Before long, Yao Yi returned. “Childe Ling, there’s no sign of the Jiangzhou rebel army. The small village at the foot of this hill is a village of huntsmen. There are around ten households in it, and all of them hunt wild animals for a living. Both the nearest village and the nearest town are pretty far away, so we may stay in this village for a couple of days if you want.”
“Let’s go down there to take a look,” said Ling Zhang, rising to his feet.
The village at the foot of the hill was very quiet. The villagers were taken aback by the arrival of Ling Zhang and the others. Ling Zhang didn’t reveal his identity. He just purchased a house from a local family with money, and then sent Jiang Yu’s bodyguard to talk to the villagers and reassure them.
This village was quite isolated. He could have the two squads of seasoned men sent by the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor) stay here performing the task of relaying messages. As a result, it was very necessary to set the villagers’ minds at ease.
Jiang Yu’s bodyguard had been to Jincang County and Jinhai County before, and he had some acquaintance with local people’s accent, habits and customs, so it was not difficult for him to communicate with the villagers. Moreover, Jiang Yu was with him. Jiang Yu could be a very mild and reasonable man when he wanted to.
There were not many residents in this village, but every household had one or two strong men who were excellent hunters. The villagers used to live in other villages. It was because of their dealings with each other during hunt activities that they’d settled down in this place which eventually became a village of hunters. Therefore, the hunter who’d been the first to build a house in this place had become the village head. As these people were faced with wild beasts on a frequent basis all the year around, there was a ferocious air about every one of them, and they were also very observant. As they could tell Ling Zhang and his men were no milksop, and these strangers treated them with due respect and had bought a house of theirs at an exorbitant price, they were fairly polite to Jiang Yu and his bodyguard.
Because of the effective communication between the two sides, the fuss caused by Ling Zhang’s and his men’s moving into the village gradually subsided. Ling Zhang enjoined his men and the two squads not to walk around in the village unless they had to, lest they disturb the villagers.
“Childe Ling, the hunters here said that they have to climb over that mound ahead to go out, that what with the poor transportation, barely anybody would come here. They know about the matter of the Jiangzhou rebel army, but the rebels have never shown up in this area. The nearest town, however, fell victim to the rebellion. All young and middle-aged men were press-ganged into the rebel army, leaving only old, weak, ill or disabled ones. The situation in the town is not very good, so the villagers here stocked up the supplies that they couldn’t produce by themselves and never went to that town again. Wild animals are basically their only source of food.”
After coming back, Jiang Yu and his bodyguard reported to Ling Zhang the information they’d got from some local hunters living in the village.
Ling Zhang had just taken a bath. Qiu Bing redressed his wound and advised him to have a good rest. After hearing Jiang Yu’s words, Ling Zhang asked, “How long has it been since they last entered that town?”
“About seven or eight days,” answered Jiang Yu.
“Is that the only way to get out of this village?” Ling Zhang asked another question.
Jiang Yu replied with an inclination of the head, “All the other areas are difficult to get through. This place is surrounded by mountains, after all. This village exists only because this part of the valley is a gentle slope suitable for building houses. A while ago I made some inquiries and also looked in that direction. The mound they mentioned is not very high. The path is much more walkable than the defile we’ve traveled along in the past two days. Beyond that mound is a road leading straight to the nearest village. We may go to the town by way of that village, but if we’re to go to Haizhou, we’ll have to turn right after climbing over that mound. The village head told me that there’s a defile trod by only herb gatherers, which leads to a village in Jinhai County. If we go through that village, we’ll find a broad road leading straight to Haizhou.”
This was good news. It meant that they didn’t have to pass that town or alarm any of the rebels.
But now that they’d decided to stay in this village for a couple of days, Ling Zhang believed he should send Yao Yi and some others to that town and nearby villages to check out the lay of the land, see how the local people had been doing, and for good measure make some inquiries about the recent movements of the Jiangzhou rebel army.
Yao Yi picked a couple of men and set off that very night. Wang Dashan and some others had deployed a concealment formation on the periphery of the village to as a defensive measure. They’d also specially informed the villagers of it, telling them that they would have to find one of Ling Zhang’s men to lead the way for them before going in or out of the village.
Though guiding the villagers through the formation would take some time, they believed there was no harm in being extra careful.
Feeling that he couldn’t just stay indoors and do nothing during his several-day rest cure, Ling Zhang called the village head in and asked him at length about the path leading to Haizhou. The village head and some other villagers would sometimes go to a town in Jinhai County to buy grain, and they were all very familiar with the path, so he drew a road map for Ling Zhang.
The village head was a smart man. From what Ling Zhang was doing, he divined that Ling Zhang was no common person, but he didn’t ask any questions. He never pried or tried to strike up relationships with Ling Zhang’s men. Also, he was well respected in the village and all villagers were very obedient to him. By tacit agreement, the two sides always stayed out of each other’s business and never disturbed each other.
Ling Zhang, who appreciated the village head’s social savvy very much and didn’t want to put him in a difficult position, let him go after getting the information he needed.
“Your route back to the encampment should be the same one that we took to come here. We’ve traveled along it once already and are now acquainted with it. Given your fast speed, you can get back to the encampment from here in a day and a half. The other squad are to find somewhere near a town in Jinhai County and hide there. I’ll have the messages from Haizhou delivered to you. After getting the messages, you’re to immediately go back to the encampment to relay them.”
After making arrangements for the two squads of picked soldiers to do what they were supposed to do, Ling Zhang instructed Wang Dashan and a couple of picked soldiers to go out of the village to scout out the lay of the land of the areas along the route the village head had told him a moment before, and see if they could find a suitable hideout.
