Chapter 142: Retaliation

Pei Xiao had just been released from the Ministry of Justice. He had changed his clothes, but there had been no time to freshen up; his hair was a disheveled mess, and a thick stubble of beard had sprouted, completely erasing any trace of the gentle, refined gentleman he once was.

Evading the pursuers sent by Emperor Zhou, he led the few remaining remnants of his defeated troops and fled all the way north, finally catching up after five days.

It was evening. The glow of the setting sun enveloped the hills. The mountains were barren of trees, holding nothing but jagged rocks and yellow earth. The piercing sunlight beat down unobstructed, forcing Pei Xiao to raise his arm to shield his eyes.

Squinting, he could vaguely make out a figure and a horse standing atop the crest of the hill, looking as if they were coated in a layer of golden light.

Pei Xiao recognized the man instantly. Enraged, he drew his sword and roared, “Pei Yuan! You have a lot of nerve! Are you waiting for me here?!”

A long, drawn-out whistle echoed from across the way, sounding almost like a mocking reply.

Wu Min realized things were looking bad. Pei Yuan was not a reckless man; for him to wait all alone so blatantly meant there was bound to be an ambush. He wanted to warn Pei Xiao to proceed with caution and not act on impulse, but Pei Xiao was already blinded by rage from such casual humiliation. Before Wu Min could utter a word, Pei Xiao dug his heels into his horse’s flanks, shouted “Jia!”, and charged forward with his sword drawn.

Pei Yuan drew his long saber from his back and waited quietly. When the distance between them shrank to a mere three chang, he let out a great shout and charged forward as well.

Pei Xiao’s sword came slashing down over his head, but Pei Yuan raised his saber horizontally to block it. The scraping of iron against iron produced a piercing, grating shriek. Suddenly, a smirk played on Pei Yuan’s lips, and he joked in a teasing tone, “Third Brother, after traveling for so long, I take it you haven’t even washed your face?”

Pei Xiao’s eyes widened in fury as he roared, “Presumptuous!” Exerting power through his arm, his long sword slid up along the edge of the blade, suddenly twisting to strike directly at Pei Yuan’s face. Pei Yuan bent backward to dodge the blow. A cold light flashed in Pei Xiao’s eyes, and with a reverse strike, he aimed straight at the head of Pei Yuan’s warhorse. Saifeng took fright, rearing up and neighing loudly. Pei Yuan quickly maneuvered the horse aside, but Pei Xiao’s sword managed to slice across the horse’s tail, cutting off a tuft of hair.

Pei Yuan clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Third Brother, your heart truly is filthy.”

“I am not here to bandy words with you!” Pei Xiao was infuriated by his tone. The more casual and unbothered Pei Yuan acted, the more humiliated Pei Xiao felt, as if he were being played like a fool in the palm of his hand. This was a feeling he had never experienced in his entire life, fueling a toxic irritation that drove him to the brink of madness.

Pei Xiao raised his sword and pointed it directly at the tip of Pei Yuan’s nose, stating coldly, “I don’t know what kind of plot you have in mind by going to such lengths to steal my son, but don’t you dare think you will succeed! I will give you two paths right now. Either you submissively hand Yuanzi back to me, and we’ll wipe the slate clean, leaving the future to our own abilities. Or, I will bind you up and use you as a hostage to trade for my son—though whether you’ll have any dignity left by then will be none of my concern!”

“Always ‘your son, your son’ out of your mouth. Just how thick is your skin?” Pei Yuan replied with a faint smile. He leaned back, resting his left hand on the horse’s back, and actually lifted his right leg to cross it over his left knee. He tilted his chin up at Pei Xiao and let out a sharp whistle. “I’ve truly never seen a man quite like you, Third Brother. Raising another man’s son for five years and still being so incredibly thrilled about it. Such selflessness and boundless love truly do justice to your title as the Crown Prince. When Third Brother’s birthday comes around this year, this younger brother will personally tailor a green robe and a green hat for you to show my utmost respect. I’m certain you will absolutely adore it.”

