The atmosphere in the room was somewhat stiff. Perhaps because the stove had been moved out, Li Xiaozong, kneeling on one knee, was pale, whether from the cold or fear, it was hard to tell.
Li Yuanshan glanced at him, then frowned slightly: "Although you're not a direct descendant of the Li family of Longyou, I've felt since you were little that you'd amount to something. Perhaps you don't remember, but when you were seven… on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, your father, my second brother Li Yuanmou, built a enclosure in the hunting grounds, keeping thirty or fifty hungry wolves and two equally hungry tigers inside, saying he wanted to entertain the clan. Even the old master was invited."
"That day, the wolves and tigers fought fiercely, and it certainly looked interesting. The old master got tired of standing for so long, so your father ordered all the animals in the enclosure to be shot dead. A hail of arrows fell, killing both wolves and tigers. The old master insisted on going down to see, so your father and I helped him into the enclosure. You, only seven years old, followed along, carrying a short knife, looking quite serious. But when we got to one of the tigers, it wasn't quite dead yet."
"Your father…" "Your father and I drew our swords at the same time, but you stepped forward first and shouted that Grandpa's safety was the most important thing, and that Father and Third Uncle should protect Grandpa. You then stepped forward and stabbed the hungry tiger to death."
"At the time, your father scolded you for being unruly, but I didn't say anything. Even the old master turned and left without saying much to you. But you don't know... the old master lamented for a long time afterward, filled with regret. He said it was a pity for your courage and wisdom; if you weren't an illegitimate child, you should have been cultivated with great care."
Li Yuanshan paused and continued, "When you were seven years old, you had the courage to kill a tiger. From that day on, I've been keeping an eye on you. Your entry into the Martial Arts Academy was something that happened after I spoke with your father. Your father's original intention was to choose one of his legitimate children to send for the exam. I persuaded him for half a day before he finally agreed."
Li Xiaozong's expression changed, and he changed his single-knee military salute to a double-knee kneel. "Thank you, General."
Li Yuanshan sat down in the chair, shook his head, and said, "You should call me Third Uncle."
Li Xiaozong lowered his head and said, "Wearing military uniform, I dare not address you as Third Uncle."
A hint of admiration flashed in Li Yuanshan's eyes, and he hummed in agreement, "It's good that you still remember military law at this time... But your courage as a child was already admirable. Why are you so timid and hesitant now? I gave Wu Peisheng a large mansion in Jiangdu before he agreed to help you suppress the embezzlement. The deaths of a few henchmen and civilians are nothing but a drop in the ocean when it comes to your future." "It's such a small matter, how could you not bring yourself to do it?"
Before Li Xiaozong could explain, Li Yuanshan continued, "Even if you have your reasons for not being able to do it, what you did regarding Wu Peisheng's death makes me even angrier! Wu Peisheng was a favorite of His Majesty, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Study. His death would inevitably shake the court and shock His Majesty. But... he's dead, so there's no need to worry too much... as long as things are handled cleanly and neatly, would His Majesty really kill a promising general over a dead man?"
"But you didn't handle this matter well either, you lacked any courage!"
Li Xiaozong lowered his head, deciding not to explain further. "I watched you grow up, and I always believed you would amount to something. Because I always thought you had potential, I inevitably interfered a bit."
Li Yuanshan stood up and patted Li Xiaozong on the shoulder: "You're thoughtful, that's true. But if you're going to think things through, you can't be too narrow-minded… Your plan to use the infiltration of Mongol cavalry as an excuse to stall the investigating officials coming from the capital is simply impossible. Even if you bribe them with a lot of money, no one can guarantee they won't change their minds later. Those people in the capital… they're all cunning to the core."
"After all I've said, do you understand what to do?"
He asked. Li Xiaozong nodded, then shook his head: "General, my reluctance isn't womanly compassion, but rather a desire to secure future support. The border troops in Fangu City are reorganized every six years; these are all veterans of countless battles. In a few years, I plan to find a way to transfer them back to my command."
