Princess Agents 特工皇妃楚喬傳, Chapter 146 English Novel translation

Princess Agents - 特工皇妃楚喬傳

After the Northern Expedition

Intro to Chapter 146: 

After Yan Xun and Chu Qiao reunite, she knows that he loves her and therefore came back to her so that should be enough for her and she decides not to bring up the grievances of the people for now.   (TN: which is stupid because his thoughtlessness nearly got her killed) When she is with him, she recalls a similar feeling of being in a dream, though Yan Xun was not there, and it was back in Bian Tang when someone held her hand in a warm place surrounded by flowers (TN: reference to chapter 122 when Zhuge Yue held her hand so he could apply ointment?  ^_^ )

Her sister ZiSu (who thankfully did not die at the Mausoleum) gives her a note from Yan Xun.  He is trying to find her sisters some husbands soon, because no one knows what will happen during war time, and Zisu suggests it's because Chu Qiao cannot marry until her older sisters do.  Though there is a temporary peace in Yan Bei, Chu Qiao's heart is at peace for now.

Even so, her latest exploits take a physical toll on her and she falls ill.  During this downtime she learns from Ms. Yu that DaXia has sent soldiers to the east with Prince Zhao Che while YanXun has secured the northwest.  She realizes that Yan Xun has set aside Ms. Yu and Mr. Wu of the DaTong Association for the most part to prevent DaTong from accumulating power in Yan Bei.  They don't seem to mind, and Chu Qiao knows Ms. Yu and Mr. Wu are very intelligent people and they must have their own plans.  Their teacher is a wise recluse who has had powerful connections and famous disciples currently working in governments around the land.  The disciples of WoLong Mountain also include Zhuge Yue.

She wonders if he will be among them when Zhao Che comes, but the battlefield is bloody and violent and she tries to convince herself he would not be there. When Yan Xun suggests she should think about her future she has a hard time wrapping her mind around it.  When he asks her to marry him when the war in the east is over, she agrees.

Meanwhile, at a tea party in the Zhuge estate, Zhuge Yue's third sister and her guests are admiring the potted plants in the garden.  Zhuge Yue had planted them himself.  Each of them have a hidden meaning; one flower was like Chu Qiao, ever changing.  One was like him, white and frosty.  Another was a beautiful long vine with yellow flowers planted before Mrs. HeLian married her husband.  Everyone recalled the story of Zhuge Yue blocking the marriage procession with his men which caused a nasty public confrontation.  Nothing came of it, but still, he was punished for 6 months by exile from the family.  Had he not fallen seriously ill he would not have come back.  

Zhuge Yue stumbles upon this scene of gossiping hens talking about his past.  His sister introduced him to her acquaintances, seemingly for the purpose of match making. He was polite but took no interest in any of the beauties.  Afterwards he ripped the flowering vine from its roots out of the pot.  (TN: ^_^;; His tastes in women have certainly changed)

He then proceeded to busy himself with war preparations from dawn to dusk, not leaving any room for visitors and spurning any attempts by his family to find a wife for him.  When the expedition north was finally ready Zhuge Yue packed light.  When one of his servants mentioned that the north was cold,  and "if Xing'er were here" she would tell him he was being foolish, but then cut herself off before finishing that sentence.  

When he came back much later in the evening, after being called by the upper house, he smelled of alcohol and the servants knew he was in a bad mood because he seldom drank. He accidentally calls a servant "Xing'er."  That afternoon he left with the DaXia war supplies to deliver to Zhao Che.

Chu Qiao comes to realize that Yan Xun had saved a woman on the road who happened to be ZiSu's sister in law.  She was forgotten at Bei Shuo city and forced to be a military prostitute.  It was a tearful reunion for her sisters because the shock of it had strained the woman's mind, and she became a bit simple and mentally traumatized.  Yan Xun dismisses her story as trivial though Chu Qiao confronts him with it.  (TN: Yan Xun is only concerned with big picture and the suffering of an individual is nothing to him.  Chu Qiao is the exact opposite who wants to save the person in front of her first before she considers the big picture)

He also will not allow her to follow him in his military campaign in the east.  He tells her that his wish is to not make her run around for him like she had done in the past and that she should wait for him (like a dutiful wife).  He tries to seduce her to take her mind off it but she stops him.  He responds that he wants to pay back what he owes her.  He promises to build her a palace but she declines, saying she only wants him safe and sound. She realizes that they want different things, and she will have to acquiesce to his wishes if they are to be together. Also, Yan Xun's sweet talk is only a distraction so he can exclude her from his military planning on the eastern front.

