Chapter 292: Each Does Their Own Thing

"What are our casualties?"

"Seven men were injured, one quite severely, but none died," a soldier reported. "The bandits are disorganized, but their stronghold is well-built and tough to attack. These bandits are incredibly unskilled and have no elemental power. Against our regular army, they'd simply lie down and wait to die."

Fu Xin scoffed, "Didn't someone still get hurt? There are villages everywhere, why not just occupy one? We'd have food and drink, which is better than this remote, poor place."

Attacking innocent villagers is always easier than attacking mountain bandits.

"This place is more concealed," Hong Chenglue said casually as he emerged from the barracks, answering the question. "And we have food and drink here too."

When he lived in White Deer Town, he knew this bandit lair was the largest within a hundred-mile radius, with over three hundred members. So many mouths needing to be fed daily meant they couldn't rely solely on raiding villages. There were rumors that these bandits colluded with merchants from the plains to exchange their loot for grain.

Even with Hong Chenglue's surprise attack, it took four to five hours to take the stronghold. Afterward, when they opened the granaries, they found no shortage of food and various supplies, which greatly pleased everyone.

Farmers know very well that when harvests are poor and they can't steal grain from neighbors, they can always look for field mice in the fields. A mouse hole might hold a surprise, enough for at least a few meals.

Evidently, the "field mice" they had just eliminated were quite frugal and had surplus even during lean years.

"You, Hong!" As soon as Fu Xin saw him, his eyes turned red. He rushed forward, grabbing Hong Chenglue's lapels. "What do you mean by leaving us in the mine to die?!"

The personal guards behind him moved to intervene, but Hong Chenglue waved them off.

"I ordered everyone to evacuate, but you refused," Hong Chenglue said coolly. "Is it my fault then, that you disobeyed a military order and caused the entire army to be wiped out?"

"You didn't even go down the mountain to intercept the imperial soldiers, why not?!"

"We went down the mountain, found no trace of imperial soldiers, and couldn't return empty-handed. So, we proceeded with Marshal Nian's main mission: to attack and burn enemy provisions behind their lines. Is there a problem with that?"

Fu Xin looked around. He hadn't completely lost his head to rage and noticed that the numbers didn't add up. "So, did you succeed in burning them? Hmm? Did you use us as bait, kill the provincial governor, and burn the provisions or not?"

He shouted louder and louder, until his voice became a roar. Soldiers from the barracks started coming out.

Hong Chenglue grabbed Fu Xin's wrist and twisted it outwards, then landed a punch to his chest, sending him back five paces and nearly knocking him to the ground.

Fu Xin's personal guards rushed forward.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Hong Chenglue asked, "Where is General Baili? At the very least, you could have retreated through the mine shaft from the back of the mountain, couldn't you?"

He had not left General Baili Qing and the others with a dead end. If they had acted quickly, Baili Qing still had a chance to escape.

Fu Xin sullenly remained silent, so one of his personal guards answered for him: "The Xiazhou imperial soldiers went around to the back of the mountain, blew up the mine shaft exit, and then smoked them out. General Baili... was captured. We were ambushed on the hilltop and saw the leading Xiazhou general kill everyone."

A stir ran through the stronghold, and even a vein twitched on Hong Chenglue's forehead. The imperial soldiers killed General Baili Qing and all the surrendered soldiers in the mine? How ruthless.

However, considering there was no better way to deal with prisoners while marching and transporting provisions, simply killing them was indeed the easiest solution. He stared at Fu Xin. "Then how did you survive? Are you perhaps cowards who cling to life?"

Fu Xin was furious, but the chilling gaze in Hong Chenglue's eyes sent a shiver down his spine, stiffening his back. He jutted out his neck and declared, "We seized the opportunity when the enemy was unprepared and fought our way out!"

"Abandoning your commanding general and fleeing carries a death sentence," Hong Chenglue stated, sending a chill through Fu Xin's heart.

"However, we are short on manpower, so I'll give you a chance to atone for your crimes through service." Hong Chenglue suddenly drew his blade. Fu Xin felt a chill on the back of his hand, and the pain followed.

A severed pinky finger fell to the ground.

He cried out, "Ah!" covering his left hand as blood flowed incessantly.

Once his cries subsided, Hong Chenglue continued, "If you dare cause trouble again, speak ill of your superiors, incite discord, or show cowardice, it will be your head that falls."

Fu Xin lowered his head, no longer meeting his gaze, but gnashed his back teeth. Hong Chenglue's gaze swept over the crowd, and everyone lowered their heads.

With General Baili Qing dead, this army would now have to follow Hong Chenglue's orders even more closely. They had nowhere else to go; Xiazhou was the enemy's main rear base.

Hong Chenglue then said, "Take off your clothes."

Fu Xin looked up, incredulous. "What?"

"Remove your clothes for inspection, to ensure you haven't been affected by any tracking spells."

Stared at by hundreds of eyes, Fu Xin's face flushed crimson. "No, I, I..." Being exposed like that in front of so many soldiers would be worse than death.

Deputy General Xu Yingxian quickly stepped forward to smooth things over. "It's acceptable to take him inside the barracks for inspection! General, that works too."

Hong Chenglue nodded.

A few personal guards then stepped forward and led Fu Xin to a small hut nearby. Hong Chenglue turned and walked away, his face as grim as ice.

Wu Qing had been watching from inside the barracks and now came out to ask him, "General Hong, what are your plans next?"