Pei Xiao’s complexion shifted through a flurry of colors before he finally erupted into a violent roar: “Men, seize this shameless little thief for me!”

The soldiers behind him moved instantly upon receiving the order, spurring their horses forward. For a moment, dust clouds billowed into the air as battle cries shattered the quiet evening.

Pei Yuan’s expression turned serious.

This was exactly the moment he had been waiting for.

“Thieves are attempting to force the pass!” Pei Yuan held his saber high in the air, his voice booming across the valley, “Where are the warriors of Yangmagang?! Men, seize them!”

In an instant, a sound akin to rolling thunder echoed across the landscape. Three thousand iron hooves surged forward like dark storm clouds, throwing up a blinding screen of sand and dust wherever they passed. Pei Xiao surveyed his surroundings, his face draining of color. The enemy had clearly been prepared long ago, swooping down in a flawless pincer movement. They were completely surrounded by a wall of brass and iron, leaving him with absolutely no hope of breaking out!

His deputy officer, Wu Min, was practically dumbfounded, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Your Highness, what should we do?!”

“What’s the use of asking him? Ask me instead. I recognize you, Little Wu, right?” Pei Yuan leaned forward, a smirk on his face. “I’ll point you toward a clear path. If you drop your weapon right now, get down on your knees, and call me ‘Father,’ I might just show some fatherly compassion and spare your life.”

“Insolent wretch!” Pei Xiao cursed furiously. “Even if I die here today, I will sever one of your arms to avenge my grievance!”

With a furious roar, he dug his spurs in and charged directly at Pei Yuan. Realizing his intention, Wu Min gave a broad wave of his hand and led the remaining guards in a desperate charge toward Pei Yuan, shouting, “Capture him alive! It’s our only way out!”

But their numbers were barely a hundred. Against three thousand, they were as vulnerable as ants. Pei Yuan maneuvered his horse backward at a leisurely pace as his warriors flooded forward, intentionally bypassing Pei Xiao to focus entirely on surrounding Wu Min and the others. Within a few short breaths, Pei Xiao’s personal guards were thrown from their mounts one after another, their agonized screams cutting short into absolute silence.

Pei Xiao’s face was entirely splattered with blood as he stared at Pei Yuan with wide, furious eyes. Letting out a sharp cry, he prepared to launch another attack, but an arrow suddenly whistled through the air from his flank, burying itself straight into his horse’s flank.

The mount was already thoroughly exhausted. Taking such a hit, it bolted in sheer terror. Caught completely off guard, Pei Xiao tumbled violently onto the sandy ground. Before he could even scramble back to his feet, Pei Yuan was already upon him, his saber flashing downward to cleanly slice off the topknot of hair from his head. A moment later, guards swarmed forward to pin the disoriented Pei Xiao to the ground. Pei Xiao looked up in absolute horror, his loose hair falling in a disheveled mess that barely reached his shoulders.

Wei Meng lowered his bow and burst into a boisterous laugh, and the surrounding soldiers quickly joined in.

Such an immense public humiliation was far worse than an actual execution. Pei Xiao’s teeth ground together so hard they clicked, but with his hands and feet tightly bound, he could do nothing but endure it as Pei Yuan leaned down, whispering directly into his ear: “I cannot kill you today, but the opportunity will come sooner or later. Let us wait and see. This slice of the blade is to settle our past accounts, and also to remind you that the head on your shoulders exists entirely at my whim. Furthermore, when you return, make sure to wash your neck thoroughly and grow your hair back out. After all, when the time comes for me to hang your severed head on the city gates for public display, it won’t look good if your neck is too filthy, and if your hair is too short, I won’t be able to tie it up.”

Staring straight into Pei Xiao’s eyes, which were burning with deep-seated hatred, Pei Yuan straightened his spine and stated with a laugh, “Ah, so it turns out to be the Third Prince! I failed to recognize you just now, assuming you were merely a bandit trying to force the pass. That is why I issued the wrong order and accidentally slaughtered your personal guard. My sincerest apologies. Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up—Wei Meng, see the Third Prince back.”

