UCTOOT CH95

Outside the door, it was evening, and the setting sun was shining.

A group of people waited in place, seemingly anxious to report news to Xie Wuchi.

Xie Wuchi walked out the door and took the horse whip in his hand. Xin Bin led a spy to report: “My lord, according to surveillance news, Steward Wu led three carriages past East Tu Mountain and headed towards Bei Min. According to news gathered by the scouts, the man disguised as a merchant trading with them is actually the youngest son of the Fifth Great King.”

Xie Wuchi mounted his horse: “Has there been any unusual movement on the other side these past few days?”

“Replying to my lord, there is nothing unusual. The enemy army seems to have learned the news that grain and fodder in Yinzhou City have been cut off and is accelerating the siege.”

The horse headed in the direction of the council hall. Xie Wuchi tightened the reins: “I told you to keep a close eye on that ditch where the Second Young Master had his accident these past few days. Has anyone come?”

Xin Bin: “No news for the time being.”

With a thoughtful look in his eyes, Xie Wuchi turned the thumb ring on his thumb: “I asked you to inquire about this Prince Yinkun and the pair of guards beside him. Is there any response?”

Xin Bin let out an “oh” and hurriedly said: “We sent people to inquire, but could only obtain limited intelligence. This Prince Yinkun and his younger brother Antushu traveled within the borders of Great Jing in their early years and favored the culture of the Jing people very much. They traveled for four or five years before returning to their country, claiming to be ‘Jing experts,’ knowing some things even better than the locals.”

Xie Wuchi said calmly: “He does indeed understand Great Jing.”

Xin Bin looked up: “Has my lord met him?”

Xie Wuchi didn’t answer, reining in the horse: “Continue.”

“Anyway, after this Prince Yinkun returned to his country, he vigorously promoted some customs of Great Jing, asking his father, King Zhouchi, to implement them. Indeed, he managed the territory in an orderly manner. This time, he also actively accompanied the army to war, making his debut. However, there is one thing about him—”

Xie Wuchi: “Speak.”

“His mother was a Jing person, and his appearance also resembles a Jing person. He was subjected to much ostracism since childhood.”

Xie Wuchi was absent-minded: “This is the reason he is trying his best to attack the city, not hesitating to use vicious schemes. He wants to give the Min people a certificate of allegiance to prove his heart favors that side.”

While talking, they arrived at the government office. Xie Wuchi dismounted, handed over the whip, and strode through the door. Xin Bin chased after him: “As for the two guards mentioned, Yuan Guan and Yuan He, we didn’t find out much. We only heard that Yinkun is courteous to the wise and condescending to scholars, taking in all kinds of people. Perhaps he accepted them at that time!…”

Xie Wuchi walked into the council hall. Lanxian had always been the command center behind Yinzhou. Although the furnishings in the hall were old, the Great Ancestor of Jing had once stayed here, so the military generals and civil officials were all trembling with fear.

At this time, many people were in the hall. Some were staring intently at the map, while others were urgently copying documents. People were coming and going in the hot weather.

Seeing Xie Wuchi, they all stood up to salute. Xie Wuchi raised his hand: “No need to stand on ceremony. Let’s talk business.”

Someone pulled out a chair behind him. Xie Wuchi sat down and looked through the urgent report just handed to him. The people beside him waited dutifully for him to speak.

People around him still looked at him sideways to this day. Logically speaking, Xie Wuchi’s background was just a monk from Xiangnan Temple. He went from being an advisor in the Heir’s mansion to helping the Heir inherit the great lineage and become the new Emperor. Many people were very curious about the number one meritorious official who protected the Emperor from behind the scenes.

Among the border troops, they despised delicate nobles the most, and despised those who came here to gild themselves, suffering no hardships but occupying high positions due to their good background. For example, the likes of Jia Wu, who not only couldn’t command the border generals but would also face serious confrontation. Everyone else was licking blood from knife points and selling their lives in fire. Why should they be commanded by a young master who hadn’t even grown hair yet?

