Chapter 958: Great Halberd Across the River

For common people, building a house is a top priority, and raising the main beam, symbolizing the completion of a new home, is the most significant event. Similarly, for a nation's prefectures or border strongholds, or for the completion of a city or military garrison, the act of hanging the plaque carries the same profound significance as raising a house's main beam for ordinary families.

Today was the day to hang the plaque on the new city outside Liangzhou Pass. There was no deliberate selection of an auspicious date; instead, a unanimous decision was made that the plaque would be hung the very day the last main city wall was completed, without delay! It wasn't that the high-ranking officials overseeing the city's construction were indifferent; rather, the situation was so urgent that there was no time for mere formalities. Otherwise, how could the civil officials led by Li Gongde, the Imperial Commissioner of Beiliang, after spending nearly a year in this desolate place, almost daily enduring dust and wind alongside soldiers and laborers, and pouring so much effort into the project, not wish to choose an auspicious day to hang that plaque? Their deep emotional attachment to the city was perhaps no less than a father's for his daughter's wedding.

The construction of this city might be considered unprecedented and unmatched. Not only did its scale surpass Hutou City, the primary border city in the Northwest, but it also took less time. Aside from the ten thousand Great Snow Dragon Riders and the two heavy cavalry units, the "Wei Bear" and "Zhi Tiger" armies, totaling over nine thousand riders, nearly all of Liangzhou's border garrisons rotated through the construction. Additionally, all military and artisan households' able-bodied men from the three internal prefectures of Liang, Ling, and You were conscripted, and a continuous stream of Beiliang civilians voluntarily traveled to the area outside Liangzhou Pass, maintaining the construction force at roughly over one hundred thousand people. Historically, the construction of grand cities and garrisons, even when termed "with the might of the entire nation," often emphasized conserving civilian labor and not disrupting agricultural seasons, usually involving short, intense bursts of "thirty days of work, quickly build the outer walls," followed by intermittent construction over several years until completion. However, Beiliang's current massive undertaking, which nearly depleted the Xu family's coffers at Qingliang Mountain, was an all-out, do-or-die effort. The yellow earth used for ramming the main walls alone completely excavated the two small hills, Dragon Head and Tiger Tail, south of the city!

At the break of dawn, Li Gongde and Song Changsui, the Mo family's Grand Master who lived next door and served as Deputy Superintendent of Construction, met early. After ascending the city wall, they strolled along the wide rampart walk. The Imperial Commissioner, who had unknowingly lost twenty catties, instinctively stomped his foot. The old man, whose temples were streaked with white, then smiled proudly, "With me, 'Iron Rooster' Li Gongde, keeping a watchful eye day and night, who would dare to cut corners?" Moreover, no one would dare to slack off. This wasn't just about money; a fundamental truth lay before everyone: "As long as this city stands, Liangzhou stands; if this city falls, everything inside the Pass falls!" The leader of Beiliang's civil officials, who had enjoyed a lifetime of ease and success in officialdom, looked much thinner but seemed far more robust. If officials from Lingzhou's bureaucracy were to see Lord Li here, they would be greatly surprised, perhaps even failing to recognize him. The cunning and worldliness that Li Gongde had accumulated over half a lifetime in government service had completely faded, replaced by an intangible aura of heroism that only those from military noble families typically possessed. The old man, after all, was a scholar. Reaching out, he touched the low inner parapet wall and chuckled, "Back in Qingliang Mountain, in that council hall where there were more military men than scholars, I always struggled to understand what the Grand General and those rough fellows were talking about—things like 'rampart walks' and 'parapet walls.' It was only when I came here that I truly understood. Take this parapet wall, for example; I'd already encountered it in books, and many frontier poems speak of it, calling it 'bì nì.' But 'parapet wall' ('nǚ'ér qiáng') just sounds nicer and more pleasant. Every time I walk along this wall, I think of my troublesome daughter Fuzhen back home. Before, it was Hanlin who gave us parents so much frustration, but fortunes turn! Now, I realize the Grand General had foresight when he said that for parents in this world, raising children often means sons become easier to raise later on, while daughters become more troublesome."

