The General Was Pregnant with the Emperor's Child - Chapter 23

A perfectly healthy Yang Shen was currently busy digging pits for several corpses that had been burned beyond recognition.

 Chī-nà, you’ve stayed in the Great Jing camp for too long. You’ve been infected by the Jing people’s stinking, hypocritical habits,” Luren said, standing behind Yang Shen with a look of disdain. “Wouldn’t it be simpler to just burn them all with one fire?”

“After all, we worked together for many years. There are some feelings. Burying them allows their souls to return home.” Yang Shen pushed a body into the pit. Just as he prepared to lift his shovel to cover it with soil, a flash of fire streaked past his shoulder.

Flames half the height of a man instantly erupted within the pit. Luren had added something unknown to the torch. Yang Shen’s attempts to shovel dirt over it were futile. He turned around and stared coldly at the culprit, his grip on the shovel tightening.

“Why should I pity the Jing people? I refuse to let them have peace.”

“Then I shall leave them to the Khan’s disposal.” Yang Shen tossed the shovel into the pit as well and walked coldly toward the wolf pack waiting nearby.

Several barbarians who had infiltrated the light cavalry unit were tied up inside Ye Wuyou’s tent. Their hands and feet were bound tight; while their mouths weren’t gagged, half their bodies were paralyzed, rendering them unable to speak.

Ye Wuyou held several silver needles he had “borrowed” from the doctor. He untied the barbarian who had spoken earlier, pressed a leg against the man’s back to force him to kneel at the table, and said in a chilling voice: “In the Hu language I speak, you write.”

The barbarian’s brush trembled as he smeared a line of ink. Ye Wuyou glanced down, and the silver needle in his hand unceremoniously pressed against the man’s temple.

“The Jing people are cunning. We have been captured. I suspect Chī-nà may have defected to the enemy.”

Ye Wuyou read the twisted, talisman-like Hu script on the paper word for word in the official tongue of the Great Jing. The barbarian’s hand shook, his face turning deathly pale with fear.

“Is that what I just said?” A fluent Hu dialect escaped Ye Wuyou’s mouth, even carrying the specific accent of Luren’s tribe. “Chī-nà? The Wolf?”

“Oh, you mean Yang Shen. He does indeed have an ‘unclear’ relationship with wolves.” Ye Wuyou switched back to the Jing tongue. Seeing the barbarian hesitate to write, he pushed the needle half an inch into the man’s pressure point. “Do you think I fought Moise for all those years for nothing? I can not only speak it, I can read it. If you aren’t honest, I can write it for you.”

The barbarian pinned by his knee was shaking like a sieve. Fearing the man might “leak” something and dirty his floor, Ye Wuyou smiled and pulled out the slightly bloody needle. After a moment’s thought, he pricked another spot, and the man’s hand stopped shaking instantly.

“Write well. If we reach the stage where I have to take the pen myself, those ‘secret codes’ of yours won’t be sent back.” Ye Wuyou offered the man a final few words of “gentle concern.”

A secret letter was delivered to Luren in the middle of the night.

[What Chī-nà said is true. Tomorrow at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), the Jing army will move.]

Yang Shen sat across from Luren, his legs arrogantly propped up on the table. He wore a sour expression as he listened to Luren read the secret message.

“It’s not like I must stay here,” Yang Shen said unhappily. “I could go find Moise, or return to Ye Mian’s side and continue as his Vice-General.”

“Last time during the sneak attack, I didn’t listen to your advice and fell into an ambush,” Luren said with a conciliatory smile. He stood up, walked behind Yang Shen, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “This time, I’m just being a bit more cautious.”

Yang Shen irritably slapped the hand away and sneered. “Hah. On the fifteenth of last month, the Khan foolishly believed some unknown intel and launched a rash attack on the Jing camp, nearly exposing me. I sent three letters in a row and still couldn’t stop the Khan.”

Those letters had been intercepted outside the camp; Luren only saw them after his defeat. His expression turned ugly, but Yang Shen didn’t let him off the hook. “If I hadn’t moved against you, Ye Mian would have turned me into a sieve. But the Khan truly runs fast did you forget to take me with you, or were you trying to use Ye Mian’s hand to get rid of me?”

“How could that be? Having Chī-nà is the glory of my tribe.” Luren looked at Yang Shen with a fake, shallow smile.

