Frost for a Thousand Years

"Shi An, do you want to see what that barbarian queen looks like...?"

Standing behind Song Shi'an, Sun Jinhua asked tentatively with some curiosity.

At this time, Song Shi'an's elite troops had been dispatched. Although they did not attack the city, launching a nighttime catapult attack would be considered an assault, so they were well prepared. The army was under the city walls with torches and in neat square formations.

Song Shi'an was intently observing the situation, so he didn't take Sun Jinhua's words to heart. After realizing that she seemed to have said something, he turned around and asked, "Huh? What?"

“Indeed, I’ve heard that the barbarian queen is incredibly beautiful and the most beautiful woman in Baiyue. I really want to see her in person…” Sun Jinhua murmured to herself with a rather understanding expression, feeling jealous for no reason.

No, what do you mean you're sure about?

Oh, about little Shamoji.

"It's not that I want to see you, it's that I'm sure I will be able to see you," Song Shi'an said with a calm smile.

"Will they hand over Samogi?" Sun Jinhua asked curiously.

“It would have been wrong to bring this up from the beginning. But now, after fighting for so long, the other side is clearly feeling the strain,” Song Shi’an said with a sly smile. “In addition, they are not a monolithic army, but rather a coalition of independent forces.”

"..."

Sun Jinhua was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening and covered her mouth in shock at this top-level intellectual battle: "The most vicious thing is the human heart. What we want is for them to distrust each other!"

"clever."

.........

Song Shi'an's slingshots served as the clarion call for the attack, waking all the defenders and putting them into a defensive posture.

The kings and generals also hurriedly came out, each leading their men to investigate the situation.

They breathed a slight sigh of relief when they discovered that the enemy had only thrown a bunch of letters and had not launched an immediate attack, and that their army was already lined up outside the city.

Although this was also very intimidating, they had already launched countless sieges in recent days, so they were numb to even the most hesitant attacks that barely penetrated the city gates, let alone this kind of attack that was just standing there poised to strike.

"Your Majesty, please read the letter!"

One of his men ran quickly to the side of a barbarian king and said excitedly.

"Damn it, do you think I can understand this?"

The king was immediately enraged.

“Your Majesty,” the subordinate explained to him, pointing to the letter, “this letter says that as long as the Empress Dowager goes to serve Song Shi’an in bed, the siege will stop.”

"Huh?" The king was dumbfounded. He walked to the city wall, put his hand on it, and looked at the densely packed army holding torches. "In the middle of the night, doesn't Song Shi'an's army even have a single military prostitute?"

To a normal person, this was simply a case of someone being lonely at night and directly requesting the barbarian queen to take his place.

This is pure sexual repression!

It's terrifying that such a crazy and willful person has come to power in the world.

And it has to be Samoji, no one else will do!
"Are all these letters floating around saying this?" the king asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty, all the letters are identical,” he said. “Not a single word is different.”

Although these barbarian people were basically illiterate in Chinese characters, at this level, their tribes had many people from the Central Plains whom they had captured. To avoid being fooled, they specially trained some young people of high status and identity to learn the Dayu script.

Therefore, the contents of this letter spread like wildfire here.

"Sending Shamogi to serve in bed is merely a way to delay the attack?" After pondering for a while, the king seemed to realize something. "Does delaying the attack mean that Song Shi'an actually doesn't want to fight anymore?"

"..." His subordinates suddenly realized and said with admiration, "Your Majesty is wise. After fighting for so many days, it's not just our people who are dying. People are dying for him every day too. How can he withstand it?"

“Yes.” The king, who was panting as he was called fat, continued to demonstrate his wisdom, analyzing earnestly, “He never looked down on our Baiyue region in the first place. This time, he came and made peace with Chen Huo, which has already achieved his goal. As for starting a war against us, it’s just a way to save face.”

"This whole thing was started by Samogi, so now she's paying for it with her body. Isn't that perfect?"

After consulting with the king, his subordinates found the optimal solution.

It means sending Shamogi away.

In this way, they could breathe a sigh of relief and retreat safely. Song Shi'an's face was saved, and they even got a demon queen to serve them in bed. It was truly a win-win situation.

So this king quickly persuaded the kings and generals of several other tribes to go to the city tower to find their new leader, the Chariot King.

