"I am the heir of Dingyuan Marquis, the future Dingyuan Marquis. Tell , why would I choose to be a traitor when I could be a proper marquis?"
After these words were spoken, a gust of wind blew, lifting a few strands of Young Master Gu’s scattered black hair, making her face appear even more jade-like and fair.
Amidst thousands of troops, clad in silver armor, she appeared graceful and proud, with an extraordinary deanor.
Lu Jian’s expression suddenly turned a few shades darker; he stared intently at Gu Lan’s face and said:
"What I, Lu Jian, detest most in this life are people like you, who think highly of themselves. If you weren’t the heir of Dingyuan Marquis, how could you have beco the commander of the Yan Army? In the end, in the eyes of noble offspring like you, leading troops and fighting wars is just a leisure pursuit, playing gas with the world. People like you, do you even deserve to be a match for the Great General?"
He indeed looked quite angry, after all, no longer imitating Wei Junzhuo by calling himself "this general."
A figure of Rong Heng flashed across Gu Lan’s mind. She said lightly:
"But the Great General Wei Junzhuo you admire most was once of the Wei Country’s royal family; he was initially favored by the Wei Emperor also due to his family na and lineage.
So people are born noble; even when mired in the swamp, they remain unwavering. And so people, if even they think themselves lowly, they shouldn’t bla others for considering them the sa."
Upon hearing her words, Lu Jian’s hand fell to the heavy halberd at his waist, his stern face flushed crimson, revealing his murderous intent.
"What did the Great General say to you at the front lines?" Lu Jian asked, suppressing his anger.
Gu Lan answered leisurely: "Do you need to learn this too? Did you find besides convincing to surrender, is it because Wei Junzhuo also approached ?"
Lu Jian seed to have his sore spot poked, his breathing suddenly beca heavier.
Wei Chengyuan felt Lu Jian might make a move, intending to step forward, but Gu Lan shook her head and no longer looked at the man with flushed eyes in front of her.
"Let’s go, back to the city."
Speaking, she had already pulled Hong’s reins, turned around, and headed back.
Lu Jian stood there, gazing at Gu Lan’s retreating figure, his eyes red as blood, gripping the halberd handle tightly, yet he did not make any moves.
He recalled the previous military reports, Gu Lan alone fighting valiantly on Yinzhou City’s walls, fighting against one hundred enemies by herself. This young man’s martial arts were formidable; even if he and Gesang fought to the death to keep her, there’s no guarantee they could hold her.
If he were hard, the Wei Army would surely fall into chaos, but if Gu Lan were hard, the Yan people have Prince Xiang to rely on.
While Gu Lan contemplated striking Lu Jian down, Lu Jian wanted to kill her to eliminate future threats.
The gates of Yinzhou City shut completely, Lu Jian who failed to convince others to surrender turned back to the military’s midst, raised his head, waved his hand, and shouted loudly:
"Attack the city!"
From the ten thousand-strong army, one thousand soldiers advanced in orderly formation, the ground trembled, countless arrows and rocks flew across, blood and smoke intertwined into a brutal scene.
Every ti Dayan’s soldiers knocked back a wave of Wei Army, Lu Jian would be the first to notice, commanding new troops to fill the gap promptly.
The battle persisted for a day, the Wei soldiers courageous and fearless, stepping over the corpses of their comrades to charge. It wasn’t until dusk that the Wei Army sounded the withdrawal horn.
The earth was once again soaked in blood, the wounded soldiers huddled at the city wall’s roots, torches were lit upon the city walls, illuminating the surroundings.
Gu Lan sat on a stone step by the corner of the city, extending her hand.
Wei Chengyuan stood before her, holding a gourd in hand, controlling the water flow, spilling fresh water over Gu Lan’s hands.
"Thank you, Yuan." Gu Lan carefully washed her hands clean, curved her eyes in gratitude.
"No need to thank," Wei Chengyuan replied, his face flushed, "I’ll fetch more water, Lanlan, you rest a while by yourself."
Rong Heng watched nearby, his expression sour.
Gu Lan glanced at him, grabbed a handful of preserved fruits and ate them, saying:
"Lu Jian really is adept at attacking cities; through today alone, he must’ve been testing our strength, commanding flawlessly. It seems he plans to steadily drag us down by consuming us with his ten thousand troopers... Prince, do you want so of this? Dried apricots, Aunt’s secret recipe."
