trial
In the tent where the prisoners of war were held, the pair of "bowls and chopsticks" huddled on the cold mud ground, and in front of them was Zhong Yingqi, who had completely changed his usual gentle image.
Zhong Yingqi sat on a tiger-skin chair, his figure unruly and unruly, exuding a bandit aura. Yuan Ming followed Jiang Kai here and saw Zhong Yingqi like this at first sight.
Yuan Ming couldn't tell what kind of person Zhong Yingqi belonged to. During the short few days they spent together in the two lives, Yuan Ming initially thought that Zhong Yingqi was a fierce general who was decisive in killing. He fought his way from the border to the imperial city with a horrible scar on his face, overcoming all obstacles along the way and being invincible. He was a marshal that people both feared and respected.
Then, it was the first time he met Zhong Yingqi since his rebirth. He leaned against the door, and the regular door frame seemed unconstrained by his figure. He had a kind of unrestrained and unrestrained style that only belongs to young people, and did not look like a general who could be responsible for a big task.
During his convalescence, Yuan Ming felt that he was a Confucian general, born into a scholarly family, often with the scent of ink in one hand and tea in the other, a refined and elegant man. Furthermore, he treated his officers and soldiers with kindness, earning him widespread acclaim within the army. Yuan Ming, a "defeated general," had to acknowledge his talent as a commander.
And now... Yuan Ming thought, she saw another side of Zhong Yingqi.
Jiang Kai was not surprised by Zhong Yingqi's behavior. He said to Yuan Ming, "General Zhong is busy right now. We might as well enjoy watching him conduct an interrogation."
"You have great respect for Zhong Yingqi." Yuan Ming said.
"I agree with you. Being a subordinate of General Zhong is a blessing in life."
Yuan Ming was a little surprised: "Is that so?"
While Yuan Ming was pondering Zhong Yingqi's every advantage, the pair of "chopsticks" were having a rough time. They were surrounded by torture instruments of various shapes: pointed, round, wide, narrow. The more they looked, the more frightened they became. Especially since General Zhong, who could kill them as easily as squeezing two ants, was in front of them, their legs were trembling.
Thin Bamboo Pole: "Agu, it's all your fault. You insisted on hunting wild game. Now we're going to become wild game!"
Fatty: "Ger, could you please be quiet and save some energy to beg for mercy from General Qi later? The people of Liang are not worth our lives."
Zhong Yingqi's eyes were as sharp as an eagle's. He slowly raised his eyes. There was no anger to intimidate the enemy nor any malicious scrutiny on his face. He was very calm, as if he was measuring and judging.
He was undoubtedly good-looking, and people in the army always mentioned this, but his facial features had a kind of magic. The calmer he looked, the more he could give people an invisible pressure, like the calm before a storm.
Yuan Ming observed quietly and thought: Let me see the general's strength.
Zhong Yingqi said calmly: "Agu, Geer, are you working for the Liang Kingdom?"
The question was asked calmly, but both Geer and Agu were surprised—this Qi general could actually understand a foreign language. Yuan Ming was also surprised, because there were not many Qi people who could speak the barbarian language, especially the high-ranking officials.
The reason was that the barbarians would invade Qi every winter to exploit the enemy. They would cross the long border in small groups, leaving Qi vulnerable to attack. Ministers at court debated this situation for three days and nights. One side argued that while the barbarians were small, they were sandwiched between Liang and Qi, and who could tell if any of the small groups might be spies from the enemy state? Furthermore, once in Qi, the barbarians wouldn't settle down in the mountains; they would resort to banditry, causing widespread resentment among the border residents. Therefore, they should be eliminated through military action.
The other side argued that Liang's spies could not be stopped from entering Qi, and that the barbarians could enter Qi, so the spies could get in with a little effort. This was mainly because Qi and Liang were equally powerful, and without the barbarian tribes as a buffer zone, future wars would be frequent, with no peace.
After arguing for a while, the two sides finally shook hands and made peace, putting the blame of the barbarians on the border guards, and they went back to enjoying their salaries in peace.
