"No need. I'll go and settle this myself."
As Chiying expected, when Cui Jie heard that Cui Jie and others were hiding at Bai Long Gang, he decided to lead the troops personally to confront them.
Xu Cheng said earnestly, "Your Majesty, your body is noble. Why should you go to such a desolate place for such a trivial matter? Guo Ziyang betrayed the country and incited the Western Regions to invade the Central Plains. Heaven cannot tolerate this. I am willing to take Your Majesty's place and cut off his head to honor the souls of our fallen soldiers!"
Cao Qian also said, "The enemy has no more than ten thousand men. It is not worth Your Majesty's effort to go there personally!"
Dai Ping and Dai Jing, the brothers, also expressed their willingness to fight in his stead, but after listening to their eager requests, Emperor Cui Yi still said, "I appreciate your goodwill, but this is a personal grudge between my predecessor and me. I must resolve it myself. No one can replace me. There is no need to argue further. Zhongxing, you will lead ten thousand men to wait on standby here. Yuanke, take thirty thousand men to Yangming Pass immediately. Once the traitor's head arrives, you and Dai Jing will march against Humontore. Since they don't want to be a vassal state of Great Chu, we might as well annex them into Liangzhou. This way, I won't have to worry about these wolves every day."
"But..."
"There are no buts. My decision is final. Just follow my orders."
The generals couldn't persuade him, so they turned to Baili Zan with hope that he could convince Emperor Cui Yi.
Baili Zan stroked his beard and thought for a while before saying, "His Majesty must have his reasons for this arrangement. Please do not insist further. Follow His Majesty's instructions."
The generals groaned inwardly—why did he try to persuade them instead of the emperor? Last time, the emperor almost lost his life due to his stubbornness, and even the Empress rushed thousands of miles to die for love. If anything happens this time, they would all be buried with him!
But no matter how much they lamented internally, they had to obey the emperor. With gloomy faces, they left.
"Is there another reason why His Majesty doesn't allow the generals to accompany him?" Baili Zan asked Emperor Cui Yi, but his eyes were on Chiying.
Chiying smiled without speaking. Emperor Cui Yi said, "What other reason could there be? I want to end this personally. Isn't that reason enough?"
Baili Zan smiled helplessly and was about to leave when Emperor Cui Yi added, "After Chiying left, Rongshi announced to the world that the former emperor was dead. The person beside Guo Mao is just a substitute. I said I wanted to settle things with the former emperor, but in fact, I'm going to kill this substitute to prevent anyone from using him to stir unrest in the Western Regions."
Baili Zan felt a chill and looked at Chiying again. She still smiled, her expression intriguing.
No wonder she dared to come to Liangzhou, leaving her children behind. She had even bought off Rongshi. Baili Zan admired Chiying's unconventional use of people and prayed silently that Rongshi wouldn't cause any trouble. As long as she behaved, no one could shake Emperor Cui Yi's throne anymore.
Xu Cheng set out that night, while Emperor Cui Yi departed for Bailinggang early the next morning.
The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the military camp was already brightly lit. Everyone was nervously preparing. Emperor Cui Yi stood at the gate of the camp, exhaling clouds of white breath, deep in thought.
"Please mount, Your Majesty." A guard led a horse to him.
Emperor Cui Yi responded absentmindedly and reached for the reins. When his hand touched the guard's, he instantly withdrew it.
The guard kept his head bowed, showing utmost respect.
Emperor Cui Yi: "..."
Seeing no one paying attention, Emperor Cui Yi whispered anxiously, "Are you crazy!"
The guard adjusted the oversized helmet with the horsewhip, revealing a woman's red face—Chiying grinned and said, "Stop shouting. Get on the horse and let's go."
Emperor Cui Yi was both amused and annoyed, pointing at her but unable to say anything. Finally, he sighed and said, "Don't cause trouble." Chiying grinned mischievously, handing over the reins and whip. Emperor Cui Yi thought for a moment and said, "Do you want to ride behind me? Or shall I give you Jinwu?"
Chiying pleaded softly, "Are you trying to make sure everyone recognizes me? Never mind, General Cao prepared another horse for me." Emperor Cui Yi mounted Jinwu and rode out of the camp first.
Emperor Cui Yi was surprised to see Chiying riding a horse. He remembered she always rode in carriages.
Watching her skillfully mount the horse, he relaxed. Since they met, Chiying had always surprised him. Riding a horse was nothing compared to her other talents.
Only Chiying knew that she could only ride slowly. To gallop, someone had to lead the horse, and she had to cling to its neck throughout the ride. Though it wasn't graceful, at least she wouldn't fall off. Riding was too distant for her, a sheltered lady. But since carriages couldn't traverse the desert, she had to learn to ride.
