“So slow.”
The maid had not replied for a long time, and Wei Li grew impatient, leaning over to listen himself.
Zhao Xiheng was still cursing, but her voice was too soft and muddled. Unless one pressed close to her lips, no one could make out what she was saying.
In her dreams, she was still filled with thoughts of that old beast Wei Li, but the circumstances were vastly different. In her dream, her Aye had come back to life, leading troops to capture Pingzhou. Wei Li, as a treacherous rebel, was bound to the gallows, a pitiful and wretched sight. She gleefully pinched Wei Li’s face, pouring out all the foul words she had kept bottled up inside.
It was truly exhilarating!
The maid felt as if she were being roasted over a fire, sweat pouring down, yet she dared not intervene. She could only watch helplessly as Wei Li leaned closer.
Her heart pounded wildly, as if about to leap out of her throat, her limbs weak as if treading on clouds.
No, no, no, stop cursing! How could such a beautiful young lady not cherish her own life?
If the Zhu Gong took offense, she might lose her life as well.
Wei Li stood with his hands behind his back, leaning slightly forward. His jet-black hair fell onto her neck, but he couldn’t make out her muttering at all. He swept his hair back and leaned even lower.
Still, he couldn’t hear.
He simply pressed his ear to within half an inch of her lips. The chain of his earring brushed against her lips, while the warm breath from her mouth fell upon Wei Li’s earlobe.
“Wei Li…”
This time, he heard it—a soft, gentle voice, slightly hoarse, calling his name. It felt like a feather tickling the depths of his heart.
Wei Li pinched his earlobe, thinking she was truly burning up with fever. Even her breath felt scorching.
Hmm, but it was rather nice. Even in her illness and dreams, she hadn’t forgotten his name.
Given her timid nature, she probably wouldn’t dare speak a harsh word to him. Perhaps she was even crying in her dream, begging him to let her go.
The corner of his lips curled upward as he tilted his ear to listen further.
The maid trembled, head bowed, as if preparing for a heroic sacrifice.
“Zhu Gong!” The Commandery Governor called out softly from outside the door, his voice filled with urgency. “Zhu Gong, something terrible has happened!”
On ordinary days, he would avoid Wei Li at all costs, steering clear of any involvement. If not for the urgency of the situation, he would never have willingly walked into the line of fire. But considering Wei Li’s usual indifference to the affairs of Pingzhou and his disregard for human life, he feared Wei Li might not take the matter seriously.
The Commandery Governor’s voice grew louder and louder, but aside from hearing his own name from Zhao Xiheng’s lips, Wei Li could make out nothing else.
He kicked the door open and strode out, paying no heed to the patient lying inside who needed rest. “If this isn’t important, I’ll skin you alive. Let’s talk in the side hall.”
The Commandery Governor shuddered. Wei Li had skinned people and stuffed them with straw more than once.
The side hall was much colder than Zhao Xiheng’s inner chamber. Wei Li draped the waichang over his shoulders, and as he walked, the golden clasps on the front clattered, gleaming brilliantly against the gold-thread embroidery of his robe, dazzling beyond compare.
He sat imposingly at the head of the hall but found it uncomfortable, so he leaned back slightly, crossing his long legs on the small table before him, exuding an oddly dissolute and unrestrained air.
Outside, the sky was overcast, and even though it was only morning, lamps had already been lit in the side hall. The flickering candlelight cast half of Wei Li’s pale face in shadow and half in light. Ignoring his detestable demeanor, there was a breathtaking, almost mesmerizing beauty to him.
The Commandery Governor rushed over, clinging to his leg with snot and tears streaming down his face, and presented the intelligence report submitted from below. “Zhu Gong, the deer farm in Longtan was attacked last night.”
The densely packed characters on the report were a headache to look at. Wei Li flung it far away, but the Commandery Governor picked it back up.
The Longtan Deer Farm was undeniably important to Pingzhou, as a significant portion of its revenue relied on it. Every year, the deer farm harvested antlers and processed deer hides for trade, exchanging them for resources like coal. Moreover, the deer farm was also tied to the livelihoods of many Pingzhou residents.
Wei Li’s expression suddenly darkened. He kicked the small table in front of him, sending the wooden piece tumbling across the floor several times before it wobbled and fell apart—a testament to the force behind the blow.
Whether Pingzhou had resources or not was irrelevant to him. The state of the deer farm didn’t concern him either. Even the lives of Pingzhou’s people, whether they lived or died, were none of his business. But Wei Li cared about his pride. He refused to endure even the slightest humiliation or grievance. Anyone who slighted him or laughed at his misfortune would be remembered for a lifetime, and he would hunt them down and tear them apart sooner or later.
“Was it the Xianbei, Goguryeo, Dongying, or Qingzhou?”
He listed every neighboring region without missing a single one.
The Commandery Governor believed that, given Wei Li’s current mood, even if he said the deer farm was attacked by Dongying, Wei Li would sail across the sea overnight to wage war against them.
Although Wei Li was usually heartless, cold-blooded, and cruel, his unexpected concern for the deer farm today came as a surprise. Regardless of his motives, as long as he was willing to handle the matter, that was enough.
“It was… Goguryeo. The night before last, the Songhua River froze thickly. Some people from Northern Goguryeo crossed the river under the cover of darkness, infiltrated the deer farm, and slaughtered most of the fawns.”
Goguryeo’s move to cut off the source was undeniably vicious. The deer farm was vital to Pingzhou’s livelihood. While adult deer represented the present of the farm, the fawns were its future. This slaughter would not only affect next year but also leave the farm struggling for years to come, inevitably causing Pingzhou’s economy to decline.
“Pingzhou is mine now.” Goguryeo’s actions were no different from urinating on his head, riding his neck, and slapping his face—publicly humiliating him. Wei Li naturally couldn’t tolerate it.
