Chapter 224: Direct Disciple

Jianing 31st year, winter, twelfth month, twenty-eighth day.

Outside Gu Yuan, a strong wind rolled up yellow dust that flew into the sky, and then gently drifted down, falling on people with a rain-like rustling sound.

On the city wall of Gu Yuan, a soldier with a gray cloth scarf wrapped around half his face leaned against the battlement, napping.

From afar came a wave of camel bells.

The soldier pulled down his scarf a bit and looked up towards the city outside. He saw a long camel train coming from a distance on the endless yellow official road.

The roads here were rugged; even the official road was pitted. Carriages and ox carts couldn't pass through here. Every few dozen li, they had to change wheels. All merchants coming from the Central Plains had to change to camels and mules in Taiyuan Prefecture to continue forward.

The soldier narrowed his eyes and sized up the train, muttering softly, "It's almost New Year's Eve, and there are still people coming to this godforsaken place, eh, officials."

He saw a young servant leading the reins in front of the camel train, while the people behind wrapped themselves tightly and sat on the camels' backs.

If it were a merchant team, the merchants would be eager to pile their camels' humps full of goods and would absolutely not be willing to ride. Only officials would do so.

Not long after, the camel train arrived below the city. The soldier placed his hand on his waist knife and shouted loudly, "Who are you?"

A young servant holding the reins cupped his fist and said, "This military sir, my master is Chen Liqin, the fourth-rank Shao Zhan Shi from the Zhan Shi Fu. He is here by order of the Crown Prince! Quickly open the gate!"

"Oh, so it's the Crown Prince's person," the soldier's face slowly sank, and he said lightly, "Wait, I'll go report."

The camel train waited in the wind and sand for a full half shichen, but the city gate did not open. No matter how the young servant shouted below the city wall, no one paid attention.

Zhang Xia, Zhang Zheng, Chen Ji, and Xiao Man at the rear of the camel train wrapped their mouths and noses with red scarves. The scarves were layered upon layered on their necks and shoulders, but they still couldn't block the wind and cold.

Zhang Xia sat on the saddle, half her face hidden inside the scarf, and said in a low voice, "Something's not right. Gu Yuan is a border area. Why would a court official of the fourth rank come here, and still a subordinate of the East Palace?"

Chen Ji grunted and looked up to size up the city fortress. The fortress was extremely high; looking up made his neck sore. The green bricks of the city wall were eroded by the wind, showing it had stood for who knows how many years.

沧桑 (cāngsāng - vicissitudes), majestic – this was Chen Ji's deepest impression of Gu Yuan military town.

Both sides of Gu Yuan were mountain ranges. This city fortress seemed to be built inside a huge canyon, blocking the Jing Dynasty cavalry's path south.

With a creaking sound, the city gate slowly opened.

Two teams of armored soldiers holding long halberds lined up, vaguely surrounding the camel train in the middle.

Chen Liqin looked tiredly and said, "What is this for?"

Wang Gui, who helped him lead the reins, diligently said, "Master, I'll go ask."

"Go."

Wang Gui was not tired. He was not yet a steward, so he didn't need to manage these matters. But if he didn't find work to do himself, perhaps he would never be a steward again in this lifetime.

Wang Gui stepped forward and asked, "Generals, why are you surrounding our camel train? We are family members of Shao Zhan Shi Chen Liqin."

An armored deputy general smiled, "Don't worry, gentlemen. Gu Yuan is a militarily important place. Recently, Jing Dynasty spies have infiltrated to scout intelligence. To avoid mistakes, we must search your luggage.

Wang Gui's face changed. "The Crown Prince's hand-written edict and travel documents are all here. How dare you search our luggage?"

The deputy general pressed his right hand on his waist knife and gave a cold laugh. "We border soldiers throw our heads and shed our blood here. We only care about killing enemies and catching spies. We don't care about what third-rank or fourth-rank high officials, or even the Minister of War or a current Grand Secretariat come. They all have to be searched!"

Wang Gui was speechless. From the capital to Luo City, he was used to being looked up to, but he never thought these border soldiers wouldn't even give face to a fourth-rank high official!

How could it be this extent?

Seeing that negotiation was unsuccessful, Chen Liqin was supported down from the camel by a young servant. "This general, I wonder if we have offended you in any way. If so, I apologize on behalf of my subordinates."