“I hope so. Otherwise, tomorrow will be our last collaboration.” Surrounded by his wolf pack, Yang Shen walked back to his own tent.

Yang Shen patted the youngest of the wolf cubs and whispered something in its ear. The cub immediately wagged its tail, rolled on the ground, and then darted out of the camp.

In the middle of the night, green eyes and wolf howls swept through Luren’s encampment.

Before the sky had fully brightened, Ye Wuyou, clutching his red-tasseled spear, sat atop Zhuifeng, ready to depart. Behind him were the tens of thousands of soldiers Xiao Yun’an had granted him.

“General, such a grand expedition shouldn’t we send word to His Majesty first?” someone beside him suggested.

Ye Wuyou said arrogantly: “No rush. Wait until I lead you to slaughter the enemy, then I shall report to the Sovereign to ask for a reward!”

The youth on horseback was radiant, his body held straight as his legs gripped the horse’s flanks. Even in heavy armor, one could see General Ye’s graceful poise from his silhouette.

With such a young general leading them, what was there to fear from the barbarians!

The Ye Army’s morale was high. Ye Wuyou raised his spear and shouted: “Once we rescue Vice-General Yang and slaughter the enemy, I shall slaughter sheep and set a feast to reward my brothers!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

…

The Great Jing army moved toward Luren’s camp exactly on schedule. Luren sent scouts to investigate and found that the person leading the charge was indeed Ye Wuyou.

Still young and impetuous. He always dares to stand at the very front to show off.

Yang Shen, dressed in rags, was tied up and pushed to the very front of Luren’s lines.

“Do my clothes have to be this torn?” Yang Shen hid a dagger in his sleeve while adjusting himself into a relatively comfortable “bound” position.

It didn’t look much like a proper kidnapping.

Thinking of his imminent victory over the Jing army and the capture of Ye Mian, Luren generously draped a cloak over Yang Shen.

Yang Shen’s temple throbbed again. Now it looks even less like a kidnapping.

“Ye Mian! Seeing as you are an Omega, if you come over alone and ‘serve’ me well, I will return this Vice-General to you in one piece!” Luren initiated the provocation. The barbarians behind him whistled lewdly and hooted at the Jing army.

Standing to the side, Yang Shen’s lip twitched as he closed his eyes, thinking Luren was simply tired of living.

“Military grain in exchange for Yang Shen. Nothing else to discuss.” Ye Wuyou sat on his horse, composed and seemingly deaf to Luren’s taunts.

“Does the Emperor of Great Jing know you are so generous?” Luren recalled the short, ambiguously sweet private message he had intercepted the other night. He was certain Ye Wuyou was also involved with the new Emperor.

“This General didn’t want to be, but without Yang Shen in the camp, I can’t sleep peacefully. Wild wolves attack every now and then; I’m always being bitten.” Seeing that Luren wasn’t “killing the hostage” yet, Ye Wuyou grew impatient on his horse. “I know you lost to that old bastard Moise and fled to our border like a gutter rat. You lack grain and you lack weapons. I can give them to you, if you give back Yang Shen.”

“The General truly values this Vice-General. Could the rumors be true?” Luren sneered. “I heard your ‘affairs’ have reached the Emperor’s ears. Your Emperor is truly generous.”

Ye Wuyou narrowed his eyes, remembering the memorials the Emperor had tossed into his lap when he entered the capital.

How does Luren know about that?

“His Majesty is naturally the best brilliant, decisive, and handsome. He is especially good to me. But what does that have to do with Yang Shen?” Ye Wuyou pretended not to understand. He added, “Of course, if you want the grain and weapons, I must first see that Yang Shen is unharmed. You’ve wrapped him so tightly; I hope he isn’t ‘missing’ a few parts.”

Hearing Ye Wuyou’s words, Yang Shen felt his hands grow even itchier.

“Fine, I’ll let you see.” Before Yang Shen was ready, Luren suddenly pushed him down with great force, a sharp blade aimed at Yang Shen’s neck.

As planned, Yang Shen feigned an inability to escape and was pushed to the ground.

A crimson Sweat-blood Horse came flying forward.

Ye Wuyou had indeed been lured out of his formation. He drew his bow, and several arrows shot from a hundred meters away, knocking the blade from Luren’s hand. In the blink of an eye, Ye Wuyou and Zhuifeng charged into the ambush circle. He arrogantly raised his spear, protecting Yang Shen beneath the horse’s hooves.

