The Tyrant's Beloved Empress

46

After bandaging his wound and putting on his garb, Xiao Zhige looked completely fine, as though he was void of injuries. If An Chang Qing had not seen the long gash with his own eyes, he would not have noticed that the man was carrying an injury.

An Chang Qing looked at him with distress and anger, "You're a General, why do you still have to go to the battlefield when you're this badly hurt?"

Xiao Zhige rubbed his head and smiled, "On the battlefield, swords and spears are blind. Who doesn't carry an injury or two on them? As long as your arms and legs are still intact, it is not a fatal injury."

Seeing that he was still worried, Xiao Zhige added, "You should've seen the Supreme Commander of the Beidi army. I've torn off his arm but to boost morale, he has continued to lead his troops into battle. I went head to head with him a few days ago, it's a pity I couldn't bring back his head. Otherwise, there would've been more 'lanterns' at the front gate."

An Chang Qing was taken aback, "Lanterns?"

Xiao Zhige was worried of scaring An Chang Qing and rephrased his words carefully, "The Beidi army have committed many heinous crimes over the years. The soldiers together with the civilians of Yanzhou have a life-and-death grudge against them."

Over the years, there had been over a hundred heads hung outside the city gates. Whenever a battle culminated, the heads would be sent to a stone hut outside the city with the captured Beidi soldiers to intimidate the enemy forces. Accumulated over the years, there were now a countless number of such places spread across the battlefield.

An Chang Qing was astounded upon hearing this. He had never left Yejing in his previous life and whatever he had heard of the war were all word of mouth. Now that he had heard Xiao Zhige speak about it with such indifference, he came to realize that what he knew was only scratching the surface of the cruelties of war.

Between these two armies, neither will rest till the other has been eliminated.

To intimidate a ruthless opponent, one has to be willing to outdo their ruthlessness. An Chang Qing thought of the things he had heard in his previous life. Numerous scholars had criticized Xiao Zhige for his bloodthirst in killing the Beidi captives but had they lived in Yanzhou even if it was only for a short time, they would have come to hate them as well.

"What about when we fall into the hands of the Beidi people?"

"The Beidi people have much more cold-blooded means than us." Xiao Zhige fiddled with An Chang Qing's hand and said, "Any captives would be branded and kept together with the livestock. The men will be forced into hard labor while the women are left for the soldiers to enjoy at will. And if there is a shortage of food, they will be slaughtered..."

Xiao Zhige sighed and looked at An Chang Qing, "This is why I did not want you to come to Yanzhou."

Yanzhou's border had always been a warzone. It was afflicted with sandstorms in spring and summer and bitter weather in fall and winter. There were no peaceful days. Everyone was constantly on alert because a battle could break out at any time. Everything in this place was not what Xiao Zhige wanted An Chang Qing to experience.

However, An Chang Qing only smiled and shook his head, "I'm not afraid."

"I might not be used to it in the beginning but I can adapt." An Chang Qing raised his head and said, "I'm not some pampered young master."

A surge of tenderness filled Xiao Zhige' eyes. He felt An Chang Qing's hand that seemed to be skinnier and said, "But I don't want you to have to face any hardships."

Xiao Zhige's words were sincere and serious while his tone was soft as snow. An Chang Qing met his gaze but had to look away shyly, mumbling to himself: why does it seem like after being apart for a month, this person had suddenly learned how to sweet talk?