A great battle came to an end.
The soldiers cleared the battlefield.
The battle flag of Northern Xinjiang lay fallen on the ground; the skulls suspended from it were gathered by the soldiers and brought before Qu Dubian.
"Your Highness, these... are the skulls of Princess Zhiyi and other soldiers of the Great Zhou."
Xia Fuyang's fingers tightened. He remained silent, focusing his attention on Qu Dubian, afraid that he would be overly provoked.
Qu Dubian knew that his elder sister was fine, and her skull was not among them, but the rest were indeed the heads of Great Zhou soldiers.
After a moment of silence, he said, "See if the military doctors can distinguish which of these skulls belong to women and which to soldiers."
Soldier: "Yes, sir."
Qu Dubian handed the battle flag to the lieutenant beside Xia Fuyang and walked back from the battlefield himself.
Thinking he was suppressing his emotions, Xia Fuyang tried hard to change the subject to distract him. "Oh, by the way, how do you plan to deal with the corpse of the Right Worthy King?"
Qu Dubian: "Skinning and stripping flesh from bones is the practice of barbarians. Hand him over to the military doctors or the city's coroners; we will study anatomy."
Let him contribute to the medical science of Great Zhou. Moreover, if the bones and muscles of the Right Worthy King of Northern Xinjiang were made into specimens, they might have a chance to be preserved for future generations, displayed in a museum for people to view.
Since the Right Worthy King liked looking at other people's bones so much, he would surely love this kind of bone-exposing scenario.
"..." Xia Fuyang praised, "That's civilized."
Qu Dubian turned his head and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Thanks. If you hadn't helped me block the arrows and clear the surroundings, I wouldn't have been able to kill him."
If he hadn't killed the Right Worthy King, although this battle would still have established their prestige, it wouldn't have been as absolute.
Xia Fuyang chuckled and threw an arm around his shoulder in a brotherly manner. "Between you and me, there's no need for thanks; it's all for Great Zhou. After this battle, the name of our Seventh Highness will spread throughout Northern Xinjiang. With us joining forces, wherever we go, Northern Xinjiang will tremble at the news!"
Qu Dubian's face twisted in pain. "Let go!"
He had a penetrating wound on his shoulder!
Before going to the battlefield, he had adjusted his body's pain sensitivity to forty percent. If it was too low and he couldn't even tell where he was injured, it would actually be more dangerous on the battlefield.
Xia Fuyang instantly remembered and quickly let go. "I completely forgot about your arrow wound," he said, gently pulling Qu Dubian along. "The wound must have torn open. Come on, let's hurry back so we can get bandaged up together."
Having cleared the hidden arrows from Qu Dubian's side, he also had wounds on his own body that needed treating.
Qu Dubian returned to the military camp inside the city with him.
As soon as he entered the city, he felt countless eager gazes falling upon him.
Almost all the soldiers stopped what they were doing to look at him.
"Your Highness!"
"His Highness has returned!"
"Your Highness, are you alright? Are you injured?"
"How is General Xia?"
Their faces were all covered in dirt, and they did not quite dare to approach. Huddled and crowded together, they looked at him and Xia Fuyang with shining eyes.
Qu Dubian: "I am fine. Everyone, don't crowd around here. Go back and get some good rest."
"Alright, everyone go back," Xia Fuyang waved his hand. "Clean up the battlefield, and we'll have an extra feast for everyone tonight!"
Qu Dubian: "And we must reward everyone according to their military merits."
"Hooray!"
The soldiers cheered, watching the two of them leave.
Xia Fuyang escorted Qu Dubian back to his tent. A military doctor came in and applied medicine for both of them.
During the process, Qu Dubian was constantly lost in thought.
Xia Fuyang vaguely sensed that his mood was a bit heavy. Thinking it was because of Zhiyi, he pondered for a long time over words of comfort, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to say them and merely sighed softly.
For those of them who had stayed at the border for a long time, facing partings in life and death, quickly adjusting their mindset had become the norm. They would not wallow excessively in sorrow and grief.
But Little Seven was not like that, and besides, that was his family member.
If it were anyone else, they wouldn't be able to recover easily either.
Qu Dubian's pitch-black eyelashes drooped slightly as he looked at his own hands.
It was his first time killing people with his own hands, and he had killed so many.
He did not remember how many chests the battle flag in his hand had pierced, nor how many times the enemies' scalding blood had splattered onto his body.
He only remembered the boiling intent to battle, and the fierce, bloodthirsty roars of the soldiers from both sides.
The cold flagpole had been heated by the wet, sticky blood. The spaces between his fingers gripping the pole were entirely stained scarlet. Even if he couldn't smell it, he could imagine the stench of blood.