Wei Meng accepted the order with a loud shout, rallying a few men to drag the loudly cursing Pei Xiao up from the ground. They forcibly bundled him into a carriage that had already been prepared. Wei Meng climbed aboard as well, and the carriage immediately rattled off toward the south.

As the silhouette of the carriage vanished into the distance, the smile on Pei Yuan’s face instantly dissolved.

He swept his gaze over the corpses of Pei Xiao’s personal guards, stating in a flat tone, “Find a good plot of land and bury them properly.”

……

Fearing that Pei Xiao might try to stir up further trouble along the way, Wei Meng accompanied him for nearly half a month, escorting him all the way back to the garrison of the Ba-Shu Army before finally offering a cheerful farewell.

By this point, Pei Xiao had completely exhausted his capacity for anger.

Wei Meng’s sheer thick-skinned nature was cut from the exact same cloth as Pei Yuan’s; perhaps it was a classic case of birds of a feather flocking together. Pei Xiao had attempted to resist and hurled countless curses throughout the journey, but Wei Meng had mostly just offered a smiling, placid face to comfort him. Yet, this Wei Meng was also like an unpredictable firecracker; one moment he would be smiling with you, and the next, if his patience wore thin, he would unleash a barrage of foul language.

Pei Xiao thought to himself with bitter irony that this man, just like Pei Yuan, possessed absolutely no respect for rules, law, or seniority. If it weren’t for his status as an imperial prince, and if Emperor Zhou hadn’t strictly drilled it into them to spare his life, Wei Meng would have genuinely severed his head on the spot.

He was delivered back into the main command tent like a common prisoner.

With his personal guards entirely wiped out, and given that the Ba-Shu Army had originally been commanded by Pei Che, the camp was filled entirely with Pei Che’s loyalists. Most of them treated him with cold indifference. In this place, Pei Xiao felt like a solitary boat adrift on a vast ocean, completely isolated and without a single soul to turn to.

In the dead of night, Pei Xiao sat alone in his tent with a cold expression, nursing a cup of wine. As his thoughts swirled in a chaotic storm, he suddenly caught the rustle of the tent curtain opening.

Looking up, a tall, blue-eyed man strolled into the tent, a mocking grin plastered across his face as he called out, “Third Prince of the Han people, how are you holding up?”

“Chunyu Luan?” Pei Xiao narrowed his eyes. “Shouldn’t you be staying safely within your royal court? What business do you have traveling thousands of miles to come to my camp?”

“To rescue you, naturally.” Chunyu Luan seated himself across from him with casual ease, raising a cup to drain the wine before offering a smirk. “As things stand now, are you still unwilling to cooperate with me?”

……

Following that encounter, Pei Yuan and his group traveled at a measured, unhurried pace, taking a full ten days before they finally arrived at Feng County.

The Yanbei region comprised nine commanderies in total, within which three garrison towns held the most critical strategic importance: Gaoshan Town, Feng County, and Dai County. Gaoshan Town sat directly in the center, while Feng County and Dai County flank it on the left and right wings like a triangle. The primary advantage of this deployment was that if any single town came under attack, the other two could rapidly dispatch troops to reinforce it. Furthermore, if any of the remaining six towns faced skirmishes, these three counties could swiftly deploy reinforcements.

Qiu Mingishan had long stationed his troops at Gaoshan Town, while the capital of Pei Yuan’s fief was located in Feng County. The two cities were not far apart; a fast horse could cover the distance in a mere three hours.

Upon his arrival in Feng County, Pei Yuan’s very first course of action was to send a letter to Qiu Mingshan, requesting a meeting. Yet, such a simple meeting failed to materialize even after a whole month had passed.

