Chapter 104 Reunion Reunion

“Reporting to the King of Dian, our army suffered losses of 50,000 soldiers in this ambush. What should we do?”

“Continue to advance.” Jiang Si looked at the devastated camp with a gloomy expression. The army had suffered such heavy losses before even reaching Yunxia City, making it no longer an easy task to capture the city. But at this moment, she had already drawn the bow and had no choice but to release the arrow, with no room to turn back.

The imperial court had known her movements early on. If she retreated now, they would only pursue and attack her victorious army. With Miao territory ambushes behind her, she would be trapped between two forces. Rather than waiting passively for death, it was better to fight desperately, perhaps carving out a way to survive.

She refused to believe that her personally trained Dian army, having been through hundreds of battles, was no match for those from the imperial court.

The army of 150,000 advanced rapidly, marching swiftly through the forest. Within a few days, they had reached the city walls. Dense troops gathered beneath the city towers, the sound of horses and men trampling raised dust, rolling up a sky full of black smoke. On the city towers, countless arrows were ready, waiting only for the command to be given.

Yue Guanyi stood atop the city tower, his face pale from the illness that had not yet fully healed. He looked down at Jiang Si below: “You petty traitor, if you withdraw your troops now, this prince can still explain to Her Majesty and spare your dog’s life.”

Jiang Si sneered: “The incompetent ruler has lost the way, allowing royal relatives to abuse their power while the people suffer. This king acts on Heaven’s behalf to purge the court. Your Highness should come to your senses early, recognize the situation, and submit to me. Quickly open the city gates.”

Yue Guanyi’s phoenix eyes were cold and piercing: “Never!”

He waved his hand, and thousands of arrows were released simultaneously, falling like rain, blocking out the sky and sun. The powerful arrows pierced through shields, and cries of anguish filled the Dian army’s ranks.

Jiang Si remained calm: “Bring out the catapults.”

Huge machines were carried out from the rear, countless rocks were hurled at the city walls, and fire pots filled with oil exploded on the city towers. Flames suddenly shot up to the sky, the majestic Yunxia City’s walls were left in ruins, and the Dian army’s morale soared. Countless soldiers set up ladders to climb up.

Just as they were about to scale the city walls, Yue Guanyi watched the soldiers attempting to storm the city and coldly ordered: “Light the fires.”

Countless cannons immediately fired, explosions rained down on the dense crowd below, scattering the Dian army’s formation amidst cries of anguish. The Dian army immediately fell into chaos.

The massive cannon fire startled Jiang Si’s horse. The steed neighed loudly and reared back, nearly throwing Jiang Si off.

“Steady, everyone steady!” Jiang Si tightly held the reins and shouted loudly at the army that had already fallen into disarray.

But under the intimidation of the massive cannon fire, the scattered army was clearly in chaos. The catapults had been destroyed, and seeing that storming the city was now hopeless, subordinates repeatedly requested a temporary retreat to preserve their forces.

But Jiang Si knew that this battle only allowed for victory, not defeat. Once defeated, all previous efforts would be in vain.

Now there were only two paths before her: one was to turn back; the other was to directly capture Yunxia City.

Just as Jiang Si was undecided, the continuous cannon assault suddenly slowed down, leaving only a sky full of black smoke and gunpowder in the air.

Jiang Si keenly sensed a subtle chance for survival. Even though she couldn’t be certain, it was her only lifeline.

She steeled her heart, drew the sword at her waist, and shouted: “Follow me to storm Yunxia City! The first to breach the city gates will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold!”

The Dian army, briefly scattered by the cannon fire, was immediately invigorated by Jiang Si’s words. The siege formation became even more massive, battering rams continuously struck the tightly closed city gates. The closely fitted gates that wouldn’t even let a mosquito fly through from inside now began to show a small crack under the relentless attacks of the battering rams.

“Your Highness, the White Staff troops can’t hold on much longer.” Chang’an stood on the city gate, anxiously watching the scene before him.

If only they hadn’t fallen into the Miao territory’s trap earlier, the Divine Machine Camp wouldn’t be short on cannons. That bit of firepower could only briefly intimidate the Dian army, but couldn’t completely defeat the 150,000 Dian troops.

“Wait a little longer.”

“Your Highness, let’s retreat first. The city gates are about to be breached.” Chang’an was extremely anxious.

If they didn’t leave now, if the King of Dian breached the gates, she could capture Yue Guanyi alive. How could the dignified prince suffer such humiliation for the first time?

But Yue Guanyi remained unmoved. He gazed deeply into the distance, where the undulating mountains and forests were silent, yet held all possibilities.

“Your Highness!” Chang’an was anxious but helpless, only able to order boiling oil to be poured down the city towers. They set fire to the oil, creating a wall of flames. The air was immediately filled with an acrid, unpleasant smell.

The fire wall could only hold them off temporarily; this was not a long-term solution.

As soon as the fire wall appeared, Jiang Si laughed loudly: “They have no more power to resist. Everyone, charge in!”

Thousands of troops gathered at the city gates like a sea of corpses, only moments away from breaching the city.

“Report!” A general under Jiang Si’s command rushed over: “It’s bad, King of Dian! A large group of Miao troops suddenly appeared from behind, cutting off our retreat.”

Jiang Si’s eyes widened, but she quickly regained composure: “No matter, the Miao troops can’t pose much of a threat.”

