Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

When the waning moon climbed up the battlements of Jinyang for the third time, the bluestone slabs of Zhuque Street had just been wiped clean for the third time by the people with vinegar, and there were still ochre water marks in the cracks that could not be washed off.

Princess Jincheng's gilded chariot rolled over the charred dragon flag of the Jin State, while the silver-gilt incense balls from the Tang Palace hanging on the shafts swayed in the smoke-filled air.

The door panels of shops along the street were broken into jagged pieces, and the Chu army was driving the pale-faced civilians to pile broken armor on the ox carts - those blood-stained breastplates looked like mourning faces in the moonlight.

"Princess Jincheng, please look, this is the new hunting ground acquired by our crown prince."

Chen An used his scabbard to pick up the half-burned "Painting of All Nations", and in the painting, at the remaining Jinyang city tower, a dozen civilians were being hung on the parapet with hemp ropes by the Chu army to wipe off the bloodstains.

Princess Jincheng dug her fingertips into the brocade cushion of the carriage and watched the old woman curled up in the street corner, stuffing the last half of a Hu pancake into her crying grandson. The blue bricks where the child was standing barefoot still had honeycomb-like indentations from the rain of arrows the day before.

Chu Ning received the delegation in the meeting hall converted from the Taimiao.

Eighteen newly-pasted plain gauze lanterns illuminated the "Chu" military flag, making it appear white; the bronze bird-scare bells that had just been hung under the eaves rang from time to time.

The people were ordered to clean the imperial road all night long, and the rustling sound of bamboo brooms scraping the ground startled the birds sleeping on the beams.

When Princess Jincheng stepped over the threshold in her tattered floor-length phoenix skirt, two young eunuchs were kneeling and scrubbing the floor tiles with loofahs. There were freshly branded Chu army prisoner marks on the back of their necks, and the blood in the copper basin was dotted with tiny oil spots.

"This kind of beauty is three times better than the portrait."

Chu Ning shook off the wolf-hair brush stained with cinnabar, and the gilded armor brushed across the princess's hair adorned with oriental pearls.

The Jin State Astronomical Observatory official kneeling at his feet suddenly trembled - the man was using silver powder to cover up the positions of the Purple Palace stars that had been slaughtered by the Chu army the day before on the redrawn star map.

Chen An stepped forward and bowed, "Your Highness, this is the Princess Jincheng of the Tang Dynasty!"

Chu Ning nodded slightly, walked up to Princess Jincheng, and waved his hand to signal everyone to retreat outside the hall.

Only Chu Ning and Princess Jincheng were left in the palace.

Chu Ning suddenly grabbed the Nine-Phoenix Pearl Bracelet on Princess Jincheng's wrist. The coolness of the mutton-fat jade bracelet made him laugh softly:

"I heard that Tang palace girls were only betrothed when they reached the age of 15. Why aren't you betrothed when you are so pretty?"

Princess Jincheng snorted coldly: "This is my business, it has nothing to do with you!"

"I was ordered to come here to marry you. Why did you bring me here?"

The princess, who was high above everyone else, still had no idea of her current situation.

Chu Ning couldn't help but chuckled: "Since it's a marriage of peace, naturally everything will be up to me!"

"You know, there were seven princesses kneeling here three days ago, but unfortunately, they are all gone now."

"If you are sensible and listen to my arrangements, I will not treat you unfairly."

"If not, those seven people will be your fate!"

"Now, write a letter to Li Shiming and ask him to order the Tang army on the front line not to cross the border!"

Chu Ning crushed the edge of the lacquer box with the tip of his boot and stuffed the wolf hair brush dipped in silver vermilion into the princess' palm.

Suddenly, there was the sound of whips breaking the air outside the hall. It turned out that the people in charge of sweeping the floor accidentally knocked over a copper kettle. The boiling water on the freshly cleaned stone steps created white mist, just like the lingering bloody smell from the execution ground the day before.

Princess Jincheng suddenly grabbed the paper cutter on the table, but the emerald-inlaid handle had already been grasped by Chu Ning.

The shawl was torn apart during the struggle, revealing the white gauze Zen robe underneath.

"Despicable!" Princess Jincheng screamed and pulled her clothes together.