It seems Chu Qiao's popularity was growing among the people, and they even erected shrines for her, and she had a thought that this was why Yan Xun was excluding her from the military planning, but she dismisses it.  When she starts to feel deceived and blinded by Yan Xun, she thinks of Zhuge Yue and her heart hurts.   In his life Yan Xun only had her in his heart, yet without even noticing her heart fluttered at Zhuge Yue when she was apart from Yan Xun, and she feels a bit guilty.  Also, she thought perhaps she should not have been so arrogant to count who was sorry to whom and who owed whom with Zhuge Yue.

When she comes across Yan Xun's desk she sees that he and the princess of Huai-Song have been exchanging love poems, and she comes to the singular conclusion that the lifelong companionship she and Yan Xun promised one another was nothing more than this.  She angrily refuses to believe it.

She runs into Deputy Yin LiangYu who warns her that He Xiao and the Black House Army are in trouble.  Yan Xun wants them to disband and retire the red cloud banner. When Yan Xun tells her to go back she assumes responsibility for them as their leader, according to military law.  She defends the Black House Army with its long distinguished 100 year old history and accuses the others of being DaXia spies for wanting to disband them.  When Yan Xun tries to dismiss her again she stubbornly refuses, and he threatens her soldiers' insubordination with beheading.  When she declares they are loyal to him, he questions her and asks if it's really him they are loyal to.  She kneels and prostrates herself before the prince and declares upon her honor they are loyal.  Despite her pleas a member of her army was executed for disobeying.  She left without a word and fell ill again.

She thinks about the 8 years of hardships she endured with Yan Xun and she neither complained nor felt resentment, but only cold and disappointed.  She had promised her men they would be heroes and they would change their ill fortune, and in the end she was worshipped in temples and they were punished.  She laments that it looked as though she had used them for her own benefit after all.  When Yan Xun apologizes she realized that she had also been used, but for now she saved her army.

When Yan Bei's scouts fail to return Chu Qiao demands to know who was their logistics commander on the eastern front and Yan Xun replies it is Zhuge Yue. In part she is worried because Zhuge Yue has accomplishments rivaling that of Zhao Che and he is a disciple of WoLong Mountain, not to mention he has a powerful family and powerful financial backing.  She had heard that he had been imprisoned for his interference in Bian Tang, returned to be censured by the government, stripped of his rank, grounded and placed under house arrest by his father.  He was the laughingstock of the nobles for a while. That being said, she was also secretly relieved this was no longer so.  Sometimes she would even dream of him and the words he spoke, "Don't you feel it too?  I also need you."  She hoped he was only in charge of logistics and they would not meet.

One night she knows Cheng Yuan is up to something and she calls for He Xiao but is told that Cheng Yuan has taken command of some of her forces to raid the enemy camp.  She calls the remainder of her forces to come with her and true enough Cheng Yuan set them up. A sudden arrow in the dark fires directly at He Xiao.  That's where we begin….

Chapter 146: Good People are Saved

Suddenly a sharp arrow burst through the air, humming as it spun, as if he had become a hunter's far sighted target, and it raced towards He Xiao's face!

Avoiding it and retreat was impossible for it was simply too fast. The thick, murderous air pouring forth like a flood obscuring the sky, surged forward to massacre and sweep everything away.  All the torchlight seemed to dim in that moment and only the sparkle and light of the arrow remained; shredding the clamor in the dark night like a bloody feast.

He Xiao's pupils enlarged, his vision acute, and he felt his forehead's skin hurt as if being pricked.  He was also a master of archery, and it was uncommon to encounter another impressive opponent like this.  However in the face of this arrow, he felt as if he reverted to a seven or eight year old child, without power to retaliate; like a common farmer against an exquisite swordsman, pumping his fists futilely in the air against swordsmanship possessed with finesse, and as a result the poor farmer would die on the fields his ancestors worked so hard to till.

