Just as Su Changge had expected, when the Murong Earldom sent Sun Meng's head to Viscount Molan as a New Year's gift, it truly shook him.
Even to uphold that laughable noble dignity, Viscount Molan personally vouched for them, declaring Sun Meng and his men to be genuine "bandits."
He even sent an envoy bearing a letter of thanks, penned in Viscount Molan's own hand!
It was heartfelt and sincere, and seemed almost genuine.
But after Su Changge and Murong Ruyan read the letter, they tossed it aside like trash.
The bitter winter had arrived, and they had plenty to deal with.
Most important of all was Su Changge and Murong Ruyan's wedding... though it came rather suddenly. Not long after they returned from Wheat Fragrance Village, Murong Ruyan became pregnant.
Su Changge was thrilled, but also a little apprehensive.
With a child, his first trait would finally come into play.
But... after living two lifetimes, this was still his first time having a child.
The two held their wedding in the castle. They invited several important officials from the earldom, but did not make a grand spectacle of it or let the whole world know.
Before the Murong Earldom truly grew strong, a brief burst of attention would only attract more covetous eyes.
After Su Changge and Murong Ruyan married, Astin Gullier visited Murong Ruyan more and more often.
As the earldom's first heir and its only Soul Elder, Murong Ruyan's prestige and authority had reached their peak after the bandits were wiped out in Wheat Fragrance Village.
Astin Gullier had already accepted reality. Even though her son was the earldom's second heir,
there was no chance he could take the earl's seat with Murong Ruyan standing in his way like a towering mountain!
She had cut off all distracting thoughts and cravings for power.
For her and her son to survive, they could only depend on Murong Ruyan... and Su Changge's goodwill.
As the deep, wintry snow swallowed the Murong Earldom, stretching all the way to the northern edge of the Star Dou Mountain Range,
Su Changge finally had some free time. Government business had dwindled, and he couldn't enjoy the pleasures of the bedchamber.
Every day, apart from honing his Soul Power and studying combat techniques, he spent nearly all his time at the weapons forge, overseeing the production of matchlock muskets and the first crude cannons.
However, this peaceful life lasted only a month.
In mid-December,
trouble broke out again in the villages along the southern border of the Murong Earldom.
After several years, the snow-type Soul Beasts that had been entrenched in the high-altitude regions of the Star Dou Mountain Range descended from the peaks once more.
Wherever they went, corpses littered the ground and walls lay in ruins. Every outpost the earldom had established along its southern border was destroyed.
"What a headache."
"Ice-and-snow Soul Beasts?"
In the study, Su Changge's gaze moved back and forth over the intelligence report. He rubbed his brow in frustration.
The invasion of ice-and-snow Soul Beasts in the earldom was merely one small part of the long border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Dou Mountain Range.
But even this small part had seen over a thousand Soul Beasts pour into the earldom.
This blizzard was paradise for ice-and-snow Soul Beasts. By contrast... the castle's cavalry had lost much of their mobility, and one careless mistake could leave them as prey for the beasts out in the wild.
Without high-ranking Soul Masters to rely on, the only way he could think of to stop the invasion was to fight a defensive battle with matchlock muskets and the newly developed cannons.
Tap! Tap...
Su Changge drummed his fingers lightly on the desk, gradually sinking into thought.
Murong Ruyan sat to one side, surrounded by the core officials he had summoned. Seeing him like this, they deliberately held their breaths, afraid of disturbing him.
After a long while, Su Changge's fingers stopped. He had made his decision.
"The villages along the southern border must be saved. Not only that, we have to pin every Soul Beast that has strayed down from the Star Dou Mountain Range to the border. We cannot let them enter the heart of the earldom."
"Otherwise, those beasts will catch the scent of people and charge into the most densely populated parts of the earldom. When that happens... even Murong Castle won't be spared."
"I'll go myself!"
Su Changge raised his voice.
But before he could lay out the rest of his strategy, Murong Ruyan clutched her belly and threw herself into his arms.
"Changge, I'm going with you."
"If I have to die, then I'll die with you and our child."
"We are willing to follow Lord Changge to our deaths!!!"
The several officials in the room all dropped to their knees.
It wasn't that they weren't afraid of death. They knew that reality was exactly as Su Changge had said: they had no way out.
As for fleeing the earldom...
Abandoning the people and running?
If the great men of the Heaven Dou Empire found out, let alone the king of the kingdom, he would send people to drag them back and personally skin them alive.
Besides!
Their families, clans, and estates were all in the earldom. Those things... they had once risked their lives to obtain. They absolutely could not abandon them.
"Who said we were going to die?"
"You bunch of fools, could you stop being so ominous?"
"My precious child hasn't even been born, and you're already talking about dying!"
Su Changge kicked Commander Mo, who was nearest to him, to the ground and cursed at them.
"Ruyan, you're pregnant. Stay in the castle and take care of yourself. You don't need to worry about the border."
"Though this will be tricky, it isn't all that complicated."
Su Changge stroked Murong Ruyan's hair. His peripheral vision swept over Commander Mo and the others as he continued, "The border guards mentioned in their reports that ice-and-snow Soul Beasts have appeared in the earldom repeatedly over the past several decades. Based on my calculations, this must be caused by the growing population of ice-and-snow Soul Beasts in the high-altitude regions of the Star Dou Mountain Range..."
"Their habitat hasn't changed, and neither have their resources. But there are more ice-and-snow Soul Beasts now. Once they reach a certain number, they'll exceed the limits of what the high-altitude regions of the Star Dou Mountain Range can sustain."
"Some high-ranking Soul Beast must be directing this invasion from the shadows... Their goal isn't to slaughter us, but to deliberately provoke a war and reduce the number of ice-and-snow Soul Beasts."
"Only when their numbers have fallen enough will the ecosystem and rules of the Star Dou Mountain Range's high-altitude regions return to their original state."
"So... we aren't going to fight these ice-and-snow Soul Beasts to the bitter end. We only need to reduce their numbers to the level those high-ranking ice-and-snow Soul Beasts in the high-altitude regions expect. Then the invading Soul Beasts will withdraw on their own."
"Everyone, go make preparations. Get the cavalry ready, and bring every matchlock musket, cannon, and piece of ammunition from the weapons forge! Also, conscript the militia and able-bodied men from the nearby villages, issue them weapons, and pay them what they're owed. Don't be stingy."
"We march to the border in three days..."
Commander Mo and the others took their orders and left. With Su Changge's deliberate reassurance, Murong Ruyan's tension eased, and she agreed to stay in the castle.
But still!
Was Su Changge really telling the truth?
What number did those high-ranking ice-and-snow Soul Beasts expect?
Could the Murong Earldom's current forces really hold out that long?