I, Am a Living Yama; Empress Advises Me to Stay Calm

Everyone was stunned, their jaws dropped. They were drenched in sweat, hardly able to process what they’d just heard.
Adding iron shards and nails to the gunpowder? It was beyond treacherous.
No wonder they called Yang Yi the Living Yama.
The training ground fell into a suffocating silence. Wu Zhao, though shaken, suppressed her excitement.
In a deep, measured voice, she said,
“I will arrange for these explosives to be sent to the front immediately…”
Then, she added with deliberate gravity, “Minister Yang, you have made a great contribution.”
Yang Yi folded his hands respectfully.
“Your Majesty, I have someone under my command who can carry out this important task. I would like him to lead the suicide squad to the front.”
Wu Zhao raised her eyebrows, but her answer came without hesitation.
“Very well, I will entrust this matter to you.”
Everyone looked at Yang Yi with envy. To be granted such honour and favour by the Empress was a rare and coveted privilege. Yang Yi smiled slightly, then turned toward Wu Yuanshuang, whose expression was conflicted.
“Prince Wu,” Yang Yi began, his voice calm yet sharp, “do you think this gunpowder can solve the Qing threat?”
Wu Yuanshuang swallowed hard, forcing a strained smile.
“This gunpowder is indeed powerful, but the battlefield is ever-changing. It’s hard to say if it will be enough.”
Yang Yi nodded in agreement.
“That’s why you secretly met with the Qing envoy and accepted their bribes, isn’t it?”
The crowd froze in shock, all eyes snapping to Wu Yuanshuang in astonishment.
Wu Yuanshuang’s face turned ashen, and he stammered, “You… you are slandering me!”
But Wu Zhao cut him off, her voice cold and decisive.
“I have known about the Qing envoy since the day they entered the city. Did you really think your scheming would go unnoticed?”
With a sharp command, she barked, “Guards, take him away.”
Wu Yuanshuang’s face paled even further.
“Sister! You cannot kill me!” His voice broke in desperation.
“Father said on his deathbed that we must remain siblings, that we should never kill each other—”
His protests were cut short as the guards dragged him away, his cries fading into the distance.
Yang Yi sneered as he watched.
“Did you really think you were the great War god? Taking bribes and stirring up trouble… What a pathetic end.”
…
“General Heichi…” Guo Jingzhi said with a bitter smile, “We can’t hold out any longer…”
Heichi Changzhi, leaning against the city wall, his body battered and weary, silently bandaged his wounds.
He spoke firmly, despite the pain, “No matter what, we must hold this place.”
Guo Jingzhi sighed, glancing toward Li Cunxiao, who stood not far away, unyielding like a mountain.
“This Li Cunxiao… he’s a monster. He never seems to tire.”
Heichi Changzhi nodded in silence.
“Minister Yang is no ordinary man, and the people he recommends are anything but ordinary.”
Without Li Cunxiao holding the line, Yucheng would have fallen long ago. Time and time again, Li Cunxiao had swept through the enemy ranks like a god of war, leaving even the Qing cavalry trembling in awe.
But despite his heroics, the enemy’s sheer numbers were overwhelming. Even the greatest warrior cannot defeat an army alone.
The shouts of the Qing army erupted outside the walls once more. Heichi Changzhi’s face tightened as he gazed out at the endless sea of Qing soldiers.
The air was thick with killing intent. Everyone on the wall could feel it—death loomed.
Heichi Changzhi’s voice broke the silence.
“Gentlemen, Yucheng is about to be breached. We have received the Empress’s mercy and bounty. Today, we die for Her Majesty!”
The soldiers’ hearts quaked, but the weight of their loyalty steeled their resolve.
“Prepare to die for Her Majesty!” Heichi Changzhi roared, brandishing his weapon.
“Long live the Great Zhou!”
His cry echoed across the walls, and the soldiers joined in, their voices rising in a chorus of defiant loyalty.
“Long live the Great Zhou!”
Their grief and fear were replaced by an unshakable fighting spirit. They would fight, they would die, but they would not surrender.
Then, suddenly—
A thunderous voice echoed over the battlefield.
“General Xu Chu under Minister Yang of the Great Zhou is here! Qing dogs, surrender now!”
Heichi Changzhi and the others blinked in disbelief, turning to look over the city walls.
Li Cunxiao’s sharp eyes narrowed, and his gaze locked onto the distant horizon. A cloud of dust was rolling toward them, accompanied by the fluttering banner emblazoned with the word “Yang.”
The leader of the approaching force was a burly man, built like a mountain, with eyes like lightning and an aura of fearsome might.
“Reinforcements!”
Heichi Changzhi shouted, his voice thick with relief.
“Reinforcements have arrived!”
Guo Jingzhi and the others were overjoyed. Even though they had prepared to die, the sight of reinforcements rekindled their hope for survival.
But then… Guo Jingzhi’s expression changed.
“Wait. Why are there so few?”
Everyone else quickly realized the same. Xu Chu had brought only a few thousand men into the enemy’s overwhelming ranks.
The enemy cavalry, clad in their infamous black heavy armor, quickly noticed too. They charged toward Xu Chu’s small force with savage intent.
“Damn! It’s the Iron Pagoda!”
Heichi Changzhi and Guo Jingzhi paled in horror. How could Xu Chu stand a chance with such few men?
It seemed inevitable—a fight to the death.
The Iron Pagoda, a relentless juggernaut, crashed toward Xu Chu’s forces like an unstoppable wave. Heichi Changzhi gritted his teeth in frustration, pounding the city wall with his fist.
It was over. The Great Zhou reinforcements were about to be crushed—
Then…
A sudden explosion ripped through the battlefield, and flames erupted across the Iron Pagoda ranks.
The ground trembled under the force of the explosions, and the once-formidable Iron Pagoda soldiers were instantly consumed by the inferno, torn apart like paper.
Screams of agony filled the air as the Qing soldiers were blown into countless pieces.
Heichi Changzhi’s mouth fell open in shock. He stood frozen, watching the scene unfold as if in a nightmare.
“What… what is this?”
Guo Jingzhi and the others were no less startled, their eyes wide as they stared at the carnage below. Limbs and blood rained from the sky, the once mighty Iron Pagoda reduced to nothing in mere moments.
The soldiers on the city walls gasped in unison, their hearts pounding in terror. The Iron Pagoda, the invincible cavalry, had been blown apart so easily?
Swallowing hard, Heichi Changzhi gripped his weapon, his knuckles white. His voice trembled with awe and disbelief.
“Could this be… the work of that strategist again?”
Xu Chu’s earlier shout echoed in his mind. Yang Yi’s name hung heavily in the air.
“Damn it,” Heichi muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
“This Minister Yang is ruthless. He’s truly the Living Yama.”