Song Changsui said gravely, "Old Li, you know I'm not one to often praise people, but your Hanlin, he's truly excellent. The battle at Longyan'er Plain was brilliantly fought! Dong Zhuo's elite scouts, including the 'Crow's Nest' unit, were completely annihilated. That battle was truly gratifying!"

Li Gongde, whose lips were chapped, stroked his beard and smiled, "Exactly! For something like this, it feels better when an outsider praises it; no matter how much I, as his father, say, it never quite sounds right. To be honest, Old Song, you're really good at keeping things to yourself. I've been waiting for you to say those words for quite a while! I was practically holding my breath until I developed internal injuries."

Song Changsui replied helplessly, "Before this, I was so swamped that I barely had the energy for small talk with you."

Li Gongde sighed, "That's true. I've always prided myself on my experience in officialdom, constantly contemplating and analyzing others. While I wouldn't say I did absolutely nothing, to be so personally involved in every detail, as I have been, is unimaginable. It feels as if, in just one year, I've paid back all the practical duties I'd owed in my entire career as an official."

Song Changsui smiled knowingly.

Li Gongde suddenly slapped the battlement heavily and declared loudly, "If such a magnificent city wall still cannot be defended, don't just talk about being killed by the Northern Barbarians; I'll scold them half to death!"

Song Changsui paused, then looked around. Inside and outside the city, the familiar construction scene unfolded, with shouts rising and falling. Although the massive city beneath them was ready for its plaque, a significant amount of work still needed to be done. The Mo family's Grand Master quietly chuckled and asked, "Would you really have the heart to scold them?"

The previously furious Li Gongde immediately lost all his bluster, only whispering, "So many sons of Beiliang's border army... I, Li Gongde, would rather scold my own son than scold them."

The new Governor of Liangzhou, Bai Yu, could go to Wudang Mountain to meet friends and enjoy some leisure, but a certain individual, serving as the Beiliang Transport Commissioner and Deputy Military Governor, had no such luxury. He traveled without stopping, from Qingcang City in Liuzhou, then through Qingyuan Military Town, the major western gateway of Liangzhou, until he could lift the carriage curtain and glimpse the outline of the grand city outside the pass. It seemed that Xu Beizhi had been constantly busy since the moment he left Qingliang Mountain for Lingzhou. He served as the "rice-buying governor," overseeing the construction of numerous granaries throughout his jurisdiction, and as a transport commissioner, strategically managing grain transport. Along the way, he had a private meeting with Han Lin in Lianghuai Dao, and recently traveled to Mount Lan Tuo in the Western Regions to bring twenty thousand monastic soldiers to the Qingcang City defenses in Liuzhou. After attending this plaque-hanging ceremony, he would immediately depart for Lingzhou to personally oversee the arrival of grain supplies into Liangzhou before he could rest easy.

For years, he had no fixed residence, seemingly always on horseback or in a carriage, always jostling.

Outside this carriage, there were no elite Beiliang border cavalry escorting him. Given Xu Beizhi's extremely high rank and his critical importance to the upcoming Liang-Mang war, even assigning him a thousand Beiliang iron cavalry as escorts would not have been excessive.

But precisely because of this, the young strategist's status within the Xu family at Qingliang Mountain, and in the young Prince's estimation, appeared even more unparalleled.

Because only eighty people escorted the carriage.

All eighty riders carried swords on their backs.

The eighty people of the Wu Family Sword Tomb!

The current Sword Master Wu Liuding, Cuihua (the sword attendant bearing the ancient sword Su Wang), Zhu Huang (the notorious fiend even within the Sword Tomb), Helian Jianchi (whose profound understanding of swordsmanship was unmatched in his generation), Zhang Luantai, Gongsun Xiushui, Nalan Huaiyu...

If this wasn't considered an extravagant display, then probably no escort in the world could be called elite.

Though utterly exhausted, the weary-faced Xu Beizhi still couldn't sleep. Several times, he closed his eyes for a long while only to open them again. He simply sat cross-legged, pulled out the old notebook by Li Yishan from his robes, and gently leafed through it.

