Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 266: Heart
"Your Highness!" Yu Qianshan's voice was hoarse like a broken gong, filled with suppressed anger. "Where are the imperial reinforcements? Where are the provisions? If this continues, even without Ashina's sword cutting us down, the wind, snow, hunger, and cold will slowly kill us in this godforsaken place."

He pounded his chest violently, his eyes bloodshot.

"This humble general sent out three groups of messengers at great risk, but they all disappeared without a trace! Are those parasites in the capital hoping we all die out so they can save on military pay and provisions, and take the opportunity to plot... for the position of crown prince?"

"Don't talk nonsense!" Li Zhao raised his eyes, his voice low and steady.

"Complaining now will only demoralize the troops and do nothing to improve the war situation."

Yu Qianshan realized he had spoken out of turn, and breathed heavily, turning his face away, his voice choked with emotion.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. This humble general just can't bear to see our brothers gnawing on tree bark and swallowing snowballs... I can't bear to see those brothers who have followed me through thick and thin, their hands and feet frostbitten, dying in agony, rotting away..."

After saying that, he wiped his eyes, then suddenly turned back and stared at Li Zhao, clasping his hands in a fist.

"Your Highness! This humble general is not afraid of death! To die on the battlefield is the fate of a soldier! But to die such a cowardly death from freezing, starvation, or disease, this humble general will not rest in peace! My brothers will not rest in peace either!"

His chest heaved violently, and his tiger-like eyes were filled with tears.

The wounded soldiers huddled in the snowdrifts, their groans mingling with the wind and snow, like countless needles piercing Li Zhao's heart.

As the commander-in-chief, seeing his men suffer like this is a hundred times more painful than being struck by swords.

He was silent for a moment, then raised his hand to wipe the blood from his face...

"Hold on for another three days."

Li Zhao's voice was resolute, carrying a sense of desperate determination.

"Three days later, when there was still no improvement, I had the brothers collect all the hardwood logs they had stored, and then cut vines to make ropes..."

Yu Qianshan was taken aback. "Your Highness means..."

"Make logs and wheels to carve a bloody path."

Li Zhao suddenly stood up, which aggravated the wound on his arm, causing him to feel dizzy from the pain.

"Put yourself in a do-or-die situation and you will survive! If you don't succeed, you will die trying!"

Li Zhao didn't finish his sentence, but the cold glint in his eyes sent a chill down the spine of Yu Qianshan, a seasoned veteran.

What that meant was something the two understood without saying a word—either mutual destruction or a desperate fight to carve out a bloody path, even if only one in ten survived.

Despite holding out for so long, the imperial court has yet to send reinforcements, and there has been no word from them.

Lu Youan's army was pinned down by Ashina's light cavalry on the snowy plains a hundred miles away.

The canyon and the passable road in the middle collapsed and were cut off due to this once-in-a-century blizzard...

Some things are truly laughable when you think about them.

No matter how cunning you are, you can't outsmart the unpredictable nature of fate.

Even the heavens seemed to be helping the enemy, creating obstacles at every turn.

If it weren't for the sudden natural disaster, the Liang army would have already outflanked the enemy and could have easily captured Ashina alive...

Now they are trapped in a chasm, completely unaware of each other's fate...

These days, besides fighting, they have been collecting the last remaining trees in the canyon.

The branches were sharpened to make rudimentary arrows and chevaux-de-frise; the bark and roots were used for food and warmth; the trunks were whittled into sharp stakes to defend against enemy attacks; only the hardest logs were left behind and placed between the jagged crevices of the rocks...

Everyone thought it was for protection against the wind and snow; no one expected it could also be used as a vehicle for assault.

Yu Qianshan clasped his hands tightly, the nail plates clanging loudly.

"Your humble servant... obeys! Three days! I'll hold on to that damned man's last breath!"

He turned around, covered in the frost and with a resolute air, and strode back to the snow-covered camp.

Raise your arms and shout to boost morale.

"I'd rather die fighting than surrender!"

"I'd rather die fighting than surrender!"

The low, hoarse responses, like the roars of dying beasts, echoed from every corner.

The soldiers repeated the exercise with their last ounce of strength, even as their cracked lips bled...
-
The next day, the wind and snow seemed to have subsided a bit, but despair remained, and there was no sign of reinforcements.

"Your Highness, no one is coming..."

"This awful weather means no one can get in."

Li Zhao remained silent.

He began directing the soldiers to make ropes to reinforce the rolling logs.

On the third night, a pale, cold moon struggled to pierce through the thick clouds, sparingly casting down a sliver of light. Before midnight, the snow began to fall again, like goose feathers.

The beginning of Yin time is the darkest and coldest moment before dawn.

The wounded soldiers were carefully wrapped in animal skin pads and strapped to wooden rolling sleds.

The team slid down the snow-covered slopes and gullies, bumping and jolting along...

