The Prime Minister’s Daughter and the Marquis’s Fool – Chapter 182
by Little PandaMiss Sheng, Long Time No See.
After fierce battles with the Bei’an army, they had already suffered heavy casualties. Engaging the capital’s first wave of reinforcements had been a complete victory, but it only worsened the already overdrawn condition of the soldiers.
Qu Sheng’s forces fell into dire straits while pursuing the enemy. Ambushed on three sides, her great army was routed, losing nearly a hundred thousand men. The reinforcements charged from three directions. Although Qu Sheng’s tactical formations could hold them off for a time, the disparity in their numbers was simply too great. Ultimately, Qu Sheng had no choice but to lead her remaining troops to seek refuge inside Guian City.
Due to their hasty retreat from the defeat, their remaining provisions would not last the army five days. The soldiers were exhausted, their horses fatigued, and the wounded were countless. Outside, enemy forces completely surrounded them, launching aggressive sieges with the momentum to annihilate Qu Sheng and all her troops in one fell swoop.
By this time, Qu Sheng had also received the news: Jin Mingjun had murdered the Emperor and usurped the throne. The sole target of this battle was her.
Qu Sheng stood atop the city walls, fighting alongside her soldiers to fend off the enemy’s night attack. She ordered her men to gather every usable object in the city and use wolf smoke1 as a signal for nearby cities to send immediate aid.
However, Qu Sheng had already dispatched the nearby troops to block the path of the Bei’an army’s southward advance, using them to stall the Bei’an reinforcements.
“General, the enemy has started digging tunnels!” Qu Sheng’s Assistant Commander, Feng Kang, pressed a hand to his crooked helmet. By the time he climbed the steps to the wall, he was already gasping for breath.
Bow in hand, Qu Sheng was actively defending the city. Hearing this, she immediately let her arrow fly, striking a high-ranking officer directing the battle below.
Qu Sheng turned to look at Feng Kang and asked, “Where?”
“Just ten zhang2 from the western gate.”
The soil here was soft, situated on a low slope. Qu Sheng furrowed her brows. After a moment of thought, she said, “Break open the nearest well and divert the water there.”
Feng Kang froze for a second, but he quickly grasped the reasoning behind Qu Sheng’s order. “This last general will go at once!”
Feng Kang descended from the tower and ordered men to break open the water channels. Although they couldn’t draw the well water directly, the swiftly dug trenches allowed the drawn water to pool right beneath the city walls.
Feng Kang excavated a square reservoir there. They only had to wait for the enemy to break through the tunnel, tear open the sandbags, and drown them.
It went exactly as Qu Sheng predicted. The moment the water channel was breached, the well water poured backward, washing the enemy away and causing countless casualties.
Furthermore, she ordered men to burn damp firewood at the tunnel entrance. Thick smoke billowed down. Before the enemy could even advance through the passage, they were choked into unconsciousness.
Directing the defense from the tower, Qu Sheng watched the men below relentlessly employing siege weapons to breach the city. She knew full well that this kind of resistance was merely waiting for death. She had to think of a way to summon the troops stationed in the north, or break out to merge with them.
But with enemy forces surrounding them on all sides, how could they possibly get out?
Qu Sheng ordered her men to strictly defend to the death while she gathered her generals to discuss breaking out of the city.
Leaving the city offered a sliver of survival. Staying meant that the day the city fell—or the moment their provisions ran dry—every soldier inside would perish.
Qu Sheng urgently summoned her generals. Their clothes and armor were still stained with blood from the previous night’s slaughter. The atmosphere in the room was exceptionally tense, compounded by the endless roars of charges and killing outside the walls.
“The enemy outside is targeting this general. I need someone to disguise themselves as me, ride out of the city, and gallop away. That will definitely draw their attention. As long as the main enemy force is lured away, our army can retreat toward Huaiyang and Fenglin to merge with our divided forces and preserve our strength,” Qu Sheng said, pointing at the topographic map.
Hearing this, one of the generals said, “General, you are a woman, but there are no women in this army. What should we do?”
Feng Kang blinked. He suddenly thought of Kou Huan, who managed Qu Sheng’s daily needs. He quickly said, “Isn’t General Kou’s daughter, Kou Huan, a woman?”
