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Chapter 83 Defeated (2)
This time, emperor Jinghui truly panicked. When people get old, their head would be unclear. If general Pingxi was so easy to deal with, the cavalries of the Xiongnu would’ve already gone to Liang capital a few years ago and showed off their military strength.
If Zhao Zimu didn’t guess wrong, Muke’s original intention was to use Great Liang to prove himself and allow the tribes of the grassland to submit to his rule. But, after conquering two cities and ransacked both cities, his purpose was probably not only to prove himself.
The robbed belongings after the two cities had been captured, had greatly aroused Muke’s greed. Under the circumstance to win power, what harm was there to try use these two cities as his stronghold for looting another city?
Presumably, after Muke filled his pots full, to avoid being surrounded like a dumpling by the army of Great Liang guarding at the frontier, he retreated. Presumably, the hundred thousand soldiers that emperor Jinghui had dispatched to the northwest was just the side dish.
Chen Jin arranged for Situ Yuanxiao and Chen Jing to lead the troops this time, the most probable reason was to train these two people and to groom new generals. Furthermore, he might have guessed that the Xiongnu’s withdrawal from Li City was just a trap. The purpose of the Xiongnu was just to cut the acute spirit of the court a bit, so, they could have enough time to raid and loot more towns and cities, and obtain more benefits to bring back to their grassland.
Before Chen Jin makes dumplings of them, if they didn’t want to suffer a big loss, they would retreat, otherwise, it wouldn’t benefit both parties.
Chen Jin was getting old and the military strength of the khan of the grassland had been developing faster and faster over the years. To prevent the cities of Great Liang from becoming the horse breeding ground for the Xiongnu, Great Liang must have young generals who could fight against them and protect this frontier of the northwest.
Sure enough, when the Xiongnu wanted to attack again, general Pingxi dispatched a troop to intercept them halfway, forcing the Xiongnu to retreat to Li City again.
The group didn’t win the battle and didn’t take back Li City. Instead, they returned after having lost thousands of people. Sure enough, commander-in-chief Pingxi didn’t say anything. He just let them stay a bit longer when the others retreated. Presumably, it was to give them some tips.
Zhao Zimu left with Lin Qing. After they went back, Lin Qing asked, “What do you think of what had happened today?”
Listening to Lin Qing’s cold tone, Zhao Zimu shook her head. She hugged him from behind and said nothing. Knowing that he didn’t want her to go to such dangerous places, so, she couldn’t say some things.
After a long time, Zhao Zimu spoke softly, “I want to go with them.”
The breathing of the person in front of her suddenly became heavier. He turned around. There were violent fluctuations in his dark eyes. He stared at her fixedly and said, “What did you say? Say it again!”
Zhao Zimu hesitated and then spoke softly, “I want to join the northwest frontier army and fight the Xiongnu.”
“You!”
Zhao Zimu shook his hand to stop him from speaking any more. After she hugged him tightly and felt that his breathing had stabilized, did she say, “I know what you are worried about, but…”
“But what?” Lin Qing asked dryly.
He had always been the passive one with her. He couldn’t see through her mind and for some reason, ever since they had come to the northwest, he felt some panic when looking at her sometimes. She seemed to be hiding something from him and he couldn’t figure out what it was.
“But I want to stay here,” Zhao Zimu said with difficulty.
Boom!
The sound of something being broken. Yue Yi and the others who were guarding outside almost rushed in, but when they heard the sounds coming from the room again, the few people stopped the urge to rush in. They exchanged a glance and hesitantly went back to where they were standing.
“What do you mean? Lin Qing hissed with his red eyes wide open. The glister from his eyes had also become cold. If Zhao Zimu’s answer wasn’t something that he wanted, he would immediately let the people of the Prefecture of Arrest imprison her, so that she couldn’t even take one step to leave.
He even thought about how and where to imprison her, and how to force her to succumb. If all didn’t work, he would feed her medication, making her unable to take a step in this life and could only stay by his side.
He wasn’t afraid that she would resent him because she should’ve long known that he was this kind of person. Since she had chosen him, then, there was no room for regret. She should’ve known…
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