Rong Heng took a sugar bean from the candy jar on the ground:
"Thanks to Aunt, I’ll have this candy... Lu Jian once led three thousand soldiers in a death charge against Cang City, Li Yuanju’s border army of ten thousand was halved by him, the original military inside Cang City also suffered heavy casualties. Even disregarding Li Yuanju’s error in commanding troops, Lu Jian’s prowess is notable. The records once ntioned, this man excels most in leading charges, in the Wei Army he’s known as— a born knight."
Gu Lan chuckled: "Unfortunately, Wei Country has no cavalry."
Wei Country has rivers crisscrossing its territory, with dense forest and miasma on another side, seldom breeding fine steeds; they lack organized cavalry. Even if there are small factions of cavalry, they’re purchased from surrounding small countries. Right now, their only cavalry throughout the nation may just be the three thousand Qiangrong people under Gesang.
At this mont, Tang Zhan approached with two servings of als, putting them in front of Gu Lan.
Holding a bun himself, he sat before the two and said:
"A born knight, surely this was a term the Wei people used to mock Lu Jian. He defied military orders, annihilated three cities of our Dayan. The Wei people also deed his actions disrespectful, tyrannical, just a brutish, reckless man who knows only to charge into battle."
Recalling the scene of eting Lu Jian during the day, Gu Lan asked: "What’s his family background like?"
Tang Zhan paused slightly, his dark eyes weighed down heavily, bitten into the bun and slowly said:
"Lu Jian, like , is of household general descent. I was a household general of the Li Family, protecting the Princess Consort and Li Family from a young age, later entered the Prince Mansion with the Princess Consort, eventually beca the Prince’s personal soldier."
Gu Lan rembered how Li Yuanju used to clash greatly with Tang Zhan.
Initially, Tang Zhan was rely a household general of the Li Family, nominally Li Yuanju’s subordinate. But gradually, Tang Zhan beca a deputy general, earning Prince Rui’s trust, leading to Li Yuanju’s growing dissatisfaction.
Tang Zhan also reminisced about past events, remarked with emotion:
"And Lu Jian, I heard, was a household general of Wei Country’s Wen Family, but during his youth, his father offended the Wen Family’s young master, died from corporal punishnt. It was Wei Junzhuo who saved him, helped him shed his slave status, and ever since he’s followed Wei Junzhuo into military service, likely that he took Wei Junzhuo as his ntor then."
Both of general descent, Lu Jian t Wei Junzhuo, while Tang Zhan t Rong Shuo.
Gu Lan ate a mouthful of stir-fried rice, made personally by Tang Zhan, her eyes squinted with enjoynt, thinking, luckily Tang Zhan didn’t lose himself, living as a knock-off Rong Shuo.
"No wonder then, he said during the day I beca an army commander due to my background."
Gu Lan placed a sugar bean into Tang Zhan’s palm.
The pale yellow sugar bean, hard like a gem, exuded a faint sweet and sour scent.
Tang Zhan’s heart trembled, his eyes slightly moist, murmured:
"It’s different, Young Master, you aren’t from the Wen Family, becoming Pingnan General is not rely due to your background, but because you’ve earned the border army’s confidence."
He gazed intently at the sugar bean in his palm for a long ti, reluctant to eat it.
Yinzhou’s siege during these days, although als were sufficient, he hadn’t had candy for a long ti — this was sugar from the Capital City.
He kept looking, kept looking...and Tang Zhan’s candy was gone.
Tang Zhan blinked, suspecting a problem with his eyesight, then suddenly turned his head, looking at Rong Heng!
"Fifth Young Master Rong, Rong Heng, Rong Heng! Return my candy!" Tang Zhan roared.
Rong Heng looked at him expressionlessly, and then in front of him, tossed the sugar bean into his mouth, chewing it.
The prince bared his stark white fangs, righteously declared:
"I’m Prince Xiang."
Tang Zhan gritted his teeth: "Prince Xiang, even snatching candy from subordinates...?"
"So what," Rong Heng replied coldly, picking up the food beside him and eating, the taste unbelievably perfect, yet he could ruthlessly pick out faults, "General Tang, next ti, put less salt in this stir-fried rice, I prefer... bland."
Tang Zhan’s eyes flad, squeezing four words through gritted teeth: "Follow, the, prince’s, orders."
Gu Lan watched the two n from aside,
If she rembered correctly, in the original text, they were sworn brothers.
Two grown n fighting over a single candy, this... surely wasn’t her fault?
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