Qu Sheng’s eyes flickered, but she outright rejected the idea. “Not her. Find a soldier in the city with a build similar to mine and excellent equestrian skills. Have him don my battle robes and wear a veil. Very few of them know me; it will be hard for them to notice.”
“Go do it at once.” Qu Sheng glanced at the generals who were bowing their heads in thought, issuing her final command.
The generals departed. Qu Sheng rested briefly, taking a few sips of tea before heading for the city tower. Just as she stepped out of the room in the prefectural yamen, she ran straight into Kou Huan.
“General, Kou Huan is willing to lead the troops out of the city.” The moment Kou Huan arrived, she gave a formal military salute, her expression earnest.
Qu Sheng looked down at her. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Kou Huan interjected, “Kou Huan has practiced horsemanship since childhood. I can definitely handle this task.”
“Your father entrusted you to me. Naturally, I must guarantee your safety,” Qu Sheng said, starting to walk past her.
Kou Huan stood up abruptly. Facing Qu Sheng’s retreating back, she shouted, “Is it because I am a woman, General?”
Qu Sheng paused for a second. She glanced back at Kou Huan. She did feel that Kou Huan was somewhat weaker compared to the men, but more importantly, her father was a retainer of Shoulin, and she was General Kou’s most beloved daughter.
“General, you are also a woman. You can lead troops into battle. Right now, I’m only asking to disguise myself as you to draw the enemy away. Can I not even do that? Or is it that the General doesn’t want me to impersonate you, fearing I would disgrace your prestige?” Kou Huan’s rapid-fire questioning made Qu Sheng furrow her brows.
“Go summon Feng Kang,” Qu Sheng said to a guard standing nearby, her voice devoid of emotion.
The soldier took the order and left. Soon, Feng Kang hurried over.
“What are your orders, General?” Feng Kang cupped his hands in a salute from outside the door.
Qu Sheng turned and lowered her eyes to look at him. “There is no need to look for anyone else. Let Kou Huan disguise herself as me and ride out of the city.”
Hearing this, Feng Kang froze for a moment before looking up at Kou Huan inside the room.
Just a moment ago, Kou Huan had been like a prickly hedgehog lashing out at everyone, but now, she was somewhat too embarrassed to face Qu Sheng.
After giving her orders, Qu Sheng strode away to inspect the wounded in the rear.
The soldiers’ wounds healed incredibly slowly in the winter. Coupled with the skirmishes over the past two days and the rapid forced marches, some wounds that had only just stopped bleeding tore open once more.
The city was short on provisions, so naturally, medicine was also in short supply.
They hadn’t flinched in the slightest when fighting the ferocious Bei’an army. Yet now, after repelling the foreign enemy, they were being encircled and annihilated by their own people. The mere thought sent an unparalleled chill through their hearts.
Qu Sheng consulted the military physicians regarding the wounded. Ultimately, she divided her forces into three groups, preparing to break out just before dawn.
At four quarters past the Hour of the Tiger, the first group—led by Kou Huan disguised as Qu Sheng—charged out of the eastern gate, holding the commander’s flag high. The cavalry carved a bloody path. Clad in Qu Sheng’s general armor with the commander’s flag trailing behind her, Kou Huan exited the eastern gate and galloped swiftly due east.
Upon receiving the report, the enemy forces immediately redirected their main army and chased eastward. Meanwhile, the second group organized by Qu Sheng—led by Qu Sheng herself—charged out from the defended southern gate. They engaged the enemy in a life-or-death struggle, carving open a path of blood.
Wang Shu and several other generals led the contingent of wounded and sick, evacuating from the rear.
To avoid being discovered, Qu Sheng wore only the uniform of a cavalry vanguard. Operating under Feng Kang’s formation flag, she led her soldiers into the slaughter.
Finally, as dawn broke, the wounded were evacuated from the city, moving westward.
Qu Sheng’s forces, however, began heading north, intending to merge with Cai Daozheng’s troops in places like Huaiyang and Fenglin.
Marching north, the army encountered heavy snow. With pursuers on their heels, the soldiers did not rest for a single moment in this brutally cold environment.
