Chapter 177 “I Came for Revenge!”

Chapter 177: "I've Come for Revenge!"

As the Xiongnu army arrived, the Emperor of Liang hastily ordered the city gates barred. At that moment, swarms of civilians still crowded toward the gates like a flood bursting through a dam—utterly unstoppable.

The city guards mercilessly cut down a large number of people, forcing the crowd to retreat before they finally succeeded in sealing the gates.

In less than two days, the Xiongnu army had surrounded Chang'an.

By then, most of the aristocratic clans in Chang'an had fled, leaving only a handful of loyal officials, 200,000 civilians, and thirty thousand palace guards, including the Yulin and Jinwu Guards.

Originally, Chang'an had sixty thousand defenders. Apart from the emperor’s direct forces, the Wang and Gao families held half of the military authority. Their earlier confidence in challenging Liang’s emperor had stemmed from this advantage.

When they fled south, they took these troops with them.

The Emperor of Liang had long issued distress edicts to all regions, ordering the recruitment of troops from other provinces to rescue the capital, promising high ranks and riches to those who contributed to saving the nation. Unfortunately, no relief force had broken through to resist the Xiongnu.

Now, with only thirty thousand defenders left, how long would Chang'an last against the Xiongnu onslaught?

Outside the city, the Xiongnu army stretched endlessly, a vast, endless tide of warriors. Wudati Hou rode forward from their ranks, lifting his head to gaze at the towering, sturdy walls before him. His amber-green eyes gleamed with boundless ambition.

This was the capital of Liang State—its walls were indeed formidable. But no matter how high or strong, even the mightiest walls could be toppled. And he was certain that he was the one who would bring them down.

If not for the Liangzhou Army, he would have razed this city underfoot two years ago.

"Charge! Raze Chang'an!"

"Once the city falls, the women, gold, grain, and slaves inside—loot to your heart’s content!" Wudati Hou roared.

Having plundered their way here, the Xiongnu had fully tasted the spoils of conquest. Every soldier was like a wolf or tiger, their faces alight with battle frenzy.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Tens of thousands of Xiongnu cavalry gathered, their killing intent so thick it felt like a physical force pressing against the city walls. The Liang soldiers on the battlements trembled as they drew their bows, their morale broken before the first arrow flew.

In the first wave of the siege, though the Liang troops lacked the ferocity of the Xiongnu cavalry, they held the advantage of defense. Having stockpiled supplies for months—boulders, arrow storms, and scalding oil—they inflicted heavy losses on the Xiongnu.

But Wudati Hou was undeterred. By now, he had studied the Liang army’s defensive tactics and adapted strategies accordingly. He had even captured Han engineers to build siege engines for him.

A besieged city would eventually exhaust its supplies, but his Xiongnu forces would replenish endlessly.

After a day and night of relentless assault, the Xiongnu temporarily halted their attack. Just then, scouts reported that many Han civilians were fleeing eastward.

Wudati Hou sneered. These Han cowards didn’t deserve this fertile land. Only the strong had the right to claim everything.

When he learned that the fleeing groups included Liang State’s nobles, laden with treasure and supplies, he couldn’t let such rich pickings slip away. Immediately, he dispatched twenty thousand cavalry to pursue them.

——

After leaving the city, the Huan family followed behind the Wang and Xie clans.

That night, the chaotic flight had been packed with refugees and looters alike. But with the Wang and Gao families leading thirty thousand troops, the journey remained relatively safe. The Huan family stayed close together, and with Eleventh Brother and his armed guards, no one messed with them.

Some carried heavy loads, others light; some were strong, others weak; some had carts and horses, while others shouldered their belongings on foot... Within a day or two, the differences in travel speed became stark.

The aristocratic clans had carriages and horses, so in theory, they should have been the fastest. But reality proved otherwise.

Great families had many members and hoards of valuables. How could they survive in the south without bringing anything? Many households overloaded every cart, with servants carrying baskets and poles. Jiang Yuer even saw someone hauling even a chamber pot.

The heavier the carts, the slower the journey became.