Qu Dubian: "In seven days, after we have rested and reorganized, we will take back the First City."
Xia Fuyang was momentarily stunned. "Why seven days?"
Qu Dubian: "Because in seven days, the return gift for Northern Xinjiang will be just about ready."
If Northern Xinjiang had delayed their siege by half a month, his improved version of gunpowder would have been widely distributed, and the Central First City would not have been lost. Firearms with their power multiplied several times over could play an enormous supporting role in large-scale wars between two nations.
Northern Xinjiang Encampment.
A dead silence prevailed.
The news had already spread that the Right Worthy King had not managed to retreat in time and had died at the hands of the Seventh Prince of Great Zhou.
They had originally been brimming with confidence, intending to capture the Second City of the Central Cities of Great Zhou. Instead, they suffered a crushing defeat, and to make matters worse, a leading figure had been killed.
Jirgal lowered his head, his hands propped on the table inside the tent.
The Left Worthy King and the other generals in the tent dared not utter a sound.
Suddenly, Jirgal slammed a fist onto the table and said in cold fury, "Who can tell me! Where did this Seventh Prince of Great Zhou pop out from?!"
"A callow youth not even seventeen years old actually killed the Right Worthy King of my Northern Xinjiang amidst an army of tens of thousands?"
"In a charge between two armies, it surprisingly ended in a disastrous defeat. He carried the flag and charged the lines; why wasn't he shot dead by a hidden arrow?!"
The Left Worthy King said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, Xia Fuyang was by his side... He is also a madman. According to the returning soldiers, he would rather use the armor on his chest to gamble that a hidden arrow wouldn't pierce through than let a single arrow fly within half a meter of the Seventh Prince. The martial arts of those two..."
"Enough!"
Jirgal interrupted. He took a deep breath, a flash of ruthlessness crossing his eyes.
"This Seventh Prince must die. In this battle, he has roused the fighting spirit of the Great Zhou army. As long as he is dead, the morale of the Great Zhou army will be repeatedly crushed and can never rise again."
"During the next siege, if he is not present, hurl insults to provoke him into coming out, and then spare no cost to kill him with all our might."
The Left Worthy King: "As you command, Your Majesty."
The post-battle review meeting temporarily concluded.
Jirgal returned to his private tent.
Enshrined right in the center of the tent was the Heavenly God, with mysterious colored paintings tracing over its figure.
Jirgal respectfully offered three sticks of incense, then knelt before the Heavenly God and devoutly kowtowed three times.
He crossed his arms over his chest and spoke to the statue of the Heavenly God, "Oh Heavenly God, you have not entered my dreams for a long time. Are you disappointed that Northern Xinjiang has been stumped by a callow youth?"
"Those dreams that fill me with terror warn me at every moment. I fight for them and strive under your spurring. Please continue to enter my dreams."
"Oh Heavenly God, you are so magnificent, merciful yet majestic, just like my father..."
Countless flattering words bordering on the mawkish poured from his mouth. After finishing his prayer, Jirgal devoutly kowtowed three times once more.
The Left Worthy King waited until he finished praying before coming in.
"Your Majesty."
Jirgal: "Send someone to investigate the background of the Seventh Prince. The more detailed, the better. With such strength and such audacity, it is impossible for Great Zhou to be unaware."
"Thinking about it now, the Great Zhou sending him here must have been part of some conspiracy."
The capital of Great Zhou.
The mourning, sorrowful officials had not even had the time to shed a few more tears or say a few more words about how surrender would be the better option before they were shocked into dropping their jaws by the newly arrived battle report.
The Seventh Prince had fought with the banner on his shoulder, joined forces with Xia Fuyang and the various generals, reversed the declining morale of the Great Zhou soldiers, and successfully defended the two cities. The Seventh Prince personally slew the Northern Frontier's Right Worthy King and achieved a great victory over the enemy army.
Wait, was this the Seventh Prince?
The same Seventh Prince who was still sickly a few years ago and only had a track record of exterminating bandits?
They originally thought that the Seventh Prince went to the Northern Frontier just to follow Xu Jin and freeload some military merits. Who would have expected that in his very first proper battle, he would sever one of Jirgal's arms, greatly boosting their morale.
This battle report directly swept away half of the oppressive atmosphere that had hung over the capital for the past two days.
A hearty laugh rang out in the Zichen Palace, where the scent of medicine floated in the air.
"Good!"
Emperor Chongzhao coughed a few times, his face glowing with joy. "I truly never expected this boy to be so promising."