After two days of rushing, Qu Sheng’s army arrived in the territory of Huaiyang. But the vanguard scouts reported that Bei’an reinforcements were furiously assaulting the area. Their intent was to break through this weak point and loop around to where Cai Daozheng was intercepting the remnants of the Bei’an main force, thereby aiding the Bei’an army.
Upon receiving the news, Qu Sheng immediately ordered her main force to advance at full speed to reinforce the Huaiyang path and engage the Bei’an army.
The massive army advanced with extreme speed. By the time Qu Sheng arrived, the defending forces on the Huaiyang path were on the verge of collapse.
But when Qu Sheng’s troops reached the battlefield, the soldiers stationed there to intercept the enemy went from utter despair to a massive surge in morale.
“Reinforcements are here! The Grand General has brought troops to aid us!” one officer cried out. Seeing their own people join the fray, his eyes filled with tears of excitement.
Instantly, the soldiers spread the word, their morale greatly uplifted.
The Bei’an army possessed the momentum of a fierce tiger, aiming to conquer the area in one breath, but they were blocked by Qu Sheng’s main force. The two armies fell into a stalemate, yet the Bei’an army was still bringing in reinforcements.
Qu Sheng sat astride her warhorse as scouts continuously reported the military situation at the front.
“General, the Bei’an army has thirty thousand troops reinforcing this location.”
“General, twenty thousand Bei’an troops from Tongchang are heading this way as reinforcements.”
“General, Bei’an forces from Miaozhang, Yijing, Anhong, and Guhe are riding fast to attack our position.”
News of the enemy’s successive waves of reinforcements poured in, but Qu Sheng did not panic in the face of battle. She immediately arranged her troops for an orderly interception.
“Shen Zan, take five thousand men and ambush them at Mount Tuohu. Fu Rui, lead troops to the Lianshan Ancient Road. Hide within the forest and act as a decoy.”
“General, what about this last general?”
Qu Sheng fixed her gaze on Feng Kang. “Take thirty thousand troops to Pianshan Road in the rear and guard against Jin Mingjun’s forces. Report to me immediately if anything happens.”
“This last general accepts the order!” Feng Kang did not question Qu Sheng’s arrangement in the slightest. He immediately led his troops toward Pianshan Road.
The Bei’an reinforcements merged. Qu Sheng ambushed them several times along the way, until both sides finally engaged in a fierce battle at Anping Slope.
Qu Sheng intended to slaughter this gathered wave of Bei’an forces, while the Bei’an army aimed to defeat Qu Sheng, cross this area, and rescue the remnants of their main force and their Grand General.
Qu Sheng’s army had endured a long, arduous trek, compounded by several successive battles. Though they rested occasionally, their bodies were not made of iron, and the Bei’an army continued its relentless assaults.
Just as Qu Sheng was growing exhausted from the killing, Feng Kang rushed toward their battlefield. He was covered in foul blood, his helmet knocked away, one arm hanging limply as if injured, while his other hand gripped his horse’s reins.
“General! General!” Feng Kang cried out, his arm dangling. When he was extremely close to Qu Sheng, he leapt off his horse and ran toward hers. Unable to keep his balance, he practically collapsed onto the ground. Seeing this, Qu Sheng hastily dismounted to support him.
The nearby soldiers automatically formed a protective circle around them.
Climbing to his feet, Feng Kang gasped, “General, the capital’s main army has caught up!”
Hearing these words felt like a basin of ice water had been poured over Qu Sheng from head to toe. She had initially hoped for a swift battle to eliminate the Bei’an reinforcements, but she had overestimated her army’s combat strength. Stuck in this stalemate, her soldiers were already exhausted. How could they possibly withstand the capital’s main army?
Feng Kang had barely finished his report when Qu Sheng and the soldiers on the battlefield heard heaven-shaking roars of slaughter from the rear.
Qu Sheng subconsciously took a step toward the rear. Listening to the noise, her brows furrowed deeply. But right now, whether she moved forward or backward, all that awaited was an abyss!
When the soldiers realized they were caught in a pincer attack, their will to fight vanished instantly. Qu Sheng’s weary army at the rear was continuously cut down by Jin Mingjun’s forces.
