Green Mountain

In the residence at Pingkang Square, Bai Jian looked at the darkening sky, anxious like an ant on a hot pan, but when he opened his mouth to speak, all his words turned into a deferential tone: "Your Majesty, we should return to the palace now."

Emperor Jing put down the wine jar, propping himself on the ground, and lay on his side, glancing at Bai Jian: "What, afraid Yuan Xiang and the others are getting impatient? When I want to allocate silver, they tell me to wait; when I want to reward the troops, they tell me to wait; even when I want to personally lead an expedition, they still tell me to wait. I’ve waited for them all these years, why can’t they wait a bit for me... hic!"

Bai Jian said softly, "Your Majesty, you’re drunk."

Emperor Jing sneered, "How much have I drunk—back in the day... hic. Don’t rush me; otherwise, you can go to Ningguta too."

Bai Jian sighed inwardly and put on a smile: "Your Majesty can hold his liquor."

Emperor Jing pointed into the crowd: "It’s no disgrace for me to be drunk, is it? Hasn’t that one had too much as well?"

At this time, Old Ears stood in the crowd, hugging a jar and drinking heartily, the wine flowing down his chin to the ground. Chen Ji quickly reached out to lift the wine jar: "Offering a toast to King Yama?"

Old Ears wiped his mouth, drunkenly saying, "This old man can still drink!"

Chen Ji smirked, "As if recognizing your loss would kill you."

Old Ears swayed as he sat back on the ground, chuckling twice mysteriously: "How about I tell you some stories?"

A man nearby teased, "Old man, if you want to avoid drinking, just say so. What stories are you telling when we’re drinking?"

Old Ears scoffed, "Relax, I won’t let you hear for nothing. These are stories you’ve never heard before."

Suddenly, Bai Xingzhen said, "Tell us about Bai Chongyuan. Some say he’s a hero for subduing the Northern tribes for our dynasty, yet others call him a national traitor for twenty-one years for raising bandits to boost his own power, refraining from wiping out Beifan when he could... Do you think he was a hero or a scoundrel?"

Chen Ji turned and saw Bai Xingzhen’s eager gaze, a faint glimmer of tears in his eyes.

Old Ears lazily replied, "Since we’re discussing heroes of the world, I have to first ask, what is a hero?"

The drinkers looked at each other; although they often talked about heroes, once Old Ears asked, they couldn’t clearly define what a hero truly was.

Old Ears looked at Chen Ji: "Kid, what do you think makes a hero?"

Chen Ji remained silent.

Old Ears laughed heartily, took a big gulp of wine, and slowly said, "If someone spends a lifetime practicing retreat from the world, barely reaching the Divine Realm, becoming a Great Grandmaster in the eyes of all, but does nothing besides cultivation, is he a hero? To this old man, no, he’s not."

He changed his tone: "What about an ordinary person who, upon encountering mountain bandits, wants to flee but instead takes up a knife to fight and protect his family, only to meet a tragic end at the bandit’s hands? Is he a hero? To this old man, he is."

Feeling enthusiastic, Old Ears didn’t wait for others to urge him to drink, grabbing his jar to take another big swig: "There are only three things in life: what you ’should do,’ what you ’can do,’ and what you ’want to do.’ The so-called hero is the one who chooses the first one."

Chen Ji subconsciously clenched his fist.

Bai Xingzhen reminded, "You haven’t talked about Bai Chongyuan yet."

"What’s the hurry? I was just getting to it," Old Ears said slowly. "Before inheriting his title, Bai Chongyuan was nothing more than a dissolute fellow. After his father and brother died on the plains, he could have continued his rakish ways, but instead, he packed up and headed for Shangjing Road. And what kind of place is Shangjing Road? A place so cold in winter that if you pee, it’ll freeze a bird in mid-air; to dare to go there means you’re no coward."

"At that time, there were still eight thousand elite soldiers on Shangjing Road. He might have, in the heat of the moment, led these eight thousand to avenge his father and brother, but he wisely chose not to. He first managed Shangjing Road, setting everything in order before leading eight hundred cavalry north, sneaking against the wind and snow into the heart of the grasslands to cut Beifan’s supplies, forcing them to retreat without a fight. No need to mention the rest, three battles and three victories left Beifan cowed for seven years. In the 27th year of Lisheng, he launched a winter raid on the grasslands... do you know why he chose to raid in the winter?"

The drinkers looked at each other: "Isn’t this a blunder? What good would come from attacking the grasslands in heavy snow?"

Old Ears said meaningfully, "That’s where Bai Chongyuan outsmarted you. On the grasslands, you have to pen the cattle and sheep in winter; they have to huddle together for warmth, or they’ll freeze to death in two hours. Bai Chongyuan was clever; risking the danger of freezing on the grasslands, he feigned attacks three times, forcing Beifan to move the camps, resulting in over ten thousand cattle and sheep dying on their migration that year, so come spring, the wolves on the grasslands were all fat."

Someone hesitantly said, "But later..."

Old Ears waved his hand: "I know what you’re going to say. Later, when he should have swept across the Beifan Royal Court, he secretly opened border markets, trading military grain for livestock. Not only didn’t he expand the territory, but he also went to the grasslands with only twenty subordinates to drink and negotiate with the Northern tribes, arbitrarily signing a thirty-year blood pact not to cross the Wan Nan River. During the white hair disaster in the North, he even took in thousands of Beifan’s old and young."

