Feng Yin Tian Xia

At dusk, the troops had already arrived at the border of the North Kingdom. In front of them was Qingming River. Xiao Yin immediately ordered his troops to build up tents and rest for a while. He convened his men together into the his tent to discuss military strategies.

After having marched for a day, Hua Zhu Yu felt that she was more tired than the horse riders. When she stood on the ground, her legs were unstable. She lifted her eyes and gazed at the orderly military camp which contained 30,000 people. The scene was very imposing yet awe-inspiring. Even after marching for a day, the soldiers seemed to not even have the littlest bit of tiredness. They didn’t complain at all. There was only the sound of the soldiers’ synchronized footsteps.

At this time, she suddenly realized that since the beginning, she, her father, and perhaps even all of the South Kingdom had underestimated the North Kingdom. The North Kingdom had not even been founded for 100 years. Before, they were just wandering tribe. As the tribe’s strength continued to grow, it slowly formed into a country. Once it came to Xiao Yin’s father, Xiao Gan,’s generation, the country had finally established an imperial family which would control the country. Xiao Gan originally was not surnamed Xiao; he was surnamed Han. Once Xiao Yin’s father established the imperial family, he had changed his surname to Xiao and also ordered the citizens to learn the mainstream culture, the mainstream language and even permitted the marriage of the citizens of the North Kingdom with those in the South Kingdom.

Xiao Yin has the South Kingdom’s ‘Rao Liang’ and his personal bodyguards are named Liufeng, Huixue, Qingyun, and Biyue. It is easy to tell that Xiao Yin has a deep understanding of the South Kingdom’s culture.

The North and the South Kingdoms have gotten along well in harmony for nearly 35 years. Even though the North Kingdom’s horses were st.u.r.dy, there were far too less of them because the forage was not enough. The North Kingdom also studied the South Kingdom’s farming technology, however they didn’t promote that way of farming as many still preferred to adhere to the nomadic lifestyle. In the eyes of all the people, the North Kingdom, could not compare with the vast armies of the South Kingdom.

However, today, Hua Zhu Yu has seen the valiance of the North Kingdom’s armies, or more accurately, Xiao Yin’s armies’ valiance. His 30,000 men could definitely compete evenly with 60,000 South Kingdom soldiers.

Late at night.

The North Kingdom’s climate really is vile. Even though it was still cold during the day, but it was still bearable, however, in the night, it was so cold that any drop of water could immediately turn into ice. After having been treated like a piece of luggage for a day, Hua Zhu Yu was extremely tired and wished to sleep early. However, Huixue came and told her than Xiao Yin wanted her to go to the imperial tent to relieve Xiao Yin’s fatigue through playing the guqin.

Hua Zhu Yu neatened herself up a little bit and then walked with Huixue to the imperial tent. Xiao Yin was currently viewing a geographical map. At her arrival, his gaze landed on her and then swept past and back onto the map.

“Play. Today, play a moving song.” Xiao Yin coldly said with his gaze still on the map.

‘Rao Liang’ was already placed on the carpet. The string that she had snapped yesterday was already fixed. Hua Zu Yu kneeled before the ‘Rao Liang’ and began to play. This time, Hua Zhu Yu was playing a pretty calm song. It was moving and also gentle. The sound of the guqin was soft and light, making it seem as though misty wind was blowing from the horizon; as though it could brush away all the chaos.

The song hadn’t even been played halfway through before Xiao Yin waved his hand and said: “Change a piece!”

Even though the piece could wash away the fatigue, however, it didn’t match Xiao Yin’s mood. Hua Zhu Yu could only change to another piece “Po Zheng Zi.” The sharp guqin sound spread into the air, creating a sonorous atmosphere and made it seem as though an iron horse was marching through dreams.

Xiao Yin was finally satisfied. He listened to the song while he was observing the map. He frowned from time to time as though the guqin’s sound was helping him think. Whenever the song finished, he would not even look up yet coldly say: “Continue to play! Don’t stop!”

Hua Zhu Yu could only continue to play. She mocked herself in her heart. This was what a zither prost.i.tute needed to do: they needed to follow by their master’s orders and if the master ever needed it, she had to continue to play and play...

