In the night, it was windless around the border camp. So the red fire flames on a pyre could gently shake. Dozens of the Tang Empire’s border army elites dispersed around or fell a sound sleep or vigilantly stood guard. Only Ning Que and that captain sat next to the bonfire.
During the daytime, the captain called Ning Que as Mr. Thirteen, as if not knowing Ning Que’s true identity. But at this time beside the warm bonfire, he had already changed the appellation in a soft voice. “Your Excellency, we’re really going to Dongsheng Stockaded Village tomorrow? It’s too close to the Yans. There may be some troubles there.”
Ning Que took a branch to fiddle with the sweet potatoes in the bonfire and looked up at him upon listening to these words. He could not help shaking his head and looked at the army elites around who did not pay attention to himself before saying, “I’ve been at the frontier fortress for over one month and never got into any trouble. In my eyes, this is really troublesome.”
He looked at the captain’s seemingly dull and honest face before saying with a sigh, “Don’t you think our luck is too bad? There is only one secret guard in Tuyang City, you. And only you were sent out to follow me. I don’t know who to ask when I want to ask the situation of Tuyang City.”
The captain said with a bitter smile, “When I knew I’d be the one taking a personal protection for Your Excellency, I also feel helpless.”
“Could it be that General’s Mansion knew your identity as a secret guard and was too embarrassed to deal with you? So they simply drove you away from Tuyang City and ordered you to follow me around… or did they even find out my identity?”
The captain shook his head and said, “Please rest assured, Your Excellency. They should not know my identity. As for Your Excellency, I think neither the army adviser nor the camp couldn’t guess you’re actually his Majesty’s secret guard.”
Ning Que pulled two roasted sweet potatoes out of the bonfire and gave one of them to the captain. Then he slowly torn the skin of another sweet potato with the tips of his fingers and lowered his head eating the white hot pulp with steam. He vaguely said, “It’s great they did not find out our identities. I don’t want to do anything under someone’s secret watch.”
The captain picked up the cooked sweet potatoes that had rolled to the bottom of his feet, watching Ning Que’s face under the shining flames, and did not know what to say.
As for Mr. Thirteen beside, his feelings were complicated. Other soldiers might not yet know who he was, but as a secret guard he certainly knew that Ning Que was a core disciple of the Headmaster of Academy. Why such a noble bigwig came to the frontier fortress? What made him more puzzled was why Ning Que came here even if it was so troublesome.
This was a deserted wilderness where battlefield white bones were hidden in long grasses. If General Xia Hou was really enraged, he wouldn’t care whether one was a student of the Second floor of the Academy. He would kill and throw Ning Que to the depth of grassland. Who knew how he died? Even the Headmaster of Academy could not judge it.
A faint noise came from afar, and the cavalryman in charge of night safety stood up and walked to the periphery. The captain glanced there and changed the appellation for a reason of security. He whispered, “Mr. Thirteen, what kind of thing do you come to check this time? If you let me know, I can make relevant arrangements.”
“I was ordered to come here not for some investigation but to have a look for his Majesty.”
Ning Que threw the sweet potato that was almost bitten off into the bonfire, wiping the cuffs on his face with ends of his sleeves. He said, “But in terms of current situation, there is no way to see it.”
“You have a special identity. General’s Mansion is worried about you and doesn’t want you to get in any trouble. Of course, they hope you’d better to be far from them. If you want to see… someone in General’s Mansion, you can’t make it without being in Tuyang City.”
The captain hesitated for a short moment before directly mentioning Tuyang City. He was well aware that if a bigwig as Mr. Thirteen was secretly ordered by his Majesty to come to the frontier fortress, the so-called inspection tour for the Emperor, of course, could only aim at the general. He just dare not directly say the name of General Xia Hou.
The Academy students started from Chang’an City and went out of the border to the frontier fortress of northern Yan Kingdom. When they passed by Tuyang City in the trip, an assistant of General Xia Hou was responsible for the reception on behalf of General’s Mansion. Therefore, Ning Que had never seen General Xia Hou.
At this time Ning Que heard the words of “Tuyang City” and thought of the great general famous for ruthlessness and tyranny in Tuyang City. After a brief moment of silence, he said with a smile, “I’ll always go afterwards.”
