Eventually Ling Zhang compromised on Yuwen Tong’s insistence and let Yuwen Tong apply the ointment to him. The process of the administration of the ointment turned out to be yet another… Anyway, in the end Ling Zhang was so annoyed that he could’ve bitten Yuwen Tong with all his might. Fortunately, Yuwen Tong knew where the limit was. He hastened to coax him with some sweet words and carefully massaged his waist and thighs to ease his discomfort.
Then Ling Zhang got out of bed, dressed, washed quickly, and then ate the food brought by Yuwen Tong.
At this moment, apart from the sound of troops drilling, there were also many other sounds specific to a military encampment faintly coming from the outside. It was very likely that he was the only one in the whole encampment who’d got up so late. At the thought that everybody out there would guess why he had overslept, Ling Zhang felt like staying in this tent forever.
Yuwen Tong, who could tell what he was thinking, said, “Don’t worry. Nobody has walked past this tent from daybreak till now. I personally brought your food and the water you washed your face with. Jiang Xi and some others went to interrogate Chief He early in the morning. Nobody knows you got up at this hour.”
Breakfasting, Ling Zhang slowed down at these words. “Really?” he asked.
Yuwen Tong answered, “Your father seems to be still sleeping. Just act natural. No one’s going to overthink it.”
But in fact, the reason why Jiang Xi and the others hadn’t shown up till this hour was because they were sensible enough not to disturb them in these circumstances. Naturally Yuwen Tong wouldn’t tell Ling Zhang about this, for Ling Zhang was rather thin-skinned and might stress himself out after knowing it.
“Let’s go and check on your father after breakfast,” suggested Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang inclined his head, quickly finished the food which he could barely call breakfast and then left the tent with Yuwen Tong, heading for Ling Zhaowu’s tent.
Ling Zhaowu, who seemed to have just got up as well, was practicing fist techniques as morning exercise.
“Father.” “Father-in-law.”
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong walked up to him. Ling Zhaowu finished the last move of the set of fist techniques, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “I feel exceptionally comfortable every time I finish practicing this set of fist techniques. This morning, the soldiers are drilling with great dash, and practicing fist techniques amid their chants makes me feel much more energetic than before.”
Ling Zhang said, “How’s your physical condition, Father? You’re supposed to take a pill given by Mr. Mu every morning and every night. Have you taken one this morning?”
Ling Zhaowu gave a bob of the head and dried his face with a towel. “Yeah. Don’t worry. I care about my own health no less than you do. I slept well last night, and I’m feeling quite refreshed. I’ve recovered. There’s no need for you to keep worrying about me.”
Ling Zhang’s face took on a faintly relieved expression. “You’re drenched with sweat. You need to change out of those wet clothes. We’ll be here waiting for you.”
Ling Zhaowu said nothing and just went back into his tent to change.
Yuwen Tong observed, “Your father looks a lot better than before.”
Ling Zhang replied, “During our stay in the capital city, Mr. Mu had been trying to nurse my father back to health all along, and my grandfather taught him a set of fist techniques. He’s been taking medicine and exercising on a daily basis, which is why he looks in better health. Before we came to this city, I was worried that my father might be tired out by the weary journey, but now it seems that he’s doing pretty well.”
Yuwen Tong said, “Your father is fully aware of his physical condition. He accompanied you here probably because he knew he could handle it, so there’s no need for you to be nervous about it.”
Ling Zhang smiled, “I see.”
Having changed clothes, Ling Zhaowu walked outside, looked at them and said, “If there’s anything you need to attend to, you may go and get on with it. Just assign someone familiar with this encampment to keep me company.”
Yuwen Tong replied, “I’ll send a personal bodyguard of mine here. He’ll take care of all your needs during your stay here, Father-in-law.”
Ling Zhaowu gave a nod. “Okay.”
“We’re going to see Chief He. Do you want to come with us?” said Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhaowu thought about it for a brief moment and then answered, “I have little acquaintance with this kind of things. The reason why I came here with Zhang’er was because I was a little worried about you. Now I can see that things are going well between you two, so I’ll stay out of these matters. Just send that bodyguard of yours here so that he could show me around this place. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Mr. Mu lately, and I learned some methods of treating wounds, and I have some knowledge about herbal medicine, too, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to go to the infirmary and act as an assistant.”
Ling Zhang gave it some thought and then looked at Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong was quite agreeable to it. “I’ll have someone lead you there, Father-in-law. As chance would have it, a batch of medicinal herbs delivered by Brother Zhang’s men arrived only the day before yesterday.”
Ling Zhaowu said, “That’s perfect. I’ll go and help inventory them.”
Yuwen Tong summoned one of his personal bodyguards, but he didn’t let the bodyguard lead Ling Zhaowu to the infirmary alone. Instead, he decided to personally take Ling Zhaowu there.
Ling Zhang, “…”
A few moments ago Yuwen Tong had said that Ling Zhang might avoid meeting that army physician if he wanted, but they had just left the main tent and Yuwen Tong was heading for the infirmary.
Though poker-faced, Ling Zhang tried to make himself look natural, so that he wouldn’t be reduced to a laughing stock.
But when they had arrived at the infirmary, Ling Zhang found that this place was pretty roomy, and there was more than one army physician. Actually there were a lot of them. The infirmary was a large tent which covered a big area. Many physicians and paramedics were bustling around. Some were arranging medicinal herbs; some were treating the injured; some were changing patients’ dressings… In a word, the whole place was in busyness, but everything seemed to be going in an unhurried and orderly manner.
