183 Promoted Again
As soon as the empress said this, the other two were stunned.
The reason why Lin Ran was stunned was very simple. Before he set out for the north, he had already made it clear with the empress. No matter if the war was over or not, he would send the empress back to the palace.
Now that the empress wanted to keep Lin Ran in the Northern Garrison, could it be that she didn’t want to return to the palace?
Compared to Lin Ran, General Guo Fuzhen thought of many things—
First of all, although Guo Fuzhen didn’t know Lin Ran’s exact realm, since even he, who was at the ninth level of the Senior Martial Master Realm, felt that he was unfathomable, Lin Ran must be above the Grandmaster Realm.
In the agreements between countries, those above the Grandmaster Realm were not allowed to participate in the war.
Even if the empress wanted to violate the agreement, the generals in the army could not be appointed casually, especially in the border army. Every decision of the generals might decide the lives of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
Even if Lin Ran had the ability and the empress wanted to promote him, she should first arrange for him to be a lieutenant in the army. Only when he was familiar with the Northern Garrison and his ability was proven could he then be promoted to a deputy general.
Therefore, when the empress suggested making Lin Ran his deputy general, Guo Fuzhen was quite puzzled. In his opinion, this was something only a fatuous ruler could do, and the empress was clearly not a fatuous ruler.
Although Guo Fuzhen looked burly, since he could be the general of the Northern Garrison, he naturally had some wisdom.
In just a breath, Guo Fuzhen figured out the empress’s intentions. After kneeling down to take the order, he cupped his hands at Lin Ran. “Congratulations, Deputy General Lin!”
Lin Ran was stunned by this congratulation, but he couldn’t ask the empress in front of Guo Fuzhen, so he cupped his hands back without saying anything.
As soon as he did that, Guo Fuzhen revealed a troubled expression. “The war has ended, but the city is in urgent need of repair. It’s really not suitable for His Majesty to stay for long. However, the soldiers in the army also need to recuperate and can’t escort His Majesty back to the palace… What should we do?”
Looking at Guo Fuzhen’s troubled expression, the empress smiled faintly. “General Guo, have you forgotten that you just obtained a deputy general?”
With that, the two of them looked at Lin Ran. Lin Ran blinked and cupped his hands helplessly. “General Guo! I’m willing to escort His Majesty back to the palace!”
“Alright! Thank you then, Deputy General Lin!”
Guo Fuzhen laughed heartily, and the empress could not help but chuckle.
If Lin Ran still couldn’t understand the purpose of the empress doing this at this moment, he would be too slow on the uptake. The empress had promoted him again!
The deputy general of the Northern Garrison had real military power. Even if his rank didn’t change, his actual status had taken to a new height.
Most importantly, Guo Fuzhen had a tacit understanding with the empress. After accepting the “deputy general”, he sent Lin Ran to escort the empress back to the palace.
This way, Lin Ran’s mission and goal remained the same. He was still directly in charge of the empress’s safety. The only change was that he was now an important official of the imperial court with military power.
Although Lin Ran did not ask the empress, he could guess that she was probably preparing to start a war with the Great Yong Dynasty.
As Lin Ran was thinking, Guo Fuzhen took out a jade token from his waist. It was about an inch thick and the size of a palm. The surface was engraved with Azure Dragon and White Tiger.
Although the material was ordinary, the craftsmanship was really good. The lines were smooth and vivid. As he moved the jade token, the light on the surface changed, as if the legendary beasts on it had come to life.
Just as Lin Ran was looking at it carefully, Guo Fuzhen pressed something and the entire jade token instantly cracked into five pieces.
Lin Ran was shocked. When he took a closer look, he realized that the jade token was pieced together by a few different jade tokens.
At this moment, Guo Fuzhen held the White Tiger Token and turned it gently in his palm. With a soft click, the inch-thick White Tiger Token was split into two from the middle.
“Deputy General Lin.”
Guo Fuzhen handed over half a White Tiger Token with a solemn expression. “The Northern Garrison is divided into five platoons. When there’s no battle, you can use this token to mobilize 150,000 soldiers of the White Tiger Platoon.”
“If I die on the battlefield, with this token, you can command all the soldiers in the Northern Garrison at your will, so Deputy General Lin, please keep it well!”
“General Guo, don’t worry! I will definitely protect this token with my life.”
Lin Ran knelt on one knee and took the commander’s token with both hands. As if infected by Guo Fuzhen’s seriousness, a rare serious expression appeared on his face.
Guo Fuzhen nodded heavily and returned to his usual expression. He reached out to help Lin Ran up from the ground and cupped his hands at the empress. “Your Majesty, the city is damaged and needs repairing. We can’t really provide you a comfortable stay. Please set off early and return to the palace!”
The empress nodded slightly and was about to speak when a low horn sounded from afar.
Then countless low horns overlapped, like the roar of a huge beast!
“It’s the signal of an enemy attack!”
Guo Fuzhen shouted, and his expression changed drastically. Almost at the same time, Lin Ran felt the aura of martial artists approaching quickly. They were all at the ninth level of the Senior Martial Master Realm, and there were hundreds of them!
In a flash, Lin Ran appeared in front of the empress. At the same time, he summoned the Yin-Yang Sword and held it in his hand. He looked at Guo Fuzhen and said in a low voice, “General Guo, the people who came are all at the ninth level of the Senior Martial Master Realm. There are at least 400 of them. Can you handle them?”
Guo Fuzhen looked at Lin Ran in confusion, clearly wondering how he knew.
“Report—”
At this moment, a soldier ran in anxiously and knelt on the ground to shout, “General! A large number of people are approaching on swords from the north. Their realm is unknown!”
Guo Fuzhen’s expression changed slightly. “How many people are there?”
“I can’t see clearly. There are about four to five hundred people!”
Guo Fuzhen turned around and looked at Lin Ran in surprise. Then, he instructed sternly, “Get my armor and sword!”
“Yes!”
The soldier agreed and was about to leave when Lin Ran suddenly shouted, “Wait!”
Guo Fuzhen turned around and wanted to ask, but he realized that Lin Ran was frowning with his eyes closed, as if he was sensing something.
A moment later, Lin Ran opened his eyes and smiled calmly. “General, tell everyone to let their guards down.”
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