Chapter 158: Hope

Within less than half a burn of an incense stick, Su Wei rushed over in a hurry.

The moment they met, he fell to his knees before Pei Yuan, weeping bitterly as he blamed himself. “This subordinate knows he has failed in his duty. By listening to the slanderous rumors of a villain, I delayed military opportunities, putting both cities in grave danger and leading to Your Highness being wounded. This subordinate deserves ten thousand deaths. I beg Your Highness to grant me another chance to atone for my crimes with meritorious service. Once the Xiongnu troops are driven back, this subordinate will surely commit suicide to apologize for my offenses!”

Pei Yuan leaned against a soft cushion behind his waist. He listened to him finish quietly before saying faintly, “The crime does not warrant death. Rise.”

Su Wei’s face was covered in tears, and he remained kneeling, refusing to get up.

Pei Yuan said, “I have long seen your patriotic loyalty. Your failure in duty this time was also due to falling into someone else’s trap; I do not blame you. The urgent matter at hand is for everyone, from top to bottom, to unite and devise a strategy to repel the enemy, rather than to blame you for your past mistakes. General Su, please rise.”

Deeply moved, Su Wei stood up.

He asked with concern, “Your Highness has just awakened, do you feel hungry? People have been kept in the kitchen; if you wish to dine, it can be brought up immediately.”

Pei Yuan shook his head and asked, “How is the battle situation now?”

Su Wei replied, “It snowed heavily for several consecutive days, and it only stopped last night. We originally planned to attack the Xiongnu troops from the rear to catch them off guard, but the heavy snow blocked the mountains. It is difficult for our men to pass through in a short time, and fighting in such weather is highly unsuitable. We retreated before even crossing Mount Qilian. However, the Xiongnu have not withdrawn either. An army of two hundred thousand is besieging Feng County. Both sides are at a standstill, and no one dares to make a reckless move.”

Pei Yuan closed his eyes briefly. “Is Chunyu Luan dead?”

“He was severely wounded and his face was ruined, but he is not dead.” Su Wei’s expression turned anxious. “Just last night, our scouts reported that Chunyu Luan sent a small unit of cavalry heading north, seemingly toward the Royal Court. This subordinate conversed with several generals who have fought the Xiongnu for years and are familiar with Chunyu Luan’s character. Their guess is that Chunyu Luan acts arrogantly and stubbornly, possessing a brutal streak that refuses to give up until he hits a dead end. He is likely unwilling to retreat in such a disgraced state and wants to borrow troops from the Royal Court for a desperate, life-or-death fight.”

Pei Yuan’s eyes snapped open, fixing his gaze squarely on Su Wei’s expression.

As Su Wei spoke, he sighed. “We can only hope this guess is wrong. If he really manages to borrow troops, he will definitely launch an offensive immediately. With such a disparity in military strength, we stand almost no chance of winning. Unless… General Qiu’s side can turn back his troops to rescue us. However, Shiyang Pass is a strategic bottleneck that must absolutely never fall. How could General Qiu possibly return?”

Pei Yuan asked, “How many battles have been fought at Shiyang Pass, and how many people have died?”

“The two sides have only engaged in a few skirmishes, with casualties of around a few hundred people; no major battle has occurred yet,” Su Wei explained. “Shiyang Pass is in the northwest direction, where it is even more bitterly cold. It began snowing a month ago. In that icy and snowy world, the soldiers on both sides are suffering unspeakably, so there have been no major movements. It is estimated that the battle won’t truly begin until spring.”

Pei Yuan suddenly asked, “Don’t you find it strange?”

For a moment, Su Wei did not grasp Pei Yuan’s meaning. After thinking carefully for a while, he still did not understand. “What does Your Highness mean?”

“Since when did the Xiongnu become so wealthy and abundant?” Pei Yuan’s eyes narrowed. “They claim to have deployed two hundred thousand troops to Shiyang Pass, and there are another two hundred thousand beneath the walls of Feng County. Added together, that makes four hundred thousand. Not only that, but the fact that Chunyu Luan can return to borrow troops indicates that the Royal Court’s garrison is still plentiful. However, the entire Xiongnu tribe only numbers a few million people. Excluding women, the elderly, and children, it truly means every single person has been weaponized.”

