meet
When the soldiers came to report that Deputy General Yi had returned from the palace, Shangguan Yichen was on his way back to the camp. They were lying in ambush in the low forest, and the Setu tribe was on the mountain. The enemy was in the open, and we were in the dark. If we could find the right opportunity, the situation would be extremely favorable for them.
The soldier reported again: "Lieutenant General Yi brought back a man from the palace, saying that the emperor had sent him specially to join the general."
Shangguan Yichen was puzzled. The emperor had not told him that there were people from the palace coming to support him, so he asked, "Who is it?"
"I don't know, I just know it's a man." The soldier clasped his fists.
Shangguan Yichen pondered for a moment and said, "Let's go back to the camp first."
He lifted the curtain and entered the tent. Yi Shi stood up from the chair on the right, overjoyed, and saluted, saying, "General, Yi Shi is back!"
Yi Shi was covered in mud, with streaks of mud on his face, like a young boy that even dogs disliked, who had just returned home after a day out in the wild.
Shangguan Yichen laughed out loud, stepped forward and patted Yi Shi on the shoulder, and ordered his subordinates, "Prepare hot water and give the deputy general a good welcome!"
The soldiers behind him received the order and left the tent. Yi Shi smiled and scratched his head.
"Did you have a smooth journey?" Shangguan Yichen asked with concern.
Yi Shi grinned, "It was a bit thrilling, luckily Jing..." He paused and glanced around, "Fortunately, I have this little brother to accompany me."
A smaller figure stood up beside Yi Shi. He was dressed as a servant and looked like he had just crawled out of a mud pit. His face was dirty and stained, but his clear eyes stared at him.
Shangguan Yichen's eyes lit up instantly when he saw those eyes, "It's you!"
She quickly made a gesture to silence him and winked at him, her red cheeks faintly visible under the mud.
His face remained expressionless, yet his heart was filled with unspeakable emotions. He turned around, his expression solemn, his hands gently rubbing his back, and said to the soldiers in the tent, "It's getting late today. Everyone, please return to camp and rest."
The generals and soldiers received the order and went out one by one.
Finally, he and Zhong Yujing were the only ones left in the tent. Although she looked like a clay figure, she kept smiling at him with bright eyes and white teeth.
Shangguan Yichen clenched his hands quietly behind his back, suppressing his urge to move forward and embrace her. He only stared at her deeply...
Suddenly, her heart ached again. She had walked the same path he had taken to get here. Yi Shi had also said it was a bit dangerous. Just how dangerous it was, and how many hardships and difficulties were involved, although she hadn't told him yet, he already knew it in his heart...
Of course, as long as you are safe, as long as you are safe and by my side.
Yihong really made the most correct decision.
"How is the prince these days?" Zhong Yujing asked first.
"As you see, do you feel good?" Shangguan Yichen spread his arms and looked at her with raised eyebrows.
Zhong Yujing tilted her head to look at him, stroking her chin as she observed him for a moment, then nodded and said, "It's a little darker."
Shangguan Yichen didn't expect her to say that, and he shook his head and laughed.
Zhong Yujing also laughed, and laughed heartily. She hadn't been so happy in a long time.
Shangguan Yichen suddenly stopped laughing and asked in a low voice, "Are you tired? Are you hungry?"
Zhong Yujing rubbed her nose, sniffed twice, and hummed, "I want to wash my face first." She wiped her face with a smile.
"Okay~ I'll ask someone to prepare some water." Shangguan Yichen looked at her fluffy hair, raised his hand, and then gently put it down again.
The last time she washed so clean was at the post station before boarding the ship. Zhong Yujing changed into clean clothes, which were men's clothes that she asked Yi Shi to find. During her days in Nansai, she would have to appear in this outfit.
Zhong Yujing's tent was right next to Shangguan Yichen's, and it was only a few steps away from his tent. The two of them sat opposite each other and had their meal. She ate with great relish, hardly showing any ladylike manners when eating.
