The imperial army stayed outside Wuduo Mountain for a few more days.
During this period, Ling Rucheng personally led the soldiers to dig a grave outside the mountain.
As for the soldiers who died in the Battle of Wuduo Mountain, except for a very small number of generals who were able to be transported back to the capital to be buried by their families, most of the soldiers could only leave a small wooden plaque engraved with their hometown and name and wait for the court to provide pensions to their families. Then, they would be buried together with thousands of their comrades in this extremely simple grave in the wild mountains and share a tombstone.
On the day when the deceased were officially buried, Huayang, on behalf of his mother and younger brother in the palace, led generals such as Ling Rucheng to watch the ceremony and burn incense.
The mountain breeze was blowing, fluttering Huayang's white skirt.
Her hand holding the incense was stiffened by the wind, but she didn't feel anything. She just looked at the grave and the lonely tombstone in front of her with compassion.
The bones by the Wuding River are pitiful, yet they are still the person in the spring girl’s dream.
In the previous life, after Chen Jingzong went to war, Huayang had dreamed of him, not just once or twice.
After all, she just disliked Chen Jingzong's various uncivilized behaviors at that time, and there was no deep hatred between them. In the four years of marriage, apart from the sarcasm and ridicule, there were also laughter and joy. Even the intimacy in bed that she had resisted was not all torment. There were also moments that made her feel weak and her face hot when she thought about it.
Now that Chen Jingzong was standing beside her, she no longer had to sleep alone during those long nights. But how heartbroken and sad must the parents and wives of those men in the graves be
After burning incense, Huayang returned to the tent with red eyes and cold cheeks.
Chen Jingzong came over with a steaming towel, sat next to her and helped her wipe her face.
His face was also unusually heavy. Huayang asked, "How many people did your guards sacrifice in suppressing the rebellion this time?"
Chen Jingzong lowered his eyes: "One thousand one hundred and thirty-two people."
Huayang put his arms around his neck and pressed his face against his shoulder.
She had never seen these people before, but Chen Jingzong had been training with them for more than a year and had fought side by side with them on the battlefield.
Chen Jingzong didn't want her to be immersed in such a sad mood, so he smiled and patted her on the back: "Okay, it's all over, hurry up and pack up, the army is about to set off."
It is worth sacrificing the lives of thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers in exchange for the safety of hundreds of thousands or millions of civilians.
.
The imperial army captured Prince Yu in Nanyang Prefecture in Henan Province, which was two thousand miles away from the capital.
In fact, if Huayang and Chen Jingzong went to the Chen family's old house in Lingzhou, it would be much closer.
But no matter how far the road is, we still have to return to Beijing.
It was a hot summer when we left Beijing, but it was a bitterly cold winter when we returned. No matter how tightly the tents were pitched at night, wind could still find gaps and get in, making the charcoal fires seem useless.
It's strange to say, the quilts that Chaoyun and Chaoyue covered themselves with at night were not as warm as Huayang's. The two maids were fine, but Huayang caught a cold. He coughed while sitting in the carriage during the day and also coughed while sleeping in the tent at night.
After nightfall, Chen Jingzong sneaked over.
In order to conceal his presence, the lights in Huayang's tent were turned off early.
"I have long advised you not to join the army. Are you sick now?"
Squeezed in the same quilt, Chen Jingzong touched her forehead and said.
Fortunately, there were two imperial doctors following her. After two nights and one day of fever, her forehead finally stopped burning.
Hua Yang said weakly: "If you came here just to say this, then you can leave now."
Chen Jingzong: "I came here to serve the eldest princess in bed."
Huayang pinched the inside of his right upper arm, but it was in vain so many times. Huayang already knew that his skin and flesh were too tight, and the flesh on the inside of his upper arm was easier to pinch.
In fact, there is a lot of flesh on her thighs, but when she reaches out to that place, Chen Jingzong feels happy.
Chen Jingzong took a breath as his arm was pinched: "Warming the bed is also a form of sleeping with the emperor. What did I say wrong?"
Huayang: "No matter what you say, you've started making mistakes the moment you opened your mouth."
Chen Jingzong: "Okay, I'll cover your mouth now."
As he said this, he grabbed her waist, lifted her up, and kissed her.
Huayang immediately turned his face away, pushed him away and said, "I'm so sick, and you kissed me. Aren't you afraid of passing on your illness to you?"
Chen Jingzong pulled her back, held her warm cheek and said, "With your limited skills, you still want to make me sick? If you can make me sneeze, you win."
Maybe Huayang's illness was not serious enough. She recovered after a few days, and Chen Jingzong didn't seem to be affected at all.
But at night, Chen Jingzong would still sneak over, under the pretext of warming her bed.
Huayang was afraid of being seen, but she really liked this kind of "sleeping with" Chen Jingzong. Once she covered herself with the quilt, with him by her side, a "big heater" with just the right temperature, Huayang would not feel cold even if the cold wind outside the tent was howling with snowflakes.
The next morning, the wind stopped, but the snow was still falling, and the outside was covered in silver.
Chen Jingzong got up early and stayed in Ling Rucheng's tent for a while. After coming out, he went straight to Huayang.
Huayang was sitting on a chair wearing a cloak, and was asking Chaoyun to comb her hair.
Seeing the snowflakes on Chen Jingzong's hair and shoulders, Huayang could imagine how heavy the snow was outside.
