Chapter 221 Nestled in a crevice, returning to the army...

Zhang Ting crouched in the crevice, quietly waiting for the pursuers to leave before sneaking off to rejoin the reinforcements.

In the dim crevice of the rock, she rested her forehead on one hand, feeling extremely annoyed.

There are countless heroes in the rebel camp, so why single her out? Zhang Ting wouldn't believe there wasn't some personal grudge. Chen Liu, oh Chen Liu, only now do I realize how petty and narrow-minded you are.

So what if I swindled you out of 100,000 taels of silver back then? You still hold a grudge after all these years.

She shook her head dejectedly. Why mobilize such a massive army just to kill her alone? It was a case of using public office to settle personal scores, the behavior of a foolish ruler.

If history were to be compiled in the future, she feared she would be portrayed as a treacherous concubine who seduced the monarch into making mistakes. Zhang Ting sighed silently; she had dreamed of being remembered in history, but never imagined she would become famous for this reason.

It's all because of charm.

She thought with a mixture of sarcasm and irony, then looked up and unexpectedly met a pair of frightened eyes. In their hands lay sharp weapons—the soldiers who had been searching for her.

The soldier's mouth was half-open as if he was about to call for help. Zhang Ting's eyes narrowed sharply. Before she could even react, her body instinctively lunged forward to cover the soldier's mouth, grabbed his head and twisted it backward. With a crack, the soldier stared wide-eyed as he died.

Zhang Ting paused for a moment, then looked around and, seeing no one coming, dragged the soldier's body into the crevice.

She first helped the soldier close his eyes in death, and with a heavy heart promised that she would make his death worthy. Then she quickly took off his clothes and put them on herself.

Half an hour later, a sneaky soldier slipped out of the crevice. The clothes were long enough, but the previous owner was muscular and they were too big for her, making her look very disheveled.

The soldier ruffled her hair and smeared dirt on her face, trying to make herself look as disheveled as possible. After that, she secretly followed a certain group, naturally falling behind, searching for any trace of 'Zhang Ting' with a fierce expression, as if she were a member of the enemy army herself.

Someone noticed she was unfamiliar, counted the number of people, and said in a Beijing accent, "Who are you? You're not one of our team, are you?"

The soldier's eyes widened as if she had just realized what had happened. She slapped her forehead and exclaimed, "Oh no, oh no, I've followed the wrong team!" Having spent several months in the capital, she spoke with perfect accent, her face contorted in pain. "That sergeant commander is going to tear me apart!"

The team was used to it. The orders from the superiors were given quickly, and everyone wore the same clothes. Their faces were covered in blood and dirt, so it was impossible to tell who was who.

He patted the greenhorn on the shoulder and, in the tone of a seasoned veteran, instructed him: "You follow us to search for the rebels. When you see your squad leader, just sneak in from the back."

The soldier nodded solemnly, grasped her hand, and thanked her with tears in his eyes: "Thank you so much for your guidance, sister. If you hadn't reminded me, I'm afraid I would have been beaten to death by the squad leader when I got back." He quickly wiped his eyes, not wanting to let the tears wash away.

He had saved her with just a few words? A sense of pride welled up in the man's heart. He patted the soldier on the shoulder, feeling a bit of a protective thought. "You just follow behind me." He couldn't help but think to himself: What kind of living devil is her squad leader? He'd never even heard of him.

"Mmm." The soldier nodded repeatedly, clearly in agreement. But his clothes had been slapped down, revealing a section of his yellowish-brown neck with several bloodstains on it.

The seasoned veteran frowned: "Girl, why are your clothes all messy? And you have a wound on your neck."

Zhang Ting's breath hitched, her body tensed like a bowstring, her heart felt like it was being squeezed, but she only reacted for a moment, putting on a shy and embarrassed look, "Sister, don't ask, I was caught by my lover last night. I said I was going to fight today, but he wouldn't let me go, and I only managed to escape at dawn. My clothes... I didn't have time to tidy them up." She lowered her head, seemingly extremely ashamed, her hand silently resting on the hilt of her knife in her sleeve.