When the new Emperor ascended the throne and Xie Wuchi was just sent from the Eastern Capital to the Northern Army, he received the same treatment. Although he was already famous throughout the world, having both the reputation of a gentleman of new policies and the merit of recovering the place where the dynasty rose, the generals still didn’t accept him. It was only through day-to-day interaction, coupled with him personally going into battle many times and fighting together, that he subdued everyone.

Xie Wuchi sat for a moment, then stood up and looked gloomily at the map behind him: “Where has Ping Yichun’s army reached?”

“Replying to my lord, they have marched rapidly for two days since setting out from Yanzhou and have now reached Wenshou.”

Xie Wuchi was about to ask more when another vanguard general, Miao Yuanliang, raised his hand: “My lord, this general’s troops have long been stationed in Chaisang, waiting to echo Brother Ping’s army and attack from both front and back! When do we move?”

These vanguard generals included some inherited from Zhao Shirui and others selected by Xie Wuchi, loyal to him. Xie Wuchi turned the jade thumb ring on his finger and asked again: “No movement from the Min army?”

“According to reconnaissance, no.”

Xie Wuchi moved his gaze down from the map and pursed his lips: “Strange.”

Xin Bin asked: “My lord, why do you say it’s strange?”

Xie Wuchi had been watching Shi Shu for the past two nights and hadn’t slept well. There was darkness under his eyes, and his eyes were even colder: “Does the Min army not know that news has leaked? Those two brothers are smart people. They should know how much trouble the Min army will be in once the matter of the grain route is detected. He doesn’t dare to expose that he let someone go, and doesn’t dare to secretly strengthen deployment?”

Xin Bin: “This…”

“Strengthening deployment, how could there be no movement? No movement means there must be a trick. Military horses don’t come from nowhere. If a trap is set…” Xie Wuchi kept staring at the map.

Several generals who didn’t understand the situation looked at Xie Wuchi eagerly: “My lord, when do we move?”

Xie Wuchi: “Wait a little longer. Wait until dark.”

After speaking, he turned to look at the personnel in the council hall: “Tell the spies to strengthen reconnaissance. If there is even a shred of abnormality, report immediately.”

“Yes!” The voices were sonorous as they walked out the door.

The sun set, and Lanxian City fell into darkness again.

The nerves of the people in the council hall were taut, waiting for news of the military horses. Xie Wuchi sat in the chair, his eyes constantly reading a book, while a exquisitely structured crossbow in his hand knocked against the chair leg intermittently.

After learning it was dark, Xie Wuchi lifted his eyes and turned the novel to the next page.

When Xin Bin entered to clear the dishes, he inadvertently saw the book on the table and was scared black: “My lord, you—such an urgent battle situation, yet my lord still has the mood to read storybooks and erotica. What elegance.”

There were even pictures drawn in the picture book. Xie Wuchi closed the book: “The author is Yuan Yingshi. Books are things for people to express their feelings and aspirations. The beginning, development, transition, and conclusion reflect the author’s own personality quite well.”

“Where did my lord find the book?”

Xie Wuchi gestured next door: “Lord Jia brought many. His advisors also read books on the front line. And this Lord Jia is very fond of Yuan Yingshi’s literary talent—take this book away now that I’ve finished reading it.”

Xin Bin fell silent. To be honest, he guessed these two weren’t biological brothers. But servants never speculated on the intentions of those above.

“It’s dark, my lord. The troops are strong and the grain and fodder are fat. The brothers are all staring at the front line…”

Xie Wuchi didn’t answer. He washed his hands in the golden basin and asked back: “Let me ask you, if you lived in a certain country for two hundred years and were asked to return to a desolate homeland, would you be willing?”

Xin Bin: “Twenty years is possible, but two hundred years? Where is there any homeland? The place where one grew up is the homeland.”