“This…” Su Wei hesitated. “Perhaps this is something Chunyu Luan and Chanyu Nazhu planned long ago. They made up their minds to conquer Saibei, so they spared no effort.”

“That is a plausible explanation.” Pei Yuan looked down at his own fingers, his voice soft and slow. “But soldiers need to eat, and horses need to graze. Their army is on a long-distance expedition, consuming tens of thousands of dan of grain a day, and that doesn’t even account for the manpower required to transport provisions. Being out for two months is enough to empty the Xiongnu’s already scarce granaries. Besides, don’t their common people need to eat? This truly is a case of burning their boats and making a desperate, final gamble.”

Like a bolt from the blue, realization dawned upon Su Wei. After a long pause, he asked excitedly, “Does Your Highness mean that the warfare at Shiyang Pass is fake—a mere show of force intended to hold us back?”

“After all, we are not on the front lines and do not know the actual situation there, so it is not wise to make arbitrary decisions,” Pei Yuan ordered. “Send a capable general to convey this matter to General Qiu, and let him make the decision.”

Su Wei accepted the order. A hint of joy appeared at the corners of his eyes and brows. The more he thought about Pei Yuan’s words, the more reasonable they seemed. This game of chess was not a dead end; they were not bound to lose.

He was a follower of the Left Prime Minister, Dong Yushu. In terms of factions, he stood opposite Pei Yuan, so he had naturally always harbored some reservations. When he was first reassigned as the defending general of Dai County, he had met Pei Yuan once. At that time, he only felt that the Fourth Prince was indeed young and promising, but he was not truly convinced, thinking that the prince just had the good fortune of being born into the right family. If he had been given such a stroke of good fortune, he wouldn’t have done any worse. It was only now that he was truly, wholeheartedly convinced, willingly referring to himself as “this subordinate.”

Pei Yuan said, “The matter of contacting General Qiu must not be leaked. Dai Zeng might not be the only traitor in your army. The troops have just rotated defenses, and the subordinates are unfamiliar with one another; it’s hard to tell who is human and who is a ghost. It is best to be cautious. Also, is there any news from the capital?”

Hearing the first half of Pei Yuan’s sentence, Su Wei’s heart gave a violent thump. He had avoided thinking deeply about the matter regarding Dai Zeng, not daring to do so. Dai Zeng had practically eaten and lived alongside him; it was impossible for him to have clandestine contacts with the Xiongnu. The only suspicious point was his past identity: Dai Zeng was originally an unappreciated retainer under Pei Xiao. Later, because he committed an error, he was nearly demoted out of the capital, but by a stroke of luck, Su Wei had taken him in.

Could it be that Dai Zeng was acting under Pei Xiao’s instructions?

The person colluding with the enemy was actually the Third Prince, Pei Xiao?

Su Wei hastily pulled his thoughts back and answered Pei Yuan’s question. “Reporting to Your Highness, this subordinate has been continuously sending people to deliver letters toward the capital. Dozens of batches have already gone, but as of now, no one has returned.”

Pei Yuan’s eyelids lowered slightly, and he said textedly, “Reflecting on everything during this period, it was all arranged too ingeniously. First, drawing General Qiu away, then launching a feint attack on Dai County when the actual goal was to swallow Feng County. Without a sufficient understanding of our defensive deployments and a thorough knowledge of each defending general’s personality, none of this could have been executed. What is most bizarre is that the capital has gone silent. With such a massive event occurring in the north, even if they don’t send reinforcements, how could they not even utter a single word of inquiry? Who exactly possesses such long hands and feet, and such grand ambition?”

Su Wei did not dare voice the name in his heart. He fell silent for a moment before inquiring, “Your Highness, why don’t I arrange for a few more brothers to return to the capital in civilian clothing, concealing their identities to investigate whether some chaos has truly broken out there?”

Pei Yuan nodded. “Very well, let’s proceed that way.”

Su Wei noticed the abnormality in his mood and assumed it was caused by the pain of his wound. Feeling sympathetic, he said, “Your Highness, please rest first. If there is a reply, this subordinate will report to you at the earliest moment.”

Pei Yuan nodded initially. He watched Su Wei retreat, but just as Su Wei reached the doorway, Pei Yuan suddenly called out to stop him. “Wait a moment.”

