Eastern Palace Chapter 31 Part2

He might have seen the worried look in my eyes, so he smiled and bent over to touch my face. His hand was warm, making me feel like it was my mother's hand rather than my father's or grandfather's. I wondered why there were no calluses on his hands now that he was skillful at archery.

I always thought of trifles like this while I was baffled by other things. Gu Xiao Wu took his hand back. Thirty thousand soldiers lined up, and their general was my elder cousin, namely the Great Chanyu's grandson, Yi Mo Yan. Yi Mo Yan said to me with a smile, "Sister, rest a.s.sured. I'll take care of him." Being used to fighting with others, people in Tujue regarded wars as simple as eating. I liked my cousin Yi Mo Yan as he used to hunt with me and treated me as his own sister. I shouted, "Who asks you to take care of him? Just look after yourself, I am waiting for you to come back for a drink." Everyone laughed loudly, saying, "Your little princess, please rest a.s.sured. We'll kill the Yuezhi army and take their heads back when the roast lamb is done." Under the banner of Yi Mo Yan, Gu Xiao Wu put on Tujue's cowhide armor with the helmet covered most of his face. Seeing I was looking for him in the crowd, he smiled and waved hands towards me. I saw my girdle was tied on his belt around his waist. I just tied a knot in a hurry, so I couldn't help but worried if the girdle would loosen. It would be an ominous marriage for us if the girdle loosened… Before I could think about it more, the army set out with the horseshoe rumbled and the dust flew from the earth. The cavalry rushed out the military camp like floods and ran towards the prairie. They had run to the distant horizon in a short while. At first, a long dark shadow was visible far away, but it vanished behind a gentle slope at last.

Seeing that I was standing there with a worried look, A'Du could not help but gestured to me, as if she was saying they would be back soon. I knew she was trying to comfort me. I nodded. Although the King of Yuezhi had fifty thousand soldiers, they were no match for the thirty thousand picked soldiers of Tujue since they were weary after a long match and each of Tujue's picked soldiers were able to fight against ten enemies. In addition, the Great Chanyu's army were stationed here, they could rush to support Gu Xiao Wu and others even if the King of Yuezhi sent one hundred thousand cavalries to fight.

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Some slaves were roasting lamb and others were busy preparing mare's milk and good wine. The camp was filled with cheers and laughter. Everyone knew the soldiers of Tujue would return with triumph over the Yuezhi army after a while. I recalled that I said a fond farewell to Gu Xiao Wu, my face going red. When Yi Mo Yan returned, he would definitely laugh at me! He would be the first to make fun of me because I couldn't bear to let go Gu Xiao Wu. Young aristocrats in Tujue regarded Yi Mo Yan as their leader. In this evening's singing compet.i.tion, they would definitely made a joke about me. I felt worried wthen thinking of it. Gu Xiao Wu couldn't sing, so I must tell him after he came back, lest he made a show of himself.

But I didn't know that they would never come back.

Many, many years later, I found a history book of Central Plains which recorded this day. There were only a few dull words, “In July, Crown Prince Cheng Yin personally entered the Western Region and allied himself with countries in Yuezhi, leading an army of 400,000 soldiers to attack Tujue. The Great Chanyu of Tujue refused to surrender and died on the battlefield. More than 200,000 Tujue people were slaughtered. The entire Tujue tribe was destroyed.” About that day, I remembered nothing but He s.h.i.+ clutching his bow before he died. He bled heavily from numerous knife wounds on his chest and abdomen. He knew that he was dying, but he still tried his best to lifted me and A'Du into the saddle. The last sentence he said was “A'Du, take care of princess!” Dense ma.s.s of arrows looked like swarm locusts or thousands of meteors. If G.o.d relaxed his hold and let all the stars in his hand fell down, it would be like this… A'Du desperately urged the horse onward. There were fires, blood and cries all around. Hundreds of thousands of troops seemed to pop out of the ground. Although Tujue people continued to put up a stiff resistance, they couldn't strike down such strong enemies… Countless people fell down behind us, and countless blood splashed in our face. Without He s.h.i.+, we would have not escaped from the encirclement of hundreds of thousands of enemies. But at the end, He s.h.i.+ died. A'Du and I fled on prairie for six days and six nights before being caught up by pursuers.

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My leg was injured and A'Du also got wounded. But she still drew her sword and kept me behind her. The hatred in my heart was like a raging fire which so hot that my mouth parched and tongue scorched. I thought to myself, "These people killed grandpa; these people killed Gu Xiao Wu; these people killed all Tujue people." Although I was not a Turk, I had half of Turkish blood in my body. Only A'Du and I were still alive, so I wouldn't be a discredit to grandpa and Tujue even if I drained the last drop of my blood.

At this moment, a cavalryman rushed out from the group of Central Plains, and A'Du rushed to him with a knife. But the man just reached out and deftly moved his hand, A'Du's knife then dropped into the ground. I looked at that man with amazement, he must know magic, right? Otherwise, how could he cast a spell to take away A'Du's knife and make her static there?

A'Du glared at that man, actually, she rarely got angry, but I knew this time she really did. I picked up A'Du's knife and tried to chop that man. I had already flown into a rage, no matter who he was, I would kill him!

That man also just reached out and gently hit me, I immediately pa.s.sed out and couldn't sense anything.

When I woke up, I was bending over a horse's back with my face down, looking like a bag of glutinous rice. Though the mud splashed by the horse's hooves slammed on my face, I couldn't move. In all directions, I could only see horse's hooves and countless horse's legs falling and rising, just like Achnatherum splendens being blown by the wind. I became dazzled and had to close my eyes. After quite a while, the horse finally stopped. Someone lifted me up from horseback, but the acupoint on my leg was sealed for too long, I couldn't hold myself up and suddenly fell to the ground.

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The ground was covered with thick felt, so I supposed it must be the tent of a general from Central Plains. Is that protectorate? I looked up and saw Gu Xiao Wu. Numerous Turkic warriors were already killed, especially the 30,000 picked Turkic soldiers who had confronted with the enemy beforehand, no one came back alive. But Gu Xiao Wu, he was still alive.

Not only was he alive, but he changed the clothes of Central Plains. Although he didn't wear armor and he looked like a young scholar of Central Plains, I knew that such a tent would never be of a scholar. There were a lot of guards around him, and that general of Central Plains who caught us came in and kneeled down to Gu Xiao Wu. A clear sound came from his armor, which represented the highest courtesy toward the most n.o.ble man in Central Plains. I suddenly understood, Gu Xiao Wu, Gu Xiao Wu turned out to be the spy of Central Plains! It was exactly he that had brought about the enemy's sneak attack. I tried my best to spit at him, “You spy!” The guards beside him hooted at me and someone kicked on my lap, then my legs felt weak and I rolled to the ground again. I saw the protectorate, who also bowed to Gu Xiao Wu to pay respects. They all spoke the language of Central Plains, so I couldn't understand any single sentence. Gu Xiao Wu didn't look at me, and the protectorate said a lot to Gu Xiao Wu. I saw Gu Xiao Wu's face was sullen. Finally, all the people left the tent except Gu Xiao Wu and me, then he took the dagger and walked over to me.