A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 24

The Xiling area is a continuous stretch of mountains, with hundreds of miles of crisscrossing peaks and ridges, and countless hilltops.

After Chen Liangyu crossed out barren mountains and isolated ridges from the map, she began searching along the passes leading to various regions. She rescued merchant convoys and wealthy gentry who were robbed or moving with their families. After taking down more than ten bandit camps in a row, she began to feel a sense of unease, as if things were going a little too smoothly.

It is said that when things reach an extreme, they must reverse. Just as she was leading her troops to the Bogong Ridge non-stop, following the directions given by a captured bandit, and continuing to besiege the bandit camp on Bogong Ridge, Zhai Ji went missing.

Since North Yong sent the Second Prince Zhai Ji to Yongdu as a hostage, the two rivals had not met face-to-face. This time, when she requested permission to lead the army to suppress the bandits, she happened to run into Zhai Ji entering the palace to present a gift to Emperor Xuanyuan.

The gift was not a priceless treasure; it was just a prayer flag. But its mystique lay in the fact that it was personally made by North Yong’s Grand Shaman.

The Grand Shaman of North Yong is revered as a “Divine Emissary,” and the prayer flags she crafts are thus endowed with divine power.

Zhai Ji presented a “Connected Branches Flag,” praying that lovers could be reunited in their next life.

When Zhai Ji presented the treasure, she thought, “Who would believe such a ridiculous thing?”

As it turned out, the tearful Emperor Xuanyuan did believe it.

Empress Huixian had recently passed away, and the Connected Branches Flag presented by Zhai Ji just happened to offer solace to Emperor Xuanyuan. Overjoyed, the Emperor wanted to reward Zhai Ji. Zhai Ji declined all honors, only saying, “I wish to share His Majesty’s burdens with Commander Chen.” So, Emperor Xuanyuan simply trusts the person onto her.

Her eyelids instantly twitched a few times. Meeting Zhai Ji’s malevolent sidelong glance, she felt certain something troublesome was about to happen.

Sure enough, Zhai Ji did not disappoint her.

Soon after she had sent out scouts to explore the different sections of the route, he disappeared into the vast mountain forest.

She was not worried that he would run away. A hostage escaping is a serious crime. Even if he fled back to North Yong, he would inevitably be deposed and become a commoner. If he caused a war between the two nations, he would be treated as a deserter and executed under military law. She was only afraid that he might have been separated near this bandit lair and accidentally killed by the bandits. After all, he was a North Yong prince, and if he died upon arrival, Great Lin would have trouble explaining it to North Yong.

He was truly a hassle, forcing her to spare a detachment of soldiers just to look for him.

Forest birds scattered in panic. The new green leaves in the forest were dense, yet not enough to conceal the movements of the people and horses within.

Suddenly, another group of people appeared on the opposite side of the forest.

“There are people over there! Quick, chase! Catch one to ask for directions,” shouted Zhang Jialing, pointing to where the group disappeared.

“Beware of a diversion. Send two people ahead to investigate first.”

Two young soldiers responded and quickly moved through the trees using them as cover, keeping their bodies low.

The second thing that annoyed Chen Liangyu was that Prime Minister Zhang had sent Zhang Jialing to be her deputy general.

Although those who turn to banditry are usually just common folk—perhaps a few days ago they were still farming or weeding, but due to a natural or man-made disaster, they felt they had no choice but to starve to death—so they gathered a few friends, grabbed a hoe, carried a pot and kettle, found a hilltop, and became bandits. Such people, upon seeing government troops, would flee like mice seeing a cat, and posed little danger.

But there are also camps that gather large numbers of vicious bandits, numerous, fierce, brutal, and capable of killing without blinking. Furthermore, the bandits in such camps are extremely hostile towards the government. As soon as they meet, they charge forward without asking questions, aiming to kill one to break even, two to profit, or to die together.

Although the probability of Zhang Jialing being killed was low, it was not zero.

This man, however, loved to spread his wings on the edge of death, which was a headache!

The two scouts who went ahead just now returned and reported, “There’s an ambush ahead.”

“How many people?”

“Around two to three hundred.”

It looked like she had encountered the second type of situation.

But this was good, too. Lately, she had only rounded up a bunch of insignificant small fry. Two to three hundred people—that would be a decent warm-up.

Her troops were divided into several routes for the clean-up operation, and she kept over a thousand men under her direct command. Since the opponent numbered over a hundred, she could no longer charge recklessly to capture them.

“Center ranks form up, flank with two wings, advance in three columns,” she commanded.

The end of the forest was a desolate, treeless area—a large, open wilderness with many naturally formed trenches due to the terrain.

Suddenly, a deafening shout erupted. Hundreds of heads popped up from all directions, holding broadswords and long spears, and charged towards the government troops. As they ran, they formed a “Single-Line Long Snake” formation, heading straight for the central main force. The vanguards immediately engaged the enemy, but the enemy was unstoppable, and managed to forcibly split the central military formation in two.

Chen Liangyu spun her sword, slashing the throat of one bandit, then delivered a mid-air kick, and followed up with another sword thrust, eliminating another rogue who tried to sneak-attack her. She then surveyed the battlefield, analyzing the military situation.

After the Long Snake formation scattered the central main force and split it in two, it also began to decompose into two columns, like two giant pythons winding and coiling, surrounding the left and right flanks, intending to strangle them.

“Change formation! Defense!”

The army, which had been split in half, immediately changed its formation, setting up four circles. Each circle had an inner and outer layer. Bandits were constantly hooked into the circles. The people in the inner layer of the circle chopped down with their swords, leaving behind only a scream and a mutilated corpse.

