The Battle of Yanmen Pass took place thirteen years ago.
At that time, Song Yinghuai was only fifteen years old. He had just been sent to Yan territory to fight the Tatars on his own, with his life hanging in the balance.
He only heard a vague description of that significant military event when he was gaining experience in the military camp.
It was clearly a glorious defensive battle in the history of Daye, yet the soldiers seemed to have made an agreement to keep silent about that bloody battle.
Song Yinghuai's eyebrows twitched. "The barbarians managed to cross the natural barrier and suddenly attack Yanmen Pass overnight. There must have been a mole in the Lan Family Army."
"Is that traitor Sheng Jiangli's father, Sheng Mu?"
Xiao Rencheng nodded. "Yes..."
Song Yinghuai gritted his teeth slightly. "Why?"
As a general guarding the border, Song Yinghuai's hatred for traitors was self - evident.
He just didn't expect that Sheng Jiangli's father was the traitor.
Xiao Rencheng said, "The barbarians' spies managed to kidnap Lady Sheng, who was gathering herbs on the mountain, and twelve - year - old Sheng Jiangli as hostages. They forced Sheng Mu to steal the troop deployment map of Yanmen Pass!"
A gust of wind blew from the river, as if unfurling a vivid picture of that year before their eyes.
That night.
The Lan Family Army inside Yanmen Pass was surrounded by barbarian cavalry that suddenly emerged from all directions.
Countless soldiers were crowded together in the narrow alleys.
There was a raging fire in the front and an iron - like city wall in the back.
The city wall, which was originally a shield against the barbarians, had now become a prison for the soldiers of the Lan Family Army to escape.
The barbarians threw torches soaked in hot oil, setting the entire Yanmen Pass ablaze as bright as day.
The soldiers in the front were burned to death, while those in the back fought desperately to break through, stepping on a growing pile of corpses.
The smell of corpse fat filled the air.
The barbarians' iron cavalry galloped through the narrow alleys. The cold wind of the night was mixed with the whistling of flying arrows.
Blood flooded over their legs, flames leaped over their chests, and wails and gasps echoed in their ears...
Song Yinghuai clenched the railing of the boat tightly. His eyes looking into the distance were dark, with turbulent clouds in his pupils, and ice shards and mist swirling.
"I heard... Fortunately, the sixteen - year - old eldest young master of the Lan family led a team of soldiers to sneak out of the pass during the day to spy on the enemy's situation. After noticing the changes inside the pass, he led his troops back in a hurry to reinforce, which allowed Yanmen Pass to safely survive the crisis."
Xiao Rencheng nodded. "That's right. The world only knows that in the Battle of Yanmen Pass, the Lan Family Army fought bravely against the sudden attack of the barbarians and finally successfully defended the pass. But the old Marquis Lan covered up the matter of the traitor."
Song Yinghuai let out a long sigh. "After all, he was his own deputy general, and he was coerced. Naturally, he couldn't bear to see his subordinate be disgraced."
Xiao Rencheng said, "The Lan Family Army suffered 13,000 casualties that night. The old Marquis Lan personally beheaded Sheng Mu. After rescuing Lady Sheng and Sheng Jiangli from the barbarians, Lady Sheng was ashamed that her husband had become a traitor and immediately hit the wall and died, leaving only her only son, Sheng Jiangli."
Even without Xiao Rencheng's further explanation, Song Yinghuai could more or less guess what happened next.
Sheng Jiangli became an orphan, and Lan Yuanyi adopted him and took him under his wing.
However, as the son of a traitor, even if the world was kept in the dark, how could the Lan Family Army, who had experienced the betrayal firsthand, be deceived?
In such an environment, Sheng Jiangli must have been constantly pointed at and scolded as a little bastard.
"So, Sheng Jiangli couldn't stay in Yanmen Pass and left?"
Xiao Rencheng hesitated for a moment. "Well, it wasn't because of what others said that he couldn't stay... You know how thick - skinned he is. It was because of your Miss Lan San."
Song Yinghuai's expression finally changed. He turned his head and frowned at Xiao Rencheng. "What?"
Xiao Rencheng gave Song Yinghuai a sympathetic look. "As far as I know, when Sheng Jiangli was in the Lan family, he was ridiculed as Miss Lan San's... her..."
Xiao Rencheng hesitated to speak.
Song Yinghuai gave him a cold look. "Her what?"
