Seeing his expression, Wanxin suddenly felt as if a silver needle had pricked her heart, and a sharp pain welled up.
Zhao Yanke...
He was just an emperor raised in the deep palace. Maybe he was used to all the open and covert struggles and intrigues, but he probably had never really seen blood.
But now, this emperor had killed two elite Anluo soldiers single - handedly just to save them...
Wanxin dragged her weak legs and shuffled over to him. Gently, she pulled him into her arms.
Her movements were so cautious, as if she was embracing a fragile porcelain.
"It's okay, it's okay..." she murmured softly, her fingers gently combing through the sweaty hair on his forehead. "You saved us... You're our savior..."
Chen Mazi grimaced as he propped himself up and gave Zhao Yanke a thumbs - up. "Kid, you've got some skills!"
After saying that, when he saw Wanxin's intimate gesture, he suddenly hesitated. Could this be the husband of the mistress?
Oh no!
According to this family hierarchy, hadn't he called the wrong title? Shouldn't he call this man "master"?
"I'm fine..."
Zhao Yanke's face was as pale as paper, but his voice was surprisingly calm. "Wanxin, I'm all right..."
"The ancestors of the Great Sheng fought on the battlefield for decades to establish today's foundation. All I did was... kill two southern barbarians..."
...
The mid - day sun was blinding. After a mad dash, they were now on the mountainside. The trees were not thick, so it wasn't as dim as before. The sun shone through the gaps in the leaves, casting golden rays.
Wanxin took out the medicine bag she always carried from her waist. The fine white powder trickled into her palm.
She casually handed the medicine bag to Chen Mazi. Then she knelt in front of Zhao Yanke and carefully lifted his blood - soaked虎口.
Chen Mazi poured the medicine powder into his hand, intending to apply it to his back. But as soon as he moved, he hissed in pain and couldn't reach his back.
Seeing this, Wanxin said, "A doctor should be as kind as a parent. In a doctor's eyes, there's no distinction between men and women. Let me help you apply it..."
"Ah?" Chen Mazi looked at Wanxin, then at the silent Zhao Yanke. "Is this appropriate?"
There was a flash of anger in Zhao Yanke's eyes. "What do you think?" He walked over, snatched the medicine bag from his hand, and shouted, "Take off your clothes! I'll apply the medicine for you!"
"..."
Chen Mazi obediently took off his dirty outer clothes, revealing his lacerated back.
"Good heavens!" Wanxin couldn't help covering her mouth. "Did the Anluo people do all this? What on earth happened? Why did they beat you like this?"
"Don't even mention it!"
If Wanxin hadn't asked, it would have been fine. But this question instantly brought out all of Chen Mazi's grievances.
His tears welled up like a broken dam. "It's all because of our mistress! She insisted that I go find the so - called Yama's Nail!"
"Sister?" As soon as Wanxin heard the name Li Wanming, she immediately became nervous. "What does this have to do with sister?"
"Yama's Nail?" Zhao Yanke raised his eyebrows and asked curiously. "What is Yama's Nail? It sounds pretty powerful..."
Chen Mazi wiped his tears as he spoke. "Yama's Nail is a kind of hidden weapon... Well, it sounds scary, but in fact, it's just a small bamboo tube with a blow - dart inside. It just has a slightly longer range..."
"What does this have to do with my sister?" Wanxin interrupted him and urged anxiously. "Was my sister injured by that so - called Yama's Nail?"
"How could that be!" Chen Mazi lifted his eyelids and pouted. "Even Yama would tremble in front of her. How could she be injured?"
He subconsciously touched the wound on his shoulder, looking a bit aggrieved and sarcastic.
"Well, to be honest, our mistress can run faster than a rabbit! If I had her skills, I wouldn't have been captured by the Anluo people..."
After saying that, he told them everything about how Li Wanming had found him and Huang Laosan, how she had used Huang Laosan to find the secret path in the mountains, and how she had coerced and lured him into looking for the sweet honey.
"The nests of the black - tailed bees are all built on the cliffs. You have to use a rope to lower someone down to collect the honey! One wrong move, and it's a plunge to your death.
"Moreover, those black - tailed bees are extremely poisonous. Even if you smear insect - repellent powder on your body, you'll still probably get stung... Hey! That's why I say, our mistress is really something!
"Guess what?" He slapped his thigh. "When she saw that I was afraid to go down, she actually asked to tie a rope around her waist and go down first!"
"What!" Wanxin suddenly stood up. Her face instantly turned deathly pale, and her lips trembled so much that she could hardly speak. "My sister... Sister..."
"Hey, mistress, don't be in such a hurry..." Chen Mazi quickly waved his hand at her and then glared. "Just listen to me."
"What's our mistress's status? How could I let her go down? If something happened to her, would I still have a life?
"Besides, am I, Chen Mazi, the kind of unreasonable person? How could I really let the mistress take such a risk?
"He couldn't help rubbing the bump on his forehead and grimaced in pain again. He said resentfully, "It had to be me going down... Otherwise, would I have such a big bump from the sting?"
Chen Mazi groaned a couple of times and then continued his vivid account.
"After half a day of struggling, we finally managed to collect half an urn. I was just thinking it wasn't enough when, unexpectedly, our mistress added a kind of wine to it... The effect was much stronger than the original black - tailed bee honey!
"When he got excited, there was a strange sparkle in his eyes, and he started gesturing wildly.
"The special horn bows and white - feather arrows of the Feng family's army, each one so long! The arrowheads were coated with the black - tailed bee honey mixed with wine, and all of our Great Sheng's soldiers had smeared insect - repellent powder in advance... Wow, that scene! General Feng's ambush was... truly earth - shattering!
In Qingzhou City, there were originally 80,000 Anluo defenders. Feng Xiao led 150,000 men south. If it was just about capturing the city, it would have been easy.
But Qingzhou was a granary. Once attacked, the defenders from other Anluo prefectures would surely come to the rescue.
Therefore, to capture Qingzhou, they had to cut off the reinforcements from other places.
It was precisely for this reason that Li Wanming and Feng Xiao had racked their brains to deploy a surprise force at Fengyang Slope to cut off Qingzhou's aid.
On the third day of the seventh lunar month, Feng Xiao sent 100,000 troops to attack the city head - on, and another 20,000 elite soldiers to sneak along the secret path provided by Huang Laosan straight to Fengyang Slope. He left 30,000 elite soldiers to guard the rear...
On that day, the whole Fengyang Gully was filled with howls.
It was as if dark clouds were pressing down. Tens of thousands of black - tailed bees swarmed out of the rock crevices. The creepy buzzing sound echoed throughout the canyon.
The Anluo soldiers who were stung quickly developed purplish - red bumps on their heads and hands. They swelled up like steamed buns and rolled on the ground, howling in pain. The stung warhorses reared and neighed wildly. After throwing their masters off their backs, they trampled the men into minced meat with their iron hooves.
Fengyang Slope was like a boiling ant nest. Everyone was struggling desperately like ants scalded by boiling water...
When this news reached Qingzhou, the defenders were so frightened that their faces turned ashen, and they had no more heart to defend the city.
So, in less than half a day, the flag of the Great Sheng was flying on the city wall of Qingzhou.