Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight

Chapter 21

Soon after Li De ascended the throne, some ministers in the court advised him not to start another war, that he should rest with the people and allow the economy to recover.

The land north of the western part of the Hetao1 was barren and left unchecked. The even more distant Western Regions had been occupied by different tribes since decades ago.

If it was lost, it was lost.

The nomads in the north were strong. If Great Wei sent more gold, silver and treasures to coax them, then hostility could be turned into friendship.

Why need to conquer?

Southern Chu, Baiyue and other places in the south were separated by mountains and rivers from the Great Wei. Their inner court was corrupt with endless internal strife. They certainly did not dare to go north to attack Great Wei.

Nothing to worry about.

Some time ago, Li De returned to Chang’an. He hosted banquets for several consecutive days to entertain the allying tribal chiefs and envoys from various countries, dealing with the accumulated government affairs.

The ministers were very pleased: the emperor had ascended the throne now, no longer the general of Wei County. He should stay in the imperial city instead of leading troops into battle as before.

They were satisfied, but Li De had other plans.

He had far-reaching plans, unsatisfied with occupying the single land of Guanzhong. He had ambitions to take the Hetao in one fell swoop then recover the Western Regions.

However, the opposition in the court was too strong, and the treasury was too empty to support the military needs. He had to return to Chang’an with his troops after recovering several provinces and counties.

Li De was unwilling to give up.

The Son of Heaven could not leave the capital but the son of the emperor could. The sons of the Li family were raised on horseback. Since childhood, they would follow their father and brothers to conquer the battlefield. The Crown Prince, the Second Prince, the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince were all brave and skilled.

The day before yesterday at the palace banquet, Li De gave armor, swords and other things to the two brothers Li Xuanzhen and Li Zhongqian.

At that time, Yaoying knew that her father was going to send several brothers to lead the army to battle.

A tree of blooming apricot flowers in front of the veranda, rich and varied as rosy clouds rising slowly2.

The flowers bloom and wither, as they do every year.

People and flowers were not the same.

Yaoying let go of the calculating chips and asked in a trembling voice, “Elder brother, you are going on another expedition?”

Li Zhongqian bowed down to look at her and nodded slightly.

Yaoying’s heart was heavy.

She could watch out for Li Xuanzhen, but she could not influence the war situation thousands of miles away.

Li Zhongqian pinched Yaoying’s face and said with a smile, “Don’t worry. Elder brother is not on the front lines this time, only in charge of transporting the army provisions.”

Yaoying’s nose was slightly sour, the rim of her eyes turning secretly red.

Every time Li Zhongqian went on an expedition, she would have nightmares.

Dreaming of yellow sand as far as the eyes could see, of him holding a blood-stained golden hammer, wearing a whole body of tattered armor, walking step by step with difficulty.

Surrounded by the dense, black mass of the Northern Rong cavalry.

His close soldiers died one by one, corpses collapsing all around him.

A lance penetrated his chest and blood gushed out.

The enemy general waited for him to surrender, but Li Zhongqian smiled grimly, supporting himself with his hammer, towering without falling, and died of exhaustion.

As the cavalry retreated, he remained lying in the heaping sand, long dead. His figure was motionless, guarding the vast rivers and mountains behind him.

Not long after, vultures began to peck at his bones.

The majestic figure fell with a bang, his white bones eerie.

Yaoying closed her eyes, masked her sadness and raised her hand to straighten out Li Zhongqian’s disorderly lapels.

“Elder brother, the sword has no eyes on the battlefield, and things change in an instant. You should listen to others more often, don’t act recklessly.”

Li Zhongqian smiled and responded.

After talking for a while, he casually found an excuse and asked Yaoying to go help him look for something. When Yaoying got up and went inside, he turned his head to look at Xie Qing who was guarding in front of the veranda. His phoenix eyes narrowed and his expression was cold and harsh.

“Your skills aren’t bad. Why don’t you follow this prince to the battlefield?”