"The life in the army is simple, and we only provide a place to replenish our physical strength. It's not like at home, where we will suffer some hardships." Shangguan Yichen looked at her with some worry.
Zhong Yujing wiped the oil off her lips and said, "No, it's delicious. This is the best meal I've had since I started traveling." She chewed a piece of beef.
Zhong Yujing put down the tea, and the tea she swallowed filled the last bit of space in her stomach. She finally put down her chopsticks with satisfaction.
Shangguan Yichen asked, "Yi Shi said that your journey here was a bit dangerous?"
Zhong Yujing straightened his chest and nodded, saying, "First, at the inn, ten masked men in black appeared and wanted to kill us..."
Shangguan Yichen was stunned. "Do you know who did this?"
Zhong Yujing said, "Deputy General Yi identified that the masked man was holding the Imperial Guard's broadsword, and the moves he used were also those the Imperial Guards practiced."
"The Imperial Guards are under the command of the Imperial Palace. Since the Emperor has sent you here to provide support, who would dare to disobey His Majesty's order?" Shangguan Yichen frowned. "Furthermore, you two received a secret order and traveled in disguise. They've only been there for a day, and they've already pinpointed your location. Someone in the palace must have had ulterior motives and leaked your whereabouts."
Zhong Yujing nodded in agreement and continued, "We left the waterway and just as we reached the southern border, the masked men in black attacked again. Lieutenant General Yi led me towards the dense miasma forest. Once we entered, the masked men in black stopped chasing us."
Shangguan Yichen said gravely, "They are very familiar with the Nansai area."
Zhong Yujing nodded again. "Lieutenant General Yi and I crossed this mountain," she pointed to the mountain they had come from outside the tent. "At the top of the mountain, we met people from the Setu tribe."
"They have been entrenched there since the last battle," Shangguan Yichen explained.
Zhong Yujing added, "He was a man from Nansai. At first, he thought we were sneaky and asked us where we came from. In a hurry, I asked him about Wang Qiang's name. He obviously knew him, so I deliberately threatened him with Wang Qiang, and he had no choice but to retreat and let us pass."
"How did you intimidate him?" Shangguan Yichen asked.
"I thought someone in the palace had a message for Wang Qiang to pass on secretly."
Shangguan Yichen's face changed drastically. "There's someone in the palace with ulterior motives, trying to take advantage of this opportunity to disrupt government affairs!" He lowered his eyes in thought, frowning, then raised his eyes again and asked, "Is it him?"
Zhong Yujing nodded, "Yes, it's Prince Ping."
Shangguan Yichen tightened his grip on the teacup, "What does he want this time?"
Zhong Yujing told Shangguan Yichen everything she had heard from the window, "Prince Ping had clearly planned this long ago. He is inextricably linked to the unrest in the southern border."
"Have you reported this to His Majesty?" Shangguan Yichen asked.
"No," Zhong Yujing said cautiously. "Before leaving Linjun, I wasn't sure Prince Ping was involved in this matter. It wasn't until I was chased and killed twice along the way, and then I had to deal with the people of Nansai, that I was sure of this. Before leaving, His Majesty told me that the civil unrest in Nansai started unexpectedly, and the current situation is really not what we expected. I'm afraid someone is plotting a scheme, making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. They pretend the tribes are in turmoil, but in fact they are heading straight for Daqi. We thought we were just trying to calm the civil unrest and easily entered the scheme. We might have fallen into the trap of the schemer. Now that the prince has been sent in, His Majesty is worried that there are still many mysteries behind this that we haven't yet seen clearly. The sky is high and the road is long, and it will be difficult for news to reach the prince for a while. There are many people and many rumors, and the enemy is hidden while we are in the open. We don't know what the other party's intentions are. If the news leaks out due to negligence, the prince will be in great danger. So he specially sent me here to enter the game with the prince and then break it out."
Zhong Yujing said firmly, "The purpose of my trip here is to help His Majesty investigate this matter."