He looked at the few lines of words on the battle report, reading them back and forth several times, but he really could not imagine the image of his youngest son carrying a banner and killing enemies on the battlefield.
In his impression, the boy seemed to still be that little porcelain doll from childhood who needed people to worry about and take care of him in every aspect.
Eunuch Yu chimed in with a compliment, "Your Majesty, when you were young, you also killed enemies in Nanning. The Seventh Highness takes after you."
Emperor Chongzhao said with gratification, "It is good enough that he can hold the cities. Once Marquis Xu wakes up, the Northern Frontier will not be in such a critical state."
At this moment, he felt that his youngest son reaching this step was already his limit. He did not believe that he could truly and completely defeat the Northern Frontier army; being able to defend the cities was already a great fortune.
After being happy for a good while, a look of worry gradually surfaced on Emperor Chongzhao's face.
"Swords and spears have no eyes. He has been pampered and spoiled since childhood and has never been injured. I don't know how he is doing now."
At this moment, he truly looked like a father worried about his child.
The Second Prince's Manor.
The Second Prince stood in the pavilion, feeding the carp in the pond.
The fish food was scattered in the pond, and the fish scrambled to eat. One fish leaped out of the water, its beautiful scales flashing in the sunlight.
The fish that did not fit in with the school was a bit of an eyesore.
Strategist Mr. Deng cupped his hands. "Your Highness, have you heard about the battle report?"
The Second Prince smiled. "Who in the capital doesn't know by now? Seventh Brother is quite majestic."
"Even if the military power in the Northern Frontier is divided, the trusted aides and soldiers of the Sword-Wielding Marquis still account for half," Mr. Deng frowned. "With the Seventh Prince's status as a member of the imperial family and Xu Jin's grandson, the soldiers will find it easier to acknowledge him."
"It would have been fine if he didn't have any military merits, but now this battle has established his prestige. As time goes on, I'm afraid the Xu family army in the Northern Frontier will completely accept him. When that time comes, half of the military power in the Northern Frontier will be entirely in the Seventh Prince's hands."
The Second Prince said, "I know all of what you've said, sir."
Mr. Deng: "Your Highness, this is no small matter. Although the Seventh Prince is not deeply involved in the imperial court, it is hard to say what His Majesty is thinking. If His Majesty wants the Seventh Prince to be the Crown Prince, wouldn't all our previous efforts be in vain?"
"There is no rush," the Second Prince placed the fish food on the stone table. "Rushing is useless. Our hands cannot reach the Northern Frontier for the time being."
Mr. Deng pondered his tone and asked hesitantly, "Do you have a plan?"
The Second Prince: "Let's see how far this Seventh Brother of mine can go, and also observe Imperial Father's attitude."
The Hanlin Academy.
The newly appointed top scholar, Xi Zixing, was currently serving as a subordinate sixth-rank compiler in the Hanlin Academy.
Once his term was up, if he performed well, he would be selected for an important official position in the Six Ministries.
He wished he could just resign from his post and fly straight to the frontier.
He did not even dare to imagine how thrilled Xia Fuyang must be right now.
Fighting shoulder to shoulder, resisting the enemy forces with all their might... Did those two not feel that they were missing a military strategist behind them??
Even if Xia Fuyang tried to stop it, His Highness should have remembered him and forcefully requested his transfer to the frontier!
At the thought of the two of them fighting together, Xi Zixing wanted to run away again, but Xi Shiqiu caught wind of his intentions and forced him to stay home with a slap. "Go to the Hanlin Academy and report for duty obediently! What do you look like day in and day out? Your mind has completely flown away!"
Xi Zixing: "Father, I'm not resigning, I'm just asking for sick leave."
Xi Shiqiu: "Are you sick?"
Xi Zixing: "I can be."
"..." Xi Shiqiu simply didn't know what to say.
He remained completely neutral in the imperial court, but the son he raised sided with an outsider to no end. During the Xiang River flood, he sneaked away with the Seventh Prince. During the bandit extermination, he also sneaked away with him, clearly and openly standing on the Seventh Prince's side.
If he had remained obscure, it would have been fine, but Xi Zixing had gloriously taken first place in the imperial examination. Now it made it seem as if even he, the father, had taken sides along with his son.
Xi Shiqiu: "If you run away now, what will you do when you come back? Even if you support the Seventh Prince, he has very few connections in the Six Ministries. If you don't work hard to secure a good position, what makes you think you can help him?"
What he said was actually very correct and reasonable.
This was exactly what Xi Zixing was conflicted about.
He endured it again and again, and under the threat of Xi Shiqiu's deadly glare, he pulled his foot back from the door.
"Fine, I won't go."