy’s distraction, he immediately directed his troops to attack the formation’s weak points, breaking them down one by one.
Jiang Yuan saw his formation gradually falling apart. Many soldiers, terrified by the fighting, threw down their helmets and armor4 and scattered. He knew then that this battle was lost. Now was not the time for a head-on clash, or the losses would be even greater. Assessing the situation clearly, he immediately ordered a retreat, withdrawing the remaining one hundred sixty thousand troops out of Ming County territory.
Xiao Xiao wanted to pursue but was stopped by Zhen Wenjun.
“We are unfamiliar with the terrain around here. Moreover, although they are remnants, they still outnumber us. I observed that their general is an experienced commander who handles matters with ease. Pursuing now might lead to a major setback.”
Xiao Xiao listened to Zhen Wenjun and did not continue the chase. Explosions still echoed from the mountain from time to time, continuing for the duration of two incense sticks5. The fire burned until the latter half of the night.
Wei Tingxu hadn’t left the entire time, even personally joining the soldiers in fighting the fire.
The mountaintop had been blasted flat, yet the fierce fire still burned wildly.
Water sources nearby were scarce, making extinguishing the massive fire extremely difficult. After searching for a long while, they finally found a mountain spring halfway up. Everyone carried water to fight the fire, but it burned too intensely; no amount of water seemed to quell it, and more than ten firefighters were injured.
The Village Head, seeing the mountain had been bombed, secretly returned and recounted the events that had occurred in the village over the past days.
Wei Tingxu didn’t rest, carrying bucket after bucket to the fire site, emptying the mountain spring.
Zhangsun Wu had never seen Wei Tingxu looking so disheveled, her face dark, her hair messy. He felt terrible too; his only sister had perished in the sea of fire, perhaps without even a body left to find. He really wasn’t in the mood to comfort anyone. Yet, seeing Wei Tingxu, silent, clinging to the last, almost negligible sliver of hope, unwilling to give up, pained him even more.
“Zizhuo, you should take care of your health.”
Wei Tingxu ignored him.
Wei Tingxu felt that Heaven was much gentler than she was.
In the latter half of the night, a torrential downpour finally extinguished the fire.
The previous village had been obliterated without a trace. The Village Head barely managed to locate its former position.
Whether roads or mountain walls, everything was scorched black. They found numerous bodies, faces unrecognizable, often fragmented. Forget facial features; even piecing together a human shape was sometimes impossible. There was simply no way to find Ah Liao.
“Those ladies who were with Commander Zhangsun didn’t get out either,” the Village Head said tearfully.
Wei Tingxu searched the village ruins for a long time, turning over body after body, examining them carefully.
Impossible to identify. Not a single one could be identified.
As she stood up, she swayed violently and was caught by Zhen Wenjun.
“Go back and rest.”
Wei Tingxu shook her head.
Zhen Wenjun didn’t argue back and forth; she simply picked her up directly.
Wei Tingxu didn’t struggle; she knew she couldn’t break free from Zhen Wenjun’s hold.
As Zhen Wenjun carried her back, Wei Tingxu clutched her lapel, burying her face in her chest, letting no one see.
Back in the carriage, with no one else around, Wei Tingxu finally let her tears flow.
“Ah Liao and I met when we were six. It’s been nearly thirty years this year. She never spoke a harsh word to me. She always knew what kind of person I was. She knew everything—how many people I killed, how many supposedly treasonous things I did—but she never once criticized me. She was the most tolerant person towards me in this world.”
Zhen Wenjun gazed at her for a long moment, then nodded.
“I must find her body, let her rest in peace.”
Wei Tingxu didn’t sleep the entire night. She couldn’t.
The next day, Zhen Wenjun brought her congee to drink. She forced some down, regaining a little strength. When she returned to the village site, the soldiers had worked through the night and gathered more than half of the bodies from the entire village, laying them out from the village entrance down the mountain path to the halfway point.
Zhen Wenjun supported Wei Tingxu as they examined them one by one. Zhangsun Wu looked at them all. There was simply no way to find Ah Liao.
They searched for several more days, examining every recoverable remnant they could find. The charred bodies all looked the same, indistinguishable.
Zhen Wenjun summoned the Village Head and asked him, “Were there any female soldiers in the enemy ranks?”
“Well… reporting to the General, I’m not entirely certain, but from what this subordinate observed, I indeed did not see any female soldiers.”
Although it was somewhat disrespectful to the corpses, at this point, there was only one method left.
Zhen Wenjun ordered the soldiers to inspect the lower bodies of the corpses one by one. Male and female lower bodies have different structures. Although burned by the fire, that area is relatively more concealed, and the degree of burning might be slightly less severe, possibly still allowing gender differentiation. If there were no female bodies among them, perhaps there was still a sliver of hope for Ah Liao and the Qingyuan Ladies.