Shangguan Yichen's brows relaxed, he lowered his head and smiled, "I don't know whether to thank the emperor or Prime Minister Jing. My safety is being worried about him." He shook his head helplessly and chuckled.
He has always fought alone on the battlefield, and it has been like this since he first entered the battlefield. He has long been accustomed to putting life and death behind him. Even though he is surrounded by thousands of troops every time he goes to battle, he always feels that he is fighting alone. Amidst the blood and sword lights, all he thinks about is protecting his soldiers. No one has ever cared about his life or death.
"Your Highness and I will advance and retreat together. When the rebellion in Nansai is quelled, I will return to the palace with Your Highness to report to the Emperor." Zhong Yujing's eyes were like warmth that melted snow, and they drifted over the lonely figure in his heart.
Shangguan Yichen suppressed his self-deprecating sneer, raised his eyes, and bathed in her warm gaze.
Late at night, the insects in the dense forest stopped chirping, and even the sound of the wind in the mountains was silent. Zhong Yujing blew out the oil lamp, leaving only the moonlight to illuminate the scene in her tent. The small space was almost filled with bedding and a charcoal brazier. She curled up in the quilt, but her heart was at peace, not as if she were on a battlefield. Through the moonlight, she could see the shadow of the next tent reflected on her tent. Shangguan Yichen was just a few steps away... Her heart was as steady as the calm sea. Her spirit, which had been tense for many days, finally relaxed. Fatigue instantly came over her, her eyelids became heavy, and she fell asleep.
In the tent a few steps away, Shangguan Yichen called Yishi over and instructed him, "Send a few more people to guard and make sure Jing Xiang is safe. No one can make a mistake. Also, the fact that she is Jing Xiang is known to you, me, and the emperor. Everyone else should say she is an official sent by the palace to assist me. No woman has ever appeared in the army."
Yi Shi glanced at Shangguan Yichen, understood, clasped his fists, and replied, "Yes, I understand." Then he walked out.
The next day, Zhong Yujing, dressed in military uniform and boots, appeared before everyone. Shangguan Yichen said to the soldiers, "This is Inspector Jing, the man sent by the Emperor to help me quell the civil unrest in the Southern Frontier. From now on, you will see him as you would see me, and you will be at my and Inspector Jing's disposal."
The soldiers lined up in front of the military camp to receive orders.
Jing Xun'an officially became a member of the Zhennan Army.
In the center of the military camp's meeting room stood a wooden table, atop which was a battle map. All of Nansai's mountains, rivers, and flatlands were miniaturized, visible before his eyes, along with the undulating terrain. Shangguan Yichen waved his hand over the map, his index and middle fingers together, fixed on one spot, and said to Zhong Yujing, "This is where we are now." His finger moved to a valley in the southernmost part of the mountain. "This is where the Nansai leader resides, and it's also where Setu and Sai De first fought. Seven days ago, our army and Setu fought here for the last time. Setu was defeated, and our army narrowly won. Setu then led his troops back here." His finger slid to a mountain range in the north, then moved forward and down to a valley. He paused, tapped his finger, and said, "This is where they live now." He moved back to the peak of the mountain range, looked at Zhong Yujing, and said, "This is where you and Yi Shi encountered the Nansai people."
Zhong Yujing pointed to the col in the southern part of the mountain and asked, "Are we here now?"
Shangguan Yichen nodded and smiled, "That's right."
He looked at the battle map again. "The Setu army is unaware of our current location and believes we are still in the Sai De leader's camp. Although we won the last battle by a narrow margin, our losses were not severe. On the contrary, the Setu army has suffered wounded soldiers and horses. Just recovering from these injuries is exhausting, let alone raising an army to fight again."
"Why didn't the general take advantage of this opportunity to launch an attack and wipe them out in one fell swoop?" Zhong Yujing wondered.
Shangguan Yichen had a mysterious smile on his face, "It's just because a few days ago, when I was inspecting the terrain, I seemed to see Yifei."
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