CQDF 10

Tearing Up the Pig-Torture Script: Consort Qi Dominates Her Fiefdom

CHAPTER 10: Steel Reborn, the Wolf King’s Surrender

The furnace fires on the West Mountain rocky ridge burned continuously for three days and three nights.

During these three days, the blizzards outside Handan City swept through with destructive force, snapping withered trees and rugged stones along countless mountain paths. Yet within a hundred-meter radius of the blast furnace, the scene was entirely different—the thick layer of snow and frozen earth on the ground had long since been vaporized by that suffocating heat, leaving behind a cracked, charred surface while the air reeked of a heavy mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and iron ore.

Yu Xiaoqing stood guard by the furnace practically without sleep. Her practical dark-cyan hufu was mottled with black ash, her once-fair and delicate oval face was smudged with soot, and the cuffs of her moon-white dress had several small charred holes burned through by flying sparks as she continuously stoked the charcoal.

Yet her expression showed not a trace of fatigue; her clear, cold eyes grew brighter and brighter alongside the billows of thick white smoke erupting from the top of the furnace, resembling the brightest stars in a deep winter midnight.

Shi Zhongyuan had likewise gone three nights without closing his eyes. To maintain the terrifying temperature inside the blast furnace, he had even stripped off his heavy chest and arm armor, wearing only a deep-black form-fitting martial outfit. His bronze skin, slick with sweat mixed with charcoal ash, gleamed like dark gold under the reflection of the towering flames, making him look like an indefatigable war god forged of pure steel.

His right hand tightly gripped the eight-sided refined-iron sword issued by the Chang'an court, his knuckles turning slightly white from excessive force.

Success or failure hinged on this single moment. This was not merely the lifeline for the thirty thousand soldiers of Zhao, but the foundational cornerstone upon which the State of Zhao could truly establish itself under heaven.

"Your Ladyship! General! The temperature has peaked! The molten iron is ready to tap!"

The veteran blacksmith’s hoarse, soaring shout, accompanied by the frantic, heavy hauling of the dual-action wooden bellows, instantly tore through the raging wind and snow.

"Tap the trough—!" Yu Xiaoqing sprang to her feet, her cold voice carrying the unquestionable dominance of someone born to rule.

"Hah!"

Two bare-chested elite Yanmen warriors let out a roar, exerting every ounce of raw muscle as they swung massive heavy iron hammers and smashed open the clay mud-seal at the base of the blast furnace.

Boom—!

In an instant, a blinding gold-red brilliance erupted from the bottom of the furnace, like an ancient fire dragon waking from the depths of the earth to lift its head. Thick, scalding liquid iron, completely free of impurities under the extreme heat, surged out along the pre-laid clay channels, its dazzling brilliance instantly turning the dim West Mountain ridge as bright as day.

The molten iron was so pure it lacked a single flaw, emitting a chilling, heart-stopping hiss as it flowed. Such a sight was a miracle none of these native Han dynasty blacksmiths had ever witnessed in their entire lives.

The traditional Han co-fusion steelmaking method required countless artisans to repeatedly calcine and hammer for dozens of days just to yield a tiny speck of good iron, yet Consort Qi’s bizarre clay divine furnace had produced thousands of jin of refined iron in mere days!

"A divine descent... This truly is a miracle!" An old blacksmith dropped heavily to his knees in the scalding muddy ground, kowtowing frantically toward Yu Xiaoqing, his eyes filled with fanatical tears of shock.

Yu Xiaoqing stood before the blazing inferno, letting the scorching heat whip her long dark hair into a wild frenzy. She watched the surging molten iron, her gaze cold, resolute, and piercing as she issued her command: "Shi Zhongyuan, forge the blades!"

"Understood!"

Shi Zhongyuan let out a fierce roar, a piercing brilliance flashing in his eyes. He personally lifted heavy iron tongs, clamped down on the first batch of blade blanks—precisely proportioned through modern techniques, cooled, and rapidly hammered by artisans—and plunged them straight into the icy snow beside them.

Hiss—!

A massive collision of ice and fire echoed through the valley, sending a billow of white mist skyward that briefly shrouded both figures in a hazy, ethereal veil.

Accompanied by a crisp, lingering, dragon-like clanging resonance, a slender-bladed, refined steel saber casting an eerie blue gleam finally made its proud debut. The edge was thin as cicada wings, exuding a hair-raising, bone-chilling frost.

Shi Zhongyuan gripped the newly forged hilt in one hand. The moment it entered his palm, he felt a weighty, unprecedented solidity and sharpness. The fighting spirit within him—starved for victory through years of brutal slaughter—surged and roared frantically in that instant.

The young wolf general drew a deep breath and swung his right hand with a sharp tearing sound through the air, bringing the blade straight down upon the eight-sided refined-iron sword of the main Han army he held in his left hand!

Clang—!

A piercing, ear-splitting metallic shriek shook the entire West Mountain.

There was no stagnation, no obstructed resistance. That refined-iron sword—costing countless amounts of silver for the Chang'an court to forge and symbolizing top-tier Han regulations in the eyes of corrupt officials like Tian Wen—was sliced cleanly into two halves the moment it met the refined-steel saber, cutting through it as easily as tofu. The shattered lower half of the blade dropped weakly onto the snowy ground with a crisp jingle, burying itself in the drift.

Meanwhile, the refined-steel saber in Shi Zhongyuan's hand remained smooth as a mirror, its edge flashing with a fierce blue light in the morning sun without a single grain-sized nick.

