Chapter 202 - The Overbearing General’s Pretty Warlord (XXI)
He had been with the Primus for two months, and on his first day in the Primus, he received orders from General Shi to move out immediately, to buy as many horses as possible, and to set up camp in a frontier town to rest and recuperate.
There was no war in the barracks, but it was not idle.
Chu Ziling was busy from the moment he opened his eyes until nightfall, doing all sorts of military chores and arranging for the training of horses, which made him smell like horse manure.
Even when a donkey was lost in the vicinity of the camp, the inhabitants would come to the camp and make a fuss, insisting that the northern army had taken it away.
Just dealing with these naked and unruly people is enough to make Chu Ziling’s head spin.
He had been dealing with noblemen and celebrities for over a decade, but those who deliberately came to ask for food would not listen to him.
And what makes it even more unbearable for him is ……
”…… Senator Chu.”
Another officer, Cen, opened the tent and shouted to Chu Ziling, who was counting the horses, “There are not enough ink ingots in the tent, bring some.”
Within a primus battalion, there were often several counsellors, with different duties. Some were in charge of the tent and consulted on strategy; others arranged for food and supplies and were in charge of miscellaneous matters; others wrote and wrote the books, citing good and bad deeds, and so on and so forth.
Chu Ziling was shocked when he was first appointed.
He had always thought that everyone called him “deputy general” and that he had already lived up to his name, but who would have thought that when the froth cleared, he would still be an unknown boy.
And when he was refreshed and thought that he would at least become a Makuhari counsellor, Lu Dayuan, the big black tower man who had refused to join the Northern Army and who was now inexplicably his superior, arranged for him to become a counsellor in charge of miscellaneous affairs!
He once heard Lu Dayuan say to the chief counsellor who advised him to take care of himself, “Yes, he is Chu Ziling’s best man, but he’s new to the army and doesn’t know the core military affairs of the Primus Battalion, so if he were to give instructions, it would be like a blind man feeling an elephant. Besides, he used to do chores for the young general, so if he starts with something he is familiar with, it won’t be bad. Once he has a good understanding of the Primus Battalion, it won’t be too late to promote him upwards.”
Word for word, but also word for word disgusting.
Chu Ziling swallowed his resentment, put on a somewhat scribbled smile and turned to fetch the ink ingots.
On the way, he was constantly asked by junior officers for advice on miscellaneous matters, whether it was when the next food collection would be, or where to hold a suspected spy who had been captured by a patrol.
It was not until he entered the military tent where the miscellaneous items were stored that he was given a brief moment of peace and quiet.
After quickly fetching a side of poor quality ink ingots in a dry clutter, Chu Ziling didn’t even want to go outside.
He sat down in the tent and held his head, his ears still filled with the sound of “Senator Chu” and “Senator Chu” enquiries.
Chu Ziling buried his face in his palm and cursed silently.
It has been more than three months since Chu Ziling left Shi Tingyun to drink the wind and sand in this border town.
He no longer had a kitchen to share with his son, no more clothes to change daily, no more separate sheepskin tents, and he even had to use the same tent as another officer, and all the people he had cultivated in the main camp and in several of the main towns were cut off from him.
The Prince did not explain to anyone that they should take extra care of Chu Ziling.
It is indeed Shi Tingyun’s nature to act with aplomb, and it would be inconsistent with his style if he were to give instructions on this and that.
But Chu Ziling has had a taste of what it is like to worship the high and the low in just two months.
A straightforward man like Lu Dayuan would not have cared about the Prince’s favour and treated him like an ordinary soldier; while a man who was interested in flattering him for a while, but found that Shi Tingyun had no intention of looking after Chu Ziling, would suspect that he had offended the Prince and had been promoted but demoted to this nook and cranny to do hard work, and gradually alienated him.
Luckily, he had brought the carrier pigeon with a little grey on its neck.
When he had recovered, Chu Ziling fished two sheets of letterhead out of his pocket, plopped down between a pile of wooden boxes, took out a ballpoint pen and continued writing.
His letter with the southern border must not be broken.