Xie Wuchi wiped his face with a wet towel, revealing his handsome eyebrows and eyes shrouded in mist and darkness, and threw the towel back into the golden basin. He picked up the crossbow, hearing the sound of silk and bamboo not far away, and said evenly: “I’d better be overthinking.”

“Someone come.”

Immediately, Xie Wuchi straightened his expression and called the personal guards waiting outside the door: “Pass on my handwritten order, act immediately!”

Everyone’s expression turned solemn, and they stood up one after another. The characteristic of Xie Wuchi’s total control emanated, his eyes sharp as blades, containing both planning hidden like pool water and capable expediency. He had always been very decisive in matters decided, trusting his own judgment. Xie Wuchi said: “Miao Yuanliang, lead ten thousand troops up along the Mule’s Shoal wharf to hijack the grain back. Ping Yichun, set out from Wenshou, divide the troops into three routes to destroy the detected grain route and the grain storage location at Kenzhuang. Miao Yuanliang, seize it back if you can; if not, burn it all. Ping Yichun, do not be soft-hearted. Only burn and kill, do not loot. Do not leave a single grain of millet or rice for the opponent.”

The herald officer held the flag tally and said: “Yes!”

“There must be a sequence. The timing for the two shouldn’t differ too much. Attack from head and tail, pincer from both ends. It’s best to catch the opponent off guard. Ping Yichun is good at surprise cavalry attacks; let him do a good job.”

“Yes!”

“Act tonight. Catch them off guard. If news leaks, kill his whole family. If done well, there will be heavy rewards. If not done well, wait for the Min army to break the city and ride on your head to kill your parents and brothers.”

Xie Wuchi put on his cloak and strode out the door, his long fingers tugging at his collar: “Release the news that I went to Yinzhou City to aid Feng Chongshan and will only return tomorrow.”

After speaking, Xie Wuchi gave Xin Bin a look. Xin Bin nodded: “Understood. All those roads are being watched. The brothers are all ready. As soon as Old Wu returns with the beauties tonight, immediately—”

With one foot outside the door, Xie Wuchi thought of something and turned back: “Keep an eye on that section of the ditch where the Second Young Master was injured. If anyone comes to check secretly, capture them alive. Do not harm a hair on their head.”

“Also, if the Second Young Master feels unwell, report immediately.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Xie Wuchi mounted his horse, and the guards behind him followed one after another. Leaving a trail of dust, stepping on the night breeze, with robes flying, they galloped towards Yinzhou City.

Deep in the night, Shi Shu was lying on the bed. Someone returned Xie Wuchi’s book. Shi Shu was really bored and asked curiously: “What book? Please let me see.”

“Yes.”

Shi Shu flipped through and glanced at it. He didn’t expect it to be a picture book of erotica, scared enough to throw it directly.

“Help.” A while later, blushing, he asked the servant to pick it back up for him.

The author’s name place was torn off. Shi Shu flipped through it boringly by the lamp light. It was evidently a collector’s edition. Every two pages there was a picture. The pictures were actually colored, depicting two men hugging and embracing, clothes stripped off, fragrant shoulders slightly exposed, rising and falling in the embrace, very lively.

Shi Shu wasn’t interested. Boring stuff.

Throwing the book away, he simply lay on his stomach to sleep.

While he was sleeping here, inside Jia Wu’s courtyard wall not far away, they were still listening to songs as if nothing was happening.

The moonlight shone on the entire city wall. After moving away from Shi Shu’s room, it turned to the pitch-black grass. Inside the ditch where he had escaped dripping with blood late that night, two pairs of eyes popped out, grass leaves on their heads, bird calls coming from their mouths.

Two scouts were talking: “No one’s coming.”

“What’s in this ditch?”

“Didn’t you see? There’s a pool of blood. Someone fought here earlier.”

“That blood stinks. Still blood? If we attract wolves, we’re in trouble.”

