The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 448- 450

Chapter 448: Brother Zhang Has Arrived

In other words, this alliance of those pirates actually provided an opportunity for the navy of the imperial court to dispose of them at one fell swoop! And it would make things even easier for the navy if all the pirates were lured ashore.

This chart was quite exhaustive. Yuwen Tong, after arriving in Pingtao City, secretly scouted out the lay of the land of the port and nearby areas, and now he had a shrewd idea which route those “pirates” would take to get ashore. What he needed to do next was figure out a way to entice them into moving far inland so that his men could put them to rout in a land battle. The combat capabilities of his men would be hemmed in if they had to fight a sea battle. Moreover, the sea area that those pirates’ hideouts were distributed was vast, and they could easily make their escape during a naval engagement.

He would have to rid these waters of pirates sooner or later. The reason why he hadn’t done it yet was because he had just acceded to the throne, and there were many issues in the Great Wen he had to attend to first. Previously he couldn’t find the time to deal with those pirates even if he wanted to, but now, thanks to the Luohai Kingdom’s attempt to make trouble, he could conveniently end the scourge of pirates ahead of schedule, so this situation actually had its compensations.

…

It was almost midnight when he finished conferring with the commander of the Haizhou garrison, the commander of the Haizhou navy and the Haizhou governor.

Yuwen Tong had no idea how things were going with Ling Zhang. He believed that Ling Zhang had probably received his letter four days ago. If Ling Zhang, on receiving the letter, had departed heading for Haizhou by way of Yanzhou, he would be able to see Ling Zhang in three days at the earliest, but if something went awry…

“Still no report from Cangzhou?” asked Yuwen Tong.

“The latest intelligence report hasn’t arrived yet, Sire. The last report says that they found some traces Shan Congyi left behind, and the Jiangzhou rebel army were being redeployed,” replied the commander of the Haizhou garrison.

Given the time of the delivery of the last report, everything should be over by now.

This was the very matter that concerned Yuwen Tong. He wondered how things had ended and whether Ling Zhang was safe and unharmed.

Shortly before he went to bed, a courier pigeon carrying a letter from Cangzhou finally arrived, which said that the plan of the Wan Kingdom had been upset, that Wang Xiangxin had failed to get the financial support provided by the Wan Kingdom, lost more then half of the men he’d stationed at the checkpoint, and retreated behind the blockades.

This letter was for the commander of the Haizhou garrison from the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor). The latter cautioned that as Wang Xiangxin had lost the support of the Wan Kingdom, he would undoubtedly pin all his hopes on the Luohai Kingdom and would very likely launch a frenzied attack on Haizhou, that Haizhou needed to be ready when that happened.

Nobody could have foreseen that Yuwen Tong would come to Haizhou, so the General Zhongwu, out of his concern over Ling Zhang’s safety, didn’t mention anything about Ling Zhang.

But very soon, Yuwen Tong received a message from his secret bodyguards.

It said that Ling Zhang had entered Jiangzhou and was staying temporarily in a village of hunters, that his arm was wounded.

It’d been the very night Ling Zhang had arrived at that village that this letter had been sent. Yuwen Tong’s secret bodyguards hadn’t been able to gauge the time when Yuwen Tong would arrive in Pingtao City, and delivering this secret letter out of Jiangzhou had taken some doing, so Yuwen Tong hadn’t received this letter until the night before Ling Zhang would arrive in Haizhou.

“His arm’s wounded?” Yuwen Tong knitted his brows. “How did that happen?”

No detail was given in the letter. He had no idea specifically how Ling Zhang hurt his arm.

Whether Shan Congyi was alive or not was a mystery to him, and so were what had happened on that day exactly and if Ling Zhang’s arm injury had anything to do with that. He had thought that Ling Zhang would come to Haizhou via Yanzhou. He didn’t have a clue why Ling Zhang had entered Jiangzhou, or how he’d managed to do that. However, seeing as Ling Zhang had eventually chosen to stay in a village to nurse his injury, his wound must not be healing well.

Yuwen Tong was thrown into deep worry, looking in the direction of Jiangzhou, emanating a cold air.

…

Ling Zhang had arrived at the checkpoint on the boundary between Jiangzhou and Haizhou.

Due to his concern over the situation in Pingtao City, Ling Zhang had only stayed in that village for two days before leaving. He’d taken the route that he’d had his men check beforehand, heading straight for Haizhou along a defile going through mountains and forests.