The deputy general smiled without smiling. "Adult Chen speaks too heavily. We are just doing our duty. Look at this pass behind me. If it were seized by the Jing Dynasty, the people of Ningzhou and Shanzhou would suffer disaster, wouldn't they?"

Liang Shi wrapped herself tightly with a scarf. She gave Wang Gui a signal with her eyes. Wang Gui immediately took out a silver ingot from his sleeve and quietly stuffed it into the deputy general's hand. "My master knows the border region soldiers are hardworking. Please be accommodating."

"What do you take us border soldiers for?" The deputy general threw the silver ingot onto the yellow soil. "We are just following orders. If you obstruct again, we will arrest you all as Jing Dynasty spies! Search them!"

Wang Gui's eyes were anxious. "Hey, stop it!"

He stepped forward and pulled a soldier's arm, but the border army soldiers were full of killing intent and actually drew their waist knives with a clang. "Get away!"

Wang Gui looked at the bright knife light and awkwardly retreated several steps.

Zhang Zheng at the rear of the camel train laughed, "Fortunately, we don't have any luggage, so we're not afraid of being searched."

Chen Ji laughed heartily, "Brother Zhang is indeed optimistic. He lives a happier life than others."

Zhang Zheng was delighted after being praised. "Maybe. When I go back, I must tell my father to absolutely not come to the border region, otherwise he'll have to suffer this humiliating body search."

Zhang Xia glared at her older brother, then turned to Chen Ji and said in a low voice, "I don't know what the Crown Prince is doing in Gu Yuan exactly. It seems he has provoked a lot of resentment among the generals. My father also said that ever since General Wen Tao was executed by lingchi, the border army has had continuous problems, and there have even been instances of border army officers defecting to the Jing Dynasty..."

Chen Ji asked doubtfully, "What crime is lingchi?"

"Colluding with the enemy." Zhang Xia glanced at the border army soldiers not far away and said in a low voice, "In previous years, there were still people in Ningzhou secretly building shrines for General Wen Tao. As a result, they were discovered by the court and all torn down. At that time, there was a border army mutiny, and it happened when the Jing Dynasty cavalry came south. If it weren't for Mr. Wang temporarily taking command and leading soldiers to suppress the rebellion, perhaps a great disaster would have already occurred."

Zhang Zheng laughed, "I heard about this matter. It is said that a thousand households office mutinied. Mr. Wang, as a civil official, entered the thousand households office alone on a horse and quelled the rebellion overnight. Later, Mr. Wang was promoted to guard commander and led five thousand households office to surprise attack the Jing Dynasty's supplies, forcing back the Jing Dynasty cavalry, and was known throughout the capital as a Confucian general... Originally, father thought Mr. Wang could enter the Ministry of War this time, but he didn't know whose imperial edict was blocked. What a pity. Father said that if there was Mr. Wang in the border town, he could protect twenty years of peace and worry-free, and then he could do many things with peace of mind."

Chen Ji suddenly realized why Adult Zhang looked so desolate in Luo City when he didn't see Mr. Wang's promotion document.

At this moment, the border army soldiers took down the Chen family's luggage from the camels' humps and opened them one by one to search. They actually threw the gold, silver, and fine silk onto the ground. The other party didn't carefully look at the objects inside; they just wanted to tear them open and throw them on the ground.

This was not searching for Jing Dynasty spies; it was clearly intended to give the East Palace's subordinates a tough time.

When the soldiers searched Chen Ji's belongings, one soldier saw the long strip of cloth wrapped around a whale knife horizontally on his saddle and immediately asked in a cold voice, "What is this? Is it a weapon?"

Chen Ji did not answer.

That soldier called over a colleague. "Come here, this person has a weapon on him! Capture all these people on horseback and send them to the general for disposal!"

Hearing someone carrying a weapon, more than ten soldiers surrounded them, neatly pointing their long halberds at Chen Ji and the others. Date Date restlessly sprayed white mist from her nostrils, her sturdy hooves stepping on the yellow ground.

The shouting woke up Xiao Man, who was napping on the little dwarf horse. She tightly grasped the reins and asked in a low voice, "Young Master, what should we do?"

Hei Yun stood up from Date Date's head and stared coldly at all the soldiers.

Chen Ji said lightly, "Don't move lightly."