by La Mi Tu
“Crazy! Crazy!” Getting these messages, Misha couldn’t help but curse.
In two and half month, not only did Feng Cang cut off the heads of Hu Xue Sen and Dong Lu’s emperor Xia Jin, he also occupied more than half the territory of Dong Lu. How crazy was this person to be able to do such a thing?!
What others couldn’t complete in a year or so, when it came to Feng Cang, it was like a child’s play. It happened that Feng Qi Qi was his partner. He attacked, she occupied and defended the city. This couple was simply a golden combination.
What was odder was Xi Qi. Now, Longze Yu and Longze Jing Tian was also badly burned about the head. Feng Xie’s ‘coming back from death’ was unexpected to them. Longze Yu put more than half of the military power on dealing with Bei Zhou and Feng Xie. He didn’t expect that Nan Feng suddenly gave them a surprise attack and caught them unprepared.
Since most of the military was in the east, dealing with Bei Zhou; when the north was met with Ming Yue Cheng’s three hundred thousand soldiers, Xi Qi’s army could only retreat in defeat. Longze Jing Tian wanted to mobilize the army back to reinforce, he didn’t expect that Feng Xie only used a small amount of the army and let them have no spare time for a separate task. He didn’t dare to retreat. Until now, Ming Yue Cheng’s side almost reached Xi Qi’s capital, Xiliang.
“A good relieve a besieged ally by attacking the home base of the besiegers! A good threaten the east and strike to the west!”
Misha was now surer that Ming Yue Cheng deployed his army like this because he reached an agreement with Bei Zhou. Looking at Ming Yue Cheng, it seemed that wanted to waste time with Xi Qi. Could it be that Nan Feng and Bei Zhou would like to take this opportunity to divide the mainland and let Dong Lu and Xi Qi become history?
Misha only cursed Feng Cang for being a war madman. He didn’t know that after Feng Cang got to know that the fetal poison in his body was Forget Love, he wanted to end the war very much. Only after the war is ended, could he go to Penglai Island to cure the poison.
Feng Cang was afraid that if the time was dragged for too long, it would let him forget Feng Qi Qi before he could go to Penglai Island. So, aside from the necessarily rest and to get ready, he would be in combat mode. Quickly take down Dong Lu was the thing Feng Cang wanted to do the most.
At this point, Feng Cang’s army was getting closer and closer to Dong Lu’s capital, Yuchu.
Xia Jin already died under Feng Cang’s sword. Without a monarch, Dong Lu was in a great mess. Because when Xia Jin was alive, he didn’t establish a crown prince, so even if Feng Cang’s soldiers were at the city walls and although Dong Lu lost two-third of its territory, Dong Lu’s princes haven’t realized that the danger had come. Instead, they were more concerned who would ascend the throne.
“Bastards! Till now, you are still fighting? If you continue to fight like this, you’re all about to become refugees from a destroyed country!” The empress dowager Jun Lan Xin looked at the five princes who refused to accept the other. She shivered from anger.
“Two-third of the territory is gone. Soon, Bei Zhou’s army will come to our Yuchu. You are still fighting here over the throne. Don’t you feel ashamed?! Can you have a clear conscience when facing your ancestors, when facing your dead emperor father?!”
Jun Lan Xin being like this, fourth prince Xia Zheng well-behavedly came to his imperial grandmother and massaged her shoulders, “Imperial grandmother, you’re right! Now, it’s time for our brothers to work with a common purpose and deal unanimously against the outsiders! If we continue to fight like this, Dong Lu will be gone! We must unite!”
“It’s still Zheng er1 who is sensible!”
“It’s all because imperial grandmother taught well!”
Xia Zheng’s words were very much to Jun Lan Xin’s liking. Besides, this imperial grandson was her favorite. Seeing these two echo one another, eldest prince Xia Qi was not happy, “Imperial grandmother, although the words were said like that, but still one person need to be recommended to preside over the overall situation! Otherwise, both sides would claim they’re right, wouldn’t agree with each other and fight till our heads are broken and blood are flowing. Wouldn’t this let the outsiders laugh at us?! I think, we should first determine who is the heir to the throne!”
“Right! Eldest brother is right! After setting the new emperor, the citizens and the generals would be at ease. Everyone would have a pillar to lean on and would also fight against outsiders! By then, not to mention reclaim our cities. Even defeating Bei Zhou is possible!”