Meanwhile, the racing legend led his men down from the city wall, preparing to go find them.

As luck would have it, the group bumped into each other on the stone steps inside the city gate.

"King of Racing, this letter..."

Before anyone could speak, the King of Cars immediately ordered, "Everyone, listen up! Burn all the letters that Song Shi'an sent in. No one is allowed to keep or read them, and no one is allowed to discuss anything unrelated to the war. Anyone who disobeys will be beheaded!"

"Yes!"

His men immediately carried it out.

Suppress the bad practices that are disrupting morale within the city!
The words that the king originally wanted to say were all swallowed back.

"Gentlemen, let's set aside the Empress Dowager for now, but this is ultimately our own business. It's not for Song Shi'an, an outsider, to interfere, and we certainly won't allow him to tarnish it!" Che Wang said righteously.

The beginning was fine, but that last sentence...

Does that mean only we can defile it?

King Cha knew that Princess Samo had incurred the wrath of the people, and these kings and generals were preparing to unite and use her to negotiate with Song Shi'an and beg for peace.

Furthermore, they foolishly believed that Song Shi'an would withdraw his troops once he obtained Samogi.

It is absolutely impossible.

Song Shi'an has a firm grasp on taking over Beiguan, and with the previous infrastructure construction, he clearly intends to develop this place into a city. Why would he possibly leave?

This was Song Shi'an's scheme to sow discord.

The racing legend saw through it.

However, he doesn't intend to expose it.

Because this is the best opportunity to get rid of Samogi!

"Your Majesty, Your Majesties," the King of Chariots' trusted general advised, "Since Song Shi'an has done this, it means he is in dire straits. Why don't we take advantage of the situation to delay him and wait for our reinforcements to arrive?"

"How can we delay?" one of the kings asked.

“Didn’t Song Shi’an kill our envoy before? We’ll pretend to be weak and agree, and then, under the pretext of fearing Song Shi’an’s authority, ask him to temporarily withdraw the rest of his army from the valley, and then we’ll escort the Empress Dowager there…” He suggested, then emphasized, “But this is just to bluff him. By the time we’ve delayed him for two or three days, our reinforcements should have arrived!”

"Oh, that's a great idea!"

“Yes, we have every reason to delay him, since he killed our envoy.”

"If we rest for a few days, it will be impossible for him to launch another attack!"

“We can use a scheme to delay him,” the King of Chariots said passionately, “but the Empress Dowager will never hand it over to them. Moreover, this matter must be approved by the Empress Dowager!”

"The racing king is right, after all, it's our own business..."

While these people were discussing, a general who had been sitting in a corner quietly slipped away.

"Your Majesty, that's what they said."

The general quickly went into the city, and Shamogi, hiding in the stone tower of the catapult, reported to him.

Before this, Samogi already knew that Song Shi'an had sent a letter.

She was still holding this letter in her hand.

At first, she was secretly pleased with herself and proud of her beauty.

But as a smart woman, she quickly realized that something was wrong.

This is very wrong.

After the general reported the conversation between the car king and others, she finally realized what had happened and felt a chill run down her spine.

"Song Shi'an is trying to sow discord!" Shamoji said excitedly. "His provocation is an open and unsolvable scheme."

"But the King of Chariots has already said that in front of everyone. How can he take back what he said?" the general asked, puzzled.

“When have we ever been so righteous and moral?” Samogi knew, “This is just a delaying tactic he's using to appease me, because he's also worried that I might provoke a rebellion at this time!”

After she explained it, the military officer understood a little.

Shamogi stood up, walked to the center, and muttered with an extremely sinister expression, "In this allied force, some don't want to fight, some want to use the fight to replace me, and some have handed over their military power just to stop the Song army here. These three types of people each have their own ulterior motives and want completely different things, so they are bound to not be on the same path..."

The general was terrified by Samogi's appearance.

However, he felt that Samogi was right.

He himself belonged to the faction that didn't want to fight.

Just then, one of Shamoji's men came over and hurriedly reported, "Your Majesty, the King of Chariots told me that he wants you to go to the North Gate Hall to discuss the matter of feigning allegiance to Song Shi'an while actually delaying the inevitable."

"Oh, I see." Shamoji slowly walked up to him. As the warrior became nervous because he was too close to her and his mind was disturbed by her alluring fragrance, she whispered, "Lower your head, I have a secret to tell you."

