Frontier Hero: From Receiving a Convicted Woman to Becoming an Emperor for All Time

He Jinzhong closed his eyes and said nothing more.

Shen Chuxiao turned his horse around and glanced at the battlefield.

The low-lying area outside the East Gate was littered with corpses, some of them from the Jingnan Army, but most of them belonged to He Jinzhong.

The torches crackled in the night wind, casting flickering light on the congealed bloodstains.

"Boss, the initial count of prisoners is out, about four thousand, with wounded making up about 30%. Most of He Jinzhong's personal guards are dead, and the rest have surrendered."

Shen Chuxiao pressed a button, then turned to look at Zhao Wu, "What about our own casualties?"

"Tie Niu's side lost less than two hundred men, the Dragon Tiger Squad had more than thirty lightly wounded and eight seriously wounded, but no one was killed. The crossbowmen on the south slope were even fewer, with only a dozen or so wounded."

Zhao Wu paused, his tone tinged with emotion.

"Boss, we have over four thousand prisoners, while our own casualties total less than three hundred. I never even dared to dream of a battle like this before."

"That's because He Jinzhong's soldiers fought all night on empty stomachs, and in the end, you even raided their main camp."

"An army without supplies is just a sheep waiting to be slaughtered, no matter how many men it has. He Jinzhong didn't lose because he didn't know how to fight, but because he was too hasty. If he had been willing to wait a couple more days until Pei Jue arrived before making his move, the outcome of this battle would have been uncertain."

Zhao Wu nodded thoughtfully.

"Take all the prisoners to the West Training Ground and have Han Meng's men watch over them. Treat the wounded and feed the surrendered soldiers. Don't mistreat them; we are all of the same origin, alas."

Shen Chuxiao wiped the blood from his face, a smile appearing on his lips.

"These people will all be soldiers of the Jingnan Army tomorrow."

Zhao Wu accepted the order and left.

Shen Chuxiao rode his horse across the battlefield. When they saw him riding by, everyone stopped what they were doing, stood up, and bowed.

Inside the city gate, Lu Chenzhou stood waiting for him.

She had taken off her helmet, and her long hair was disheveled by the night wind, with a few strands sticking to her forehead, making her cold face look more human.

Behind her, five hundred heavily armored infantrymen were re-lining up, their spears like a forest and their shields like a mountain, each of their armor splattered with blood.

Shen Chuxiao dismounted and walked up to her.

"General, the battle is over as you ordered."

Lu Chenzhou looked at him, his gaze sweeping from the bloodstains on his face to the still-bleeding wound on his shoulder, and then landing on the long sword in his hand, whose blade was chipped in several places.

Her expression remained unchanged, cold and indifferent, but a hint of tenderness appeared in her eyes.

"You're injured again."

"It's just a superficial wound, nothing serious."

Shen Chuxiao looked down at his shoulder. It was from when he charged into He Jinzhong's central army and was stabbed by a spearman. The spearhead had pierced through the armor plate and made a cut. It wasn't deep, but blood was still seeping out.

"What if it's a fatal wound?"

Shen Chuxiao was speechless, and could only manage a couple of dry laughs.

"What are you laughing at?" Lu Chenzhou frowned slightly.

"It's nothing."

Shen Chuxiao suppressed his smile and said seriously, "I just think the general has a really good memory."

Lu Chenzhou glanced at him, ignored the conversation, and turned to walk into the city. "Come in, let me change your dressing."

"General, I can do it myself..."

"Can you reach it?"

Shen Chuxiao looked down at the wound on his shoulder blade, remained silent for a moment, and then silently followed.

A makeshift first aid shed was set up inside the city gate, where several doctors were bandaging wounded soldiers.

Lu Chenzhou walked straight to the empty wooden table at the very back, rummaged through the medicine box next to it and took out wound medicine and clean strips of cloth, his movements as practiced as if he had done this countless times before.

Shen Chuxiao sat on the wooden table, unfastened half of his armor, revealing a wound on his shoulder that was still bleeding.

Lu Chenzhou applied the wound medicine very heavily, causing him to hiss in pain.

"Bear with it."

"General, please be gentle."

"Now you know what pain is? Why didn't you feel pain when you were going at it?"

Shen Chuxiao wisely kept quiet.

"What should we do with He Jinzhong?" Lu Chenzhou suddenly asked.

"I haven't decided yet. Killing it would be a waste, but letting it go is even more impossible."

Shen Chuxiao thought for a moment, "Let's keep him locked up for now and talk about it after the interrogation. He should have a lot to say, such as the defenses of Zizhou City, Pei Jue's troop deployment, and Li Bi's next move."

Do you think he'll talk?

"Yes," Shen Chuxiao said with certainty.

"A general who can decisively send the entire army forward after the supplies are burned is not the kind of stubborn, die-hard soldier. He knows how to weigh the pros and cons and knows when to back down. As long as you can make him understand that surrendering is more worthwhile than dying, he will naturally speak up."