“Trying to ‘kill the hostage’ before receiving the payment you’re even worse than that old man Moise.” Ye Wuyou was uncharacteristically aggressive today.

“You truly are bold.” Luren smashed a smoke bomb onto the ground. The same “induced fragrance” Ye Wuyou had smelled in his tent began to bloom around him. Ye Wuyou’s face changed drastically; he grabbed Yang Shen’s ragged collar and prepared to flee.

But the fragrance wasn’t just in the smoke. Yang Shen, perched behind Ye Wuyou on the horse, crushed a pill in his hand. Countless clouds of powdered “induced fragrance” were inhaled by Ye Wuyou.

A dense Cold Plum pheromone scent exploded across the battlefield. Ye Wuyou covered his nose and mouth as he tumbled from Zhuifeng’s back, falling right in the middle of the two armies.

“Yang Shen, you… cough cough cough…” The drug hit him with terrifying speed. Ye Wuyou’s legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground. He looked at Yang Shen in disbelief, but in the next second, he was coughing until his eyes were red from the rising dust.

“General, blame yourself for trusting the wrong person.”

Yang Shen raised his dagger to strike Ye Wuyou’s shoulder, but Luren rushed over and knocked the dagger aside.

“Don’t hurt the beauty!” Luren lewdly shook his belt at Ye Wuyou. “Once I win, I’ll show you a good time.”

Tortured by the induced scent, Ye Wuyou lay on the ground, completely unable to rise. His red-tasseled spear was forced into Yang Shen’s hands. Seeing this, the barbarian army followed orders and launched an all-out charge.

Smoke rose across the battlefield. With the General captured, the Jing army lost heart and was slaughtered into a retreat. Luren knocked several cavalrymen off their horses, growing more bloodthirsty as he fought.

The sky was bright, yet wolf shadows usually creatures of the night chased the fleeing Jing soldiers.

The Jing army abandoned their weapons and armor, scattering in a chaotic retreat. The barbarian war banners gradually pushed deep into Great Jing territory.

Suddenly, a tragic horse’s shriek erupted from the leading barbarian cavalry.

The surroundings fell into a deathly silence, but only for a few seconds.

The horse’s howl acted like a signal. The Jing army, who had been hiding in the waist-high grass, suddenly leaped out, pulling tight on ropes.

Tripwires!

The charging barbarians tumbled from their horses one by one, falling into prepared traps. The previously “fleeing” Jing army reappeared like bamboo shoots after rain, everyone clutching weapons as they slaughtered the panicked barbarians.

Luren, who thought victory was in his grasp and had committed two-thirds of his men, paled with shock.

“How can you fall for the same trick twice?” Ye Wuyou, who had been as weak as a willow a moment ago, leaned against Zhuifeng, playing with his spear as he smiled at Luren—whose face was now turning green with the reflection of the spring grass.

“Perhaps he’s just stupid,” Yang Shen said, following behind Ye Wuyou in a set of normal clothes, a gentle smile on his face.

Luren: “Damn it! Ye Mian of the Great Jing, exactly how many people are you involved with?!”

“My Alpha wouldn’t like hearing that.” Ye Wuyou expressionlessly drew his bow. Every arrow was aimed at Luren’s “stupid head.” “So, it’s best if you shut up forever.”

Seeing their Khan in danger, the barbarians who were being crushed by the Jing army suddenly surged with madness, lunging toward Ye Wuyou. After knocking several enemies aside, the lower abdomen Ye Wuyou had been protecting all day began to throb with a dull, heavy pain. He finally had no energy left to chase Luren.

Luren narrowly escaped once again.

The Great Jing wins!

But Ye Wuyou collapsed onto his horse.

A memorial impeaching Ye Wuyou for “launching a military campaign without authorization” was placed before Xiao Yun’an.

Xiao Yun’an stared at the memorial and narrowed his eyes meaningfully.

It had been nearly half a month since he last received a military report, and half a month since Ye Wuyou had been “called away” by the attack in his dream.

This impeachment was the first news Xiao Yun’an had received from the North this month. The words “Ye Mian relies on his military power to act arrogantly” were placed in the most prominent position. Xiao Yun’an pulled at the corner of his mouth and supported his forehead.

“Ye Mian, am I fated to always clean up after you?”

At the same moment, Xiao Yun’an’s imperial decree inquiring about the military situation was delivered to the camp.

The decree was filled with talk of the “Flower Thief.”