Along the journey, Ling Zhang from time to time had had Yao Yi go to nearby towns to make inquiries, and thus had come to know that Wang Xiangxin had been dispatching more troops to the checkpoint near Haizhou as a matter of urgency, which meant that there would soon be a fierce fight in Haizhou.

Ling Zhang was worried about the situation in Haizhou, wondering how Haizhou’s defense had been organized, whether Yuwen Tong had arrived in Pingtao City, how the Luohai Kingdom were going to do it exactly…

However, the checkpoint near Haizhou had been sealed, and more troops of the Jiangzhou rebel army were hurrying to the checkpoint, so there was no way he could get out of Jiangzhou through the checkpoint. Fortunately for him, his father had given him some instructions in a timely manner, telling him that there was a secret shortcut connecting Haizhou and Jiangzhou. This path was in the turf of a prestigious sect in the martial arts world which was located in a valley formed by a branch range of Mt East. The valley lay not far away from the checkpoint on the boundary between Haizhou and Jiangzhou. The main road people normally took to go in and out of the sect was in Haizhou, but there was a secret defile which started from the hill behind the sect and led to Jiangzhou. However, the defile was too rough for people without lightness skills to travel on.

Nobody other than members of that sect knew about the existence of that path. Given Ling Zhang’s identity, even if he wanted to force his way through that sect to take that path, people there wouldn’t dare say anything. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Everybody was astonished when Ling Zhang told them about that path. Yao Yi and Wang Dashan, who were very much in Yuwen Tong’s and Ling Zhang’s confidence respectively, to a greater or lesser extent, knew about the matter of the Millennium Pavilion, and they subconsciously believed that it was someone from that organization that had informed Ling Zhang of this. Ling Zhang was aware that they misunderstood, but this matter was hard to explain, because, naturally, the fewer who knew about his and his father’s rebirth, the better.

…

In the morning of this day. Pingtao City.

The commander of the Haizhou garrison requested an audience with Yuwen Tong early in the morning, saying that he had something urgent to report.

“Sire, something’s going on in the Jiangzhou rebel army. There’ve been frequent deployments since last night. The number of the troops guarding the checkpoint has doubled and is still on the rise.”

Yuwen Tong calmly did some thinking before he observed, “Wang Xiangxin lost a lot of men and got nothing during the fight near the checkpoint on the boundary between Cangzhou and Jiangzhou. I think he’s hurried to the checkpoint near Haizhou already, planning to take Haizhou to cover the loss.”

“Will they mount an offensive ahead of schedule?”

“If they are to launch an attack ahead of schedule, they’ll first have to make sure the Luohai Kingdom got their back. Keep a close eye on that checkpoint. They’ll sure as hell send someone out to make contact with Mu Rongfeng.”

“Yes, Sire!”

After the commander of the Haizhou garrison took his leave, Yuwen Tong didn’t just sit there waiting. He carefully studied the overall terrain of the areas near Pingtao City, and then told the Haizhou governor and the commander of the Haizhou navy that the sea should be the focus of most of their attention.

At the same time, he instructed his secret bodyguards to cooperate with the Haizhou garrison, keep close watch on people and things going out of the checkpoint in Jiangzhou, and make sure that all courier pigeons and the like were intercepted.

If pirates and the Jiangzhou rebel army joined hands, the Haizhou garrison would have a hard job defending against the attack from them on their own – they would at least lose more men. The best way was to separate the pirates and the rebel army, lure Mu Rongfeng and his men ashore and dispose of them first, and then turn around to deal with Jiangzhou. Meanwhile, the Cangzhou garrison would make their move as well, outflanking and attacking Jiangzhou from another side, which would make things a lot easier.

Because of this, the Haizhou garrison kept very close watch on the checkpoint in Jiangzhou. Even small birds flying by were shot down, because they couldn’t afford to take any chances.

While Yuwen Tong and some others were waiting for the “letter” to come out of the checkpoint in Jiangzhou, Ling Zhang had led his men through the turf of that sect and entered Haizhou. Looking down from the top of a hill, they could see Pingtao City in the distance.

“Childe Ling, this path leads right to Pingtao City. You may get there in half a day if you travel fast enough,” said the leader of that sect.

He’d been terribly astounded when Ling Zhang had revealed his identity, and he hadn’t had the time to carefully think about why the present empress knew about the existence of this secret path of their sect. Since this grandee just wanted to take this path to go to another city, they had no choice but to immediately lead the way for him, not daring try to stop him at all.

Ling Zhang expressed his gratitude and said, “Thank you. I owe you a favor and I’m not going to forget it.”