Looking at the soldiers collapsing into pools of blood before her, an emotion bordering on total despair seeped from Qu Sheng’s heart into her eyes.
But even so, Qu Sheng raised her sword, mounted her horse, and slashed at the capital’s forces on both sides.
Even if she were to die, she would fight to the very end.
In this three-way battle, Qu Sheng’s army, caught in the crossfire, began to suffer a sharp decline in numbers. The various generals in the ranks began to panic, but upon seeing Qu Sheng still fighting, they immediately rushed to her side, forming a protective ring around her.
After severing an enemy’s neck with her sword, Qu Sheng shot a sharp look at the generals guarding her. “Don’t worry about me!” she shouted. “Inform all divisions—find a way to break out through the gap in the east!”
The generals took the order and immediately began rallying their scattered troops. While holding off both opposing armies, they launched a fierce assault toward the east.
Just then, the secret weapon brought from Shoulin—hurled by the catapults—ripped open a massive breach in the eastern side of the enemy’s encirclement.
Anyone tainted by the firework powder immediately burst into flames. The boiling, smokeless liquid splattered onto them, instantly incinerating their clothes and burning straight through to the bone.
Seeing the exit, Qu Sheng immediately ordered her men to raise the commander’s flag and charge through it.
The main force began a frantic retreat. Those who failed to pull out were slaughtered by the two enemy armies. Just as Qu Sheng led her troops in search of a safe zone, she saw a dense, dark mass of men and horses blocking the snowy road ahead.
In that moment, clutching her reins, Qu Sheng felt the same absolute, crushing despair as the majority of her soldiers.
Qu Sheng watched the robust, well-equipped army bearing down on them with sky-high murderous intent. She turned her head to the general beside her. Her voice carried a trace of despair, yet it was laced with a refusal to yield. With a slight tremble, she commanded, “Assume formation. Meet the enemy!”
The soldiers held their ground, no longer retreating. As the front and rear camps arranged themselves into the Six-Flower Formation3, the massive dark throng of enemy troops reached a distance where Qu Sheng could see them clearly. Her eyes widened in sudden shock. She saw Kou Huan.
Qu Sheng waited in formation, but the grand eastern army bypassed her troops entirely, surging past them to attack the enemy in their rear.
Meanwhile, Kou Huan and a masked figure broke away from the main army on horseback, galloping straight toward Qu Sheng’s forces.
Seeing the eastern army strike at the enemy behind them, Qu Sheng’s soldiers were utterly stunned.
When Kou Huan brought the person over, and Qu Sheng heard that familiar voice, she was completely frozen for a long while.
“Miss Sheng, long time no see.” Cheng Xi removed the mask from her face. As her cool, elegant features were revealed, a smile touched the corners of her lips.
Astonished, Qu Sheng stared at Cheng Xi, studying her for a long moment. She then glanced back at the army endlessly charging past to slaughter the enemy in their rear. She thought of the figure of their commander—it had seemed remarkably familiar.
The uniforms of those troops belonged to the Haichao Kingdom and its neighboring vassal states.
“Why are you here?” Qu Sheng reined in her astonishment, replacing it with confusion.
She had never sent envoys to the various kingdoms requesting reinforcements. Moreover, she knew that even if she had, these vassal states would not necessarily be willing to send troops.
With Tiansheng falling apart, they could seize the opportunity to break away and end their annual tributes.
“It was Zhu Baibing’s daughter, Zhu Ming’an, who came to lobby us. She persuaded my Royal Brother to unite the kingdoms and come to your aid.”
“General, my father brought an army of fifty thousand! He has already gone to reinforce General Cai,” Kou Huan hastily reported while Qu Sheng was still reeling in disbelief. Shoulin had also sent troops, though to ensure the city’s own safety, they had only dispatched fifty thousand.
But combined with the grand armies of the allied kingdoms, it was more than enough.
Hearing this, Qu Sheng took a few extra looks at Kou Huan. Seeing that she was completely unharmed, the worry in her heart finally settled.
Noticing Qu Sheng examining her, Kou Huan quickly spilled the whole story at once. “General Fan and I were caught up by Jin Mingjun’s grand army. After we were scattered and my disguise was seen through, we kept heading east. We ran right into my father on the road.”