The entire field plunged into a dead silence.

Over a thousand Yanmen elite cavalry and veteran masons stared blankly at the scattered pieces of broken sword for one second, two seconds... Then, a cheers like a crashing tsunami exploded into the air, its volume so massive it literally shattered the lingering dark clouds circling the sky!

To slice through iron like mud! This was truly slicing through iron as if it were mud! With weapons like these, those Xiongnu savages roaming the borders relying on brute strength and blunt, inferior scimitars would be nothing more than lambs to the slaughter before the Yanmen troops!

Shi Zhongyuan stared intently at the saber in his hand, his chest heaving violently. Out of sheer, overwhelming shock and ecstasy, his body even trembled slightly. He slowly turned around, gazing past the lingering white mist and firelight toward the petite figure standing in the center clad in cyan.

In this moment, this solitary wolf who terrified the northern frontier with his cold and unruly nature held not a shred of pride left as a general of the Han dynasty.

He finally understood that this woman had not come to the State of Zhao seeking sanctuary; she had come to impart a divine reshaping to this land and his army.

"Plop!"

Shi Zhongyuan dropped heavily to one single knee, raising the blue-gleaming refined-steel saber high above his head with a double-fisted salute, his booming voice rolling like spring thunder across the entire ridge:

"I, Shi Zhongyuan, on behalf of the thirty thousand soldiers of the northern frontier and the million subjects of Zhao... thank Your Ladyship for bestowing divine weapons upon the Han!"

"In this life, this subordinate is willing to serve as the sword in Your Ladyship's hand! Wherever Your Ladyship's blade points shall be the burial ground where I and the three thousand Yanmen cavalry fight to the death!" "Should I violate this oath, may heaven and earth strike me down!"

The court and the pugilist world, political maneuvers and destiny, completed their most fanatical convergence at this very moment. Behind him, over a thousand black-armored cavalry dropped to their knees in a sea of dark iron, their chilling armor scraping against one another to emit the roar and tremor of an iron torrent:

"We are willing to die for Your Ladyship—!" "We are willing to die for Your Ladyship—!"

A thousand voices roared in unison, shaking the nine heavens.

Yu Xiaoqing looked down at Shi Zhongyuan kneeling at her feet, looking into the fanaticism, absolute submission, and hidden deep affection burning within his eyes.

She knew that the first shot she fired upon arriving in the State of Zhao had been an absolute victory. She had not only secured the core military power of Zhao, but had also tamed the strongest, most untamed wolf king of the northern frontier.

However, before the cheers on the West Mountain ridge could even subside, a rush of frantic, chaotic hoofbeats reeking of blood suddenly erupted from down below the mountain.

A Yanmen border scout—covered in blood, with shattered leather armor and frozen almost stiff—scrambled frantically up the ridge and collapsed heavily before Shi Zhongyuan. His eye sockets were bloodshot as he cried out with his final remaining strength:

"General! Urgent report! Two thousand cavalry under the Xiongnu Left Wise King's command have launched a surprise raid on three villages in the northern region of Dai! Countless commoners are dead or wounded, and the grain supplies have been looted! The border beacon fires... have already been lit!"

The ecstatic joy that had just crystallized on the ridge was instantly washed away by the bloody frontier report.

Prime Minister Zhou Chang, who had hurried over shortly after, turned pale as paper, his voice trembling: "The Xiongnu... why did they have to pick right now to push south?! General, our army lacks winter clothing at a time like this, and weapon replacements have only just begun—how can we meet them in battle?!"

Shi Zhongyuan sprang abruptly to his feet, the gentleness in his eyes instantly vanishing, replaced by a monstrous intent to kill. He was just about to issue orders to mobilize troops when he felt a cool, yet incomparably firm hand gently press down upon his arm.

Yu Xiaoqing stepped up before him. Instead of shrinking back, she personally picked up a clean cloth and meticulously wiped the black soot from his face. Then, she took the dark-iron heavy breastplate handed over by her deputy and personally outfitted Shi Zhongyuan with it amidst the swirling blizzard, buckling the heart-protecting mirror in place.

"General, the new blades have just been forged; they are in urgent need of the beasts' blood to baptize them."

As Yu Xiaoqing tightened the straps of his battle robe, she raised her head, a heart-stopping, iron-clad dominance flashing across her bright oval face. She looked straight into Shi Zhongyuan’s eyes, speaking word by word:

"Two thousand Xiongnu cavalry, is it? I want the General to lead three thousand Yanmen elites equipped with the new steel sabers straight to the Dai border and hack every last one of those beasts into minced meat for me!"

Yu Xiaoqing forcefully shoved the blue-gleaming refined-steel saber into Shi Zhongyuan's palm, her words solid as iron:

"I want to stand atop the Handan city walls and watch the General return in triumph bearing two thousand Xiongnu heads. Let that person in Chang'an see clearly as well—the military might of Zhao is no longer what it used to be."

Shi Zhongyuan grasped the longsword with a reverse grip, an insane battle intent and ambition blazing in his eyes. He bowed deeply to Yu Xiaoqing, then whipped around abruptly, his deep-black cloak snapping violently in the roaring gale and snow.

"Yanmen iron cavalry, hear my command! Follow this general... to battle and slaughter—!"

"Roar—!"

Amidst the swirling snow, the wheel of destiny for the Han dynasty's northern frontier began to spin violently as the first batch of refined-steel sabers swept toward the battlefield.

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