"General, General, I beg you..."
"So many people, so many people! Don't touch him! Get out of the way! General, get out of the way!"
"Don't go in! That's fire...fire, no! Please—"
What followed was a scream.
The general's doctor was awakened by the piercing screams, which sounded like sharp knives stabbing into bones.
He opened his eyes and saw that Xiao Lin's blanket had been completely pulled off.
The disheveled boy clutched his head and screamed in agony.
This was the first time the military doctor had ever seen Xiao Lin like this.
He lost all composure and was in so much pain that he was like a madman.
"Your Majesty!" He rushed over and pressed Xiao Lin's shoulder, calling out, "Your Majesty, wake up!"
After shouting several times, Xiao Lin's screams subsided slightly, and he groggily opened his eyes.
See the army doctor's face clearly.
"Your Majesty, were you having a nightmare?"
The military doctor looked worried.
Upon hearing the word "nightmare," Xiao Lin's body trembled slightly. He stood up and, as if grasping at a lifeline, kept stroking the wooden hairpin and sachet in his hands.
His eyes were empty, filled with fear and desolation.
"I dreamt of the general."
"He led Mu Chen and the others deep into the enemy camp, and after finally finding the location where the supplies were stored, they were discovered by the enemy..."
"So many people, three hundred thousand, three hundred thousand people, they were carrying bows and arrows, a rain of arrows that filled the sky..."
"They drowned the general, but they...they still didn't give up. The general...the general took the lead, pouring oil on himself and setting himself on fire with a tinderbox..."
At this point, Xiao Lin couldn't help but let out a whimper like a trapped animal: "It hurts so much, it must hurt a lot..."
"And so, with so many arrows in their bodies, they used their last strength to throw themselves into the grain rations. A raging fire, a raging fire..."
He repeated incoherently, "Fire, like a monster... devoured the general, burned for a long, long time... I can't see the general anymore... that red robe, the general was still wearing our wedding attire..."
"Ah..." Xiao Lin scratched his hair with one hand, his nails almost digging into his flesh. His eyes were unfocused, as if he were trapped in a nightmare from which he could not wake up, and he groaned in pain.
His mind was filled with the horrific images from his dream, making him tremble all over and unable to distinguish between reality and dreams.
The military doctor was shocked.
Just hearing it made me feel cold inside and my eyes sting.
If Your Majesty's dream is true...
Then wouldn't the general and the others... not even leave behind any remains?
Just like the charred remains they saw at the enemy camp, perhaps the general, along with tens of thousands of bushels of grain, were reduced to ashes in the fire...
But no matter how reasonable this idea may seem in one's heart.
At this moment, the military doctors all understood that they had to help Xiao Lin cheer up.
"Your Majesty!" He crouched down by the bed and said to Xiao Lin, "That was a dream! A nightmare! Didn't you say back then that the jade wouldn't break and the person wouldn't die? If the general really died in the fire, then why hasn't that jade pendant been found!"
Jade doesn't melt in fire, so even if it's charred black, we should have found it by now, right?
“Yes…” Xiao Lin finally regained a little consciousness at his shout. As if he was trying to brainwash himself, he kept repeating, “If the jade doesn’t break, the person won’t die. If the body and the jade pendant haven’t been found, it means the general is still alive.”
"My general is still alive."
"He is waiting for me to build a prosperous era, then I will go to him, and I will dream of him in wedding attire."
So, so it's implying that I should keep my promise, and when the prosperous era is completed, I will give him a wedding, and then we will be blessed by all the people..."
"Yes, that must be it... that's how it is..."
"If Lieutenant Li is still alive, then the General will surely survive as well. It's my fault for not finding him..."
"I just couldn't find it..."
The military doctor, listening from the side, felt as if his heart was being torn apart.
He actually believed in Xiao Lin's dream to some extent.
After all, no one can escape alive from being surrounded by an army of 300,000.
That mission was a life-or-death gamble. If they were discovered but still had to complete the mission, then dousing themselves in oil and setting the supplies on fire became the only way.
He wanted to act like a general...
I'm afraid they really will do that.
Thinking back to the fire that had burned for most of the night, the military doctor gritted his teeth and swallowed his sobs.
He said to Xiao Lin, "Yes, but Your Majesty, you haven't found it yet."
"You must believe that the general is definitely waiting for you somewhere, waiting for you to go... to find him..."
Due to the overall situation, Xiao Lin was not given much time to rest.
He only lay in bed for two days before getting up on the third day, dressed, and began dealing with the affairs of his elder brothers.
Some were placed under house arrest, others were exiled, and they were escorted out of the capital, never to be allowed to enter the city again.
