Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Seeing that Gu Shenwei had drawn his saber and sword, Azheba straightened up. He still believed that he had done the right thing.
“I killed many people with them,” Gu Shenwei said as he turned around and put the saber and sword down on the table. Without responding to the counselor’s increasingly anxious hints, he continued to say, “If you wanted to kill people, what weapon would you use?”
Azheba didn’t understand why the Dragon King had suddenly asked him this question. He thought for a while before replying, “The bow and arrow.”
Gu Shenwei patted Fang Wenshi on the shoulder, indicating that he didn’t have to continue pretending to look for something. “If the counselor wants to kill someone, he will persuade the stronger ones and retaliate against his enemy with his glib tongue.”
Fang Wenshi revealed a bitter smile. “Dragon King, you really know me well.”
Azheba still did not understand. “The Court Attendants Army has no intentions of killing the Dragon King.”
Fang Wenshi opened his mouth. He now understood the Dragon King’s meaning. “For now,” he stressed, “Although the Court Attendants Army hasn’t tried to kill the Dragon King, they know that they have the same saber and sword as the Dragon King, the same bow and arrow as you, and… the same glib tongue as me.”
“Are you talking about the massacre of officers by the soldiers of Court Attendants Army?” Azheba was also a victim of the mutiny, but he still had deep feelings for the army he had once served. “It was an accident. The soldiers were bewitched. The Commandant had just been murdered and the morale of the army was still unstable…”
“Exactly.” Fang Wenshi interrupted the other side. Most soldiers could see the facts, but not the truth behind the facts. And that was the value of existences like the counselor. “The Court Attendants Army is a special army that directly belongs to the Khan. They will not pledge allegiance to other lords, not even the descendants of the Khan.”
“That’s true.”
Fang Wenshi glanced at the Dragon King. He hadn’t said these words before, but he was sure that the Dragon King would understand. At the moment, not only did he have to convince the young, righteous Azheba but also the Dragon King was becoming hesitant. “I mean no offense, but I have to say that the Khan had lived for too long. The current Court Attendants Army has forgotten that there were many Khans before the late Khan and that there will be new Khans in the future. They are only loyal to one man: the late Khan, dead or alive.”
Azheba reluctantly nodded because this fat white fellow was completely right. If it had not been for their deep affections for the Khan, the soldiers of the Court Attendants Army would not have been so easily bewitched by the shamans. And it was exactly because of the noble officers’ little concern of the Khan that provoked the hatred of the whole army.
“The Commandant was the Khan’s brother and also a personification of the Khan. With him, the soldiers still had someone they could worship. And the morale of the army was heavily shaken after he died.”
“The Dragon King can raise the morale of an army. He has that ability,” Azheba said eagerly. “The 100,000 horsemen of the Court Attendants Army are worth 150,000 or 200,000 ordinary horsemen.”
Fang Wenshi shook his head, disagreeing. “It’s impossible now. The soldiers of Court Attendants Army weren’t punished when they killed the officers and didn’t receive any resistance after pressuring the kings. They lifted the Great Shaman into a sky-high position and then threw him down without mercy. All these acts will have a subtle influence on their minds, suggesting that they wield executive power in their own hands and that the commander-in-chief is dispensable.”
“Let the Court Attendants Army suffer a bit then. As soon as the new Khan is elected, they will return to being a reliable army.” Unaware, Azheba had changed his attitude. He could accept the losses to both sides, but still felt that there was no need to completely wipe out the whole army.
Fang Wenshi smilingly shook his head. He was just about to refute the other side with an indisputable reason when the Dragon King spoke up. “That’s enough. Azheba, let’s go out and take a walk.”
Fang Wenshi’s smile became bitter again. In order to persuade Azheba, the Dragon King was going to cause trouble again. Also, Fang Wenshi didn’t want to walk into that group of soldiers at all. “Dragon King, your weapons…”
“I’ll leave them here. Keep an eye on them for me.”
“Ah? I can’t…”
Azheba silently followed the Dragon King, his anger wavering slightly now.
Long Fanyun and the guards who stood guard at the door received a signal from the Dragon King and did not follow them. However, three teenagers jumped out of the darkness and then hid themselvesagain. They were Nie Zeng, Tie Linglong, and Chu Nanping, who were all competing fiercely for the honor of being the Dragon King’s bodyguard.
The red-crowned roc had gone elsewhere to look for food. The beef and mutton in the camp were not to its taste and it did not like staying on the ground for a long time.
It was quiet all around the camp, and Azheba could almost hear the snores from the nearby tents.
Without a word, the two walked towards the area where the Court Attendants Army had been stationed. Although they had stopped using the name ‘Court Attendants Army’ for the time being, they still remained self-contained and refused to mix with the soldiers from other armies.
A dozen horsemen stood guard by the side of the road with torches. After recognizing the Dragon King, they nodded and let the two pass in a reverent and respectful manner, but did not dismount.
This was the pride of the Court Attendants Army. Azheba still remembered that he was treated better as a humble centurion of the Court Attendants Army than the chiliarchs of the kings when he occasionally went on a long journey.