Su Wei turned back in surprise. “Your Highness, is there anything else?”

Pei Yuan clenched his fist resting on the blanket. After staring at him for a long while, he asked softly, “How is Feng County? How is… the Princess? Is there any news?”

This was a question he had wanted to ask long ago, but had not dared to voice. He was too terrified of receiving bad news.

Pei Yuan had never felt such dread toward the unknown before; he felt like a coward, which was unlike him, but he could not restrain it. Throughout his conversation with Su Wei, he had minutely observed Su Wei’s every expression, trying to detect any subtle clues. He knew that Bao Ning being abducted might just be a hoax—a bait used by Chunyu Luan to lure him into a trap. He also knew that no matter what happened, the only thing he could do was steady his mind and try his absolute best to win this war. Yet, he still could not stop his mind from wandering into wild thoughts.

If only he could turn into a bird, he could fly to Bao Ning’s side. But right now, he could go nowhere.

To Su Wei’s utter disbelief, he saw that Pei Yuan’s eyes had actually turned red.

Su Wei remembered that five days ago at dawn, Pei Yuan had been brought into the city by that white-clothed doctor named Le Xu. At that time, Pei Yuan still possessed a shred of consciousness, watching with wide eyes as Le Xu tore away the clothing stuck to his wound by dried blood. The wound was so deep that stark white bone was exposed. Back then, Pei Yuan was like a wooden puppet—he didn’t cry out in pain, shed no tears, and could even converse with him, asking whether Dai Zeng had been restrained and whether the snow outside had stopped.

Yet now, he was actually crying.

After some thought, Su Wei decided to tell him the truth. He said in a low voice, “The situation in Feng County is probably not very good. On the day the city was attacked, a great fire broke out. Rumor has it that a squad of Xiongnu soldiers who had long been lying in ambush within the city took advantage of the chaos to abduct the Princess, setting the fire as they fled. Looking at the direction, by some twist of fate, it might have burned down the granary in the northwest corner…”

Pei Yuan held his breath.

Su Wei continued, “But Your Highness need not worry excessively. In this subordinate’s view, the person who was abducted might not be the Princess. At the same time Chunyu Luan sent men to borrow troops, he took the abducted person along with him. Our hidden scouts observed that the person was tall and very thin; though wearing hairpins and flowers, the footprints left behind were very large, which does not resemble the Princess’s stature. Also, I forgot to mention just now, Feng County has been releasing a plume of beacon smoke every single day recently. The men sent to gather information didn’t pay it much mind at first, but later found it strange and noted the timing of the smoke. Coincidentally, it is exactly at the second quarter of the Mao hour every day.”

The tight knot between Pei Yuan’s brows suddenly unraveled. A wave of immense joy swept over him. After restraining himself for a moment, he still could not help but laugh out loud.

Stunned by Pei Yuan’s sudden shift, Su Wei asked softly, “Your Highness, is there something amiss?”

“The second quarter of the Mao hour is the time of the Princess’s birth.” Pei Yuan’s eyes and brows were filled with a smile. “She is using this method to send me a message, saying she is perfectly fine. Truly… she is incredibly clever.”

Pei Yuan asked Su Wei, “If it were you, could you have thought of such a clever method?”

Su Wei shook his head awkwardly. “Probably… not.”

Pei Yuan gave an “nn” sound. “There is a reason why you cannot become the Princess.”

Su Wei felt even more awkward. Examining Pei Yuan’s complexion, he wondered if the prince’s fever had not broken yet, leaving his mind muddled. He was a grown man, why on earth would he want to be a Princess… and which prince would even marry him?

With Pei Yuan’s permission, Su Wei withdrew, completely bewildered.

Pei Yuan rejected his suggestion to have someone attend to him. He only had the food brought up, ate, set it aside, and then slowly lay back down by himself.

His body was still exhausted, but his mind was clear. Pei Yuan stared up at the canopy overhead, unable to sleep. After a while, he couldn’t help but slide his hand down to squeeze his legs; as expected, there was still no sensation.

Le Xu said this was because he had walked in the snow for too long, causing his old injuries to flare up. Le Xu could see that he had been poisoned in the past, and said, half-seriously, that even if the poison was neutralized, it was uncertain whether these legs would ever recover.

