Ling Zhang stiffened with alarm. Yuwen Tong standing opposite him inwardly gave a mirthless smile as he saw Ling Zhang’s face registering embarrassment as though he were caught red-handed.
Ling Zhang blanched, cold sweat breaking out over his forehead. He had believed that his pretence was flawless.
“I’ll tell you!” said Ling Zhang, feeling terribly upset at Yuwen Tong’s mirthless smile. Worried that Yuwen Tong might overthink the situation, he hastened to confess.
With that he admitted the Child Worm in him had been causing him pain on occasions. “The pain is only occasional, really. Believe me. It’s okay as long as I‘m not experiencing an intense mood swing.”
Looking at Ling Zhang’s bearing of mingled nervousness and alarm, Yuwen Tong came to know that this time around he was telling the truth, but recently this guy had always been trying to keep things back from him, and he would have still been in the dark about this matter had he not found out about it by himself; he needed to mete out punishment to this guy. As regards what kind of punishment would be suitable, he had to give it some thought before making a decision. Though inclined to punish Ling Zhang right away, he restrained himself in the knowledge that the Child Worm was still inside Ling Zhang, that if by any chance he caused Ling Zhang’s mood to fluctuate and the worm to make trouble again, he would end up suffering from guilt and heartache.
“I want you to have a nice rest in the next couple of days. I’ll handle all the military affairs before Mr. Mu arrives, so don’t concern yourself with anything, and don’t give the worm the chance to cause you pain,” said Yuwen Tong, caressing him.
Ling Zhang scrutinized his face. He was letting it go? He was not mad any more?
Naturally Yuwen Tong perceived that Ling Zhang was furtively studying his countenance. He inwardly snorted but showed nothing on his face. “Just sleep here. Don’t go back to that tent. Don’t make me worry. Okay?”
Ling Zhang, who didn’t dare say no in these circumstances, immediately replied with a nod, “Okay. I’ll sleep here.”
Having found no sign of anger on Yuwen Tong’s face, Ling Zhang inwardly let out a sigh of relief. He did everything Yuwen Tong told him to do. He even obediently let Yuwen Tong help him take off his clothes and shoes.
“Do you feel any pain when I touch you like this?” Yuwen Tong asked him gently.
Ling Zhang shook his head. “No.”
Now relaxed, he had better control over that Child Worm. He carefully circulated his internal energy and the worm remained calm, unable to do him any harm.
“Good. Now lie down,” said Yuwen Tong in a low and deep voice.
Ling Zhang meekly settled himself in the bed. After tucking him in, Yuwen Tong felt like kissing him on the brow but forbore from doing so for fear of stimulating the worm inside Ling Zhang. Instead, he patted Ling Zhang’s chest which was covered with quilt. “Sleep. I won’t leave until you get to sleep.”
What with the process of extracting the Gu worms, Yuwen Tong had not left this tent for hours. Worrying that there might be something urgent that Yuwen Tong needed to deal with, Ling Zhang closed his eyes immediately after hearing Yuwen Tong’s words. He did not try to convince Yuwen Tong to leave directly. Yuwen Tong not being mad at him struck him as amazing enough, not to mention Yuwen Tong being so gentle at this time … Ling Zhang instinctively felt that he must not disobey Yuwen Tong in these circumstances.
As Yuwen Tong saw Ling Zhang meekly close his eyes to sleep, his pat on the quilt became lighter, the look in his eyes turning impenetrable. He softly moved a strand of loose hair behind Ling Zhang’s ear and then just looked at Ling Zhang.
Ling Zhang was indeed tired. Also, he was anxious for Yuwen Tong to clear his mind and leave to perform his duty, so after closing his eyes, he began to circulate his internal energy slowly, deepening his breathing in an effort to calm down. Gradually, he relaxed and after a few moments, he really drifted off to sleep.
…
Ling Zhang had a very long sleep. It was early the next morning that he woke up. Dawn had not broken yet, and there were torches still ablaze outside.
The moment he awoke, he felt Yuwen Tong’s arms around him with the quilt in between. Yuwen Tong’s embrace was so warm that even his act of opening his eyes was languid. When his eyes were fully open, he realized something, hurriedly twisted his head around and felt relieved as he saw that Yuwen Tong was covered with a quilt as well.
“You’re awake.” Yuwen Tong woke up shortly after Ling Zhang. As he saw Ling Zhang looking at him with burning eyes, he felt a constriction in the throat and subdued an urge to kiss Ling Zhang. “Are you experiencing any discomfort? Is it aching again?” he asked.
“No discomfort. No pain,” replied Ling Zhang honestly, looking at Yuwen Tong with earnest eyes, hoping that Yuwen Tong believed he was not lying.
Now Ling Zhang didn’t dare even thinking about lying to Yuwen Tong, because Yuwen Tong had found out about what he had believed he had been doing a very good job concealing.
Because Ling Zhang looked well and had slept the whole night through, Yuwen Tong knew that he was not lying. “If you’re experiencing any discomfort, you must tell me. I need to know,” he said.
“I will,” Ling Zhang promised immediately.
“We’re breaking camp today. The army depart in two hours. Have something to eat after washing. You haven’t had anything since last night.”
“Okay.”
Yuwen Tong wanted very much to hold Ling Zhang for a little while longer, but considering Ling Zhang’s hunger, Yuwen Tong got up, scooped Ling Zhang out of the quilt and dressed him before allowing him to go outside to wash, pee and make himself more presentable.
Xie Shi had got up very early and supervised the cooks preparing Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong’s breakfast. On hearing the movement in the main tent, he came to know that the imperial couple had got up and then he brought their breakfast into the tent.
