bookcurios Chapter 132 Journey to the Northern Desert (Part 7)
Chapter 132 Journey to the Northern Desert (Part 7)
General Ke Shouyu stroked his white beard. After Qianqian Luo received the imperial edict, he stepped forward to help her up. "General Luo, how did you figure out that the vicious dogs of the Hanba tribe were carrying parasites?!"
Qianqianluo looked at the expectant expressions on the faces of General Ke, General Wan, General Lingxiao, and General Zhaoye, who had come to deliver the imperial decree, and said, "This humble general saw it with her own eyes!!!"
Upon hearing this explanation, General Ke Shouyu burst into laughter, exclaiming, "Hahaha, General Luo is truly a young genius, so humorous!!!"
How could Qianqianluo dare to speak the truth?!
He recounted how he stumbled upon the strange events while hunting wild rabbits in the mountains behind the Eastern Palace with Guage and Meizi Se every day when he was in the capital.
This indirectly reveals that Qing Tingyu already knew about the Mobei Hanba tribe's keeping of parasitic beasts!
Isn't this indirectly accusing Qing Tingyu of treason?!
Even if she had ten times the courage, she wouldn't dare to betray that little devil Qing Tingyu!
Qianqian wiped the cold sweat that kept seeping from her forehead, and awkwardly looked up at the four generals in front of her, laughing awkwardly, "General Ke, actually I was just joking!"
"That night, by the light of the fire, I managed to make out the shapes of the ferocious beasts gathered below the city wall. Most of them were emaciated and had strange expressions!"
"Even when they were tearing apart the corpses beneath the city walls, those ferocious beasts merely lay beside the bodies without opening their mouths, yet the corpses mysteriously vanished!!"
Qianqian gestured earnestly, "When I was young in the Southern Frontier, I heard my tribesmen talk about parasitic beasts, and I immediately understood the intentions of the Xinhanba tribe!!!"
As Wanqing listened to Qianqianluo's story, her expression changed from disdain to admiration. "General Luo, do you know how to deal with these parasitic beasts?!"
General Ke immediately took out his calligraphy, intending to write down Qianqianluo's countermeasures!
Seeing Qianqian hesitate to speak at this critical moment, Ling Xiao couldn't help but sneer, "At this critical moment, General Luo, why do you need to be so secretive?"
Faced with Ling Xiao's unwavering aggressiveness, Zhao Ye glared at him angrily, signaling him to shut up if he couldn't speak properly!
Qianqianlu watched Ling Xiao and Zhao Ye interact, feeling both happy and worried. "General Ling, I have only heard my clansmen say that there is a dark-colored Nether Grass growing deep in the Bitter Peak Forest of the Northern Desert!"
"Take out the Nether Grass, dry it in the sun, grind it into powder, and scatter it around the city walls. Then no beast will dare to approach; those that touch it will die instantly!"
Upon hearing the words "Bitter Peak Forest," General Ke's hand holding the calligraphy trembled slightly. "No! You must not enter Bitter Peak Forest, absolutely not!!"
Zhao Ye's expression changed upon hearing this. He helped Ke Shouyu to a chair and said, "We all know that there are ghost grasses growing deep in the Bitter Peak Forest that can make all beasts tremble. However, the Bitter Peak Forest is the burial place of countless of my former friends and brothers, and it is extremely dangerous!"
Ling Xiao didn't answer, but looked thoughtfully at General Wan!
Wan Qing's expression was grave, and she said with an awkward laugh, "There's no need to be so hasty. After seeing the corpses buried on the city wall, the Hanba tribe will surely be wary and won't easily send troops again!"
"General Luo and the other two young generals have just arrived in the northern desert and are exhausted from their journey. Why don't they rest and recuperate first, and learn about the culture and geography of the northern desert high tower?"
Wanqing indirectly rejected everyone's suggestion to enter the Bitter Peak Forest, and left the back garden in a huff!