The soldiers immediately took action, but Zhangsun Wu rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply:
“But Ah Liao didn’t just ignite flammable oil; she detonated gunpowder. She must have been the closest to the explosives. At the moment of detonation, I fear she was blown to pieces, leaving no trace. There’s simply no way to find her.”
Zhen Wenjun remembered Wei Tingxu’s insistence on finding Ah Liao’s body, pursed her lips, and nodded in understanding. “I understand. But as long as there’s even a shred of hope, I want to grasp it.”
Zhangsun Wu looked at her with a wan smile. “Wenjun-meimei is a person of exceptionally strong will.”
Zhen Wenjun, thinking of something unknown, replied, “I wish I weren’t.”
A messenger hurried over and informed Zhen Wenjun that the foot of the mountain was already surrounded by Red Lotus Cult members.
Zhen Wenjun’s expression didn’t change. “How many?”
“Initial estimates suggest at least one hundred fifty thousand. Scouts ahead report that numerous more troops are continuously arriving.”
“They certainly picked their time. With this, the remnants that scattered earlier might ride the Red Lotus Cult’s momentum and stage a comeback6. Now I understand why the Red Lotus Cult entangled us on the road for so many days. It turns out they had this planned all along.”
This battle had to be fought.
Zhen Wenjun was right. Just as Jiang Yuan was reorganizing his scattered troops, he received a letter from the Red Lotus Cult Leader, Huang Fu. In the letter, Huang Fu proposed they conspire together against the Wei clan. With Li Man dead, Jiang Yuan held command of a large army; it was the perfect opportunity to attack the Wei clan from two sides in a pincer movement. Even if the Wei clan hadn’t died on the mountain, they would ensure they were buried in Dongchun. Once the Wei clan was annihilated, the world would be within their grasp.
Jiang Yuan was already fifty-two this year. If he didn’t seize the chance to accomplish something great soon, he feared he would have no hope left in this lifetime.
He readily replied to Huang Fu, agreeing to his proposal.
The Red Lotus Cult surrounded the base of the mountain, leaving only a path eastward for escape. Jiang Yuan stationed his troops in the fields flanking the eastern path, waiting for the prey to run into the trap.
Jiang Yuan gave Huang Fu the remaining hundred rounds of incendiary projectiles that Li Man had used to blast open the gates of Ming County, telling him to use them to force the people on the mountain to flee east. Once Jiang Yuan intercepted the enemy forces, the Red Lotus Cult would attack from the rear, ensuring absolute success7.
This time, both Jiang Yuan and Huang Fu were exceptionally cautious. They had both clashed with the enemy before and knew they had several extremely fierce generals, as well as the core figure of the entire army, Zhen Wenjun. Therefore, even with a significant numerical advantage, they didn’t dare to engage head-on easily.
Huang Fu’s calm alliance-building and deployment caused immense trouble for Zhen Wenjun and Wei Tingxu. The assault with incendiary projectiles forced them to retreat through the eastern gap, step by step into the trap Huang Fu had laid.
The army retreated into the fields. The rice paddies were waist-high. Zhen Wenjun knew at a glance that this was the perfect place for concealment; there were definitely ambush troops hidden here. But pursuers were behind them, and the rear guard had already suffered considerable casualties; they absolutely could not slow down.
Zhen Wenjun sent light cavalry to scout the path. After the light cavalry entered a stretch of golden rice paddies, they vanished without a trace.
It was an extremely arrogant signal.
Xiao Xiao clicked her tongue. “Ah Mu, let me go!”
At that moment, the sounds of killing shouts and incendiary projectiles relentlessly pursued from behind, like a fire at their backs, forcing them into the trap.
A vein throbbed on Zhen Wenjun’s forehead.
She understood perfectly: as soon as the main force entered the rice paddies, these fields would be dyed red with blood.
Within the rice paddies, visibility was obscured, making it extremely difficult to deploy formations or change tactics. Once inside, head-on fighting was the only option. The Red Lotus Cult alone outnumbered them by nearly one hundred thousand, not to mention the ambush troops. The enemy forces were several times their number; a direct clash offered no chance of victory. Furthermore, after their long march, their army was already exhausted.
Zhen Wenjun sat on her horse, surveying her surroundings. She hadn’t seen anything yet, but it felt as if she had seen everything. The sounds of killing shouts yet to come echoed in her ears, a sound that shook her heart and lungs.
Where one is born, where one will die—it’s impossible to predict.
But such brilliant, beautiful rice paddies were indeed a fine place for eternal rest.
When Zhen Wenjun looked towards Wei Tingxu, she found her attention was elsewhere.
She wasn’t focused on the fields fraught with deadly peril, nor on the pursuit from behind. She was looking at the sky, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the heavens.
Zhen Wenjun followed her gaze upward. Floating in the azure sky was a strange yet familiar sphere. The sphere drifted slowly from the direction of Ming County, casting a trail of white light.
