Estrangement
Zhong Yujing followed Shangguan Yichen's advice and took a nap against a tree trunk. Shangguan Yichen said, "On the march and in battle, there's no regular schedule. When there's no danger, you should take every opportunity to rest." Zhong Yujing did as he was told. Shangguan Yichen also sat against the tree with his arms crossed, eyes closed, resting his mind. Benlei bent his front hooves, lay on the ground, eyes closed, and tilted his head to the ground.
When he heard the faint sound of horse hooves and shouts in the distance, Shangguan Yichen suddenly opened his eyes like a vigilant leopard, looked in the direction of the sound, and after finding that someone was indeed coming, he whispered, "Someone is coming." Zhong Yujing also woke up after hearing this.
The two men stood up, and Ben Lei also opened his eyes and stood up.
They were wearing their own dark clothes, which just happened to hide them in the forest and make them difficult to be discovered, so they watched with bated breath.
The first to arrive were a group of people dressed in Nansai clothing. Seeing the raging fire, one of them shouted angrily, "The young prince must have gone mad and ordered people to burn this place because he wanted to steal the supplies." The horse under him was frightened by the fire and jumped back and forth.
Another person asked anxiously, "I wonder if any supplies were burned?"
The man just now said, "We don't know yet. Only the military advisor knows where the supplies are. We'll make a decision after he arrives."
Several people tried to move closer to observe the situation in the fire, but they found that the closer they got, the scorching heat was almost suffocating, so they had to stay several feet away and dared not get any closer.
Suddenly, the sound of horses neighing and the clamor of people were heard. Another group of people came galloping over, all dressed in black. They were the group led by Yifei. The black-clad man in the lead had obviously seen the fire on the way. He rode his horse straight to the man in Nansai clothing and said to the man who had spoken first, "What a good thing, Military Advisor Wang! When extortion fails, you want to burn military supplies. What's your intention?"
The Nansai Clothing people felt that the other party was the villain who made the first complaint, only to be bitten back. "The young prince's people are pretending to be ignorant when they know the truth. Wasn't this fire caused by you to steal supplies?"
The man in black said, "The property is ours by default, so how can we talk about robbing it? It's Military Advisor Wang who always wants to take other people's property for himself. If he can't extort it, he will destroy it. His methods are really despicable!"
Military Advisor Wang and his group were enraged and started to denounce them. Yi Fei and his group were not willing to be outdone and started to speak back with a lot of words.
"When we arrived, the fire had already started, and Military Advisor Wang's men were already on the scene. It's hard not to be suspicious in this situation."
"How do we know that the young prince's men didn't set the fire and hide somewhere, waiting for our arrival and then taking action to clear themselves of suspicion of arson?"
The verbal battle between the two sides was in full swing. Shangguan Yichen and Zhong Yujing were watching from the forest. Just as the two sides were about to engage in battle, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, "No matter which side started the fire, the most important thing is to put it out first!"
The crowd fell silent for a moment, then someone said, "Military Advisor Wang will be here soon! Don't act rashly." Someone on Yifei's side also said to his own people, "We'll wait for the young prince's personal orders before making any further plans." The man who had just shouted added, "Although you all serve different masters, you are all in the same camp and fighting on the same side. Food and supplies are urgently needed. To prevent damage, it's best to put out the fire first!"
The two groups fell silent again. After a while, they began to whisper to each other and exchange plans and tactics. Then, their leaders led their men to the lake and tried to get water to put out the fire. Some people broke off branches and leaves from trees in the forest and tried to put out the flames by hitting them. Some strong people tried to dig up dry soil from the ground and brought it to the front and threw it into the fire. They ran back and forth, one after another, raising dust, but the fire did not decrease at all. They were all covered in dust and looked embarrassed.
Zhong Yujing watched from afar in the forest, bowing in laughter. He felt both amused and relieved. These traitors had truly caught them off guard, leaving them helpless. Just as he was enjoying the show, Shangguan Yichen said, "Someone's coming! It's Yifei and the others' turn now."
Zhong Yujing looked in the direction of his gaze, and sure enough, she saw a group of men in black rushing towards them. The man in the lead had a fox fur hat on his head and a wind cloak, which was illuminated by the blazing fire. Who else could it be but Yifei?
Yifei reined in his horse and ran towards the sea of fire. The attendants following behind him saw that the situation was not good, so they jumped on their horses and chased after him, stopping Yifei and saying, "Young Prince, you can't do that! The fire is fierce. Don't get close to it, or you might get burned!"
Yifei thought all the supplies were destroyed. His heart was like charcoal ash burned by the fire, and he felt hopeless and had no hope of survival. After being stopped by the servants, his legs became weak and he slumped to the ground. After thinking for a while, he suddenly raised his head. His whole face was blood red in the flames. He glared and bared his teeth. He climbed up and shouted, "Wang Qiang! Where is that bastard Wang Qiang?"
Suddenly, I heard the sound of horse hooves and a chirping sound behind me. A man and a horse stopped behind Yifei. "Young Prince, why are you so anxious to find me? Could it be that you have figured it out and want to fulfill your promise to me?"
Yi Fei turned around angrily, pointing at Wang Qiang and saying, "How dare you bring this up with me! Without military supplies, we won't win the battle in Nansai, and you won't get a single cent!"
Wang Qiang's eyes drifted towards the lake, he glanced at it and turned back, saying to Yi Fei with a smile: "I can't get a single point, so don't even think about winning your plan, Your Highness." After that, he rode his horse towards the lake.