“Who was guarding the border last night?” Wei Li licked his sharp teeth and asked.
“It was Chiliarch Sun and his men on duty,” the Commandery Governor replied, flipping through the records and reporting without missing a word.
“Has winter fishing begun at Chagan Lake?”
“Yes, it started half a month ago,” the Commandery Governor scratched his head, somewhat puzzled by the question.
“Those useless sacks of wine who can’t even guard the border properly—throw them into Chagan Lake to feed the fish.”
The Commandery Governor thought that being skinned alive was far better than being thrown into the lake to freeze to death. With trembling hands, he noted it down to pass the order later.
“Zhu Gong, given Goguryeo’s actions this time, can the marriage alliance still proceed?”
“No,” Wei Li smiled. “It’s off.”
The princess meant for the marriage alliance had already been kidnapped by him. Even if the weak and incompetent Great Zhou Emperor still wanted to proceed with the alliance, who would he use? Himself?
The Commandery Governor thought that made sense.
Goguryeo’s nighttime raid on the deer farm was a clear statement: “We have no intention of establishing friendly relations with you.”
Such actions were a blatant slap in the face to the Great Zhou Emperor, who had been eagerly sending a princess for the marriage alliance.
If the Emperor had even a shred of courage, he could no longer send a princess for the alliance.
But speaking of which, the princess for the marriage alliance should have arrived by now. Why hasn’t there been any news?
Wasn’t the emperor’s own daughter supposed to marry the former Prince Zhenbei’s heir? Now that the entire Zhenbei family has gone to the underworld and Pingzhou has changed hands, who is she to marry?
The Commandery Governor clicked his tongue and shook his head. The emperor’s attempt to marry off his princess had gone awry, and both sides had suffered humiliating slaps to the face.
Wei Li and the Commandery Governor’s thoughts gradually diverged.
While the Commandery Governor was still lost in thought, Wei Li suddenly stood up, took the long sword hanging on the side, and headed out. Lifting the door curtain, he ducked through and said:
“Deputy General, follow me to muster the troops.”
The Commandery Governor was so startled he slid to his knees, clutching Wei Li’s thigh. “Zhu Gong, are you really going now?”
This reckless ancestor! How many troops does Ji’an even have? Is it enough?
Wei Li bent down, grabbed the Commandery Governor’s topknot, and forced him to look up. With a chilling smile, he said, “If not now, when? Wait until those Goguryeo maggots are truly trampling over my head?”
Although it was Northern Goguryeo that had raided the deer farm, Southern Goguryeo was closer to Ji’an. They were all part of the same country, divided only into north and south, and Wei Li felt it made no difference which one he attacked.
He set out with his troops in the morning and arrived at Pyongyang by afternoon.
Pyongyang lay on the border between Pingzhou and Southern Goguryeo.
Before the soldiers who had followed Wei Li could even catch their breath, they saw him stand tall and relaxed, casually nocking three arrows onto his bow. Without a single miss, he shot them precisely into the heads of three enemy soldiers.
Good heavens, this ancestor truly knew how to stir up trouble. The men no longer cared about resting, gripping their weapons tightly, ready to engage at any moment.
A man who appeared to be a general emerged from a felt tent and stood under the torchlight, shouting at Wei Li, “Who goes there?”
Due to Pingzhou’s cultural diversity, many languages were spoken, and everyone was fluent in at least two. Wei Li naturally understood the general’s words.
His eyelashes lowered, casting a faint shadow, and he chuckled lightly before raising his sharp chin. “Your grandfather!”
His gold ornaments and ear chains glittered brilliantly under the torchlight, making him a living target. His posture and tone were both unbearably arrogant and contemptuous.
Wei Li’s dismissive attitude stirred the blood of Pingzhou’s soldiers.
The two sides clashed, the sounds of clashing weapons and roars piercingly loud.
The fierce fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear those who care not for their lives. Wei Li was the latter.
He wore no armor at all, wielding a pair of three-foot-long silver curved blades as he moved among Goguryeo’s soldiers, never retreating an inch, like a vengeful ghost.
The battle ended quickly. When one of Wei Li’s blood-dripping blades pressed against the enemy general’s neck, the morale of the remaining Goguryeo soldiers shattered. They dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.
Wei Li licked his dry, bleeding lips, kicked the Goguryeo general to the ground, and planted a foot on his chest. Slapping the man’s face with the flat of his blade as if patting a dead pig, he said, “Remember this well. Tell your King of Goguryeo that I am Wei Li of Pingzhou. If any of your people set foot where they shouldn’t again, tell him to wash his neck and wait for me in his royal court.”
The general’s eyes widened as he struggled to rise, but Wei Li pressed down harder with his foot, forcing him back down.
Wei Li bent slightly and carved the character for “defeat” on both sides of the man’s face—one in Great Zhou script, the other in Goguryeo script.
After admiring his handiwork for a moment, Wei Li hauled the man up and handed him over to his subordinates to be bound.
Since Goguryeo had slaughtered the fawns at the deer farm, Wei Li couldn’t simply settle the matter with a single fight.
He sat on the highest platform of the training ground, a withered blade of grass clenched between his teeth, watching the men below sort through the spoils of war.
There were provisions and fine wine, horses and lambs.
And also… a woman.
The woman was dressed in the attire of a Great Zhou palace maid, her hands bound and a cloth gag stuffed in her mouth.
Upon hearing the familiar language, Xiao Tao couldn’t hold back her tears, which streamed down her face.
She had woken up along the way, jumped off the cart to search for Zhao Xiheng, but having lost her way, she had mistakenly wandered into Goguryeo territory. They hadn’t killed her; instead, they had bound her.