Chen Liangyu seized the opportunity to climb to a high point. The enemy’s formation was also changing, like a wandering dragon, intertwined like a Bagua (Eight Trigrams) formation, giving her army no chance to regroup.

Even more horrifying, there were a few ghostly figures in the heart of the formation. Judging by their build and appearance, they were similar to the humanoid monsters that attempted to assassinate Emperor Xuanyuan that day.

“Yin-Yang Formation?” Chen Liangyu murmured.

This formation was created by her maternal grandfather, He Niangong, before his death. If commanded properly, it could allow a smaller force to defeat a larger one, a weaker one to defeat a stronger one. The corresponding military manual was the Three Volumes of Yin and Yang.

How could bandits understand such a formation?

“Listen to my order! Each sub-formation is to divide into three again, using the two central teams as the main force, obliquely insert into the formation, and the two sides are to converge!”

The circles instantly transformed into twelve arrowhead-shaped groups, piercing the monolithic Yin-Yang formation sharply, separating the enemies into a confined space, like turtles in a jar. The opposing force was already two or three times fewer than her army. Once the formation was broken, they suffered countless casualties and hastily retreated.

Chen Liangyu kicked down a bandit trying to grab her leg and drag her down. She leaped from the high point, delivering a powerful sword thrust directly into the bandit’s chest and abdomen. Spotting a figure that was slow on their feet, she casually grabbed a vine and swung it over to hook the person back.

“Keep him alive!”

Chen Liangyu quickly stopped the bloodthirsty soldier; the blade stopped an inch from the bandit’s scalp.

The captured live bandit on the ground, however, showed no desire to live. Grabbing the vine that pulled him back, he flipped over and wrapped it around Chen Liangyu’s neck.

Small in stature and lean, but surprisingly strong! Chen Liangyu elbowed the person’s right chest. She did not hold back her strength in this blow. The two hands gripping the vine immediately loosened, and a gush of blood sprayed out with a “poof,” staining a large area of Chen Liangyu’s clothes.

She took the opportunity to break free from the vine and placed her sword against the neck of the small bandit.

The touch didn’t feel quite right!

Chen Liangyu stared in surprise at the slightly raised area her elbow hit for a moment. The person beneath her sword suddenly had reddened earlobes and, frantic with anger, bent their waist. Ignoring the pain that made them grimace, they spoke through a bloody mouth, scolding, “What are you looking at? Don’t you have one yourself?”

It was a crisp, clear, female voice.

The bandit’s face was smeared with plant ash, making it impossible to distinguish gender. She had actually captured a young woman.

“Take her down for interrogation.”

“How can you be so unchivalrous?” Zhang Jialing staggered over, his legs shaking with every step. His legs finally gave out, and he knelt on the ground with a stumble, snapping a few dead branches with a “crack.”

Chen Liangyu waved her hand, and her soldiers took the person away.

Zhang Jialing quickly scrambled back up from the ground and followed, “Don’t torture her! If you torture her, she’ll die! Interrogate the others first… Why does a little girl have to be a bandit? You could at least be a soldier like Chen Liangyu…”

The female bandit immediately spat at Zhang Jialing, “Where there’s an official, there’s a commoner; where there’s a soldier, there’s a bandit. Are soldiers nobler than bandits? I like being a bandit. Can you control me?”

Zhang Jialing wiped the blood from his face with a shrug, “You don’t get to be a bandit now. You’re a captive! Just wait for your execution!”

The female bandit snorted and ignored him, holding her head high, completely fearless.

Chen Liangyu waved her hand again, “Bring her back.”

At this point, Zhang Jialing looked at the female bandit with a bit of pity and kindly advised, “Talk nicely, okay? She doesn’t have a good temper like me. She will really kill you.”

“Which bandit camp are you from?” Chen Liangyu asked.

“This is Bogong Ridge, so of course it’s Bogong Camp.”

“Who is your leader? What did you do before?” These bandits were not ordinary rogues. It seemed highly likely they were previously well-trained soldiers. This meant they could not be underestimated. Proper deployment was necessary to minimize casualties.

The female bandit stopped answering her questions.

Zhang Jialing noticed the grave expression on Chen Liangyu’s face and also understood that this nest of bandits would not be easy to deal with. His eyes darted around, “How about we go to the nearest town and get some reinforcements?”

“Calling for reinforcements to suppress a bandit lair? I can’t afford to lose that face.”

Chen Liangyu led her horse over, pulled the captured female bandit over, and hoisted her onto the horse’s back. Although Zhang Jialing was confused by their previous conversation, he immediately guessed what she was about to do.

“Are you really going into the bandit lair?”

Chen Liangyu threw the female bandit onto the horse, piggybacked on the horse’s back, and said to Zhang Jialing, “You are to ride back to Yongdu immediately.”

Zhang Jialing nodded vigorously; his eyes firm: “Back to Yongdu! And then?”

And then? One sentence of reply was deafening: “Go tell my father and Uncle Yan to come rescue me!”

“Isn’t this more shameful than calling for backup?”

Zhang Jialing saw her getting on the horse and quickly blocked the horse’s head, “It’s more reliable to get reinforcements from the nearest city. Going back to Yongdu will take several days back and forth. By the time your father arrives, you’ll already be their meal.”

“Stop talking nonsense and do as I say. Can you enter the Eastern Palace? Or can you at least relay the message inside?”

“That’s not a problem. My father is a core leader of the Crown Prince’s faction.”

“Then hurry up. You must let Princess Jiangning know about the ‘man-monkey’ situation here. It would be best if Chief Eunuch Wei is present.”

She had some guesses and wanted to verify a few things.