Dandere General and his Lord

3.The Colour of Loyalty

Before Cheng Qianye transmigrated, she also had a twin brother. The siblings had a great relationship since they were young and grew up tussling with each other and running wild, day by day. 

One of Cheng Qianye’s favourite pranks since she was a child was to dress up like her brother and imitate his words and actions before sneaking out of the house as her brother. 

For this purpose, she had specially kept the same neutral hairstyle as her brother, Cheng Qianluo. 

Whenever anyone mistook her for Cheng Qianluo, she would amusedly play along with them. Until, like two peas in a pod, Cheng Qianluo approached them. Each and every one of them revealed startled expressions, their jaws dropping, while Cheng Qianye held her belly as she laughed wildly. 

Therefore, after transmigrating, Cheng Qianye didn’t think it would be too difficult to pose as a man and pretend to be her poisoned twin brother, taking his place as Duke Jin Yue. 

But she had overlooked one thing. She had transmigrated to a different time. An era filled with massacre and the flames of war. 

Before Cheng Qianye crossed over, the Quanrong tribe from the northwest area broke through to the capital and killed the nominal son of heaven. The fierce tribe continuously raided a path all the way through until they reached Bianzhou. 

Hence, the whole country was in a state of disorder and all the rival warlords all rose up in the name of helping the imperial family and expelling the northern barbarians. In reality though, they merely wished to take advantage of the turbulence and expand their own power. 

The provincial governor of Liangzhou, Li Wenguang’s call to arms for the fight against the Quanrong was echoed by all the various dukes as they eagerly went forward to lead the civil officials and military generals to gather together. 

After Duke Jin Yue had been freshly promoted to take over his father’s position, he had also been eager to take advantage of such a good opportunity and had hurriedly led his troops to join the alliance, hoping to make his place in the forefront of the effort. 

Who would have thought that without even leaving his own gates sending off his troops, he would have died by his own brother’s hands. 

As his identical younger twin sister, Cheng Qianye took on the challenging task at this critical moment and dressed herself as a man, taking the place of Cheng Qianyu and Duke Jin Yue. 

She raised up the morale of the anxious soldiers and took down the rebellious Gong Zi Zhang, saving the lives of herself and the womenfolk. 

Originally, Cheng Qianye and Yang Ji had both wanted to quickly put things in order and return back to their old home before discussing the next step.

However, Xiao Jin who had been a good friend of the late Duke had advised them privately:

“My Lord is newly appointed and the position is not yet stable. Although the Princess is similar to the Lord in appearance, the bearing, speech and actions are inevitably different. If you were to return to the capital at this time, with so many familiar people, this one is afraid that they might find a clue and this matter cannot be kept secret.”

“Secondly, if My Lord goes back on his word and turns his back now, on the way to the throne, the trust of the other dukes will be lost and My Lord will be ridiculed by people everywhere. The rival warlords will cast their greedy gazes on us and we will be seen as easily bullied.”

“Instead of scurrying back to the capital, continue proceeding to the alliance pledge.” [efn_note]Here they say ‘会盟’ ; huimeng, which means a meeting conducted by rulers in Feudal China in order to finalize alliances and treaties.[/efn_note]

After listening to Xiao Jin’s advice, Cheng Qianye was left with no other alternative but to send Yang Ji and her pregnant sister in law back to the capital as she herself was left like a duck rushing into battle. She confusedly sat in the position of Lord as she led her troops to join the crusade against the Quanrong. 

At present, Cheng Qianye sat on a high platform with numerous other dukes, seeing the true bloody ancient battlefield. 

Cheng Qianye had seen many scenes of war and bloodshed on TV before. They were magnificent scenes, full of gunfire and great momentum. 

However, at this moment, actually standing here and facing the wind and sand with the smell of blood, she realized that the true battlefield could not be conveyed by any film and television works. 

The lives of innumerable soldiers and slaves were akin to that of ants, piled up at the front of the battleline. 

She watched on helplessly as a young soldier stumbled mid-charge. The horse’s hoof of his rear companion was unable to stop and trampled on his stomach. 

That still alive body raised its hand painfully and screamed. 

However, the great pain of a humble individual was invisible in such a great war. 

One after another, the horses of their own soldiers galloped mercilessly across his body. That arm that was held high was soon submerged in the dust. 

A warrior who charged to the city wall had just raised his weapon when a huge rolling stone pounded him into the ground. In a second, the earth was smeared with a red and white mixture of blood and brains as the body under the huge stone twitched desperately. 

__________

Cheng Qianye turned her head and vomited. 

One of her aides gently patted her on the back and asked in a warm and comforting voice, “My Lord, are you okay?” 

This man’s surname was Zhang and his given name was Fu. 

Although he was young in age, he was in fact her father’s number one aide in promoting him to the position of Marquis Jin Wei. 

His face was like a full moon, his eyes like specks of lacquer, and he was looking at Cheng Qianye with deep concern. 

However, Cheng Qianye knew that at this moment, his heart was filled with disdain for herself.

In her eyes, Zhang Fu’s whole body emitted a brilliant and beautiful purple lustre, but in the midst of this splendid light, there was a dense ashen colour. 

This ashen colour represented intense disappointment and disdain. 

Cheng Qianye looked at Zhang Fu’s pleasantly warm face that was right before her eyes. She really couldn’t make out a single bit of the strong discontent towards herself in his innermost being. 

That’s right. After crossing over, a system interface had appeared in her mind. 