Xie Qing did not move a muscle.

“Why aren’t you speaking?”

Li Zhongqian had a smile but not a smile, his phoenix eyes slanting and shining.

At this moment, he did not conceal his domineering, imposing way of saying things and his condescending and arrogant tone.

“You are one of the Xie family generals, sworn allegiance to this prince, this prince cannot be your master?”

Xie Qing knelt down, doused in cold sweat, but still with a ramrod straight back, saying, “Your Highness, this servant is the princess’s guard, only listens to the princess’s orders alone.”

Li Zhongqian thick eyebrows lightly raised, putting away a bit of his overbearing aura: “Good lang should gallop on the frontier, achieve merits. With your martial skills, as long as you join the army, you would very quickly reveal outstanding talent. This king will properly cultivate you; in less than a year, you can also command your own troops.”

Xie Qing, with an honest face, said in a deep voice: “Everyone has their own ambitions.”

Li Zhongqian’s face was slightly darkened, and his eyes were like a knife: “Your ambition is to serve as a guard for the Seventh Princess?”

Xie Qing kneeled in front of the corridor with unwavering determination and said in a loud voice: “Yes, my ambition is to guard the Seventh Princess, follow qiniang as an attendant, this is my heart’s livelihood!”

Hearing him change his address, Li Zhongqian frowned.

……

Xie Qing was the child of the Xie clan’s family general. According to the established customs of the Xie family, the servant’s children could participate in the annual competition when they were thirteen. The winner would be sent to the military to be promoted and put into important positions.

The Xie family was full of martyrs. Like monkeys fleeing when the tree falls3, many family generals quietly changed their surnames and went their own way4.

Some people chose to stay. Some of them remained in Jingnan to guard the Xie family’s tomb, another bunch of people became Li Zhongqian’s own soldiers.

Xie Qing was the son of one of these families.

When he turned thirteen, he challenged other teenagers older than him. Losing more than winning, when he was seventeen, he finally beat everyone and won the competition.

Li Zhongqian asked him what reward he wanted.

He shook his head and said he didn’t want a reward, only wanted to be Li Yaoying’s guard.

Li Zhongqian was furious and thought that Xie Qing was disrespecting his superiors, having thoughts about Yaoying, so he drew his sword to cut him down.

Later, the misunderstanding was resolved and Xie Qing became Yaoying’s guard.

When his own formerly defeated subordinate rose to the top of the army, he was unmoved and willingly followed Li Yaoying.

……

Thinking about Xie Qing’s performance the past two years, Li Zhongqian’s expression somewhat eased.

This youngster was stubborn, his mind unlikely to change and completely loyal to little seventh. What little seventh said was what he listened to. Moreover, he always remembered his role as a servant, never overstepping. He usually kept his hands clean, very uncommunicative, did not drink, did not immerse in romance, in addition to practicing martial arts dutifully.

A loyal servant.

Since he was willing to stay by little seventh’s side as an guard, let him stay for a while longer.

There was a rustling sound from the long corridor as the long skirt trailed on the ground and Yaoying came out.

Li Zhongqian waved his hand, signaling Xie Qing to get up.

Xie Qing got up without saying a word, returned to the front of the corridor, and continued to keep watch.

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I realized I never explicitly mentioned this but you all know that chapters are generally split into parts right? Therefore, we’re actually on chapter 10ish of the raw (you can count the chapter titles in the to get the exact chapter).

1 Hetao: Great Bend in the Huanghe (Yellow) River. A stretch of land that’s very fertile and a good strategic location.

2 Idiom from Liu Yiqing’s ‘A New Account of the Tales of the World Speech’ that basically means splendid, gorgeous scenery. 

3 An opportunistic person abandons an unfavorable situation, escaping a sinking sink. 

4 So, some noble families had subordinate families that took the same surname to serve them. You can see this situation in other ancient novels sometimes where the family’s head steward would also have the same surname (like in ACP).