Chapter 49
It was unknown how long he would be gone this time, so Lu Ling had to explain his situation clearly to his uncle and ask them to help take care of Zhao Zhenzhen.
Through this period of time together, Zhao Zhenzhen and Chu Fan have already developed a deep "friendship". When Lu Ling and Zhao Zhenzhen talked about this, Zhao Zhenzhen smiled and said, "I will listen to Grandpa and be good, don't worry, auntie."
Zhao Zhenzhen is not very old, but very sensible.
On the day of the expedition, the Chu family father and son took Zhao Zhenzhen to the outside of the city to see Lu Ling off.
They stood in the crowd, their faces filled with worry. No one knew what the outcome of this expedition would be. Lu Ling rode her horse slowly forward. She saw Zhao Zhenzhen, her eyes lingering but she said nothing.
The army marched out of the city gate in a mighty procession and headed southwest.
After leaving the city, the army's pace quickened. Supporting Shuzhou was urgent.
Mud splashed and horses rode fast. In less than half a month, the supporting troops arrived in Shuzhou.
When they arrived outside Shuzhou City, the person who came to open the city gate was Lu Ling's old acquaintance - Zhang Xunwen.
When they saw each other, they were both stunned, and then they both laughed.
"I've heard for a long time that there is a female general in the capital, and I heard that she is coming to support Shuzhou this time. I wanted to see Fang Rong, but I didn't expect it to be you." Zhang Xunwen looked at Lu Ling and said.
Lu Ling lowered his head and laughed, saying, "I also heard that a new general has arrived in Shuzhou. I was wondering who he was so powerful, but I didn't expect..."
"You didn't expect it was me!" Zhang Xunwen said proudly.
Lu Ling shook his head and said, "I really didn't expect it."
"What is this?" Yang Gan, who had been listening to the two people's conversation for a long time, suddenly interrupted.
Yang Gan said this to Lu Ling.
Lu Ling looked at him and told him about the relationship between her and Zhang Xunwen. Yang Gan nodded and said to Zhang Xunwen, "General Zhang."
Zhang Xunwen also said hello politely.
On the way into the city, Lu Ling asked Zhang Xunwen how he was pardoned. Zhang Xunwen said that he was pardoned because the new emperor ascended the throne and issued a general amnesty. It happened that the general of the Shuzhou military camp resigned at that time. Zhang Xunwen was well-liked by the general, so he was recommended. The court was short of talented generals, so the emperor agreed.
Lu Ling suddenly remembered the scene she saw when she went to apologize to Zhang Xunwen on behalf of Qingdai. At that time, Zhang Xunwen took a bottle of medicine and was applying medicine to the wound on his leg. She thought that this matter should be related to Zhang Xunwen's reluctance to go to the battlefield, so she changed the subject that day, but Zhang Xunwen was not stupid. He knew that Lu Ling saw it, and he made a gesture of wiping his neck at her. Lu Ling never mentioned it again after that.
Looking at Zhang Xunwen's appearance today, wearing armor and holding a sword, he should no longer be obsessed with the past.
They had just arrived in Shuzhou and the army was resting. Lu Ling and Zhang Xunwen had nothing to do, so they stood on the city wall and started chatting.
"I didn't see Qingdai in the army today. How is Qingdai now?" Zhang Xunwen didn't look at Lu Ling, but looked outside the city, looking at the green mountains not far ahead.
Lu Ling's heart was shocked, and she tried hard to control her emotions. After she calmed down, she spoke.
She didn't dare look at Zhang Xunwen, and like Zhang Xunwen, she looked at the green mountains in the distance.
"She left the day after we left the barracks." Lu Ling paused, trying to calm himself. "She was trying to protect me. She led the bear away while I was asleep. I didn't expect..."
Lu Ling didn't say anything else. She didn't dare to imagine that scene.
Zhang Xunwen clenched his hands on the city wall and clenched his jaw. After a long moment, he lowered his hands, sighed, and said in a choked voice, "That's how it is."