Initially, Qiu Mingshan was not even present in Gaoshan Town, having gone out to inspect the borderlands. Pei Yuan waited for three days, and just when he finally anticipated his return, a small band of Xiongnu raiders struck, harassing the local herders and plundering their grain supplies. A minor skirmish like that could have easily been resolved by dispatching a minor lieutenant, but Qiu Mingshan insisted on handling it personally. Consequently, Pei Yuan was forced to wait another five days.

By the time Qiu Mingshan finally returned, Pei Yuan didn’t bother waiting for a formal reply. He immediately prepared to set off for Gaoshan Town himself, but the moment he stepped into the government office, he received word from Qiu’s deputy. The message stated that an urgent decree had arrived from the capital, requiring Qiu Mingshan to personally attend an alliance meeting with the Old Chanyu. Given that the military situation in the south was currently precarious, if war were to ignite in the north as well, military supplies would likely fail to keep pace. Thus, it was deemed best to avoid deploying troops and instead seek a harmonious resolution. Pei Yuan waited another ten days.

Ten days later, the time arrived for the rotation of the guards.

According to the laws of the Zhou Dynasty, a military unit was strictly prohibited from being stationed in a single location for more than three years. This measure was designed to prevent military commanders from forming excessively close ties with local officials, which might spark treacherous intentions detrimental to both the populace and the imperial court. Consequently, military units underwent frequent rotations. Furthermore, the soldiers stationed in the interior provinces had long enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and had essentially never faced a true enemy; every three years, a batch of these interior soldiers would be rotated to the border armies to temper their combat skills.

The military rotation was a tedious and drawn-out process. Naturally, Pei Yuan had no energy left to dedicate to Qiu Mingshan’s matters, and by the time everything was fully settled, nearly another month had slipped away.

During this interval, Qiu Mingshan had replied to his letters a few times, offering nothing but lukewarm, trivial pleasantries. He failed to warmly invite him out for a gathering as he had always done in the past. Pei Yuan finally saw through the charade: Qiu Mingshan was deliberately avoiding him!

Pei Yuan was done waiting. He resolved to head to Gaoshan Town personally. Regardless of whether the man was out on patrol or attending an alliance meeting, he was absolutely going to see him!

Waking up early in the morning, Bao Ning looked after him as he washed and dressed. Fearing that any delay might spark further complications, Pei Yuan didn’t even stop for breakfast. Bao Ning had no choice but to pack a few fried oil cakes and steamed buns for him, walking him to the door alongside Yuanzi to see him off.

While they waited for Chen Jia to lead the horse over, Pei Yuan turned to Bao Ning and noted, “I never knew it could be so difficult just to catch a glimpse of him. It’s almost as if he’s possessed. Let’s hope absolutely nothing goes wrong this time.”

Bao Ning pressed her palms together against her chest, whispering softly, “May the heavens watch over you.”

Chen Jia led Saifeng over, and Pei Yuan let out a sigh of relief. Waving goodbye to Bao Ning, he was just about to mount his horse when a minor clerk came rushing over, bowing low as he reported, “Your Highness, Su Wei, the newly appointed garrison commander of Dai County, has arrived and requests an audience with you!”

Pei Yuan had long heard of this Su Wei; he was a disciple under the Left Prime Minister, Dong Yushu. Dong Yushu was allied with Pei Xiao and had always worked against him both openly and covertly. Pei Yuan had already cursed under his breath when he first heard that Su Wei was being rotated into the area, and hearing of his arrival now made his expression turn even darker.

Bao Ning watched as he pulled his foot back down from the stirrup, muttering a quiet curse under his breath.

Yuanzi pulled a piece of candy from his pocket and popped it into Bao Ning’s hand. Bao Ning popped it into her mouth with a bright smile, asking Pei Yuan, “Are you still going?”

Pei Yuan barked, “Go to hell instead!”

“Well then, I’m heading back inside to sleep.” Bao Ning took Yuanzi’s hand and turned back toward the house, discussing their plans with him. “Yuanzi, once we wake up from our nap, let’s go get those chive pockets from the street stall on the East Avenue. I want to add a ton of chili sauce!”

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