The troops set off. Bailinggang belonged to the Chaoyan mountain range, less than three days' journey from Liangzhou. The terrain was treacherous, easy to defend but hard to attack—but conversely, if the enemy couldn't ascend, those on the mountain couldn't descend either. Surrounding the rebels on the mountain and cutting off their supplies would ensure their defeat.
Chiying remained low-key along the way, avoiding speaking to prevent being recognized. At night, she shared a tent with Emperor Cui Yi. Generals always had guards serving them during campaigns, and an emperor naturally required even more service, so no one suspected anything.
However, for Emperor Cui Yi, sharing a tent but not a bed was frustrating—this point was temporarily put aside.
At the foot of the mountain, Emperor Cui Yi left the accompanying generals to command the encirclement, blocking all possible escape routes. He then rode up the steep slope alone, with Chiying by his side, her breathing quickened by nervousness, constantly looking around for potential assassins.
"What are you looking for?" Emperor Cui Yi noticed her unease after walking for a while and asked curiously.
Chiying pursed her lips and shook her head, seeming a bit paranoid. Emperor Cui Yi's lips twitched, and he couldn't help saying, "It's impossible to have ambushes in such terrain. Further ahead, though, it's uncertain."
The nearby guards were astonished. Since he was a prince over a decade ago, Emperor Cui Yi had always maintained a stern demeanor in public, rarely smiling or showing good temper.
But today, he spoke gently to an insignificant soldier!
Everyone looked at Chiying strangely.
Unaware of their reactions, Chiying looked at the road ahead and asked, "What's ahead?"
Emperor Cui Yi pointed to the bush-covered slope ahead and said, "Such places are prone to ambushes and traps, but now it's winter, and setting traps leaves marks. We can't generalize."
As soon as he finished speaking, a rope shot out of the snow, startling Jinwu. Snow flew everywhere as Jinwu neighed and nearly threw Emperor Cui Yi off. Guards rushed forward to protect him. Instead of retreating, Emperor Cui Yi waved his arm and shouted, "Retreat quickly!"
There indeed was a tripwire in the knee-deep snow. Triggering it caused bells on pine trees to ring, the sound echoing up the mountain. Hidden enemies leaped out, brandishing curved swords and charging towards them.
Chiying experienced her first ambush, swaying on the horse, unable to run. Fortunately, the ambushers were few and quickly subdued. After the chaos subsided, Emperor Cui Yi sheathed his sword and hurriedly rode over, asking, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. What about you?" Chiying clung awkwardly to the horse.
Emperor Cui Yi wanted to laugh but held back. "Stay here." Then he went to interrogate the prisoners.
The prisoners were Humontore soldiers. Initially, they pretended not to understand Chinese, chattering gibberish. Emperor Cui Yi drew his sword and stabbed one without hesitation. The others froze in fear. Pointing his sword at another, he demanded, "How many people are on the mountain? Who are they?" The prisoner hesitated, and Emperor Cui Yi mercilessly decapitated him.
All the prisoners were terrified and began talking frantically, revealing everything about the situation on the mountain within moments.
Chiying listened from a distance and gained a general understanding. Besides the few hundred loyalists that followed Emperor Cui Jie from the capital, there were also three thousand Humontore royal guards sent by the king to protect him.
Three thousand against ten thousand would be easy without Guo Mao, but with him, it was uncertain. Chiying pondered silently.
Emperor Cui Yi was thinking the same thing. He had never met Guo Ziyang in person, only seeing him through a carriage curtain, yet he had been plotted against countless times, nearly dying in Tawergan. Hearing the prisoners' words, he didn't dare rush to order an attack. Instead, he turned to Chiying and asked, "What should we do now?"
Chiying thought for a moment and asked, "Do you want to live or die?"
The Humontore soldiers exchanged glances.
"If you want to die, go down the mountain. There are fifty thousand troops waiting below. You'll be killed before reaching the foot of the mountain."
Chiying exaggerated to intimidate them. Immediately, a Humontore soldier shouted, "We want to live! We want to live!"
"If you want to live, go up the mountain and tell Guo Ziyang to stop resisting. Using a puppet resembling the former emperor to incite the Western Regions to invade the Central Plains is naive," Chiying said solemnly. "Also, tell your fellow soldiers to think about their families. Is it worth dying for a puppet?"
The Humontore soldiers looked at each other, whispering among themselves. Finally, their leader replied, "I'll deliver your message."
Emperor Cui Yi nodded, and the soldiers released them. The Humontore soldiers slumped and walked up the mountain.
"What now?" Emperor Cui Yi asked.
Chiying chuckled, "Wait for them to come down and die."