"Veterans are treasures, but not a future," Li Yuanshan sighed.
"Since you're reluctant to intervene, then don't get involved."
He turned and walked towards the door, pausing at the entrance: "You..." "I won't force you to kill if you don't want to... but you'll need to rewrite the memorial to the court. The officials sent by the court to investigate will arrive in at least two months. Two months is enough time to do many things, and... I don't intend to make you wait two months."
"On the second day of the second month of the eleventh year of the Tianyou reign of the Great Sui Dynasty, because of the smuggling of horses by the Northern Liao people, the Mongol Empire launched a fierce offensive against Fangu. A 10,000-strong Manduqi army crossed the Wolf Milk Mountains and attacked Fangu. Fangu's general, Li Xiaozong, led his troops to meet the enemy. After several days of bloody fighting, they killed over a thousand enemies... Just then, Imperial Envoy Wu Peisheng arrived in Fangu and entered the city..." "To aid in the defense, officials from the Ministry of War and the Court of Judicial Review in the capital fought alongside the border troops to defend the city... However, outnumbered, they held out for over ten days. Most of the city's defenders perished, including Imperial Envoy Wu Peisheng and thirty-six accompanying officials. General Li Xiaozong, despite sustaining six or seven serious wounds, fought on relentlessly. With the city on the verge of falling, General Li Yuanshan of the Right Valiant Guard arrived with his army, defeating the enemy outside Fangu City and killing six thousand..."
After speaking these words in a cold voice, Li Yuanshan turned to Li Xiaozong and said, "I withheld the memorial of apology you sent to the court a few days ago. Above..." "This is what I presented to His Majesty in my memorial."
Li Yuanshan's expression stiffened, and he gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Fortunately, it was mostly, not all, who died in battle."
Li Yuanshan smiled slightly. "It was all... The remaining small portion listed in the memorial, I will allocate to you from the Right Valiant Guard. The Ministry of War has a register of the Fan Gu border troops, but the names... are just code names. Anyone can be called Zhang San, or Li Si."
"As for that Fang Jie... I will send someone to eliminate him."
With these words, Li Yuanshan strode away.
...
...
On the second day of the second month of the eleventh year of Tianyou in the Great Sui Dynasty, 775 soldiers of the Fan Gu border troops received orders to assemble at the drill ground. After waiting for a long time, their general, Li Xiaozong, did not appear. They stood on the drill ground for three full hours, without food or water, and were all exhausted. By evening, they suddenly received another order: General Li Yuanshan of the Right Valiant Guard was transferring the Fan Gu garrison thirty li outside the city due to an urgent military situation.
Exhausted from a day without food or water, the soldiers dragged their weary bodies out of the city and rushed to the vicinity of Fangying Pavilion, thirty li east of the city. There, they were met with five hundred heavily armored cavalry and three thousand elite infantry.
Seven hundred and seventy-five men perished.
Late that night, soldiers of the Right Valiant Guard, disguised in border army uniforms, entered Fangu. The next day, the people of Fangu received news that three hundred Mongol cavalry had invaded the border. Li Xiaozong led his army to meet them, but was ambushed; the enemy cavalry numbered far more than three hundred, at least several thousand. The border troops fought fiercely, but most were killed.
The people were shocked and enraged.
Seriously wounded, Li Xiaozong summoned the entire city's population to recruit soldiers. Unexpectedly, at that moment, thousands of Mongol soldiers, aided by spies, stormed into Fangu and massacred the inhabitants. More than two thousand people in the city were killed without exception.
Only that day did Li Xiaozong come to his senses. He realized that Li Yuanshan's earlier comment about the massacre being troublesome wasn't about the killing itself, but about how to explain it to the court.
