In the eyes of everyone in the northern regions, this battle came both suddenly and not so suddenly.
It wasn’t surprising because, even before the Di invasion, everyone had anticipated that a battle between the two sides was inevitable in the near future.
What was surprising was that neither Changyuan nor any of the other Nine Northern Towns had made any preparations for the battle.
Today, Changyuan Town was particularly grim.
Unlike in the palace where he needed to stay in the Imperial Medical Bureau, constantly waiting for summons from nobles,
Xie Bufeng was the sole master of Changyuan, and now that he had led his subordinates to repel the enemy, Wen Qingci, who remained in Changyuan, had nothing to do.
Staying in the quiet small courtyard made it easy to feel anxious.
After washing up, Wen Qingci changed his clothes and left the Prince of Suzhou’s Residence for Changyuan City.
Just as he walked onto the long street, he encountered someone shouting: “…Houses for sale cheap, selling cheap!”
Though Wen Qingci was just an imperial physician, his clothing was of fine material, clearly not that of a Changyuan local.
Seeing him from afar, the man immediately approached: “Does the young master need a residence? Only twenty taels! Uh… if the young master thinks it’s expensive, we can negotiate.”
Wen Qingci hurriedly waved his hand: “Sorry, no need.”
Then he looked behind the man: “This house was obviously built not long ago, why are you selling it so cheaply?”
Wen Qingci had been in Changyuan for some time and had a certain understanding of the surroundings: the long street where he now stood was the core area of this small city, and it shouldn’t be sold so cheaply by any measure.
“Alas…” the man sighed heavily, perhaps knowing that he wouldn’t sell the house today, he stopped shouting, “The Northern Di have attacked, if I don’t sell now, it will be too late. If I can’t sell it by the day after tomorrow, I’ll have to abandon this residence and take my family to Yongdu.”
Wen Qingci paused for a moment before realizing that the man before him had already decided to abandon his birthplace and flee south.
“Young master, you haven’t been to the edge of the city today, have you?”
Wen Qingci nodded in response.
The man continued: “Early this morning, when we saw the Crown Prince leading troops out of the city, we knew the Northern Di had come south. Like me, I have a pair of newborn children, just two months old, crying for food, so I wanted to get more silver for the journey. Many others with fewer attachments left hours ago.”
After speaking, he added with emotion: “Ah, the Crown Prince is a good person, willing to have his soldiers let us leave Changyuan to find a way to survive.”
Wen Qingci couldn’t help but bite his lip: “…This time the Di invasion is taken very seriously by the Crown Prince, who immediately led troops personally. He will definitely protect Changyuan and the Nine Northern Towns.”
Though Xie Bufeng hadn’t been in Changyuan long, he had a good approach to governing this small city, and the surrounding people supported him.
“I certainly trust the Crown Prince, but young master, think about it-would His Majesty allow the Crown Prince to win?”
Wen Qingci couldn’t help but clench his fist.
The Emperor was wary of Xie Bufeng-this was no secret in Changyuan, or even throughout Wei Dynasty.
Living in the Prince of Suzhou’s Residence, Wen Qingci knew better than this man that Xie Bufeng’s army had serious problems with logistics and provisions.
Even though he didn’t understand politics, he could read the Emperor’s intentions:
Yongdu viewed Xie Bufeng as a sacrificial pawn and wouldn’t provide any help in this matter.
But even if Yongdu abandoned Xie Bufeng, to survive, Xie Bufeng still had to fight desperately.
For the Emperor, the best outcome would be for Xie Bufeng to severely defeat the enemy forces and then die on the battlefield.
By then, the Emperor would only need to exert a little more effort to drive the weakened Di people back to their territory.
He could even gain a good reputation for himself.
…This reasoning was understood by the people of Changyuan, and Wen Qingci understood it too.
But while the common people were helpless, only able to watch Xie Bufeng march to his death, Wen Qingci couldn’t do the same.
