Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 298 The Empress's Wrath

"Your Highness, the puppet Qi army that attacked Yan has withdrawn in an orderly manner and is gradually moving towards the southern army."

After the scouts entered the tent to report, the generals in the camp all showed joy on their faces.

And then they started to mock them mercilessly.

"Ji Yuan's anger was just a fleeting moment."

"He killed one of his princes, how could you tolerate that? Hahaha."

"They're just a bunch of cowardly bullies. The moment the Sixth Prince arrives, they'll be scurrying away in terror."

After killing Hua Qu, the army's execution efficiency instantly reached its peak. Wherever the king's orders went, they were obeyed without question, and no one dared to disobey.

That's the power of "killing the chicken to scare the monkey".

No, it should be considered as making an example of someone to warn others.

After all, he was a nobleman and had a relationship with the Empress.

However, Wei Wusheng did not become arrogant. He calmly continued to command: "The vanguard will become the rearguard, and the rearguard will become the vanguard. I will personally cover the rear. The Yu army will return east one after another, and we will retreat to Dongliang by passing through Yan."

"Yes!"

All generals, listen to my command.

Afterwards, the generals withdrew from the tent and strictly carried out the military orders of the King of Zhongshan.

Only Zhao Yi and Wei Wusheng remained in the commander's tent.

"General Zhao, how's the reconnaissance going?"

Wei Wusheng inquired.

"The main force of Qi is basically stationed to the west of Yan, which is to our north. Dozens of miles to the west, the scorched earth policy has been completed, and there is almost no human habitation within a radius of dozens of miles," Zhao Yi said.

Upon hearing this, Wei Wusheng smiled, pointed to the Beiliang region on the map, and said, "The north wind reports that at least ten thousand troops have been reinforced in Beiliang, and beyond Tongmen Pass."

“After all, there’s more than one front. Even though they’re faking it, they still have to be wary of a sudden attack from us,” Zhao Yi said.

"General, do you want to make a name for yourself?" Wei Wusheng asked jokingly.

"Your Highness, what is this...?" Zhao Yi asked, puzzled. "Where does this merit come from?"

Qi heavily guarded almost all strategic points.

Let alone conquering a city, even annihilating its fighting force would change the situation, trigger a chain reaction, and lead to an uncontrollable war.

In response, Wei Wusheng slowly traced his finger westward and said, "Here, the army is almost completely absent. Moreover, there has been no scorched earth policy."

“But this place offers a panoramic view, with no natural defenses or cities…” Zhao Yi suddenly realized halfway through his sentence, “There are people here.”

“There are at least a thousand households,” Wei Wusheng said.

"And because they were far from the war, they were not in a hurry to harvest the grain." Zhao Yi understood.

“When my troops return to Yan in the east, Qi will definitely hold back to prevent our army from suddenly turning back. The troops north of Beiliang will also not be mobilized to prevent my Shuofeng Legion from taking advantage of the situation to recover Beiliang,” Wei Wusheng said. “When the main army retreats, your troops will lead more than a thousand light cavalry to detour to the west, seize the grain here, and plunder thousands of people in the process.”

"Brilliant." This idea delighted Zhao Yi.

“This achievement may be small, but in wars between great powers, the competition is all about population. They have a thousand fewer households, while we have a thousand more, which makes two thousand households, or ten thousand people,” Wei Wusheng said.

"More importantly, there is virtually no risk."

Who would have thought that, in the midst of the battle between the two armies, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers poised to fight, someone could also be a pickpocket and steal a few coins?

"Please be extremely careful, General."

Wei Wusheng looked at Zhao Yi with a sharp gaze, seemingly approving.

"Yi will certainly live up to Your Highness's expectations!"

Kneeling on one knee with both hands clenched into fists, Zhao Yi responded firmly.

.........

Sheng'an.

"Your Majesty, good news! Good news indeed! After His Highness the Prince of Zhongshan led his army to Yan, the puppet Qi army fled in panic. As His Highness's army retreated, they also seized 12,000 shi of grain from Qi and captured more than 4,000 Qi people!"

Upon hearing this, even the usually strict old emperor couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised.

"Military report," he said to Eunuch Xi.

Then, Grandpa Xi read the military report to him.

Having heard the whole story, the emperor felt that his previous judgment had been confirmed.

Among the many princes, Wei Wusheng was the most outstanding.

Previously, with Song Shi'an assisting him, his abilities were not apparent.

This time, however, he was leading troops alone, without any prior staff or the Northern Liang army. Under these circumstances, he was able to act decisively and ruthlessly, completing the mission perfectly on his first attempt.

They could even increase the stakes.

"Report this victory to Sheng'an," the emperor ordered after nodding.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Eunuch Xi, beaming.

"This military report will also be posted in Sheng'an," the Emperor said.

“Yes…” Eunuch Xi answered quickly, but then paused, as if suddenly remembering something.

"What doubts?" the emperor asked.

Compared to Chen Bao, Xi Shan is indeed more willing to talk and has more ideas.

But the emperor hoped that the talkative eunuch was Chen Bao.

Rather, it is not those self-righteous individuals.

"Your Majesty, will Your Highness not revise the execution of Military Commander Hua Qu for disobeying military orders?" asked Eunuch Xi.

"Who is Hua Qu?" the emperor asked.

"This servant understands," Xishan replied, bowing her head. "This servant will go and do it right away."

The emperor waved his hand gently. Wei Wusheng's 'great victory' had spread throughout Sheng'an.

As the emperor had anticipated, it happened very quickly.

"Erlang, Hua Qu is dead?!"