On the night before the massacre, as the elite Right Valiant Guards, disguised as border troops from Fan Gu, entered the city, Du Hongxian, the proprietress of Yunji Dog Meat Shop, released a carrier pigeon from the city wall, then shouldered a small bag and left. She didn't know that shortly after she left, the entire city's inhabitants would become headless ghosts.
...
...
The carriage swayed slowly forward. Although the wind was still biting, wrapping oneself tightly in warm clothes and seeking the warmth of the sun in the wind was a somewhat amusing activity in the midst of boredom. Da Quan drove at a leisurely pace, lagging far behind the seven carriages of Hong Xiu Zhao. Those in front ignored them, and they were too lazy to approach the girls.
Although Da Quan enjoyed drawing nude women in the snow, he actually had no desire for women. At least in the past fifteen years, Fang Jie had never seen him seek out women, so Fang Jie's definition of Da Quan was either a miser who loved money more than anything, or someone with a physical problem.
Mu Xiaoyao was even less inclined to associate with the women of the Red Sleeve Pavilion; beautiful women rarely had much to say to each other. Therefore, she preferred to sleep in the carriage every day rather than engage in friendly conversation with those beautiful, chatty women. Fang Jie, on the other hand, preferred to sit outside wrapped in his cloak, chatting idly with Da Quan, rather than enter the carriage, because Mu Xiaoyao was truly a woman who didn't consider herself a woman.
Her red dress was already thin, and she didn't maintain any ladylike demeanor while sleeping. After tossing and turning, her pair of beautiful, white legs were exposed. For a normal man like Fang Jie, sitting inside the carriage looking at her alluring figure was unpleasant, so he preferred chatting with Da Quan outside.
"Da Quan, if I return to Fan Gu as a high-ranking official of the Sui Dynasty, how do you think the people of Fan Gu will welcome me?"
Da Quan smiled and said, "Nothing more than gongs, drums, and firecrackers."
Fang Jie shook his head and didn't continue, his expression inexplicably unpleasant. "What's wrong?"
Big Dog asked.
"I fell asleep leaning against the carriage and had a dream."
"What did you dream about?"
"I dreamt that I returned to Fangu after many years, and all the villagers were waiting for me at the city gate. I was overjoyed to see them, wanting to hug and kiss each one. But as I ran forward laughing, I suddenly realized something was wrong… Why, after so many years, did Aunt He still look the same, like a blooming morning glory that hadn't changed? Why, after all these years, did Little Jiao Jiao still only reach my knees? And still speak in her childish voice? Why, after all these years, was Qu Feng still just a border guard captain without a promotion? Looking at them, I became more and more frightened, and finally woke myself up."
"Because you just left Fangu, they certainly haven't changed in this dream."
Big Dog thought for a moment and said, "Your mind is filled with their current appearance, so your dream naturally reflects that."
"No…"
Fang Jie slowly wiped the sweat from his forehead: "They were all wearing white clothes, their faces even whiter than their clothes… I went to hug them…" But I couldn't hold onto any of them... Their feet weren't touching the ground; they were floating. It took me a long time to realize that the people I saw in my dream... were all dead.
The big dog paused, climbed into the carriage, retrieved Mu Xiaoyao's wine flask, and handed it to Fang Jie: "It was just an utterly absurd dream. If you're really worried, we can go back and check now."
Fang Jie took a swig of wine, feeling a chill run down his back: "No need... Don't people say dreams are the opposite of reality? If you dream of someone dying..." "If they die, they'll all live longer. I dreamt that all the people in Fangu died, so wouldn't that mean they all live to be a hundred?"
"Hmm!"
Big Dog nodded and smiled, "I've dreamt that we died many times in the past fifteen years, but we're still alive and well. Besides, there's an old saying, 'Good people don't pay the price, but evil people live for a thousand years...' I'm not a good person, Mu Xiaoyao isn't, and neither are you."
Fang Jie smiled, the oppression in his heart easing somewhat: "The people in Fangu City... are they all good people?"