“No, no, it’s nothing. We but did what we should do.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head, folded his hands in front to bid them farewell and then quickly led his men towards Pingtao City.

As they reached the gates of Pingtao City at noon, Ling Zhang heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, they arrived at their destination.

“Let’s get into the city,” said Ling Zhang, looking at the tight security outside Pingtao City, a grave expression on his face.

“Yes, Childe Ling.”

Having traveled for a long time, Ling Zhang was also somewhat tired, but at the thought that Yuwen Tong might already be in Pingtao City, all his weariness seemed to dissolve.

“Identify yourselves.”

Seeing Ling Zhang approaching with a large group of people all of whom appeared to be from unusual background, the soldiers guarding the gates stopped them.

Yao Yi walked forward to talk to the soldiers. Before long, they were let in. Also, someone led the way for them, ushering them to a military encampment outside another pair of city gates.

There were some secret agents working for Yuwen Tong in Pingtao City. The moment Ling Zhang and his men showed up at the city gates, an agent spotted them and immediately sent a message back to the encampment.

Yuwen Tong was astonished at the news of Ling Zhang’s arrival and then hastened outside to welcome him.

He remembered very well that letter said Ling Zhang was staying in a village nursing his wound. How come Ling Zhang came to Pingtao City so soon? Yuwen Tong was worried about Ling Zhang’s injury, the look on his face growing serious.

The others didn’t know what was going on. At the sight of Yuwen Tong hurrying outside, they quickly followed in his wake.

Yuwen Tong’s true identity was kept secret from common soldiers, but as the commander of the Haizhou garrison, the commander of the Haizhou navy and the Haizhou governor were all very submissive and deferential to him, anybody could tell that he was no common person, so nobody dared try to stop him.

The two commanders and the governor, who hadn’t been able to hear what that secret bodyguard had said to Yuwen Tong, mistakenly believed that some kind of emergency had happened. Incapable of keeping pace with Yuwen Tong, they had to trot to follow him.

When they got to the military encampment, they saw that Yuwen Tong was standing there waiting for someone. All of them hurriedly asked, “Sire, is there an emergency? Why are you…”

All three of them looked rather nervous.

Yuwen Tong flicked them a glance. Knowing that they misunderstood, he said, “It has nothing to do with the military situation. I’m here because Brother Zhang has arrived.”

Brother Zhang? The three of them were baffled. The Haizhou governor was the first to catch on. “His Highness has come to Haizhou as well?”

“Yeah. Keep this to yourselves,” replied Yuwen Tong, looking up the road leading to this encampment into the distance. Considering how long it’d been since the secret bodyguard had delivered the message to him, Ling Zhang could show up at any moment.

His Highness? The other two were amazed and at the same time eagerly looking forward to seeing the empress whom neither of them had ever clapped eyes on before, wondering what this grandee that their emperor had personally come to welcome in such haste was like.

Chapter 449: A Delightful Reunion

When Ling Zhang was close enough to the encampment, he caught sight of a man standing at the front gate in the distance and stopped dead in his tracks.

On seeing this, the others also paused and looked in that direction. All those with good eyesight spotted Yuwen Tong and came to understand why Ling Zhang was reacting this way.

“Ahem.” Yao Yi let out a little cough and gave the others a significant look with a motion of his hand.

The others quietly backed off.

Ling Zhang was still standing motionless as though in a trance, gazing unblinkingly at Yuwen Tong on the other side, his eyes burning, his breathing growing heavier in spite of himself. The longing which he’d thought he’d be able to restrain instantly burst its boundary, overwhelming him.

There was even an inexplicable pang of injured feeling surging inside him, giving him an urge to run up to Yuwen Tong and hug him tight to ease it.

Thinking about this, he finally moved, rushing forward like the wind.

Seeing him streaking over, Yuwen Tong opened his mouth unawares, staring fixedly at the person who was dashing at him like a tired bird flying towards its nest, his heart pounding so violently that it hurt.

The separation had lasted so many days. He’d missed Ling Zhang every day and every night, fearing that he might undergo hardships or be bullied or get hurt. He’d been kept in suspense all this time. Yuwen Tong had no idea what else he subconsciously took Ling Zhang for exactly. He only knew that Ling Zhang was as important as his own life, that under no circumstances would he let anything happen to Ling Zhang.

Arms outstretched, he welcomed the person darting up to him by sweetly taking him into his embrace, and it was only then that his heart seemed to return to where it should be. He exhaled deeply, holding Ling Zhang so carefully as though he were some kind of precious treasure.