“I say, young master, judging by your accent, you’re not from Changyuan, are you? Are you here for business?” The man sighed heavily again, “If you’re doing business, you should leave here quickly and go home. In the coming days, Changyuan will likely be unstable. It will be hard enough to stay alive, let alone make money here.”
“Alright, I understand.” Wen Qingci lowered his eyes and murmured.
After speaking, he suddenly took out some silver from his sleeve and handed it to the man: “Take this, you don’t need to sell your house. I believe… with the Crown Prince here, Changyuan will certainly be safe.”
Wen Qingci’s voice was still as gentle as before, but his tone was extremely serious.
The man opposite hadn’t expected Wen Qingci to give him money: “This, this… young master, how can I accept this?”
Under normal circumstances, he certainly wouldn’t accept this money.
But today, the man’s eyes instantly reddened, and he held Wen Qingci’s hand as he slowly knelt on the ground: “Consider this money as borrowed from you, I’ll write you an IOU! May I ask where the young master is from? After I settle my family, I will definitely go to your place to repay the money.”
After speaking, he kowtowed heavily three times.
Wen Qingci hurriedly helped him up.
He shook his head and said: “Just consider me a resident of Changyuan. I… won’t leave this place. After the Crown Prince achieves a great victory, when you return to Changyuan, I’ll come find you at your home.”
“Good,” the man was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly sniffed, “Good! After this battle, I will definitely return to Changyuan and wait for my benefactor to find me!”
“It’s a promise.” Wen Qingci smiled gently.
His gaze was particularly firm, as if he hadn’t even considered the possibility of defeat in this battle.
As everyone had anticipated.
The war had been going on for many days, but supplies had never arrived.
Wen Qingci couldn’t help much with provisions, but as an imperial physician who had come to Changyuan with Xie Bufeng, he couldn’t do nothing.
After Xie Bufeng took office, he often took Wen Qingci with him on his travels.
The two no longer avoided suspicion as they had in Taishu Palace, so before long, everyone knew that the Crown Prince and that imperial physician had a good relationship.
Xie Bufeng had probably given some instructions to those around him before going to battle.
After he left, the troops stationed in Changyuan also showed great respect to Wen Qingci.
At this time of turmoil, whenever Wen Qingci left the city, the garrison would follow around him, protecting his safety.
Wen Qingci took advantage of this, leading people to every small and large village around Changyuan, stubbornly buying medicines needed for battle from small pharmacies.
…
“Master Wen-”
“Master Wen, Master Wen, quickly!”
In the middle of the night, Wen Qingci was awakened by a series of screams.
He rubbed his eyes somewhat confusedly and sat up.
The next moment, the room door was flung open with a “bang” by someone from outside.
Guichang stumbled in, trembling as he said: “A Northern Di army is launching a surprise attack on Changyuan, you must get up and leave this place immediately!”
The war had been going on for more than a month.
But Yongdu had never sent reinforcements.
With no choice, Xie Bufeng had to divert most of his troops to directly confront the enemy.
Who would have thought that the Northern Di would launch a surprise attack on Changyuan today!
Wen Qingci had been cramming military knowledge during this period.
Logically speaking, a surprise attack on Changyuan at this time was definitely not a tactically sound choice.
But the problem was… the Northern Di army never cared about tactics; they fought however they wanted.
“Alright, I understand.” Sensing the urgency, Wen Qingci immediately put on his outer robe and headed outside.
But Guichang’s news came a step too late.
Before he could leave the small courtyard, he heard the sound of hoofbeats and footsteps.
Guichang’s legs instantly went weak: “…They, they seem to have broken in.”
“Let’s go, to the back door.” Wen Qingci immediately turned with Guichang.
Just as he finished speaking, the courtyard gate was smashed open from outside.
A Northern Di warrior in silver armor, holding a long knife, appeared at the doorway.
“Wen Qingci?”
The speaker had a heavy accent, but these three words were clearly transmitted to the ears of Wen Qingci and Guichang.
Obviously, they had come for him.