He had heard Xu Fengnian mention that the large golden plaque at Tingchao Pavilion was personally inscribed by the old Emperor of Liyang. The four large characters for "Beiliang Prince's Residence" above the main gate of Qingliang Mountain were in the handwriting of Princess Wu Su. Later, when the first city outside Beiliang Pass needed a plaque upon its completion, Xu Xiao, being a rough man, initially wanted to avoid embarrassing himself and asked Li Yishan to write it. But Li Yishan refused, so the Butcher had no choice but to go to Wutong Courtyard to seek writing advice from the Young Prince. In the end, countless baskets of discarded Xuan paper piled up before he finally managed to painstakingly write the three characters "Hutou City," once joking that he, Xu Xiao, had already written out the words for his next life. Later, for plaques such as the one for the Liuzhou Governor's Residence within Qingcang City, the young Prince selected characters from his teacher Li Yishan's leftover notes, for Li Yishan's contributions to Beiliang were self-evident, and his significance to Liuzhou was even more profound. This was before the treasured antiques from Tingchao Pavilion and Wutong Courtyard were gradually dispersed across the Central Plains.

Xu Beizhi and Xu Fengnian once had a conversation that sounded very relaxed and leisurely.

"Aren't you upset?"

"Who am I, Xu Fengnian? The eldest legitimate son of Xu Xiao! What fine things in this world haven't I seen? When have I ever been petty? Back then, I'd throw around gold without a blink for those wandering knights, poor scholars who could write beautiful essays and poems, or fortune tellers at their stalls!"

"Oh? Then why were your eyes blinking so fast they could almost whip up a gale when I casually picked up that 'Child Climbing into an Urn' painting just now, and when I tossed that 'Mountain Journey' fish-brain-jelly inkstone into the box?"

"I was just reminding you to be gentle. If they get bumped around and damaged, they won't sell well."

"Condition? At such paltry prices, just dozens or hundreds of piculs of grain and fodder, isn't talking about 'condition' a bit pretentious?"

"Even a few piculs of grain difference for each item, accumulated over time, adds up to a lot."

"You're really not upset?"

"Not at all. Orange, you've asked that at least seven or eight times."

"Oh, I don't know why, but every time I ask you, I feel quite secretly pleased, much more comfortable than drinking that Green Ant wine."

"Orange, you go about your business. I'm off to drink Green Ant wine."

"One last question..."

"I'm really not upset!"

"Not that. I just wanted to ask, if all your possessions are ruined by me like this, what about the betrothal gifts for your future wife?"

"The usual! We'll figure it out!"

Xu Beizhi put away the notebook, gathered his thoughts, lifted the carriage curtain, and gazed at the majestic new city in the Northwest.

In times of chaos, external possessions were the most worthless; when even human lives were valueless, what else could hold worth?

The Hongjia Northern Exodus, which displaced countless scholars, had long proven this: "Swallows from nobles' halls of old now fly into commoners' homes." Countless priceless antiques, calligraphy, and paintings were first picked up from muddy ground, rural outhouses, under vendors' tables, and from piles of rubble in small courtyards, only to regain their value when a peaceful era, free from the smoke of war, eventually arrived.

Xu Beizhi wouldn't have sold them so cheaply normally, but after the Spring Snow Tower incident, the Central Plains already showed signs of a chaotic era. Only about twenty years had passed since the Hongjia Northern Exodus, so the older generation of scholars largely remembered it vividly. This group of people wouldn't be collecting items at such a time; even if they were cheaper, would they be more practical than goods given away for free after a major war, which people might even find too cumbersome? Therefore, only wealthy scholarly families truly obsessed with literati curiosities and possessing collecting habits would come upon hearing the news at this juncture. Their making the arduous journey to Beiliang was one thing. Whether they could acquire desired items through influence or connections was another. Whether the top-tier noble families and high officials in Tai'an City, who had enjoyed twenty years of comfort thanks to the grain transport system, were willing to offer face and provide backdoors was a third matter. Whether these well-connected grain transport officials were willing to release grain from their respective canals for money or favors, and then, after assessing the strength of their own family's connections, were brave enough to challenge Wen Taiyi, the Deputy Imperial Commissioner of Jing'an Dao, and Ma Zhongxian, the Deputy Military Governor, without fear of these two rising border officials holding a grudge against them, was a fourth matter!