His significant other finally returned to his embrace.

He would be a fool to let Ling Zhang leave again!

Ling Zhang held on to Yuwen Tong’s back tightly, breathing in the familiar mixture of the refreshing faint fragrance and Yuwen Tong’s scent which enveloped his whole body as though it were cleansing every fibre of his being, possessively putting him under Yuwen Tong’s protection. He willingly submitted himself to it, wishing he could cling on to Yuwen Tong like this forever.

Yuwen Tong caught a whiff of a smell of medicine which he could easily tell was some kind of topical vulnerary, and with that he came to himself and recalled his secret bodyguard in that letter had told him that Ling Zhang’s arm was wounded, that he had had to stay in Jiangzhou to nurse his injury…

“Which one of your arms is injured? Let me take a look?”

Ling Zhang was confused when finding himself out of Yuwen Tong’s embrace. Why did Yuwen Tong stop hugging him? He involuntarily looked at Yuwen Tong, a bemused and injured expression in his eyes.

Yuwen Tong’s heart melted by Ling Zhang’s gaze, but he’d gathered his wits. “Let me have a look at your wound first.”

It was only then that Ling Zhang raised his injured arm, glanced down at it and said, “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch, and it has healed well.”

“You seriously expect me to believe that you stayed for days just to nurse a common scratch?” Yuwen Tong’s eyes became stern and with that he lifted Ling Zhang’s arm to scrutinize it. Looking at the bandage almost wrapped around the whole forearm, he knitted his brows.

The wound was so long?

“I’m really okay. It has healed. I’ll be able to remove the bandage after the wound is scarred. It’s just a minor injury,” said Ling Zhang. He really felt that it was no big deal. The wound was healing slowly merely because it was fairly deep, and he’d accidentally put some strain on it when pushing on with his journey, and it’d been affected by his sweat.

“Mr. Mu’s vulnerary is miraculous, and Qiu Bing has been checking my wound and changing my dressing on a frequent basis, so I’m really okay. Don’t concern yourself with it. What about you? You arrived in this city so soon. How’s your journey? You must be exhausted. There’s no need for you to come here to meet me,” said Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong made no reply. After observing Ling Zhang’s countenance for quite a while, he gently put Ling Zhang’s arm down, took his other hand, pivoted around and drew him towards the gate of the encampment.

Ling Zhang walked towards the far end of the encampment with him. At the sight of the commander of the Haizhou garrison and the other two, he hurriedly pulled Yuwen Tong to a halt.

Seeing this, the three men hastened to pay their respects to Ling Zhang and introduced themselves.

“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I’m Hai Mu.”

“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I’m Dong Sheng.”

“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I’m Wu Zhuo.”

Ling Zhang greeted them and said, “There’s no need for formalities, Your Lordships. I’m on an incognito visit as well.” He tossed Yuwen Tong a glance and then added, “Just like him, I don’t want people to know who I am either, so please keep this to yourselves.”

“Yes, Childe Ling,” chorused the commander of the Haizhou garrison and the other two.

The Haizhou governor had met Ling Zhang before. The commander of the Haizhou garrison and the commander of the Haizhou navy, however, hadn’t been able to go to the capital city to attend to Yuwen Tong’s enthronement ceremony or the imperial wedding, for Yuwen Tong had ordered them to stay on the job to guard against any changes in the situation in Jiangzhou. Therefore, this was their first time seeing Ling Zhang, and they couldn’t help but observe Ling Zhang for a few moments.

Recalling his overreaction just now, Ling Zhang was somewhat ashamed, but on the surface he seemed quite natural, calmly looking back at them. The two commanders were both armymen. Though seeming unconcerned, they felt fairly guilty after staring at the empress for longer than was appropriate. As a result, the moment Ling Zhang looked back at them, they hurriedly withdrew their eyes.

Ling Zhang, however, was secretly relieved, still feeling rather awkward.

“I… I’ll bring Brother Zhang back to the encampment to examine his wound. You guys are to return and do what you’re supposed to do.”

“Yes, Sire.”

Holding Ling Zhang’s hand, Yuwen Tong took Ling Zhang back to his tent and then called out of the window, “Qiu Bing!”

“I’m here!” Qiu Bing immediately hurried into the tent.

“How’s Brother Zhang’s arm injury specifically? And when did you last change his dressing?” inquired Yuwen Tong, looking at him with penetrating eyes.