But Chu Ning sneered, took a step forward, grabbed her delicate chin, and said coldly:

"Now, your life is in my hands. If you resist, the consequences will not be something you can bear!"

"Bring them in!"

When Chen An brought in two maids from the Tang Palace, Princess Jincheng finally fell down on the wolfskin mattress.

She wrote the first word "father" with her trembling pen tip, and the ink stains from her tears overlapped with the bloodstains in the gaps between the floor tiles.

Chu Ning played with the Pisces jade pendant he had pulled from her waist, staring at her writing the letter with a calm expression.

When the midnight drum sounded, the blood-stained silk book had been sealed with wax.

Princess Jincheng stared at Chu Ning and said, "Are you satisfied now? Let them go!"

"Not urgent!"

Chu Ning picked up the letter with a smile, took a careful look at it, and found no clues. Then he waved his hand to signal Chen An to release the person.

"You two must serve Princess Jincheng well!"

Chu Ning put away the letter and said loudly: "Come here, take Princess Jincheng down to rest!"

"Jia Yu, send someone to deliver this letter to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty immediately!"

"Yes!" Jia Yu, who was waiting outside the hall, came in immediately, took the letter with both hands, and went downstairs to make arrangements.

Chu Ning looked up at the dark outside of the hall, a cold look appearing on his face.

"According to the time, Zhao Yu should have reached the border. I wonder what the situation is like over there!"

While Chu Ning was deep in thought, Zhao Yu had indeed led the White Horse Cavalry and traveled day and night to the border between the Tang Dynasty and the Jin State!

At three quarters past midnight outside Taoshui Pass, the moonlight turned the silver saddles of the white horse cavalry into a sparkling cold pool.

Zhao Yu reined in the neighing Zhao Yebai, and when his whip swept across the Tang army camp, the war horses stopped in unison.

"General, there are whistling arrows fired by Tang scouts on the eastern hillside!"

The night dew condensed on the deputy general's scabbard. Before he finished speaking, three whistling arrows had already torn through the northwest wind.

Zhao Yu squinted his eyes and looked at the reflection of the armor moving around the gate of Tang Camp. It was the fangs of twelve knife-carrying chariots blocking the gate, baring their fangs in the moonlight, and the bronze bells hanging on the shafts swayed gently in the night breeze.

At the moment when the ten thousand white horses fell silent, three red lanterns suddenly lit up in the Tang army's watchtower.

Pei Xingjian's black iron helmet emerged from behind the battlements. When he swept the telescope in his hand across the front of the Chu army, he happened to see Zhao Yu taking off his armor - the silver silk soft armor was casually thrown to his personal guards, and the sound of the armor pieces colliding startled the flocks of ghost owls in the reed marshes.

"Bring me my Cloud Piercing Bow."

Zhao Yu's iron fingers gripped the five-stone bow, and the carved feather arrowhead spun into a half-moon in his palm.

At the moment the bowstring sounded, the arrow deliberately deviated three inches and nailed the leopard tail tassel of the Tang camp's gate flag to the "Pei" general's flag.

The night wind rustled the white feathers of the arrows, and the Shenjiying of the Tang army, who were loading the catapults, shuddered together.

Pei Xingjian's knuckles left blue marks on the bricks of the city wall.

What frightened him even more was the chariot spears set up by the Chu army - the spear heads made of fine steel could actually reflect cloud patterns and were three points thinner than the standard iron spear tips of the Tang army.

While he was lost in thought, the Chu cavalry had already begun to set up camp.

When the thin mist at the beginning of the year filled the gap between the two armies, Zhao Yu had already set up seven cowhide tents.

Pei Xingjian's flag was faintly visible in the morning mist. At this moment, he was using his whisk to brush across the Chu army's defenses on the sand table.

Where the sand was rolling down, the leopard tail tassel that Zhao Yu had shot down last night suddenly moved without wind.

Suddenly, the neighing of war horses was heard outside the tent. It turned out that seventeen Kongming lanterns were lit in the Chu army camp, and the sheepskin lampshades were all painted with bared tiger heads in cinnabar.

When the first ray of light pierced through the clouds, the smoke from the two armies had already formed gray dragons over the Tao River.

Before they were absolutely sure, both sides tacitly refrained from taking action!