As soon as she finished speaking, the group burst into laughter, showing great concern for her sex life.

"Girl, you're quite the lucky one, sleeping with a man all night before going to war. Look at your skinny frame, your legs must have been trembling the next day, right?"

"Get lost, you make it sound like your legs won't tremble after a night with men." The speaker was a tall, burly woman. She continued to impart her wisdom, "Ahem, I'm telling you, girl, we women can be weak, we might be poor, but we can't be weak in bed. We have to show men what we're capable of. Only when they're subdued by you will they follow you wholeheartedly. Look at your skinny arms and legs, you'll have to practice more in the future, understand?"

The short, thin woman retorted, "Girl, don't listen to their nonsense. A man who hasn't slept with four or five women has the nerve to spout off." She spoke with the air of someone who had been there all along. "If you ask me, you can't easily satisfy a man. You have to keep him hanging on. The more he wants something, the less you give it to him. Hey! You'll be in luck next time you go."

On the surface, Zhang Ting was greatly shocked, and inside she was also greatly shocked. As an upright and honest person, she was too embarrassed to say anything.

The seasoned veteran led his men forward in the search, stopping them from imparting their experience to the young soldier. "The rebels haven't even been found yet, and you're already losing heart? You'll be in serious trouble right now." He pulled the young soldier behind him, rescuing her from the clutches of evil.

She sighed helplessly and said in a very low voice, "Girl, don't believe what they just said. They're all virgins." They all talked a good game, and if she hadn't known the truth, she would have been fooled.

Zhang Ting nodded obediently and made a suffocating gesture to the old fox.

The seasoned veteran returned her a look that said, "You're a promising young man."

The group then calmed down and continued searching for the rebel Zhang Ting. The soldier seemed to hate him to the core, swinging his knife and stabbing at the bushes and grass, ready to hack Zhang Ting to death.

Those watching assumed she had some deep-seated grudge against Zhang Ting. The seasoned veteran pulled her aside and whispered, "Even if you find the rebels, don't actually kill them. That's the officers' job. Don't steal the credit." He sighed, thinking how naive the young woman was.

Zhang Tingru nodded as he mashed garlic, and the old hand asked again, "You've been walking for a while now, where was your original group?"

Zhang Ting also wanted to know, but she could never run into teams searching the outskirts; she always ended up in teams full of seasoned veterans.

But as soon as you speak of the devil, he appears. Her gaze inadvertently drifted to the other side, and she fixed her eyes on him. "Here he comes!" she exclaimed, running to the very back to catch up with him. She even turned back to wave goodbye to the old fox.

In the blink of an eye, the person disappeared.

The seasoned veteran opened and closed his mouth, "She hasn't told me her name yet... Oh well." They're bound to run into each other in the same military camp eventually. This girl is so pleasing to the eye; he'll use his connections to get her over there.

After walking for a while, the person at the front of the line noticed that there was an extra person in the queue.

Zhang Ting readily agreed: "Sir, I got separated from the squad leader. I'm following you to search for the rebels and find the squad leader's team. Please, have mercy on me this once."

The other party was getting impatient, so Zhang Ting, with a keen eye, took out a few pieces of silver from his pocket and stuffed them into her hand. "If the squad leader finds out, I'll be in for a beating. Please, have some mercy and help me."

The other party weighed the amount in his hand and, for the sake of the money, decided to play the good guy and said, "Alright, you can follow behind."

"Alright!" Zhang Ting grinned and retreated to the back of the line to huddle up.

There were just a few more people in the team, and the leader didn't pay much attention to it. By the time he remembered, the person was already gone.

As Zhang Ting approached the edge of the area, he quietly slipped away and ran off to rejoin his own side.

Oh my god, that was close! I'm safe.

Chen Liu, you bastard, just wait until I tear you to pieces!

...

Time passed slowly, and the entire mountain had been searched twice, but not even a trace of Zhang Ting could be found. The general paced back and forth, his brow furrowed with worry.

