GSY Chapter33

“Your Highness was too reckless yesterday.”

 

The moon in the north was like a silver hook, desolate and solemn. Cen Yelan and Yuan Zheng walked side by side. The dark-colored flag on the wall fluttered with the word Cen painted in gold, which was particularly eye-catching at night and was both flamboyant and sharp.

 

Yuan Zheng knew what Cen Yelan meant. He snorted and said, “General Cen, are you worried about me?”

 

Cen Yelan looked cold and didn’t respond. Beicang Pass was already an isolated city, and Yan Le was watching from outside the city. Now that Yuan Zheng’s identity was exposed, he became a living target.

 

Once used by someone with ulterior motives, Yuan Zheng will inevitably fall into a deadly trap.

 

Cen Yelan knew this, and Yuan Zheng knew it too.

 

The war was urgent, and there was no place to bury the dead soldiers, so they could only burn their bodies on the spot. The big pile of wood was built, and the bodies were carried up one by one, forming a small hill.

 

The whole audience was in awe.

 

Cen Yelan and Cen Yi watched quietly. The generals in the city were behind them, with wine in bowls. The wine was strong and cold to the bone. They toasted the heroes who sacrificed their lives for the country.

 

After a while, Cen Yelan said in a deep voice, “Brothers, let’s go home.”

 

As soon as he finished speaking, he poured the wine down, and the generals behind him spilled all the wine. In a moment, torches lit up the mountain of corpses made of flesh and blood, and it burned with a loud sound.

 

Yuan Zheng watched silently. In the fire, there were familiar faces and unfamiliar ones. Now they would all turn into dust. They would return home in such a tragic way.

 

“Let’s go home”—Yuan Zheng turned his gaze to Cen Yelan’s back. This person seemed to have no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness of his own. Yuan Zheng wondered, Where is Cen Yelan’s home? Is it in this endless northern border?

 

Fang Jing and his companions had originally complained about Yuan Zheng putting himself in danger. They were his personal attendants and were responsible for Yuan Zheng’s safety. But these wealthy nobles in the capital were all speechless when they saw this scene, and they didn’t know what to say.

 

Suddenly, Yuan Zheng turned around, looked at Fang Jing who was in front of him, and said, “Send another letter to Si Shaoying, stamp it with my seal, and I will take responsibility even if the sky falls. But if he continues to shirk responsibility and delay the war on the northern border, I will be the first one to not let him go.”

 

Fang Jing was stunned for a moment and said, “Yes, Your Highness.”

 

Yuan Zheng’s words were firm. In this dangerous city, if reinforcements don’t arrive, there will be no way to break the siege. He became more and more anxious.

 

The crescent moon was bright, and Yuan Zheng looked at the shadows of the two people cast on the ground. The shadows were elongated, crisscrossing back and forth. There was wind blowing past his ears, and it should have been cold, but Yuan Zheng didn’t feel it at all.

 

He had never felt this way before. Yuan Zheng vaguely knew what he was thinking about Cen Yelan, but he didn’t dare to probe deeper. Cen Yelan probably hated and looked down on him.

 

Yuan Zheng was young and came from a noble family. He had always been praised by others. Now, for the first time, he fell in love with someone. He was completely bewildered by him but did not want to lose face either.

 

The two of them walked quietly with their own thoughts. It was already late at night. Cen Yelan suddenly heard a sound. He looked up and saw some people coming up from a distance. They were all citizens from the city, carrying food boxes.

 

Cen Yelan frowned and walked over. When the deputy general saw him, he immediately saluted and said, “General.” He looked at Yuan Zheng and clasped his fists and called out, “Your Highness.”

 

Cen Yelan asked, “What happened?”

 

The deputy general was a little embarrassed and said, “General, these are the people in the city. They said they saw the hard work of the soldiers guarding the city, and it was cold at night, so they came up to bring some food to everyone.”

 

Cen Yelan frowned and said, “The city gate is a strategic location. How can ordinary people approach it at will?”

 

The deputy general immediately said, “Yes, the humble failed in his duty. I will let them go back now.”

 

“Why are you so harsh?” Yuan Zheng suddenly spoke. He looked at the elderly, weak, women and children over fifty years old and smiled, “Look, they are just ordinary people.”

 

Cen Yelan said, “In extraordinary times, we must be extra careful.” As he spoke, his eyes moved from those people one by one. Most of them were elderly people, and there were also a few women holding children.