It was late at night, but the soldiers of the Court Attendants Army had not all gone to sleep, and most of them remained outside their tent. There were numerous small bonfires lit between the tents, which were surrounded by a group of soldiers praying on their knees. The whispered prayers merged into a ubiquitous murmur.
A few of them noticed the Dragon King, but only lowered their heads more and did not stop their ritual of kneeling and worshipping the bonfire in front of them.
“I don’t know the language of the Norland,” said Gu Shenwei in a low voice. No one wanted to make a loud noise in such an environment.
Azheba immediately knew what the soldiers were praying in whispers when he listened to it closely. Strictly speaking, it was not a prayer at all. He explained, “It’s an edict issued by the Khan that encourages the soldiers to try their best to kill their enemies and share the glory with him.”
The Khan had issued many edicts to the Court Attendants Army and this one was nothing special. Somehow, it had become revered by the soldiers.
Azheba, who had served for nine years in the Court Attendants Army, was now walking around the camp like a stranger and was even feeling a little afraid.
Gu Shenwei sauntered along with no particular purpose, but received more and more attention. After turning a corner, he and Azheba were blocked by a group of soldiers.
There were forty or fifty people standing in close rows with the same attire, so it was hard to tell who the leader was. They all nodded respectfully to the Dragon King, but did not give him the courtesy a king deserved.
Nominally, the temporary master of the soldiers was Shulitu, and the Dragon King was only the Grand Mentor. While the red-crowned roc had given him an air of mystery, it had not improved his status to an exceptionally high position.
The first row of soldiers stayed silent, and the voice came from among those who could not be seen in the back. “We petitioned the Dragon King, hoping that he would convey our words to the young prince.”
Shulitu had three titles now, so it was a bit troublesome to correctly address him. No one knew who started it, but he was commonly referred to as ‘young prince’ now.
“Tell me what you want.”
It was still the same voice who refused to show himself. As more and more soldiers stopped praying and gathered around, the voice continued, saying, “The Khan is still calling his attendants but some people are not willing to follow His Majesty’s orders.”
“Tell me more about it. Who are they?”
“The man next to the Dragon King is one of them.”
Azheba was startled that the soldiers of the Court Attendants Army were still trying to kill the noble officers and bury them with the Khan.
“Azheba is a marksman and one of the most valiant generals in the army.”
“He’s also the attendant that the Khan needs the most.” The voice still appeared respectful but refused to give in.
“Azheba would have been out of commission in less than a year.”
“As long as he was an officer of the Khan’s, he has to take responsibility for serving the Khan even if he has only one day left before retirement.”
Azheba could not stop himself from speaking out. “You are the horsemen of the Khan and you served the Khan your whole life.”
“We are ready to go to heaven and continue fighting for the Khan, but you are not. So, you need our help, as do all the noble officers need our help.”
The argument was irrational but Azheba didn’t know how to refute it. He could only grip his saber and look warily at the group of people he was trying to protect.
The assembled soldiers soon reached a hundred, and another voice spoke out. “Dragon King, we are willing to fight for you and the young prince but our soul still belongs to the Khan.”
“Give us back the noble officers; that’s the only reward we ask for.” The soldiers were getting bolder and more talkative.
Gu Shenwei raised his voice slightly. “I’ve heard your request and will convey your words to His Majesty, but this is a military camp and I won’t allow any internal strife to take place.
This was the Dragon King’s bottom line. Azheba could clearly feel the animosity spread around him.
But no one stood out. The soldiers in the first row bowed to the Dragon King. The other soldiers then did the same and trickled away.
Azheba broke out in a cold sweat. He wasn’t afraid of death, nor of the Dragon King’s deadly saber and sword, but he didn’t want to die to the hands of some weird soldiers for no good reason.
Gu Shenwei pointed to the nearest bonfire and motioned for Azheba to pray with the soldiers.
Azheba, who no longer had much confidence in the soldiers now, removed his saber, handed it to the Dragon King, slowly squeezed himself into the crowd, knelt down, and started murmuring the empty edict in a low voice.
Slowly, a miracle happened. Azheba was drowned in the murmuring that was as tranquil as lake-water. The words came naturally out of his mouth – no longer dull and empty, but rather filled with some mysterious force. He felt as if something was pulling and lifting him up.
Azheba finally broke free of the force with all of his willpower and looked up. He realized that firewood was not the only thing burning in the bonfire, but dead soldiers’ had also been thrown in.
He quietly withdrew from the crowd and followed the Dragon King and walked out of the camp of the Court Attendants Army along the same path they had come in.
After taking back his saber from the Dragon King, Azheba was finally able to speak. “I’ve been in the Court Attendants Army for nine years, but I’ve never noticed anything this unusual about the soldiers before.”
“They are not unusual. Like most Norland people, they are just loyal to the Khan and believe that he ascended to heaven. It’s just that their beliefs are more firm. But they have been used and have been unable to extricate themselves from it ever since.”
“Used? By the shamans?”
“I’ll take you to them.”
The shamans had been taken prisoner and they had offered up some important information.
“There’s always a remedy.” Azheba still refused to give up on the soldiers. He could free himself from the prayer, and so could the soldiers.
Gu Shenwei was just about to say something when he suddenly reached out to stop Azheba. At the same moment, the three teenage guards revealed themselves from the shadows and rushed at the same place.