Not daring keep anything back, Qiu Bing gave Yuwen Tong a blow-by-blow account of how Ling Zhang had got injured as well as what Ling Zhang had been through during the journey. “I changed Young Master’s dressing before we set off in the morning. We traveled fast and also climbed over some hills, and Young Master hasn’t had anything to eat yet. He’s still recovering and hunger is bad for the healing process.”

Ling Zhang jerked his head up to glare at him. “What are you talking about?”

Face falling, Yuwen Tong immediately sent someone to get some food. Just now he’d been so concerned about Ling Zhang’s injury that he’d forgotten that Ling Zhang couldn’t have had the time to fill his belly due to the great haste with which he’d journeyed to this city, considering Ling Zhang had arrived at this hour. This was a military encampment, which was different from the imperial palace and downtown areas. There was strict discipline in the army, and soldiers working in the cookhouse only prepared meals at regular hours, so right now Yuwen Tong could only try getting Ling Zhang something filling to ease his hunger. Fortunately, Hai Mu had given the soldiers in the cookhouse some instructions beforehand, so Yuwen Tong sent the officer Hai Mu had assigned to serve him to the cookhouse to get something to eat. He should be able to find some in there.

Yuwen Tong was both annoyed with himself for not having realized this earlier and annoyed with Ling Zhang about him going out of the city in such a hurry, believing that Ling Zhang should have filled his belly in the city first, that Ling Zhang wasn’t taking his own health seriously enough.

But eventually his heart ached for Ling Zhang, all his annoyance ebbing away.

What the officer brought back were steamed buns, flatbreads and some other dry food. Ling Zhang ate them with hot water instead of turning his nose up at them.

Yuwen Tong’s face was sulky all along. After Ling Zhang had his fill, he wet a towel and used it to wipe Ling Zhang’s face and body, and then instructed Qiu Bing to change Ling Zhang’s dressing.

Seeing he was angry, Ling Zhang didn’t dare say anything and obediently let Qiu Bing change his dressing.

The sight of the nasty long wound almost rendered Yuwen Tong unable to breathe, his face darkening further.

Ling Zhang had no choice but to stroke him. “Don’t be mad. It’s really just an accident. Nobody could have foreseen that Shan Congyi would carry that kind of stuff with him. Yao Yi and the others did everything they could to protect me. Otherwise I wouldn’t have suffered injuries far worse than a slit, given how close I was to the center of the explosion. They were all wounded as well, to a greater or lesser degree.”

Seeing Ling Zhang still dared intercede for them, Yuwen Tong gave him a dirty look.

But Ling Zhang kept stroking him, and his anger was soon dissolved, leaving him resigned.

“I’m sure there were times when you got wounded on the battlefield. Actually there are still some scars on your body. Now that I’ve come out to help deal with issues involving conflicts, it’s a natural thing that I get hurt in certain circumstances. Soon the wound will heal and I’ll be okay. Please stop being angry. I promise I’ll be extra careful if I’m in that kind of situation once again. I’ll stay far away and keep myself safe, okay?”

While changing Ling Zhang’s dressing, Qiu Bing involuntarily gave a shudder. When he finished the job, he hurriedly took his leave to give Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong some privacy.

After Qiu Bing left, Yuwen Tong scooped Ling Zhang up. “I shouldn’t have told you to come to Haizhou. The right thing to do was let you stay in Cangzhou to nurse your injury.”

Ling Zhang believed otherwise, for he wouldn’t have met Yuwen Tong so soon had he not come to Haizhou. He opened his mouth with the intention to contradict Yuwen Tong, but on second thought, he softened his tone and said in a faintly injured voice, “I wanted to see you. Had you not allowed me to come, I would’ve been upset. I’m happy that I’m with you now. Do you not want to see me?”

Yuwen Tong, “…”

He was unable to say anything reproachful.

“The issue of Jiangzhou is much more important compared with this minor injury of mine. In addition…” Seeing Yuwen Tong’s face softening, Ling Zhang came to know that having Yuwen Tong move past this shouldn’t be a problem, so he hastened to change the topic.

Then he filled Yuwen Tong in on the matter of Shan Congyi in detail.

“About those gold ingots, my idea is to use them on the people of Jiangzhou after the Jiangzhou rebel army is taken care of. What do you think?”

Yuwen Tong said, “The imperial court will allocate a sum of money to Jiangzhou sooner or later. Residents of Jiangzhou will inevitably be in short of clothing and food this winter. It’s okay if you want to give those gold ingots to them, but we have to do it in another way, so those ingots are still to be transferred back to the capital city, along with the money in Zhu You’s vault that your father mentioned.”

