The General Was Pregnant with the Emperor's Child - Chapter 7

Ye Wuyou was dressed only in a thin inner garment when he heard the commotion. He immediately slung his quiver over his back and hung his recurve bow at his waist. Narrowing his eyes, he slowed his pace as he approached the tent door, using his free right hand to grab his red-tasseled spear leaning against the entrance.

The spear tip flicked open the tent flap. A soldier was kneeling outside to deliver the report. Ye Wuyou strode out into the night.

Once outside, he saw the western camp ablaze with fire. Ye Wuyou asked in a deep voice, “What happened?”

“Reporting to the General! Under the cover of the clouds and the dark moon, several hundred barbarians launched an attack on the West Camp. Vice General Yang was staying there tonight. He had just grabbed his spear when he was snatched away by a wolf that broke through the defenses!”

“A mere hundred men” Ye Wuyou’s expression turned strange. “Who was snatched away by what?”

“Vice General Yang Nin! Snatched by a wild wolf!” the soldier replied with full vigor.

“A wild wolf managed to kidnap my Vice General? How extraordinary!” The wind blew Ye Wuyou’s high ponytail into disarray, his red hair ribbon fluttering wildly. He tucked a stray lock of hair away from his mouth, placed two fingers to his lips, and blew a long, sharp whistle. A Ferghana horse, its coat as red as blood, immediately galloped to his side with an excited neigh.

“Chasing Wind!” Ye Wuyou shouted, his eyes brightening.

Chasing Wind did not slow down as it approached, merely lowering its head. Ye Wuyou laughed, using the momentum of the stirrup to swing his long legs over the saddle. He clipped his quiver to the saddle and gripped the horse’s flanks with his lean, powerful thighs.

“I’ll go see what kind of wolf managed to snatch Vice General Yang!” Ye Wuyou pulled the reins tight, turning the horse with force. “The rest of you, hold your ground. The barbarians are cunning; ensure the supplies and grain are guarded to prevent a secondary ambush.”

“Understood!”

The Great Jing camp instantly blazed with torchlight as the horn for battle echoed through every corner of the grounds.

Ye Wuyou galloped toward the blazing West Camp. The Ferghana horse’s hooves kicked up dust mixed with thick smoke. Under the bright moonlight, the cold tip of his red-tasseled spear gleamed.

The night defenses of the West Camp indeed had a massive breach. As Ye Wuyou approached, he didn’t smell the usual anti-beast powder. Outside the tent where Yang Nin had been staying, there were fresh stains of wild deer blood that hadn’t been cleaned no wonder it had attracted wolves.

Several arrows whistled toward him from behind. Ye Wuyou snorted, his eyes shifting as his spear tip deflected the arrows back toward the barbarians hiding behind the tents.

The arrowheads pinned the hem of a barbarian’s clothing to the mud. A signal flare slipped from the man’s hand and rolled toward the horse’s hooves. He collapsed in terror. In the firelight, Ye Wuyou’s handsome face looked like that of an asura. The man’s mouth hung open, spilling a string of unintelligible barbarian dialect. Ye Wuyou frowned.

“Is my name something the likes of you can call out? You dare raid a Great Jing camp with only a few hundred men? Brainless fools!” Ye Wuyou understood the dialect; this terrified man was a barbarian scout. He was the one who had used the wolf distraction to snatch Yang Nin.

“Since you’re already here, why bother going back?” Ye Wuyou held the reins with one hand, his spear tip skimming over the five barbarians hiding behind the tent.

“Our Khan is coming! The Khan will bring the great army to avenge us!” the barbarian in the middle shouted in broken Han Chinese. Ye Wuyou followed his gaze to the moonlit plains, where dark, rustling shadows were gradually approaching.

“A great army?” Suddenly, more figures emerged. Nearly five hundred barbarians, all disguised in Han military uniforms, surrounded Ye Wuyou and his horse. Ye Wuyou released the reins and chuckled. “So you fished in troubled waters to snatch Yang Nin, and now you want to snatch me too?”

“Capture Ye Mian alive and claim the reward from the Khan!” Someone in the crowd roared in the barbarian tongue, and soon the air was filled with aggressive cries for his capture.

The angry shouting couldn’t mask the sound of hooves on sand. The barbarian army was drawing closer. Ye Wuyou’s spear tip could no longer be restrained. He hooked his feet into the stirrups and leaned his entire upper body off the side of the horse, his blood-stained spear following his descent.

The nearest circle of enemies at least twenty or thirty men collapsed, clutching their throats. A thick scent of blood enveloped Ye Wuyou. With a single strike, he had terrified the surrounding enemies.

“You think a few stray fish like you can capture this General alive?” Ye Wuyou sat back firmly in the saddle, blood dripping from his spear. “A good dog doesn’t block the path. If you’re smart, get out of my way!”

Despite his words, he didn’t look like he was waiting for them to move. His spear point swayed with his gaze; wherever it pointed, the barbarians’ legs went soft, and they recoiled in fear.

“Chasing Wind! Go!” Ye Wuyou gripped the reins and spurred the horse. The Ferghana horse reared up and neighed at the enemy, its hooves tramping over the barbarian corpses. Under the intimidation of his spear, the radius of the circle surrounding him expanded by another meter.