When they left, they heard that the Huns were marching toward Chang'an. Who knew how long Chang'an could hold out, or whether the Huns would split their forces to pursue them upon hearing the news?

Jiang Yuer was deeply worried. Fortunately, Old Master Huan was far-sighted and quickly arranged for someone to negotiate, asking the slower groups ahead to let them pass.

The Huan family joined the lead group.

Half a month later, the group arrived in Luoyang.

After days of continuous travel, they could finally get some rest in Luoyang. A single night’s stay was way too short, and with the bitter cold, some couldn’t endure the exhaustion and wanted to stay another day.

After discussing the matter, Old Master Huan returned and told the Huan family, "We rest only one night. Tomorrow, we continue as usual."

Though everyone was dead tired, no one complained. They all knew that running for their lives was the most urgent priority.

With so many people pouring into Luoyang at once, the group was packed in tight. Jiang Yuer offered to share her quarters with Lu Yun.

This wasn’t the first time they had done so.

Since Lu Yun joined the Huan family’s group, Jiang Yuer had kept an eye out for her. In terms of temperament alone, Lu Yun was tougher, but Jiang Yuer’s status within the Huan family gave her more sway.

At first, Lu Yun didn’t want to be a bother, but unable to resist Jiang Yuer’s insistence, she eventually agreed.

By then, night had fallen completely, and a bitter wind whistled outside. The small room was lit only by a faint oil lamp as Nv Xia prepared the bed. Jiang Yuer lay down first and waved Lu Yun over.

"Miss Lu, get some sleep. We have to keep moving tomorrow."

Lu Yun walked to the bedside but didn’t lie down immediately. After hesitating for a moment, she finally voiced the question that had lingered in her heart for days. "Why are you so kind to me, Princess?"

Jiang Yuer blinked in surprise. She sat up, hugging the blanket, and looked at Lu Yun carefully before replying, "Miss Lu, you know my marriage to Huan Qi is just for show, right?"

Lu Yun nodded.

"He and I were never truly husband and wife. I’ve lived a few peaceful years under his protection. Since you’re the one he truly loves, looking after you when I can is my way of repaying him."

"Have you never thought of becoming his real wife?" Lu Yun lowered her head, feeling a little guilty for asking, but she truly wanted to know.

Jiang Yuer shook her head. "I’ve always remembered our initial agreement. I’ll keep my promise. Besides, I don’t love him. When I get there, we’ll divorce."

"And what will you do after the divorce?"

"I haven’t thought that far yet. Maybe I’ll know what to do when I get there."

Lu Yun thought to herself that in such chaotic times, staying with Huan Jun and remaining in the Huan family would be the safest option for Jiang Yuer.

"Alright, alright, don’t worry about me. It’s late—get some sleep, or we won’t be able to get up tomorrow," Jiang Yuer urged.

Lu Yun finally pulled back the blanket and lay down.

The next day, at winter's first light, the Huan family swiftly left Luoyang and turned south.

Meanwhile, in the small courtyard where the Luo family was staying, Jiang Yinzhu was arguing with Luo Tong.

"Why aren’t we continuing? The Huns have already reached Chang'an. Who knows when they’ll catch up to us?"

"How many times must I say it? Mother is deathly ill—she can't handle traveling!" Luo Tong’s expression was just as dark. He sneered, "Besides, why are the Huns even able to invade Liang State? Isn’t that thanks to your so-called great emperor on his throne?"

Jiang Yinzhu was speechless for a moment, furious at his mockery. "Fine! Play the devoted son if you want. I’ll go on my own, then!"

Luo Tong grabbed her arm. "You’re not leaving either. What kind of daughter-in-law abandons her sick mother-in-law to save herself? Think of the scandal!"

"Even if it tarnishes anything, it'll only be my reputation. What's it to you?"

Hmph—reputation. She’d stopped caring about that long ago.

Luo Tong’s face turned livid, still refusing to let her leave first. "Just one more day. The rest of our party’s intact—it’s not so dire."

Jiang Yinzhu dug in her heels, and Luo Tong, now equally furious, barked orders to his men: no one was to leave.

