"Then take a closer look. I am Huang Xuan, Huang Xuan under Marshal Lu. You must have seen me before," the old man said helplessly.
“Mr. Huang?” A strange light flashed in Sun Cheng’s eyes. He stared at the old man for a long time before saying, “As far as I know, Mr. Huang should have already died in battle at Baopingkou…”
“I did not die in the Battle of Baopingkou.” The old man’s face showed pain, and the horror of that battle came to mind again. “Commander Lu lured the enemy with his own body. The enemy soldiers were greedy for merit and chased after him. Chen Liang and I escaped in the chaos of the battle, but we encountered Fu Lian on the way. As a result, as a result…” He choked up as he spoke.
“Fu Lian…” Sun Cheng’s eyes blazed with fury. Five years had passed, and the truth of what happened back then was gradually coming to light. Lu Xiang was killed, the Invincible Army was wiped out, the mastermind was the treacherous minister Wu Shu, and the executor was the dog Fu Lian. The old man didn’t need to say more; he knew what would happen when these shattered soldiers encountered “their own people.”
"Fortunately, the traitor felt guilty and dared not count the bodies after killing them. I crawled out from a pile of corpses. After that, I lived in hiding, wandering from place to place, until I heard that Li Jun had started an uprising in Yuzhou. I wanted to go see him, but I was penniless. How could I travel thousands of miles across the Rong people's yurt grasslands to Yuzhou? I knew that Li Jun would return to avenge Commander Lu sooner or later, so I rushed to Canghai County, but I was still a step too late..."
Luo Yi sighed inwardly. Hearing such a tearless lament from an old man was truly heartbreaking. Although the old man had only described it lightly, Luo Yi could imagine the hardships he had endured on his journey.
“The old man does have a vague resemblance to Mr. Huang in his features, but because he has changed so much, I can’t remember him very clearly.” Sun Cheng’s words still did not resolve the question of whether the old man was really Huang Xuan.
“It’s alright. Even if we can’t prove that you are Huang Xuan, I still believe you are.” Luo Yi sighed and bowed respectfully again. “Please take a bath and change your clothes, and I will send someone to take you to Commander Li.”
"Thank you very much, but before I go to Li Jun, I need to solve a problem for him first." Huang Xuan was clearly very grateful for Luo Yi's trust. He returned the bow and said, "I heard that Dong Cheng is in Xizhou City. I am willing to go and persuade him to surrender. General Luo, could you please arrange a meeting with him for me?"
three,
"You really are Mr. Huang Xuan! You're still alive!"
Compared to Sun Cheng, who was just an unknown soldier back then, Dong Cheng, though not a subordinate of the Invincible Army, was a promising young general of the Su Kingdom at the time and had quite a bit of contact with Lu Xiang, so he was naturally more familiar with Lu Xiang's staff. When Huang Xuan recalled the circumstances of their several meetings back then, Dong Cheng was already convinced that this ragged old man was the same witty and charming staff member from back then.
"Of course I'm not dead. Although some people have never given up hunting me for the past five years, I'm still alive." Huang Xuan laughed heartily, his laughter filled with both desolation and exhilaration. For the past few years, he had lived in anonymity, half begging and half wandering, even fearing in his dreams that he might accidentally reveal his identity. He had been extremely repressed, and now he could finally pour out his heart. Although the sky and earth were still the same, he felt a sense of freedom regained.
Dong Cheng was speechless. He took Lu Xiang as his role model, hoping not only to create a legend like Lu Xiang on the battlefield, but also to be admired by the world as a person as Lu Xiang. But the tragic and desolate story behind Lu Xiang also made him break out in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.
"I have come here to persuade you to cooperate with Li Jun." Huang Xuan stated his purpose directly, but he still managed to be tactful enough. He was not trying to persuade Dong Cheng to surrender, but rather to persuade him to cooperate with Li Jun.
In front of a senior like Huang Xuan, Dong Cheng couldn't bring himself to pull out the two cotton balls to plug his ears. Huang Xuan saw the resistance in his deep gaze and raised an eyebrow slightly: "Do you think I would advise Commander Lu to cooperate with Li Jun if he were in your situation?"
His question was so abrupt that Dong Cheng had no choice but to look him in the eye. Dong Xuan didn't answer immediately; he simply stroked his disheveled beard, a sorrowful light flashing in his eyes. The living can make any assumptions about things, but the dead can never come back to hear those assumptions or defend themselves.
"If Commander Lu were in my situation, would you offer your advice?" Dong Cheng finally asked. Luo Yi, who was sitting to the side, was secretly delighted. Dong Cheng, who had been silent for a long time, had finally started to ask questions. This was a good sign.
“I will also offer my advice, but I believe that Commander Lu will definitely not accept it.” Huang Xuan glanced at Dong Cheng and saw a cold smile on his face, then continued, “However, you are different from Commander Lu.”