Empress Hua rushed to Xuanyu Palace and questioned the emperor with a shocked expression.

"Ah, you know." The emperor remained calm, simply leaning back on his dragon throne, eyes closed, while a palace maid massaged his legs.

The fact that the palace maid was still there, even though she herself had come, made Empress Hua feel extremely disgusted.

The palace maid trembled with fright, quickly lowered her head, and cautiously retreated from the area.

"With Chen Bao gone, have we lost all sense of propriety?" Empress Hua scolded.

"Alright, alright, why are you so angry?" The emperor opened his eyes with a smile.

"Erlang," the Empress said, her voice heavy with sorrow as she approached the Emperor, "You know that Hua Qu is dead, don't you?"

"Who is he?" the emperor asked in return.

“That’s Hua Qu, Hua Zheng’s cousin,” Empress Hua said. “He’s a military officer in the army.”

"Does killing a mere military commander who disobeyed orders require reporting to me?" the emperor retorted again.

"Does that mean we have to kill him? Can't we find a scapegoat?" The Empress was getting a little emotional. "Old Master Hua only had this one grandson, and Wei Wusheng just killed him like that. What are people supposed to think?"

"Then you can just adopt one of your sons to him, wouldn't that solve the problem?" The emperor was amused.

Even after all this, the emperor still maintained this attitude, and Empress Hua was truly at her wit's end: "Second Prince, if you are honest, is it really necessary to make a nobleman's son pay with his life for less than a hundred soldiers who died?"

"Shut up!" Suddenly, the emperor flew into a rage and roared, "No soldier of my Great Yu can die in vain! If you can't control your family, I will!"

"..."

The Empress's legs trembled at the shout.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

The emperor sighed and said, "Go back and rest. This is not your business."

"I know that the empress dowager must not interfere in politics."

After leaving those words with a sense of grievance, the Empress returned to her palace.

As soon as she entered, the women of the Hua family who were sitting immediately stood up, weeping and wailing, and knelt down in front of her.

Seeing this scene, Empress Hua was truly annoyed.

She walked straight through the middle, sat down, leaned back in her chair, propped her chin on her hand, and said unhappily to the women who had turned around and knelt before her, "You want me to do this? The Prince of Zhongshan has already said that anyone who disobeys a military order will be executed. He was greedy for merit and acted rashly, knowing he was guilty of a crime. Who can he blame?"

“Your Highness, although Qu’er can’t compare to Zhao Xiang, Zhao Xiang was also greedy for merit and acted rashly, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Qu’er’s faults… aren’t that great?” Hua Qu’s mother cried.

"That's because Zhao Xiang didn't meet the Prince of Zhongshan; if he had, he would have died." With that one sentence, the hatred was shifted to Wei Wusheng. However, the Empress added, "A capital offense is a capital offense, regardless of who committed it. I will not tolerate it!"

No one knew what to say, so they all lowered their heads and continued to cry.

After holding back for a while, Hua Qu's mother choked up and said, "Qu'er is guilty, but he was just beheaded like that, his body was left in Qi, and his soul can't return to our Qinzhou... What will happen if he can't find his mother at night?"

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into tears.

The scene got out of control for a while.

When have you ever heard of a nobleman being punished the same as a commoner for breaking the law?

They made the Empress feel a little uncomfortable.

He simply sat up and left.

Outside the palace, they happened to run into King Wu, who had come to greet his mother as usual.

"Your subject greets Your Majesty."

The King of Wu immediately bowed and knelt in worship.

"Everyone go away."

The Queen dismissed the others, then took the King of Wu's hand and asked, "You know about Hua Qu's matter, don't you?"

"Your subject understands," King Wu replied calmly.

He treated a human life as if it were nothing, which angered the Empress: "You don't also think he deserves to die for knowing his crime, do you?"

"..." King Wu was stunned for a moment, then comforted her, "Mother, the key to war is strict discipline. How can we maintain military discipline if we disobey orders on the battlefield?"

"I don't want to hear any of that," the Empress said. "When have we ever killed nobles so casually before? Haven't we ever won a battle before?"

"Mother, it's just a collateral branch, it's not like Hua Zheng died..."

"Can a branch of the Hua family be treated the same as other branches?" the Empress continued relentlessly. "Remember, although you were born in Sheng'an, your mother was from Qinzhou, your father was from Qinzhou, so you are a Qinzhou native."

“That Wusheng is also from Qinzhou.”

"Don't tell me that," Empress Hua said. "He's your man, can you control him?"

"Mother, he's doing just fine, why should I interfere?" King Wu was truly at a loss.

"Can't we find a scapegoat? Can't we punish him with caning? Can't we take him back to Sheng'an and kill him later?" Empress Hua said angrily. "Did Wei Wusheng kill Hua Qu? He's undermining my prestige."

"Mother, how could he dare to do such a thing?" Seeing that this accusation was about to be leveled against him, King Wu hurriedly explained, "I will talk to him later. Hua Qu was killed, so let's just let this matter go."

"Is this what Song Shi'an is going to do?"

Suddenly, the Empress asked in a cold voice.

"What does this have to do with Song Shi'an?" King Wu was truly afraid.

"Zisheng, you need to know," the Empress said, staring into his eyes, "that the arrogance of the people of Qinzhou won't harm anyone. Even if Hua Zheng is close to Ziyu, in the future, the Hua family's brothers-in-law will still be your source of strength."

"Yes, yes," the King of Wu nodded in response.

Grabbing his wrist, the Empress continued, "Truly believing that man from Huai County, truly believing that fake brother, that's what will harm you!"

(End of this chapter)