Xia Qi’s words received the other three princes’ support. Seeing the other imperial grandson take a different position from her under Xia Qi’s lead, Jun Lan Xin’s expression became dark, “Your words make sense, but who should become the emperor? You fought for so many days and didn’t came with a result. Could it that you want to continue to waste time like this?!”
“Don’t forget, Dong Lu’s citizens are living between water and fire and are struggling under the iron heel of Bei Zhou! You are unwilling to make concessions, could it be that you want to become prisoners and let Dong Lu become Bei Zhou?!”
When Jun Lan Xin said this, she was emotionally agitated. Even the emerald in the phoenix mouth on the phoenix crown shook.
“Tsk… how come I heard that those citizens in the cities very much welcomed Bei Zhou people? I heard that Bei Zhou’s princess Zhen Guo Feng Qi Qi issued a Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention and was very popular amongst the citizens. Some also said that the citizens weren’t disturbed by the war at all. Feng Qi Qi also promised them a ten-year tax exemption. Those who fled their hometown, now have gone back. Feng Qi Qi had long pacified them!”
The Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention, a military doctrine issued in 1928 by Mao Zedong for the Red Army, which included a number of injunctions demanding high standards of behavior and respect for civilians during wartime
The one who spoke was second prince Xia Yu. Jun Lan Xin’s lips trembled from anger. Her finger pointed at Xia Yu. She could care less about her identity as empress dowager and scolded.
“Xia Yu, you’re Dong Lu’s prince. How could you speak up for the enemy’s country? Since you say that Bei Zhou was so good, why don’t you go to Bei Zhou? Your attitude is like this, your thoughts is like this, aren’t you selling the country?!”
“Imperial grandmother, words couldn’t be said like this. Who could let the people live well will be supported by the people. Since ancient times, it had been like his. Feng Qi Qi could be like this, I fell that she’s very good. She’s a heroine. She could be e compared favourably with men in terms of ability. She deserves to be admired!”
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Er: term of endearment
Chapter 174: Sinister Misha
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These remarks of Xia Yu almost made Jun Lan Xin faint from anger. “You!” She pointed at Xia Yu. Her fingers trembled slightly, “You don’t deserve to be Dong Lu’s citizen!”
“Imperial grandmother, don’t get angry!” Xia Zheng quickly poured tea for Jun Lan Xin and gave her another round of shoulder massages. This made Jun Lan Xin’s anger calm down, “Since you all want the throne, but have no way to convince the other, then hand this matter over to heaven!”
Jun Lan Xin had no way to deal with these few imperial grandsons. She could only let people bring five tortoiseshells with pennies in them and put them in front of everyone. “The one who could divine the greatest luck using the divine trigram is the new emperor of Dong Lu and can also lead everyone to defeat Bei Zhou and restore the glory of before!”
The so-called greatest luck is all the five copper coins in the tortoiseshell landing on the ‘Yang’ side. The recommendation of the empress dowager got the five princes’ agreement. Since no one could convince the other, then give the choice of destiny to God.
‘Kuang, kuang, kuang…,” Eldest prince Xia Qi rocked the tortoiseshell first. ‘Hualala….,” sounded. The three of the fiv
e coins on the ground were positive, two were negative and this led to a sigh. The next one was Xia Yu. One positive and four negative. Third eldest brother got four positive and one negative.
When it was fourth brother’s turn, he closed his eyes and prayed for a long time. Then, he finally blew in the tortoiseshell. ‘Kuangdang….,” five positive copper coins appeared on the ground.
“How could this be? Why was it like this?”
The result of Xia Zheng’s divination let the princes and the officials debate. Some, who were licking the boots, immediately kowtowed and shouted long live for ten thousand years.
“This, this is impossible!” As soon as Xia Qi’s hands was about to touch the copper coin, Jun Lan Xin shouted, “Do you want to go against god’s wishes? Or is it that you want to suffer the wrath of heaven?”
Jun Lan Xin’s words successfully scared Xia Qi. A mortal’s heart revered the gods. Besides, they’d already agreed that the one who could divine such a result would be the new emperor. Now, even if the other princes were not willing, they could only drop this matter.
