UCTOOT CH99

Military affairs are urgent, how could there be women? Moreover, she was thrown out like a sack with her hands tied behind her back, revealing a large handful of pitch-black hair. The behavior was truly rough. Shi Shu said: “Do you always tie women’s hands behind their backs and drag them forcibly when capturing them?”

Xin Bin: “I’m a rough man, I don’t understand.”

“…”

Shi Shu looked carefully at her face. The woman also looked up. After meeting her gaze for a few seconds, Shi Shu raised his eyebrows with a smile of watching the fun: “Two or three years ago, when we first met, you were chased by officials. The night I met your father, I was also chased. We haven’t made any progress.”

The person in front of him suddenly looked up, revealing a beautiful oval face. Yuan Xiaoshu was mixed with sadness and joy: “Benefac—”

Shi Shu said: “Don’t use that title… can’t explain it.” The one at home won’t understand.

Xiaoshu asked: “Are you okay?”

Shi Shu: “Thanks to your father’s mercy of not killing~ Only superficial wounds on my back, nothing serious. Release her quickly. How are you doing in Bei Min?”

“I—”

Xin Bin and others untied Xiaoshu. He interrupted first: “Second Young Master, this woman’s background is ambiguous. Should we wait until my lord finishes meeting the guests to interrogate her together?”

Shi Shu came back to his senses. Xiaoshu’s identity was awkward, so it was good to be extra careful: “Then take her to the room to eat first. You all rest well. We’ll continue chatting when Xie Wuchi comes. I’m going out for a bit, tell my brother.”

Shi Shu prepared to leave, but Yuan Xiaoshu seemed to have waited for a long time and couldn’t wait any longer, saying anxiously: “Little Brother, my father told me to find Commander-in-Chief Xie and inform them that the granaries and grain routes can be burned, as soon as possible!”

“…”

Shi Shu paused in his steps and turned his face to look at her: “What did you say?”

“Besides checking on your life and health, my father also asked me to pass a message—the Min army has not set an ambush, nor do they know the news has leaked. You can retrieve the grain and burn the grain routes along the way—”

“This…” Shi Shu’s mood was complicated. He glanced at Xin Bin. Xin Bin interrupted: “Military matters are important. Let’s wait until the Commander-in-Chief comes.”

Xie Wuchi had already acted and didn’t need her reminder. Shi Shu found it inconvenient to say more: “Thank you for coming specially to tip us off.” After speaking, he wanted to leave, but unexpectedly Yuan Xiaoshu said again: “There is another important matter. My father said Lord Xie can also send troops to occupy Yinzhou. The Min army’s grain is exhausted, the granaries are lost, and the grain routes have been hijacked. Withdrawal is a matter of days.”

“Congratulations to Lord Xie on retreating the Min army, uprooting Feng Chongshan, and occupying Yinzhou, without wasting a single soldier.”

Without wasting a single soldier… Shi Shu staggered and looked up with difficulty. Xin Bin indeed lost his patience and shouted: “You little brat, do you need a beating!”

Shi Shu intervened: “Alright, alright, talk later. You guys rest first.”

Xiaoshu’s hands and feet were untied, and she stopped talking. But she pulled out a dagger from her forearm, the handle inlaid with gems, and handed it to Shi Shu: “I brought this specially for you.”

Shi Shu took the knife and smiled: “What is this?”

“A weapon forged by my father. He asked me to thank you for escorting me forty li back then.” After Xiaoshu finished speaking, she was escorted by Xin Bin towards a room on the side for confinement.

Shi Shu casually tossed and caught the dagger, looking at it against the sun, finally able to think more: “Without wasting a single soldier… killing three birds with one stone. Retreated the Bei Min army, uprooted Feng Chongshan’s power, and occupied Yinzhou… Xie Wuchi, worthy of being you, a natural political animal.”

Anyway, for Xie Wuchi, what he wanted was already in hand. The casualties in Yinzhou had nothing to do with him.

Shi Shu clicked his tongue softly. Putting away the dagger, he got on the carriage outside the door. On the official road of Lanxian Town, rows of fast horses galloped past, transporting grain and fodder into Yinzhou City, with constant shouting along the way.

Shi Shu leaned against the carriage door frame, turning his brown eyes to watch this scene. The grain sacks were pasted with straw paper “Xie”. Occasionally, rows of troops passed by, waving flags also written with “Xie”, heading for rescue and galloping fast.