But then the general said something that shocked her beyond belief: “King of Dian, it’s not just the Miao troops. They somehow persuaded the surrounding ethnic forces to come from behind… We, we can’t hold on much longer.”

She gritted her teeth, raised the sword in her hand, looked towards Yunxia City where they were only one step away from breaching the gates, and shouted hoarsely: “Full force attack on the city! Full force attack!”

Only by taking down the city gates could she have a glimmer of hope for survival. Otherwise, caught in the middle, she would surely die.

Chang’an, standing on the city gate, also saw the commotion from behind. Shocked and delighted, he shouted: “It’s Lady Qiu! It must be Lady Qiu bringing reinforcements to support us!”

Yue Guanyi, disregarding the arrows flying past him, stood on the city tower, watching a swift figure in the distance, dressed in white with a red scarf, seemingly coming towards him wrapped in light.

“Qiu Niang, Qiu Niang,” Yue Guanyi’s eyes filled with tears.

Qiu Shuzhi brought various ethnic forces from Yunnan with her. Like the Miao territory, they had been driven back by the King of Dian, their territories constantly shrinking, and had long been dissatisfied with her. Now was the best opportunity to defeat her, and various forces responded to the call.

The large army advanced rapidly, disrupting the Dian army’s formation. Poisoned arrows fell like raindrops, soldiers collapsed everywhere, catching Jiang Si completely off guard.

Jiang Si looked at the scene before her, her heart sinking to the bottom. She remained silent, seemingly seeing through the endless smoke the flags bearing the Dian army’s insignia falling.

The Dian army was defeated, defeated at the very last moment before breaching the city gates.

Jiang Si took her own life in the final moment before being captured alive. Her blood splattered on the gates of Yunxia City, with both regret and acceptance. A great woman fell on the path to achieving her grand ambitions, though dead, she had no regrets.

Jiang Si looked at Jiang Si’s fallen corpse. No matter how much resentment she had harbored towards her, it all dissipated at this moment.

“Wife-master, could you please ask Her Majesty to show mercy and let me take her body back to our hometown for a simple burial?” Jiang Si’s voice was mournful.

“A rebellious traitor should be executed by dismemberment, with the body hung on the city gates for three days and three nights, to warn others that this is the fate of rebels. Jiang Si taking her own life is already letting her off easy. You actually want to take back her corpse and give her a proper burial? I see your intentions are treasonous.” Yue Guanyi’s voice came coldly, each word like icicles, freezing one’s heart and guts.

Jiang Si turned around, meeting Yue Guanyi’s sharp gaze filled with intense hatred. His fierce eyes seemed to want to carve out all his flesh with a rasp.

Jiang Si stepped back, half hiding behind Qiu Shuzhi: “Wife-master, His Highness looks so scary.”

Yue Guanyi’s face instantly turned as pale as a ghost.

Wife-master?

How dare this wretch call Qiu Niang wife-master?

He, Yue Guanyi, is the only one in this world who can call Qiu Niang wife-master, as her lawfully wedded husband!

The more Yue Guanyi thought about it, the angrier he became. This wretch must have used some trick to seduce Qiu Niang’s heart after she fell into the water.

He couldn’t accept it!

This wretch had stolen his wife-master, caused the death of his unborn child, and now dared to appear brazenly before him, even arrogantly calling Qiu Niang wife-master.

Yue Guanyi clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his flesh. Crimson blood seeped into his nail beds, his pale, bloodless nails forcibly dyed a blood-like red.

“Yue’er.” Qiu Shuzhi looked at Yue Guanyi’s pale and haggard appearance, her heart aching. They had only been apart for a short while, yet he had become so emaciated.

The long-missed familiar voice sounded beside Yue Guanyi, and he finally couldn’t hold back any longer.

Qiu Shuzhi’s voice seemed to be deeply etched into his bone marrow, densely imprinted with her name. With just a soft call from her, no matter what, he could no longer restrain himself.

“Qiu Niang,” his pale, colorless lips trembled slightly as he took two steps towards her, but suddenly clutched his lower abdomen tightly, crouching down in pain.

“It hurts so much.” Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead.

Chang’an immediately supported him, casting a hateful glance at Jiang Si hiding behind Qiu Shuzhi.

Let you be smug now, you wretch. You’ll get what’s coming to you soon enough.

Chang’an supported Yue Guanyi and deliberately said: “Has Your Highness’s abdominal wound opened up again? This lowly one said earlier that you haven’t fully recovered and shouldn’t be exerting yourself with these matters. It’s all this lowly one’s fault.”

“What do you mean his wound has opened up again? When was he injured?” Qiu Shuzhi disregarded Jiang Si’s attempts to stop her and embraced the swaying Yue Guanyi.

Chang’an said sorrowfully: “My Lady, you don’t know how much hardship and suffering our prince has endured since you left. Even the child you and the prince were expecting… unfortunately didn’t survive.”

“Child?” Qiu Shuzhi murmured. In her absence, how much had she missed?

She slowly turned back, looking at Jiang Si behind her: “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

“Wife-master, I…” Jiang Si stood helplessly in place, seeing for the first time Qiu Shuzhi looking at him with such cold eyes, without a trace of warmth. As sweet as their past affection had been, he now felt just as panicked and at a loss.

Chang’an smiled triumphantly. Let you be arrogant and smug, you viper-hearted wretch.