Pei Yuan did not know if he was speaking the truth or merely trying to scare him out of spite.

Yet, surprisingly, Pei Yuan felt no fear. Even if these legs were truly ruined, it didn’t matter. He had been fortunate enough to live a normal person’s life for a year and had obtained Bao Ning; he was already well satisfied.

If there were a miracle in the grand scheme of things, he was willing to pray to exchange these legs for victory in this war, and for Bao Ning’s safety.

……

In the blink of an eye, another twenty days passed. The snow fell intermittently, and the snow outside the gates of Feng County had reached three feet deep at its thickest.

Seeing that the Laba Festival was approaching, the New Year was also drawing near.

Bao Ning still rose early, and Yuanzi had also developed this habit, accompanying her to get up. Before Nanny Liu arrived, Yuanzi had already found the clothes and helped Bao Ning put them on.

Her belly was gradually growing, showing a distinct bulge. Bao Ning looked down, stroking her belly, and felt a pang of regret. As a father, Pei Yuan had not witnessed this miraculous transformation.

There was still no news of him. The entire Feng County was under a lockdown; perhaps there was news, but it could not be delivered inside.

But Bao Ning had grown used to it. Her sole conviction now was to protect the child in her womb and guard this city well.

Breakfast consisted of simple buns and porridge. After eating, Bao Ning took Yuanzi out for a walk.

The Feng County of today was like night and day compared to the Feng County of a month ago—desolate, filled with anxiety, with almost no pedestrians on the streets. Bao Ning passed by the small shop that originally sold jellied tofu. The door was only halfway open, and the interior was pitch black. The waiter had gone home, leaving only the shopkeeper sitting by the accounting counter, holding half a bowl of tofu soup and drinking it.

Bao Ning walked inside and asked with a smile, “Is there jellied tofu for sale? Bring us three bowls, and I also want a steamer of buns.”

The shopkeeper put down his bowl. “There are no meat buns. Is vegetarian alright?”

Bao Ning said it was fine. The shopkeeper looked very happy, agreeing repeatedly, and quickly brought the items out.

Bao Ning invited him to sit opposite them to eat together. Chatting with him, she asked, “Is business good now? How much can you make in a day?”

“Isn’t there a war going on? There’s barely any business. Everyone is afraid of dying and stays at home; almost no one comes out to the streets,” the shopkeeper sighed. “Originally, I could make two strings of cash a day, but now it’s hard to even earn a fraction of that. The waiter’s monthly wages couldn’t be paid, and since his brother died in the siege last month, he went home to look after his mother. Life is truly difficult now. What’s hateful is that some people are actually profiting from the national crisis. Those medical clinics usually talk about saving lives and healing the wounded, but now a single dose of cold medicine costs a tael of silver. My poor little daughter… died of illness just like that.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but shed tears.

Bao Ning could not bear to witness such a scene. Turning her head away, she fetched a handkerchief from Nanny Liu and handed it over. “Wipe away your tears.”

After composing himself for a moment, the shopkeeper said sorrowfully, “I don’t know when this war will end. The grain at home is about to be completely consumed, and we can’t afford the grain outside either.”

Bao Ning asked, “What do you mean you can’t afford it? Didn’t the government issue an order forbidding those grain shops from taking advantage of the situation to raise prices? According to the original price, a catty of sweet potatoes costs three copper coins. Even if one can’t afford rice or flour, one can get through it by relying on sweet potatoes.”

“The government issued the order, so those grain shops don’t dare raise prices—instead, they simply don’t open their doors at all,” the shopkeeper complained. “You look like a young lady from a wealthy family, so you probably haven’t experienced the suffering of us ordinary folks. The shopkeepers of those grain shops have colluded with one another and collaborated with some local thugs to illegally trade grain in secret. They even threatened that if we report it to the authorities, they will make it so we can’t even buy high-priced grain, leaving us to starve to death.”

Bao Ning stared at him in shock.

The shopkeeper shook his head. “There’s nothing we can do. We can only hope the war ends quickly.”

Bao Ning did not know how to comfort him. The war would be difficult to end in a short time; the enemy outside refused to retreat, making external anxieties hard to resolve, and she hadn’t expected the internal troubles to be so fierce as well.