"Yes."

The general slowly lowered his head and brought his ear close to the Empress Dowager's lips...

Suddenly, Samogi used the gold hairpin she was holding to stab his neck three times.

They'll use the same trick again and kill once more!
Seeing the general fall to the ground in a tragic death, the confidant who had just reported to her was dumbfounded. For a moment, he retreated in fear, afraid that the Empress Dowager would also harm him.

"He's been turned by the King of Cars! He's here to trick me into arresting him!" Samoji wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand and shouted at the other man with great certainty.

"They were actually turned..." The general looked at the corpse on the ground, utterly astonished.

"His tone was different, and his eyes were obviously shifty; you could tell he had something to hide," Samogi said disdainfully. "He's trying to use our lives to exchange for his wealth with the King of Cars. We almost died at the hands of this scoundrel!"

No, Samogi didn't know whether he was lying or not.

The way she avoided eye contact was simply because she was admiring her own beauty.

But at this moment, she dared not gamble.

Just like when Song Shi'an threw in this letter of divisive tactics at this time, it was bound to trigger a chain of suspicion.

Samogi wasn't sure if he would be attacked, or when it would happen. All he could do was...

.........

"Strike first, strike hard."

The Duke of Zhangping was advanced in years and no longer wished to risk his life at this time. Therefore, as the vanguard general, he was granted special permission by Song Shi'an to issue orders from within the camp without personally leading the troops. At this moment, he waited with his son for the outcome of the night.

"Father, do you mean that Samogi might strike first?" Chen Wang asked, somewhat uncertainly.

"Absolutely," said the Duke of Zhangping. "Song Shi'an's plan was executed perfectly."

They've reached their breaking point.

"So, does that mean Qiu Juhuan has survived and the allied forces have all withdrawn?" Chen Wang asked.

“Such news should have reached the barbarians a few days ago,” Chen Huo said. “But that was inevitable. No matter how great the difference in strength, a war of annihilation cannot be completed in just half a month.”

Because he frequently led troops, the Duke of Zhangping knew that Shamoyi had absolutely no chance of defeating Qiu Juhuan.

Things had to develop to this point; it was inevitable.

However, Song Shi'an's ingenious scheme to sow discord was somewhat unexpected to him.

"This person has an incredibly accurate grasp of human nature." Chen Wang was now afraid of Song Shi'an.

Wasn't even his own father manipulated by him?
In order to unite, he even personally delivered irrefutable evidence of his rebellion to his father.

How can someone like that not be terrifying?

"To win people's hearts, one also needs sincerity." Knowing what his son was referring to, the Duke of Zhangping said, "This Song Shi'an is indeed sincere."

"Father, what do you mean?"

"Think about it," the Duke of Zhangping retorted, "all those he slaughtered, weren't they all people who defied him?"

"And we, we're stroking it in the direction of its fur..."

After thinking it over, Chen Wang realized that Song Shi'an didn't seem to be an absolutely heartless person.

The former crown prince died because he insisted on being an enemy of Song Shi'an.

Of course, he felt that if Song Shi'an were to become too powerful, he would surely die.

But has he ever tried to let Song Shi'an become too powerful?

The Duke of Zhangping was doing just that.

Critically, but also trust this man.

As for the consequences of believing him, only time will tell.

Just then, a deafening roar suddenly erupted.

Then, a subordinate reported to him: "Duke! It seems the barbarian bandits are fighting amongst themselves. A fire has broken out in the North Gate, and the young Grand Secretary has immediately ordered a stone-throwing attack... The city gate has been breached!"

Upon hearing this news, Chen Wang was stunned: "That's truly amazing..."

At this moment, Song Shi'an stretched lazily under the moonlight.

"The city gates have been breached!" Sun Jinhua's eyes lit up with joy.

"Someone come here," Song Shi'an ordered directly, "Tell General San Gou that after the attack, he doesn't need to personally kill the enemy. He just needs to beat the drums and blow the horns from behind and wait for the enemy to trample each other."

"Yes, sir!" the subordinate replied.

"Also, be a little careful." Song Shi'an glanced at Sun Jinhua and said with a smile, "Whether she lives or dies, don't let Sha Moji be disfigured. Let us see what this first demon queen of Nan Yue looks like." (End of this chapter)