Since the incident with Noble Consort Zhao, the couple’s rift had only widened. In the past, Luo Tong had tolerated her because she was a princess, but now, with half of Liang State fallen, the Emperor of Liang fighting for his own survival, and the Zhao clan wiped out, Jiang Yinzhu was nothing more than a princess in name only—in reality, beneath even a common gentlewoman. Why should he indulge her now?

Jiang Yinzhu was no match for Luo Tong’s blockade. Though she fumed, she had only a few palace maids and eunuchs who had accompanied her at her wedding, powerless against his obstruction.

After the others left the city, the gates closed once more. On edge through the long wait, they were fortunate not to see the Huns yet. But as dawn approached, the ground beneath them seemed to tremble.

An earthquake?

No, it wasn’t.

"The Huns are here!" someone shrieked in terror.

"The Huns?"

"Run! Run now!"

Those who reacted first abandoned everything, fleeing desperately toward the eastern gate.

Yet as many escaped, Hun riders were already at their backs. Unarmed, the people were cut down like wheat under the Huns' blades.

No one had expected the Huns to arrive so swiftly, catching them completely unprepared.

The city gates were blocked by Hun cavalrymen. Instead of immediately slaughtering the fleeing civilians, they allowed some to run, only to chase them down and impale them through the heart when they thought they had escaped, reveling as disbelief froze on their faces.

Moreover, they herded the people like sheep, then charged their horses into the crowd, trampling them to death, reveling as survivors scattered like startled quail.

These brutal Huns no longer saw people as human—to them, lives were merely macabre toys.

Seeing escape was impossible, the city quickly shut its gates.

Apart from the Luo family, other noble houses had also failed to leave in time, now filled with regret. Had they known, they would have marched till they dropped dead on the road.

"No point debating now. We must discuss how to defend Luoyang."

"How? There are barely a scant five thousand troops left in the city."

"Five thousand or not, we must hold. Are we just going to sit here and wait for death?"

...

When Jiang Yinzhu heard that the Huns had surrounded Luoyang, she felt a strange detachment. Perhaps her life would end within these city walls.

In the days that followed, Luoyang's defenders and civilians tried every desperate measure to hold the city. After over ten days, supplies ran out, most defenders lay dead, and the walls were breached in multiple places—the Huns could pour through the breaches at any moment.

The city was lost!

Just as despair took hold, the Hun general Hu Tuxie, having caught wind of a Liang State princess within the city, halted the assault and sent a message.

"Your resistance has enraged the general. He declares the city must burn to appease his wrath. But he has heard there is a Liang State princess here. Hand her over, open the gates, and surrender—then he will spare your lives."

The guards on the walls looked at each other in dread and hurried to report to the officials in charge.

In the governor's mansion, everyone finally remembered there was still the Fifth Princess.

In Luoyang now, apart from the original governor Liu Luan, real authority rested with the aristocratic clans like the He and Zheng families. The Luo family didn’t even rank, usually not even qualified to step into this council hall. Luo Tong, summoned today, felt uneasy until he heard the Huns' demands and went quiet.

He knew if these people intended to refuse, they wouldn’t have called him here. By informing him now, weren’t they hoping he would be the one to say it?

Offering his own wife to the enemy to save themselves—such an act would be enough to brand someone forever.

But he was too desperate to live.

These days, he had witnessed the Huns’ cruelty firsthand and feared suffering the same fate.

“There are tens of thousands of civilians in Luoyang. If their lives can truly be spared, surely the princess would be willing to give herself for the greater good,” he said.

He dared not reveal his own cowardice, so he dressed it up as noble sacrifice.

The others nodded upon hearing this. “Yes, there are so many people in the city.”

Thus, the matter was settled without another word. However, they still had Jiang Yinzhu brought in and repeated the words to her, phrasing it with great delicacy.

They spoke of righteousness, yet what they were doing was nothing but pawning off a woman to save their necks.

“We dare not force the princess. Whether to go or not is entirely her decision.”

Fine words indeed—as if the choice were truly hers. But Jiang Yinzhu knew if she refused, they had plenty of ways to make her "volunteer."

