knife

Chapter 441 Live Together, Die Together
Princess Chang Le walked heavily towards the backyard.

In that instant, she seemed to have aged considerably.

Looking up, she saw Dayuer standing in front of her, her face streaked with tears, while little Yu'er in her arms seemed oblivious to her sorrow, babbling and playing with her mother's braids.

Princess Chang'an stopped in her tracks, looking at her daughter-in-law with heartache, but more than anything, she felt a deep sense of helplessness.

Ordinary people often think that these people were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and are extremely noble, but who can know that the pressure they bear is many times greater than that of others?

If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight.

If they fail, their fate will likely be even worse than that of ordinary people.

"Did you hear everything?" Princess Chang Le asked softly.

Da Yu'er nodded, then knelt down with a thud, and handed Xiao Yu'er to Princess Chang Le with both hands.

"What do you want to do?" Princess Chang Le asked.

"Mother, of course I will go to the battlefield with my man!" Dayuer raised her face and said, "Whether we live or die, we will be together!"

"It's just a war, we've fought them before!" Princess Chang Le shook her head and said, "Is it really worth you abandoning even Xiao Yu'er?"

"Mother, don't hide it from me, this time it's definitely different!" Dayu'er shook her head and said, "Please, Mother, grant my request!"

Princess Chang Le sighed, picked up Xiao Yu'er, and walked past Dayu'er toward the backyard.

Duanmu Miaomiao walked over, helped Dayuer up, and sighed as she looked at Dayuer's stubborn face.

"Granny, are you very skilled in martial arts?" Dayuer asked.

Duanmu Miaomiao nodded, "I'd say I'm pretty good. There probably aren't many people in the world who can beat me!"

"Then why don't you help Tiele kill his enemies? Even if you can't kill Li Dachui, killing some of his generals and local officials would give us a better chance of victory, wouldn't it?"

Duanmu Miaomiao shook her head: "Dayu'er, people like us are more about deterrence than actual combat. Just like how the enemy wouldn't dare send someone like me to kill you, the princess, or Xiaoyu'er if I were here. It's an unspoken understanding among us. Because the enemy doesn't lack people like me either. If I were to assassinate one of their generals today, they would kill one or even several of us tomorrow. Then there would be no order in this world, and it would descend into chaos."

"When life and death are at stake, who cares about anything else?"

“Even in a life-or-death situation, some rules cannot be broken! In the end, everyone is dead and wounded, and no one benefits at all. What is the point of all this fighting?” Duanmu Miaomiao said. “If this secret is revealed, it will inevitably arouse public indignation and be attacked by the masses.”

After a pause, Duanmu Miaomiao continued, "Do you know how many people like me there are in the Beiting Protectorate?"

She held up four fingers: "Four. Think about it, if I dared to use my cultivation to go out and assassinate important figures of the other side, they could retaliate with a clear conscience!"

Da Yu'er lowered her head sadly.

"Thank you, Mammy!"

After bowing to Duanmu Miaomiao, Dayuer ran towards the front courtyard. At dawn, melodious bells rang out in Zhen Ding City. After ninety-nine rings, countless horns sounded, and hundreds of drums beat simultaneously atop the city walls.

Several city gates in the south were opened simultaneously, and squads of soldiers slowly emerged from within.

Inside the city, the lights were on full display.

Almost every household had someone go to war.

The streets were packed with people seeing him off.

Looking out over the firelight, apart from women, the elderly, and children, there were hardly any young or middle-aged people seeing off the departing party.

All the able-bodied men have gone to war.

This was a battle for the fate of the nation, and also the last stand of the Yuan people.

Those who can go to the battlefield must go.

Princess Chang Le sat on the roof ridge, with Duanmu Miaomiao beside her. The two of them gazed intently at the burly figure standing on the south gate tower, leaning on his sword. Beside that figure stood a woman in armor.

That naturally refers to Tiele and Dayuer.

“I didn’t like Dayuer much in the past!” Princess Chang Le said, “Three years ago, in order to unite those small and medium-sized tribes, Tiele married a woman from such a small tribe. I was very dissatisfied, but there was nothing we could do. Tiele had to do it back then. Dayuer didn’t read many books. She was completely ignorant of music, chess, calligraphy and painting. All she could do was ride horses, shoot arrows and kill people. She was quite forthright though.”

"So for the past two years, you haven't been very kind to her. You weren't exactly warm or cold; you treated her like a familiar stranger," Duanmu Miaomiao said. "Now it seems she's quite nice, isn't she?"

“A woman who is willing to live and die with her husband naturally earns my respect!” Princess Chang Le nodded and said, “I was narrow-minded!”

“Princess, don’t worry too much!” Duanmu Miaomiao said, “I think Tiele’s plan this time is quite meticulous, and his real purpose is just to defeat Akedun, recover Yandu, and end the division of the Great Yuan. As for Beiting, he just doesn’t want them to interfere in Jebe’s battle against Akedun, so the possibility of success is extremely high.”

“Sometimes, the more confident you are about something, the more likely it is to go wrong!” Princess Chang Le shook her head and said, “Sometimes it’s true that you can’t always succeed when you try to plant flowers with care! This matter has been going on for more than two years, how could there not be loopholes? Not to mention anything else, just the fact that Tiele suddenly relaxed its economic blockade against Jebe in the past year or so, allowing Jebe to receive a large amount of supplies, is enough to arouse the vigilance of the Beiting Protectorate.”

"This isn't a huge loophole, is it? I heard they're all being carried out under the guise of smuggling, aren't they?" Duanmu Miaomiao said.

"Do you think that little fox Li Dachui would believe it?" Princess Chang Le shook her head.

Duanmu Miaomiao pondered for a moment: "Others might let it go, but it's hard to say about Li Dachui!"

“Even a hole the size of a pinhead can let in a gale-force wind!” Princess Chang Le whispered. “Actually, Tiele already has a psychological trauma from Li Dachui. He may not even realize it himself, otherwise, he wouldn’t have come to me specifically to entrust his son to me before setting off on the expedition!”

"Don't worry, Princess, if he really fails, I will bring him back!" Duanmu Miaomiao said, "No matter which innate master is in charge, if they dare to stop me from bringing Tiele back, I will never forgive them!"

"I'm afraid the Tiele people won't want to come back then!" Princess Chang Le said with a sorrowful expression.

(End of this chapter)