The next afternoon, Wang Dashan and the others returned and drew a detailed map with all the paths they’d confirmed marked on it. Also, they’d found a suitable hiding place.
“We’ll indeed be not far away from that town if we get out of this village along this route. There are many roads in that area, along with quite some village paths. We may stay away from those main roads and take one of the village paths to get to the checkpoint between Jiangzhou and Haizhou, and then figure out a way to get through the checkpoint,” said Wang Dashan.
Ling Zhang nodded. “Okay, then. It seems we’ve got ourselves a tentative plan.”
The next morning, Yao Yi and the others came back.
“Childe Ling, the rebel army are press-ganging people in nearby towns again. They lost a lot of men during the fighting against the army of the imperial court a few days ago and are now very anxious to recruit new soldiers to regain strength.”
Ling Zhang knitted his brows. Almost all male residents in this prefecture that hadn’t been press-ganged into the rebel army yet were either old or weak or ill or disabled. If those rebels kept doing that, Jiangzhou would definitely be decimated.
Yao Yi continued, “Judging from what I’ve heard during the trip, Jiangzhou residents are having more and more complaints against Wang Xiangxin, but Wang Xiangxin has been working hand in glove with the local yamen and running roughshod over them, so they have nobody to air their grievances to, and neither do they have the power to stick up for themselves.”
Ling Zhang thought about it for a brief moment before he said, “We set off early tomorrow morning. My arm’s a lot better now. The situation brooks no delay. Wang Xiangxin has probably reached the checkpoint in Haizhou already. We need to get there as soon as possible to find out how things stand.”
Yao Yi looked at Qiu Bing, who was decocting medicinal herbs in the corridor outside. On sensing Yao Yi’s gaze, Qiu Bing flicked a backward glance at him and said, “The way I see it, it’s best if Young Master stays here to have a rest cure, but Young Master wouldn’t heed my words, so I might as well just keep my mouth shut.”
After saying this, he twisted his head around to look at the boiling pot, sulky-faced.
Yao Yi turned his head to look at Ling Zhang, who said with a calm expression, “It’s not like we’re still in the palace or something. Since we’re out here on a mission, I can’t let this minor injury of mine hinder us from getting the job done. Yuwen… Your master will get to the destination soon. We have to go there to rendezvous with him as quick as we can.”
Ling Zhang was so used to referring to Yuwen Tong by his full name that he almost said his name again from force of habit. He secretly introspected about it for a moment.
Qiu Bing outside the room muttered, “You just couldn’t wait to see him. There’s no shame in admitting it.”
Ling Zhang lapsed into silence. After a while, he failed to restrain himself. “What is it you’re muttering out there, Qiu Bing? You want to get your ass kicked?!”
Qiu Bing shut his mouth immediately, not daring look back, staring at the stove over which a medicine pot was boiling.
“Ahem, Childe Ling, Qiu Bing is just worried about you,” said Yao Yi in a timely manner.
Ling Zhang was fully aware that Qiu Bing didn’t want him to do anything that might exacerbate his arm injury, but he really couldn’t bear staying in this place for another day.
Apart from anything else, he really missed Yuwen Tong very much. In the first few days of the journey, he’d been too busy to think of Yuwen Tong, but these two days, he had a lot of leisure, and the knowledge that Yuwen Tong would soon get there was like a fire burning inside his chest, rendering all his efforts to calm himself down useless. He couldn’t help but keep thinking of Yuwen Tong. This wound was nothing compared with the ordeal of missing him. Even shortening the separation by merely a single moment would be good enough for him.
On top of that, there was no doubt Yuwen Tong wouldn’t be reading the last letter he’d written him anytime soon, so he had to tell Yuwen Tong in person about what had happened in Cangzhou as well as the matter of Shan Congyi.
Wang Xiangxin would sure as hell do whatever he could to get in touch with the Luohai Kingdom. All these were pressing issues, and he couldn’t afford to waste any time.
…
Meanwhile. In Haizhou.
On this day, the merchant ship Yuwen Tong was on arrived in Pingtao City which was a port city in southern Haizhou and also the city nearest to the checkpoint on the boundary between Haizhou and Jiangzhou. Thanks to the frequent maritime trading activities conducted here, it was one of the most prosperous cities in Haizhou. Also, if the Luohai Kingdom was to invade, this city would be the perfect landing site for its troops.
The closest navy base was located on a nearby island. This place was not far away from the island that the Millennium Pavilion had selected, which was why they had discovered the secret intrusion of the Luohai Kingdom.
If the Luohai Kingdom’s army were to blindside the navy force of the Great Wen, they would first have to get ashore without alarming the navy, and the best way for them to do that was to make a detour around the “death zone” that the island of the Millennium Pavilion lay within, disembark in the south and then covertly move north.
Yuwen Tong had some time before sent a letter to Haizhou. The Haizhou garrison and the Haizhou navy had been forewarned and taken precautions, so they wouldn’t really be blindsided by the Luohai Kingdom.
The main reason why Yuwen Tong had come was that he wanted to put an end to the unrest in Jiangzhou as soon as possible and then bring Ling Zhang back to the capital city.
“Sire, this is a detailed chart of the nearby waters.”
In a military encampment near Pingtao City, the commander of the Haizhou garrison, the Haizhou governor, and the commander of the Haizhou navy all gathered in the main tent. The commander of the Haizhou navy unrolled a detailed chart to show it to Yuwen Tong.
“In this vast sea area hide the pirates. Their hideouts are far away from one another, and they normally fend for themselves, which makes it very difficult to finish them once and for all. Fighting them is like fighting a guerrilla war. This time around, my scouts discovered that these pirates seem to be planning to form an alliance, presumably because they’ve taken bribes from the Luohai Kingdom.”