”Lord Ai Sha, Ziling has not written a letter to present his case this month, so I bow down here and ask forgiveness. The unexpected death of General Wu Yichun was not my wish, I pray ……”
At this point, Chu Ziling put aside his pen in anger and made a large, ink-drenched cross on the page in annoyance, then rubbed the paper hard and stuffed it into his mouth.
He was a hero, and he was really holding his breath!
In the Battle of Fusui, he killed a straw general who tried to escape, which was not a great achievement on the Central Plains side, and was rewarded with a position as a counsellor.
However, from the southern border’s point of view, they had lost two cities in a row, Fusui and Weiling, with more than 10,000 men lost and a large amount of provisions falling directly into the hands of the northern army, while “Chu Ziling” had risen to fame after this battle, as if the success of the battle was all on his shoulders.
What’s more, the battle was indeed brought about by a letter he sent to the southern border, himself!
If he hadn’t tipped them off, the little Fusui would have been besieged, but it wouldn’t have involved a Wei Ling and a whole army of grain carriers.
The whole thing was laid out in black and white, and Chu Ziling couldn’t say what he wanted to say, but it was as if he was helping the northern army to plot against the southern border.
Whenever he cooperated with the Southern Border in the past, he boasted of his status as an imperial son, and every time he did not have a vague feeling of superiority in controlling the whole situation, but now that something like this has happened, he himself feels vain.
The failure to return to the letter, as promised in the past, has caused him even more sleeplessness.
What will the southern border think of itself?
Will they still believe in themselves?
But the situation was urgent, and Wu Yichun was so timid and fearful that he might not have confessed himself in order to stay alive.
If you don’t kill Wu Yichun, he must die!
Chu Ziling was so distracted that he simply put down his pen, picked up his ink slips, and got up to leave the tent, intending to write another letter in detail.
It had taken him nearly ten years to gain the trust of the Southern Borderers, he could not afford to lose it like this!
When he left the tent, he came face to face with Lu Dayuan’s adjutant.
Chu Ziling, with his thoughts on his mind, only gave a slight nod to the adjutant as a greeting and left on the wrong side of the road.
The adjutant was a little surprised.
When he first met Chu Ziling three months ago, he was clearly a young man with a lot of spirit.
At first, the adjutant was not badly impressed with Chu Ziling.
He had thought that at Chu Ziling’s age, having shot a southern general with his own hands, he should be proud of himself, if not forgetful, but when he met him, the adjutant noticed that he did not look very jubilant, that his brow was wrinkled at times, and that he did not like to hear others boast of his achievements, and that he should be a modest man.
In just three months, the sand and coarse diet of the frontier had roughened him up to the point where he had developed blisters on the corners of his mouth, and no sooner had the blister on his left lip dried up and developed a dark brown scab than the right corner of his lip bulged up again and a new sore bloomed in crystal clarity.
He was preoccupied and uncommunicative, not quite in keeping with the rumoured talkative and smiling nature of the man.
Zhan Yuan’s adjutant was known to be soft-hearted, and he shook his head once, thinking, “I heard that Senator Chu had grown up with his son since childhood, and I’m afraid he had never been separated for such a long time.
Besides, he was used to eating good rice and noodles and living in a good tent, and it was normal for him to be uncomfortable when he suddenly landed in this shitty frontier, where he had to deal with a bunch of strangers all day long.
With this in mind, he called out to Chu Ziling: “Ziling, come here.”
Chu Ziling turns back.
The adjutant pulled him aside, “It’s not a call to work, it’s a good thing. The news just came from above, our Primus Battalion, there’s a war on.”
Chu Ziling, who had developed a mouth full of blood blisters and ulcers as a result of his poor diet and depression, finally drew up a letter a few days later and put the pigeon into the windy sand.
A few days later.
The letter has been tossed around a few times and is again spread out on Pa Sha’s desk.
A pair of green eyes stared at the yellowing letterhead, pupils so sullen that it was impossible to tell what their owner was thinking.
Pa Sha’s lieutenant was already extremely impatient: “General! Do you still believe his lies? Aren’t the deaths of my uncle and General Wu in quick succession enough to wake you up?”
Pa Sha said coldly, “Died in battle? Wu Yichun clearly died of stupidity.”