It was too fast for his body to take any action, the arrow was already upon him and he could hear his wide-eyed subordinates call out but he was unable to speak.  Here, in his last moment, he wondered, Who is this person?  Perishing at the hands of someone who's skills rivaled that of her Excellency was not an unfair way to die.

*Ting!*

A sharp pointed whistling sound cut through the field, thereafter followed by a deathly silence. It was followed by rumbling and shouts in the mountain.  Chu Qiao had come on horseback, standing tall on her saddle, she leaped and stood in front of He Xiao with bow in hand.  Under her horse were two arrows crossing one another, one wooden shaft split open like a flower.

"Your Excellency!"

All her men and the leadership cheered in unison, "Her Excellency has come!"

Surprisingly, the enemy also relented, and the two sides retreated on opposite sides.  A line of torches  faced the darkness.

Chu Qiao frowned, for she was all too familiar with that arrow, and her pulse began to beat loudly in her chest.  Her eyebrows locked together.  She was afraid and anxious but a faint trace of joy was born.  If it was true, if it was really true, then perhaps…they would escape unharmed.

The opposing side dispersed and a white horse slowly came forth from behind the soldiers.  The young man was dressed in a sable cloak and his brocaded finery had no appearance of being part of the military.  His eyes were like water in a cold spring, lazily gazing across Chu Qiao and the others. His expression was ever haughty and indifferent, and finally, he said faintly, "It's just a bunch of refugees, withdraw the troops."

"But Sir!" an officer stepped forward, hastily saying "How are these refugees, their fighting strength is so fierce, they must be an elite division of Yan Bei forces."

The man's brow lifted slightly as he listened, he lowered his chin and looked at him from the corner of his eye, saying quietly, "Do you have an opinion on my judgment?"

Shocked, the man suddenly knelt on the ground, "You subordinate dares not." 

"Then do you think I am in league with the enemy? Or perhaps there is something wrong with my mental capacity?"

The officer's forehead gradually broke out in a sweat, and his words nervously tumbled in succession, "Your subordinate was confused, your subordinate dares not."  

The man lifted his head up didn't even spare a glance, saying lightly, "Since you do not dare, then you know what you must do."

"Y-yes, your subordinate knows."  He hastily got up and said to the soldiers behind him, "Fall back, fall back! Rear guard first, the others follow in sequence!"

The man in sable slowly urged his horse around, and before he left he lightly looked back and swept his gaze across Chu Qiao's face.  The young woman was dressed in white fur looked painfully thin, and that made her eyes appear even larger.  She looked down at herself grasping her reins and did not speak.  The wind blew her hair, waving like ink that had dripped into water, dancing in a perfect arc.

The enemy forces thus withdrew, all 3,000 of them, leaving the about 1,000 armed "refugees" behind.  The soldiers had been surprised at the beginning of the battle, afterwards they were still a little frightened, and up until now someone finally asked, "They're just gonna leave?"

Everyone was still a little stunned, but after a while someone answered softly, "Didn't you see her Excellency had arrived? They must have been scared."

"He Xiao, go reorganize the troops, I'll be back in a bit."

Seeing that Chu Qiao was headed in the same direction the enemy retreated He Xiao was suddenly alarmed, and pulled on her horse's bridle, saying in a low voice, "Excellency, you mustn't.  If you fell into enemy hands we would not be able to atone for it even if we died a thousand times."

"Don't worry," Chu Qiao smirked, "Nothing will happen.  That person…."

Her words cut off there, and her voice suddenly stopped.  How would she describe the relationship between them?  Enemies?  Rivals?  Or perhaps…

"… is my friend."

Even if she didn't see it herself, she could guess that person's identity.  In this world, aside from Yan Xun whom she grew up with, who else could receive her arrow?  

The horse ran for less than the length of a burning incense, and she saw two men standing in the distance under a large tree.  One of them seemed really happy and ran up to meet her as soon as he saw her approach, smiling as he said, "Miss Xing'er you've come.  Master said you would but I was still worried."

