Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2643 Cruelty
"It's still a step too late."

Forty miles away from Zijing Pass, Li Meiniang could smell the blood in the air.

"Your Majesty, should we hasten the march?"

Gui Chen rode his horse to Ying Baoyue's side and asked nervously.

Ying Baoyue nodded. "Tell the light cavalry ahead to speed up. It doesn't matter if the supply troops can't keep up. Leave a quarter of the cavalry to escort the supplies."

Gui Chen nodded and immediately passed on the order, his young face showing the urgency of an impending battle.

But the veterans present all knew it was too late.

The enemy forces set off at least two days earlier than them, and by then they had probably already broken through Zijing Pass.

"It's a fortified city, after all. How could it be so easily defeated? Didn't they say that Southern Chu had already sent a large army to press on the border?" Li Meiniang frowned.

“You yourself know how many passes there are on the border of Southern Chu,” Ying Baoyue glanced at her, “Zijing Pass is still far from Danyang, so it’s impossible to send too many troops to guard it.”

Li Meiniang took a deep breath and looked ahead at her homeland, which she had not returned to for many years.

After a six-hour forced march, the Zijing Pass came into view.

The blood-stained city walls and tattered flags made everyone realize what had happened here, and everyone's mood instantly became extremely heavy.

"Wait, there are also Southern Chu soldiers?"

Li Meiniang noticed that there were sentries dressed as Southern Chu soldiers on the city wall using their telescopes to observe this area, and she frowned in surprise.

“It shouldn’t be a soldier guarding the city,” Ying Baoyue squinted, and the next moment she seemed to see a familiar figure on the city wall.

"Your Majesty, shall we send scouts to knock on the door first?" Gui Chen asked.

They were already in the territory of Southern Chu. Their group was of mixed composition, and Gui Chen worried that if they rashly reached the gates of Southern Chu, the enemy would treat them as enemy soldiers.

“It seems we don’t need to,” Ying Baoyue said, seeing clearly the person standing on the city gate and even the shocked expression on his face.

"Raise my royal banner."

She turned and instructed Li Meiniang, "Raise the banners of the Silver Cicada Guards as well."

Sure enough, after the flags of the former Qin king and the Silver Cicada Guards were raised, the city gate in the distance, which looked dilapidated and barely constructed, actually opened.

A young general in red armor led a dozen cavalrymen out of the city gate to greet them.

Seeing the army approaching, the young military officer lifted the mask covering his face.

At this moment, Gui Chen also recognized who this person was, "Zi Chu?"

Chen Zichu rode up to Ying Baoyue and bowed to her, "Former King of Qin, this humble one..."

Ying Baoyue stopped his perfunctory greeting and looked him up and down. "You've joined the army?"

Chen Zichu had always been a commoner and held no official position.

"His Majesty appointed me as a royal bodyguard. This time, I am here as an envoy of the Grand Marshal, leading troops. I do not hold any official position in the army."

Ying Baoyue understood. Chen Zichu was forced into this role at the last minute. His father, Chen Yan, was the Grand Master of Destiny guarding the border, so he probably couldn't spare the time and sent his inexperienced son, Chen Zichu, to act as his eyes and ears.

"Why were you sent here? Where is your father?"

Chen Zichu glanced at Ying Baoyue with a complicated expression. "Former King of Qin, this is internal military affairs of Southern Chu, and I cannot disclose it."

The troops led by Chen Yan were the main force of the Southern Chu Army, but he did not have the authority to disclose that information.

Gui Chen felt a little uncomfortable watching Chen Zichu's polite yet distant demeanor, but Ying Baoyue smiled.

"You've done a very good job as a special envoy."

"However, since this is internal military affairs of Southern Chu, what should be your punishment for opening the city gates without authorization in the face of the Former Qin army?"

"Huh? This...this..." Chen Zichu was stunned. When he saw the army led by Ying Baoyue, he instinctively assumed they were reinforcements, without giving a second thought to the fact that he had violated military discipline.

Chen Zichu was so frustrated that he almost fell off his horse.
“Alright,” Ying Baoyue patted his head, “Ji Mo and I have an agreement that I have the authority to command the Southern Chu soldiers in special circumstances, so you don’t have to worry about losing your head.”

"What?" Chen Zichu's eyes widened in disbelief. "The Imperial Preceptor said that?"

"Let's not talk about that now," Ying Baoyue said, not wanting to explain too much to him. "Even if you don't open the city gate, it won't stop anything."

She stared at the blood-stained city gate behind Chen Zichu. "Special Envoy Chen, what happened?"

Chen Zichu froze, lowering his gaze. "I tried my best to get here, but it's still too late."

Although he tried his best to appear cheerful, there was a sense of collapse and hatred in the boy's eyes that he had never felt before.

Ying Baoyue could see clearly that this was the kind of trauma one experiences on the battlefield for the first time.

"Was the city massacred?" she asked softly.

Gui Chen, who was listening from the side, trembled slightly.

“Half and half,” Chen Zichu raised his head. “The surviving people said that half of the Central Plains people wanted to stop them, but the Western Rong people were like mad dogs, killing people as easily as cutting grass as they passed by.”

This is the consequence of trying to negotiate with wolves for their skin.

"Has the city been cleaned up?"

Chen Zichu paused for a moment, then nodded. "There are too many corpses; they haven't been cleaned up yet."

How long have the enemy troops been gone?

"According to the people, it's been about a day," Chen Zichu said. "I sent scouts to chase after them, but there's still no news."

“Then they probably won’t be coming back,” Ying Baoyue said. “Did you tell your father? What did he say?”

Chen Zichu's eyebrows furrowed into a knot. "I've already sent a message by both carrier pigeon and messenger, but there's been no reply yet."

This is the drawback of the inability to transmit information in a timely manner on the battlefield; in the event of an emergency, there is simply no time to ask for instructions.

Chen Zichu's face still carried the naivety of someone new to the battlefield, and Ying Baoyue could tell at a glance that the young man was completely lost.

"So what are you planning to do? Just stay here and do nothing until the military order arrives?" Ying Baoyue stared at him sharply.

"I……"

“There’s no need to defend this city anymore,” Ying Baoyue glanced behind her. “The soldiers who were guarding it should have all been slaughtered, right?”

Chen Zichu nodded with difficulty, "Not a single one survived."

"But I only brought a hundred men. If they all leave, what will happen to the remaining people in this city..."

“Leave them some food, then let them flee,” Ying Baoyue said coldly. “Even if you stay here, you can’t defend this city.”

That's how it is once war begins; she knew very well that the city's usable population and food supplies must have been completely looted.

“But the rest are all the elderly, women and children…” Chen Zichu could hardly believe that these were the words of Ying Baoyue, who was always kind and benevolent.

Ying Baoyue closed her eyes. "Even if you leave some soldiers behind, it might not be a good thing for them."

For families who have lost a son, even soldiers from their own country are not safe.

"Can……"

Chen Zichu wanted to say something more, but Ying Baoyue had already turned her horse around.

"Gui Chen, go and take the next city."

"As for you, whether you want to come with me or not is up to you."