“These soldiers returned from the battleground only two days ago. Those grievously wounded ones have been transferred into the city. Staying here are those whose injuries are less serious,” said Yuwen Tong.
People inside were not really surprised at Yuwen Tong’s arrival.
“The Marshal’s here.” “Greetings, Marshal.” “Marshal.”
Injured soldiers, physicians and paramedics all genially greeted Yuwen Tong at the sight of him. The expressions in their eyes were reverent, but the looks on their faces were very natural.
“Marshal, may I ask who these two are?” Someone looked at Ling Zhang and Ling Zhaowu.
“This is Ling Zhang. You may call him Childe Ling. And this is Master Ling, Childe Ling’s father.” Yuwen Tong introduced Ling Zhang and Ling Zhaowu to them.
Ling Zhang’s name had some time ago spread through this encampment, so they all knew who he was.
“So you are Childe Ling!” On hearing that he was Ling Zhang, these people became more excited than they’d been when they saw Yuwen Tong. They exclaimed happily and then fixed their curious eyes on him.
Feeling rather embarrassed, Ling Zhang exchanged usual pleasantries with them. When walking past injured soldiers, he naturally asked them about their current health. The atmosphere in this place was very placid. There was no signs of dejection or despair on any of their faces, which impressed Ling Zhang deeply.
Yuwen Tong summoned some army physicians and told them about Ling Zhaowu’s skill set and his intention to help with medical matters in the infirmary.
After hearing about it, the army physicians looked at Ling Zhaowu and asked him many questions about treating wounds and identifying medicinal herbs. Having confirmed that he did have the required knowledge, a physician naturally assigned Ling Zhaowu some duties, and nobody was feeling uneasy about Ling Zhaowu’s identity.
Ling Zhaowu was clearly quite displeased with it. Soon he was engaged in conversations with those physicians. He took off his overgarment, revealing a skintight outfit. Then he cleaned his hands, put on a white coat, took the medical instruments from a physician’s hand and then started to change a wounded soldier’s dressing. He was so adept at it that he didn’t at all seem to be someone who’d learned only “a little” medical knowledge from Mr. Mu.
Ling Zhang looked at his father, an uncertain and thoughtful look in his eyes which only he himself could understand.
Yuwen Tong also stood there for a while. Seeing arrangements had been made for Ling Zhaowu to work in this place, he showed Ling Zhang around the infirmary and checked the injuries of wounded soldiers before leaving.
After seeing so many miseries, Ling Zhang inevitably had a heavy heart. Although those soldiers’ faces were free of depression and despair, their wounds were real and non-negligible. Furthermore, these were less severely wounded ones. Those with serious injuries would be an even more poignant sight.
Yuwen Tong didn’t want him to think too much about it, so he said, “Let’s go and find out how Jiang Xi is doing with that matter.”
Ling Zhang nodded and then walked to a tent with Yuwen Tong. In it, Chief He was sitting in a corner with a terrified and despairing expression. Faced with Jiang Xi and a couple of others, he implored, “I really have told you everything I know. I’m not keeping anything back. I don’t dare lie to you.”
Seeing Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang coming in, Jiang Xi said, “Marshal, Childe Ling.”
At the sight of Ling Zhang, Chief He hurriedly said, “Childe Ling, Childe Ling, please believe me. I’m really not keeping anything back!”
Yuwen Tong tossed Chief He a glance which was casual but made Chief He shut up immediately. Trembling all over, he didn’t dare utter another word.
“How’s it going?” Yuwen Tong inquired of Jiang Xi.
Jiang Xi replied, “This guy is indeed a spy sent by the Luohai Kingdom. He told us about that map Childe Ling mentioned. The Luohai Kingdom sent him here mainly to look for defensive vulnerability of this border city. He also gave us the names of some other spies sent by the Luohai Kingdom.”
Jiang Xi handed Yuwen Tong a piece of paper which had those spies’ names and identities on it.
Yuwen Tong ran an eye over it and then asked, “Have these people ever made contact with this guy?”
“Yes, they have, but Chief He’s task is different from theirs, so they don’t contact him often. Given that Chief He has left the border city for so many days, some of these people probably have already come to know about it,” said Jiang Xi.
Yuwen Tong thought about it for a moment and then said, “Have them continue the interrogation and see what else they could get out of him, but be careful not to kill him. Come with me.”
Jiang Xi inclined his head, put someone else in charge of the interrogation and then followed Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang out of the tent.
When they had walked outside, Jiang Xi asked in a hushed voice, “What do you have in mind, Marshal?”
Ling Zhang also looked at Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong replied, “First we need to have this guy make a full confession. If the information is useful, it would save us some trouble.”
Jiang Xi said, “I’ll have them make him tell us all he knows.”
The next day, Jiang Xi told Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang everything that Chief He knew. After doing some careful thinking, Yuwen Tong instructed, “Arrest all the spies on the list and interrogate them one by one. I want to know how they’ve been communicating with the Luohai Kingdom.”
“Yes, Marshal,” Jiang Xi answered with a nod and then took some men to catch the spies.
“What are you going to do?” Ling Zhang asked Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong responded, “The allied forces of the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom have been driven back fifty miles and lost momentum. Lingering around won’t do them any good. There’s no doubt they’d try to figure out a way to force us into having a final battle with them. If we make use of these spies in the correct way, we’ll be able to lead them any way we want them to go, which would make things a lot easier for us.”
Ling Zhang gave it some thought and then generally fathomed out what Yuwen Tong meant.
“Come. We’re going downtown. Jiang Xi and his men will be interrogating those spies there after catching them,” said Yuwen Tong.
