Chapter 78: With War Raging in Our Dreams, Even Handicaps Could Still Serve the Country!
Translator: Whatsyourissue Editor: ICheah
Yun Yang returned to the Residence of Yun. He went straight into the secret chamber without bothering to explain his doubts to Fang Mofei and Lao Mei’s.
“Emmie, I need to break through to the third peak in the shortest time possible. Besides, Mystique Wind Conjuration needs to break through to the fourth stage too!”
“Eeyaya…”
With Dongxuan’s troops overwhelming the border and the impending life and death situation of Yutang, Yun Yang had finally decided to temporarily forget his grudges and personal matters to delve wholeheartedly into cultivation.
What Yun Yang needed to cultivate now was Supreme Wind’s Mystique Wind Conjuration! Then it was seventh brother Supreme Blood’s Art of Crimson Soul where he needed to cultivate only the first stage to enter the Residence of the Nine Supremes. Once in there, he could open seventh brother Supreme Blood’s room and retrieve sixth brother’s Thunder Crash Spell. After cultivating its first stage, he could then go on to find fifth brother’s Fiery Charm and go on cultivating.
Time was short, and yet, Yun Yang had to do it.
Only the combination of wind and flame could help the army now. It would be best if he could cultivate the Thunder Crash Spell to the third or fourth stage as well, but Yun Yang guessed that he would not be able to do it even if he tried with all his might.
Time was already running out, and he still had yet to cultivate to the third or fourth stage of Fiery Charm. However, Yun Yang had to accomplish this even if it meant his life.
Brothers, you have all guarded this nation for so long. The Nine Supremes’ glory must not be lost on my watch!
“Fifth brother flame, how good it is if you were my seventh or eighth brother… I have to open eighth brother’s door to get seventh brother’s key, open seventh brother’s door to get sixth brother’s key, and only by opening sixth brother’s door can I get your key…”Yun Yang complained in his heart.
If Supreme Flame was still here, it would be inevitable for Yun Yang to be beaten up… This child wishes to lower my position?
…
“He vanishes for ten whole days without a reason and when he returns, he goes straight into closed door cultivation?” Fang Mofei asked irritably.
“What is so shocking about this?” Lao Mei rolled his eyes. “He has disappeared for three months without a reason before, and return to closed door meditation for three continuous months. Have you not seen that before?”
Fang Mofei was shocked. “Was there such a thing?”
Lao Mei rolled his eyes and advised mockingly, “Old Fang, there’s a whole bunch of strange, abnormal, bizarre things that will come out from the mind of our young maste. You just got here, you’ll have to adapt to them. Now, go sweep the courtyard.”
Fang Mofei looked at Lao Mei’s retreating figure and felt befuddled.
“Such a big marquis residence and there’s no place to spend all that fortune. Would it kill you to hire a maid or servant?”
Out of their minds, really!
Making your father, a seventh peak expert, sweep the courtyard!
…
Tiantang City sunk into reticence. Everyone was waiting for news from the front line, whether it be victory or defeat.
News began to travel back and forth like pieces of snowflakes.
On the fourth of the sixth month, war erupted at the Fortress of Resilience. Dongxuan’s army crossed the border.
On the fourteenth of the sixth month, the Fortress of Resilience was besieged.
On the fifteenth of the sixth month, Tie Zheng’s troop took action.
On the twenty-first of the sixth month, the front line of Tie Zheng’s troops joined the battlefield, wiping out anyone who stood in their way and forcing the enemy’s retreat to the Fortress of Resilience. The news spread, and the entire nation cheered.
On the third of the seventh month, all fronts of Dongxuan attacked. Shadow Cavalry made their move outside of the Fortress of Resilience; Tie Zheng dispatched twenty thousand Steel Cavalry as a response. An arduous war raged on until the fifth of the seventh month; all twenty thousand of the Steel Cavalry had fallen, less than two thousand survivors remained from the thirty-thousand strong Dongxuan Shadow Cavalry.
The entire nation was shaken.
On the eighth of the seventh month, two hundred thousand of the Empire of Dongxuan’s backup troops arrived at the battlefield; the front line was in a critical state.
