Chapter 551: You and I Are Both Pawns, You and I Are Both Castaways

Clang, clang.

The back-and-forth charges of the garrison cavalry made one's heart tremble with fear.

The high-spirited garrison troops were simply there to harvest the battlefield.

The death squads, who had held the initiative and advantage just moments ago, were now like headless flies.

"Kill!"

"Protect the Princess!"

"Protect Governor Liu!"

"Protect the Military Commissioner!"

This General Luo, the content he roared out was very savvy.

They had lost.

This group of death squads finally understood that today, they had lost completely and utterly.

How the blood flowed.

After all, not being regular troops, their room for survival on the battlefield was being compressed bit by bit.

"Kill!"

Looking at this side, however, they were fighting more bravely with every passing moment.

Liu Zheng's heart finally settled.

Only then did he have the time to ask Pei Qianyun beside him with concern: "Qianyun, how are you?"

Pei Qianyun's arm was still twisted; the pain was visible to the naked eye. Others couldn't help but feel their throats tighten just looking at it, yet Pei Qianyun laughed heartily: "Young Master, do not worry, it is just a matter of resting for a few days!"

Then, he was seen using his left hand to exert sudden force, actually snapping his twisted right arm straight again...

Snapped it straight...

Fierce!

Terrifying!

Those watching on the spot couldn't help but gulp hard.

Pei Qianyun kicked the corpses of Cheng Anguo and Shi Ke as he walked over, and the Liangzhou Army soon hung their heads on the tips of their spears.

The morale of the entire field was boosted once again.

Liu Zheng finally chuckled and looked toward the mountain forest.

"No... impossible!"

"Impossible!"

"This is impossible!"

Xie Ling could not believe everything happening before his eyes; he did not believe it, he refused to believe it!

He knelt on the ground, trembling all over; he felt that everything he saw before him was so unreal, even though the blood was accompanied by the stench of gore, even though the wails were accompanied by flying remains, he still felt that all of this was so unreal...

"Ah!"

Successive mental breakdowns finally drove him mad; he suddenly stood up, drew the sword at his waist, and slashed at the empty air: "Don't come over, Governor Liu, don't you come over!"

"I am the Third Prince of the current dynasty, don't you come over!"

"Kill him for me!"

"Kill him!"

"Crush him!"

The people nearby were all stunned.

Mad?

He had really gone mad?

Xie Ling suddenly turned around; having coughed up blood for several days, his body was long since overdrawn. With this turn, he almost failed to support himself and fell to the ground, only managing to stay upright by propping himself up with his sword. Staggering to his feet, he had already swung his sword at one of his own subordinates!

"Pfft!"

That subordinate never imagined, even in death, that he would die at the hands of the Third Prince, Xie Ling, whom he had followed loyally for so many years.

"Hahahaha, he's dead, isn't he?"

"Governor Liu, he's dead, isn't he?"

"Let's see how you fight me!"

"How you fight me!"

Xie Ling laughed wildly, manic and oblivious to everything.

The others looked at each other, all unable to help but gasp in cold air.

Mad!

He was truly mad!

Run!

This group of people, without a word, took to their heels and ran.

Even the Prince of Lu did not dare to stay here any longer and left on horseback.

Thus.

All the forces under Xie Ling's banner fell apart just like that. All the assets and troops he had accumulated over these years were buried at the hands of Governor Liu.

If.

If there really were an "if."

Would Xie Ling have chosen to clash head-on with Governor Liu?

If he hadn't been so arrogant at the time, and if he, representing the Empress's side, had chosen to form a strong alliance with Liu Zheng in Liangzhou, would there even be any role left for the Crown Prince Xie Fang?

However.

There are no "ifs."

One wrong step, and every step is wrong.

Now.

The territory in Xie Ling's hands is completely finished.

Yet the Crown Prince is lying flat in Jinghua.

Bit by bit.

Those dead soldiers, some dead, some wounded, some fled.

Before Yang'an Pass, it slowly returned to silence.

"Prefect Liu!"

"I, Xie Ling, and you cannot exist under the same sky!"

"I, Xie Ling, swear to cut off your dog head today!"

"Kill!"

The crowd looked over upon hearing the sound.

They saw Xie Ling in the mountain forest, in a wretched state and covered in blood, leaning on a cane with one hand and holding a sword in the other, roaring toward the sky.

With every roar, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The scene suddenly went quiet.

Tens of thousands of eyes were looking at him simultaneously.

In the mountain forest.

Xie Ling seemed like an old man on the verge of death; the high spirits he once had no longer remained in him at all. His gaze was dull, his hair was disheveled, and his clothes were covered in mud and blood.

His lips were pale and trembling.

Only the last trace of hatred in his eyes was supporting his final bit of vitality.

Liu Zheng.

Watched quietly.

Quietly met his gaze.

"You!"

Xie Ling finally met the eyes of Prefect Liu and laughed loudly: "You, do you think you have won? Hmm?"

"Have you won?"

"No!"

"Sooner or later, you will be just like me!"

"We share the same fate!"

"You, me, we are all pawns of that bastard in Jinghua!"

"Just pawns! Once you are a pawn, you will become a discarded piece!"

"Prefect Liu, just you wait, haha, just you wait!"

"If I cannot take you down today, someone else will; if no one can take you down, Heaven will! When the time comes, you will understand that it is not that we were not strong enough, no!"

"It is this world that is wrong!"

"It is this world that is wrong!"

"Wrong!"

He bellowed.

He shouted in rage.

Liu Zheng still listened quietly.

At this moment.

He was only a few hundred meters away from Xie Ling on the hillside.

He suddenly discovered that his current mood was actually neither sad nor happy. Yes. Xie Ling was right. Among the common masses, regardless of victory or defeat, they are all pawns. As it stands, they are all pawns of Xie Tianyao.

He himself is one too.

Xie Ling is as well, only Xie Ling is already a discarded piece.

Of course.

In the eyes of Xie Tianyao, he, Liu Zheng, is also a discarded piece that he wants to cast aside. It is just that in this battle, he won.

He can still linger on for a while.

But Xie Ling has already lost his chance.

Once one chooses to walk this path, it means that every step is full of danger.

Only by planning every move can one live forever.

Xie Ling, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was originally highly regarded. Unfortunately, behind his seemingly humble and deep-scheming exterior, he lacked the slightest capacity to tolerate others.

In this regard, he was not even as good as the Crown Prince, Xie Fang.

And then he encountered a gifted fellow like himself.

If he doesn't lose, who would?

Liu Zheng even thinks that everyone is a pawn.

Including Xie Tianyao, he is also a pawn on this chessboard of the world, only he possesses more advantages and resources than others, and he is more capable of controlling the overall situation than anyone else.

That is all.

Once this game of chess for the world begins.

Who can laugh until the end is truly hard to say.

Including himself.

He looked at the half-mad, half-lucid Xie Ling, saying nothing.

His fate was already sealed today.

He is the tragedy of this era.

His collapse.

The many forces and many interests entangled behind him will all be reshuffled.

"Kill!"

"Kill Prefect Liu for me!"

"Crush him!"

"Kill!"

In the end, Xie Ling threw away his crutch, held a sword alone, and roared toward the sky.

He let out the final scream of his life.

Despair.

Solemnity.

Tragic intensity.

And then he took a step out.

From that mountain, he fell down with a boom.

His roaring sound echoed repeatedly.

He

was already smashed to pieces.