At last, she lifted her chin high and carefully scanned everyone present. Whenever her gaze met theirs, they shrank back slightly, unable to hold her stare.

Finally, her eyes settled on Luo Tong.

He never raised his eyes.

The others were despicable, but none as vile as Luo Tong.

“I’ll go,” she said.

“The princess is truly righteous.”

Jiang Yinzhu sneered and then requested to prepare herself.

With the city locked down like a cage, no one feared she would escape, so they agreed.

Jiang Yinzhu returned to the small courtyard where she had been staying these days. As she stepped inside, Luo Tong followed.

At this moment, his heart was in turmoil.

Though they had come to loathe the sight of each other, Jiang Yinzhu was still his wife. Handing her over to the Huns like livestock filled him with reluctance, guilt, and burning shame.

Jiang Yinzhu stopped, turned, and faced Luo Tong.

“I don’t blame you. I know you are powerless among them,” she said.

"Really?" Luo Tong lifted his eyes, his face lighting up with hope.

"Mm." Jiang Yinzhu closed the distance between them. "But since we were once husband and wife, certain accounts must be settled."

"What do you—"

Before the words left his mouth, white-hot pain exploded in his chest.

He lowered his head and saw a dagger embedded in his chest—the hand gripping it belonged to none other than Jiang Yinzhu.

"You..." He gasped in disbelief. "You... killed me..."

Jiang Yinzhu's eyes were icy. "You had this coming!"

"If not for you, I wouldn’t have ended up like this."

She and Luo Tong had long since lost any affection—no, perhaps there never was any from the very beginning.

She yanked the dagger out with force, and searing blood splattered all over her, blood beading on her brows and lashes.

This was the first person she had ever killed with her own hands—her husband—yet she felt no fear in her heart.

Luo Tong finally collapsed, his body knocking over nearby tables and chairs in a clattering mess. His attendants rushed in to check, only to find him lying in a pool of blood while his wife still clutched the dagger.

The princess had killed her own husband with her own hands.

The servants hurried to report the incident, and Liu Luan came to investigate in person.

Jiang Yinzhu stood calmly beside Luo Tong’s corpse. "Get me fresh clothes," she said.

A wife was bound to obey her husband—even for a princess, killing her own consort would have been an outrageous scandal under normal circumstances, maybe even sparking impeachment. But now, no one would stand up for Luo Tong.

It seemed that when life and death were at stake, so-called propriety no longer mattered.

Luo Tong was dead—good riddance. Jiang Yinzhu was clearly far more important than him.

Liu Luan had already sent envoys to negotiate with Hu Tuxie, asking him to wait half a day before they would deliver the princess.

Jiang Yinzhu allowed the palace maids to wash the blood off her and change her into fresh robes before stepping into the carriage that would take her out of the city.

"You don’t need to follow. Stay in the city," she told the maidservants.

"Princess..." The maids burst into tears.

Without hesitation, Jiang Yinzhu turned and stepped into the carriage.

She had grown up in the palace, spoiled and draped in finery. Back then, just the rumor of Tuo Baxiao coming for a political marriage had nearly scared her out of her wits. Facing the even more brutal Xiongnu, how could she not be afraid?

She was terrified—scared out of her wits.

She was a princess who had never known hardship. Even in her unhappy years, her life had been incomparably better than that of common folk. It wasn’t until the escape journey that she truly witnessed the suffering of the lower classes.

Along the way, people constantly succumbed to illness, starvation, or freezing—their corpses littered the roads, left unburied, ignored by all. Some even kicked the bodies aside for blocking their path. A dozen refugees fought over a single moldy black cake until they bled. A mother clutching her baby stuffed her shriveled nipple into the child’s mouth, but no milk came out—the baby kept screaming as she tried to soothe it, before someone yanked the baby away...

Compared to the hell described in Buddhist scriptures, where was the human world, and where was hell?

Luoyang wouldn’t hold out. Once the city fell, she’d be dead too.

Luo Tong had been right about one thing—the mess the Liang State was in was indeed her father’s fault as emperor.