Just as they reached the bottom of the valley, a strange noise suddenly came from the distant snow slope.

A very faint rustling sound, unlike the howling of the wind, came from afar, approaching from the direction of the steep, impassable ice cliffs on both sides of the canyon.

The scout, thinking his frozen ears were hallucinating, strained to open his eyes wide. "Your Highness, there's movement!"

Li Zhao gripped the hilt of his knife tightly. Several ghostly figures glided rapidly across the steep, smooth ice surface in an eerie manner, almost flying close to the ground. A device he had never seen before, with a slightly upturned front and shaped like a flat boat, gleamed coldly in the moonlight.

"Enemy attack!" The scout was terrified, having just issued the warning.

"Don't make a sound! We're on the same side!"

The man at the head of the group lifted his felt hat, slid forward, and suddenly ripped off the thick leather hat and scarf covering his face, revealing a weathered face with sharp and steady eyes.

"Your Highness, the imperial reinforcements have arrived!"

A group of people, dressed as mountain hunters, were riding ice sleds.

"We have been ordered by the imperial court to form a vanguard team to deliver supplies..."

The leader spoke quickly, while gesturing to the men behind him to unload the huge packages they were carrying.

When the package was opened, it didn't contain the heavy load of grains I had imagined. Instead, it contained bundles of medicinal herbs wrapped in layers of oilcloth, exuding a strong medicinal aroma, along with neatly tied fur coats for warmth, some non-perishable dried meat, and most importantly—several large jars of sealed powder for treating cold-related illnesses.

Li Zhao's pupils suddenly contracted.

He didn't recognize the man, but based on his words and actions, he concluded that these people were not soldiers from Daliang.

"Your Highness, something is amiss; there may be a trap!"

Guan Ya gripped the broken sword and stepped forward to question him.

"Which general do you serve under, and who sent you here?"

"We are assassins dispatched by His Highness Prince Duan to brave the snow and break through the pass."

The other person had a serious expression and was breathing heavily.

"Sent by His Highness Prince Duan?" Guan Ya frowned, lowering his gaze to look directly at him. "You don't seem like it to me."

"We are not only composed of imperial guards, but we have also been ordered to recruit some righteous men from the western frontier, as well as hunters from the border regions..."

Guan Ya was about to press for more information when Li Zhao suddenly spoke up.

"Don't ask anymore." He looked at the medicinal herbs and cooked meat piled on the sled, a salty, bitter, and fishy taste rising in his throat.

"To survive is the answer!"

Guan Ya bowed and accepted the order, "Yes."

Immediately afterwards, more such "ice sled" teams, like ghosts, slid out from unexpected ice crevices and steep slopes, silently merging into the ice...

They brought life-saving medicines, food, warm clothing, and detailed maps, clearly outlining the subsequent transport routes and reception methods.

People in dire straits, like withered trees coming back to life, instantly burst into life.

This shipment of food and clothing arrived like a timely rain, rekindling hope in the face of imminent death. The medicine, in particular, was like a miracle cure, practically snatching life from the jaws of death…

The wounded soldiers' desperate groans subsided, replaced by an incredible excitement tinged with a faint hope.

As Guan Ya watched the soldiers devour the jerky buns, a light rekindled in his eyes. This tough man had tears streaming down his face.

"Your Highness! There's hope!"

"We're really saved!"

"Even if Ashina were to send tens of thousands more men, my brothers could still fight for several more rounds..."

Laifu, trembling, handed over a piece of dried meat.

"Your Highness, please have some to fill your stomach and replenish your strength."

Li Zhao took it, the lingering warmth transferring to his cold palm.

He looked down for a moment, his vision becoming somewhat blurry.

Prince Duan? Li Huan?
He actually risked sending people to help, and in such an unbelievable way.

Li Zhao felt a mix of emotions, with an indescribable and complex feeling.

At this moment, the assassins swiftly transferred the wounded to reinforced ice sleds, applied ointment, bandaged the affected areas, and wrapped them in blankets. Their movements carried a unique rhythm, clearly those of highly trained individuals, yet not conforming to the standard procedures of the Liang army.

Li Zhao also noticed that they walked lightly and didn't talk much...

He had a vague suspicion in his mind, but he didn't say anything more...

The atmosphere around us was filled with a sense of exhilaration, as if we had survived a catastrophe.

The soldiers were drinking strong liquor and eating still-warm wheat cakes and smoked meat, their tired faces unable to hide their excitement.

The sled glided across the snow, making a hissing sound as it scraped against the ground, its rhythm broken and intermittent by the cold wind...

Suddenly, several plumes of snow mist rose from the distant snow slope—

The scout stumbled back, shouting loudly.

"Oh no, Ashina's scouts are catching up."

　Li Zhao: It's the end of the month, aren't you going to send some money to help the orphan?

　　Xue Sui: You've got guts!!!
　　(End of this chapter)