Yi Fei's face turned ashen with anger. He took off his fox fur coat and threw it to the ground, then ran after Wang Qiang, wanting to continue arguing with him about the losses. The attendants were worried, fearing that he would act impulsively and cause a disaster, or that he would hurt himself without caring. No matter what the outcome, the attendants would not be able to go back and report to King Ping.
Wang Qiang walked straight to the lakeside, dismounted his horse and ran to the lake surface, and looked inside. The men in Nansai clothes who were busy fighting the fire saw him coming and hurried forward and said, "We will do our best to put out the fire. I wonder if we can save the supplies." Wang Qiang never looked at the fire scene from beginning to end, but responded absent-mindedly, "Supplies are important, but your safety is the most important. Just do your best. I will be responsible for any consequences when I return to the camp and report to the leader." His men worked even harder.
Shangguan Yichen frowned and said to Zhong Yujing, "There's something fishy about the supplies."
Zhong Yujing was stunned. "How?"
Shangguan Yichen's eyes were still fixed on Wang Qiang. He saw that he was still pacing by the lake, constantly exploring the lake. "The supplies are not underground where the military camp is stationed. If I'm not mistaken, they should be at the bottom of the lake."
"What?" Zhong Yujing suddenly turned to look at Wang Qiang, and noticed that he hadn't paid any attention to the fire since arriving. He had only been looking down at the lake, as if to see what was going on. Zhong Yujing found it incomprehensible. "How did he do that? Could he really have some kind of cosmic power that could move those boxes from the surface to the lake bottom?"
Shangguan Yichen snorted coldly, "What kind of evil ways are these? I want to see if this guy is a human or a ghost, and what medicine he is selling in the gourd."
Amidst the chaos, a sudden cry of "Report!" was heard, like thunder piercing the sky. A soldier, speaking in a long voice, ran through the crowd of people trying to put out the fire and came up behind Wang Qiang. "Military Advisor!" Wang Qiang turned around upon hearing this, and everyone cast their eyes over to him. The soldier clasped his fists, looked at Wang Qiang, and knelt on one knee, saying, "Military Advisor, we've received word from the army that two soldiers went to the forest to relieve themselves at night and haven't returned yet. The commander ordered me to pass on the news to the military advisor, saying that these two are suspicious and to investigate whether they are connected to the arson case!"
Wang Qiang's face sank, and his attendant whispered to him, "Could it be that seeing that the military pay wasn't being distributed, he wanted to steal supplies and sell them for money, so he set fire to the forest? What an ignorant fool!"
Just then, Yi Fei caught up with them. Hearing what the soldier had said, he pointed at Wang Qiang and breathlessly said, "It was indeed your men who set the fire and stole the supplies! Wang Qiang, you still don't admit it?"
Wang Qiang remained silent with a cold expression. The attendant continued, "If it was really these two who did it, they used the excuse of going to the bathroom to escape and didn't steal the horses. Although the fire burned for a while, they relied entirely on their own strength and probably didn't get far. Military Advisor, should we first capture them and interrogate them before making a decision?"
Wang Qiang pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Go and get the medicine dog."
The people of Nansai are good at using poison. In order to prevent soldiers from defecting, the army in the tribe would soak their battle uniforms in a potion made from poison and make them wear it. The potion is colorless and odorless to humans, and only one kind of dog can smell it. The people of Nansai feed the herbs used to make poison to dogs from a young age, raise the dogs and make them become medicine dogs. Once they find a soldier defecting, they will release the medicine dog to lead the way, capture the rebel soldier, and then torture him.
Wang Qiang's followers came out with two vicious dogs. The two dogs' eyes glowed green in the night, and they opened their mouths and barked wildly, revealing their white fangs. They were like bloodthirsty hungry ghosts in hell. Zhong Yujing felt that if the rebels were captured, they would be torn to pieces and eaten by the vicious dogs immediately without being tortured.
The two medicine dogs sniffed and looked in the direction of Shangguan Yichen and Zhong Yujing in the forest. Shangguan Yichen was shocked, "Oh no, the clothes of those two are still behind them. The dogs must have smelled the scent!" He grabbed Zhong Yujing's arm and ran back. Zhong Yujing had no time to think, so she just stretched out her legs and followed him desperately. They ran to where Benlei's horse was tied. Shangguan Yichen untied the horse rope, picked up Zhong Yujing and put her sideways on the horse. He jumped on the horse at a speed that Zhong Yujing had not yet seen and reacted, and rode Benlei into the depths of the woods.
Behind them, Yaoquan had already led two groups of people to chase towards this direction. Yifei sent his men to follow Wang Qiang's team and said sternly: "Catch those two guys and execute them on the spot first. Don't let Wang Qiang take them back!" All the men followed him.
The medicine dog ran into the forest and found the clothes of the two soldiers. After sniffing for a while, it opened its bloody mouth and barked wildly in the direction where Shangguan Yichen and Zhong Yujing left. They wore clothes stained with medicine and carried the smell with them. The medicine dog could follow the smell and chase them all the way. Wang Qiang's followers pointed their spears in that direction and said, "Even if you take off your clothes and run, we can still find you. Chase you in that direction!" The two groups of people rushed towards the direction led by the medicine dog.
Ben Lei galloped like lightning, leaving the two groups behind far behind. But the thunderous sound of countless hooves, mixed with the incessant barking of vicious dogs, constantly reminded Zhong Yujing of the danger behind her. Slowing down even a little would be like falling into a tiger's mouth. She looked back and saw a dark shadow in the distance, swirling towards them with a cloud of dust, like the gaping maw of a mountain beast, determined to devour them.
Zhong Yujing's heart was beating rapidly. She held her breath and concentrated, not daring to relax for a moment. Suddenly, she heard Shangguan Yichen say in her ear, "Oh no! There's no way forward!"
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