“…”

Although they said so, the scouts still stared honestly. The forest deep at night was very cold. The chirping of cicadas and frogs gave a gloomy feeling of ghosts whispering in ears.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, in the vast forest before their eyes, under the moonlight, a small lantern appeared in the place that was originally silent, illuminating a square of dimly lit ground.

The scout’s eyes lit up, holding back the exclamation on the tip of his tongue: “Mother of mine, is the Commander-in-Chief a reincarnation of an immortal? Someone actually came here…”

That lantern extinguished when it reached a place with moonlight. But the figure walked near the ditch, looking down to check, seeming a bit anxious.

Shi Shu had collapsed in the grassy ridge for three days. After all, he wasn’t a Great Luo Immortal and couldn’t judge his life or death. As this person looked down, the two scouts also appeared, mimicking bird calls to contact each other.

One step, two steps…

Following behind him.

“Bold! Who dares to cross the border late at night and trespass on the territory of my Great Jing!”

Finally walking behind this person, they pounced fiercely, using all their skills to suppress the opponent, only to find it was very easy to suppress.

“Help…”

What came from beneath them was a woman’s voice.

In Yinzhou City, the night was dark. Xie Wuchi left the city gate, shadows dyeing the bottom of his eyes.

“Feng Chongshan’s bloody nature has been completely beaten out by Bei Min. He talks of inevitable defeat, and the city is lifeless. If grain and support don’t arrive, it’s death. Discussing with him has no benefit; no need to stay long.”

Late at night, Xie Wuchi walked for a long while. Before him was a pitch-black straw shed, the herbal medicine shop where Shi Shu worked. Xin Bin said from the side: “My lord hasn’t slept for a long time. How about resting here first?”

Staying in Yinzhou City wasn’t an option. It was better not to be in Lanxian City at this time. Xie Wuchi was followed by a large group of guards and was also a bit tired. Xie Wuchi had been staying up late almost the whole time.

He said: “Then let’s rest here for a while.”

He went in. Shi Shu’s bedding was still there, carrying a coolness of its own in the deep night. Xie Wuchi sat on Shi Shu’s bed, looking at the clothes and pants hanging on the rope, and took them down to fold them for him.

Xie Wuchi leaned on the bed, unable to sleep as he worried about matters in the city. He held a string of beads in his hand to play with, calming his mind. However, amidst this bedding, there was that sunny and warm smell from Shi Shu’s body.

Grain and fodder, city passes, alien invasion, military defeat… and the chaotic sound of silk and bamboo, people fishing for military merits and war fortunes in Lanxian… Xie Wuchi played with that string of beads, his nerves taut, his mental power highly concentrated, reaching the point of a headache attack.

At this time, the faint scent of bamboo leaves in the air, mixed with the refreshing soap scent on Shi Shu’s body, made him relax. His memory was full of fragments of walking freely with Shi Shu.

Xie Wuchi rested his head on the bed, closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank into sleep.

The night was heavy. After sleeping for an unknown amount of time, outside the door, a new recruit stopped the galloping horse hooves and said: “The Commander-in-Chief is here. What is the emergency?”

“In that ditch, someone indeed came to check. They have been caught.”

“I’ll go inform my lord.” Xin Bin ran quickly towards the door, only to see the dim light. Xie Wuchi was lying on his side, actually asleep on this bamboo couch in the wilderness.

Xin Bin was hesitating when there were galloping horse hooves outside the door again.

This time, Xie Wuchi opened his eyes. The dark clear light was reflected under his eyes. He slowly adjusted his cuffs, put his hair behind him, and stood up: “What is it?”

“My lord, the one who came to check the ditch is a woman, claiming to be Xiao Shu!”

Another horse was panting with exhaustion, kneeling on the ground as soon as it fell: “My lord… Steward Wu’s carriage has re-returned! It’s on the way!”

Xie Wuchi showed no emotion on his face, turning his pitch-black eyes away. Xin Bin nodded, put his hand behind his back, and took out a silver-white sharp knife.

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