Old Ears let out a wine burp: "But you only see Beifan’s weakness and don’t see that Beifan can only be scattered, not annihilated, nor do you see Shangjing Road in constant warfare, where the people were barely surviving. To this old man, Bai Chongyuan held Shangjing Road for thirty-seven years, allowing the people behind him to live in peace and prosperity for thirty-seven years, making him a heroic figure."

After hearing these words, Bai Xingzhen could no longer hold back his tears.

Old Ears, weakened by drink, slowly lay back and closed his eyes: "What else do you want to hear?"

Another person asked, "Who else’s stories do you know?"

Old Ears mumbled, "I know a lot..."

At this moment, Emperor Jing, in the distant corner, quietly watched Old Ears. After a long silence, he suddenly instructed Bai Jian, "Ask him for me, does Yuan Zai count as a hero?"

Bai Jian was startled, then rose and walked into the crowd.

He leaned beside Old Ears and asked, "Master, does Yuan Zai count as a hero?"

Old Ears mumbled indistinctly, "Yuan Zai? Who the hell is Yuan Zai... Oh, now I remember!"

Upon hearing the first part, Bai Jian hurriedly looked back, but Emperor Jing’s face did not show anger; instead, he stretched his neck, watching eagerly like Bai Xingzhen had just done.

Only to hear Old Ears, eyes closed in recollection, say, "Yuan Zai, that lad, truly is a hero..."

Bai Jian was listening intently when the conversation abruptly ended. He pressed on, "What happened next?"

Yet when he looked down, he found Old Ears already snoring loudly, soundly asleep. Bai Jian stared in disbelief—Old Ears had spoken a lot about Bai Chongyuan, but only had this one sentence for Yuan Zai.

Carefully, Bai Jian glanced back, only to see Emperor Jing’s eyes slightly reddened, and his greying beard trembling slightly.

He rushed back, whispering anxiously, "Your Majesty! Are you alright?"

Emperor Jing sniffed: "I’ve ruled for forty-one years, fighting against heaven, earth, civil servants, and military merits, never daring to sleep in greed! I built the Northern Border Great Wall, keeping the barbarians out! Reopened the He Xi trade routes, allowing the people of Longyou Road to eat a full meal! Removed surplus officials, rectified governance! I personally led forces to Wan Nan River... The year I ascended the throne, the national treasury couldn’t scrape together a million taels of silver, now I can sustain twelve divisions of the Central Forbidden Army and have raised the nation’s cavalry!"

He rambled on, like a youth eagerly seizing the chance to boast, flipping through the thick ledger accumulated over forty-one years for others to hear.

Yet in this courtyard, all were muddled drunken folks, only Bai Jian listened.

Emperor Jing took a deep breath: "I’m not afraid of failing to suppress the Beifan, nor of being unable to defeat the Southern Dynasty. I wish every task could be done beautifully, only fearing he thinks he aided the wrong person back then."

Emperor Jing huskily said, "I want to unify the two dynasties for him to see, but I don’t have the time..."

Bai Jian knelt beside Emperor Jing, sobbing: "Your Majesty, he said you are a hero, he did say it."

Emperor Jing nodded weakly and stood up, "Let’s return to the palace, no regrets left."

Yet at this moment, seven or eight feathered arrows shot out from the night, aiming straight at Bai Xingzhen’s face.

Bai Xingzhen had no time to turn around before Chen Ji had already kicked up a charcoal basin from the ground to meet the arrows. The arrows clanged against the basin, flipping it endlessly in mid-air, scattering charcoal into a shower of sparks in the dark.

An arrow grazed the edge of the charcoal basin, piercing through the sparks onward.

By the time Bai Xingzhen saw the arrow, it was already held by someone in front of him. He turned his head in astonishment, only to see Chen Ji looking at the direction the arrow came from.

Outside the courtyard, four middle-aged men with beards, leading three white horses, slowly walked into Yuan Xiang’s private residence, a distant whiff of mutton floated in.

Chen Ji tapped the sleeping Old Ears beside him with his foot, but Old Ears merely turned over and continued snoring.

At this time, the four men scrutinized Bai Xingzhen in the courtyard, exchanged glances, nodded, then drew curved blades from their waists, slashing the horses’ necks, the white horses neighed and fell to the ground.

All the drunkards in the courtyard sobered up, staggering away.

The men didn’t stop them, squatted beside the white horse, and using curved blades, opened the horse’s belly. Yet no blood flowed from the belly, instead, a white spectral figure emerged.

One man stood guard, while the other three knelt, speaking words incomprehensible to others.

Only Emperor Jing understood, quietly repeating, "Tengger above, let the eagle in the sky carry our souls back to the grasslands... It’s the grassland’s sacred ritual of the white horse."

Chen Ji seized the moment while the three were vowing, swiftly threw the arrow he held, but the standing man easily slashed it apart.

The three men on the ground cut open their palms, letting their blood drip onto the white spectral figure. The figure writhed, slowly transforming from illusion to reality, and became three white wolves taller than humans, shaking their fur.

Bai Xingzhen unconsciously clutched Chen Ji’s sleeve, looking up. Chen Ji remained calm, pulling Bai Xingzhen behind him.

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