The moonlight was a sheet of white on the snowy field.  The giant tree was like a large umbrella.  Though its branches were withered and stripped of leaves, it was unusually straight and tall.  Zhuge Yue stood beneath the tree, silently watching her without saying anything.  His white horse was leisurely grazing beside him, but when it saw Chu Qiao it also whinnied happily, as if acknowledging an acquaintance.

Yue Qi chattered away as he took the reins from her, and Chu Qiao jumped off her her horse and said smiling, "I never thought I'd see you guys here.  How have you been?"

"Miss, of whom are you asking?  Are you asking if I, Yue Qi, am well?  I'm doing quite well.  I can eat and sleep well.  I married my wife a while ago."

Yue Qi grinned as he said it, and Chu Qiao was slowly embarrassed, but she still smiled as she said, "Then I really must congratulate you."

"Yue Qi, go on ahead and tell Yu Chao to go slow and not carelessly fall into a snow drift."

Yue Qi turned his head and said to Zhuge Yue standing under the tree, "Master, Yu Chao was born and raised in the north.  You are worried about him, but you are not worried about me who might fall into a snow drift delivering your warning."  (TN: I heart Yue Qi)

As soon as he heard this Zhuge Yue raised his brow, his expression flashing a hint of anger. Yue Qi quickly raised his hand followed with, "Fine, fine, your servant is leaving.  Let's just consider it an expression of Master's consideration for his subordinates."  As soon as he said it he mounted his horse, tapped the rein, and swiftly cantered away.

Truthfully they had seen one another two months ago, but for some reason Chu Qiao felt as though it had already been a long time.  In this span of time so many things had happened, and after fighting with DaXia, the multitude of mistakes have reared their ugly heads, especially during the period she and Yan Xun stopped understanding one another.  One by one, Zhuge Yue's predictions had come true.  She faced many obstacles, she trudged a difficult path, and now that she saw him, a thousand trains of thought poured out of her heart, making her unable to understand her own state of mind.

Their relationship was difficult, making her unsure of what to say.  She could only stand there woodenly, like a shriveled tree on a wasteland.

"You are having internal problems?"

Zhuge Yue suddenly opened his mouth about a private military matter.  Chu Qiao was surprised and looked at him strangely.  What was he trying to say?  Surely he wasn't trying to solicit intelligence on Yan Bei's activities?

"It was someone on your side who led me here."

Zhuge Yue slowly said, "I'm guessing someone wanted to use me to get rid of this army, but I didn't expect it to be yours."

Although she had already guessed it, Chu Qiao still burned with anger when she heard it.  She bit her lower lip, clenched her fist and looked down, but said nothing.

"You should be more careful.  This time you met me, next time, it may be Zhao Che."

Zhuge Yue said this and he took his horse and turned to go, which surprised Chu Qiao.  She followed two steps and hurriedly called out, "Zhuge Yue!"

Zhuge Yue turned his head and frowned back at her.  Chu Qiao thought for a while and finally said, "Will this get you into trouble?"

Zhuge Yue quipped dryly, "As long as you don't write a missive to the government, I surmise there will be no problem."  (TN: hahahaahahaha, so sarcastic…)

Chu Qiao took a deep breath, her eyes bright like stars, looked straight at him and said quietly, "Thank you."

Zhuge Yue led his horse away, casually waving his hand at her saying, "If you can't do it yourself go back and tell Yan Xun. If there is internal conflict, it will be difficult to fight a war."

The snowy ground reflected the light of the moon, bright and white.  Zhuge Yue was draped in black sable, making his back figure even more gorgeous and handsome.  On the ground his long shadow stretched, step by step on the snowy field, the sound of his horse's steps slowly walking.

Chu Qiao stood still on the field, watching his back figure go farther, and even farther away, until it disappeared under the snow and she could no longer see him.

Her throat was constricted as if she had a thousand words stuck inside without any means of spitting them out.  Those complex emotions made her reasoning momentarily take flight, and she continued to stand there for a long time, unmoving.  It wasn't until He Xiao, who had been worried about her, came with his troops in a hurry to retrieve her, that she slowly came out of her trance.

"Excellency, let us return."

Chu Qiao nodded and said, "Let's return and tell our brothers not to speak a word of what happened tonight."