 

Cen Yelan ordered, “Send someone to verify their identities.”

 

The deputy general took the order: “Yes, General.”

 

Suddenly, a child ran around and bumped into Cen Yelan’s legs. Yuan Zheng subconsciously helped Cen Yelan, but Cen Yelan reached out and grabbed the child first.

 

A child of seven or eight years old, wearing heavy clothes, with red cheeks from the cold, and a pair of sparkling eyes, called Cen Yelan “General Gege” when he saw him.

 

Cen Yelan was stunned for a moment, then hummed, raised his hand to touch the child’s head, and said, “It’s cold at night, go home early.”

 

The child blinked and shook his head, saying, “Not cold, not cold.” He happily took out a hot sweet potato from his pocket, held it in his hands, and handed it to Cen Yelan, saying in a childish voice, “General Gege, Mother said it’s for you guys to eat.”

 

Cen Yelan lowered his eyes, looked at the sweet potato, smiled, and said softly, “Gege won’t eat it, you eat it.”

 

The child looked up and said, “But Mother said that if the soldiers don’t have anything to eat, they won’t have the strength to fight the bad guys.”

 

As he was speaking, a woman came running over, covered the child’s mouth, and repeatedly said, “Children’s words are innocent. The child is ignorant and has offended the General.”

 

Cen Yelan looked at the child’s confused eyes, reached out, and took the sweet potato from his hand, which was still warm, shook his head, looked up at the embarrassed woman in front of him, and said, “It’s no problem.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

As soon as he thanked her, the woman became even more at a loss. She hugged the child and whispered, “This war has been going on for too long. Everyone is scared… so, General, don’t take some of the words to heart.” The woman felt uneasy and spoke hesitantly and carefully.

 

Cen Yelan looked at her and said, “It’s just the words of the Hu people to instigate. Don’t worry about it.”

 

The woman felt relieved, and she hugged the child and bowed to Cen Yelan, then slowly turned around and walked back.

 

Cen Yelan looked at the faces that were weathered by wind and frost. They were born and raised in Beicang Pass. This is their roots and their home.

 

The young and strong can still leave their homes and choose another place, but these old and weak can only be swept up in the torrent of war and struggle to survive.

 

Cen Yelan held the sweet potato in his hand and felt as if he was holding a thousand pounds of weight, and his heart was heavy and stuffy.

 

Suddenly, his hand felt lighter, and Yuan Zheng took the sweet potato from him and said, “Tsk, it’s still warm.”

 

He looked at the thing in his hand, which was still warm and fragrant. Yuan Zheng broke it in half and handed it to Cen Yelan naturally, jokingly saying, “General Gege?”

 

Cen Yelan looked at Yuan Zheng. The four words spoken by the child were completely different from those spoken by Yuan Zheng. They were full of intimacy and teasing, like a feather, tickling his heart. He took the half sweet potato from Yuan Zheng, lowered his eyes, and said, “Which one is your Gege?”

 

Their fingers touched, but Yuan Zheng deliberately hooked his finger and said with a smile, “Why, others can call, but I can’t?”

 

Cen Yelan’s hands trembled, and he slowly said, “Your Highness is a member of the royal family, how can you casually address someone of a different surname like this?”

 

The more serious and solemn he was, the more Yuan Zheng couldn’t hold back his desire. But there were soldiers patrolling the city, and Cen Yelan was too shy, so Yuan Zheng didn’t do anything else. He weighed the half sweet potato in his hand and watched Cen Yelan take a bite.

 

The young man’s eyes were burning and staring straight ahead. Cen Yelan only felt his fingers burning. He curled them up uncomfortably and could hardly look Yuan Zheng in the eye.

 

The signal smoke was raised several times, and the urgent letter was also sent out of Beicang Pass, but it’s like a stone sinking into the sea, and Hedong still did not make any move. The reinforcements from Hanzhou were blocked by Shu Dan and could not move forward either.

 

Under the continuous fierce attacks of the Hu people for several days, the food and supplies in Beicang Pass were exhausted, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, the city gates were crumbling, and the country was almost at the end of its rope.

 

In the study, Cen Yi talked about the situation in the city, and his voice became more and more hoarse. The two of them fell silent and looked at the sand table in silence. After a long time, Cen Yelan said, “Brother, after three days, if there is still no reinforcement, you will lead the people to withdraw from Beicang Pass.”