boyutpedia Chapter 224 The Living Abandoned Empress of the Cold Palace X The Invading Unruly Buddhist Son 58
Chapter 224 The Living Abandoned Empress of the Cold Palace X The Invading Unruly Buddhist Son 58
The night sky hangs low, a heavy curtain covering the earth. Sparse stars are faintly embedded in the deep black, seemingly ready to slip away at any moment. They flicker, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, like a pair of hazy eyes, peeking into the uncertain fate of mankind, their tiny glimmers reflecting the uncertainty of the world.
Yun Qian lay quietly in bed, the curtains drawn low. The flickering light of the candlelight cast a shadow on her face, making her gaze as dark as the night. Her hand rested lightly on her stomach, seemingly clutching her clothes unintentionally. Her mind was as chaotic as the untraceable trajectory in the starry sky. At this moment, she was thinking not of her current location, but of another, bloody battlefield far away—the place where the fate of millions would be decided.
Victory or defeat outside the battlefield might be the true key to survival. Yun Qian knew that every move in this game was crucial, but the chessboard before her was extremely obscure.
She had always been confident in her calmness and decisiveness, but now, even she found it difficult to suppress her inner confusion. Could the king's army, always so powerful and invincible, truly withstand the fate of this world's child of destiny? Would the uncertainties that lay beyond the battlefield be a blessing or a curse?
She closed her eyes, but couldn't dispel the doubt in her mind. No... no. The answer was already set the moment she asked, leaving not even a trace of self-deception. Fate is like destiny, and how can a mere mortal man change that fate?
But what if?
Yun Qian suddenly opened her eyes. Starlight flickered faintly through the window lattice, reflecting in her pupils like shattered light. The battlefield was ever-changing, and victory or defeat often depended on an unexpected critical moment, perhaps just a soldier's charge, an unexpected variable, or... a general's foresight. She couldn't help but question herself...
Yun Qian, when did you become someone who deeply believes in destiny? Didn't you say before that destiny is unpredictable? Didn't you say that you only believe in yourself?
Now that Great Qi is strong, why do you start to retreat just because Qi Jueyu is the so-called man of destiny... This small system can see through all the thoughts of the host, they share the same brain... and now it can only pretend to be weak and shrink aside.
Although it always stood beside the Son of Luck, at this moment, after it understood Yun Qian's thoughts, it couldn't help but think about it.
Victory never belongs only to those who are lucky, but also to those wise people who grope forward in the fog and never give up.
Besides, victory or defeat can be decided not only on the battlefield.
In the blink of an eye, winter has arrived. A frigid wind rips through the sky like a sharp blade, chilling the bones. Today is the tenth day of the first lunar month. Yun Qian, upon hearing of the war ahead, is terrified. She stands quietly outside the throne room. The arriving maid, noticing her solemn expression, slowly and gently covers her with a heavy cloak.
The pale morning glory purple satin shone deeply in the dim sunlight, embroidered with delicate silver thread, like the faint shimmer of frost on frozen earth. A pure white fox fur cape draped lightly over her shoulders; the fur was soft and delicate, but it couldn't completely block out the biting chill.
The scenery outside the window was already covered in ice and snow, and a heart-wrenching silence permeated the vastness. Occasionally, a jackdaw would fly across the sky, emitting a few lonely calls, which were then swallowed up by the biting north wind. The whiteness of the snow made her eyebrows and eyes even colder, but her gaze revealed a hint of deep thought.
The winter chill seemed to seep into her bones, even her breath was tinged with a faint white mist. She hadn't listened to any sounds from within for a long time, and she knew that the group gathered inside had also fallen silent. She turned and looked at the vast expanse of white earth, gazing silently into the distance... Her gaze passed over the withered branches and frost in the courtyard, as if through this pale earth she could see beyond—the borderlands where war drums thundered, the chessboard of turbulent times.
A gust of cold wind swept past, unimpededly lifting a few strands of hair from her ears. She couldn't help but raise her hand to press against the collar of her cloak. Her fingertips felt slightly cold, but it couldn't suppress the subtle restlessness surging in her chest. No matter how thick the cloak, no matter how cold the wind and frost, nothing could compare to the chill deep within the human heart, making it more difficult to calm down.
Winter has truly arrived, and the situation is as quiet and depressing as frost and snow, but Yun Qian knows in his heart that this is just a brief calm before the blizzard.
When news of the royal army's crushing defeat reached them, the entire imperial city fell into a deathly silence, as if the winter's icy snow had frozen everyone's heart. The general leading the charge had betrayed his allies at the crucial moment, surrendering a treasure trove of confidential intelligence and the royal army's battle plan. This fatal betrayal, like a sharp blade in the back of the royal army, not only caught them off guard but also directly reshaped the course of the battle.
The situation was already grim. The rebels had now reached the Great Wall, and the once vast territory beyond the Great Wall had fallen under enemy control. And those who had once defended their homes amidst the flames of war were now the targets of the rebels' rule. Perhaps the only consolation was that the rebels were adopting a conciliatory policy toward the people of the remaining cities. Not only had they refrained from massacring the city, they had even begun to stabilize their rear.
But this benevolent policy could not make Yun Piao feel relieved. Yun Qian knew that if the rebels really won the hearts of the people, it would be a really unprofitable deal. At that time, the people of Da Qi would come to their aid.
The current political situation is precarious, plagued by internal and external troubles. Continuous defeats on the front lines have weakened the morale of the soldiers. Lower- and middle-ranking officers are terrified of the enemy and eager to retreat at the sight of the rebels. Even the sound of the horn before the battle becomes a death warrant. If the situation continues to deteriorate, Wang's army may collapse without even waiting for a rebel assault. The most urgent task now is not replenishing supplies or recruiting reinforcements, but finding a leader who can truly turn the tide.
This leader must be a rare genius. He or she must not only be well-versed in strategic planning and have a deep understanding of the overall situation, but also be proficient in military tactics and the art of war, able to navigate the ever-changing landscape of war with ease. More importantly, a leader must possess extraordinary decisiveness and adaptability, able to make risky and desperate moves at crucial moments, and able to stabilize the army and boost morale in desperate situations, thus offering a glimmer of hope.
This is not a task that an ordinary general can handle, but requires a real "stabilizing force" to fight for a glimmer of hope for the court and the king's army amidst internal and external troubles.
But where are the people who are capable of handling such a task?
Just as she was lost in thought, her gaze fell on the frost-covered dead branches, which gave off a faint sense of cold desolation... She was trying to figure out how to come up with a win-win solution, when she suddenly saw the door inside open and someone walked out. Yun Qian was lost in thought when she was suddenly interrupted. She turned around to see...