```
That year the snow was heavy, and winter lasted a full third longer than usual. Great Qin, located in the Central Plains, kept fighting among themselves, but in the Northern Region, the southern barbarians, and even the western Di tribes, people were dying every mont.
Frozen to death, or starved to death.
If the soldiers of those countries didn't fight desperately, it would be their wives, children, and elders dying back ho.
By the ti the various factions in Jianghu and regional warlords realized what was happening, the once vast Great Zhou Dynasty had been torn to shreds by these previously insignificant countries. Pillaging, murdering, and looting were happening all the ti, as if a giant basin of ice water had been splashed unrelentingly onto everyone's faces.
But it was already too late.
Now ticking off on one's fingers, in the early years when Great Qin had just been founded, there were only about twenty-plus counties, and they weren't even complete, looking as though a dog had bitten off chunks here and there. Thankfully, the emperors of the Great Qin throughout these years were no cowards, and none had dropped the ball.
After many years of hard work, they had about fifty-so counties.
This too was considered the fortune of the Great Qin State.
Looking back, from the founding generation on, not a single emperor lived past forty, overworked to the point of frailty reviewing morial after morial, yet their resolve was incredibly strong, never understanding the concept of bending.
Fighting with Jianghu, with enemy countries, with the whole world.
The third ruler of Qin, on his deathbed, even penned a long tirade, thousands of words in length, berating the entire court before declaring that he was tired of dealing with them, and that he didn't consider it a defeat. It seed as if scolding the ground wasn't satisfying enough, so he went to arm-wrestle the Heavenly God.
By the way, he also wanted to ask the ancestors how they managed to lose their entire domain.
Was that any way to be an ancestor?
He couldn't understand, how could it all be lost? How could they heartlessly lose everything?
The emperor of that ti had scolded out of breath, and while sitting on the dragon throne, he took his last breath — it was his last breath and not a closing of his eyes. Those eyes were staring fixedly outside, staring fixedly at the world.
An old Taoist from the Taoist Sect ca to look and said the Emperor had died resentful.
The emperors that followed never relaxed; diplomatically put, it was called striving for good governance, but more bluntly, it was a struggle for life.
They did not resemble emperors who ruled over thousands, but rather seed more like the living sacrifices offered to the ancestral Heavenly Gods by the ancient forebears. Great Qin gnawed on the fresh blood of the Qin people, spearheaded by its emperors, and gradually grew in strength.
Until twenty years ago.
Qin waged wars against the whole world, swallowing up other countries like a fierce tiger breaking out of its cage. In a re three years, it swept across the lands. What was once a country of just over twenty counties soared to be an empire with seventy-two counties and eight hundred districts.
But the price paid for this was beyond anyone's calculation.
Whether this act was a victory or a loss, no one knows.
In silence, the small boat went with the flow, the scenery on both sides drifting past toward the back. So distance ahead lay Three Rivers Yin Gorge. Not sure if it was the doing of the spirits of the deceased, but this area felt even colder by three degrees, the chill relentlessly burrowing into the bones.
The elder surnad Li pressed hard with his toes, and the boat, originally as swift as an arrow, abruptly stopped. None of the items on the boat even swayed. He looked at the narrow pass up ahead, paused, and said:
"Boatman, were you also in the Great Qin Army back in the day?"
"Why have you beco a boatman now?"
Old Lv shook his head, his gaze passing over Li's shoulder to the Three Rivers Yin Gorge, and said:
"I was just an old soldier, essentially a deserter."
Li shook his head, his voice gentle:
"There were no deserters among those who survived the bloody battles of those days."
Old Lv grinned, he was smiling, and said:
"But they all died, and I'm still alive, doesn't that make a deserter?"
"I thought about suicide afterward, to follow them, but I didn't die. I later abandoned the thought because it hurt."
"The generals died, even the toddlers died, and I survived... Isn't it laughable?"
"I dream of them in my sleep, dreaming that they talk to , saying they want to go ho."
```
"General Li, how can I indulge in luxury with my brothers' lives? I'd rather stay here forever, watching over them, as if they're still with us."
He had recognized Li Qidao.