Carriages and horses came and went in a bustling stream. Everyone shouted: “Quick, quick! Don’t block the way! Urgent military use!”

Flying past his eyes.

Arriving at the medicine shed, Shi Shu moved off the carriage. Lin Baihe held a medicine basket, mouth wide open: “My Second Young Master! You’ve only been in bed for a few days, and you’re here?”

“Bored, can’t stay idle. Came to see if I can help with anything.”

“Oh my, if something happens to you, I, I can’t—”

Shi Shu walked into the medicine shed. Other doctors were cutting medicinal herbs, tidying up, and standing at the door, watching the grain carts and military horses passing on the official road, all infected and attracted by this momentum.

“Are these our Xie family’s soldiers? Serious and orderly. Lord Xie’s soldiers have finally arrived? Is there any recent news? Is Yinzhou saved?”

“Lord Xie’s action is indeed extraordinary. Now we shouldn’t have to carry corpses anymore, right?”

Shi Shu sat by the medicine boiling stove, his leg poked by the cold dagger: “That I don’t know.”

Seeing this scene, Lin Yangchun shook his head: “Never seen such momentum. Only acted when there were signs of winning. Which of these main generals is not like this? Reluctant to give, but all want to harvest. Only raise troops when the time is right.”

They were just watching the fun, but Shi Shu felt uneasy hearing it.

When Lin Yangchun came to Shi Shu’s side, he patted his shoulder: “I say, if it weren’t for your back full of wounds, almost losing your life to exchange for that news, who knows how many tens of thousands more would have starved or been beaten to death in Yinzhou City!”

Shi Shu’s smile stopped. Lowering his head to feed firewood into the stove, he said lazily: “I’m thinking about something, Old Lin.”

Lin Yangchun: “Thinking about what?”

Shi Shu: “Why is it that after understanding the deeper layers of how things work, one can’t be happy anymore? Can’t enjoy the superficial joy of victory anymore.”

Lin Yangchun: “Because some things are inherently sacrificed with offerings and tears.”

Shi Shu’s heart paused, speechless. That cold dagger was still pressing against his leg. Somehow, Shi Shu always felt a bit uncomfortable, wanting to convince himself but lacking a bit of meaning.

Suddenly, Shi Shu didn’t know what summons or inspiration he received, and shuddered violently!

He called out the system panel he hadn’t looked at for a long time and checked [Number of Survivors] — [16 people].

The Yinzhou war was about to end, the dust settling.

However, this sudden attack by Bei Min caused a large number of casualties among the people and soldiers. According to rough statistics, the death toll of soldiers in Taiyin Prefecture reached 200,000, and the number of civilians suffering from the disaster was in the millions! To prevent the war from spreading to the whole country, the soldiers had to actively fill this “meat grinder” of Yinzhou, building a fortress with flesh and blood. And the people were either slaughtered by the Min army or died of hunger and illness on the way to flee their homes—among them were many transmigrators who died due to the force majeure of war.

Shi Shu looked through the names, ages, and personal information of the deceased, and also noticed that after the victory in Yinzhou, Xie Wuchi’s merit value increased again.

Shi Shu clicked on [Merit Value] — the hegemony radiation value of the transmigrator over the current world.

—Conversely, Shi Shu’s value was very few, relying on blood politics to possess power as Xie Wuchi’s younger brother.

Shi Shu was absent-minded until Lin Yangchun’s voice sounded in his ear: “The fire is out. What are you thinking about! There’s a big pile of people over there.”

“…Got it.”

Shi Shu hid the system and added firewood. Not far away, bodies were carried over one by one on stretchers. Because Xie Wuchi’s healthy and complete army entered the city, the stranded bodies were transported out of the city gate one after another, and many wounded and sick were sent over.

People with broken hands and feet, heads wrapped in gauze, smiled when pushed over, unable to help holding the hands of the Xie army helping them: “Thank you, thank you brothers!”

“Is Yinzhou going to win?”

“We finally persevered!”

The wounded were numerous, uncountable, lying everywhere on the ground.

Filled with painful and twisted wails, the vicinity of the medicine shed was full of sighs, occasionally hearing screams of unbearable pain.

The sounds of “Ah! Ah!” pain were endless, making hearers sad and seers tearful. Countless people had broken hands and feet. In the hot weather, it was filled with a stench.

