Chapter 325: Lian Po’s Old Age

Chapter 325: Is the Old General Still Up to the Fight?

Old Master Xie only wanted to protect more of Daqian's people.

After many years, Old Master Xie organized the exiled criminals of Zhenzhiguan and once again raised his blade.

Is the old general still up to the fight? [1]

The answer was beyond doubt.

With a single commanding gesture, Old Master Xie executed a few as an example, intimidating the bandits posing as soldiers of Zhenzhiguan and deterring them from further looting and rape during the chaos.

These highway bandits were born cowards, preying only on the weak.

The able-bodied men of Zhenzhiguan, determined to protect the women, children, and elderly sent into the mountains, steeled themselves and clashed with the invading Northern Hu army using hoes and kitchen knives.

Everyone knew this was a suicide mission.

They could not win.

They could not flee.

Nor could they retreat.

To retreat would mean the women and children would be taken as slaves to Northern Hu.

In Northern Hu territory, the people of Daqian had less dignity than animals—worse even than cattle or horses.

They could be killed, tortured, or burned alive on a whim.

All they could do was buy time, hoping Shengyan Pass would receive their plea for aid and send reinforcements.

The arrival of Shengyan Pass’s army was the last hope that kept these people fighting fearlessly.

Facing death, there was no room for scheming.

One man’s sacrifice might save his family—the women, children, and elderly.

"General Xie!" Gao Fuyan called out from afar. "Why make a pointless sacrifice?"

"The Left Wise King has promised me—if the people of Zhenzhiguan lay down their arms and surrender, there will be no massacre, no looting, and all punishments will be pardoned."

"When Northern Hu’s cavalry breaks through Daqian’s passes one by one and marches upon the capital, the entire land will bow to Northern Hu."

"Northern Hu and Daqian will be given equal standing."

Gao Fuyan, a commoner by birth, rose to become the Vice Minister of War through wit and talent—proof of his cunning and capability.

The Ministry of War held far too much intel Northern Hu craved.

Even without the defense maps of Zhenzhiguan as a bargaining chip, Northern Hu would have welcomed Gao Fuyan’s defection with open arms.

His words, carried by the night wind, seeped into the ears of Zhenzhiguan’s people, quietly undermining their shaky determination.

No massacre, no looting, all punishments pardoned.

To the common folk, this was a matter of life and death.

Clad in ill-fitting armor, Old Master Xie raised his blade before him, his voice aged yet resolute: "Spare us your venomous lies."

"Gao Fuyan, we once served in the same court as colleagues, and you were the closest of confidants to my son."

"Have you forgotten the ideals and dreams we shared all these years?"

Old Master Xie knew how hollow these words rang at such a time.

He understood even more clearly that Gao Fuyan had never once abandoned his ideals of serving the nation and its people.

But hatred had smothered those ideals.

No—more precisely, Gao Fuyan believed those ideals were already dead.

In this era where the emperor rewards and punishes unjustly, ruling with blind folly and cruelty, there could be no peace, no prosperity, no safety for the people.

Gao Fuyan was both venting his hatred and tilling the soil for new ideals to take root.

"Gao Fuyan, do not deceive the people of Zhenzhiguan with your hollow promises."

"Our swords point to Shangjing," Gao Fuyan declared. "No slaughter, no plunder."

"And if they never do?"

"The people who surrender will only become corpses beneath the hooves of the Northern Hu cavalry."

"General Xie," Gao Fuyan boomed from his warhorse, "what ideals? What brotherhood?"

"General Xie, the Emperor of Daqian wrote off Zhenzhiguan long ago."

"The garrison of Shengyan Pass has repeatedly shut their gates to Zhenzhiguan’s pleas for aid."

"Why drag these helpless folk to slaughter?"

"Even if the signal fires burn to ash, no reinforcements will come."

If reinforcements had ever been possible, his own blood brother would not have been ground into the dirt beneath horses’ hooves.

"Even if someone personally delivered the plea for help, it would fall on deaf ears."

"General Xie, Daqian isn't your father's Daqian anymore."

"And the Northern Frontier Army is no longer the Northern Frontier Army of the past."

"You—a man of your honor—branded a traitor, your whole line butchered, your family destroyed."

"Such a Daqian, such an emperor—who exactly are you dying for?"

Old Master Xie’s face hardened like iron.

Indeed, Xiao Yao was not worth his loyalty.

But Daqian still had countless innocents.

"General Xie, surrender," Gao Fuyan needled.

Beside him, the Left Wise King sneered in irritation. "Gao Fuyan, just shoot him dead. Why bother with all this trouble?"

"Are all you Daqian men soft as women?"

The blood feud between the Xie family and the Northern Hu stained generation after generation, stretching back a hundred years.

The Left Wise King's father fell to Xie family arrows.

Gao Fuyan paused, gripping the reins, and looked up at the Left Wise King. "My king, let me explain."

"There is an old saying in Daqian: 'A centipede dies but never falls.'"

"A starved camel still towers over a horse."

"The Xie family may be finished, and the Xie army has changed leadership, but Old Master Xie's prestige within the Northern Frontier Army cannot be underestimated."

"Shooting Old Master Xie might feel good in the moment, but if we can persuade him to surrender, and after taking Zhenzhiguan, have him lead the surrender at Shengyan Pass—then the Northern Frontier Army will surely erupt in mutiny, their spirit broken. The Northern Hu army can then seize Shengyan Pass with minimal sacrifice and march straight through."

"What say you?"

"Of course, if Your Highness insists on shooting Old Master Xie, I won't push it."

At this point, the Left Wise King was left speechless.

If he stubbornly clung to his own opinion, his commanders might take him for a hotheaded fool.

"Have it your way then."

"But do not delay too long. Shengyan Pass won't send reinforcements, or this night raid—"

"They won't come," Gao Fuyan declared firmly.

"General Xie." Gao Fuyan spoke once more.

Old Master Xie growled, "Since you still call me General Xie, you should know that Xie men die before they kneel."

With these words, Old Master Xie swung his saber and charged toward the approaching Northern Hu troops.

Gao Fuyan's expression darkened, a trace of reluctance flashing in his eyes.

The heavens are blind.

The Xies, condemned as turncoats, still resisted unyieldingly under the Northern Hu's iron hooves, protecting innocent civilians.

The heavens are truly blind!

The Left Wise King grinned, "That old man is seeking death."

"Steel doesn't pick its targets. If he dies in the chaos of battle, can't blame me."

As he spoke, the Left Wise King drew his bow.

Gao Fuyan pressed down on the bowstring. "Hold your shot."

"Wait for what?"

The king's face twisted in confusion and anger.

A turncoat advisor, testing his patience at every turn.

Had he given Gao too much leash?

Gao himself looked uncertain.

What are we waiting for?

He didn’t know what they were waiting for either.

Were they waiting to see if Daqian still had a shot at peace and stability?

Gao Fuyan steadied his emotions and said calmly, "Daqian has an old saying."

"Spit it out," the Left Wise King snapped, glaring at Gao Fuyan.

All this 'old saying in Daqian' talk—wasn’t it just a sneaky dig at the Northern Hu’s barbarism?

Gao Fuyan withdrew his hand. "An army in mourning will triumph; a righteous cause steels its soldiers."

"The Xie family of Duke Xinguo’s house now has only Empress Dowager Xie, secluded in the Changning Palace, and Old Master Xie, exiled to Zhenzhi Pass."

"I really am the Xie from the Xie family’s army."