Xiao Rencheng said, "He was Miss Lan San's child - bridegroom! Fiancé!"
"Crash!"
The railing in Song Yinghuai's hand suddenly cracked.
Song Yinghuai's face was gloomy, and his voice was filled with a storm. "Child - bridegroom? Fiancé?"
He thought that Sheng Jiangli just liked Caiyu.
He never expected that the girl already had a fiancé!
Xiao Rencheng watched the sawdust of the railing fly everywhere and coughed lightly. "It was just a childhood joke. Don't take it seriously, don't take it seriously..."
Although he said so, he still felt extremely sympathetic to Song Yinghuai.
After all this, it turned out that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan was the latecomer!
This was the noble Prince of Yan.
How could he condescend to be a third party?
Would their relationship come to an end?
The muscles in Song Yinghuai's arm propped on the railing were tense. If you looked closely, you could see that he was trembling with anger.
No wonder Sheng Jiangli always showed a sense of territoriality whenever he saw Caiyu.
No wonder Sheng Jiangli always casually said that Caiyu was his woman.
Everyone thought that Sheng Jiangli was just a frivolous and unruly person who always talked nonsense.
Who would have thought that he was telling the truth.
Caiyu was really his...
Song Yinghuai felt a breath stuck in his chest, unable to go up or down. Stars were dancing in front of his eyes.
He wished he could drag that little girl out right away and strangle her.
With such a relationship, how dare she deceive him and say that she only regarded Sheng Jiangli as an elder brother?
No wonder she repeatedly disobeyed him and risked her life to save Sheng Jiangli!
So that's how it was.
So that's how it was!
Seeing Song Yinghuai's face turn ashen, as if he was about to kill someone or vomit blood at any moment, Xiao Rencheng quickly advised:
"You should look on the bright side. Whether he was a child - bridegroom or a fiancé, it was just a childhood joke. But now you and Miss Lan San have actually had an intimate relationship..."
"Sheng Jiangli was hated by the eldest young master of the Lan family back then and was forced to leave the Lan family and go beyond Shanhaiguan."
"Since he left for so many years and abandoned the girl he loved, it's only natural that Miss Lan San fell in love with you. You are more suitable than Sheng Jiangli."
Song Yinghuai's expression didn't improve.
"He didn't abandon Miss Lan San. He clearly left to wash away the stigma of being the son of a traitor for Caiyu's sake!"
Song Yinghuai closed his eyes, trying to dispel the chaotic thoughts in his mind. He took a deep breath and said:
"After he changed his resume and joined Marquis Changping, he went beyond the pass and stayed there for nine years.
"Do you know how powerful the barbarians were back then? And why were they defeated and their country destroyed by Marquis Changping's army five years ago? Why were the barbarians' iron cavalry reorganized into the Kaiping Barbarian Cavalry Battalion?"
Xiao Rencheng was greatly shocked and blurted out in a daze:
"It was Sheng Jiangli!"
"That's right, it was him."
Song Yinghuai's gaze passed through the sparkling Qinhuai River. The prosperity in front of him couldn't hide his inner loss.
"The timing was just right. Thirteen years ago, the barbarians' iron cavalry stepped into Yanmen Pass, making Sheng Jiangli the son of a traitor. And then he spent five years flattening the barbarians' homeland and trampling them under his feet."
Xiao Rencheng's heart was surging. "He avenged his parents and washed away his shame, just to be worthy of Caiyu when he returned."
Song Yinghuai said, "He traveled thousands of miles and never forgot his original intention. His faith was as firm as a rock. He always had Miss Lan San in his heart."
Xiao Rencheng choked in his throat and looked at Song Yinghuai with a complicated look in his eyes. "He just didn't expect that just as he flattened the barbarians' country, something happened to the Lan family. There was news that Miss Lan San had died on the way to exile..."
Four years had passed when they met again. He was overjoyed that Caiyu was still alive, but despairing that Caiyu had met Song Yinghuai, the Prince of Yan...
The Buddha said: Love knows no cause and effect, and fate determines life and death.
In the distance, the serene and desolate bell of Qixia Temple rang, echoing over the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, penetrating the long - standing years and cutting through the orbit of time and space.
Sheng Jiangli lifted the curtain of the carriage and helped Caiyu in. His voice was filled with a desolate mockery.
"My Miss Lan, if you dressed up so magnificently today for my battle, I'd be willing to kneel in front of the Buddha for a hundred years."