Chen Jingzong took the feather duster from Wu Run, and while sweeping the snow off his shoulders, he looked at Huayang and said, "Marshal Ling said that the army will continue to stay here and leave after the snow stops."
Huayang nodded.
After Huayang was dressed, Chaoyue came back from the kitchen with a food box. Inside was the vegetarian dumplings she had made for the princess and her husband, as well as some vinegar sauce for dipping.
After the dishes were set, Wu Run and others left.
Chen Jingzong glanced at Huayang and whispered, "Do you still cry when you think of the late emperor recently?"
Huayang shook his head.
Chen Jingzong: "Well, do you want me to get you some meat to nourish your body?"
Huayang glared at him.
Chen Jingzong: "We were the ones who cheated on each other during the mourning period for our old lady. Why should you be so rigid in front of me? Like I said before, the old lady would never want me to eat vegetarian food and starve for those false ceremonies. The late emperor loved you so much, he would want you to eat and drink more and get back to your former plump and round appearance sooner than I do."
Huayang said nothing.
Chen Jingzong: "Are you afraid that I will laugh at you for this one day?"
Huayang neither admitted nor denied it.
Chen Jingzong raised his hand and swore to the sky: "If I dare to ridicule you for this, may God punish me by making me your eunuch in this life and the next."
Huayang smiled, picked up a dumpling and took a small bite, but still said: "Chaoyue and Eunuch Feng are both good cooks. Eating meat or vegetables doesn't make much difference to me, so why should I break the rules for this? But if you want meat, go ahead and eat it, just don't do it in front of me and don't let others see it, I will just pretend I don't know."
Chen Jingzong looked at her and said, "I can eat the meat myself, but I can't do the other thing by myself."
Even if Huayang didn't understand what he said, he understood the look in his eyes.
She glared at him and said with drooping eyelashes: "Don't worry, since I promised you, I won't go back on my word."
Chen Jingzong said seriously, "I don't really need it, but I just wanted to know if you were willing to make an exception for me."
Huayang gently stirred the dumpling soup in the bowl with a white porcelain spoon: "Is that so? Then forget what I promised you before. You respect the emperor so much, and the emperor will be pleased in heaven."
Chen Jingzong: "It's true that I respect the late emperor, but I can't let that go. Otherwise, if my old lady knows that I can honestly mourn for the late emperor, but I am unwilling to be filial to her, she will be angry. What should I do if she refuses to help me in my dreams in the future?"
Huayang picked up a plump white dumpling and handed it to him.
Chen Jingzong opened his mouth tactfully, focused on eating dumplings and stopped talking.
After eating the hot dumplings, Huayang felt warm all over and wanted to go out for a walk.
Chen Jingzong was not the kind of old man who believed that sick people had to lie in bed motionless. Moreover, it was snowing and there was no wind, which was a perfect time for the delicate princess who had just recovered from a cold to go out for some fresh air.
Since she was going out, Huayang put on a pair of thick-soled fox fur boots. Her padded cloak was also white with a hood on. If she stood alone in the snow in the distance, no one would be able to find her.
Chen Jingzong held the umbrella in one hand and raised the other hand for Huayang to hold, just as Wu Run usually did.
In the icy and snowy weather, the soldiers who had traveled a long distance did not have the interest like the princess and her husband. They all stayed in their respective tents. They would rather huddle together and smell each other's feet and sweat than come out to enjoy the snow.
Chen Jingzong took Huayang out of the military camp.
Everything around was white, even the tents in the military camp were covered with snow. Only a few soldiers on duty were scattered among them, stamping their feet from time to time.
"Where are you going?" Huayang asked worriedly after leaving the military camp for a distance.
Chen Jingzong: "There's a tree over there, do you see it?"
Huayang followed his gaze and made out an old tree in the vast expanse of white. Its bare branches were covered with snow and it was impossible to tell what kind of tree it was.
Huayang followed Chen Jingzong step by step.
When they got closer, Chen Jingzong took Huayang around the old tree, and four lines of footprints circled the old tree.
Huayang was actually reluctant to destroy the circle.
Chen Jingzong asked her: "Do you want to build a snowman?"
Huayang pushed his hand deeper into the fox fur machete: "You can pile it yourself, I'll watch."
Chen Jingzong sneered: "That year in Lingzhou, you complained that the snow in Lingzhou was too little. The snow in the north was heavy, but I didn't see you liking it."
Huayang: "I like it with my eyes."
Chen Jingzong looked at her delicate and warm fox fur dumplings, and went to collect snow. Finally, he built two three-foot-tall snowmen in the circle, holding hands.
The little snowmen are one tall and one short, and their heads are round balls, so it is impossible to tell whether they are male or female.
Huayang deliberately asked: "Is this when you were a child, your father holding your hand?"
Chen Jingzong: …
He almost pushed the big snowman!
It was definitely not allowed to push, so Chen Jingzong found a thin branch in the snow and wrote "husband" and "wife" on the round bellies of the two snowmen.
Huayang said disdainfully: "I'm not that ugly."
Chen Jingzong squatted in front of the snowman, and raised the corners of his lips: "What nonsense are you talking about? These are your father-in-law and mother-in-law."
Huayang: …
She didn't care whether the snow was icy or not. She held the fox fur bag in one hand and grabbed a handful of snow from the ground with the other hand and threw it at Chen Jingzong's shameless face!
(End of this chapter)