He Xiao nodded, "Yes, Your Excellency can rest assured."

He thought about it a bit more, and again asked, "So this time, we're just going to let it go?"

Chu Qiao's face suddenly turned icy, and she grunted cooly, "Of course we can't just let it go."

She swiftly turned her horse, the war horse gave a cry, breaking the night's tranquility.  The dreary wind moaned, the snow flurries rolled, a trace of a harsh winter.

Chu Qiao turned her head and looked back at the snowy plain, simple and clean, spread like an endless sea.  The large tree quietly stood there, tall and upright, living there for an unknown length of time, with an unknown number of people passing beneath it.  Her expression was affectionate, cutting across the pure white time and space.

"Back to camp!"

Translators notes: The title of this chapter is 良人安在 which can be translated as "Good People are Safe" but the phrase 良人 is also an archaic term for "husband" so her 'husband' is also safe, hahaha….  Finally, Chu Qiao's heart has muddled through her confusion and has created affection for Zhuge Yue as her gaze crosses the snowy field to the lonely, straight as an arrow tree that probably represents him in more ways than one. This was also the same way he looked at her when she was beating up Liang Shaoqing in a previous chapter.  Heh, it only took her 146 chapters….

-KERO

Princess Agents novel translation, Chapters 128 - 138 Synopsis

Intro to Yan Bei and the Northern Expedition War

Chapters 128 - 138 Synopsis:  or, how one girl stands alone

Chu Qiao introduces modern military tactics to Yan Bei with no small degree of resentment from the older generals who have served this land for much longer, and the younger chauvinist leaders of DaTong.  Yan Xun has one sister still living, who gives a horse "A-Tu" to Chu Qiao.  Yan Bei conspires with Huai-Song against DaXia and Bian Tang and Chu Qiao reluctantly agrees to go along with it.  Yan Xun is victorious in a melee at the Melin Pass and boosts the morale of his people.

We get some insight into Zhuge Yue's family, and how he was not such a little twerp as everyone first thought.  He had shown pity to an orphaned relative not of the main line back when he was ten years old and they were very close at one point.   She comes to check on him after he's been placed on house arrest by his family.   Mrs. He Lian was adopted into the Zhuge House unofficially and lived under the protection of Zhuge Yue for three years of her young life, and eventually married at age 15 to a prominent branch of this family.  Zhuge Yue, offers to have Yue Qi make some arrangements for her (TN: it seems she is now widowed).

She recalls a younger Zhuge Yue, who had maintained a prominent position in the household despite the fact his mother had died early and despite jealousies of his brothers.  Zhuge Yue was as ruthless as the others, if not more so, doing things to show his position in the family, and he could not tolerate any betrayal.  In the end, Mrs. He Lian had also betrayed him, marrying into a prominent branch of the family to secure her position and leaving him behind in the lonely QingShan Pavilion.  She wants to revert back to how they were before but Zhuge Yue is no longer affected by her and dismisses her.

Instead he seeks out information of the north from Yue Qi.  The situation for Yan Bei is tense, the people are starving and rioting and their soldiers are too young and inexperienced.  Bei Shuo City is surrounded by enemies.  The situation is ripe for DaXia to attack.  Chu Qiao is in Bei Shuo, which causes Zhuge Yue great concern.  Yue Qi offers to have their spies retrieve her but Zhuge Yue dismisses the idea, saying he's in no position to do anything, and that Yue Qi should mind his own business. When Yue Qi apologizes, Zhuge Yue corrects him and says that comment was about his cousin Mrs. He Lian, not Chu Qiao. ^_^

Yue Qi notices that Zhuge Yue had been painting the scene of a prosperous street, with a girl on a horse looking back nostalgically.  In her hands was a rabbit lantern.  Yue Qi knows exactly who it is, and knows his master had been in love with her ever since then.  Zhuge Yue orders the servants to take down a painting hanging over his bed of an eleven year old smiling girl in a yellow shirt and green dress and gifts it to a servant.  It had been hanging there for over a decade.  (TN: I think this was Mrs. HeLian when she was young)

He goes over to his map and contemplates that it isn't Bei Shuo but ChiYuan port that is of greater importance and predicts that is where DaXia will strike.  

