Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

223. Re-departure

Translator: Bryan

The capital city was seething with highborn ladies and lordlings like this, and the guards saw them frequently. The guard promptly bobbed his head and pocketed the gold ingot in rapture. All he needed to do was bend the rules a little. He was very happy to see that this man was so tactful. Considering the severity of the incident this morning, it was very likely that the culprit had fled the city some time ago.

Even if they searched every inch of the city, chances were that they would walk past the culprit without recognizing them. Therefore, the guards felt that it was a very thankless task.

When the two of them left that place, they saw that a lot of pedestrians were required to be frisked. The guards, naturally, had no misgivings about searching commoners. Being manhandled and roughly frisked, the commoners appeared rather apprehensive.

When Du Chuxuan woke up the next day, a message was delivered to him. The emperor had handled the issue with high efficiency. Du Chuxuan was surprised to learn that the emperor was sending Yuxing Wei to the borders. Yuxing Wei must have put quite some effort into it. Yuxing Wei would depart with the army in ten days.

As chance would have it, that was the very day that the entrance examination was scheduled to end, so the emperor’s arrangements were fairly reasonable. Apart from the entrance examination, the Imperial Martial Arts Test was also ongoing in the drill ground. Du Chuxuan believed that Yuxing Wei would recruit some of those who passed the Imperial Martial Arts Test, for they would strike the emperor as more trustworthy.

Luo Yi folded his hands in front and said to Du Chuxuan, “Master, all necessary arrangements have been made in the capital city. We may depart at any moment.” Luo Yi had paid a visit to Lanfeng Pavilion early in the morning and brought back the message. Knowing how important the message was, he had not dared entrust the task to anybody else.

Du Chuxuan read the list of names carefully and memorized them in his mind. He would never recruit any of those people. No matter which side they were on now, they had betrayed Yuxing Tianrui at the very beginning. Some of them had switched sides or tried to ingratiate themselves with Yuxing Tianrui, but they had done that only because they wanted to survive.

Racing against time, Du Chuxuan arranged for the remainder of the issues to be handled properly, and then he covertly set out on his journey to the border with his men. Though the capital city might descend into chaos, it was unnecessary for him to stay in the city. Luo Yi would handle all the subsequent tasks. He had no room in his mind for anything except for the safety of Yuxing Tianrui. He couldn’t wait to hug Yuxing Tianrui and make out with him.

After Yuxing Tianrui took five cities in a row, the troops of Turk had naturally reacted. When a large Turkish army arrived, Yuxing Tianrui had built bulwarks outside the cities, waiting for the enemies to come.

“Your Highness, what should we do? Our capital city is right ahead. If they really fight their way there…” The speaker didn’t have the guts to finish his sentence. Ashina Yi, however, couldn’t be bothered to answer that stupid question.

How was he supposed to know what they should do? After his departure, Ashina Fei had sent troops to the borders and recalled Ashina Yi’s units one after another. If Ashina Yi’s men were still there, Yuxing Tianrui wouldn’t have taken so many cities in such a short time. Now the cities were lost, and the father and son remembered Ashina Yi.

Ashina Yi’s face darkened further as he looked at the military map in his hands. He had only just received an intelligence report. He found it unbelievable that Yuxing Tianrui was so bold as to lead an army to Turk without the emperor’s authorization, intending to subjugate Turk. Nobody had noticed Yuxing Tianrui’s army on their way to Turk because Yuxing Tianrui had divided his army into small groups of soldiers.

In fact, Yuxing Tianrui was leading a small band of soldiers. More of his men had disguised themselves as refugees or merchants or commoners on their way to visit their relatives. There were many groups of them. They had orders to rendezvous with each other at the designated time and place.

That was why the Turkish scouts at the borders had failed to find out about it. When they spotted the team of soldiers, Yuxing Tianrui had ordered the bugles to sound the charge. They had to admit that Yuxing Tianrui had made a very smart move. It was shrewd enough to be recorded in a book.

“But you’re biting off more than you can chew.” Ashina Yi’s eyes rested on a mountain road. Yuxing Tianrui’s encampment was located in Yujue City. Ashina Yi and his men knew about that city more than anybody. That city was built among foothills. The harvest was always poor, and people there needed famine relief from neighboring cities every year.

Therefore, Yuxing Tianrui who had stationed his men in that city would be faced with severe shortage of provisions. Having noticed that Ashina Yi had been silent for quite a while, a deputy general couldn’t help but suggest, “Your Highness, the situation is dire. It’d be best if we have some men disguise themselves and infiltrate into the city to help us from the inside.”

Ashina Yi raised his head to glance at the man and sneered, “That’s easy for you to say. If you’ve taken a Shenglan city, would you leave the city gate wide open to allow people in and out as they please? You think Yuxing Tianrui’s a fool?”

The general felt humiliated, an ugly look on his face, but he said no more. Apart from everything else, the one before him was the second prince. If he really offended Ashina Yi, the latter might have him beheaded.

The atmosphere in the Turkish encampment was tense, and in Yuxing Tianrui’s room also stood several people. Almost all the senior officers were present.

The deputy commander on the left gave a report on the remaining supplies and then looked at Yuxing Tianrui apprehensively. “Your Highness, that’s the situation we’re faced with. If we stay, we’ll definitely run out of food.”

“This place is very close to the Turkish capital city. They can get reinforcements whenever they want. If we try to hold this city, I’m afraid … I’m afraid we won’t last long enough to see the reinforcements from the capital.” All other officers exchanged concerned glances. It was a fact they had long since come to know. Besides, everybody in this room was in Yuxing Tianrui’s confidence.

Yuxing Tianrui sat there in a ruminative silence. Before leaving the capital city, Du Chuxuan had told him that Du Chuxuan would be able to help if the soldiers were short of supplies. However, Yuxing Tianrui and his soldiers had been in this foreign country for quite some time, and Yuxing Tianrui knew that their supplies had been depleted. Even if he asked Du Chuxuan for help, it would be quite an effort for Du Chuxuan to solve the problem.

Having noticed that everybody was silent, the deputy general involuntarily resumed, “Your Highness, there isn’t much food in Sanyuan City. The locals buy their daily necessities from neighboring cities. But steel is abundant in this place. We’ve been having the soldiers inventory and hone our weapons.”