The Spring Breeze Crosses Yumen Pass Again

[Graceful yet resilient noblewoman x sharp-edged young general]

Later generations often had sharply divided opinions about Qi Keyan, the renowned general of Great Yin.

His admirers praised him as a young genius, a brilliant strategist, and a true God of War.

His detractors condemned him as a reckless man and a sinner who had led tens of thousands of soldiers to their deaths.

He stirred endless controversy in the annals of history,

yet even the most celebrated historians gave him scant attention.

*

Three hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

Yuan Jialuo, daughter of the Duke of Ding, was stationed at the northern border with her father and brothers.

She often heard them lament:

If Qi Keyan hadn't lost the Battle of Guyebao, he would have pressed on and reclaimed the lands occupied by the northern barbarians.

But the moment had passed. In three hundred years, no one had been able to fulfill that wish.

On New Year's Eve, missing her father and brothers, who had stayed with the army, Yuan Jialuo wrote them a letter.

To her surprise, when the reply arrived, there was an extra letter with no signature.

The handwriting on it was bold and powerful. The writer said he'd happened upon a letter and didn't know the sender's name, but had found the discussion of military strategy intriguing, so he'd rashly replied with a few thoughts and sent it back on a whim.

*

At first, Yuan Jialuo thought it was a coincidence.

Later, a second and then a third anonymous reply concerning her arrived in her hands.

From the writer's tone, she guessed he was a young man in the prime of his life.

They talked about training soldiers and everyday matters, and got along remarkably well.

As they became more familiar through their letters, they discovered that they were both at the northern border and might be living close by.

They arranged to meet, but every method they tried came to nothing.

Even when she followed the hints in his letters, she often found that the place had changed beyond recognition and its former occupants were gone.

Her suspicions grew.

Until she read the letter in which he explained the origin of his name:

"I will defeat the northern border's enemies. My surname is Qi."

Qi Keyan!

*

To Yuan Jialuo, Qi Keyan was a mystery she had never been able to unravel.

No matter how many historical records and notes she read or how often she analyzed his strategies, she could never understand:

Why had Qi Keyan, famed for his godlike command of the art of war, stubbornly chosen to station his elite troops at Guyebao, where there was no water, during the crucial Battle of Yinyan?

As three hundred years turned over, she never imagined she would meet Qi Keyan in this way.

...Uncover the truth behind what happened back then!

And even fight the Battle of Guyebao alongside him, reclaiming their homeland.

-

I use the years as my brush to portray your noble spirit.

A thousand years from now, history will finally set the record straight!

-

"I would give my life to serve my country. Why should I care whether I return alive through the Jade Gate?"

Dai Shulun, "Two Songs from Beyond the Frontier, No. 2"

(2023.6.8)

Theme: There will always be someone to clear up the misunderstandings