Therefore, Qiguo regarded the barbarians as flies surrounding food, which annoyed him both in sight and in thought.
So, do people care about the language of flies?
After being shocked, Agu and Ger became more cautious.
Aggu suppressed his fear and said reluctantly, "General Qi, feel free to ask whatever you want. We are only doing this to get food. We are doing this to survive. Now that we are captured by the general, we are willing to tell you anything. We know what is important."
"He who knows the current affairs of the time is a hero." Zhong Yingqi was generous with his praise, and regardless of whether the other party understood or not, he said directly, "Agu, Gel, what is this blood you went to so much trouble to bring in? Tell me everything you know, and I will spare your lives."
…
The brutal torture and deafening wailing that Yuan Ming had anticipated never materialized. Zhong Yingqi, as if chatting with a friend, had already grasped everything Agu and Geer knew. Throughout their conversation, Zhong Yingqi maintained a graceful smile, silently taking on the other person's words with a gentle, calm tone, never a hint of aggression. He would point out omissions at precisely the right moments, leaving the other person feeling completely unprepared.
After saying that, Zhong Yingqi even treated the two men to two bowls of white porridge. If the Northern Frontier military camp was not so poor, he could have added a few pieces of meat to the porridge, but it was so poor.
Zhong Yingqi walked towards Yuan Ming and Jiang Kai. His first question was about Yuan Ming's health. The expression he had when talking to Agu and Geer had not yet faded from his face. He was so gentle that he seemed to be drowning.
Jiang Kai answered all of Zhong Yingqi's questions: "I'm alive. I have a strong life. I scared away the King of Hell."
Yuan Ming was speechless: "Doctor Jiang, be careful with your words. If you say that, I will have to offer a steamed bun hard enough to hit a dog to the King of Hell, lest you anger him and he take revenge on me."
Zhong Yingqi was happy to see Yuan Ming and Jiang Kai bickering. As long as there was no fighting, everything would be fine.
"I'm glad you're alright, Your Highness. I just learned the truth about the blood bucket from those two people. Why don't you two come and listen to it together?"
Agu and Geer originally received food from a merchant from Liang State. The merchant gave them five blood buckets and asked them to pour them into the stream every other day. One bucket would be enough for their three meals a day. Seeing that there was food to be taken, Agu and Geer took the job.
Zhong Yingqi also asked them if they knew where the blood came from. Agu, quick-witted, recalled a time when he heard a bull mooing while relieving himself at night, and guessed it was cow blood. Zhong Yingqi then asked about a barbarian epidemic that had broken out years before, comparing the soldiers' symptoms to that of the barbarian epidemic. Every symptom matched.
That plague wiped out more than half of the barbarian population, effectively wiping out the entire tribe. Geer nearly fainted when he mentioned the plague, revealing the profound impact it had on the barbarians.
The bleeding cows are sick cows, and the bleeding people are also patients. The Liang people probably wanted to use the epidemic to weaken the border defense of Qi State, so they came up with this trick. The previous guesses of Zhong Yingqi and Jiang Kai were correct. The epidemic that broke out in the military camp was indeed related to the barbarians. As expected, the Liang people were also involved.
During this mild interrogation, Zhong Yingqi also learned a piece of news that was not widely circulated: the remaining barbarians were able to survive because they were reportedly treated by a quack doctor. The doctor was like a reincarnated god, who saved the panicked barbarians. He was called the Medical Saint by the barbarians, listed as one of the tribal totems, and worshipped by the barbarians.
After hearing this, Yuan Ming nudged Jiang Kai with his elbow and said, "Doctor Jiang, you were born at the wrong time. If you had been born a few years earlier and gone to the barbarian territory first, this treatment might have been yours."
