Chapter 450
Xie Xuanchen didn’t know what he said to the person in charge of Qinghe Town that day. Instead, the next day, the town prepared for sacrifices and collected firecrackers and other items from every household.
Mu Mingtang didn’t know what Xie Xuanchen wanted to do. Qinghe Town looked really festive. They even lit a bonfire at night, set off cannons and made a lot of noise. These noises could be heard from far away. Because the army was approaching, everything was dark at night. Lighting bonfires here made things extremely conspicuous to outsiders.
On the other side of the river, the guards followed Ye Luji and looked across the way in confusion, “The war is about to begin. Instead of preparing for resistance, the Han people are actually lighting fires to celebrate? What are they doing?”
Ye Luji put down his telescope and asked, “Are there any Han Chinese festivals recently?”
The Beirong army advanced to the river and naturally, many Han people who understood both languages were captured along the way to lead them. His subordinates went to question the Han spies and came back and said, “King Dongdan, those Han people said that this was a river sacrifice to pray to the River God to not be angry and bless the rivers for the year.”
After hearing this, Ye Luji clearly showed a look of incomprehension, “We have fought to this place and they still have the intention to sacrifice to the river? They might as well pray to me rather than the River God. This year, the Yellow River will become the territory of my army, so what can a mere River God do?”
The Khitan people present laughed loudly after hearing this, “What King Dongdan said is true. This place is only ten miles away from the Ye Dynasty land. The Han people can’t even protect their Emperor, so what’s the use of praying to the River God?”
Ye Luji laughed loudly. He looked at the frozen river in front of him and his heart was agitated. He quickly pulled out his blade and pointed it to the other side, “I heard that the Ye Dynasty sent their most capable warrior, King Qiyang, to fight. Now, it seems that he is just a timid person who prays to Gods and worships Buddha. Pass the order to cross the river tomorrow— I want everyone in the world to take a good look at us. Even if there is a real God, he won’t be able to stop me!”
The River Festival in Qinghe Town was bustling for two days. On the 3rd day, Mu Mingtang was suddenly awakened from her sleep. The sound of horns were heard from a distance, signalling that the Beirong people had crossed the river.
Mu Mingtang suddenly lost all her remaining will to sleep as at this time, panicked cries and shouts could be heard from outside. The servants all crowded over with faces pale with fear. Their hands and feet were cold as they reported, “Princess, the Beirong people have crossed the river. There are 100,000 of them and the Prince only brought 8,000; what should we do?”
Such a scene happened when Mu Mingtang was 12 years old. At that time, she was so frightened that she couldn’t stop crying. Though there were more foreign enemies and the distance was closer at this moment, Mu Mingtang realised that she was not afraid at all.
Maybe it was because she knew Xie Xuanchen was there from the beginning this time.