Pointing to the top of the letter, he said to himself, “…… Why is he still writing to Ai Sha? Doesn’t he know that Ai Sha is dead?”
The lieutenant’s head was as big as a bucket: “General, I’m sorry, but I really don’t know why you have such trust in Chu Ziling!
”They say that in one life they killed pigs and in another they taught; I think I killed in another life and taught pigs in another.” Pa Sha said, “If you really don’t know, keep your mouth shut. I don’t have to give you an account of what I think.”
The adjutant had to keep his mouth shut reluctantly for a moment.
After a few moments, he could not resist and blurted out, “Then do you want to listen to that Chu and withdraw from Ningxia?”
Pa Sha laughed coldly and asked in return, “Do you really believe that the northern army would dare to raise a large army and cross the river to fight against Guining?”
The adjutant general was slightly surprised: “You ……”
”The North’s army fighting Guining? It is one of General Tie Muer’s fronts, separated from his own army by the Cang River. Whether or not the North’s army has the guts to fight us head-on, if we avoid them and retreat before the battle, what will we say to General Tie Muer?”
”But that Chu Ziling letter also says it all ……”
Seeing Pa Sha so sure, the lieutenant became uneasy: “…… said that the little thing named Shi had secret tactics and would take advantage of the night to cross the river and capture the city, and also set a reward for your head in advance ……”
One hundred gold to spare a string of kingfishers, a specialty of the Cangjiang shallows.
This reward sounds really hot.
”Ha.” Pa Sha was not angry, “A little villain, just trying to be clever.”
The adjutant general said, “That Chu Ziling has advised us very carefully to evade him and retreat to the eastern side of Inari, merging with General Suo to make a gap and form a pocket formation, so that Shi Tingyun can pounce on him, and then take the opportunity to join with General Glauca’s army on the western side to strangle the northern army from the east and west… …”
Pa Sha’s green eyes winked slyly, “I ask you, what if the Northern Army is not coming for me?”
”We and General Glauca of Changling and General Suo of Inacheng form a pincushion with each other. Changling and Guining are 200 miles apart, and Guining and Inacheng are 100 miles apart, so they will look after each other and lock the Cangjiang River across, making them an iron barrel. However, if the northern army is heading for Glauca ……”
The adjutant general suddenly realized: “Yes! The dogs of the Middle Kingdom are really cunning! General Gouka is in the west, just upstream of the Cang River, so the North’s army can sneak up behind them without crossing the river and take the city by surprise. The North’s army claims to be crossing the river, but how can they have the courage to confront us head on! If we listen to Chu and retreat to the nearest General Suo, won’t we isolate General Glauca and let him break our alliance?”
The more he said, the more he felt justified: “Indeed! That Chu is trying to swindle the general!”
Pa Sha said, “I think Chu Ziling has been hoodwinked. I’m afraid someone is using him to deliver a false message for us.”
He ignored another challenge from the adjutant general and lowered his eyes in contemplation.
Pa Sha still believes that Chu Ziling would never have rebelled if he had been motivated by profit.
But both Ai Sha’s death and Wu Yichun’s death prove one thing for sure: someone is taking advantage of Chu Ziling.
So why not make use of this layer of “use” to his advantage?
The adjutant general sighed with a sigh as he failed to see Pa Sha’s “faith” in Chu Ziling wavering, “…… General, you tell us what we should do.”
”Don’t ask him to pay any attention to what the letter says. If the northern army wants to ‘come’, then ‘come’. Send more spies to keep an eye on the Changling side. If any scouts from the Middle Kingdom appear, don’t alert the snake, pretend you don’t know and let them go back.”
”I wonder if I’ll let the two generals know?”
Pa Sha laughed, “General Tie Muer will not remember the credit I have given him for leading the reinforcements if he does not make the northern army hurt Glauca. I will take the credit for it alone. I have a big appetite, I’m not afraid to hold my breath.”
Chu Ziling, the chess piece, is probably already ruined, so why not take this ruined move and build his own ladder of green clouds?
At the end, he laughed and said to himself, “Little son of the Shi family, the same trick that Wu Yichun hit, and you want me to hit it again? I’ll be waiting for you with this hundred gold heads.”
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