Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2638 God of War
On a hillside thirty miles from Luoyang, Ying Baoyue held a brightly colored longbow and gazed quietly into the distance.

Behind her stood a dozen or so quivers, all of which were empty.

The bowstring trembled slightly in the air.

Gui Chen stood beside her, glancing at the empty quiver behind them. "We're all used up. Do you need the soldiers to bring more arrows?"

Ying Baoyue stared intently into the distance, and after a long while, she breathed a sigh of relief, "No need, the enemy has retreated."

"Withdrawn?"

Gui Chen stared blankly in the direction where Ying Baoyue had just shot the arrow.

Of course, he couldn't see anything.

He had been constantly feeding Ying Baoyue arrows while he was by her side, and then watched as Ying Baoyue shot the arrows into places he couldn't even see.

"Baoyue, what did you shoot?"

“I hit quite a few people,” Ying Baoyue said, stroking the hot bowstring with a complicated look in her eyes. “I killed quite a few people.”

"Really?" Gui Chen's heart skipped a beat. "Is General Plum Blossom alright?"

Just during the march, Ying Baoyue suddenly said that General Meihua was in trouble. She took her bow and went up the hillside, asking him to prepare more than two hundred arrows for her and send them to her immediately.

He didn't understand either, but he didn't dare to ask; he simply did as instructed.

“Mei Niang is alright for now,” Ying Baoyue said. “I just saw Meng Shi and the others bring her into the city.”

"That's good," Gui Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

These past few days they have been traveling almost day and night, fearing they will not make it in time and that Luoyang will fall. But many things have happened in the army along the way. Three days ago, there was even a mutiny in the army. It was only after Ying Baoyue personally interrogated them that she discovered it was the work of spies in the army.

He personally killed the traitor as a sacrifice to save the flag, barely managing to maintain the situation, but the marching speed was greatly slowed down.

At their normal marching pace, it would take them another day and a half to reach Luoyang.

“We must speed up our march tonight,” Ying Baoyue said. “The enemy has only retreated temporarily; they will surely come back after they have rested.”

“I understand,” Gui Chen nodded. “I’ll go and give the order right away.”

Gui Chen left, and Ying Baoyue stood alone on the hillside. After a moment, she swayed and used her longbow to support herself so as not to fall.

Ying Baoyue closed her eyes, adjusted her state, and slowly walked down the hillside.

"Your Majesty, are you well?"

As soon as she stepped into the makeshift camp at the foot of the hillside, Mu You, who was looking at a map, immediately looked over.

Ying Baoyue was taken aback, then laughed and said, "How could there be a problem with my body? I am a goddess."

“I heard from Chen that you shot more than two hundred arrows.”

Mu You looked her up and down. "To send arrows that far using wind magic, and to hit the target with every single one, even if you are a divine child, it must be extremely mentally taxing."

Ying Baoyue turned around and put the bow away. "There aren't that many arrows. He must have misremembered."

That means there really were that many arrows.

Mu You sighed. If it were his junior, he would have already scolded the other party for being ridiculous.

Doing something so mentally taxing and even life-shortening is truly reckless.

But Mu You also knew that under the current circumstances, no one could replace Ying Baoyue in doing these things.

No matter what, the army could not arrive in time. Only Ying Baoyue could save Li Meiniang from such a distance.

"Is there still no news from Lord Zhaohua?" Mu You asked.

Ying Baoyue shook her head. Ever since Li Ji went to the Western Rong, there had been no news of him.

Mu You sighed inwardly, "Perhaps I shouldn't have let Chunhua stay."

Before the army set off, Ying Baoyue chose to leave Ji Jiashu in the Epang Palace to act as regent. Ji Jiashu was the only one who could share Ying Baoyue's burdens, and under the circumstances, only he could stabilize the situation within the Former Qin state.

"What can we do?" Ying Baoyue smiled. "Jiashu has to stay. I don't want to come back after a month away only to find my house has been raided."

“That’s true,” Mu You also knew it was a last resort.

When Emperor Taizu and Lin Shubai went on their expedition, they left behind ten-year-old Ying Baoyue and the eldest prince Ying Su to guard the Epang Palace. The defense of the Epang Palace was even more intense than the battles on the border.

"I heard from Chen that you ordered the soldiers to break camp. Are you going to march through the night?"

Ying Baoyue nodded, her gaze resolute. "We must reach the outskirts of Luoyang by tomorrow."

……

……

It was noon, outside Luoyang city.

Wu Chanlu sat in his chariot, his gaze dark as he looked at the more than two hundred corpses scattered across the open ground in the distance.

Li Meiniang and the Silver Cicada Guards have returned to Luoyang. His army has only temporarily retreated, and the casualties are not particularly serious. However, the Wei army that just went out to surround Li Meiniang is terrified.

Despite the overwhelming force of the enemy, no one dared to go to the center of the battlefield to collect the corpses.

Wu Chanlu was furious when he thought about what had just happened.

In fact, he did not want to withdraw his troops, but after the people around Li Meiniang were shot down, the army of thousands that had surrounded her began to retreat.

"Princess Zhaoyang!"

"It was Shao Siming's arrow!"

"Shao Siming is here with her army! Run!"

Princess Zhaoyang... Shao Siming... What era are these titles from?
Wu Chanlu was utterly speechless, but this name was like a curse on these Northern Wei rebels who had once guarded the border. The soldiers behind him would fall into chaos just by hearing this name.

Ying Baoyue didn't even appear on the battlefield, yet she terrified this group of people.

"What army? Who's spreading this rumor? Investigate them! Tear them all apart!"

Wu Chanlu wanted to curse loudly. According to Yun Zhongjun, Ying Baoyue's army was still a hundred miles away and it was impossible for them to arrive today.

But tomorrow is another story.

"Go and summon General Zhou!" Wu Chanlu roared, suppressing his anger. "We must attack the city again today."

A military officer with his face covered by a cloth quickly entered Wuchanlu's carriage.

This was an important general of the Northern Wei rebels, and a trusted figure of Yunzhongjun. He was said to be a subordinate of General Jin, one of the three heroes of the Qin Dynasty.

"General Zhou, you've arrived."

Wu Chanlu took a deep breath. "Are the losses severe? Can we organize another attack this afternoon?"

General Zhou raised his head. His eyes were full of wrinkles, and his gaze seemed dull but was actually profound. He had an iron-blooded aura that even Wu Chanlu found frightening.

"The losses were not serious, but morale was affected."

"Since the losses aren't severe, does that mean we can send troops?"

General Zhou glanced at Wu Chanlu. "Master Chanlu, I would like to ask, is the former King of Qin coming?"

Wu Chanlu felt irritated just hearing the name. "Don't worry about whether she's coming or not, just know that she definitely won't be here today!"

“That’s different,” General Zhou said slowly. “The Zen Master probably doesn’t know how much influence this person has had on us soldiers who once guarded the Great Wall.”

"That person is like a god of war; his name alone can strike fear into the hearts of his enemies."

"If it is confirmed that the King of Qin has already brought a large army and is not far from Luoyang, then our army's morale will be thrown into chaos, and it will be difficult to launch another campaign."