"This is my fault. I didn't take good care of her," said Lu Ling.
Zhang Xunwen didn't say anything. He looked at Lu Ling fiercely and then left.
That look made Lu Ling's hair stand on end, as if he wanted to kill her.
But Lu Ling thought about it and felt that Zhang Xunwen would not harm her in the military camp. At least now she was a general from the capital.
*
The Bai Pu army attacked again, and everyone in the Shuzhou military camp was in a tense atmosphere.
Some time ago, the Bai Pu army annexed two small cities around Shuzhou, but the Bai Pu army was ambitious and still wanted to attack. This time, they even reached the city of Shuzhou.
The two sides fought for a long time, and fireballs rolled down from the city wall one after another. The fire spread outside the city and burned many of the Bai Pu army.
Lu Ling originally thought that he would see the second prince of Baipu Kingdom, but he found that the second prince didn't even show his face.
There was only one general from the Baipu Kingdom outside the city. Lu Ling recognized that general because he was the general who had been beaten to a pulp by him back then.
I didn’t expect that after so many years, this general is still strong and his hair is not much gray.
But soon, Lu Ling felt that this old general was useless.
The Bai Pu army seemed determined to break down the city gate. No matter how heavy the casualties were, the old general still commanded the soldiers to break down the city gate.
There were already countless corpses outside the city, but he seemed not to see them.
The Bai Pu army put up a desperate resistance and there were fewer people outside the city. Seeing this, Yang Gan sent people to open the city gates to meet the enemy.
Lu Ling mounted his horse and commanded his soldiers to fight in the battle with a shout of "Charge".
In the battle of swords and spears, the Daliang army had the upper hand.
Soon, the war came to an end, and the old general of Bai Pu was captured by Lu Ling.
In this battle, the Bai Pu army was defeated.
Lu Ling handed General Bai Pu over to Yang Gan, but for some reason, the old general committed suicide on the way to be escorted.
Originally, there were bargaining chips to negotiate with Bai Pu, but now the bargaining chips are gone, and Daliang can only rely on hard battles to regain lost territory.
For several days in a row, Bai Pu did not attack, and Lu Ling had been discussing tactics with Yang Gan and Zhang Xunwen in the army.
Zhang Xunwen talked incessantly and always hit the nail on the head. He could see Bai Pu's weaknesses. Lu Ling couldn't understand how such a person could lose two cities.
Moreover, she felt that Zhang Xunwen seemed to have changed a lot. Many of the tactics he mentioned were unknown even to Yang Gan. He seemed to be very different from the young man he was back then.
After discussing the tactics, Lu Ling went to find Zhang Xunwen. She wanted to find out why he didn't think of escaping with them at the beginning.
Zhang Xunwen's attitude towards Lu Ling has softened a bit in the past few days, but he still has a sullen face when he sees her.
Lu Ling went to look for Zhang Xunwen and found that Zhang Xunwen was on the city wall, looking at the green hills.
She walked over, followed Zhang Xunwen's gaze, and said, "Qingdai is on that mountain. I didn't know she was gone at first. When I woke up, I didn't see her. I thought she had returned to the barracks to look for you..."
"Thinking about it now, I feel that I was too naive back then."
Zhang Xunwen kept looking into the distance without saying a word.
Lu Ling no longer beat around the bush and went straight to the point, "Why didn't you come with us?"
Qingdai said at the beginning that Zhang Xunwen was reluctant to leave this place, but Zhang Xunwen was just a gangster and a prisoner in the military camp. How could a prisoner be reluctant to leave his own cage?
Zhang Xunwen looked calm and no emotion could be seen.
He pursed his lips and said, "You know it, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't ask this."
Zhang Xunwen sneered and said calmly, "My father was the General Zhenyuan of Ningzhou. When Emperor Huan conquered Shu, my father followed him. Emperor Huan won a great victory, and he also left my father in Ningzhou..."
