At the same time, on the other side, in the Shu Mountains, the news of the Qin army’s arrival has also been known to everyone.
On the top of Shushan Mountain, under the sacred Fusang tree that blocks out the sky and the sun, the elder of Shushan, who is getting older and older, holds a scepter and stands hunched on the edge of the cliff, feeling the mountain wind blowing by, and sighs with his eyes downcast.
"Alas...the calamity has fallen!"
After many years, Shi Qing, whose temperament has completely transformed into a mature woman, was wearing the complicated and exotic costumes unique to the Shu region. She stood not far behind the great elder with a worried look on her face, and comforted her, "Great elder, you don't have to be too exaggerated." Worry, now that the whole clan is united as one, we will definitely be able to repel those Central Plains people."
"Haha..." The great elder turned around, shook his head with a wry smile, his old face full of grooves seemed to be wrinkled, "Qing'er... you should also understand that these words are just to boost morale."< /p>
"The Central Plains is too big and there are too many people. Whatever their emperor wants, he must get it no matter what."
"Even if we withstand this attack, there will be another one, and there will be more and stronger people... Shushan will not be able to compete with the huge empire of the Central Plains after all."
Being directly exposed to the reality by the great elder, Shi Qing, who was just deceiving himself, couldn't help but feel despair and sadness in his eyes. However, a stubborn Shushan person is still a stubborn Shushan person. Even if he knows that the road ahead is blocked and resistance is useless, but...then... So what?
"No matter what, we...swear to live and die with the sacred tree!"
Looking at the desperate but still determined Princess Shushan in front of her, the great elder's cloudy eyes were filled with half relief and half pity.
Turning around again, the elder lowered his head and looked at the scenery under the cliff. The old voice sounded again, "Qing'er, do you still remember Gu Xun?"
"He? Why, is he also in the Central Plains army this time?" Shi Qing asked doubtfully.
Regarding Gu Xun, Shi Qing's memory is naturally clear and profound. Of course, it does not involve any romantic factors.
She is a married woman, and her husband is living well, and the relationship between husband and wife is also very good. However, as a princess of Shushan, her husband's status is lower than hers. It is similar to a son-in-law in the Central Plains. She can get involved in many things at will. However, her husband cannot, so he rarely appears on the same screen with her.
The profound memory is mainly due to two reasons.
The first point, and the most true point, is because Gu Xun is handsome.
Men always love to look at beautiful women, regardless of their age, married or not, and the same goes for women.
The second point is because the chaos caused by Gu Xun in Shushan was too great.
For the quiet Shushan, even if Gu Xun successfully suppressed Yu Yuan's riot, it was still an outright disaster, and the source of everything, in Shi Qing's view, was herself.
It was she who lured g...er, Gu Xun here.
The Great Elder stroked his beard and chuckled a few times, shook his head and said, "I don't know much about this old man, but...after the first time, he came here several times and talked to me a lot about his opinions." "Opinion?" Shi Qing repeated the word in a puzzled tone.
"Yes." The great elder nodded, and his tone unconsciously became a little hesitant, "If you save the land and lose the people, you will lose both the people and the land; if you save the people and lose the land, you will save both the people and the land."
"He has been using this to persuade me to give up the sacred tree and put the lives of the people first."
Shi Qing directly objected to this sounding plan, "Absurd!"
"Guarding Shushan and protecting the sacred tree has been our clan's mission for thousands of years. How can we give up so easily!?"
"Even if I die, I will never let the sacred tree fall into the hands of the Emperor of the Central Plains easily!"
The approach of saving human life is very reasonable and reasonable, but after all, some things cannot be simply calculated based on gains and losses.
"Qing'er!" Seeing Shi Qing's reaction, the elder said solemnly, "This is just a choice."
After his emotions calmed down, Shi Qing immediately bowed and apologized, "I'm sorry, Elder, I was a little too excited."
"It's nothing..." The great elder's voice returned to softness, and he whispered, "I know that you and all the tribesmen are not afraid to sacrifice their lives to protect the sacred tree, but everything is already settled. Can we
All you have to do... is actually choose life or death."
"Old man, I don't regret dying at my age, but what about you? And what about Alan and the others? They are still just children!"
"Lan'er..." Shi Qing was speechless when he heard his daughter's name.
In the final analysis, the choice Shushan faces now is not a matter of sacrificing life for righteousness or sacrificing righteousness for the sake of living.
The bear's paw is definitely gone, it depends on whether they choose to die rather than eat fish.
Is it worth risking the lives of all the clan members for this little bit of persistence?
Shi Qing's silence seemed to make the elder make up his mind. He slammed his wooden staff on the ground and said in a deep voice, "Qing'er, tomorrow, arrange the manpower to send away Alan Ziqi and the other children."
!"
"Ah!?" Upon hearing this order, Shi Qing was at a loss. She subconsciously grabbed the most obvious question and asked, "But elder, Ziqi... he is Yu Yuan's guard!?" As a princess of Shushan...or she can also be called a saint, among her children, the female will inherit her identity and become a new generation of Shushan princess, while the male will inevitably become the guard of Yuyuan, which has never happened in thousands of years.
Exceptions.
The eldest son Yu Ziqi, who takes his father's surname, has now become a guard of Yu Yuan early, and the youngest daughter Shi Lan will officially inherit the status of Shushan Princess when she turns fifteen.
When foreign enemies invaded, it was enough to send Shi Lan and the other children away, but as Yu Yuan's guard, Yu Ziqi had no intention of escaping.
However, the First Elder made up his mind and did not care about these unwritten rules. He waved his hand and replied, "Yu Yuan's guards can't change the fact that he is only a half-grown child. It's up to him to send him away together."
Protect your sister."
Shi Qing opened his mouth, wanting to object to the Great Elder's order, but in the end he couldn't speak out, and just replied in a low voice, "I... understand."
………………
It's night, the moon and stars are sparse.
Meng Tian led his troops to find the most spacious mountain plain to camp and rest. Groups of soldiers patrolled in staggered directions under the starlight and firelight.
On the other side of Shu Mountain, in order to deal with the invading imperial army, the entire tribe was also deploying defensive measures all night long. Up and down the mountain, fires crisscrossed and continued.
Hmm...the same bright lights, but a completely different mood.
In the cool night, Gu Xun sneaked into Shushan quietly without disturbing anyone, neither from the empire nor from Shushan.
Ignoring the Shushan clan members who were busy up and down the mountain, Gu Xun walked around the mountain and came to the seal of Yu Yuan on the shade side of the mountain.
He came here tonight just to see how the ice soul cold energy formation he had deployed back then was doing now.