Marrying a treacherous official

Even after more than ten years, when Granny Kong heard people mention that battle again, she still felt lingering fear.

"Thirty thousand elite soldiers of the Xuanjia Army died in that battle, and the old master also died on the battlefield. Only the eldest brother survived."

When Yunji was looking through the historical records her father had kept, she had read about this battle.

Reading cold, hard words is one thing, but hearing a bystander's heartbreaking account is quite another.

She was crushed by the heavy wheels of history, and even her breathing became a little deeper.

"How did the old man survive?"

Instead of replying directly, Granny Kong began to reminisce about the past, telling her a series of trivial matters.

"Madam may not know how much the old master cherished his eldest grandson, the eldest son. He started practicing martial arts at the age of three, studied military strategy at the age of five, became a tutor to the crown prince at the age of nine, and led troops to the battlefield at the age of thirteen. When outsiders talk about the eldest son, who doesn't call him the Little General of the Cavalry?"

A biting north wind squeezed in through the cracks in the doors and windows, causing the candlelight to flicker and cast dark shadows.

"But this very old man almost lost his life in the encirclement and suppression by the Northern Yan."

Granny Kong was unaware of the details of the Battle of Wudu. She only learned of the extreme cruelty of the battle through the constant inquiries of the late Madam, who was filled with worry every day.

"The reinforcements arrived on the battlefield three days after the elite soldiers died. The northern border was frozen for three days, lacking water and food, and they were freezing in the wind and snow. It was impossible for anyone to survive, but the old man crawled out of the pile of corpses covered in blood."

Yunji's thoughts drifted, and her curled fingers clenched into a fist.

Looking into those strong, weathered eyes filled with tears, she realized that behind Granny Kong's inability to speak openly lay unspeakable suffering.

—How did you survive?—

—A bloodthirsty carnivore—

From the time she learned to read, she studied history books with her father. Perhaps influenced by the historians' pursuit of rigor and realism and their adherence to objectivity and neutrality, she was naturally indifferent and never empathized with the rise and fall of dynasties and the glory and disgrace of generals and ministers recorded in history books.

Hearing that Cui Zemin had survived on the battlefield in such a precarious way, she felt an indescribable pain, and her whole body trembled slightly.

The phrase "no reinforcements have arrived" written by her father was so brutal that it once made her feel suffocated.

Granny Kong, lost in grief, was still softly murmuring:

"The old man narrowly escaped death in the Battle of Wudu, but his personality changed drastically, as if he had become a different person. Not to mention his violent and unpredictable nature, he would wantonly insult and beat his servants. When he went mad, no one could stop him. He would pick up his knife and slash and kill people around him indiscriminately."

"The Marquis just kept cursing the eldest son for being crazy, saying he would send him to the estate to be imprisoned and abandoned in the suburbs. The late Madam refused and insisted on keeping the eldest son by her side to take good care of him."

"A year passed in a daze. That night, the master seemed to wake up from a nightmare. He knocked on the door of the late madam's room in the middle of the night, his hair disheveled, and knelt in the cold courtyard. He said he was going on a long trip and would not return until he had personally killed his enemy."

"The late Madam could not stop the eldest master from going out, and from then on she lost all news of him. She suffered in the hopeless waiting, and cried every day. In the end, she ruined her health and passed away without being able to see the eldest master one last time."

Three years later, news of the great victory at Jiuping'ao arrived. The Tiger Wing Army broke through the Northern Yan's defenses, annihilating more than 10,000 enemy cavalrymen in one fell swoop and recovering a large area of ​​territory north of Yanshan. It was not until the generals returned to the capital that they learned that the young general who charged into battle was actually the old master. But by then, his wife... had already passed away...

Yunji took out a silk handkerchief hidden in her sleeve and handed it to Granny Kong to wipe away her tears.

"I know why the old woman said those things."

Through this weathered and worn past, she saw Granny Kong's unwavering loyalty to her master.

"It's not easy for the old man. He gets impulsive and can't even control himself. I don't take the hurtful things he says to heart."

"I am relieved that the First Madam thinks this way."

When Granny Kong got emotional, she earnestly begged her:

"The master is not young anymore, and he should have children by now. Why don't you put aside your current affairs and, during this festive season, find an auspicious day to consummate your marriage with him?"

Yunji regretted being so considerate and attentive to Granny Kong, which had now put her on a pedestal from which she couldn't get down.

She lowered her eyes and said in a affected manner, "This kind of thing isn't something I can decide on my own; the master has to agree first."

Seeing that she had acquiesced, Granny Kong was finally relieved that the clouds had parted and the moon was shining through.

"Don't worry, Madam. I will take care of persuading the master. This matter will definitely be accomplished."

Yunji watched as Granny Kong took on all the big and small matters, worrying herself sick over Cui Zeming. She sincerely hoped that Granny Kong's wishes would come true and that she would finally have her grandson.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the one who bore Cui Zemin's child.

Cui Zemin was very wary of her, so how could he let her "steal" his child and secure her position as the principal wife in the inner courtyard?

After Granny Kong left, Yunji looked at the notes on the Battle of Wudu left by her father, which were full of unfulfilled regrets.

Whose fault was it that led to the tragic deaths of the generals and commanders of the Xuanjia Army, and the complete annihilation of eight thousand elite troops by the Northern Yan?

Was it due to the poor transport of grain supplies by the Duke of Song, or the ineffective troop deployment by the Marquis of Yongxing, or the untimely reinforcements from the Vice Minister of War?

Even worse, as Cui Zemin implied by burning down three families with over a thousand people, it was the three who conspired to kill the elite cavalry of the Xuanjia Army.

Yunji looked at the neatly stacked books on the beechwood shelf, seemingly saying something without words, or perhaps saying nothing at all.

She picked up her purple-tipped brush, laid out her father's handwritten notes, and, by the flickering candlelight, continued to write the historical records of the Battle of Wudu.

"Cui Zemin, courtesy name Qingfu, was a native of Xijiang County, Chenzhou. He was the general of the Tiger Wing Army. In the twenty-ninth year of the Qiyuan era, he led his troops to attack Shengjing and supported Crown Prince Jiaxin as emperor. For his meritorious service in supporting the emperor, he was granted the title of Privy Councilor and concurrently Chancellor of the Secretariat and the Chancellery..."

She suddenly stopped writing, unable to continue.

She closed her eyes tightly, and Cui Zemin's past life flashed before her eyes like clouds drifting by.

She placed the purple brush on the shelf and stared at the yellowed pages for a long time. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope arose within her, wishing that he could rewrite his fate and not repeat the dead end of his previous life.

The investigation into the Battle of Wudu must continue.

This is not only the unfinished regret in her father's writing, but also the legacy she wants to inherit: the Gu family's wish to continue writing history.

Otherwise, why would she be so preoccupied with her father's collection of books when she came across the historical materials on the Battle of Wudu? Why would she spend several days going through the county annals and checking the notes, verifying each entry one by one, when she came across the historical materials on the Battle of Wudu?

Perhaps it was from the moment her father lifted her onto a horse to admire the scenic spots and visit historical sites that it was preordained that she would walk the same old path her father had taken, determined to go her own way and never return.