To the people, food is heaven. Bao Ning had long worried that the citizens would find it hard to do business and would have nothing to eat, so she had instructed the government to strictly monitor any price hikes in grain shops and punish them severely upon discovery. She had always been self-satisfied, thinking she had taken precautions and fundamentally stabilized the people’s hearts. Only now did she realize she had thought of things far too simply.

Bao Ning could no longer eat. She hurriedly left with Nanny Liu and Yuanzi.

Walking on the street once more, Bao Ning felt utterly powerless. She began to miss Pei Yuan again; if he were here, things surely wouldn’t be this bad. But he wasn’t returning.

Bao Ning wanted to blame him, yet she could not bring herself to do so.

Walking aimlessly down the street, she spotted a curled-up figure as she passed a corner. Frowning, she thought the person had fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion and wanted to step forward to wake him. Before she could get close, Nanny Liu pulled her back. “Princess, don’t go over. That person is already dead. Look, the exposed feet are already stiff.”

Bao Ning stopped in her tracks, her eyes gradually growing moist.

She quickly collected her emotions, turned around, and said, “Let’s return to the manor. Summon General Qian Feng and the logistics official to come over; I have something to discuss.”

The logistics official was named Liang Quan. Together with Qian Feng, they stepped into the manor gates almost at the same time as Bao Ning.

Bao Ning led them to the reception hall. Just as they took their seats, Liang Quan said, “Princess, our provisions are running low. There are over a hundred thousand defending troops in the city, but only one granary remains, which is at most enough to last for five days. Saibei is not a place with fertile soil to begin with; all along, military provisions have relied on relief from the capital. The two days prior to the outbreak of war were the scheduled time for grain delivery, but no one came. Later, when the fighting started and the city was sealed, it became even more impossible to enter. Right now, we are consuming our resources without any income. Originally, it shouldn’t have been this urgent, but on the day of the siege, one of our distribution granaries was accidentally destroyed by fire…”

Qian Feng chimed in, “It’s not just the soldiers. Ninety percent of the residents in the city are ordinary citizens who didn’t have much stored grain at home to begin with. With such a disruption, I fear they won’t be able to hold out much longer either.”

Liang Quan knit his brows. “If everyone can’t even get food to eat, the people’s hearts will be unsettled, and this war won’t be sustainable. Feng County will collapse from within without even being attacked.”

“Don’t be so disheartened.” Seeing how anxious they were, Bao Ning actually smiled, offering comfort. “There are always more solutions than difficulties; everything will get better. If we run out of grain, someone else is bound to have some. We will go borrow it, buy it, and everyone can eat a little less to hold out until reinforcements arrive.”

Liang Quan asked, “Whom do we borrow from?”

Qian Feng asked, “Where are the reinforcements?”

Bao Ning replied, “Borrow from those prominent families and hereditary nobles, and borrow from the citizens who have surplus grain. Borrow it at a price twenty percent higher than the market rate, gather all the grain together, and then have the government step in to sell it at a price twenty percent lower than the market rate, so that everyone can afford to eat.”

Liang Quan asked, “What if someone harbors ill intentions and deliberately buys back the grain we sell at a low price to sell it back to us at a high price? What should be done then?”

Bao Ning looked toward Qian Feng, her voice resounding with authority. “Then we will have to trouble General Qian to step forward, execute such a person in public, and hang their head on a long pole to serve as a warning to all.”

Qian Feng had not expected that the Princess, who usually never even spoke loudly, would give such an answer. Stunned for a moment, he solemnly accepted the command.

Liang Quan paused, then asked again, “If we buy it at such a price, the common citizens might sell, but those elite and powerful families will probably not be moved.”

Bao Ning said, “I will personally go borrow it.”

She stood up and addressed Qian Feng, “General Qian, you asked just now where the reinforcements are. I cannot answer you immediately because I do not know either. But I believe reinforcements will definitely appear. The Prince will find a way to rescue us. If the Prince were trapped inside the city with us right now, we ought to be afraid. But he is not here; as long as he is alive, we have hope.”

Bao Ning offered a slight smile. “Do you believe in him?”

Qian Feng said solemnly, “This subordinate believes in him.”

Bao Ning said, “I believe in him too.”

Her voice was soft: “He has never let me down before, and he certainly won’t this time either.”

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