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong breakfasted and had a few moments’ rest. Xie Shi examined Ling Zhang and checked that he was fine. Before long, the army broke camp, preparing to depart.
…
Jifang City was a fairly long distance away from this city, mainly because the vast land in between was not suitable for building a city. It was not suitable for farming either and thus was basically desolate.
Yuwen Jin and He Xiao, leading the vanguard, were riding ahead of the main force, clearing the road of obstacles. Just like this, the army kept advancing until they were twenty li (a Chinese unit of length, equal to 500 meters) away from Jifang City. This journey alone took them over two days. It was at dusk on the third day that they arrived at the destination.
Jifang City was located in a basin in a valley. Further ahead was a mountain pass guarded by Wan soldier’s. Yuwen Jin and He Xiao took some men, covertly reconnoitered it and reported to Yuwen Tong that the mountain pass was a natural barrier, easy to hold but hard to attack, that this time it was really going to be a tough battle.
Yuwen Tong was very composed. He had some time ago come to know about the terrain around Jifang City.
“There’s no hurry about attacking. Let’s check out the lay of the land first.”
Members of Jiahe Chamber of Commerce had long since charted areas around Jifang City and knew the terrain down pat, but the situation had changed somewhat, and it was inadvisable to rely entirely on the maps provided by Jiahe Chamber of Commerce. They still needed to scout out the lay of the land themselves. On top of that, the troops had traveled for over two days and could use some rest. In addition, the North-Western Army led by Jiang Xi and Jiang Ke had not arrived yet.
They had received a message the day before, which said that the North-Western Army had just taken a city to the east of Jifang City, that the North-Western Army needed another two days to reach Jifang City. As a result, it would be at least four days before they could mount an offensive on Jifang City.
“Jifang City’s geographical location is special. We need to psych ourselves up for a long battle. Don’t rush into anything. Make sure everybody knows about this. It’s going to be a tough fight. Keep your cool and stay sharp. Nobody makes any slip-ups,” said Yuwen Tong.
“Yes, Sire,” chorused Yuwen Jin and He Xiao.
…
Yuwen Tong had a conference tent pitched in the vicinity of the main tent as he had said, leaving only his and Ling Zhang’s daily necessities in the main tent, which was now a private space of theirs.
Ling Zhang had been having a rest cure in the past few days. Before the army departed, he had given Yuwen Tong the secret letter found by Yang Liuzi and some others. He had not got a reply from Yuwen Tong yet and was unaware of what Yuwen Tong was going to do. However, no matter what Yuwen Tong’s plan was, they needed to verify the information in the letter first. Besides, Chen Jing, who had not received the letter, probably had suspected the letter had fallen into their hands and might have made some other arrangements. All the messages in the letter needed to be taken seriously.
“Your Highness, did the Child Worm cause you pain in the past two days?” asked Xie Shi, feeling Ling Zhang’s pulse.
Ling Zhang said, “Twice. During the journey.”
Yuwen Tong knew both of the occasions, because he had happened to be beside Ling Zhang when the worm had suddenly attacked. He had been caught flat-footed and his face had changed drastically, which was why Yuwen Tong had immediately come to know about it.
However, the Child Worm had only bitten him twice in the past few days, and Ling Zhang felt thankful because it had happened a lot less often than he had expected it would. On this day, the worm had been quiet all along. If things went on like this, the worm would very likely be restrained for good. In addition, Mr. Mu was on his way to this place and would arrive in a couple of days.
…
Yuwen Tong was having a meeting with Xiao Jiangyue and some others. Ling Zhang was told to sit it out because of the worm inside him, but his bodyguards had been collecting intelligence all the time, delivering messages about the mountain pass outside Jifang City to Ling Zhang frequently.
“There’s a branch of the chamber of commerce in Jifang City. One fifth of the stores in there are affiliated to the chamber of commerce. There are many members there, and they’re from a large variety of backgrounds. They could be of great help at a crucial juncture,” said Wang Dashan.
Ling Zhang did not make any immediate remarks. Instead, he studied the map of the mountain pass outside Jifang City for quite a while and then said, “There’s no hurry. No matter how many there are of them, they certainly don’t outnumber the defenders in the city.”
On that day, when Ling Zhang had entered Jifang City with a caravan, he had observed the situation in it. Although he had not got the chance to check the defense in detail, he had a general idea of what it was like. If truth be told, the garrison in Jifang City mainly relied on the natural barrier. They didn’t need any ingenious defense plans. As long as they made full use of the natural barrier, the army of the Great Wen would have a hard job to take the city.
It was very likely that the stores affiliated to the chamber of commerce in the city which could be requisitioned had been requisitioned. There was no telling how many of his men in there had been press-ganged into the Wan army.
Even if some of them had been press-ganged into the garrison, there wouldn’t be much they could do from within, because the enemy wouldn’t put any of them in an important position.
As a result, Ling Zhang, from the very beginning, had never intended to have his men help open the city gates from within as he had done in the other cities. The chamber of commerce had planted some men in Jifang City mainly to gather intelligence. Right now he had in hand a map of Jifang City which was presumably the most detailed one, and which had been made based on information collected by members of the chamber of commerce who had painstakingly scouted the lay of the land. It was this map that was the key.
Yuwen Tong also had a copy of the map. Ling Zhang believed that he would put it to good use. What he needed to do was offer some help if the occasion arose during the attack. If there was indeed something he could do, it would probably be related to his ability to deploy Formations.
Therefore, over the past few days, Ling Zhang during the journey had been studying the terrain of the mountain pass outside Jifang City by reading the map.