The generals in Yan Bei also come to the same conclusion.  Because of their frequent wins against the princes Zhao, they have become overconfident.  They want to charge directly into the imperial city, something Chu Qiao strongly argues against.  She urges the generals not to take prince Zhao Qi, who is cautious and has studied the art of war, for a fool.  She suspects they have been going through the Changyin Mountain pass to execute a pincer move while distracting Yan Bei's forces with small skirmishes.  The generals all leave in a huff at her suggestions and she contemplates whether she would assassinate them all if she had an automatic assault rifle in her hands right now.  (TN: Don't play with guns, kids)

She assesses the present army, newly minted soldiers and former serfs who were as young as ten.  She saw how the local official Cao Menteng had amassed power in Bei Shuo once Yan Xun was gone, and the city was now filled with people again.  The younger children in the city see Chu Qiao as a heroine who stands up for the people, and give her the title "Excellency."  Chu Qiao doesn't have the heart to be their hero since she knows many will be killed in battle.

She exchanges words with Xue ZiYuan, gloating at her being snubbed by the generals.  At this point she'd had enough of the DaTong Association members, but he asks if Yan Xun will abandon them.  Chu Qiao didn't want to believe it, but understands that Yan Xun had left Bei Shuo essentially undefended, taking his main force to MeiLin Pass, and both the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Second Army were no longer there.  She suspects that Yan Xun wanted to attack DaXia in revenge, abandoning the defenses of his people.  Xu ZiYuan said that minister Cao was shrewd enough to amass his own forces here, and the Second Army would not suffer many losses, and civilians were expendable.  Chu Qiao argues in Yan Xun's defense saying that he is not after the power hegemony.  Xue ZiYuan predicts she will be called away to the Blue City to avoid the carnage of Bei Shuo.

Then, Chu Qiao gets word that the caravan accompanied by her troops escorting her sisters to Yan Bei was attacked and the culprits made a demand to see Chu Qiao, adding they had no ill intent and that she would understand if she met them.  As she is about to meet them, her group of 500 men are overwhelmed by a large force of DaXia cavalry stragglers who had been hiding out since Yan Bei liberated itself.  Xue ZiYuan falls.

She meets up with the bandits who wanted to meet her and finds it was He Xiao and the Southwestern garrison forces previously abandoned by Yan Xun in the imperial city. They dared not return without Chu Qiao's backing.  He apologizes for the deception but she recognizes him as a comrade in arms, and dismisses it.  He Xiao's men quickly come to greet her, saying they missed her dearly and that they were going to rush into Bian Tang when they heard she was in trouble.  She welcomes them home and explains Yan Bei's predicament and calls upon their help.  They swear allegiance to her.  Here, the one they would one day call Xiuli Wang (The Beautiful Monarch) establishes her first army under the banner of the red cloud, not knowing that this banner would fly to edges of the map and they would change the history of the land forever.

Back in Bei Shuo City, the generals huddle together for a plan without Chu Qiao or Xue ZiYuan.  Cao MengTeng decided to use this battle as his first foothold to power and alerts the city they will fight.  General Cheng Yuan of XiCheng had received advanced notice from Xue ZiYuan of the threat and so was able to repel the DaXia forces.  He declines to open the gate to allow civilians inside.  He also refuses to open his gates to Chu Qiao and unleashes a rain of arrows on her and her army.  Her soldiers sacrifice themselves to protect her, and Chu Qiao solidifies her bond with this army that was once labeled as traitors and turncoats.  She demands to see the person in charge.  Cheng Yuan realizes his error.  When Xue ZiYuan wakes up from his wounded slumber he immediately demands they open the gate for her.  Cheng Yuan instead wants to ambush her.  Xue ZiYuan runs to the top of the tower to warn her, but he is shot through with arrows causing chaos and mistrust both inside and outside the city.  Chu Qiao withdraws, vowing to report his actions.

