The Late Emperor trusted the Huguo Jiangjun’s residence and had authorized the Huguo Jiangjun to mobilize twenty thousand troops from local forces during wartime using the commander’s seal.
After the Emperor ascended the throne, he did not revoke this privilege of the Huguo Jiangjun.
Yan Qing was the General’s guard, second only to the General in skill, and the other covert guards were no ordinary individuals either.
If they had broken through the encirclement, they would have surely made it to Ganzhou City, the nearest city to Huangshaling.
The Ganzhou military governor commanded thirty thousand troops and would not dare to disobey the General’s orders. Even if only twenty thousand troops were mobilized, with the General’s capabilities, they could have turned the tide.
At the very least, they would not have been completely annihilated.
But, “No, General, the news I received was that you and the twenty thousand Huguojun soldiers all perished at Huangshaling, including the covert guards, with no survivors.
I never heard anything about Yan Qing mobilizing troops. What exactly happened? Who was behind harming the General? Where is Yan Qing? Is he still alive?”
He was so agitated that he fired off several questions in a row, even forgetting that he had once again addressed Wei Qingyan as “General.”
Wei Qingyan raised a hand to signal him to calm down. “I have yet to uncover who is behind this. Yan Qing and I had an agreement: if he successfully reached Ganzhou City, he would release a signal.”
She saw Yan Qing’s signal at Huangshaling but waited in vain for reinforcements.
After hearing Wei Qingyan’s account of the situation at the time, Du Xueyi sprang to his feet. “The Ganzhou military governor was problematic! The Ganzhou military governor at that time was… Wu Yuchu…”
He paused, his eyes widening, then slowly sat back down and looked at Wei Qingyan. “Wu Yuchu is dead. He was assassinated in his concubine’s room a few days ago.”
It was the General!
The General killed him!
The General loved his soldiers, treating them like brothers. The General would never fail to avenge the deaths of twenty thousand Huguojun soldiers. “He deserved it. He deserved to die.”
Du Xueyi gritted his teeth. “Was Yan Qing also killed by him?”
Otherwise, given Yan Qing’s loyalty to the General, he would never have stood by and watched the General suffer without attempting a rescue.
“I don’t know.” A flicker of sorrow passed quickly over Wei Qingyan’s face. “But I found out that Yan Qing appeared outside Yongzhou City. He is dead.”
After regaining her memories, the first thing she did was give Yan Qing’s birth details to the Fat Monk and asked him to divine his fate.
The result showed that Yan Qing’s soul had returned to Difu many years ago, but it was unknown where his bones were buried.
Or whether anyone had collected his remains.
“Yongzhou? Isn’t that the fief of your brother-in-law, Prince Jing?”
Du Xueyi speculated, “Could it be that Yan Qing reached Ganzhou City, failed to mobilize troops, and was instead pursued by Wu Yuchu? That’s why he fled to Yongzhou to seek help from Prince Jing?”
Based on Wei Qingyan’s understanding of Yan Qing, Du Xueyi’s speculation was highly likely to be the truth.
But.
“Yan Qing never made it into Yongzhou City. He was pursued and attacked outside the city, and after that, there was no trace of him.”
Wei Qingyan looked at Du Xueyi. “At that time, he was alone. The commander’s seal disappeared along with him.”
Du Xueyi’s expression changed abruptly.
In Dawei, apart from the Emperor’s tiger tally, only the Huguo Jiangjun’s commander’s seal could mobilize the hundred thousand Huguojun.
The hundred thousand Huguojun were personally established by the old General Wei. To some extent, the Huguojun recognized the commander’s seal even more than the tiger tally.
But after the events at Huangshaling, the court announced to the public that the Huguo Jiangjun had died in battle and the commander’s seal was lost in the chaos.
Fearing that someone with ill intentions might obtain the seal and cause trouble, the Emperor revoked the authority of the Huguo Jiangjun’s commander’s seal to mobilize troops.
At the time, Du Xueyi thought that the “someone with ill intentions” the Emperor referred to was likely Prince Rong.
After all, it was Prince Rong who led his troops to the Huangshaling battlefield first and was the first to come into contact with the General’s body.