…
…
On the second day, Ning Que and the dozens of elite troops of Tang who had been protecting him hit the road again and marched eastward along the simple frontier defense line of the northern border of Yan Kingdom. At noon, they arrived at the easternmost point of the western battleline that Tang army was responsible for. When they looked across a willow land, they could clearly see blue mountains and that yellow city not far from the mountains.
More than a dozen army officers waited for their arrival outside Dongsheng Stockaded Village. The general of Dongsheng Stockaded Village did not know who was Mr. Thirteen. However, from the document of Tuyang City General’s Mansion and those subordinate officers’ excited expressions, he guessed Mr. Thirteen should be a bigwig from Chang’an City and had some relationship with the Academy.
Ning Que looked at the soldiers outside the stockaded village and smiled. Then he jumped down from the big black horse’s body and talked to the general first with a few salutations. And then he walked to the right until he stood in front of someone and said with a smile, “Have you been used to staying here?”
This officer in front of him was a girl who was dressed in arrow clothes and was covered with the dust of the Wilderness. She looked at Ning Que as she said smilingly, “Although I don’t feel as comfortable as you do, I’ve been used to it.”
Ning Que said with a smile, “Even if not, you have to get used to it. I told you before, the real battlefield was different with what you guys had imagined in Chang’an City.”
Then he noticed that Linchuan Wang Ying also stood among the officers. The frontier sandstorm had blown away much shyness of this fifteen-year-old lad, who seemed to be a lot taller.
He watched these Academy students who had better spirits here than in Chang’an in less than one month when they came to the frontier. He said with a praise, “I’m relieved to know you seem to be very accustomed to the life here.”
The general of Dongsheng Stockaded Village walked behind Ning Que and became a little unhappy when seeing Ning Que did not pay attention to himself. He thought that even if Ning Que was a bigwig from Chang’an City, Ning Que did not have any qualification to keep a high profile since now they were in the barracks.
However, when he heard this dialogue, he immediately understood that Mr. Thirteen was really a powerful bigwig–Anyone who dared to speak to General Yunhui’s daughter like this and dared to keep a high profile to the Academy students was a real bigwig.
The Academy students’ training goal in the future was to become imperial court officials, who had no relationship with the military system. But the Tang Empire set up the country by force. So frontier practice was an integral part of the training program.
Dongsheng Stockaded Village was in the easternmost Tang military defense line and was close to some tribe in Left-Tent palace, and was also near to the Yan army as well as young aiding experts from Central Plains. So it withstood double pressures and could be said to be the most difficult place for the Yan-aiding troops.
For a thousand years, the Academy’s practice principle was where there was the most difficult environment, there were the Academy students. So in this yellow city stationed by 3000 soldiers, there was the largest number of Academy students. In addition to riding troops, there were eleven Academy students in total.
On the journey from Chang’an to the frontier fortress of northern Yan, Ning Que and the Academy students stayed together day and night and became very familiar with each other. Besides, those who participated in the practice were all Tang students and those disputes in the past have long disappeared. After more than a month, the two sides met again and naturally showed a good and lively enthusiasm.
Only when young people experienced a real battle, a bloody fire, life and death, would they become quickly mature. It was also because of maturity, their enthusiasm for Ning Que was inevitably mixed with some admiration and sense of distance. After all, Ning Que was a student of the Second floor of the Academy, whose status was far above theirs.
At the dark blue lake, Situ Yilan took out her handkerchief and made it wet, wiping the dust on her forehead. She looked back at silent Ning Que and asked, “Not used to being escorted imposingly?”
Ning Que went to the lakeside, watching the shadow of ten-thousand-year wood in the lake, and then said with a smile, “It has always been the goal of such people like me to be escorted imposingly and respected. Since you grew up in General’s Mansion of Chang’an City and was famous for the lady army’s dignity. How can you understand the mentality of our common people.”
Situ Yilan stood up and handed her handkerchief to him. Then she said, “But I saw you smiled reluctantly before.”
Ning Que wiped his face and said, “In the past these students ignored me, and later made peace with me on the journey. Now they talk to me so respectably. I can’t adapt to so many contrasts.”
“So you want to go alone to the lake with me?”
“Yes.”