She did not wear zhitao on her fingers. The North Kingdom people would never have prepared zhitao for a zither prost.i.tute. Slowly, her numb fingertips felt a sharp pain. When she looked down, she saw that blood was dripping on the guqin.

(E/N: zhitao are sort of like gloves that are worn on the fingertips to prevent the skin from breaking while playing the guqin)

When Huixue saw her red fingertips, his cold face couldn’t help but have a slight change. However, when he looked at Xiao Yin’s imposing figure, he didn’t dare to tell him. With Xiao Yin’s personality, anyone would know that there would not be a good result when one defied him.

The corners of Hua Zhu Yu’s lips lifted slightly. She placed her fingers on the string and stopped playing. She coldly said: “Your highness, please acknowledge my crime!”

(E/N: indirect way of pleading for forgiveness)

When Xiao Yin heard that the music had stopped, he slowly turned around. His voice seemed to contain a little bit of a murderous aura: “Yes, you do have a crime! Your courage is not small! Without bendianxia‘s permission, you dared to stop?”

“It’s not that this servant doesn’t want to play, but that I’m afraid I will ruin your highness’s guqin. I don’t have any way to clean it. I beg your highness to acknowledge my crime!” Hua Zhu Yu quietly said.

Xiao Yin’s gaze landed on the guqin and then to her fingers. He had then just realized there her jade-like hands were colored red by blood.

“Oh?” His eyebrows raised in surprise and his purple eyes flashed. Huixue hurriedly used a silk cloth to wipe away the b.l.o.o.d.y marks on the guqin. The tent’s atmosphere immediately darkened.

“You are so useless. Are your fingers made of paper paste or dirt? Nevermind then. You may step down.” He coldly said. He didn’t look at Hua Zhu Yu again and then said to Liufeng, who was currently outside the tent, :”Let them come inside.”

(E/N: to move away into the more obscure places, but places that when called can immediately respond to the command)

The generals that were originally outside the tent entered. Hua Zhu Yu moved back into the corner of the tent.

Xiao Yin said: “Tonight, we will begin to invade the South Kingdom from Qingming River. They originally believed that we would begin to engage in battle here or attack the places with the weakest defense: Su City or Xiang Yu Guan. Da Qi, you bring 10,000 elites to attack Xiang Yu Guan to fool the South Kingdom soldiers. We will then give them a surprise. Before General Hua Mu comes, we will capture the city south of Qingming River: Mo City.

“But, your highness, how will we get past Qingming River?” Zhang Xi asked.

“Come over.” The generals all walked over and surrounded him. Hua Zhu Yu couldn’t hear anything else Xiao Yin said. Huixue brought her out of the tent.

Hua Zhu Yu wrapped cloth around her fingers. She lay on the bed and began to contemplate how Xiao Yin would cross Qingming River. It was impossible. With the current climate, the river had already froze. Even using a boat to cross was impossible, and Xiao Yin hadn’t even prepared boats. Even setting up a floating bridge was nearly impossible. She had remembered that her father once told her Qingming River was filled with silt at the bbottom – thus making it extremely difficult to set up the pillars for the bridge.

Hua Zhu Yu couldn’t sleep well at all. The next day, when she saw the floating bridge on Qingming River, Xiao Yin’s 3000 cavalry had already crossed Qingming River during the night and had captured Mo City.

From Huixue’s words, she discovered that the bottom of Qingming River was not completely covered in silt. 40 years ago, the South Kingdom had once wanted to build a dam in Qingming River to protect against floods, however the project was never completed. Even though the dam itself was not built, the foundation for it had already been made. Xiao Yin made use of the foundation to place the pillars for the floating bridge.

He could even find information about events 40 years in the past. This man cannot be underestimated.

After two days, General Hua Mu brought 50,000 elites to Xiang Yu Guam and combined with the 10,000 soldiers of General Ma Lan, who had been originally protecting the place. They confronted with Xiao Yin’s 30,000 soldiers at Xiang Yu Guan.