"The general is joking."
Hearing what Chai Duo said, Cheng Rong's lips twitched.
"That's not necessarily true. The leader of the group that added fuel to the stove for you was shot blind in one eye by a barbarian some years ago. He usually has poor eyesight. And because the old doctor in the army saved his life, he likes to go to the wounded camp."
As he spoke, he smiled again, revealing a mouthful of sharp white teeth, "...If one is not careful, one might mistake the arsenic for salt and add it in."
At this moment, Chai Duo could no longer tell whether it was the stool he was sitting on that was shaking as it hit the ground, or the sound of his own teeth clacking against each other.
His voice was trembling, but he still followed Cheng Rong's words and shared the same hatred for the enemy: "The barbarians are hateful!"
Cheng Rong nodded, agreeing with what he said.
The tense atmosphere seemed to finally relax a little. Under the other party's unblinking stare, Chai Duo still picked up the spoon with trembling hands and took a sip without tasting the food.
As soon as the soup went down his throat, he saw the deputy general opposite him patting his head, as if he had suddenly realized something, "Look at my memory... His eye was not shot blind by the barbarians, but was blinded when he blocked your way when he crossed the river to the south..."
“Puff—cough cough cough—!!”
Cheng Rong immediately stood up with a worried look on his face and walked forward. While patting the imperial envoy on the back to calm him down, he asked, "What's wrong with you, sir? Do you still know that nobleman?"
The force on his back was unmistakable, and Chai Duo was almost suffocated by him, but he still denied it with difficulty, "No, no, no... There are so many people who have crossed the river to the south!... How could I know..."
As soon as they walked out of the tent, the personal soldier who had been following Cheng Rong expressionlessly couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Hahaha... General Cheng, you really have a way. Look at the dog officer's face at the end... I bet he won't be able to sleep well tonight..."
Cheng Rong pinched the pigeon's leg bone, bit off a piece of meat, and said vaguely: "Not just tonight?"
The guard was even more delighted when he heard this.
Cheng Rong was still concentrating on eating the pigeon he had just taken out. He ate very quickly and swallowed even the smaller bones with a crunch. By the time the soldier had finished laughing, only a skeleton of the pigeon was left in his hand.
He took the leg bone and threw it casually, hitting the soldier right on the forehead.
In the other party's confused gaze, he grinned again, "Have you laughed enough? If you have, think about how to apologize when the general comes back..."
The personal soldier touched his forehead and said, "Ah?"
Cheng Rong rolled his eyes.
Bullshit?! Do you really think that a group of simple-minded and strong-limbed guys can hide the truth from the general?
What do you think he was kept in the camp for this time?
It is to prevent that group of people from causing a big mess out of impulse, which would then be beyond rescue.
——He is here to clean up their messes and save them!
As for him today...
What did he do today? Didn't he just treat the unfortunate guy who was frightened by his colleague to a bowl of pigeon soup?
A pigeon worth a thousand gold.
Cheng Rong gulped down the cup along with the remaining soup and took a deep breath.
He bet that this was the most expensive meal he had ever had in his life.
Less than half a minute later, Cheng Rong couldn't hold it in any longer. He took the wine bag beside him, took a big gulp, and rinsed his mouth vigorously.
Pooh--
It's so damn disgusting!
I don't know what kind of medicine powder that blind man got from Doctor Liu put in instead of salt, and it gave off a weird smell.
Chai Duo was really panicked and scared. In just a few days, he lost more than ten pounds. His chubby face even showed some bony outlines, but the skin and flesh hung loosely on his body, which looked a little funny.
He realized that this was not his area of expertise.
Here he was...unarmed and alone...
If those people wanted, they could always give him an excuse of "died of illness due to acclimatization" and let him die quietly in this northern land.
The capital might not even notice anything wrong. They could tell from the fact that they happily welcomed back a "sixteenth prince" that everything they knew about the North was what they wanted them to know... No, even if the capital noticed something strange about his death, they would not investigate further due to the situation, just like how they abandoned the messenger servant who was arrested as a "spy" that day. To the capital and the court, he was just a pawn that could be abandoned at will...
Chai Duo was born in a high-class family, but he was not a prominent person. He had his own methods to successfully climb to a high position in the court, which was full of mixed people. Among all his qualities, "knowing the current situation" was the most important one. When he felt that his life was threatened, he decisively chose to switch sides.
With this change of thinking, he suddenly felt much more secure.
He realized that he was still "valuable" to the people here... If he was valuable, he would not be "killed by illness" so easily...
After thinking it through, Lord Chai, who had been almost frightened to death by his own imagination, finally straightened himself up again.
——He has to live, he wants to live.
He wants to find a way to make his "valuable" self "more valuable"...
So first of all, the first step to make himself "more valuable" is that the person he talks to cannot be of low status.
——He must be the real leader of this army.