Chu Qiao and her band of 7,000 stand in a blizzard near HeLan Pass waiting for DaXia to arrive, still about 20 miles away.  She is wondering if DaXia is  to take ChiDu City to take control of ChiYuan Port.  Unfortunately she carries nothing of her authority and so is unable to have the city officials take any action.  She waits to see that the main DaXia force has crossed the HeLan Pass to take ChiYuan Port first.  Finally the gates of ChiDu open for them, and Chu Qiao takes her forces to defend the ill-equipped city. When the city elders threaten to punish her for her insolence she drags the head minister to the battlement to show him and the city leaders the forces waiting for them outside.  She tells them if they're still alive after this, she will accept their punishment.  She rallies the people inside the city saying Yan Xun will not abandon them, the Blue City will come to their aid, and they just have to hold on.  In truth Chu Qiao knows they will not receive any reinforcements.

She rallies the honor of her own troops asking them to fight and prove that they are not traitors.  Though they may not live to see the next harvest, the people will give thanks to them regardless.  Chu Qiao utilizes the city blacksmiths to make more modern weapons, including trebuchets, as well as traps for the assaulting DaXia forces led by Prince Zhao Yang.  Her weapons have heavier loads, more power and wider range.  In terms of numbers, they were still outmatched 20 to 1.  After taking out 30,000 of them, she introduced exploding ice bombs and burning fields of oil into the mix, and the DaXia forces were forced to retreat.

Chu Qiao knows that the victory will be short lived and understands her enemy will simply adjust.  When she received a missive delivered by four men from Yan Xun's assistant, Miss Yu, she was only told to go to Blue City.  Her escort proved to be kidnappers.  She defeated them and they were immediately subdued by her 30 or so personal guard left behind by Yan Xun.  There, her personal guard turned on her and Chu Qiao was bound, blindfolded and kidnapped.  Miss Yu reveals herself as the instigator of this plot, knowing Chu Qiao would not come willingly.  Despite Chu Qiao's protests to protect the people of Yan Bei, Miss Yu reveals that Yan Xun is willing to sacrifice them all.  Yan Xun effectively emptied out his forces from his territories, with the exception of General Cao, and Miss Yu was ordered to take Chu Qiao away.  Yan Xun was not even defending the MeiLin Pass.  Chu Qiao loses her faith in Yan Xun when she realizes he intends to storm the the imperial city using his own country as bait.

Without consulting her, Yan Xun's ambition no longer lay in Yan Bei but in the throne, and he painstakingly and impressively planned each and every move.  When Miss Yu asks if Chu Qiao remembered telling her when they first met that she hoped Yan Bei would no longer have orphans like her, Chu Qiao coldly responds that's because they will all die under this scheme.  When Miss Yu responds that there must be a price for their freedom Chu Qiao argues that their freedom and riches will be paid for with the lives of the Yan Bei people.  She tells Miss Yu that she is no longer worthy of admiration from the common folk if she's going to abandon them.  Chu Qiao puts a knife to her own throat and delivers a message to Yan Xun that she will be waiting for him.

Without her, her army and the militia fight bravely to defend the city, using themselves as weapons in sacrificial fashion.  Each of them have words of admiration for her before they die.  When she finally makes it back, her presence is an immediate morale booster for the army who again successfully repel the DaXia assault.  They suffered terrible losses however, and the weight of the situation would have brought her down but for the fact that everyone was counting on her to stay strong.  She watches a young man die on the side of the road and recalls the time when Yan Xun told her of Yan Bei for the first time; it was a wonderful land, like paradise.  In grief she swears she will defend Yan Bei even if no one else will and together they will wait for Yan Xun's return.

Meanwhile Bei Shuo city fell in less than five days in a grand catastrophic fashion under Prince Zhao Qi's assault.  General Xia An had already fled the city with his contingent, and General Meng was left to wonder where they had gone wrong.  He lamented not listening to Chu Qiao's words and picking the wrong time to take a stand.  They are unexpectedly saved by Chu Qiao's Black House Army under the banner of the red cloud, 20 - 30,000 cavalry strong led by He Xiao.  The entire city sang Chu Qiao's praises, and Chu Qiao herself gave orders to rush the central force and single handedly took Prince Zhao Qi's head.