Qu Sheng’s eyes flickered. She nodded. “As long as you’re all right.”
At Qu Sheng’s concern, Kou Huan’s eyes lit up for a fleeting second. Cheng Xi, watching from the side, curved her lips into a slight smile. Qu Sheng glanced over and asked, “May I ask which general is leading the troops this time?”
Hearing Qu Sheng’s question, Cheng Xi also shifted her gaze toward the direction the grand army was charging. “It’s Bingying.”
In that instant, a flicker of surprise appeared in Qu Sheng’s eyes.
“Ever since she separated from you, she went to my Royal Uncle’s estate. She was the one who devised strategies for my Royal Brother, leading troops with the momentum of a thunderbolt to seize the royal palace first. But we must also thank you for holding your troops back; it gave us time.”
Cheng Xi briefly recounted the events of the past. During Haichao Kingdom’s internal rebellion, Qu Jixian had indeed delayed sending troops on purpose.
Both wished to speak a little longer, but they were still standing on the edge of a battlefield.
Qu Sheng ordered her men to properly accommodate the two, then spurred her horse and led her troops back into the fray.
The terrain here was open, distinctly different from the site of the fierce fighting. Qu Sheng ordered the soldiers of all three armies to strictly guard this location while she personally led her cavalry back to the battlefield.
On the battlefield, ever since Qu Sheng escaped through the breach, the pursuing Bei’an army had become entangled in a chaotic melee with the capital’s forces.
The two sides clashed. Seeing the situation turn disastrous, the main commander of the capital’s army tried to turn back and flee, only to find his path blocked by the allied reinforcements from Haichao and the other kingdoms.
The units that had been sent to hunt down Qu Sheng had already been slaughtered and routed by the allied reinforcements moments prior.
At first, it was Qu Sheng’s army that had been caught in a pincer. Now, it was the turn of Jin Mingjun’s forces.
As Qu Sheng’s cavalry charged into the fray, she quickly located that familiar figure.
Wearing a mask, Xiao Bingying wielded the red-tasseled spear in her hands. She violently swept an enemy cavalryman off his horse, swiftly drew the weapon back, and drove it downward to impale an enemy lunging at her with a blade.
A single long spear pierced through cloth armor, hoisting the man up and hurling him away to crush several others. She repeated this deadly dance, and soon, the red tassel on her spear began dripping with the crimson blood that was all too abundant on this battlefield.
When Xiao Bingying caught sight of Qu Sheng’s silhouette amid the torchlight, a smile bloomed beneath her mask.
“Xiao Sheng’er,” Xiao Bingying called out to Qu Sheng across the sea of soldiers.
Qu Sheng stared at her, her expression stoic, until Xiao Bingying pulled off her mask. Only then was Qu Sheng truly certain: this was Xiao Bingying, who had been forced to separate from them and had vanished without a trace.
In Capital City, ever since Jin Mingjun ascended the throne and issued his imperial edicts, the number of foreign vassal states that came to pay tribute was pitifully sparse, aside from the Jiangnan region.
Jin Mingjun wished to issue edicts of subjugation, but he lacked the strength. He had conscripted eight hundred thousand soldiers from Jiangnan, deploying every last one of them to the Northern Frontier.
However, with the financial backing of the Xie family, the ministers of the Jin Dynasty were not panicked.
Jin Mingjun issued another edict, ordering the Ministry of War to recruit men and purchase horses. He planned to station two hundred thousand troops in the capital and three hundred thousand in Jiangnan, intending to wage war against Shoulin.
It had been some time since Jin Mingjun issued the decree designating Lin Xizhao as Empress. The officials of the Ministry of Rites had drafted the procedures, and the conferment ceremony was ready. Jin Mingjun had also brought his mother and sister into the palace.
Ever since Jin Mingyi learned that her brother had become Emperor, stabbing the Qu family in the back, she hadn’t spared him from her sarcastic remarks. But after being relentlessly scolded by her mother, she had grown too furious to utter another word.
“Raising a white-eyed wolf4 like you—if your brother didn’t become Emperor, could you become a Princess?” Aunt Jin, who had now become the Empress Dowager, had long since moved past the grief of losing her husband.