With Xia Zheng’s greatest luck, fifth prince hadn’t divined yet, but he was already ignored by the others. The original problem about the new emperor had been tangled for so long and was now solved by a small divination. Although the other princes were unwilling but just now, everyone had recognized this approach. Now, Xia Zheng had really divined the greatest luck. If they oppose and by chance angered the gods, then it would be troublesome.
Just at this moment, a “Sir Duyi has arrived!” spread over.
The one who came was a man about thirty years old. He was dressed in black and had a dark aura around him. The moment Duyi arrived, he first smilingly congratulated Xia Zheng, “Congratulations Your Majesty! Congratulations Your Majesty!”
“Sir Duyi!” Xia Zheng grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you, thank you!”
The two talked politely for quite a while, making Xia Qi unable to look at it any longer, “Sir Duyi, may I ask when will the reinforcement of Penglai Island arrive? It has been so long, why hasn’t there been any news?”
“I came to talk about this! I’ve just received a letter from Penglai Island. Master had sent one hundred supreme disciples of Penglai Island and they’ve already embarked on the boat. Soon, they will reach Dong Lu.”
Duyi’s words let the hearts of the people, who had been worried about the demise of Dong Lu, settled down a bit.
“Right, ah?! Right, ah?! With Penglai Island stepping in, we will certainly beat that Feng Cang and let him be gone forever!”
“Right, right, right! Every one of Penglai Island’s disciples is a master at martial arts. They could simply take Feng Cang’s head at the battle. By then, even if they didn’t want to retreat, they would have to retreat!”
“Yes! Before, it was said that Bei Zhou’s regent Long Ao Tian would go to battle. I thought that a new character had appeared. I didn’t think that it was Feng Cang. Although Feng Cang is a young god of war, but behind our Dong Lu is Penglai Island! Penglai Island is not something Feng Cang can afford to provoke!”
A storm about succession was calmed down by just five copper coins. Although Feng Cang’s army was approaching, but the people of Yuchu’s palace didn’t seem to be aware of the imminent danger. Everyone pinned their hopes on the hundred Penglai Island’s disciples Duyi talked about.
Because of the war and the lack of time, the ascension of the new emperor of Dong Lu wasn’t as lively as in the past. But even so, it was extravagant. In the morning, Xia Zheng received the officials’ worshipping and also issued the first edict after the ascension. It was to make the other four princes become wangye,1 built residences for them in the capital and ordered that they could not leave the capital without permission.
Xia Zheng being like this attracted the anger of the four princes, “Him doing this, isn’t it like holding us captive?”
However, Xia Zheng had long known that his brothers wouldn’t readily accept this request. He didn’t wait for them to resist and let people forcibly imprison them.
“Sir Duyi, thank you for giving zhen2 advice. Zhen salutes you with a cup of wine!”
Inside the harem, Xia Zheng, who’s wearing the dragon robe, was beaming. Duyi also laughingly took the cup of wine and drank it in one shot, “Wasn’t this because Your Majesty is the true son of heaven?!”
Hearing Duyi say that, Xia Zheng took out the previous tortoiseshell and poured the coins out. “No one would believe that the two sides of these coins are the same. If it wasn’t because sir Duyi came up with the plan to use divination to determine the heir to the throne, zhen wouldn’t have this day! So, zhen still needs to toast with you!”
The two drank a whole earthen jar. When Xia Zheng was drunk, Duyi let people escort Xia Zheng to his chambers to rest. He went to empress dowager Jun Lan Xin’s palace.
“Duyi, how is it? Does Penglai Island intend to help us?”
“No.” He changed his relaxed expression of before. Duyi’s face turned gloomy. “Now, master is in seclusion. Without eldest senior’s order, no one would listen to me.”
When mentioning eldest senior Misha, Duyi felt endless resentment. Obviously, he was older than Misha, but he had to call Misha eldest senior. Also, master gave Misha the power when he went into seclusion. This was obviously being biased!
Earlier, Misha had rushed to Bei Zhou. Although Duyi didn’t know why he went to Bei Zhou in such a hurry, but he (D) grabbed the chance. He imprisoned all those disciples in Dong Lu who were biased towards Misha.