The medicine shed was a mess. Shi Shu worked overtime to boil medicine to alleviate such pain. He was sweating profusely from exhaustion. Before long, someone suddenly transported tung oil, fuel, tinder, dry wood, and other materials. Lin Yangchun’s eyes lit up instantly: “God, finally here!”

The comer said: “Lord Xie sent fuel materials!”

“Go! Where are those bodies piled up? Can burn them all with a fire!”

“How long have they been left? Probably rotten long ago?”

Lin Yangchun was so excited he didn’t know what to say: “Rotten long ago. If you didn’t transport them, the corpse water would flow underground and pollute the river. Go, go!”

Shi Shu stood up and followed along. Walking through a long forest slope and loess land, they reached the natural grand canyon where bodies were thrown.

There were too many bodies in the city. Fearing that the closed space in the city would cause a plague in the hot weather, and unable to finish digging pits, they threw them into the valley. Now this mountain was full of bodies.

Soldiers carrying fire starters and other things stood on the mountain, winding along. Shi Shu couldn’t open his eyes in the bloody wind. Before getting close, he heard bursts of “Hoo hoo—ah ah ah—” screaming and crying ghost sounds, as if tearing the void.

“This… this is, what is this noise?”

A group of people’s legs trembled, their minds trembling.

Black whirlwinds rose in the canyon. At first glance, they were ghosts; looking closely, they were mosquitoes and insects. Shi Shu walked to the front, glancing at the tragic state in the valley: “Wind, wind blowing through the canyon, so there is sound.”

“Like, people crying.”

“Really scary. Worthy of being a mass grave. Let’s work quickly.”

A group of people poured down flammable items like tung oil and dry wood, saying while pouring: “Brothers, go slowly… Brothers have suffered. The superiors will take care of your families for you, and military pay will also be sent home…”

“Yinzhou besieged for three months, a tragedy! They say people should leave a whole corpse when they die, but now the disease is serious, and you can’t even keep a whole corpse… Brothers were just following orders… Those who wanted your lives and burned your bodies are those Min dog bastards. If you have grievances and hatred, go find them!”

“No offense, no offense… Brothers go slowly!”

The scenery was desolate. Shi Shu stood aside, looking down into the valley, seeing endless swarms of black flies, crows and beasts circling above, pecking at rotten flesh. White bones exposed in the wild, no rooster crowing for a thousand miles. This was the result of the Yinzhou campaign, endless corpses in the ditch.

The soldiers from Yinzhou City couldn’t help wiping their tears: “Brothers, go in peace!”

“They say fallen leaves return to their roots. Isn’t there another saying? Green hills everywhere bury loyal bones.”

“Although we don’t know your names, someone will remember you!”

Reflecting the mountain of corpses in his pupils, Shi Shu saw a raging fire rise instantly. Tongues of fire licked quickly, swallowing all blackness. “Crackling” explosive sounds mixed with “sizzling” noises were heard in the air.

The firelight flickered, like a hell on earth.

—The siege of Yinzhou lasting two or three months, the hundreds of thousands who died, now ended under this fire.

Ended. Mass graves, corpse pits in the canyon, hundreds of thousands of casualties, people displaced, some starving to eat human flesh, while some grain and fodder were burned to ashes. This was the outcome of Yinzhou.

Shi Shu felt like he had a nightmare. On the return journey, amidst bursts of smoke, soldiers were still discussing: “In this battle, Bei Min’s vitality is greatly damaged, and grain and fodder are exhausted. They will probably rest for a year or half before starting war again.”

“Just rest for a year or half, and come again?”

“Yeah, maybe even shorter, attacking immediately. After all, the Min army has several princes, like King Moyu, King Zhouchi, King Wushan, each with their own forces.”

“Damn it, when will it stop?”

“Stop? Either beat one side to death, or both sides can’t fight anymore, then it stops. Still early!”

“Want to go home…”

Enlisting at fifteen, returning at eighty.

Shi Shu walked in the forest, looking back again. The heat wave from the fire behind him hit. No, war is definitely not something that can be started or stopped at will.

The Battle of Yinzhou was just a beginning.

Carriages and horses stopped outside the medicine shed. The groom jumped down from the cart: “Second Young Master, returning to the city.”

“Go.” Shi Shu got on the cart, returning all the way into Lanxian City. It was still broad daylight.

When Shi Shu entered the door, the visiting guests had just finished being transported. Jia Wu’s coffin set off on the road. The courtyard was peaceful. Just as Shi Shu was looking around, footsteps sounded behind him.