Lu Chenzhou didn't speak, but simply wrapped the strip of cloth around Shen Chuxiao's armpit again, tightened it, and tied a knot. Shen Chuxiao gasped in pain, but gritted his teeth and remained silent.

"What's going on in Zizhou?" he asked.

"We haven't received any news yet, but since Pei Jue sent three experts to escort the grain, it shows that he values ​​this batch of grain very much. Now that the grain is gone and He Jinzhong has been captured, he can't possibly sit idly by."

Lu Chenzhou loosened the bandage, took a step back, looked himself up and down, and then nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"So next, we won't be facing a local general like He Jinzhong. It'll be Pei Jue, the master of the martial arts world, and a student of Xue Jingzhi."

"Are you scared?" Lu Chenzhou asked.

Shen Chuxiao smiled, a smile that appeared somewhat arrogant against the backdrop of blood and exhaustion.

"Fear? I, Shen Chuxiao, have never been afraid of many things in my life. A mere江湖人 (jianghu person) who points fingers from behind the scenes is not worthy of my fear. If Pei Jue dares to come, I dare to make him leave his life at Ling Shuang Pass."

Lu Chenzhou didn't speak, he just looked at him.

Then she turned around, picked up the longsword on the table, and walked out without looking back. "Take good care of your injuries. We'll talk about Pei Jue tomorrow."

Shen Chuxiao shook his head, banishing those chaotic thoughts from his mind, and got up to leave.

The sky was already beginning to lighten, with a faint glimmer of white appearing on the eastern horizon.

The torches on the city wall were still burning, but their light had dimmed in the morning light.

Outside the city gate, in the low-lying area, soldiers clearing the battlefield were sorting and arranging the corpses. The bodies of the Jingnan Army were carefully lifted onto stretchers, while the bodies of He Jinzhong's surrendered soldiers were piled up, waiting to be buried together.

Tie Niu was sitting on a stone stool at the city gate, two battle axes resting beside his legs, a half-eaten dry biscuit dangling from his mouth, which he chewed with a crunching sound. When he saw Shen Chuxiao come out, he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Boss, the prisoners have all been taken to the West Training Ground. Those bastards are starving. The cooks had just boiled the porridge when a bunch of them almost overturned the pot."

He said this with a hint of schadenfreude.

"Is there enough porridge?" Shen Chuxiao asked.

"That's enough. Han Meng has brought out all his hidden provisions. But he said this meal is on him, and he'll have to deduct it from the spoils of war later."

Shen Chuxiao smiled.

Han Meng, this old general, was meticulous and calculating his entire life; he even kept track of the costs when helping prisoners of war.

But this kind of meticulous planning is exactly what he needs. A commander of an army cannot only have fierce generals and assassins; he also needs someone to manage the provisions, calculate the silver, and take care of the trivial matters beyond the clash of swords.

"Where is He Jinzhong imprisoned?" he asked.

"The backyard of the General's Mansion".

Tie Niu paused for a moment and asked, "Boss, I heard that General Lu personally bandaged you up just now?"

"Who told you that?"

"Zhao Wu," Tie Niu grinned, a meaningful smile, "He also said that General Lu was particularly rough when bandaging him, as if it were intentional."

"If you ask me one more question, next time you'll lead the charge, charging ahead alone."

After speaking expressionlessly, Shen Chuxiao turned and walked towards the General's Mansion. Tie Niu chuckled twice behind him, picked up his battle axe, and followed.

The cellar in the backyard of the general's mansion was originally used to store winter vegetables, but it has now been temporarily converted into a place to imprison important prisoners.

Zhao Wu sat on the stone steps beside the cellar entrance, his embroidered spring knife resting across his knees.

"Boss." He stood up.

"How is he?"

"He just kept his eyes closed and didn't say anything. I brought him water and biscuits, but he didn't eat them."

"Boss, this guy's interesting. He suffered such a huge defeat, yet he's not panicking at all after being captured."

Shen Chuxiao went down into the cellar.

At the end of the stone steps was a small, secret room with rough stone walls on all four sides, and only an oil lamp lit in one corner. He Jinzhong was tied to a chair, his armor had been removed, and he was only wearing a blood-stained undergarment.

He kept his eyes closed and didn't open them even when he heard footsteps.

"Are you trying to starve yourself to prove your resolve by not eating or drinking?"

Shen Chuxiao's tone was very calm.

"But there's no need for that. I, Shen Chuxiao, do not kill prisoners, much less mistreat surrendered generals. Once the battle is over, it's over; victory or defeat is history. You don't need to gamble your life on my temper."

He Jinzhong finally opened his eyes.

He scrutinized Shen Chuxiao for a moment. There was no fear or anger in his eyes, only the weariness of an old general who had seen through the ways of the world.

"What exactly do you want?"