When human life is valued, a single rage can cause hundreds of thousands to bleed. When human life is cheap, one becomes just another among those hundreds of thousands.
By the luck of being born into a good family, Fu Shen had not become one of those “ten thousand,” but he also did not want to be the “one in ten thousand,” caught between killing and being killed. He wanted to find a third path.
“Jing Yuan,” Duan Guihong suddenly spoke.
This time, he was neither angry nor reproachful, calling Fu Shen’s name calmly, as if finally setting aside all his disguises and revealing the rock-solid, cold interior beneath.
In the fourth year of the Yuantai era, when Fu Ting’xin was injured, Duan Guihong found the antidote and learned about the terrifying nature of this plant from a southern frontier witch doctor. During a stalemate in the border war, with Han troops and Tatar cavalry at a standstill, Duan Guihong wanted to break the impasse with a surprise strategy. He sought out Fu Ting’xin to discuss a plan to destroy the Alamu tribe’s grasslands with this herb, combined with an epidemic. Fu Ting’xin found this method too cruel and vicious, absolutely refusing to agree. Just as he was feeling discouraged, Fu Ting’zhong found him and secretly finalized this plan.
The following spring, the Alamu tribe’s grasslands were invaded by the rampant Autumn Night White, with epidemics widespread, throwing the entire tribe into panic and turmoil. Fu Ting’zhong led the troops to attack, achieving a great victory against the Eastern Tatar cavalry in the Great Blue Mountain, with Han troops even penetrating deep into the grassland’s interior, nearly capturing the Eastern Tatars’ royal city.
After that battle, when Duan Guihong was proudly showing off his achievements to Fu Ting’xin, Fu Ting’xin only said, “What sin have the common people committed?”
In the same autumn, Fu Jian fell ill in Ganzhou and never recovered. During his illness, he submitted a memorial to the imperial court recommending Duan Guihong as the general of the Western Expedition Army to quell the rebellion in the southwest.