That quack doctor saved the barbarians, and Jiang Kai also successfully developed a pill that saved the Northern Frontier Army. Jiang Kai didn't bother to talk to Yuan Ming, but seeing Yuan Ming's playful attitude, he retorted, "If that doctor was from Qi, he would be worshipped by the barbarians. He would have kept this a secret. Qi would have loved to see the barbarians gone. That epidemic was a perfect omen, in line with the people's wishes, but it was stopped by one of their own. Do you think anyone in Qi would have wanted to kill that doctor if they knew about it?"
"So Rulan was stunned when she saw the pills developed by Jiang Kai, because her master was the quack doctor worshipped by the barbarians." Yuan Ming came to the conclusion in his heart, but then he remembered that Rulan said that her master was killed by a sudden stone on the road. It seemed that Rulan must have erased some of the truth.
After a moment of silence, Zhong Yingqi said, "I will send more personnel to investigate every tributary. We can't let this matter go. Liang has been quiet for years, but now they're poisoning. This message is likely to disrupt the short-lived peace between the two countries."
Zhong Yingqi's eyes met Yuan Ming's for a moment. As Zhong Yingqi had expected, the latter gave him an indifferent look. So he said firmly, "I will write to the court to request additional troops."
Yuan Ming left in a somewhat unfocused manner, and the two men behind him had slightly darkened expressions. They all knew Yuan Ming's special status, and since the current princess already knew her sister was hiding in the Northern Frontier military camp, there was no reason for Princess Yuan Zi not to take this opportunity to trip her up.
For Yu Yuanming, this is truly the calm before the storm.
After Yuan Ming walked out of the tent, he saw Rulan sitting on the hillside under the starry night sky, looking depressed.
Yuan Ming was very depressed, and Rulan was also very depressed. They were both wanderers in the world, and at this moment they had to express their true feelings under the witness of the starry sky.
Yuan Ming patted Rulan's shoulder lightly, startling the sad-looking girl.
Seeing that it was Yuan Ming, Ru Lan immediately asked, "Are you feeling well?"
Yuan Ming rubbed his brows and smiled. "I can't say it's completely healed, I can only say it's OK. Doctor Jiang's magic hands brought me back to health with acupuncture."
She sat down next to Rulan and saw tears in her sad eyes. Although it was not very kind to laugh when others were sad, Rulan looked like a sad little bitter melon at this moment, which made Yuan Ming unable to hold back her smile.
Yuan Ming said nothing more. She leaned her head against Rulan's shoulder, like a pair of close friends. Silence was more than anything else at this moment, for Yuan Ming understood Rulan's kindness, compassion, and even a touch of cowardice. Yuan Ming had never met Rulan's master, but she could guess that the miracle doctor must have been an incredibly compassionate and simple-minded physician. In his presence, no life was high or low. That's why he unhesitatingly helped the barbarians. But this world is cruel, and so the overly kind doctor passed away, leaving behind a similar cub, weeping beneath the starry sky.
What kind of scenes had Rulan witnessed while following her master outside the border? Yuan Ming thought, probably scenes of purgatory on earth, otherwise why would Rulan react so strongly to the symptoms of the soldiers?
Rulan also looked at Yuan Ming eagerly, without saying a word for a long time.
The two girls snuggled up to each other under the dark blue night sky. When the dawn broke in the east and the first rays of sunlight spread across the earth, they actually fell asleep head to head. The breeze blew their hair, and their long hair gently intertwined in the wind, as if reflecting their own destiny.
Not far away, a little bird landed lightly on Zhong Yingqi's shoulder facing the morning sun. No one knew how long he stood there.
The sun finally rose above the horizon, its golden rays radiating a warm glow over the tranquil scene. The two girls' faces appeared even softer in the morning light, and Zhong Yingqi couldn't help but hold his breath, fearing he would disturb the tranquility and harmony.
The soldier who brought the message has left the northern border at full speed, and Zhong Yingqi's memorial will soon be delivered to Yuan Zi.
Inside the palace, Yuan Zi pondered the contents of the memorial, muttering to herself, "Zhong Yingqi, the Northern Frontier Camp, what is Yuan Ming's relationship with them?"
Yuan Zi casually threw the memorial on the table, her face expressionless.
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