He did not choose to kill.
Because his general once said that killing does not bring happiness, but only increases one's sins.
Xiao Lin remembered every word he said, so even if he hated them, he only put them under house arrest and punished them, humiliating them but not killing them.
These people's wives and children are innocent; he has no need to kill them all.
After these matters were dealt with, the coronation ceremony took place.
Because the national treasury was empty, Xiao Lin kept everything simple and did not hold an overly grand event.
Immediately after ascending the throne, he began his arduous work.
The once powerful Xiao Kingdom, after more than a decade of neglect, is now devastated.
He had to build the country up as quickly as possible, without a moment's rest.
He promoted virtuous officials, reformed the land system, built dikes, and reduced taxes.
Xiao Lin is working step by step to build the prosperous world he and Yu Tang envision.
Spring, autumn, winter, and summer; cold and heat come and go; more than a decade has passed in the blink of an eye.
Another Lunar New Year's Eve, a banquet at the Xiao Kingdom Palace.
The envoys from the Kesh, Mu, and Luo tribes bowed respectfully to Xiao Lin, who was seated in the main seat, before taking their seats.
Over the years, Xiao Lin not only revived the Xiao Kingdom, making it once again the undisputed leader of the four kingdoms, but also established diplomatic relations with the other three kingdoms, resulting in frequent trade exchanges.
Ultimately, the decline of the Xiao Kingdom was partly due to the previous years of war, but another reason was that the Xiao Kingdom refused to engage in trade with these three countries.
It is a grave mistake to rely on fertile land and be self-sufficient and then ignore external affairs.
Therefore, over the years, Xiao Lin has signed equal agreements with these countries, built trade routes, and enabled both sides to benefit, which naturally quelled the border conflicts.
Even though hatred still exists between them, no one dislikes peace.
Whether they were from the Xiao Kingdom or from other ethnic groups.
There is no more war.
Children would not have to lose their fathers, wives would not have to lose their husbands, and the elderly would not have to lose their sons.
This is the right path, this is the true golden age.
During the banquet, the foreign envoys and court officials chatted happily, and Xiao Lin occasionally chimed in with a few words.
However, he often sat alone in the main seat drinking, with no concubines around except for the palace maids serving him.
For more than a decade, court officials had advised him countless times to establish a concubine and empress, and to stop leaving the harem empty.
Xiao Lin didn't listen to a word he said.
On one occasion, a courtier said something too outrageous. The emperor drew a guard's sword, held it to the minister's neck, and said coldly, "If you bring this up again, I will have your head chopped off."
That time, everyone was stunned.
Because in their eyes, Xiao Lin was truly a wise ruler, a rare talent.
He has never missed a single morning court session over the years, and all the memorials submitted in the morning are processed overnight.
Moreover, each annotation is very concise and to the point, demonstrating excellent decision-making ability.
In addition, he usually adopts the opinions of his ministers, and even if he does not adopt them, he will explain the reasons, which always convinces people.
Therefore, everyone assumed that Xiao Lin would agree to the marriage proposal if it was brought up a few more times.
I never expected it to turn out like this.
However, they all shut up after that and never dared to mention it again.
Halfway through the palace banquet, both the foreign envoys and court officials had drunk too much.
The topics of conversation became increasingly daring, especially among the Kashgar envoys, whose faces were flushed and who, after being intoxicated, dared to say anything.
“We Kashgar people are all rough and unrefined, and we admire military generals the most!” the foreign envoy said. “If I had to say which military general I admire most in the Xiao Kingdom, it would be none other than Yu Tang, the former commander of the garrison of the Northern Nine Cities!”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lin's eyes widened suddenly, and his fingers unconsciously tightened, cracking the porcelain wine cup.
"Back then, I was the deputy general of the allied forces that attacked Beijiu City. We led so many people, 300,000 troops!"
He was clearly drunk, and he ignored the other foreign envoys trying to pull him up. He continued to recall, "Their northern city only had 20,000 troops. Later, other cities came to their aid, and the number of soldiers we fought against was only 30,000 to 40,000!"
"Such a small number of people actually held out against us for more than half a month!"
"But it will only last half a month. Without the support of the South City, they will be defeated by us sooner or later!"
"But who knew that Yu Tang would lead more than a dozen men to sneak into our camp in the middle of the night and burn our supplies..."
The man let out a hiccup: "They really are a bunch of lunatics, absolutely insane..."
"When we spotted them, they were almost at the tents where the supplies were stored. We were quite far away, so we ordered our archers to draw their bows and fire. A hail of arrows rained down. No matter how skilled they were, they couldn't dodge so many arrows..."