Cold Sands || Beyond the Frore Dunes [COMPLETED]

Chapter 23: Undercurrent

The tension in the court is at an all-time high.

I lean to the side of the throne and squint at the scene below me.

A young soldier plastered with blood is kneeling in the middle of the hall, quivering with his head on the floor.

The celebrations haven't yet ended in the capital when songs of bereavement have started ringing throughout the frontiers.

Just last night, Lupine Blood Mounts suddenly appeared to the west of South Hill Pass. Thirty thousand Yan cavalry came like a sandstorm and washed the Rui camp away.

Yuwen Yuan was personally leading the forceful attack and clashed swords with General Zhou Zhenluan and the troops defending the west route throughout the whole night all the way until the fourth watch the following morning. By the time dawn broke, the blood was flowing in rivers and the corpses piled into mountains.

At the fifth watch, the Yan broke through the Rui base camp and General Zhou died in battle for the country.

Over half of the forty thousand men defending the west route were slain and the ones who wouldn't surrender were buried alive.

Once the west route was left unguarded, the County of Ning Yuan laid completely naked before the Yan troops. Immediately, they entered Ning Yuan and wreaked havoc: stealing property, committing arson, slaying any commoner that showed the tiniest amount of defiance. The once prosperous border county has become a living hell overnight.

South Hill Pass lays fully exposed to the Yan. Great Rui is cornered.

The Yan proclaimed that they shall flatten the Rui capital, ride into the Middle Plains and cleanse Great Rui with blood within ten days.

Out of forty thousand men, only this Captain of Yu Wu here in the court escaped from the underworld, racing down south overnight to report back to the capital.

He didn't even change out of his bloody armor before walking straight to Tai Qing Palace and retelling the atrocities of the Yan army. The strapping young man weeps as he spits with venom.

There is not one official who is not lamenting. The elderly Marquis Jiang falls to the floor and starts to wail in the court to the point of fainting. The other officials all fall to their knees, crying, imploring to save our nation's pride.

I shut my eyes tightly to restrain myself.

General Zhou—an image of the bearded dauntless and valiant warrior flashes through my mind.

The captain abruptly kowtows and urges, "Your Majesty, General Zhou sacrificed his life for the country; forty thousand men died out there; our people are being terrorized. Are we to stand by and take this shame?!"

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty!"

Everyone kowtows and the hall fills with sorrow. Pei Yuan's father crawls forth and pleads. "Our country is in danger now and we are on the brink of collapsing. Now that it is a life-or-death situation, I beseech not to defend our walls but to fight to the death!"

I open my eyes and glance at what lies before me.

The country is in danger. We are on the brink of collapsing. It is definitely a life-or-death situation.

As I'm about to speak, the empress dowager starts uttering, "General Pei, you are of military background. Certainly you know that a battle is not fought with words alone."

I pull a small smile and glimpse back towards her. "It appears that You have a plan in mind, Your Graciousness."

Behind my gold throne decorated with dragons is a thin yellow veil and a curtain of fancy beads. The empress dowager's figure vaguely shows through.