On the tenth of the seventh month, Yutang sent the last batch of backup troops. This was the last batch of backup the empire could send for the time being. The empire could not afford to supply any more support for at least two months.
The entire nation fell into a state of sullen resignation.
Despair and hopelessness began to spread throughout the land of Yutang.
…
Tiny Nannan hugged a big fluff of white as she opened the door of her house; her curious clear eyes looked at the uncles in front of her. They were all clean and smart today, what were they going to do?
Juan’er came out from her room and was shocked. “Brother Li, Brother Liu, Brother Fang, Brother Meng. What is going on?”
“We have come to inform sister-in-law.” A middle-aged man who had three saber scars on his face and had one eye blinded wore an honest smile on his face. “We wish to enlist in the army.”
“Enlist?” Juan’er asked in surprise, “Weren’t you guys discharged already?”
The handful of men were either blind with one eye or had lost one arm; all of them had actually donned their old military uniform again, a faint valiance exuding from these people once more.
“Discharged… we’ve only lost an eye or crippled with one arm. We still have legs, or at least, an arm.” Brother Li smiled good-naturedly. “Now that the nation is in danger with it’s life and death on the line, we have to go to the battlefield if we can still fight.”
“Otherwise, when Dongxuan’s army come, that will be our humiliation!”
“Although we’ve taken off our military uniforms, we’re still militants! Since we’re Yutang’s military force, of course, we have to go fight for this country.”
“So many of our fallen brothers’ families are in this country. Our lives were exchanged with our fallen brothers’ anyway. Now that the front line is critical, we must go.”
“Our debt to our brothers, we must return. There better not be a day when we meet in the underworld when they’d call us bastards.”
“We’ve come forth to bid farewell to sister-in-law… We want to inform you that the chances of us coming back from this trip is extremely slim. If sister-in-law needs any help next time, find old crippled and the rest. They’re handicapped, they can’t run so all of them aren’t going this time.”
Another young man without his left arm smiled and said, “I have one more thing to ask for sister-in-law’s favor. You know it, we don’t exactly have anyone who could read at home. My kids don’t have anyone to teach them either. If sister-in-law is free, please teach them more, don’t have them go astray. When they grow up in the future, let them go to the battlefield, revenge for your fathers.”
“We ask for Juan’er’s help in the future.”
The handful of men bowed at the same time.
An old veteran blinked his only eye as he smiled good-naturedly. “Coming back for all these years, I didn’t do much but give birth to a few children. Our generation will be gone in war but when these children grow up, my family could at least provide three men! If each of them works hard to give birth to two kids, your father’s wish could be fulfilled through them.”
“Words of a bastard, why are you not wishing the children to achieve merits and become generals…” An old veteran beside him slapped his head.
“I’m afraid they don’t have that in their blood.” The previous old veteran chuckled.
Juan’er felt hot tears prickling her eyes watching these men.
“Let me send all of you off. Have dinner here tonight, I’ll go buy some wine.”
“No, no.” They beamed kindly. “We’re all eating at our own home tonight. We’re leaving tomorrow morning. Tonight, we will still need to talk to our wives and children.”
As they spoke, they passed a package over. “Both of you are orphaned and widowed… life is much harder for you than us. These are some silver taels collected by us brothers for when we aren’t here anymore. Use these to buy Nannna some patterned cloth to make new clothes, buy some good food and find yourselves some good in-laws.”
Amidst the good-natured laughter, the dozen people turned to leave.
Tears had already blurred Juan’er’s vision as she watched the old veteran’s retreating backs.
“All of you will definitely return safely…”
She was at once resentful; she held a grudge against the military that had once taken her husband away and never let him return. However, looking at these old veterans now, she seemed to have suddenly understood something.
Perhaps, in the hearts of these zealous patriotic men, they did not have any intention for supremacy but they were all for protecting the nation and families, guarding everything they had ever cared about.
Just like what they had said, “So many of our fallen brothers’ families are in this country. Our lives were exchanged with our fallen brothers’ anyway.”…
They were going this time as repayment to them.