There was no reason not to recognize him; during the campaign against Yan Country those years ago, Divine Martial Mansion had been their companions.
Li Qidao nodded silently, his toes lightly touching the bow of the boat, his body shooting out like a sharp arrow, and in the blink of an eye, he reached the very center of the Three Rivers Gorge. The water was calm, and the view devoid of people. If one disregarded the chilling na of Deadman Gorge, the scenery was actually quite beautiful, likely to be appreciated by poets and scholars.
However, over twenty years ago in this perilous pass known as the Skyline Gap, there had been eight thousand Iron Cavalry who used their flesh and blood to hold back the elite forces of Yan Country. They didn't let them flow downstream to join forces with other countries' armies, providing Great Qin with the opportunity to act swiftly and crush them one by one.
It could be called a major achievent.
The cost was that nearly all of the eight thousand had perished.
Only a rare few were swept away by the undercurrent and survived. The leading General was dismbered in public, suffering three thousand cuts before Princess Yan carried out the final beheading.
Until death, his eyes, as large as copper bells, were fixed in the direction of Great Qin.
After Great Qin conquered Yan Country, the powerless Mansion Master of Divine Martial Mansion personally executed Princess Yan, severing her graceful head.
Li Qidao's gaze regained its clarity as he untied the gourd from his waist, tilted his head back, and drank the wine in large gulps. He emptied the flask in one breath, hurled it onto the water with force, then took a deep breath and laughed loudly:
"Zhu Tianrui, I've co to see you!"
The sound was resounding, echoing within the mountain cliffs and ravines.
The forrly tranquil lake surface began to ripple.
Li Qidao, staring at this phenonon, was stunned for a mont, then roared with laughter, his eyes slightly reddened. The once serene waves beneath his feet seed to rise treacherously because of this elder with earth-shaking cultivation, almost like mountains.
Li Qidao's laughter faded, and his hanging fists clenched tightly.
He still rembered him as a heroic man, but the last impression was rely a battle report.
"Only thirty percent of my brothers remain beneath my command. The enemy's onslaught has not weakened, and the future is uncertain. As a General, I must die with my soldiers.
Should I survive this battle, I shall present myself to the Mansion Master and His Highness with a chivalrous burden. If this position falls, I will perish with my brothers on the battlefield, my body returning wrapped in horsehide. One day, when Great Qin prospers and dominates the world, and you, renowned throughout the land, pass this place by boat and see waves as high as mountains, it will be I coming to et you."
Li Qidao took a deep breath, almost bellowing as he shouted,
"Zhu Tianrui, I have co to see you…"
Old Lv, the boatman who had just ntioned that all his brothers had died, trembled violently upon hearing this na. His eyes widened, staring at the surging waters around them. Though the waves were fierce, the boat was extrely stable.
It was as if the battlefield from those years had co back to life, where one could almost hear the clashing of weapons, endlessly resounding.
Zhu Tianrui, Zhu Tianrui…
Old Lv felt a sting in his nose and was nearly moved to tears.
For so reason, the emotions he thought he had put behind him resurfaced, as if those from decades ago had never truly left. It was as if the Three Rivers Gorge had a spirit. Old Lv, now with aching joints, his eyes reddened, suddenly half-kneeled on the boat against this spectacle, and with all his might, cried out,
"Iron Cavalry of Great Qin's tiger-roaring camp, third-rank archer Lv Deyong, at your service, General Zhu!"
The waves were mountainous, furious, interspersed with the grim howling of weapons clashing as if the eight thousand Iron Cavalry, who nearly all died here containing the advance of Yan Country's Iron Army, had never left. They remained here, ready for war at a mont's notice, waiting for battle.
One could hear Lv Deyong's loud cries.
The elder looked up at the sky, indeed a very cold year, that even this southernmost place began to see large flakes of Bai Xue, engulfed by the waves. Li Qidao stood in midair, speaking softly,
"Great Qin dominates the world."
"In this prosperous age, has it been as you wished?"
PS: Today's second update...
A 4000-character long chapter, counts as an extra update, right? (attempting a transaction) Li Bo is online...
Thank you to Ji Ling in the original for the generous support, much appreciated.
Reviews
All reviews (0)