Wen Qingci couldn’t help but bite his lip, stepping forward half a pace to shield Guichang behind him.
In order to quickly gather medicinal herbs, Wen Qingci hadn’t chosen to keep a low profile, but rather made sure that the owners of those small pharmacies knew his identity.
Therefore, before long, the name “Wen Qingci” and his relationship with Xie Bufeng had spread throughout the surrounding towns.
…These people had most likely suffered a defeat at Xie Bufeng’s hands and had come to “take revenge” on him.
“This courtyard may be small, but it was built very solidly,” Wen Qingci lowered his voice and said to the person behind him, “In a moment, you escape through the back door during the chaos.”
“Master Wen!” Wen Qingci’s words startled Guichang, “You come with me-”
The situation was urgent, with no time for idle talk. After speaking, Wen Qingci suddenly pushed Guichang backward with force, and at the same moment, the Northern Di man standing opposite him waved his hand.
The next instant, two squads of Northern Di soldiers in silver armor charged in with weapons.
“Go!” Wen Qingci shouted.
As an imperial physician, his strength wasn’t great, but Guichang still staggered from Wen Qingci’s push, hurriedly following his instructions and turning to run toward the back.
Wen Qingci gritted his teeth and ran in another direction.
He knew these people had come for him… he probably had no way out, but Guichang might be able to save his life.
Though living on the frontier, Wen Qingci was still unfamiliar with war.
At the moment the silver light flashed, he instinctively closed his eyes.
However, the expected pain didn’t come.
Just as Wen Qingci was about to fall, a familiar voice suddenly reached his ears.
“Qingci, don’t be afraid.”
This was… Xie Bufeng’s voice?!
The moment he opened his eyes, Wen Qingci saw: a young man dressed in a black battle robe, his cheeks covered in blood, had appeared beside him at some point, and was holding him tightly in his arms.
The young man’s gaze was fixed on Wen Qingci.
But the heavy sword in his hand seemed to have eyes of its own, turning into a flash of silver light, taking the head of the person behind in an instant.
The next moment, Wei Dynasty soldiers climbed over the courtyard wall from outside.
Surrounding Wen Qingci and Xie Bufeng in a circle.
Wen Qingci was stunned for a moment, then slowly hugged Xie Bufeng back: “Your Highness, are you injured?”
His hand touched something damp.
A physician’s instinct told Wen Qingci that what was under his hand was blood.
He belatedly noticed that Xie Bufeng’s lips had lost their color due to blood loss.
The young man suddenly smiled, holding Wen Qingci tighter.
And firmly kissed the cinnabar mark on his forehead.
“Yes…” Xie Bufeng spoke softly in Wen Qingci’s ear as if in a dream, “I’m sorry.”
“Why do you say that, Your Highness?” Wen Qingci’s heart suddenly clenched, “What are you sorry for? Don’t talk nonsense!” This seemed to be the first time he had spoken to Xie Bufeng in such a stern tone.
The young man smiled lightly, his lips against Wen Qingci’s forehead as he said: “I… cough cough, may not be able to protect you anymore.”
He wasn’t joking; Wen Qingci could feel the young man’s body temperature gradually fading.
“Don’t say such disheartening things!” Wen Qingci said through gritted teeth, “After repelling these Di people, I’ll bandage Your Highness, and then…”
“Wen Qingci.” Xie Bufeng struggled to look up into Wen Qingci’s eyes, interrupting his unfinished words.
Around them were the huge sounds of clashing weapons, along with cries of pain and screams.
As the general defending the northern regions, Xie Bufeng temporarily put the war aside for the first time.
The blood-covered young man struggled to raise his hand, gently placing it on Wen Qingci’s cheek.
Then, he suddenly smiled.
Xie Bufeng looked into Wen Qingci’s eyes and said with the most serious tone of his life: “The person in my heart is you.”
Wen Qingci’s heart fell heavily with pain at this moment.
As if something was finally breaking out of its cocoon uncontrollably, piercing through his chest.
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