As long as she focused, she could see a silent screen in front of her. From this screen, she could see various kinds of glowing colours from everyone’s bodies. 

Everyone possessed a distinct colour. Some people had muddy colours, and some clear. The majority of people had very dim colours, and just a handful of people had exceptionally dazzling and bright lights. 

For example, the person in front of her. Zhang Fu had a beautiful purple colour, like an amethyst. But this purple colour was often tinted with an ashy colour in front of her. 

His face maintained a refined and gentle appearance practically all the time. If not for the system interface, Cheng Qianye supposed she would never have become aware of the harsh evaluation in his heart. 

And Xiao Jin who was the only person who knew Cheng Qianye’s actual identity, possessed a warm, earthly red lustre. And whenever he looked at Cheng Qianye, the bright red was edged with a thin, golden light, which represented loyalty. He had transferred his loyalty for Gong Ziyu to Cheng Qianye. 

He Lanzhen, a military general attending to him, had a lively cobalt green colour. And Yu Dunsu, another young general who was newly promoted by Cheng Qianye, possessed a bright orange colour. 

At the moment, both generals were staring at the battlefield and the brilliant rays of light from their bodies were rising, smeared with crimson. It was clear they were both wishing to fight. 

Cheng Qianye had transmigrated here and got thrown into confusion, not understanding anything. 

Since it was such a system, she could only gather those with lustrous colours by her side, though she still didn’t quite understand the meanings behind these colours. 

But she had discovered that those with pure, bright colours were very few in number, and could be regarded as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. [efn_note]fairly straightforward idiom used to describe smth rare and precious.[/efn_note]

At the moment for instance, in addition to the aforementioned four people on the platform with her, Cheng Qianye could only see a general standing behind Li Wenguang, Feng Suyan whose body was blazing with a crimson red lustre and another general next to the Marquis of the Northern Palace, Gongsun Nian, whose body was gleaming with a brilliant peacock blue. 

The light around these two people was bordered with a staunch edge of gold, showing their absolute loyalty towards their Lords.

Most people, no matter how majestic or dignified their outer appearance, possessed a dim or muddy light on their bodies. 

Weibei Marquis, Hua Yuzhi who was sitting beside her had a red sandalwood complexion, with a square face and sword shaped eyebrows, appearing very majestic and dignified. 

But Cheng Qianye could see clearly that the colour on his body was especially filthy. As soon as he drew close to speak to her, that muddy colour made her feel so nauseous, she hastily shut down the system.

“Duke Jin Yue is young and this is your first time out on the battlefield. Finding it somewhat hard to adapt, right?” Hua Yuzhi smiled genially as he asked.

“It’s no problem, no problem.” Cheng Qianye responded. 

“I have heard that Gong Ziyu is the most romantic and refined scholar in this dynasty, with only the most elegant youths around you. This old man has also collected a few charming flowers to dote on. After we have seized Bianzhou, I invite the gentlemen to hold a gathering together. Let’s play and amuse ourselves, relax together. Haha.”

“………”

Cheng Qianye gazed into the battlefield in the distance with countless corpses and streams of blood. 

She really couldn’t understand what sort of person it was that had the ability to look at such a scene and still be able to step back and think with the lower half of their body. 

The siege war had finally reached its climax. The allied forces were continuously climbing the city walls and getting shot down by the enemy soldiers like a shower of rain. 

The corpses at the bottom of the city wall— nay, the remains of the corpses by the city wall continued to pile up unceasingly, the dark red blood seeping into the soil. 

The solemn and stirring battle drums invigorated the hot blood within one’s heart. Even Cheng Qianye, an alien guest from another world, couldn’t help but clench her fists. 

Hurry up, charge ahead, break through the city walls and finally end this. 

She caught sight of a soldier in black armour who nimbly dodged the rolling stones and darting arrows, rapidly climbing to the top of the city walls. 

Come on! Cheng Qianye couldn’t help cheering for him, hoping he wouldn’t lose control of his limbs and fall down. 

Finally, that soldier managed to climb the city wall. 

At the same time, an enemy soldier’s spear pierced through his shoulder. 

However, he was dauntless and moved forward to meet with the enemy, raising his sword and cutting down his opponent. 

Immediately after, he pulled out the spear from his shoulder and thrust it into the body of another foe. 

He had opened a gap and the soldiers behind him followed close and climbed the city wall. 

After a long and grueling stalemate, the situation on the battlefield finally tilted in the favour of their allied forces. 

There were cheers on the stage. 

“Good, good, good work!” Weibei Marquis Hua Yuzhi laughed heartily, and asked the aide at his side, “This one seems to be from our unit, do you know who it is?” 

His aide responded, “Your lowly servant has seen him, this slave seems to be called Mo Qiao Sheng and he was bought personally by My Lord. He was promoted faster due to his bravery in combat. My Lord is wise and recognizes talent!” 

“Haha, good. I will reward him personally after we conquer Bianzhou.” 

The siege which had lasted for several days finally ended with the victory of the allied forces.

In the case of common officers and soldiers, they could look forward to promotions and rewards with elation. 

However, in the case of slaves, having their lives intact was precisely the best reward. 

Perhaps owing to the good mood of their masters, their dinner for the day had 2-3 bits of meat and many more chunks of flatbread than usual, which could be counted as an unexpected joyful event. 

Mo Qiao Sheng covered his wound as he walked step by step towards the barracks. Both sides of the muddy road were noisy and chaotic.