Zhao Ye settled General Ke into a chair, then grabbed Ling Xiao's hand and led him out of the back garden. "Come with me! I have something to ask you!"
At this moment, the once bustling back garden was now only occupied by Qianqianluo and General Keshouyu!
Seeing General Ke's sorrowful expression as he clutched his forehead and wept, Qianqianluo couldn't help but step forward and say with concern, "General Ke, the dead are gone, but the living can still come. Please cry out loud!"
Looking at Qianqianluo, who might be around age 18, Ke Shouyu recalled with a kind and gentle expression, "It's funny to say, but my son Ke Shouheng once went into the Bitter Peak Forest to search for the Nether Grass for a woman from the capital!"
"I want to use the merit of destroying the ferocious beasts of the Hanba tribe with the Nether Grass, and then use that military achievement to marry my childhood sweetheart!!"
"That was a very long time ago, back when the current emperor was still the crown prince...!!!"
The bright sun of the northern desert slowly disappears into the horizon amidst memories of joy and sorrow, painting the night once more, chilling the heart and lungs!
In the deputy general's room, Zhao Ye and Ling Xiao, both wounded after a fierce exchange of blows, stared at each other with mutual loathing.
Zhao Ye's face turned even paler. Ling Xiao bound his hands and feet with a hair ribbon and threw him onto the bed. "Ling Xiao! Did you already know about the Hanba tribe's surprise attack on the Mobei High Tower?"
Ling Xiao, who was being questioned, still had several bloody scratches on his face!
At this moment, suppressing his burning anger and lust, he sat calmly at the dining table, pouring and drinking wine!
Enraged, Zhao Ye tried desperately to break free from the restraints on his feet and hands, but to no avail. "Ling Xiao, speak to me! How could you make me a person who betrays family for the greater good? You are so cruel!!"
Ling Xiao looked at the woman on the bed, who was panting and crying, and sneered, "Sacrificing family for the greater good?! Hahaha!!!"
With a ferocious expression, he approached the effeminate man on the bed and slapped him across the face. "Zhao Ye, if I hadn't made you unable to get out of bed that night, there would definitely be another head smashed to pieces outside the city gate!!"
"Tsk tsk tsk~ I, the general, take pity on you for warming my bed, how can you be so ungrateful?!"
Upon hearing Ling Xiao's tacit admission of his suspicions, Zhao Ye was overcome with anger and coughed up blood. "Cough cough cough, Ling, Ling Xiao, how could you force me like this? I, I would rather die with Father, I, I...!"
"Shut up!!!" Upon hearing the word "death," Ling Xiao immediately shoved the mattress into Zhao Ye's mouth!
"Zhao Ye, what? Didn't your good master in the capital tell you about this?!"
"~Tsk tsk tsk~"
"Your master in the capital is truly cold-blooded and ruthless, actually letting two sissies go to the northern desert!!"
"You think you can use the favor of Zhao Ye in warming my bed to force me to defect to the Crown Prince and abandon the Lin family!"
"Hahaha~"
"Now, your master in the capital is even willing to bring out his own men just to keep General Yang and General Wan in check, so as to achieve his own great cause!"
"So?! Zhao Ye, what gives you the audacity to question me like that?"
"You're nothing more than a latrine used by the Crown Prince to keep this general from using the toilet when he absolutely has to!!!"
Ling Xiao pulled the bedding out of Zhao Ye's mouth, then pulled the man into his arms, his eyes bloodshot as he roughly wiped away the tears streaming down Zhao Ye's face. "Stop crying, stop making such a racket!"
Zhao Ye's lips, moistened with her heart's blood, appeared even more rosy and alluring!
Zhao Ye, unaware of her own tragic state, cried and angrily bit Ling Xiao's wrist!
The onlookers were like falling petals!
After listening to General Ke's recollections of the past, Qianqianluo realized that the woman General Ke Shouyu had mentioned, who had gone to the capital, was none other than Yang Huizhang, the emperor's favorite concubine!