Ling Zhang gave it some thought. “You’re worried that someone might embezzle the money?”

“Yeah. Currently the imperial court is on a tight budget and couldn’t afford to allow those people any opportunities to make things worse. We must make sure every coin is put to good use. All those gold ingots are to be transported back to the capital city to be melted and made into ingots bearing government seals. I’ll allocate some money to Jiangzhou later,” said Yuwen Tong.

Feeling that he’d failed to cover all the bases, Ling Zhang replied with a head bob, “I should’ve thought of this.”

Yuwen Tong gave him a kiss. “You’ve just got started. When you become used to it, you’ll naturally get the hang of it.”

Ling Zhang rubbed his face against Yuwen Tong on his own initiative. “Um.”

He would learn.

“By the way, about Shan Congyi’s death… At that time the small iron ball exploded and blast a huge crater in the ground. He was seriously wounded and the explosion was very sudden, and everything within a fifty-meter radius was destroyed. The General Zhongwu’s solders surrounded the wood on the periphery, and nobody saw Shan Congyi escape, so he should be dead, but I couldn’t have complete peace of mind without seeing his dead body.”

Yuwen Tong said in a deep voice, “Don’t concern yourself with that. Even if he escaped from the explosion, he would be grievously wounded, and he would have to suffer a lot if he was to survive. As long as he still draws breath, he’ll do everything within his power to get back to the Wan Kingdom, and once he returns to the Wan Kingdom, there’d be no way he could keep his survival secret.”

Chapter 450: Who Said Anything About You Stinking?

If Shan Congyi was still alive, he wouldn’t be able to stay in hiding forever. Besides, given the severity of his injury, there was no doubt he would have to go through hell if he was to survive.

Feeling that Yuwen Tong had a point, Ling Zhang finally relented, deciding to leave this matter aside for the time being, have the Jiang family’s men continue their search in Cangzhou, and at the same time send some men to the Wan Kingdom to hide there and keep their eyes peeled for traces of Shan Congyi.

After a separation of so many days, both of them wanted to make out to their hearts’ content, but the current situation in Jiangzhou was urgent. Yuwen Tong had just finished confiding to Ling Zhang how he was going to lure the enemy when a secret bodyguard of his came to report.

“Master, Childe Ling, a messenger exited the checkpoint. We intercepted him and got the letter after he entered the city.”

With that the bodyguard handed a letter to Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong took and then opened the letter. In it were some code words. Yuwen Tong had seen hundreds – if not thousands – code words people used to convey information in wartime, so it took him only a few moments to decode the letter.

Wang Xiangxin wanted Mu Rongfeng to join hands with him to launch a concerted attack on the Haizhou garrison and Pingtao City in three days, saying that he would lure away the troops stationed at the port for Mu Rongfeng on the morning of the fourth day.

“In three days. It seems that Wang Xiangxin is indeed very anxious,” said Ling Zhang.

It wouldn’t be easy for Mu Rongfeng to elude the navy and get his men ashore in three days.

Why was Wang Xiangxin so sure Mu Rongfeng would agree?

“Sending out a message is no easy job for Wang Xiangxin in these circumstances, so Mu Rongfeng has to agree. The longer he stays on the sea, the more unfavorable the situation will be for him. Those pirates will draw our navy away, so getting his men ashore within a short time wouldn’t really be a problem for him,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang knitted his brows. “Then how is Wang Xiangxin going to lure away the troops stationed at the port?”

Yuwen Tong replied, “By creating disturbances. There are not many soldiers at the port. They’re mainly doing security work there. As a garrison is stationed outside Pingtao City and there’s also a navy force out there, hardly anybody dares make trouble at the port. So actually the soldiers at the port are not difficult to deal with. It doesn’t matter much whether they’ll be lured away or not. All Wang Xiangxin needs to do is draw their attention away from the port. His men will exit the checkpoint to create chaos beforehand, which will naturally distract the soldiers. After all, in their eyes, neither the army sent by the imperial court nor the navy could’ve foreseen that the Luohai Kingdom would get involved in this battle.”

Ling Zhang said, “They’ve got a lot of balls. Even if Mu Rongfeng manages to get his men ashore, once the navy finds out and catches up with him, he’d be under attack from two sides. Is he really that confident of defeating two forces at once?”

“The best move is to prevent the navy from getting ashore, or at least delay their landing by making trouble for them; then they destroy the Haizhou garrison together before turning around to take care of the navy,” observed Yuwen Tong.