“Xie Wuchi?”

Xie Wuchi came from behind the moon gate in loungewear, his tied bun meticulous, his face calm and unruffled, with thoughtfulness between his brows. Seeing him, he said: “Back? Just in time, about to eat.”

Shi Shu walked inside absent-mindedly: “Eat what?”

“Yuan He saved your life after all. It’s inappropriate to interrogate his daughter as a prisoner. Let’s eat together, chat, and understand the situation.”

Shi Shu raised his eyebrows and said “oh”: “Alright.”

Xie Wuchi: “What, in a bad mood?”

“Nothing.” Shi Shu strode into the door.

In the spacious and bright room, there were many dishes and wine on the table. Chicken, duck, fish, and meat were everywhere. Shi Shu pulled out a chair and sat down. Xiaoshu was on the opposite chair. With a click beside him, another chair was dragged out, and Xie Wuchi sat down next to Shi Shu.

Xie Wuchi had changed out of his official robe from the government office. His conversation obviously had the flavor of a private banquet, and the atmosphere was more relaxed. But he didn’t speak as soon as he sat down. Xiaoshu glanced at him, feeling uncomfortable all over, her face pale.

Fairly speaking, Xie Wuchi had a cold face and often had an emotion of looking at people like looking at dogs. He indeed had a sense of distance and was intimidating.

Shi Shu absent-mindedly picked the seeds out of the tomato and asked: “Xiaoshu, you came from the Min area. How far did you walk that night?”

Xiaoshu: “Detoured from the mountains. It was a bit far, and there were wolves. Very scary.”

Shi Shu said lazily: “A long time ago, you were afraid of even dogs. Now walking in the middle of the night, you’re not afraid of wolves in the mountains anymore.” Busy all afternoon, he shoveled food into his mouth on an empty stomach, catching up along the way: “Back then, your father killed someone. Where did you flee with him?”

Xiaoshu was also hungry. Seeing the table full of dishes were all Jing style, she sighed with emotion: “At that time, I fled north with my father, avoiding pursuing officials along the way. We crossed the border from Taiyin Prefecture to the Min area. After passing, my father told them the reason, then went further north, returning to the tribal prefecture of the legendary Beilainu homeland.”

Shi Shu paused his chopsticks: “Tribal prefecture?”

Xie Wuchi’s super memory dictionary returned to place, saying evenly: “Among the mountains, north of the northern border. Among the many prefectures of Bei Min, the tribal prefecture is the birthplace of the earliest noble bloodline of Bei Min. Beilainu were the first branch of noble children to be abducted, having to return to their homeland.”

Xiaoshu nodded in acknowledgment: “We returned home, but the bloodline was too distant from the local big families to recognize each other. My parents cleared a dwelling at the foot of the mountain, farming and plowing, living that kind of life.”

“Parents?” Shi Shu said, “You said father and uncle this afternoon.”

Xiaoshu blushed, feeling awkward: “Only after leaving Beilainu Street did I know my parents were indeed incorrect. Afraid of being known, they changed to addressing each other as brothers long ago. Since then, I also called my mother uncle in front of people.”

Shi Shu coughed, put a piece of bitter melon in his mouth, regretting bringing this up: “…Actually, it’s nothing.”

Shi Shu really thought this meal was just chatting, asking a few casual questions to greet her: “Eat, eat!”

However, Xie Wuchi beside him didn’t move his chopsticks much. Lowering his eyes to look at her in the chair, his brows dyed with shadows, his gaze precise like an inspection. After a moment, he said: “And then? Your parents farmed, how did they pledge loyalty to the Min King and come to the front line to fight?”

Seeing him press, Xiaoshu put down her chopsticks and said honestly: “Bei Min always thought about moving south. They heard about my father and recruited him into the palace as a martial arts instructor. Catching up with the uprising, they took my parents along to defect to the Bei Min officers and soldiers.”

The answer was very clear and detailed. Shi Shu had no questions. Instead, Xie Wuchi lowered his eyes and suddenly asked: “Who is your husband?”

“…” Shi Shu looked up.

The atmosphere changed slightly. Xiaoshu blushed and fidgeted, finding it difficult to speak. After a moment, she said: “It’s King Zhouchi’s ninth son, Zu Lian.”

Clatter! The pigeon leg Shi Shu was holding fell into the bowl, looking astonished. Actually the son of the Bei Min royal family? Then Xiaoshu’s purpose for coming began to be doubtful… Xie Wuchi raised his eyebrows, sitting motionless as a mountain. After a moment, he said evenly: “Oh? Then we should address you as Little Princess Consort.”