Combining the information the General had shared, Du Xueyi formed a terrifying suspicion. He pointed toward the sky, “Could it be that he orchestrated all of this?”
Since ancient times, rulers have been accustomed to discarding those who have served their purpose.
It was no coincidence that just as Wudan, which had oppressed Dawei for years, was defeated by the General, the General met with misfortune.
The Huguojun was formidable in combat—a force of one hundred thousand could rival three hundred thousand ordinary troops. To the one seated on the dragon throne, this was both a temptation and a threat.
Wei Qingyan nodded, “It cannot be ruled out. Anyone who could make the Ganzhou military governor obey their commands is no ordinary person.”
She had only regained her memories two months prior and had limited information.
“Xueyi, if Shi Yu held leverage over me, do you think he would betray me?”
The shift in topic was so abrupt that Du Xueyi took a moment to catch up. After pondering for a while, he shook his head, “This subordinate believes he would not.”
He did not know what leverage the General referred to or why she asked such a question, but he spoke his honest thoughts.
“This subordinate prides himself on being loyal enough to the General, but if something happened to you, I could not act as recklessly as he did to avenge you.
We only dared to proceed in secret, but before we could take action, Prince Rong detected our plans and stopped everyone.
He said the General would never wish to see the Huguojun branded as traitors. With the Empress Dowager protecting him, at worst, he would return to being an idle prince—his life would not be at risk.
If he intended to betray the General, why would he go to such lengths?
General, you may not know, but this subordinate encountered him twice at your tomb, both times in a state of unconsciousness.
From the day you were buried, his health deteriorated—he spent half of each day in a daze.”
Wei Qingyan recalled that day at the hot spring when she had taken Shi Yu’s pulse—it was indeed extremely weak.
But now he possessed the Gongdeyin, which contained profound vitality and should have aided his recovery.
“Why does the General suspect him? Has the General discovered something?” Du Xueyi asked.
Having just experienced the incident with Lady Guan, Du Xueyi also worried that Prince Rong might not be the person he appeared to be.
Wei Qingyan shook her head, “There are just some matters I am uncertain about.”
But now she was certain.
Back then, when Shi Yu pretended to be drunk and drugged her into a deep sleep, it was not because he suspected her identity.
At that time, he had not yet discovered she was a woman, which was why he was tormented by his feelings and distanced himself from her.
The storybook found in the private room recounted the love and hatred between two men.
Although the two figures carved on the low couch lacked facial features, Wei Qingyan knew Shi Yu had carved her and himself—but her in male attire.
This explained why Shi Yu had suddenly decided to break ties with her.
He had realized he had fallen in love with a man.
And this man was Dawei’s Huguo Jiangjun, with whom he could never have a future.
She remembered Shi Yu asking her many times, “If your feelings and your future were ever at odds, what would you choose?”
“Of course, my future,” she had replied firmly.
As a woman disguised as the Huguo Jiangjun, she could neither take a wife nor marry—how could she possibly entertain feelings?
This answer had led Shi Yu to make his choice: he suppressed his feelings to secure her future.
She also recalled that the day before their estrangement began, Shi Yu had come to Weifu looking for her. She had just returned from the military camp and greeted him as usual.
But he ignored her and went straight to his carriage.
That was the beginning of their estrangement.
And inside the gates of Weifu, Mother had been standing there.
The glory and future of the Huguo Jiangjun’s household were Mother’s life—how could she allow Shi Yu to destroy it all?
Therefore, the one who betrayed her female identity to Bei Ling was not Shi Yu; otherwise, upon seeing Abu’s corpse on the battlefield, he would have known it wasn’t her.
If he had been the one to reveal it, he wouldn’t have concealed it for her, to the extent that even now, the world remains unaware she is a woman.
If Shi Yu didn’t know, what about Mother?
What role did she play in this entire affair?
As a mother, it would be impossible for her not to see her son one last time.
Even if Abu’s corpse had decomposed beyond recognition upon returning to the capital, with careful examination, distinguishing between male and female would still have been possible. Knowing that the corpse was not her daughter, did Mother ever search for the real her?
Mother was unaware of Abu’s existence. Seeing Shi Yu mistake a male corpse for her, didn’t Mother ever feel suspicious and investigate further?