“Prevent the navy from getting ashore?” Ling Zhang was confused. “How are they supposed to do that?”

“Blowing up the port, sabotaging nearby landing sites, putting up barricades – they could stall the navy by doing any of these,” responded Yuwen Tong.

All these were delaying tactics chiefly aimed at buying them some time.

Yuwen Tong had checked all the main ports and landing sites in nearby areas. Lately a lot of people had been seen sneakingly wandering around in these places, and their intentions were very obvious.

Ling Zhang remarked, “It seems they’d go to any length to achieve their ends.”

“There’s no way I’m letting them blow up any of the ports or landing sites. Once they come ashore, they’ll be on our turf,” said Yuwen Tong.

He handed the note back to his secret bodyguard. Some of his secret bodyguards were good at imitating people’s handwriting, and what they needed to do right now was write a fake letter and change the time from three days to two days.

Yuwen Tong planned to first trick Mu Rongfeng and his men into coming ashore, dispose of them in one fell swoop, and then take care of Wang Xiangxin. Even if Wang Xiangxin got wind of it, he wouldn’t have enough time to take any countermeasures.

After tampering with the message, they waited for Mu Rongfeng’s reply.

While waiting for Mu Rongfeng to send a reply, Yuwen Tong filled Ling Zhang in on the situation in the capital city. When he’d finished relating it, he asked, “What did your father say in the letter he had me send you with mine?”

“It’s about a secret passage connecting Jiangzhou and Haizhou.” Ling Zhang told him about the shortcut on the hill behind that sect in Haizhou. “I could tell that the sect leader was nearly scared out of his wits, and he was racking his brains trying in vain to figure out how I came to know about the existence of that shortcut on the hill behind his sect. I think he’d be overcautious about it from that day on.”

Ling Zhang still felt somewhat guilty as he recalled the astonished and complicated expression the sect leader’s face had taken on at the sight of them showing up on the hill behind that prestigious sect. He worried that he might have scarred the sect leader in some way.

“A secret path like that is passable for only a limited few, so it’s no threat to anybody, and the imperial court won’t do anything to his sect. Why did he panic?” said Yuwen Tong.

“This is their secret. Think about it – if a total stranger finds out about the hidden passageway in the imperial palace which is meant to be your escape route, and that stranger’s identity is very special, wouldn’t you panic as well?” replied Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong said, “I’ve never seen any hidden passageways in the imperial palace.”

Ling Zhang, “…”

He was just drawing an analogy. Besides, maybe there was indeed a secret passage in there, and maybe some day he’d scour the imperial palace and find it.

“On top of that, since they’re a martial arts sect, their foes are probably all kung fu practitioners. Why is he afraid of us?” Yuwen Tong continued.

Ling Zhang thought, ‘Why shouldn’t he be afraid? If I were him, I would be concerned as well.’

He wondered how his father had come to discover their secret in his last life. That shortcut was indeed very secluded. Had his father searched that sect, by any chance? Or had he had a bad history with them? As this thought occurred to him, it struck Ling Zhang that he needed to ask his father and get to the bottom of it after returning to the capital city.

If members of that sect had really committed evil, Ling Zhang naturally wouldn’t let them off.

If they hadn’t… well, it wasn’t a bad idea to have them bear in mind some imaginary fears which would serve to deter them from doing wrong.

Ling Zhang stroked his head, feeling that it wasn’t really surprising Yuwen Tong was fairly nonchalant about this matter, given that even he himself was seeing it this way.

“Incidentally, is anybody of the Millennium Pavilion still in Pingtao City?” inquired Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong inclined his head. “Yeah. Ji Xiaocong’s father. The two of them look very much alike. Recently they’ve been scouting that island all along. It’s said that they’ve found a safe maritime route to that island, that they’re here waiting for their clansmen to come.”

Ling Zhang asked, “Was it him who sent the message?”

“Yeah,” answered Yuwen Tong with a head bob.

“I wonder how my grandfather’s been doing these days,” said Ling Zhang.

“Transferring the whole Millennium Pavilion without anybody noticing will take a lot of doing. There will be at least half a year or even a whole year before they get the job done. In addition, they’ll have to transform the island and deploy some defensive formations. I don’t think they’ll be able to settle down there until three or even five years later. The tough part hasn’t even started yet,” commented Yuwen Tong.

After hearing these words, Ling Zhang was even more worried about his grandfather.

“My grandfather told me he’d return to the capital city after handling the matter of the Millennium Pavilion. Now it seems he wouldn’t be able to fulfill his promise until several years later.”