“I am different from Commander Lu. If I were Commander Lu, how could I allow that brat Li Jun to invade the borders of my Great Su? How could I allow the people of my Su Kingdom to suffer from the ravages of those chaotic troops and bandits? How could I allow these youngsters to offend the ears of my Emperor?”
Huang Xuan chuckled coldly a few times, his sneers eventually turning into wild laughter, filled with disdain and contempt. Even the usually composed Dong Cheng couldn't help but feel angered by his laughter. Luo Yi, standing beside him, secretly worried. Although there were hundreds of Peace Army soldiers outside, if Dong Cheng suddenly attacked and injured someone, and given his own injuries, and the fact that Huang Xuan was a scholar with no strength to even kill a chicken, the hundreds of Peace Army soldiers outside might not be able to stop Dong Cheng.
“I respect you as a confidant of Marshal Lu, so I treat you with the utmost courtesy. If you do not respect yourself, please leave!” Dong Cheng finally lost his temper and got up to retreat into the inner room.
"I laugh at you for arguing that you are the second Marshal Lu, yet you do not understand Marshal Lu's heart at all. I thought that there was someone in the world besides me who could truly understand Marshal Lu, but I did not expect that you are just like those worldly people!" Huang Xuan's voice was hoarse, and there was a hint of crying in his words. This man, who was weak but had an unyielding pride, made such a sad cry, which could move even the most hard-hearted person.
Dong Cheng stopped and turned around, saying, "If that's the case, please enlighten me on what Marshal Lu's true intentions are." He didn't sit down; his expression clearly said, "If what you say is unreasonable, I'll leave immediately."
"Five years ago, in the State of Su, was it Marshal Lu who won the hearts of the people, or the incompetent ruler and treacherous officials?"
Dong Cheng remained silent; this was a question he found difficult to answer. His silence was the answer.
"Five years ago, in the State of Su, did Marshal Lu win the hearts of the army, or did the incompetent ruler and treacherous ministers win the hearts of the army?"
Huang Xuan's second question followed immediately, changing only one word, but the implication sent a chill down Dong Cheng's spine. Five years ago, the people and soldiers of Su were all willing to serve Lu Xiang. Even the bandits and thieves who roamed Su and treated a million soldiers like dirt, upon hearing that Lu Xiang had come alone to subdue them, immediately prostrated themselves and submitted. If Lu Xiang had intended to seize the throne back then, or if he had engaged in the same kind of power struggle as Liu Guang was currently doing in Chen, then who would truly be ruling Su?
"When the emperor is suspicious, treacherous officials take the lead, virtuous men are dismissed, and loyal ministers are killed. General Dong, do you think Commander Lu understands these simple truths?"
"Commander Lu understands perfectly well." Seeing Huang Xuan's unyielding gaze, Dong Cheng could only reluctantly reply.
"Indeed, why does Commander Lu remain loyal and steadfast, still submitting memorials to speak frankly, even defying the taboo of military interference in politics, and submitting a memorial concerning the crown prince?"
“Of course, it is Marshal Lu’s heart for the country and the people that is witnessed by heaven and man!” Dong Cheng finally had a chance to refute, and he continued, “Therefore, although I am not talented, I also want to be like Marshal Lu, to be loyal to the country and loyal to the emperor, even if it means sacrificing my life.”
"Indeed, Commander Lu would rather die than rebel, but what he did was not for His Majesty, but for the people of my Su Kingdom!" Huang Xuan continued before Dong Cheng could speak, "If it were only for his own reputation for loyalty, how could Commander Lu not consider the lives of his staff and soldiers? His death would surely leave his troops leaderless and cause tens of thousands of invincible soldiers to vanish. If it were you, General Dong, could you bear to let your subordinates suffer because of you?"
Dong Chenghan slumped down in tears. When people thought of Lu Xiang's death, they only felt it was a pity, a tragedy, and a source of great sorrow. No one could have imagined that because of Lu Xiang's death, his 30,000 invincible soldiers would also suffer annihilation. Some would die on the battlefield, others would perish at home. With Lu Xiang's abilities, how could he not have foreseen all of this?
If it were me, having single-handedly raised tens of thousands of troops, gathering the elite forces and wise men of a nation, could I bear to let them perish with me, to let them serve as my sacrifices, to let them become offerings for my eternal name of loyalty and righteousness? One general's fame is built on the bones of ten thousand. Among those ten thousand bones, how many are the corpses of enemies, and how many are the remains of loyal subordinates? Behind Lu Xiang's dazzling statue of loyalty and righteousness, how many unjustly killed soldiers of the Peace Army are weeping?
"You...you..." Dong Cheng felt suffocated that his idol had been shattered by his idol's most trusted advisor. His face, which had been gloomy for the past few days, turned ashen and yellow, as if he had lost all his vitality.