Xiaoshu’s face was flushed red, tears falling in anxiety: “I… I actually didn’t want to marry him… I…”

“You…” Xie Wuchi said, “In Bei Min, only female relatives of nobles are allowed to accompany the army to war and have their own golden tents. You didn’t come with your parents, but with your husband. You were adopted by your parents, essentially perhaps of Jing bloodline, yet you come with foreign enemies to invade your own homeland?”

Xiaoshu’s tears welled up, saying anxiously: “I… I didn’t want to, but… I, I came to see Great Jing…”

“Can’t let go? If Great Jing loses, your great revenge is avenged. If Great Jing wins, you breathe a sigh of relief again.”

Xiaoshu fell silent, her expression very complicated, seeming to know too much but unable to say more. After a moment, she cast a look for help to Shi Shu.

Shi Shu didn’t know what to say either, his mood complicated: “Can’t blame you either. They were too inhumane to Beilainu back then.”

Xie Wuchi stared at her unblinkingly, returning to business: “Your father specially asked you to come and tip us off. Are they like you, unable to forget Great Jing?”

Xiaoshu said: “My mother asked me to come.”

“Yuan Guan.”

Xie Wuchi recited this name. A meal was abruptly turned into an interrogation, although the intention was interrogation from the start. He repeated it once and asked again: “Throwing corpses into Yinzhou City, was that also his idea?”

Xiaoshu didn’t speak.

Xie Wuchi said again: “Is Yuan Guan also like you, unable to forget Great Jing but also hating Great Jing? He has a Jing face, learned Chinese characters, and has extremely high literary attainments. It’s a pity that limited by his slave status, he couldn’t participate in the imperial examinations, so he had to write storybooks and erotic lyrics for a living, wasting time and burying his literary talent.”

Xiaoshu held it in for a long time before saying: “He doesn’t hate the people of Great Jing, only the government of Great Jing! My mother said—” The topic suddenly became extremely sharp, and Xiaoshu also gained confidence, “He knows your ambitions. He can help you!”

Shi Shu felt as if struck by lightning, his back a bit cold. Xie Wuchi adjusted his sitting posture in the chair, as if nothing happened. After a moment, he asked calmly: “What can he help me with?”

Xiaoshu popped out words one by one: “You have ambition. He can help you unite Bei Min, instead of fighting like this—”

Xie Wuchi sneered: “Quite a big tone.”

His sentence blocked Yuan Xiaoshu’s subsequent words. She was a bit stunned, not knowing where she was wrong. But after looking at him in disbelief for a moment, she really couldn’t hold back, flushing red and pouring out all the words her father taught her: “You, you came to Yinzhou, didn’t you just want to fight for military merit? Otherwise, h-how could you sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, watching hundreds of thousands of soldiers die in the city before taking action? You are also a person with wolfish ambition, preserving strength to defeat the Min army. Beating the enemy to death eliminates external threats; beating yourself to death eliminates internal chaos…”

Shi Shu suddenly felt very awkward. Although he had long known Xie Wuchi’s nature and his logic of doing things, hearing this sentence, he still didn’t know what to say.

Shi Shu was a bit distracted. When he came back to his senses, the position of that short knife between his legs was too strange, always poking him uncomfortably.

Xie Wuchi said coldly: “Advancing troops rashly without investigating the grain and fodder is useless except for increasing casualties.”

“But—!”

Xie Wuchi didn’t want to continue this topic, his eyes cold: “Miss Xiaoshu keeps pursuing this topic. I don’t guarantee you can go back intact.”

“You—” Xiaoshu paused, turning to look at Shi Shu.

Shi Shu: “Why look at me? Look at him.”

He’s the one who calls the shots at home.

Xiaoshu’s whole face turned red. It took a long time before she sat back down, saying in a panic: “Anyway, my mother has a plan to help you destroy Bei Min, only he has a condition—”

It could be seen that Xiaoshu had revealed all her cards, but Xie Wuchi was unmoved. Before she finished speaking, he interrupted her: “Hm? Did I agree to make a deal with you?”

Xiaoshu’s face turned pale, stuck in place again. Shi Shu looked at her, then at Xie Wuchi.

Xie Wuchi stood up: “Stomach discomfort. Inconvenient to keep you company. Goodbye.”

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