Yuwen Tong kept silent for a moment before consoling him, “It doesn’t necessarily have to take that long. After people of the Millennium Pavilion move onto that island, they’ll have plenty of time to finish the construction work. Ji Yanlai will be there, so your grandfather won’t have to stay on that island. I’m sure he’ll return to the capital city when the situation stabilizes.”

Ling Zhang gave it some thought and said, “When this is over, I’ll ask Ji Xiaocong’s father to take a message to my grandfather for me and see if there’s anything I could help.”

Yuwen Tong said, “This time around the Millennium Pavilion offered me some assistance, so I’ll give them a hand if they need any help. You don’t have to concern yourself with it. There are many capable men in the Millennium Pavilion. I don’t think there’s anything they couldn’t handle.”

Then he immediately added, “Well, enough talking. You’ve come a long way. The living conditions in this encampment are not very good. I’ll help you wash your body, change clothes and then you may have some rest.”

A few moments before, Yuwen Tong had only wiped Ling Zhang’s face and hands before he ate. Ling Zhang lowered his head to sniff at his clothes and then lapsed into silence, hastily rising to his feet to walk a few paces away from Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong was baffled. “What’s wrong?”

“I stink of stale sweat.”

Yuwen Tong chuckled, “It doesn’t make me any less fond of you. Come back here.”

Ling Zhang refused, waiting for water to be delivered into the tent so that he could wash, unwilling to get close to Yuwen Tong.

Resigned, Yuwen Tong had no choice but to send a soldier to give those preparing water a prod. When the water had been brought to the tent, he had all the others leave and then drew Ling Zhang to the basin, insisting on helping Ling Zhang wash.

“Only one of my arms is wounded. The other one is okay.”

“How are you going to take off your clothes? How are you going to wring out your towel? And how are you going to get dressed?”

“I’ll be able to manage it if I do it slowly.”

“Then what’s the point of having me by your side?”

“…”

That made a lot of sense.

Ling Zhang obediently let Yuwen Tong peel off his clothes. Yuwen Tong was literally “peeling” him like peeling the shell off a boiled egg. One by one, his clothes were removed, revealing Ling Zhang’s fair-skinned body.

Yuwen Tong, who hadn’t seen his love for a long time, was instantly turned on at the sight of his marriage partner’s seductive body.

Ling Zhang could tell from the look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes what he was thinking. He hurriedly warned him, “I reek! Help me wash right away! And don’t you dare do anything other than that!”

“Sex first!” Yuwen Tong tossed the towel into the basin.

Ling Zhang demurred, “No! Bath first!”

“We’ll have to bathe after sex anyway. I don’t mind the smell.”

“But I do. You want to get your lips covered with dirt after kissing me?! Black dirt, and it stinks! If you rub your hand against my skin, you’ll find small beads of dirt beneath your palm!”

“…”

With a sullen face, Yuwen Tong walked back to the basin, wrung out the towel, stared at Ling Zhang and said, “Come over here!”

Ling Zhang stared back at him. “Promise me you won’t do anything else!”

It was not that he didn’t want to do that thing. He was just not inclined to let Yuwen Tong hug him when he stank of stale sweat, for that would… terribly spoil his enjoyment.

Gazing at him with burning eyes, Yuwen Tong said, “Come over here right now. Don’t make me say it thrice.”

It was only then that Ling Zhang walked up to Yuwen Tong, who grabbed him and started washing him in a seemingly rough but actually gentle way. When Yuwen Tong was standing behind him, he couldn’t see Yuwen Tong. “I can bathe you in return if you want.”

While washing him, Yuwen Tong gave a little snort and then said, “If I take off my clothes, you won’t be able to stand here any more.”

Ling Zhang, “…”

“Don’t worry. I’m quite clean. You won’t get your lips covered with dirt,” added Yuwen Tong, “and you won’t get any beads if you rub my skin.”

Ling Zhang blushed. “I–I didn’t say you’re that dirty. Besides, even if you were, I wouldn’t mind.”

Yuwen Tong’s voice said beside his ear in a dangerous tone, “Are you implying I mind your smell?”

Ling Zhang hastened to explain, “That’s not what I meant. D–Do you want to continue or not? The front part of me still needs washing.”

Yuwen Tong snorted again and then gave Ling Zhang a spank. “Wait.”

“Ouch!” Ling Zhang let out a muffled cry. “Why did you do that?!” he hissed, lowering his voice for fear of attracting anybody’s attention.