I've only ever heard that Zhang Ting is the reincarnation of the God of Literature. Could she really be a deity who sprouted wings and flew away?

"well!"

A hurried sound of footsteps rang out, "Reporting to Your Excellency—" Immediately afterwards, several people carried over a corpse. The deceased was dressed in fine clothes that did not fit him well, and the color and style were clearly those of the chief civil official of the rebel army.

Is this Zhang Ting?

The general recalled the portrait sent from the palace, her face turning ashen—it was completely unrelated! Enraged, she swung her knife and stabbed the man twice.

If Zhang Ting didn't die, then where is she?

The answer was clear in the general's mind: "Summon the entire army! Have the squad leaders identify each soldier one by one, and bring any unfamiliar faces to me."

Unfortunately, the order came too late; Zhang Ting had already joined up with his own troops.

"My lord, please forgive my dereliction of duty for putting you in danger!" The person kneeling on one knee in front of Zhang Ting was Tang Qiuyue, Tang Qiufeng's younger sister.

Zhang Ting helped her up. "Lord Tang, don't say such things at such a critical moment. Although I have escaped, I can't fool the enemy for long. In less than half an hour, they will launch a counterattack. We need to quickly set up defenses."

Tang Qiuyue nodded in deep agreement and invited her to the central command tent.

To be honest, Zhang Ting felt intimidated just looking at this tent and didn't dare to go in. Didn't Chen Liu's men just charge straight into the central army and chase her all over the place?

Tang Qiuyue paused for a moment, then added apologetically, "My lord, please rest assured. I have already adjusted the camp's layout, and all the soldiers are guarding the central army. I guarantee with my life that what happened just now will not happen again." Initially, when more than 10,000 elite troops raided the camp, everyone thought it was to burn and loot the grain, so they all went there. However, the enemy unexpectedly only went to surround and kill one person.

This was like a slap in the face. What does it mean? It means they didn't even realize what their most precious possession was. Fortunately, Lord Zhang was resourceful; otherwise, they would have truly deserved to die.

Zhang Ting decided to trust her for the time being and went into the tent with the precious sword he had somehow obtained.

Inside the tent, the ministers gathered together, the old and the young sitting dejectedly. Their morale had been shattered by the defeat, so they were overjoyed to see Zhang Ting return and quickly got up to greet her. However, they were puzzled to see her dressed as an enemy soldier.

Zhang Ting waved her hand, gulped down half a pot of tea, and then replied to her colleagues, saying, "Don't panic, everyone. The enemy has gone mad by sending over ten thousand men to assassinate us, which means they are at their wits' end and dare not confront us directly. They have no choice but to resort to such despicable means!"

Zhang Ting felt sorry for bringing trouble to her colleagues, but she and her colleagues were all victims, so what was wrong with them? The one who was wrong was Chen Liu.

The courtiers were stunned. It turned out that their pursuit today indicated the enemy's defeat.

Zhang Ting stood with his hands behind his back, looking calm and collected: "Now our 50,000 soldiers are guarding the central army, while the enemy has only about 10,000 men. How can they break through the encirclement and attack again? Everyone can focus on the discussion."

The ministers' anxious hearts immediately calmed down, and they even forgot to ask how Zhang Ting had escaped. They began to discuss the day's sneak attack in full swing.

In the crowd, Xu Qiushui glanced at Zhang Ting with a meaningful look in her eyes before silently looking away.

A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime. This woman, despite being "awaiting punishment," managed to soothe the army's morale while simultaneously directing her attacks at the enemy. She both boosted morale and fueled the court's hatred among the officials—killing two birds with one stone. Fortunately, she worked for our side; otherwise, she would have become a major threat!

At this moment, Xu Qiushui was extremely grateful that her lord was still insightful and did not give his great talent to the enemy.

As the crowd became lively again, Zhang Ting fell silent, touching her chilly neck. With 50,000 against 10,000, could they win...?