If the Xiongnu were telling the truth—that they would spare the city’s people if she surrendered willingly—then she’d do it.

She had lived as a princess for so many years without lifting a finger for her country. Now, this was the only thing she could do.

The carriage reached the city gates. The people, stirred by the princess’s sacrifice to save them, followed her all the way before dropping to their knees along the street leading to the exit.

"Farewell, Princess!" a thousand voices cried in unison.

Jiang Yinzhu turned her head to look back, and a tear fell.

The city gates were already crumbling. When they opened, Jiang Yinzhu got down from the carriage and immediately saw the Xiongnu cavalry before her.

Her heart trembled uncontrollably, but she fought to suppress her fear, moving step by step toward the Xiongnu.

"I am the Fifth Princess of Liang State, here to surrender on behalf of Luoyang. I hope the general will keep his word and spare the city's people."

She spoke in Han language, which Hu Tuxie couldn’t understand. A man behind him stepped forward and translated into the Xiongnu language. After listening, Hu Tuxie waved his hand, and the Xiongnu soldiers dragged forward a Han man.

"Is she truly the daughter of the Emperor of Liang?"

The man scrutinized her carefully. "Yes, she is the princess."

Only then was Hu Tuxie satisfied. He studied Jiang Yinzhu closely—her soft, delicate skin unlike the common folk. Meat like hers would taste much better when boiled.

Jiang Yinzhu felt his gaze, a chill running up from the soles of her feet.

In the freezing snow, she was almost numb.

"Fine, I accept your surrender," Hu Tuxie said, signaling his men to grab Jiang Yinzhu.

"Leave the city's supplies behind. You may go."

The people at the city gates rejoiced at the news.

When the Xiongnu army truly retreated several dozen steps, some couldn't help rushing out of the city.

Yet, just as they believed they had been spared, the Xiongnu cavalry suddenly launched a brutal assault, slashing without mercy against the fleeing civilians.

Jiang Yinzhu, not yet taken away, witnessed it all. Her eyes widened in fury as she screamed at Hu Tuxie, "You promised to spare these people if I surrendered myself! You broke your word!"

She lunged at him repeatedly, but a Xiongnu soldier gripped her arms, making her struggles useless.

Though Hu Tuxie didn’t understand Han speech, her tone told him enough. He laughed loudly. "Don’t you Han people have a saying—'All’s fair in war'? I could kill them all—why would I spare them? It was just a trick, and you fell for it! Hahaha..."

Jiang Yinzhu sank to the ground.

She had been deceived.

The Xiongnu were known for their cruelty—how could they ever show mercy? Yet she had held onto that tiny hope and stepped forward.

She thought she could protect these people, but in truth, she couldn’t save anyone—not even herself.

——

After holding out for three months, in the twentieth year of Yongan, during the second month, Chang’an was about to fall.

By then, cannibalism had already emerged in the city. The thirty-thousand-strong imperial guard was nearly annihilated, and the palace was in chaos as maids and eunuchs scrambled to flee.

The Emperor of Liang ordered his consorts to be brought to the Taiji Hall. "Chang’an will fall soon. If you fall into the hands of the Xiongnu, you’ll only suffer humiliation. Better to die cleanly now."

The consorts shrieked and tried to escape, but the hall was locked tight. The Emperor of Liang, sword in hand, killed them one by one—women who had once shared his company.

After killing seven or eight, he sat on the throne, covered in blood, when suddenly he remembered someone—Jiang Huai.

Jiang Huai had been imprisoned in the King of Chu’s residence for over two years. While the aristocratic clans could flee, he could not.

"Send orders to the guards at the King of Chu’s residence," the emperor commanded. "Kill Jiang Huai right there." At this moment, he wanted everyone to die with him.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, the clash of battle erupted outside the hall.

Had the Huns already broken into the palace? The Emperor of Liang was incredulous.

Only when the door was flung open did he realize it wasn’t the Huns at all—it was Jiang Huai.

“How are you here?”

For once, Jiang Huai wasn’t stumbling in drunk like usual. Instead, he held a sword, his eyes icy, his face hard. “I’ve come for revenge!”