Now, the imperial family of Dong Lu only recognized him Duyi. This let the gratification in his heart expand eagerly. However, after that, Bei Zhou invaded. Feng Cang led the eagle troop and took up two thirds of the cities with irresistible force. Everyone in Dong Lu wanted him to ask for help from Penglai Island. This forced Duyi back to his original place.
“What? Why is it like this? Where is Misha? Did you find him?” The moment she heard that Penglai Island didn’t send people to help, Jun Lan Xin got anxious. “Then all the things you had said before were lies? Why did you lie to everyone?”
“Empress dowager!” Duyi’s face was gloomy. “Wasn’t I afraid to let the popular sentiment be in disorder?! If I say that no one from Penglai Island would be coming as reinforcement, then wouldn’t the whole capital be in a mess a long time ago?! My eldest senior went to Bei Zhou and I don’t know if he’s dead or alive…”
“Oh god!” After listening to Duyi, Jun Lan Xin felt dizzy. “Could it be that the heavens want to let my Dong Lu perish?!”
“Empress dowager, I already let people go find eldest senior and I also let people go to Penglai Island. Don’t worry, nothing will happen!”
Although he was saying that, but in fact, Duyi told people to kill Misha without pardon when they find him. He had been pushed around for so long by Misha. Finally, he had found the chance to blow off the steam; how could he let Misha appear and take away his limelight?!
“Nothing will happen?! When you let the emperor mobilize the army, you also said that, but what was the result? In the end, the emperor died. The general also died. Now, Dong Lu is about to perish. You still say nothing will happen? How can you let me be assured?! If by chance Dong Lu perishes, when I die, how will I go face Dong Lu’s ancestors?!”
Jun Lan Xin’s noisiness made Duyi annoyed. He went forward and covered her mouth, “Empress dowager, is it that you want this thing to get out, let everyone know that Penglai Island won’t help, let the court be at unrest and let the capital become a mess? You want to die, but I don’t want to die! There’s nothing to be afraid off about that Long Ao Tian. Give me twenty thousand people. I will personally lead the soldiers!”
Only when Duyi said that did Jun Lan Xin’s heart calm down. Anyhow, Duyi was Penglai Island’s second disciple. No matter what, he is also capable! In only a moment, Jun Lan Xin agreed to Duyi’s request and gave him twenty thousand of Dong Lu’s elite soldiers.
“Master D
uyi, zhen awaits your good news!” Duyi departed with the army. Xia Zheng personally sent him off. After drinking Xia Zheng’s wine, Duyi smashed the cup on the ground. The whip pointed to the west, “Depart!” A mighty twenty thousand people and horses followed Duyi to the northwest.
After Duyi travelled seven days on the road, two people arrived at Yuchu palace’s entrance. The woman carried a pale faced man on her back. “Go, tell your emperor that Penglai Island’s grand disciple Misha ask for an audience!”
The soldier was only a small character. He had never heard about the name Misha. However, the loud name “Penglai Island’ made it so that he couldn’t ignore it. He immediately went in to inform.
Not a while later, someone came to meet them. When Xia Xue carrying Misha appeared, the two’s sorry figures made Jun Lan Xin and Xia Zheng startled for a moment.
“I’m hungry. Give me some food first. Also, I want clean clothes and a place to wash myself.” Misha sat on the chair with a look full of fatigue. Not waiting for Xia Zheng to open his mouth, Misha ordered first.
The feeling of being ordered seemed very bad and also very uncomfortable. However, because Misha was Penglai Island’s grand disciple and there were a lot of things that needed Penglai Island’s help, Xia Zheng didn’t express his emotions. Instead, he let the palace servants go prepare.
“Come, quickly get everything ready for sir Misha! Quickly, quickly!”
“I also need a wheelchair. My wheelchair got broken.”
“Yes, yes! Quickly go get a wheelchair!”
After taking a bath and being satiated, Misha got into his new wheelchair, “I will sleep first. Before I wake up, sort out all the information about the front. I will look at it when I wake up.”
Misha ‘blatantly’ went to rest, leaving Xia Zheng, whose face was full of gloominess.
“Imperial grandmother, would he really do well? Looking at his appearance, could he be a swindler?” The moment Misha left, Xia Zheng complained to Jun Lan Xin. Seeing her grandson’s face full of grievances, Jun Lan Xin laughed.