Climbing to the Top: A Reborn Queen's Journey

Chapter 826 - 2: The National Letter (Part 2)

A month later.

The Left General, carrying a letter personally written by the Empress, led fifty thousand elite cavalry and magnificently left the Capital City.

These fifty thousand cavalry were drawn from five different armies. The Imperial Army, Divine Martial Camp, and Brave Camp each contributed ten thousand cavalry, and the Heroic Guard Camp and Nanyang Guard Camp also contributed ten thousand cavalry, totaling exactly fifty thousand.

Additionally, there were ten thousand auxiliary soldiers assigned specifically for transporting food and supplies. These auxiliaries were all from the Heroic Guard Camp. Although they were labeled auxiliary soldiers, in reality, they were brave and battle-ready. The auxiliary soldiers moved more slowly than the cavalry because of the supplies they had to transport, trailing by several days. Along the way, bandits and mountain brigands fled at the rumor, and no one dared to approach the court’s grand army.

The army marched eighty miles every day, neither fast nor slow, stopping to set up camp each day after reaching eighty miles.

Fumingdun Khan of the Rouran was held in a prison cart. Captured alive, he had been detained without torture. He was, after all, the Rouran Khan; he could be killed but not humiliated indiscriminately.

He had originally been prepared for death by a thousand cuts, but he hadn’t expected the Empress of the Da Liang Dynasty to be willing to release him back to the grasslands, all just to exchange for those lowly slaves.

Women’s benevolence!

Fumingdun Khan scornfully despised in his heart. If it were him, he would surely kill the opponent to eliminate future troubles, never letting the tiger return to the mountain. A woman becoming Emperor is indeed soft-hearted.

One day, he would make the Da Liang Empress pay a price for today’s foolish decision!

Fumingdun Khan cursed fiercely in his heart, his facial muscles occasionally twitching.

Beside him, there were over a hundred elite soldiers standing guard. So many encircled the prison cart that not even a fly could enter.

"General Liu!" "Salute to General Liu!"

The elite soldiers saw the visitor and respectfully saluted.

This General Liu was Liu Hengchang, renowned worldwide for his victories in two battles.

Now Liu Hengchang had reached the Standard Second Rank as a military general. Among the tall soldiers, his stature was average, not particularly burly, yet all soldiers gazed at him with admiration wherever he went.

Liu Hengchang nodded with a smile: "I’m here to deliver dinner to Fumingdun Khan."

During the march, everyone was only allowed two meals a day. Fumingdun Khan was no exception. Having long exhausted his breakfast, he was now starving.

Liu Hengchang brought a bowl of porridge and two steamed buns for dinner. To Fumingdun Khan, used to eating meat, such simple and crude food was something he wouldn’t glance at ordinarily.

Now, he was the fish on the chopping board; having some warm food was already a blessing, with no room for being picky.

Fumingdun Khan couldn’t speak the Da Liang language and understood nothing. He didn’t recognize the unremarkable man before him and only knew that this face delivered his meals daily.

Fumingdun Khan’s wrists were chained, and any slight movement caused the chains to clatter. The key was with Liu Hengchang, but Liu Hengchang had no intention of unlocking him, merely placing the hot porridge and buns near him.

Fumingdun Khan could only awkwardly grab a bun and stuff it into his mouth. The buns were consumed in an instant, and the porridge, warm and easily ingested, was quickly finished as well. In his eagerness, he spilled some porridge on his lapel.

Liu Hengchang watched Fumingdun Khan finish the porridge coldly, then collected the dishes and returned to his military tent, where he smashed the dishes and discarded them.

The next day at breakfast, Liu Hengchang brought new dishes. The hot porridge and buns were taken from the cookhouse, but before reaching Fumingdun Khan, they always passed through Liu Hengchang’s tent. Liu Hengchang did nothing more than take out a porcelain bottle and add a bit of white powder to the porridge.

This powder was colorless and tasteless; occasional use posed no harm. But if taken continuously for more than two months, it would slowly erode the internal organs. After one or two years, it would cause death from intestinal perforation and organ decay.

This was a special powder crafted by Doctor Sun for Fumingdun Khan.

Before departing, the Empress summoned Liu Hengchang to the palace to give him the bottle of powder: "Handle this yourself; let no other person touch it. Let no one else know of this."

They needed Fumingdun Khan to exchange for all the Da Liang citizens but wanted him to suffer agonizingly before dying. This matter wasn’t very dignified and certainly shouldn’t be publicized.

Liu Hengchang’s calm and steady nature made him the Empress’s trusted aide, the most suitable person to handle this task.

As for the Left General, whether he was aware and turning a blind eye or completely oblivious was unknown.

The march was smooth, with no surprises or dangers.

Upon reaching the border, Marquis Jingbian, General Fan personally welcomed them and drew an elite force of ten thousand from the border army to join the troops heading deep into the grasslands.

After a half-month of rest at the border, once the auxiliaries and army joined, each cavalryman carried several thick bags of dry rations.

It was said these rations were developed by Marquis Changning during his time in Nanyang County. Made from roasted and ground sorghum, corn, and other grains, with added dried vegetables and meat pieces, packed in slender bags slung over the shoulder and wrapped several times around, they were a week’s supply.

This was far tastier than hard biscuits and convenient to carry, now the most popular military ration.

Once the army entered the grasslands, they gradually encountered small groups of cavalry. These cavalry weren’t numerous and posed no real threat to the army. They didn’t attack, just appeared around the army’s front, back, left, and right.

"They want to find out our numbers and confirm Fumingdun Khan is with us." The Left General sat in the tent, speaking casually to the gathered generals: "Rouran’s tens of thousands of cavalry have been thoroughly defeated by our Da Liang’s elite soldiers. Now Rouran lacks the troops to confront us. We have seventy thousand elite soldiers, more than enough to dominate in the grasslands."

A general couldn’t help but raise an objection: "What if Rouran borrows troops from the Tatar or the Gaoche or they join forces and attack? What will we do then?"

"We have only seventy thousand, and if all the grasslands’ tribes were to unite, they could easily muster two or three hundred thousand cavalry. How could we resist?"

The Left General replied calmly, "Then we will execute Fumingdun and fight to the death."

"Before coming, as Duke I already told you. This journey to the grasslands could lead to great glory or be our burial ground. Since you’ve come, you must be prepared to risk your life."

"Anyone afraid of death should pack up and head back now."

The outspoken general responded awkwardly, "It wasn’t my intention."

The Left General was strict in military governance and was never polite to subordinates. The outspoken general was from the Divine Martial Camp and was reprimanded swiftly by the Left General: "If that’s not your intention, then don’t babble. Don’t utter such demoralizing nonsense."

The outspoken general immediately closed his mouth like a clam shell and didn’t open it again.

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