"I crawled out from the corpses of those 30,000 invincible soldiers. No one knows the situation better than me. But I don't blame Commander Lu, I don't blame Commander Lu, I understand him, I understand him..." Huang Xuan's voice choked with emotion. He turned his face to the side, took a long breath, and calmed himself slightly before saying, "If Commander Lu had told the generals what he was thinking, do you know what the result would have been? It would have been like at the beginning of this dynasty, when the generals coerced Commander Lu into raising an army and declaring himself king. All it took was a yellow robe to force Commander Lu to do so. If it really came to that, then the people of my Great Su, under the watchful eyes of the Lan Kingdom, would first have to..." Having endured the flames of civil war, Marshal Lu, thinking of the hundreds of millions of people of our Great Su, and the soldiers and civilians across the land who were anxiously awaiting his return, could not bear to let the people of Su suffer such a great calamity again for his own sake. The entire Invincible Army was like a brother to him, and if he were to sacrifice himself, the first sacrifice would be his own, and the second would be those closest to him… Who can we blame for this? How can we blame Marshal Lu? If we must blame someone, we can only blame ourselves for being too close to Marshal Lu; we can only blame ourselves for being willing to die a hundred times for Marshal Lu's safety; we can only blame the tyrannical and corrupt emperor and ministers who instigated this unforgivable injustice in the capital!
Dong Cheng took a deep breath to calm himself. He had initially thought that Lu Xiang had sacrificed his 30,000 invincible soldiers to uphold his reputation for loyalty and righteousness. If that were true, the seemingly loyal and upright Lu Xiang would be the most selfish person in the world. However, Huang Xuan's account gave him a deeper understanding of Lu Xiang's state of mind at the time, and he foresaw the tragic end he would suffer. Lu Xiang's final days must have been filled with unbearable pain, a pain that they could never truly comprehend.
"Heaven and man bear witness... Heaven and man bear witness..." He suddenly recalled the rumor that after Lu Xiang's death, these four characters were found carved on the ground with a sword beside his body. What exactly did Lu Xiang mean by "Heaven and man bear witness"? Was it that he was loyal but killed by his sovereign? Was it that he had the opportunity to defeat the enemy but was betrayed by his own people and lost his "invincible" title? Was it that the lives of 30,000 soldiers of the Peace Army were decided by his single thought? Was it that the people of Su were spared years of war and bloodshed because of this?
"Do you now understand Marshal Lu's heart? What he is loyal to is not a certain emperor, but the people of our Great Su. What he is devoted to is not a certain ruler, but the soldiers who place high hopes on him."
Huang Xuan's words made Dong Cheng nod deeply involuntarily. In the past, he respected Lu Xiang, but it turned out that he did not respect the real Lu Xiang. However, through that halo, he found that the real Lu Xiang was even greater.
“Now that Li Jun has raised an army to seek revenge, his ambition is not as simple as killing the treacherous minister.” Huang Xuan brought the topic back to the main point, but the sorrow in his eyes remained. This made Dong Cheng even think that after Huang Xuan had experienced great changes and suffered many calamities, the sorrow in his eyes could no longer be eliminated.
"If Li Jun's only motive is revenge, assassinating a treacherous minister wouldn't be difficult for him. But once a treacherous minister dies, the tyrannical ruler will simply find another to help him, and people like Marshal Lu will still die in conspiracies. I suspect what Li Jun wants to do is completely dismantle this system, so that those who are loyal to the country can die a worthy death, and those who are righteous to the people can live with honor. Your wife once said she wanted to enjoy the posthumous honors bestowed upon the general, but why must good people always receive glory only after death?"
Dong Cheng had to admit that the mental fortitude he had thought was as solid as a dam was beginning to crumble. Huang Xuan's concise description of Li Jun's goal was indeed extremely appealing.
“Li Jun has his goals, and I have mine…” he said reluctantly, both to resist the deeper meaning revealed in Huang Xuan’s words and to convince himself.
"General, with Marshal Lu as your target, you should naturally keep the people and soldiers of Su in your heart. If you're going to sacrifice, you must first sacrifice yourself." Huang Xuan's rapid-fire words made his forced self-defense seem weak and feeble. "Now, Li Jun's army is heading west to attack Qinggui. You should know his intentions. If you step forward to plead for the people, Li Jun will be unstoppable. If you stay here and only care about yourself, the people and soldiers of Qinggui, and even the people and soldiers of all of Su, will suffer annihilation. Although Li Jun is the instigator, when you ask yourself in the dead of night, how can you not feel guilty? You could have changed all this harm, or at least minimized it. To preserve your own reputation for loyalty and righteousness, you have disregarded the people and soldiers of Su. How cruel you are!"
Dong Cheng, pale-faced, wearily waved his hand and said, "Sir, please wait, sir, please wait. I understand, I understand..."