Chapter 61

In this first battle fought on three fronts, the western army, led by Cao Meng, returned empty-handed. The Vanguard General tasked with containing the Southern Mongol King suffered heavy casualties, with over half of their ten thousand elite troops lost. Fortunately, the left and right generals who pressed directly into the Northern Mongol King’s camp achieved significant gains, slaying over a thousand Mongol soldiers.
However, overall, the Xia army still suffered considerable losses.
For a first battle that had been months in the making, this outcome was far from ideal. Not only had they failed to capture the Northern Mongol King, but they had also incurred heavy casualties. Cao Meng, the commander leading his first campaign, would find it difficult to explain this to the emperor.
Moreover, there was the young master specially assigned to the camp by His Majesty. He had disobeyed military orders and pursued the Northern Mongol King on his own. Now, as dawn began to break, there was still no sign of him.
Even with the elite cavalry, they had not gained any advantage. Just thinking about Shao Jingyu having only a few hundred men, Cao Meng felt his head swell with frustration. In all likelihood, this young master and his several hundred elite soldiers would not be coming back.
The first battle had not gone well, and Cao Meng was troubled over how to write the report to the emperor. The soldiers, after the battle, were busy with their duties, some mourning the loss of brothers they had fought alongside, others praying to the heavens for a few more years of life despite their injuries. In the remaining time, they inevitably discussed the first battle.
The soldiers under the left and right generals had fought fiercely and now spoke of their exploits with animated expressions. In contrast, the soldiers of the vanguard general wore gloomy faces. Eventually, the conversation turned to that reckless young general, and everyone sighed in unison.
Although they had previously disapproved of the young master from the capital coming to the military camp to toy with others' lives, now that he was truly gone, they couldn't help but recall Shao Jingyu's charisma that day and felt a sense of regret.
The generals felt regret, and the seven hundred soldiers who had followed him that day felt it even more deeply.
The centurion who was close to Yan Yiming sighed repeatedly. He had warned the young man not to go, but he hadn't listened. What use were achievements if they cost one's life?
By the evening of the second day, they still hadn't returned. Almost no one believed Shao Jingyu and his men could come back. Yet, as the sun set on the horizon, a group of figures slowly emerged against the twilight.
The young general, missing for a full day, appeared before everyone with the remaining two to three hundred men, bringing with them a vast number of prisoners of war.
Shao Jingyu, riding on horseback, drew nearer. Though exhausted from a day and night without rest, his eyes shone brilliantly. On his youthful face was the pride and satisfaction befitting his age as he declared, “I have fulfilled my duty. The Northern Mongol Court has been completely annihilated.”
Upon hearing of Shao Jingyu's return, Cao Meng was so moved he nearly shed tears and personally went out of his tent to greet him. Only then did he see the prisoners of war behind Shao Jingyu.
A severed head, wrapped in cloth, was thrown to the ground. As the cloth fell away, the terrified expression of the Northern Mongol King remained clearly visible.
Cao Meng and the other generals who had come to greet them stood frozen in place. They stared at the head for a long time before slowly turning their gazes to Shao Jingyu's face.
He had actually caught up!
With only seven hundred cavalry, he had pursued the fleeing Northern Mongol King through the night and annihilated his two thousand-strong entourage!
This...
This... this...
After a moment of stunned silence, Cao Meng finally snapped back to reality. He laughed heartily toward the sky and shouted, “Well done!”
Cao Meng wasn't genuinely overjoyed for Shao Jingyu; rather, he was relieved that with the Northern Mongol King's head in their possession, he could finally give a proper account to the emperor back in the capital.
Everyone had thought Shao Jingyu wouldn't return alive, but not only had he come back, he had become the greatest hero of the battle.
The generals no longer dared to underestimate this young man on his first campaign. The soldiers, in awe, began to envy those who had followed Shao Jingyu that day.
Though only about two hundred of the original seven hundred had returned, these two hundred had fought alongside General Shao through life and death. It was said that the general had heavily rewarded Shao Jingyu and the soldiers who had pursued the Northern Mongol King, and they had since become Shao Jingyu's personal guards.
How could anyone not envy them?
Especially that fair-faced young man who had been the first to volunteer to follow General Shao. It was said he had slain countless enemies and even saved General Shao's life, earning a promotion to serve directly by the general's side.
The centurion who had initially persuaded Yan Yiming was dazed for a long time upon hearing the news, then let out a helpless, bitter laugh.
Perhaps he had misjudged, General Shao was no pampered fool from the capital.
His young comrade’s insight was truly far sharper than his own.
Of the seven hundred soldiers, more than half had been killed or wounded, but the over two hundred who survived had undoubtedly become Shao Jingyu’s personal guard. Shao Jingyu already recognized most of their faces, yet the first name he remembered was Yan Yiming’s.
Shao Jingyu recalled that startling, life-saving strike, had it not been for Yan Yiming, he would have been a ghost beneath an enemy spear.
On the day they returned to camp, as the soldiers rested briefly on the grassland, one of Shao Jingyu’s deputies teased Yan Yiming with a smile, saying that despite his delicate, almost feminine appearance, he showed no hesitation in killing the enemy.
Shao Jingyu nodded with a smile and asked for his name.
Yan Yiming paused. Instinctively, he wanted to say his name was Yan Yiming, but then he remembered that the recently deceased Crown Princess had shared the same name. “General, you may call me A’Ming.”