She had essentially burned ChiDu City to ashes, which waylaid Prince Zhao Yang.  She took 10,000 cavalry and left.  She met General Lu Zhi on the road, who was General MengTeng's subordinate fleeing Bei Shuo by his command, who then merged forces under the banner of the red cloud.  They had killed 70,000 DaXia soldiers overall and took the head of one of the three princes who was a contender for the imperial succession on the 8th anniversary of the assault on Yan Bei.  Prince Zhao Yang then took his 500,000 strong army to once again encircle Bei Shuo.  Upon receiving the missive, Yan Xun orders his troops to return to Yan Bei.

Cao MengTeng had committed suicide so there was nothing left for Chu Qiao to be angry with.  In his last testament he left the command of the Second Army to Chu Qiao.  She made sure history recorded a flattering eulogy for him.

With the Bei Shuo defenses mostly defected, Chu Qiao realizes the heroes of history are not the generals or leaders of the army who turn tail and run or surrender when things get tough, it's the common people or the naive who want to defend their country.  Slaves, cooks, civilians and lower level bureaucrats were sitting around the table in the conference hall of Bei Shuo with her now.  They only had 70,000 and most of the grain storage was burned before the others fled.  Chu Qiao convinces them to stand for ten days and Yan Xun will come.  It is, of course, a lie, since she knows that Yan Xun had abandoned them all.  She knew that all of Yan Bei's defenses were now currently in Bei Shuo, and should they fall, Yan Bei would die.  That was why she was willing to concede ChiDu City. She believed her actions would cause Yan Xun to come back.

Zhao Yang hastily lay siege to Bei Shuo without much planning this time.  In response Chu Qiao had designed weapons with a modern technological flare to exponentially increase both aerial and projectile assault.  Zhao Yang did not think that Bei Shuo was similarly equipped as ChiDu City and he lost 70,000 men early in the war.  But after, when they ran out of artillery, there was no choice but close range combat.  When the situation seemed dire, her men begged her to leave the city and save herself.  Even Yin LangYu, General MengTeng's attache, encouraged her to take the women and children of the city with her army and storm out of Bei Shuo to the Blue City.  Chu Qiao knew there was no salvation there and refused to retreat, repeatedly saying that reinforcement would come.  In the end, Chu Qiao raised her own sword to fight, but finally, the reinforcements arrived, flying Yan Xun's Black Hawk banner.

Prince Zhao Yang receives a late command by the emperor to retreat and he watches his own army disperse and flee before his eyes.  He wonders if it is Heaven's Will that DaXia should fall.

In the end, Yan Bei lost 400,000 soldiers in Bei Shuo and ChiDu City combined.  Countless civilians died fleeing the cities in the cold.  Yan Bei was not rich, and their finances were stretched with this war.  On the other side, Daxia lost significant numbers of its main forces, one prince in the line of succession and half of the northwestern territories fell to Yan Bei.  The 300 year strong empire of DaXia began to wane.

Zhao Yu was imprisoned for his incompetence, and 300,000 troops drawn from the Southeast Army, the Northeast Army, as well as troops drawn from the large vassal families were placed under the command of the seventh prince, Zhao Che.

Zhuge Huai, the first son of the Zhuge house, had been sent with the Northern Expedition as a reserve officer, and so his name also suffered in the war's defeat and he was sanctioned by the government.  Therefore his father had no choice but to use his fourth son, Zhuge Yue, in the reserve military command.  Zhuge Yue wasted no time in following Prince Zao Che to the northwestern front.

Translator's Notes:  This is the non romance part of the story, I suppose.  Since the novel's title is literally Special Agent Princess: The Legend of Chu Qiao I am not surprised it follows her next character growth period very closely and reveals who Yan Xun is in this story arc.  Some of the plots were twisted a little too tightly, and some of the battles were a bit unrealistic (i.e. how did they create and assemble all those fancy weapons in so little time??) but in the end, we see how Chu Qiao amasses her own loyal following, and that would obviously be a problem for Yan Xun and his ambitious followers since her goal is so different from theirs.  We see how cunning he has become, and how much he actually conceals from her.

More Zhuge Yue in the next translations I promise!  It seems he cannot wait for an opportunity to save her (again) or perhaps make another attempt to throw his life away....  We can say for certain the man is constant and loyal.  Reminds you of Chu Qiao, doesn't it?  --KERO