“Our debt to our brothers, we must return. There better not be a day when we meet in the underworld where they’d call us bastards.”
Once Juan’er thought of these words, her tears streamed endlessly.
Nannan asked with her sparkling clear set of eyes, “Mum, what are those uncles leaving to do? They won’t play with Nannan anymore?”
“No, no…” Juan’er’s tears gushed like the spring as she answered, “Those uncles will be protecting you forever…”
…
Chen San stood in front of the Residence of Yun in his military uniform.
Lao Mei opened the door.
“May I ask Sir Butler if young master is in?”
Lao Mei shook his head, “I’m sorry, he’s not.”
A hint of regret surfaced on Chen San’s face as he smiled foolishly and said, “I’d wanted to bid farewell to young master face to face. Chen San probably won’t be able to repay young master’s great kindness in this life.”
Lao Mei frowned. “What’s up with you?”
“I’m going to the battlefield…” Chen San grinned. “A lot of brothers are going. We’ve heard that the front lines are very critical… After all, we’ve killed the enemy and seen blood; we’re not scared of anything… so we’re going once more.”
“Now that the Nine Sirs are no longer here, Yutang is in danger We still have arms and legs, we can still fight. We have to go.”
After he finished speaking, he kneeled down with and bowed whilst facing the main doors of the Residence of Yun. “Young master’s honorable kindness, Chen San shall repay it in the next life!”
Then he turned to leave.
Lao Mei felt his throat clogged up when he shouted, “Chen San!”
“What is it, Sir Butler?”
Lao Mei took out two gold taels and pushed them to Chen San. “Take these back to your wife. Don’t reject them, you will be dishonoring young master if you reject them.”
“Do well! Chen San, come back alive!”
…
The same scene was everywhere in the entire Tiantang City, the entire Empire of Yutang.
Early in the morning on the next day, handicapped veterans walked out from alleys and worn-out houses, lining up in neat formations quietly on the street.
They were almost done gathering before the sun could rise.
A soft blow of a horn later, as if afraid to wake their wives and children who were still in peaceful slumber, the veterans quietly began moving towards the city gate.
Some of them had lost their left arms, some of them their right; it looked strange when they walked in total disorder. Yet when only their legs were watched, their strides were completely uniform.
They held weapons that they had once conquered the battlefields with, their face serious but their baggage light as they walked out of the city.
There were already plenty of people amassed outside the city gate.
Many old veterans with broken legs had opted out of this operation but they did not sleep through the night either, arriving at the skirt of the city early in the morning to send their brothers off.
This was a troop of handicaps, none of them were uninjured, none of them were not handicapped!
Many generals who were handicapped mounted horses while wearing their armor, watching as their brothers assembled from each and every direction, like rivers joining at the ocean; their numbers increased as time passed.
“Send off the brothers with valor!”
Pot after pot of wine was placed on the ground, countless veterans with crippled legs straightened their upper bodies at the same time.
All the veterans who were about to set off bowed deeply simultaneously. “We ask for the brothers’ help at home!”
There was no ceremony, no gongs or drums to send them away.
“Brothers, depart!” Someone shouted in a raspy voice.
A huge flag fluttered in the air.
“With war raging in our dreams, even handicaps could still serve the country!”
The troops advanced quietly; there were more than ten thousand of them! Each of their steps was determined, no one turning their head back.
“You shall not turn your head! If you return from this battle alive, you could look on as you please! If not, turning back will only upset you more!”
The morning breeze blew through Tiantang City quietly.
The troops moved further and further.
On top of the city wall, countless women finally dared to show themselves. They had been here all along, covering their mouths as they watched their children and their men go off on an expedition once again.
Their tears rolled down soundlessly.
When would these chaotic times, these war-ridden days end?
The galloping of horses could be heard. Two speedy steeds charged out of the city gate, galloping like a strike of lightning.
On them were two old generals, riding with hot tears brimming in their eyes – Yutang’s two gods of war.
Qiu Jianhan and Leng Daoyin!
Looking at the troops that were getting further, both old generals stood still for a long time, fresh tears stinging their eyes.
“They are all warriors.”
“It is us who have mistreated these heroes!”
…