Zhen Wenjun stared at the light trail, watching with wide eyes as it exploded among the pursuing troops behind them. Just that small flash of light, in a mere instant, ignited raging flames among the rear pursuers.
Her hair was blown flat against her face by the wind gusting from behind. The corner of Zhen Wenjun’s mouth twitched, and she and Wei Tingxu simultaneously broke into smiles.
Unbelievable, but it was real!
Xiang Yuesheng!
Xiang Yuesheng floated extremely high, beyond the reach of any arrow from the ground.
Today the wind blew from west to east. Aided by the strong wind, the fire spread rapidly backward, sending the Red Lotus Cult fleeing in utter panic8.
“Fierce Wind” traps were continuously dropped from Xiang Yuesheng, killing countless enemies as they hit the ground. The Red Lotus Cult members, unfamiliar with the power of the Fierce Wind, initially thought someone in the sky was throwing small stones at them—such tiny stones. They never imagined that the moment these “stones” hit the ground, they would spray out countless nails, instantly disrupting the Red Lotus Cult’s rhythm and causing innumerable soldiers to flee in panic.
“Ah Liao, it’s Ah Liao!” Zhangsun Wu shouted. Zhen Wenjun and Wei Tingxu found it somewhat hard to believe.
Xiang Yuesheng floated too high; they couldn’t clearly see who was aboard. But the person capable of piloting Xiang Yuesheng so freely was very likely her!
With the Red Lotus Cult unexpectedly attacked, Jiang Yuan, hidden in the rice paddies, saw the situation turning unfavorable and charged out prematurely.
Zhen Wenjun saw him reveal himself voluntarily—that made things easier!
The war drums thundered wildly, boosting morale immensely! Ten thousand horses surged forward, charging into the enemy ranks with imposing momentum like a rainbow9!
They fought until the sun set. The rice paddies were indeed dyed red with blood—only it wasn’t the blood of Zhen Wenjun’s people, but the blood of Jiang Yuan and his men.
Zhen Wenjun had never fought a battle that left her feeling so exhilarated, yet wanting more.
Xiang Yuesheng slowly descended. Wei Tingxu kept her eyes fixed on it.
It landed steadily. Rushing out from within was the person she knew better than anyone.
For a moment, Wei Tingxu couldn’t tell if the past events were a dream, or if this moment was the dream.
“Tingxu!” Ah Liao ran up and threw her arms around her, tears streaming down her face.
“Why did you…” Wei Tingxu held her arms, carefully studying her face. This person was indeed the Ah Liao she knew.
“Are you going to ask why I didn’t die?” Ah Liao’s face lit up with excitement10. The Qingyuan Ladies also disembarked from Xiang Yuesheng one by one.
Zhen Wenjun, Zhangsun Wu, and the others gathered around, their bodies covered in blood, but their faces filled with joy.
“We were rescued by an expert!” Ah Liao pondered for a moment, then said, “Actually, it wasn’t exactly a rescue. The expert didn’t intend to save us.”
Wei Tingxu: “An expert?”
Before answering, Ah Liao glanced at Zhen Wenjun. Zhen Wenjun immediately guessed the answer from her eyes.
“It was Ah Xin,” Ah Liao said. “It turns out Ah Xin has been living in seclusion here all along.”
LP: Bruh
Footnotes
- 江渊 | Jiāng Yuān
- 横空出世 | héng kōng chū shì | Lit. “born across the sky”; idiom meaning to appear suddenly and brilliantly, often unexpectedly.
- 气吞山河 | qì tūn shān hé | Lit. “spirit swallows mountains and rivers”; idiom describing immense imposing manner or ambition.
- 丢盔弃甲 | diū kuī qì jiǎ | Lit. “throw away helmets and discard armor”; idiom meaning to be utterly defeated and flee in disorder.
- 两炷香 | liǎng zhù xiāng | Lit. “two sticks of incense”; a traditional way of measuring time, roughly one to two hours depending on the incense type. Used here to indicate a significant duration.
- 卷土重来 | juǎn tǔ chóng lái | Lit. “roll up the earth and come again”; idiom meaning to stage a comeback, often after a defeat.
- 万无一失 | wàn wú yī shī | Lit. “ten thousand [tries] without one loss”; idiom meaning absolutely certain, foolproof.
- 屁滚尿流 | pì gǔn niào liú | Lit. “fart rolling, urine flowing”; a vulgar idiom describing extreme fear causing loss of bodily control, meaning fleeing in panicked disarray.
- 气贯长虹 | qì guàn chánghóng | Lit. “spirit pierces the long rainbow”; idiom describing soaring morale or heroic spirit.
- 眉飞色舞 | méi fēi sè wǔ | Lit. “eyebrows flying, colors dancing”; idiom describing someone looking elated and animated.
Joder, lloré amargamente
Had a feeling that the author mighhhhhhht show a little bit of kindness to Wei Tingxu (and us) and thank god I didn’t lose my mind in the last chapter.
Mdrfkker! Give me back my tears!!