Rejected Beauty Practices the Villain Play-Chapter 847 - 825: Charred Corpses
Han Ziqi saw the ground full of corpses and knew that this matter would not end well. The Beining Mission deliberately brought five thousand Ningzhou Iron Cavalry, and although they were not superior in number, their combat power was formidable. Coupled with the reinforcement of troops at the border by the Grand Marshal and Dugu Jing, nearly the entire Sannan army of 200,000 was at the border city, leaving only the Forbidden Army in Mudan City. With just over ten thousand troops, they were no match for the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry. They relied on their numerical advantage to surround and kill three hundred Ningzhou Iron Cavalry, but even if all three hundred Ningzhou Iron Cavalry died in battle, the Forbidden Army would suffer heavy losses.
When Zhang Boxin and Lin Xiao led a few thousand more Ningzhou Iron Cavalry into the palace, they were doomed. Once Han Ziqi realized the situation was beyond salvage, he immediately returned to the palace to arrange for the concubines and princesses to leave the Royal Palace through secret passages. Meanwhile, he sent people to detain everyone at the Priest Court and pledge allegiance to Xie Jue. The High Priest and everyone at the Priest Court did not flee; they were all inside the temple within the palace.
When Zhang Boxin and Lin Xiao deployed troops to surround the temple, Han Ziqi had also sent troops to fortify it. Han Ziqi no longer had the confidence and composure he once possessed as the Princely Heir. "General Lin, General Zhang, the self-immolation of my father in the palace was entirely orchestrated by the High Priest. It is unrelated to our Sannan Royal Family. He wishes to drag the entire Sannan Royal Family to the grave. Please, you must believe us. The Royal Family has signed a surrender document and will harbor no rebellious intentions. The Forbidden Army had long betrayed us. I realized the situation was out of control and had them encircled. Please allow Prince Yan to make a decision. None of us brothers were aware of this from the beginning to the end."
The Chaoyang Palace not far away had collapsed with a loud crash. Had the oil not been poured in advance, the fire would not have spread so ferociously, reducing century-old trees to ashes. Burning the bodies beyond recognition, Lin Xiao and Zhang Boxin, seeing the bodies of their brothers at Chaoyang Palace, wanted nothing more than to bury the entire Sannan Royal Family as companions to the deceased. Now, with such a casual dismissal that they didn’t know, it’s too naive.
"Keep these words to tell the Prince!" Lin Xiao looked at him coldly.
Mr. Fang was nowhere to be seen. The Prince, devastated with grief, surely would not spare this group.
The fire at Chaoyang Palace was extinguished after an hour, with the remaining Palace Attendants who hadn’t fled helping to extinguish the flames. Xie Jue had been standing outside Chaoyang Palace waiting. Part of the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry had already separated the corpses of both sides, counting the casualties. Nearly all of the three hundred Ningzhou Iron Cavalry who went to protect the palace were lost, with only about twenty severely injured remaining, uncertain whether they could survive. Military doctors were striving to treat them, but some were feared to have a slim chance of survival. Lin Xiao had dispatched people to take over the palace’s infirmary, using any precious medicine available for the soldiers.
After the flames were extinguished, the bodies had become charred remains, hard to identify. Indeed, more than twenty were dragged into the fire and had no chance to escape, making it difficult to identify their remains. However, the name tags the soldiers wore remained intact in the flames. From high-ranking commanders to low-ranking soldiers, every member of the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry had their own identification tags made from black iron, usually hung on their chest as a means of identification. In the chaos of battle, when swords have no eyes and bodies are reduced to ash, identification relies solely on these tags. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
The soldiers searched for tags in the ruins and indeed found a dozen Ningzhou Iron Cavalry name tags. One by one, they identified them until one soldier slightly hesitated upon seeing one. Why was the Prince’s name tag found in the fire?
"Whose is it?" Xie Jue asked softly, though the blaze had been extinguished, the surrounding heat remained intense. The soldiers were drenched in sweat, and the soldier holding the name tag, despite being sweltering, was now chilled by a gust of wind. He hurriedly approached Xie Jue and respectfully returned the name tag to him, "Prince, it’s yours..."
Xie Jue’s whole body stiffened. Despite the scorching heat waves, his blood felt as if it had frozen like in a Beiman winter. He raised his hand to receive the small name tag...which only drops from soldiers’ bodies upon their death.
The iron name tag, still warm as though it held a person’s body heat, was hanging from a small silver chain on his chest. On quiet nights, it used to sway back and forth on his chest, and in moments of passion, he had bitten this small piece of iron. It was their most secret release and union in the dark.
This name tag was worn by Fang Chuning and belonged to him.
And Fang Chuning’s tag was on his chest, closest to his heart, soaked with his breath and warmth.
"Where was it found?" Xie Jue heard his own calm voice, though his heart was already a barren wasteland, blood flowing like a river. Yet, in front of his soldiers, he remained the stoic Prince Yan, their central figure.
The soldiers gathered all the tags found in the temple into one place. They weren’t quite sure where it was found. Xie Jue’s gaze swept over the charred remains in the hall. When people make promises of eternal love, they like to say, "Even if you turn to ash, I could recognize you." But in reality, it’s unnecessary for bodies to turn to ash; becoming charred remains in a fire makes recognition very difficult. He truly couldn’t tell which one was Fang Chuning.
Xie Jue slowly approached one charred corpse, forcing himself to recognize it. Is it him?
The clothes had long burned away; the body was charred, black as charcoal. The face was reduced to a skeletal shape, hard to envision the once captivating and handsome features before death.
No, it’s not him!
Definitely not!
Xie Jue couldn’t hear the shouts of the soldiers around him anymore, moving next to another corpse clearly longer than the others.
Anning, is it you?
Were you seriously injured and tossed into the fire, or caught by the flames? Did it hurt when the fire burned you? When thick smoke surged into your throat, did it hurt?
No, this isn’t you!
Living or dead, he wanted to see the whole body, not like this, charred remains. He refused to admit it. As long as he didn’t recognize it, Anning was alive.
Xie Jue resolutely turned and slowly walked out of Chaoyang Palace; this palace had not consumed his general. Even if his name tag had fallen into the fire, he was not inside Chaoyang Palace.
"Bury the remains in Chaoyang Palace properly," Xie Jue whispered instructions. Among these charred remains were Ningzhou Iron Cavalry soldiers; since they couldn’t be distinguished, they’d all receive proper burials.
"Yes!" the soldiers answered softly, while Xie Jue went to face Ying Yi, "How is Xiao Liu?"
"The military doctors are still treating him. The situation is not optimistic," Ying Yi’s voice was somewhat hoarse, the unexpected situation in the Sannan Palace took everyone by surprise, and the tragedy was beyond remedy. Thankfully, the master was unharmed, and they did not fail their mission.
No!
His master was not entirely unharmed. The moon-white robe was stained with blood, and with horror, Ying Yi realized the blood on Xie Jue’s flank was still flowing, not yet coagulated. He suddenly raised his hand to press Xie Jue’s waist, feeling a wet sensation. Xie Jue had been stabbed in the waist and abdomen, bleeding profusely. No one realized because his body was covered in blood.
"Someone, get the military doctor, quick! The Prince is injured!"
