Chapter 697: The Rivers and Mountains Today

Chapter 697: The Realm Today

Northern scenery, a thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of snow drifting.

Zhao Changhe, who always found his mind empty of poetry when he needed it most, now as he rode through the sky on his steed, had this entire poem echoing in his heart over and over, not a single word missing.

Of course, it was because the author was the one he revered most, but also because at this moment, his mood was similar.

Every time after seeing Wan Zhuang, he would unconsciously slow his heart; no matter how tense or urgent the atmosphere, she always had that magic.

Qinghe and Langya, hurried journeys, seemingly flying through the sky, but in truth, he had no leisure to gaze at the rivers and mountains below. Yet this time leaving the capital, though the speed was much the same, his heart was far more at peace. Sitting on the black steed, he had the mood to take in the scenery, and so the poetry entered his heart.

Such a magnificent world, such a splendid land.

The land so rich in beauty has drawn countless heroes to bow in homage.

Zhao Changhe did not know who in this age could be called a hero—not to mention compared with the author of this poem, even compared with the emperors in the poem, none came close.

He had once said the jianghu was disappointing, with only Yue Hongling reflecting the dream in his heart.

But if one looked at Yuxu and Li Shentong from a jianghu perspective, they all still had the bearing of lofty figures; the jianghu, after all, was not so bad. Yet when one turned to the world at large, their stature suddenly felt a level lower, and so the world became even more disappointing than the jianghu, while the jianghu in memory grew beautiful.

Fortunately, the world still had Tang Wanzhuang, both past and present.

And the Four Symbols Sect, transformed from a demonic sect into a state religion, clearly showed a trend toward improvement. Xia Chichi was determined to accomplish what her father could not, to restore a clear and bright world to the realm; Zhuque’s mind was also set on governing internal troubles and resisting foreign invaders. Though the current court was weak, lacking money, grain, troops, officials—lacking everything—it had begun to possess a kind of vitality, a power of unity where everyone marched toward the same goal.

What jianghu, what world? The old generation’s Chaos Ranking was a thing of the past; even Blind Man was considering a new ranking…

Look at today.

The black steed hovered in the air between Hangu Pass and Tong Pass. Zhao Changhe looked down at the gradually reinforced guards at Tong Pass, his expression icy.

After all the families had rebelled, they quickly formed their own spheres of influence based on geography, just as the Wang family occupied the entire Qilu land, the Cui family held Hebei, the Yang family held Henan, and the Li family controlled all of Guanzhong, with these two strategic passes as the dividing line with the Yang family.

The distance between the two passes was actually quite close; from a high altitude, one could see both ends at the same time.

West of Tong Pass was the Li family’s territory; east of Hangu was the Yang family’s domain; each family held one pass.

The two families were originally allies but not unified; each had troops deployed to guard against the other, though neither had stationed heavy forces. Since the Yang family was persuaded to retreat by Cui Wenjing, the Li family’s senses were sharp. They did not need to know what decision Yang Jingxiu had made; they only needed to know that during the Battle of Langya, the Yang family did not engage the Cui family as agreed, and they knew something had changed. So they reinforced Tong Pass with strict defenses.

Correspondingly, the Yang family’s troops moved to Hangu, facing the Li family. Of course, theoretically, these could no longer be called the Yang family’s troops, but since the restructuring was still early, the army here was still managed by the Yang family, including logistics.

On the surface, this was a standoff, but in reality, the Yang family was at a disadvantage. First, because Hangu Pass had long been abandoned and could no longer be considered a strategic pass; its fortifications were incomplete, not on the same level as Tong Pass. This was also close to Zhao Changhe’s understanding from his own world—determined by geography, any culture in any world would lead to a similar inevitable outcome.

Second, the Yang family’s desire for secession or even hegemony had never been strong; their preparations could never be as substantial as the Li family’s, which had been quietly accumulating strength. The gap in troops and supplies was huge, and relying on the Yang family to hold the line was unrealistic. Once the pass was breached, it would be a straight shot to Luoyang.

Fortunately, the Li family had taken a detour north of the Taihang Mountains to strike directly at the capital, only to fall into an ambush. Zhuque’s fierce flames burned them heavily, leaving them unable to organize a new attack for the time being. But their own strength was not as important as the fact that they had mixed with the barbarians. The barbarians’ loss of those light cavalry did not cripple them; they remained a suffocating dark cloud pressing down on the north.

Before leaving the capital, he had received news from Sanniang beyond the frontier.

Batu had suffered a great defeat, losing all the small tribes that had once attached themselves to him; they had now attached themselves to the Great Khan Tiemuer instead. Only his own War Lion tribe remained, and it was heavily battered, fleeing in panic. They were driven all the way into the northwestern desert, suffering miserably in this snowy, icy weather, unsure how they would survive the twelfth month.

Batu’s misery was one thing, but he had originally guarded the line from the northern frontier to the southern desert—not just the Yanmen barrier. Remember, the capital’s location was also a typical front line; Xia Longyuan’s presence here had a strong implication of the emperor guarding the nation’s gates. Now Xia Longyuan was gone, Batu was gone, and Guanzhong had become a place that invited wolves. It could be said that the Yanmen defense line alone was almost meaningless…

The only comfort was that Batu had not died; the War Lion tribe, however miserable, still existed. As long as they could avoid freezing or starving to death, they would be a thorn in Tiemuer’s flank, making it difficult for him to invade the south recklessly.

After all, it was a snowy, icy winter. A surprise attack on Batu was one thing, but truly attacking the perilous Yanmen Pass or crossing mountains to strike the capital was obviously too difficult. And if Batu stabbed them from behind again, no one could withstand that.

For now, spring was not far off. Tiemuer’s movements would focus more on forcing Batu to his death, then waiting for spring to move south—that was the proper military course. The various wars over the past months had all defied common sense; no one kept doing that.

Sanniang’s northward journey was extremely timely. Otherwise, if Batu had been killed and the War Lion tribe annihilated, the situation everyone faced would have been much more difficult. Now, it provided a brief respite, allowing the newly established dynasty, which had just undergone great upheaval, to catch its breath, digest the fruits of the Langya victory and the Yang family’s retreat, and revive the nearly paralyzed capital.

It also allowed Zhao Changhe and Zhuque to leave the capital and carry out their planned tasks.

Zhao Changhe stared at the torches above and below Tong Pass for a long, long time, suppressing the urge to descend and slaughter on all sides. Finally, he spurred his horse and continued southwest.

The tacit understanding that Huangyang kept talking about had to be observed. If you could massacre Tong Pass, others could massacre other places—that would be chaos. The enemy’s experts were no fewer than his own; in fact, they were more numerous. His previous violation of the understanding had been on the edge; theoretically, he was truly a person on the Earth Ranking. Such edge cases could only be done once, not again.

As for Hangu being weak, that was not necessarily true. At this time, Yangyang was in Hongnong, not far from here. Perhaps the Yang family could pull off something that would surprise the Li family greatly.

Miaojiang was far away; even flying took a long time, and the black steed needed rest and food. Zhao Changhe did not push on. At nightfall, he rode down to Xiangyang.

This was also their own territory. After killing Lü Shiheng, Tang Wanzhuang’s people had taken over as prefect, and part of the city defense was still handled by the Blood God Sect. Xue Canghai had led most of his men north, but a small contingent remained as a branch.

Zhao Changhe had only intended to rest here for one night and then leave, but he never expected that even passing through and stopping for a while would lead to a new incident.