“The army is a place most emphasizing on class. Military orders cannot be disobeyed. As long as it is a superior’s order, no matter whether the military order is unreasonable or you think this will make you die, you must ride a horse and rush forward.”
Situ Yilan looked at him and said, “When they left the Academy and came to the front line participating in several battles and were beaten hard by the generals for several times, they would naturally understand that strength matters most in the world after all.”
“Speaking of fighting and strength.”
Ning Que looked at her and said with a smile, “When I first met you, I thought you were nothing more than a rebellious girl who relied on the family. I’ve never met the legendary women soldiers before and really did not think they could be superb. But I never expected you took the initiative to go to Dongsheng Stockaded Village and did such a great job here.”
After all, those young men were selected from the different prefectures of the Tang Empire. Once they were used to the military camp’s strict rules and brutal fightings, those Academy students in the practice soon began to show their abilities. Although they were only low-level officers, they did a great job in the parts that they were separately responsible for.
Situ Yilan was born in a warrior family and dared to bear the responsibility, whose performance was particularly outstanding. Within less than a month to Dongsheng Stockaded Village, she had led the riding troop into the Wilderness for scouting six times, including two encounters with the palace riding troop. She beheaded more than ten enemies. Her military service has been reported to Tuyang City. She was waiting to be awarded and promoted soon.
“Left-Tent palace doesn’t have the courage to fully start a war. Those riding troops are not palace elites at all, just a small tribal’s cavalries. Just for a good military record, so it was written like this.”
Situ Yilan had a heroic spirit, without the slightest arrogance. She said, “It’s nothing to kill some tribal cavalries. If I really encounter with palace cavalries, I’m not sure about winning but only strive to kill more.
Ning Que rubbed his somewhat stiff wrist. It was nearly two years since he had left City of Wei. His blade had not been dyed with grassland cavalries’ fresh blood for two years. Upon listening to Situ’s calm but very passionate words, he could not help missing those war time when he rode a horse around Shubi Lake and held a knife to cut enemies.
“In fact, I have been very curious what kind of person on earth you are.”
Situ Yilan turned around at the lake, gently tilting her brows and very interestedly looking at Ning Que’s face. She said, “My father had read your files in Military Ministry, but only told me some gists about you and refused to tell me too many details. When I was anxious to ask, he only said that if the future I had an opportunity to fight with you, I should listen to you on everything. I rarely heard my father had such a high evaluation on others. What exactly have you done in City of Wei?”
“I’m really proud to be evaluated like this by General Yunhui.”
Ning Que gazed over her shoulder, with his eyesight falling on the blue lake surface. He thought of those years in City of Wei and said after a moment of silence, “In City of Wei, I mainly did one thing.”
“What’s it?”
“Killing Horse Gang.”
“I heard the Wilderness’ Horse Gang was the most aggressive one. Even Golden palace’s cavalries are not willing to provoke them.”
“Not so exaggerated. But Horse Gang’s composition is very complicated, including real Horse Gang and foodless refugees. I saw refugees from northern Yan in Shubi Lake. Such a long distance, I don’t know how they climbed over Min Mountain. You’d never think the most powerful Horse Gang I ever met was actually the one disguised by Golden palace’s cavalry.”
“Golden palace’s cavalry? You winned or they winned?”
“I said I only did one thing, killing Horse Gang. If they won, how could I kill Horse Gang?”
Ning Que looked at her and said, “I think the reason why General Yunhui said those words to you is that he presumably knew that I was good at killing for surviving in the Wilderness. In fact, this is not rare.”
Situ Yilan looked at him and said, “You’re amazing, for staying alive after killing so many Horse Gangs.”
Ning Que said, “I don’t deny it at this point. It’s said that cultivator is the strongest one in the world. But in terms of those cultivators I’ve met, if they were put in the Wilderness, they definitely couldn’t survive as long as they encountered a Horse Gang with one hundred men.”
“But you still want to be a cultivator.”
“Because I can kill. If I became a cultivator, I would be able to be a cultivator who could kill.”
After a short moment of pause, Ning Que said with a smile, “I’ve always had an idea. You promise not to spread it outside.”
Situ Yilan showed a great interest and said, “I promise. Go ahead.”
Ning Que went to the lakeside and looked at the dark blue lake that extended to the far northern side. He said, “A cultivator does have a strong personal power. But in my opinion, these cultivators in the world don’t know how to kill.”
