pdf-ebookys Chapter 493 The Northern Li Army suffers a crushing defeat, and the Dark River Trio infiltrates Snow
Chapter 493 The Northern Li Army suffers a crushing defeat, and the Dark River Trio infiltrates Snow
Yet it was precisely this about him that rekindled a glimmer of light in the eyes of the soldiers behind him.
"Follow Your Highness!" Xiao Ping shouted hoarsely, "We...go home!"
“Go home…” someone murmured repeatedly.
These two words seemed to have a magical power, making the exhausted team quicken their pace.
Baili Luochen watched Xiao Ruofeng's receding figure for a long time without saying a word.
His face showed no joy of victory, only a deep sigh.
"Why does Your Excellency sigh?" Chen Dunru rode forward and asked in a low voice, "This battle was a great victory. Juzhou City was defended, the Prince of Langya was defeated, and our army suffered less than two thousand casualties. If we include those who attacked the mine, the Beili army lost at least twenty-five thousand men in this battle!"
“Victory?” Baili Luochen shook his head. “Dunru, look at these children…”
He pointed to the corpses on the battlefield—some from the Breaking Wind Army, others from the Northern Li Army, indistinguishable in the setting sun.
"They were all good men who should have been at home taking care of their parents and spending time with their wives and children. But because of court intrigues and the emperor's suspicion, they died in this foreign land, without even a complete corpse!"
Chen Dunru remained silent.
Baili Luochen withdrew his gaze and looked in the direction where Xiao Ruofeng had disappeared:
"The Prince of Langya should have achieved even greater things. In terms of martial arts, he had reached the realm of carefree immortality; in terms of learning, he was a junior teacher at the Jixia Academy; in terms of character, he was loyal and righteous, and considerate of his soldiers... Unfortunately, he was born at the wrong time, and his personality also contributed to his downfall!"
He paused, his voice lower: "I'm more inclined to believe that Emperor Tai'an won't pass the throne to that quiet Prince Jingyu. There must be many secrets hidden behind this..."
Upon hearing this, Chen Dunru also expressed his regret: "The Prince of Langya suffered a crushing defeat in this battle, losing over 100,000 soldiers. I wonder how Emperor Mingde will deal with him after he returns to Tianqi..."
Baili Luochen remained noncommittal, simply withdrawing his gaze from the distance and reverting to his usual decisive and ruthless commander-in-chief demeanor.
"That's not something we should be concerned about! Chen Dunru, I'm giving you three days. You and Sheng Yanwei must quickly gather the garrison in Juzhou and restore the smelting production at the Zhenfeng silver mine!"
He paused, then his tone turned stern: "This time, Beili suffered a great loss of strength, but it still has half of the world under its control. We still have many battles to fight!"
"Your subordinate obeys!" Chen Dunru clasped his hands in a fist salute, and then led several captains on horseback towards Juzhou City.
The smoke from the beacon towers gradually died down, the setting sun sank into the western mountains, and the world was shrouded in a vast twilight.
The Battle of Juzhou ended in a Pyrrhic victory for the Pofeng Army.
But the flames of war in the southwest were far from over.
……
At the same time, in Snowmoon City.
At dusk, wine flags fluttered in the city of Xiaguan.
Three weary figures, leading two mule carts loaded with wine jars, slowly entered the city.
The leader was a short man in his fifties with a sallow complexion, a goatee, an old felt hat, and a faded gray cloth jacket, looking like a traveling merchant who had been on the move for years.
Behind him were two young men—one was about twenty years old, tall and handsome, but with a somewhat cold look in his eyes;
Another boy, around eighteen or nineteen years old, was handsome with slightly upturned eyes and a natural air of a smile. He was looking around the town.
The three were none other than the Dark River assassins—Su Zhe the Hat Ghost, Su Muyu the Umbrella Ghost, and Su Changhe the Funeral Master.
Before entering the city, they had already put away their respective signature items.
Su Muyu's black umbrella, which she never parted with, had been wrapped in rags and casually tossed into the mule cart; Su Zhe's worn-out straw hat had also been stuffed into her luggage.
Even the faces of the three were disguised—Su Zhe wore a fake beard and had his cheekbones raised;
Su Muyu used a potion to change her skin color and added a few moles; Su Changhe used fish oil to modify his overly handsome features, making him look like an ordinary young master.
Their current identities are that of a father and his two sons who came from Yibin to sell wine—the father, Old Man Sang, the eldest son, Dalang Sang, and the second son, Erlang Sang.
"Dad, it's getting dark. Shall we find an inn to rest?" Su Changhe—who was now "Sang Erlang"—shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice carrying just the right amount of street smarts.
Su Zhe—Sang Laosan squinted at the sky and nodded: "That Cloud Inn up ahead looks nice, let's go there."
The three of them led the mule cart to the front of the inn.
The waiter greeted them warmly: "Are you three guests here for a meal or to stay the night?"
"We need two rooms to stay at the inn," Su Zhe said in Mandarin with an Yibin accent. "Also, feed our mules some hay. There's plenty of good wine in the cart, so be careful."
"Alright!" The waiter glanced at the wine jars on the mule cart, his eyes lighting up. "What kind of wine is this, sir? Our Snow Moon City Lord is a big fan of this. If it's good wine, we might be able to buy a few jars!"
Su Changhe grinned, revealing two tiger teeth: "The 'Wuliangshao' we brought from Yibin is from a genuine old cellar. Would you like to try a bowl, young man?"
He was about to open the wine jar to get the wine when Su Zhe stopped him.
"What's the rush?" Su Zhe glared at him, then turned to the waiter and said, "Settle down first, we can talk about the wine later."
"Yes, yes, please come in, sir."
The three of them entered the inn and asked for two adjacent rooms.
Su Muyu remained silent throughout, but after carefully checking the room and looking out the window at the street scene, she nodded slightly to Su Zhe to indicate that it was safe.
As soon as Su Changhe entered the room, he slumped into a chair and let out a long sigh of relief: "Finally, I can rest. My voice is almost hoarse from pretending to be a liquor vendor all this way."
"We've only just begun."
Su Zhe removed his felt hat, revealing his true face, his eyes gleaming. "Snow Moon City is not like other places. Baili Dongjun and Sikong Changfeng are both shrewd people. Especially Baili Dongjun, who is obsessed with wine and is a rare master brewer in the world. If our 'Wuliangshao' reveals any flaws, all our previous efforts will be in vain!"
"Don't worry, Uncle Zhe!"
Su Changhe took out the sandalwood wine gourd from his pocket and carefully placed it on the table. "With Master Xie's Drunken Eight Immortals as a foundation, our Wuliangye liquor will definitely be indistinguishable from the real thing. It's just..."
……