Finally, the barbarians moved. The first man swung a scimitar at Chasing Wind’s legs, followed by a second, then a third hundreds of enemies swarmed like a tide. Ye Wuyou charged straight toward the direction of the approaching barbarian army, the scent of blood on his spear growing heavier, so heavy it made him feel slightly nauseous.

The winds of the plains blew fiercely, and Ye Wuyou’s thin garment was soon dampened by a misty moisture. His red hair ribbon was soaked with blood. The enemies on the outer perimeter drew their bows. Ye Wuyou pushed off his stirrups, his legs kicking outward as he used his core strength to leap into the air, dealing a flurry of blows to the barbarians in his path.

Chasing Wind ran forward in perfect sync, its hooves trampling out a path of blood. Ye Wuyou stood back up on the horse’s back, biting his spear between his teeth as his fingers notched an arrow to his longbow.

Swish—!

Four or five arrows flew true. The enemies a hundred meters away, who had just touched their bowstrings, fell. Ye Wuyou turned back toward a pair of green eyes in the distance and roared, “Yang Nin!!! I’m about to become a pincushion here—!”

“Hey! I’m here!” Yang Nin reluctantly moved his hand away from a wolf’s head. Beside him, a wolf king howled at the moon. Instantly, dozens of pairs of glowing green eyes appeared across the moonlit plains.

“Dammit! Still just as terrifying!” Ye Wuyou, who had a lingering trauma from fighting wild dogs as a child, felt his legs tremble instinctively. Yang Nin whispered something to the gray wolf beside him, and the pack took the lead, tearing a path through the enemy.

Ye Wuyou sat back in the saddle and spurred Chasing Wind. The horse shot out of the crowd like an arrow. Yang Nin, dressed in full armor, stood a hundred meters away waving a torch. He was surrounded by seven or eight wolf cubs.

Ye Wuyou’s face turned green as he pulled the reins, decisively turning his horse back toward the remaining barbarians trapped in the West Camp.

The scrap of fabric around his wrist had been blown loose by the wind. Even the heavy scent of blood couldn’t mask the faint green bamboo scent Xiao Yunan had left on it. Ye Wuyou used his teeth to pull the strip tight and fix it back on his wrist, taking a deep, greedy breath of it.

The rising acidity in his stomach was suppressed. Ye Wuyou noticed the bamboo scent around him felt stronger, as if Xiao Yunan biting his lip on that brothel bed, was suddenly standing behind him.

“Your Majesty! This is not the time! I’m a bit busy!” Ye Wuyou struggled to shake the “colorful” fragments of memory from his mind. He looked at the remaining traps and decoys with even more irritation. He abandoned his spear, stood up on the horse again, and began firing arrows with lightning speed.

He didn’t seem to need to aim. He notched and fired, each arrow finding its mark. The quiver on his back emptied at a visible rate.

Once the West Camp was mostly cleared, the delayed barbarian army finally arrived. Ye Wuyou leaned down from his horse to recover dozens of arrows from the corpses. He notched one and aimed at the leading barbarian officer.

A perfect shot. Before the army of ten thousand could even reach the camp, the lead officer tumbled from his horse. Under the cover of night, Ye Wuyou’s silhouette was almost a blur.

“The barbarian grandsons have pathetic riding skills! He fell off his horse and died!” Ye Wuyou mocked loudly. The three thousand elite troops he had hidden around the West Camp were now in position, their armor reflecting the bloody light of the fires.

The barbarian army halted. There was more unintelligible shouting, too far away to hear. Ye Wuyou sensed they were badmouthing the Emperor behind his back. His face darkened as he raised his spear and roared:

“If the barbarians dare to raid our camp tonight, tomorrow they will dare to trample our corpses and insult our people! Brothers! Follow me tonight and leave none of them alive! We’ll use their heads as chamber pots!”

Ye Wuyou slung his bow back and raised his red-tasseled spear. The blood-soaked tassel stood like a flag, pinning the morale of the army in place.

Far away in the Imperial City, Xiao Yunan had a dream. In the dream, he was on the vast plains under a full moon. He was surrounded by wolves, dozens of pairs of green eyes staring at him with ill intent.

Yes, it was them, there was also a Ye Wuyou, who was so terrified by the wolves that he climbed onto the Emperor’s shoulders.

Simply audacious!

Xiao Yunan couldn’t help but curl his lips into a smile. In the dream, Ye Wuyou was so scared he bit the Emperor’s earlobe, sobbing softly: “Your Majesty, I’m scared”

Xiao Yunan’s entire spine went numb from the bite, his feet seemingly frozen to the ground.

At that moment, the dream took a turn. A heavy scent of winter plum overflowed from Ye Wuyou. His face suddenly transformed into that of the “madman” flower-thief from the brothel. Like a boneless chain, he entwined himself around Xiao Yunan.

The thief opened his thin lips, sucking at the Emperor’s neck, forcing out an equally potent scent of green bamboo.

The thief whispered: “Your Majesty, I’m so scared~”

“!!!”

On the bright yellow dragon bed, Xiao Yunan sat up, his face darker than his imperial robes.

He pulled up his knees. A sticky sensation spread from between his legs. In the quiet bedchamber, the only sound was the spectral, resentful grinding of his teeth.

That damned flower-thief! How can they be so persistent!!

Give me back my Ye Mian!!!