At that time, Shu Kingdom surrendered, and Emperor Huan changed Shu Kingdom into Shuzhou, and asked Xie Heng to manage Shuzhou, while Zhang Xunwen's father Zhang Guang was in charge of Ningzhou.
One day, the Baipu tribe invaded and a letter came from Shuzhou asking Zhang Guang to go and provide support. Zhang Guang went without saying a word and Daliang won a great victory.
But Zhang Guang did not come back. It turned out that Zhang Guang was ambushed and captured by the Baipu people. During this period, the Baipu people won two battles in a row, and the secrets involved were only known to Zhang Guang and Xie Heng. So everyone said that it was Zhang Guang who leaked the secrets. For a time, the Zhang family became the target of public criticism.
Afterwards, Zhang Guang was killed by the Baipu people and his head was hung outside the city of Shuzhou. No one could prove whether it was Zhang Guang who leaked the secret.
No one knew that Zhang Xunwen, who was only seven years old at the time, secretly ran to Shuzhou because he missed his father. When he saw his father's head hanging on the city wall, he couldn't stop shaking and tears as big as beans rolled down from the corners of his eyes.
Soon after, the Daliang army defeated Bai Pu without causing further losses.
After the battle, the people's attention turned to the Zhang family. Because of the heavy casualties in this battle, many people went to the Zhang family to make trouble after knowing that it might be Zhang Guang who leaked the secret.
Those people went to the gate of Zhang's house to curse and throw rotten eggs. Some people even wanted to break in, but fortunately, the housekeeper of the house held them back.
And just then, Zhang Xunwen returned home.
Someone recognized him and tried to kill him with a knife. Fortunately, the housekeeper of the Zhang Mansion happened to see him and stopped the man, but Zhang Xunwen's leg was still injured.
The story of Zhang Guang reached Emperor Huan's ears. Although there was no definite evidence, the people were very suspicious. In order to appease the people, Emperor Huan turned a blind eye and even sent the Zhang family to the military camp as slaves.
Not long after, Zhang Xunwen's mother could not bear the blow and died of depression.
Zhang Xunwen stayed in the military camp and worked as a cook.
Lu Ling actually knew about this a long time ago. At that time, she had just overturned the case and went to see her uncle. When she talked to her uncle about things in the military camp, Lu Ling asked about Zhang Xunwen because she always felt that Zhang Xunwen's identity was not ordinary.
Lu Ling originally had no hope, but he never thought that his uncle actually knew about it. Only then did Lu Ling learn about the Zhang family.
Zhang Xunwen lowered his eyes and looked at the sword in his hand: "I actually like Qingdai very much, but I can't leave. I can't leave when Bai Pu hangs my father's head outside the city wall."
Over the past decade, seeing Bai Pu becoming more and more rampant and constantly attacking Shuzhou, Zhang Xunwen could not suppress his desire to go to the battlefield.
But what happened back then left him with such a deep shadow that he could not go to the battlefield.
After Qingdai left, he realized how much time he had wasted and he really wanted to see her.
So he tried his best to overcome it and tried to learn from the soldiers in the army. Slowly, he was able to go into the ring and fight.
It just so happened that the new emperor ascended the throne and issued a general amnesty. He was no longer a prisoner and could compete with others with justification.
Soon he became a general and he could finally avenge his father.
Lu Ling knew the pain in Zhang Xunwen's heart, but for Qingdai's sake she couldn't help but ask, "How is Qingdai to you?"
Zhang Xunwen once again looked at the distant green mountains. This time, he no longer frowned. He took a long breath and said, "Indigo is like salt in cooking to me—it's indispensable."
Zhang Xunwen left after he finished speaking. Lu Ling stood there in a daze, thinking over and over what Zhang Xunwen said.
It turned out that he loved her so deeply.
Indigo is indispensable to him.
Lu Ling looked into the distance and laughed.
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