But the truly critical matter was not the cheap sale of artifacts, nor even the arrival of grain in Liangzhou, but rather that Beiliang could use this opportunity to infiltrate the Yu Long Gang and the Fu Shui Chamber, two overt and covert forces, all the way along Guangling Dao to Xiangfan City in Qingzhou!

If Jutong City were to fall, Liangzhou and Liuzhou would inevitably be annihilated. In such a scenario, Beiliang's remaining border troops would not be completely at a loss. Even if Chen Zhibao had already made preparations in Western Shu to deal with the Xu family, Beiliang's cavalry could still find a path to penetrate deep into the Central Plains!

Given this, how could Xu Beizhi not "squander the family fortune"?

However, when Xu Beizhi directly proposed this idea, the young Prince agreed without hesitation, rendering all the carefully prepared arguments he had in mind meaningless.

And deep within Xu Beizhi's heart lay a hidden thought that he would not voice.

That was: as long as Beiliang won the second Liang-Mang War...

...then in the Central Plains' struggle for supremacy, how could Beiliang not claim its share?

Xu Beizhi sighed. Just as he was about to lower the curtain, a rider who was already near the carriage urged her horse a little closer and asked with a smile, "Is Deputy Military Governor in such a hurry to enter the city?"

The questioner was Nalan Huaiyu, a spirited yet thoughtful female swordswoman from the Sword Tomb. After all, she had twice topped the Rouge Ranking. Although no longer young, her charm remained undiminished, and her heroic bearing while riding with a sword on her back was indeed a magnificent sight.

Xu Beizhi smiled and asked, "Nalan Huaiyu, if I sold your sword for three or four taels of silver, would you be upset?"

Nalan Huaiyu was bewildered, then smiled sweetly, "Whether I'd be upset is besides the point, but I'd definitely beat you until your own parents wouldn't recognize you!"

Xu Beizhi chuckled, "You still haven't answered my question."

Nalan Huaiyu laughed heartily, "Not upset! It's not like I don't know your relationship with the Prince. If you dare to sell my things like that, I'll dare to go to Tingchao Pavilion and take something better! This sword of mine is only a hundred years old, its material is common, it's not worth a hundred taels of silver. What the hell would I be upset about?!"

Xu Beizhi smiled, then inexplicably sighed, "I'm quite upset about it."

Nalan Huaiyu, always frank and uninhibited, couldn't help but tease, "Lord Xu, has the carriage ride addled your brain?"

Xu Beizhi's smile suddenly turned playful, "Nalan Huaiyu, would you like to know what a certain someone thinks of you?"

Nalan Huaiyu narrowed her eyes, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Of course, as one of the top figures of the Wu Family Sword Tomb, she was even fiercer than a tigress.

Xu Beizhi lowered his voice and said, "It looks like you want to hear it. That person said that Nalan Huaiyu must live a very tiring life."

Nalan Huaiyu frowned deeply, saying nothing.

Xu Beizhi glanced at her, then quickly lowered the curtain.

Nalan Huaiyu followed his previous gaze and subtly lowered her head.

It seemed to be her own chest.

Nalan Huaiyu suddenly understood, and instead of getting angry, she laughed loudly and cursed towards the carriage, "You have no wicked intentions, and he has no wicked courage! Neither of you are any good!"

Inside the carriage, Xu Beizhi smiled knowingly and slowly closed his eyes.

In truth, Xu Fengnian had never made that provocative remark, of course.

But Xu Beizhi felt that fellow was the kind of person who would say such a thing, so he just said it on his behalf.

However, Nalan Huaiyu's comment about "no wicked courage" was quite amusing.

Xu Beizhi found this thought quite interesting.

