Verdant Green Maiden had seen everything that happened to the Xuan Nü Body. After all, it was her incarnation. Rather than saying the Xuan Nü Body had saved Zu Ti, it would be more accurate to say that she had saved him.
It was repayment for those words of his, and for the sacrifice he had made to her.
Because Cao Wei had barged into the Northern Expedition, the campaign had come within reach of success, only to fail at the final hurdle. Zu Ti gathered the remnants of his troops and retreated to the riverbank.
What a pity. What a tragedy.
The Jiangnan Han Court sent people to condemn him again.
Consumed by sorrow and indignation, Zu Ti fell ill. It was a grave illness, one that left him unable even to get out of bed. His deputy general sent a memorial asking the court to dispatch imperial physicians, but the Great Families at the Imperial Court obstructed one another, suspicious and distrustful. They dragged their feet for months.
Meanwhile, people intent on wresting away his military power kept crossing the river from Jiankang and inserting themselves into the army.
By the time the imperial physicians reached the camp, Zu Ti was beyond saving.
"The Northern Expedition..."
"The Northern Expedition!"
As he lay dying, Zu Ti gripped the physician's hand tightly and cried out those two words.
The physician wept bitterly, lamenting, "General, your noble cause..."
Inside the tent, the deputy general clenched his fists, his face full of rage. "It's all those bastards at court! What Great Families? What noble clans?"
"General, please watch your words!"
The people around him hurriedly tried to persuade him.
"Watch my words? What for?!"
The deputy general roared, "The Northern Expedition failed at the final hurdle because those Aristocrats slandered us before