spoiled brat

Chapter 25 24. Spring Harmony (4)

She mentioned that she wanted to go to Yunzhou to buy medicine for Yaoniang, and Mother Yu agreed.

Zhao Zhao thanked him and was about to leave when she couldn't help but ask another question:
"Mom, how high can one go in our line of work?"

Yu's mother opened her eyes, stroked the cat in her arms, and smiled at Zhao Zhao:
"Born into a lowly social class, how high do you want to go?"

As she spoke, she tapped the silver in Zhao Zhao's arms with her pipe, "No matter how much money you earn, an official can easily fabricate a pretext to ruin your family and leave you with nothing."

“Zhao Zhao’er, when things go against you, you risk your life; when things go with you, you secure your gains. There are too many ambitious young people like you in the world who think they are soaring among the clouds. But one day they will fall to their deaths and realize that the sky above them is just a sky covered by someone else.”

-

The spring rain was drizzling, the thin mist like a light veil, the damp earth exuding a fresh grassy fragrance, and the sky a gloomy and somber gray-blue.

It was almost early summer, and Xiao Duo had changed into coarse cloth shorts. He lay on the haystack with his legs crossed, gazing at the narrow sliver of sky through the gap in the carport roof, a blade of grass between his teeth, humming a little tune:

"Flowers and willows in full bloom, how many lifetimes are there? Colors reflect in the golden cup, fragrance fills the silk robes—"

Those outside the cart shed heard his tune, and gently whipped the old ox pulling the cart twice, which responded in kind amidst the bumpy ride:
"Who can rival my loyalty and courage? Only when we sweep away the barbarian dust can I fulfill my lifelong ambition!"

This is a aria from the opera "The Story of Loyalty".

Xiao Duo spat out the foxtail grass from his mouth, poked his head out from under the carport, and asked the old man driving with a smile:

"Grandpa, you also like Yue Fei?"

The old man didn't answer, but sang a few more lines in a high-pitched voice: "With righteous courage and loyal heart, he wielded his spear amidst wind and snow, fighting valiantly; at the moment of victory, he perished at the hands of a treacherous official—"

Xiao Duo had simply picked up a random oxcart that could take him to Yunzhou, but unexpectedly, he met a kindred spirit on a narrow road. He even met someone knowledgeable: "It's a pity that before the country could be restored, he became the same Yan Yan who was beheaded in the past, leaving behind the bloodstains of his entire family!"

The old man chuckled twice, tossed the wine jug from his waist to Xiao Duo, who didn't stand on ceremony, gulped down two mouthfuls, and handed it back.

He noticed the old man's wide knuckles, thick calluses, and numerous fine scars, and that he spoke with a northern accent, so he asked:
"Grandpa, are you a soldier who retired from the north?"

The old man laughed and said, "Good lad, you have a good eye."

Xiao Duo was used to hearing stories and plays about bloody battlefields, and he had an inexplicable longing for the battlefield, as if it were not littered with bones, but with fame and fortune.

It's rare to see a veteran come back alive with all four limbs intact. What's the difference between this and a live-action play?
Xiao Duo's tone was somewhat flattering and ingratiating as he smiled and said, "Grandpa, can you tell me about things up north?"

The old man leaned against the cart's side, teasing the cow's tail with his whip: "Which section are you listening to?"

Since he was willing to speak, Xiao Duo quickly woke up Zhao Zhao, who was sleeping next to him, saying, "Zhao Zhao, wake up and learn something!"

She looked at the old man with excitement and said, "Listen to the great victory in Jizhou last year! The battle in which General Chen killed 100,000 enemies!" Zhao Zhao had stayed up late last night to brew medicine for Yao Niang and only had a chance to close her eyes at dawn. She had finally managed to doze off for a while when Xiao Duo dragged her onto the oxcart to Yunzhou.

She was still half asleep, yawning with bits of straw in her hair, when she heard the old man in the bike shed scoff:
"General Chen killed 100,000 enemies? Is that how you southerners spread the story?"

Before Xiao Duo could answer, the old man complained angrily, "That Wu Huan clearly gained the credit by stepping on our prince!"

Xiao Duo realized something was amiss: this old man had once been a soldier under Prince Ning, and was standing up for his former master.
"Who in the world does not know the fame of Prince Ning? However... the common people say that the great victory in Jizhou was because Prince Ning was trapped in Jizhou, and General Chen led his troops on a long journey to rescue Prince Ning from the chaos of battle. With the help of the enemy, they wiped out the barbarians under the city of Jizhou."

The old man sneered, "Oh, so you don't know that Wu Huan was hiding in the back, reaping the benefits without lifting a finger?"

Xiao Duo and Zhao Zhao exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

They were in the south, and by the time the news from the north arrived, it had changed again and again, and it was uncertain whether it was true or false. How could they know such details?
"The prince led his troops to defend Jizhou alone, but he used the prince as bait to lure the barbarians. He ignored their pleas for help and repeatedly refused to transport grain and supplies by sea!"

The old man's disdainful tone was tinged with hatred: "Only after 100,000 barbarians besieged Jizhou did he leisurely arrive with a few dozen red-coated cannons. Jizhou is a narrow place, and his men just fired cannons on the mountains, killing all the soldiers in the chaos of battle, friend or foe alike."

As he spoke, he pulled up his trouser leg, revealing the burns on his leg, and said coldly, "I don't know if he was killing barbarians or if he was acting on someone's orders, trying to kill our prince with some trickery!"

Xiao Duo couldn't bear to see loyal and virtuous people harmed, so he slapped his thigh and said with righteous indignation:
"That damned Qin Hui! If Prince Ning's army is wiped out, the barbarians will march south without hindrance. Won't we be repeating the mistakes of Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong?"

Zhao Zhao blinked her tired eyelids and asked, "Since he made things so ugly, why did he send troops to rescue us in the end?"

"Because of our Crown Prince."

The old man pulled a pipe from his pocket, lit it, and took a few puffs: "He drove that bastard Wu Huan to the brink of despair."

Can one person alone influence the situation?
Xiao Duo had only heard of such stories in plays and was somewhat skeptical, so he asked:
"really?"

The old man tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and exhaled smoke: "It was the dead of winter, and the north was covered in ice and frost. The city of Jizhou had run out of food and the horses had eaten their fill. There was already a trend of people eating each other."

"The prince sent more than a dozen teams to ask Wu Huan for help, but all of them disappeared without a trace. One night, the prince gathered his remaining seven thousand soldiers in the drill ground and said that it was no use defending the city any longer, so they should open the city gates and break out to fight."

"Isn't this just throwing our lives away? We all know there won't be any reinforcements, but when death is imminent, there's always a glimmer of hope. Even the toughest man wouldn't want to break through the encirclement of 100,000 enemy troops with only 7,000 remaining soldiers..."

"Although everyone was unwilling, we were all soldiers who had followed the prince through thick and thin for decades. How could we disobey his orders? In the vast training ground, not a single person spoke. The world was silent, and the wind and snow were desolate."

The old man lowered his eyes and smiled gratefully: "We are all cowards pretending to be brave. Only His Highness the Crown Prince went up to the platform and said to the Prince, 'Father, I will go.'"

“How can we let Your Highness go? None of the soldiers we sent to ask for reinforcements have returned. They were either ripped open by the barbarians or killed by Wu Huan... Even if the Dingbei Army is wiped out, it is not Your Highness’s place to personally go through fire and water!”

“We shouted that it was no good, but the princess had already handed the imperial sword at her waist to His Highness, saying that this sword could kill enemy invaders outside and slay traitors within the country. My son, go and return quickly.”

(End of this chapter)