"We will bide our time and conceal our strength. He Chunhua's nearly ten thousand *shi* of grain will certainly reach the front lines; we can no longer intercept it. We can only wait for the next operation behind enemy lines."

"Send some men to move around three or four counties and towns in the central north to gather more intelligence," Hong Chenglue said, having already made his plans. "Also, request an additional three hundred skirmishers from Marshal Nian for me."

The two entered the barracks. Seeing no one else around, Wu Qing lowered his voice. "General Baili sacrificed himself, and Fu Xin escaped back. This wasn't an accident, was it?"

"Of course not," Hong Chenglue scoffed. "The Xiazhou people deliberately let them return just to cause trouble for me. Fu Xin has a dozen or so men, and since our surprise attack on the Xinhuang army camp failed, morale is low. It's not a good time to deal with him."

He also lowered his voice. "When do the higher-ups want me to return to Beijia?"

"National Preceptor Frostleaf said you should hold out behind enemy lines for as long as you can, and that the situation on the Han River front requires your full attention."

"The situation on the Han River front? So, when I can return to Beijia depends on my performance at Han River?" Hong Chenglue mused, "I've been away too long. Which National Preceptor is currently leading our nation?"

"Currently, National Preceptor Sleepy Ice is on duty, holding the seal." Holding the seal grants decision-making authority, and the four National Preceptors have always rotated this duty. Hong Chenglue's pupils contracted slightly but quickly returned to normal. "What a coincidence, she was also holding the seal when I left. No wonder National Preceptor Frostleaf seems to lack confidence when speaking now."

Wu Qing chuckled, "Indeed, indeed." But inwardly, he thought, *I've long heard there's a rift between General Hong and National Preceptor Sleepy Ice. It seems it's true.*

The two then discussed supplies, and soon a personal guard reported:

"Fu Xin's inspection is complete. No tracking spells or objects were found."

"Understood." Hong Chenglue waved him away, knowing that after this search, Fu Xin would hate him even more.

Furthermore, many soldiers in this stronghold harbored complaints against him. After all, Hong Chenglue was a Beijian, while these were Xunzhou skirmishers. Hong Chenglue had personally heard remarks like, "The Beijian General doesn't value the lives of Xunzhou people," during his patrols.

Using soldiers who weren't his own was always inconvenient.

He then asked Wu Qing, "How is Ajin doing? Is she settling in well?"

Wu Qing smiled. "Rest assured, that village is very secluded. The lady has two attentive old women to help her with washing and meals, and someone to chat with. She's much more comfortable than you are."

Hong Chenglue was still somewhat worried. "I was thinking, should I bring her over here?"

"It's best not to," Wu Qing said truthfully. "We have no fixed residence and never know when we'll move. For her, a... delicate woman, to travel with skirmishers would be too difficult." The main reason was the inconvenience.

Hong Chenglue exhaled and nodded, knowing logically that this was the right course of action.

Wu Qing continued, "These past few days, all the townships have been arresting bandits and spies, scrutinizing outsiders and unfamiliar faces. I heard that the prison in Haotian Township is full, and dozens of people have been publicly executed, making everyone extremely nervous and on edge."

"Mr. Wu, you won't be implicated, will you?"

"No, I'm fine. My team has official credentials; they won't catch me. The more severe the lean years, the more crucial merchants like us become." Wu Qing sighed. "The local officials are also making great efforts, sending people to scour every mountain village, digging three feet deep to find Xunzhou people. General Hong, you truly have foresight. If you had casually occupied a mountain village as a base, you'd be in a messy retreat right now."

"This must be ordered by the provincial governor, and local officials have no choice but to comply. I burned He Chunhua's tens of thousands of *shi* of military provisions; he must be furious."

Wu Qing smiled. "Indeed, the bounty for you is almost posted across the central and northern parts of Xiazhou." Hong Chenglue's concern was not for himself. "Is there a bounty on Ajin?"

"I haven't seen one for her."

After their discussion, the two men went their separate ways to attend to their duties.

Benlei Village.

The spring waters were just beginning to rise, and the stream murmured.

Two peasant women were washing clothes by the stream. They looked up at the sky and both exclaimed, "Why does it look like it's going to rain soon? It was bright sunshine when we came out just now!"

Large masses of dark clouds had drifted in from nowhere, obscuring half the sky. Sunlight still shone above their heads, but the eastern sky was a dark expanse.

"Hurry up and finish washing; let's get back quickly when you're done."

"This spring, all it does is rain, rain, rain. We finally get some sun, and it only lasts a few hours," complained one of the women. "The firewood is all damp; it's so hard to light and chokes you."

"Aunt Liu, let me ask you something," said the other peasant woman. "Aren't you helping out in Chief Chen's kitchen? I heard the chief has several relatives staying with him?"

"Oh, yes," Aunt Liu said, vigorously pounding her clothes. "I think they said it's a lady from a wealthy family in the south who is ill and has been sent to the countryside to recuperate."

"But I heard it was several people?"

"It is several people. There are three or four old women, and a few men who seem to be bodyguards... or perhaps escorts? One is lean and tough, the other stout. They look like they're glaring at everyone, with very fierce expressions," Aunt Liu said. "These people are all here to serve the lady."

The peasant woman asked curiously, "What kind of illness requires recuperation in the countryside instead of the city?" Everyone knew the conditions were better in the city. Even if there were one or two doctors in the countryside, they were often just local healers; their medical skills couldn't compare to those in a large city.

"I don't understand it either. All I know is that the village chief gave up his main house for them to live in. That noblewoman doesn't come out of her room all day; hardly anyone has seen her."