…
At this time, Chu Lu had no idea that in the camp thousands of miles away, there was an imperial envoy who was eagerly waiting for him to return.
He led a team of people out this time, and his luck could not be said to be good or bad.
It couldn’t be called “good”, after all, they encountered a group of Hu people who were heading south to plunder. But it wasn’t “bad” either, as the team was not large and they didn’t even have to go back to the camp for help, as they solved the problem directly.
However, due to the delay of these few days, Chu Lu was indeed a little worried about the situation in the camp.
Of course it wouldn't be like this normally, but the situation this time was different. Although he deliberately kept Cheng Rong in the camp to prevent him from getting emotional and killing someone, Chu Lu was really worried that if he returned a few days later, he would see an imperial envoy with missing limbs.
The scout on duty at the camp sentry post was the first to discover the returning group of people. The stationed soldiers hurriedly moved the barricades at the camp gate, pulled the mechanism, and lowered a passage on the trench.
The horses' hooves made a thumping sound when they stepped on the wooden boards, but other than that, the cavalry did not make any other noise, which showed how well-trained they were.
When the last horse passed through the entrance, the sound of the mechanism turning was heard again, and the originally unobstructed road once again turned into a fortress full of dangers.
…
The commotion caused by Chu Lu's return was neither big nor small. After all, patrolling was a daily task. If he mobilized a large force every time he came back, the camp would have been in chaos long ago.
But this movement was extremely obvious in the eyes of Chai Duo, who had been looking forward to it for the past few days and was so tense that he was almost suffering from neurasthenia. He immediately realized that the person he had been thinking about had finally come back.
He hurriedly put on his purple official uniform and added a gold-decorated fish bag - he was sure to show his important position in the Dachang Dynasty.
Chai Duo's original intention was to wait for someone to invite him. No matter when, "waiting for the price to rise" is always more "valuable" than "taking the initiative to send it to the door".
But the anxiety of the past few days has made him no longer as calm and confident as he was at the beginning. After pacing back and forth in his tent twice, he decided to take the initiative to go over.
As a result, as soon as Chu Lu arrived at the camp, before he dismounted, he saw a purple-clad figure that was out of tune with the atmosphere of the army approaching quickly from a distance. Chu Lu immediately realized who the person was, and made a gesture to stop the guards who wanted to stop him, and even dismounted to greet him as a gesture of friendship.
Then he saw the messenger, who was dressed in gorgeous clothes, white and fat, and who was out of tune with the atmosphere of the entire army. When he met his eyes, he trembled and froze. After a while, his eyes rolled back and he fell backwards...
He fainted before he could even say a word.
Chu Lu: "..."
Chu Lu: "???"
He immediately turned his attention to the troublemakers.
It should be said that he knew his subordinates very well. Every one of the people he saw was involved in Lord Chai's sudden weight loss and the dark shadows under his eyes in the past few days... Even Cheng Rong, who brought a bowl of pigeon soup, was not spared.
Zhang Jiang, the tallest man in the crowd and the one who attracted the most attention, was the first to give in. He raised his hands to prove his innocence, "I really didn't do it this time. I didn't touch him just now!!"
Cheng Rong, who was trying his best to reduce his presence, showed an expression of dismay: "This time", "Just now"...
——Brain is a really good thing, but it’s a pity that his colleagues don’t have it.
He quickly said, "I'll go find Doctor Liu right away," and left decisively as a sign of respect.
The remaining colleagues who shared the same idea immediately showed a look of frustration as if they had let this bastard get there first.
How to deal with the subordinates afterwards is another matter for the future. The most urgent task now is to see if the person is okay.
Although he didn't take the imperial envoy seriously, dying here would still be a troublesome thing.
Military doctors are always quick and efficient. After a while, a spirited old man came over with big strides. He was so fast that even Cheng Rong, who was helping to carry the medicine box behind him, had to hurry up.
Doctor Liu came up and said, "Greetings, General." Without wasting any time, he walked forward, rolled his eyelids, pinched his chin and looked at his tongue, and then casually took his pulse. The whole process took only three or five breaths. Then he looked up at Chu Lu and said, "It's nothing serious. You were just scared."
Are you scared... ?
All the people who have made outstanding contributions to these three words in the past few days were looking around in confusion.
However, Chu Lu seemed to be aware of something and looked down at himself, and sure enough, he saw blood that had already solidified and turned black.
Because he was afraid of something happening and was in a hurry to get back, he didn't have time to pack his things on the way.
Could it be that...
While he was guessing, Doctor Liu stretched out his hand and took out a silver needle that was gleaming with cold light and much thicker than the usual ones. He said, "It's ok to wait for him to wake up on his own. But if the general has anything to ask, I do have some ideas."
Chu Lu: "..."
“…………”
He couldn't help but reveal an indescribable expression, "No, that's not necessary."
Although he had just returned for less than a quarter of an hour, he had already noticed that the imperial envoy had been living in dire straits in the camp during this period.
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