Perhaps because they had forged a bond of life and death in battle, Shao Jingyu already felt a familiarity with Yan Yiming. In high spirits, he chewed on a blade of grass and laughed, “With such a baby face and a girlish name, A’Ming doesn’t suit you. You look younger than me, so I’ll call you Xiao Ming.”
Yan Yiming: “...”
Who would want such a common, overused name!
Shao Jingyu leaned back against his deputy, stretching his long legs. Noticing Yan Yiming’s clear reluctance, he chuckled again. “What, don’t like it? If you won’t tell me your real name, I have to call you something. Is there some taboo about your name?”
He really was blunt to a fault.
Yan Yiming glanced up at him and said slowly, “It’s not exactly a taboo. My surname is Yan, given name Yiming, as in ‘yi ming jing ren’ (to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat).”
Yan Yiming? The name sounded familiar. After a moment’s thought, Shao Jingyu suddenly remembered, wasn’t that the young lady of the Duke Ding’s household, the Crown Princess who had recently passed away?
No wonder he was reluctant to say it. Shao Jingyu plucked the blade of grass from his mouth and sprang nimbly to his feet. “In that case, from now on, I’ll call you Yiming.”
Yan Yiming, still seated on the ground, looked up and smiled.
“Thank you, General.”
Shao Jingyu froze for a moment, then turned and walked away. The deputy, who had been serving as a human backrest, also stood up and couldn’t resist giving Yan Yiming another glance before leaving.
With such feminine features, that pretty boy’s smile was truly stunning.
Though the emperor had not yet received the battle report and issued rewards, Shao Jingyu’s authority in the army had skyrocketed after this first battle. The soldiers who had fought alongside him that day nearly hailed him as a god descended to earth. Word spread quickly, and in no time, Shao Jingyu’s prestige in the army was almost on par with that of the senior general, Cao Meng.
Shao Jingyu kept his promise to Yan Yiming without fail. The very next day, he personally brought Yan Yiming to his side. In an instant, Yan Yiming was on equal footing with Shao Jingyu’s deputy general, free to enter and leave the main tent at will.
Yan Yiming limped into the main tent. Shao Jingyu, sharp-eyed, noticed immediately and set down his brush. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“It’s nothing, just a sprained ankle,” Yan Yiming replied. “General Cao requests your presence.”
Shao Jingyu frowned slightly, but with pressing matters at hand, he had no choice but to leave. When he returned and didn’t see Yan Yiming, he casually asked the young deputy beside him, “Where’s Yiming?”
That deputy was a trusted aide Shao Jingyu had brought from the capital. Only a year or two older than Yan Yiming, he was lively and talkative, always teasing Yan Yiming for having a fair, delicate face like a woman’s.
Yan Yiming, who was actually a girl, rolled her eyes and strode off without a word, not bothering to engage.
The young deputy called after her, asking where she was going. Yan Yiming paused briefly before tersely replying, “The river.” Then, as if remembering something, she added, “Don’t follow me.”
The deputy, who had been about to trail after her, halted abruptly and swallowed his question, “What are you going to the river for?” Now, when Shao Jingyu asked where Yan Yiming had gone, the young deputy pouted resentfully. “He said he was going to the river. We’re all grown men, what’s wrong with going together? I always say he looks like a woman and acts like one too.”
Shao Jingyu smacked him with the spear in his hand. “All that nagging and gossiping is what makes you sound like a woman.”
The young deputy: “...Young master, where are you going?”
“The river,” Shao Jingyu said, taking two steps before adding, as if recalling something, “Don’t follow.”
His words were exactly the same. The young deputy thought sadly that ever since Yiming arrived, the young master had stopped taking him along. Was it just because Yiming was better-looking? What use was such good looks for a man?
Shao Jingyu, however, wasn’t like the young deputy, wanting to bathe with Yan Yiming. He remembered how Yan Yiming had limped when walking and had just discovered bloodstained bandages in Yan Yiming’s tent, which made him suspect something was amiss.
At that moment, Yan Yiming was rolling up her pant leg and bantering with Little A. Little A had glanced back repeatedly, uncertain. “Are you sure Shao Jingyu will come?”
“Seventy percent chance he will. Shao Jingyu is more observant than you think,” Yan Yiming said, pulling up her pants to reveal the wound between her calf and ankle, still bleeding profusely from the spear stab days before. Though Little A couldn’t feel pain, the sight was gruesome.
“Is it scary enough?” Yan Yiming examined the injury on her leg. “Does it make people feel overwhelming pity and heartache at first glance?”
Little A weakly covered its eyes. “I can’t look, I faint at the sight of blood.”
“Pathetic,” Yan Yiming scoffed, rolling her eyes. Back when she had scarred her face to deceive Jian Yuyan, Little A had clapped and cheered excitedly, no sign of fainting then.
Suddenly, both fell silent as footsteps approached. Little A floated up and peeked, exclaiming excitedly, “He’s here, he’s here!”
Yan Yiming instantly wiped the relaxed smile from his face, his expression suddenly contorted with unbearable pain. When Shao Jingyu approached, he spotted Yan Yiming sitting by the river from afar. As he drew closer, he heard sharp, pained gasps. Only when he looked down did he notice the blood on the ground. Perhaps hearing his footsteps, Yan Yiming glanced up and, flustered by his approach, hurriedly tried to conceal the wound.
Shao Jingyu strode forward in two steps, crouching down as he pulled Yan Yiming’s hand away to reveal the gruesome injury. His voice turned sharp and stern, “Why did you hide this injury?”