Xu Beizhi, resting with his eyes closed, murmured to himself, "So many people have already died at Miyun Pass in the Western Regions, and people have started dying at Qingcang City in Liuzhou. Next, it will be the area outside Liangzhou Pass. So, I hope that one day, Nalan Huaiyu, you can personally tell him what's in your heart. So you must live... and you must live."

Between the last two sentences, Xu Beizhi paused for a long time.

The White Horse Market outside the new city, though called a market, was in fact no different from a slightly larger town in Lingzhou.

And this bustling, noisy market was certainly the most diverse and mixed place in the world at that time. There were Beiliang border troops, armored and sword-wielding, patrolling inside and out; martial artists who had traveled north after participating in the Western Regions' demon-extermination campaign; various merchants from Lingzhou doing business; Central Plains scholars, oblivious to danger, coming to experience frontier scenery; people of all backgrounds from the three prefectures within Beiliang Pass who came to participate in the city's construction; Taoist priests and Buddhist monks who told fortunes, interpreted divinations, and even helped write family letters; hot-blooded scions of military families and commoners who ran away from home to join the army but were rejected; and idle ruffians who came here simply to stir up trouble... Occasionally, one could even spot high-ranking Beiliang civil officials, in small groups, stopping here for a break, drinking Green Ant wine with a dish of peanuts and a bowl of braised beef, enjoying a quick respite from their busy schedules. Scholars from various academies, led by venerable elder Confucian masters, came in waves to study and travel. It was said that not long ago, even the renowned Master Yu from Shangyin Academy, famous throughout the Central Plains, came to visit with her well-read disciples. Furthermore, there was an unclear, unspoken connection between that Master Yu, whose family had a profound academic legacy, and their Prince...

Everyone, whether busy or at leisure, knew one thing perfectly well: the moment the young Prince's figure appeared in this new city, the second Liang-Mang war had truly begun.

For a thousand years, the cavalry, the most numerous military force in the world, whether from the Central Plains or the grasslands, would now charge south until they clashed with the strongest iron cavalry!

Today was the day the plaque for Jutong City was hung!

The scorching sun blazed overhead.

People from White Horse Market increasingly gathered, instinctively moving north along the east and west city walls.

Then, the laborers and civilians who had participated in the construction were allowed to stop work, exiting the city through the east and west gates to join the two vast, dense formations.

Jutong City, Jutong City.

Its main gate naturally faced north!

Where Beiliang border army's sabers pointed, where the Xu family's iron cavalry's spears pointed.

They had been pointing north for twenty years!

How the Central Plains people perceived it, how the Liyang court calculated...

Beiliang's iron cavalry, unrivaled under heaven, disdained to pay attention.

Numerous civil and military officials, led by Beiliang Protector Chu Lushan and Beiliang Imperial Commissioner Li Gongde respectively, had already gathered below Jutong City's main gate. Ladders were set up, awaiting the moment to raise the plaque, draped with the Xu family's princely banner, high up to finally hang on the city wall.

Ten thousand Great Snow Dragon Riders surged across the land like white snow.

Led by Yuan Zuozong, who rode at the forefront, they were the first to halt their horses on the vast open ground north of Jutong City.

Closely following were the two heavy cavalry units, the Zhi Tiger Army and the Wei Bear Army, halting to the left and right flanks of the Great Snow Dragon Riders, respectively.

Finally, the Beiliang Outer Pass Left and Right Cavalry, under He Zhonghu and Zhou Kang, arrived.

After the thunder of hooves, came a brief, profound silence.

No one knew who was the first to look up.

Everyone saw, far in the distance, a brilliant white rainbow slowly slicing across the sky.

That white rainbow landed with a crash upon the city wall!

Once he appeared, Li Gongde and Chu Lushan exchanged smiles and ordered the plaque to be raised.

After the massive plaque was suspended above the city gate, the young man slowly drew the war saber from his waist.

At the same time, the cavalry below the city silently drew their Beiliang sabers.

The water runs deep and silent.

The thunder of Beiliang's iron cavalry's hooves was the most majestic battle drum sound in the world.

Xu's saber.

Jutong.

That scene.

The great halberd spanning the river.

Even a hundred or a thousand years from now, it would still be a magnificent legend.