Jin Mingyi shot back disdainfully, “Without the Qu family, what would our Jin family be? Cousin and Uncle trusted our family so much, and you used the trust they gave you to usurp the throne! If word gets out, it will only make people laugh in contempt.”
“This world belongs to whoever is clever enough to take it. Who asked them to be stupid? They abandoned the empire, insisting on waiting.” Aunt Jin rolled her eyes at her daughter.
Jin Mingyi was choking with anger. She couldn’t reason with her unreasonable mother. Right now, all she could do was wait for Qu Sheng to drive out the Bei’an army and see how she would handle the situation upon her return.
Jin Mingjun claimed he had sent troops to reinforce the Northern Frontier. So much time had passed, and there was still no news of how it had turned out.
“Your Majesty, His Majesty has returned from reviewing the registries at Baochang Hall. He is just waiting for you to go over.” The inner court attendant wore a fawning smile as he informed Aunt Jin that Jin Mingjun had finalized the Empress’s golden register today.
“Understood.” Hearing the attendant’s report, Aunt Jin immediately put on a dignified air.
She was now the Empress Dowager. Aside from the Emperor, she was the most exalted person in the realm. How could she not be overjoyed?
Aunt Jin went to her son’s quarters. When Jin Mingjun bowed, she wore a bright smile, happily accepting the gesture. But as soon as the attendants left the room, her expression soured. “It’s merely establishing an Empress. Even when this mother was brought here by you, there wasn’t such a grand spectacle. She’s really getting off cheap.”
“Imperial Mother!” Displeased with his mother speaking of Lin Xizhao this way, Jin Mingjun immediately pulled a long face.
“Alright, alright, don’t we still have business to attend to?” Seeing her son’s foul mood, Aunt Jin quickly changed the subject.
The mother and son boarded their carriage and departed the palace.
Clad in resplendent palace robes, Aunt Jin entered the Qu Residence with a face full of smiles.
She had come today to persuade Jin Yunfei. The Jin family was Jin Yunfei’s maiden home, and her own nephew was the Emperor. Even if Jin Yunfei hadn’t been born a princess, she could still be granted the title.
With the Jin family seizing the throne, Jin Yunfei’s status would naturally rise as well.
If Lin Xizhao became Empress, given that they had an adoptive mother-daughter relationship, wouldn’t the Jin family’s ties with her reach an even higher level?
When Jin Yunfei emerged, she saw her sister-in-law followed by a sizable detail of armed guards. She scoffed coldly. “If you truly considered me family, how could you bring so many soldiers?”
Hearing this, the smile on Aunt Jin’s face turned slightly awkward. She, too, was afraid of dying. With so many guards in the Qu Residence, she feared the Qu family’s resentment might drive them to kill her on the spot.
Consequently, since her arrival, when Jin Yunfei didn’t invite her into the courtyard, she hadn’t dared to suggest it herself.
“How could you say such a thing, Sister… As for the matter this widow speaks of today, if you agree, both families will rejoice. If you do not…” Aunt Jin shot a glance at the guards behind her.
“What happens if we do not agree?” Zhao Jiayu, standing to the side, picked up the conversation.
Aunt Jin smiled softly. “You wouldn’t want the Qu Residence to flow with rivers of blood, would you?”
Hearing this, the Qu family immediately grew guarded. Aunt Jin wasn’t here to coax Jin Yunfei into persuading Lin Xizhao; she was using the lives of everyone in the Qu Residence to threaten her.
“She’s just a woman. If Mingjun didn’t want her so desperately, our two families wouldn’t have harmed our harmony like this.” As Aunt Jin spoke, she recalled how Jin Mingjun had previously hesitated. She had only told him one thing: “‘Become the Emperor, and you can marry Lin Xizhao.'” Before two hours had passed, he had agreed to work with the Xie family.
Footnotes
- Signal smoke historically made from wolf dung, used to warn of enemy attacks or coordinate military movements.
- A traditional Chinese unit of length. One zhang is approximately 3.33 meters.
- A historical military formation with a central hub surrounded by six 'petal' units, designed for flexible defense and counterattack.
- An ungrateful person or an ingrate.
0 Comments