Situ Yilan thought for a long time before she frowned and asked, “Is killing… the killing?”
Ning Que looked at her and continuously asked a few questions, “How to spend the least effort to kill? How to kill the opposite when your strength is far less than the enemy’s? How to use the environment, wind and even sunshine to kill? How to squeeze the last effort to kill in the case of serious injuries? How to kill without being killed?”
Situ Yilan shook her head, thinking she would pick up a bow and an arrow to shoot or a podao to cut when she met grassland cavalries in the Wilderness. There were not so many methods at all.
“If killing is so complicated, can you teach me?”
“This kind of thing can not be taught. If you kill more people, you can naturally learn it. Therefore, frontier fortress camp is the best place to practice the killing, and cultivators rarely cultivate in barracks.”
Ning Que said, “Fortunately or unfortunately, I have lived in City of Wei military village for many years. And I think this is why General Yunhui felt that I was not bad, and also something you can’t understand for now.”
Situ Yilan looked at him and curiously asked, “You are the first disciple of the Second floor of the Academy to come to the frontier fortress for practice. Do you want to cultivate in the barracks?”
“If I had the chance, of course I’d be willing to try on the battlefield with the ability of a cultivator.”
Ning Que moved his steps again, walking along round white stones on the lakeside to the east, and self-deprecatingly said, “But now it looks that, neither Tuyang City nor the imperial court will give me this opportunity.”
Situ Yilan looked at his back and shook her head.
Ning Que quietly watched the dark blue lake, the reflections of trees and clouds in the water far away, and the depths of the Wilderness that could not be seen with naked eyes. He felt his fingers more and more itchy.
No one knew whether any cultivator made a special trip to cultivate on the battlefield. But he was really interested in this idea. However, what really made him tickle was not the idea, but some very simple things.
In the Wilderness, he sniffed the smell of horse dung coming from the wind and the faint smell of unknown grass burning. He felt that every part of his body was slightly trembling as excitedly as the three long knives behind him. It was difficult to suppress his desire of rushing into the depths of grassland on a horse and cutting down one after another enemy with a knife.
Unfortunately, this faint blue lake in front was not Shubi Lake.
No one knew the name of the lake around Dongsheng Stockaded Village among grassland barbarians. It was as slender as a waist, extending from here to the depths of the far north Wilderness, whose end could not be seen. Because the lake was too deep, it was glowing with dark blue luster, like the sapphire that was melted and condensated into filaments.
“This is a salty lake. We can’t drink its water. So we didn’t camp here.”
Situ Yilan looked at Ning Que who quietly looked at the lake and raised her arm toward the mountains in the faraway lakeshore. She said, “When the barbarian riding troop invaded the South in the past, they came from that forest all of a sudden. But no grassland people have been near here these days.”
Ning Que looked at the faintly visible woods in the fog and asked, “Can we go through now?”
“If crossing that forest, we’ll arrive at the east line of the Yan army. In order to avoid any trouble, we didn’t go through it too often. Of course, they did not often come through it, either. Both parties agreed to ignore it.”
“Have you seen those people?”
“What people?”
“Young masters of all countries coming for West-Hill Divine Palace’s order, such as Sword Garret, White Pagoda.”
Situ Yilan shook her head and said, “I’ve never seen them. But after the encounter with riding troop last time, Dongsheng Stockaded Village has despatched the army to exile that tribe. However, they encountered Papal Cavalryman of West-Hill Divine Palace.”
Upon listening to the words of “Papal Cavalryman”, Ning Que turned around and asked, “Then what happened?”
Situ Yilan thought of the scene at that day and still felt somewhat angry. She said with a sneer, “It is clearly a battle of our Dongsheng Stockaded Village, and we have basically wiped out the enemies. But those Divine Hall cavalries who have looked on coldly as bystanders rushed forward in the final moment.”
“They wanted to grab the military glory?”
“Right, they cut off many leaders’ heads. Wang Ying quarreled with them but didn’t win.”
Ning Que said, “I thought Wang Ying has become much mature in the battlefield. I didn’t expect he was still so childish.”
Situ Yilan annoyedly said, “Do you think he should not quarrel with them?”
“Of course not. What can we get even if we had a big quarrel with them? We used to fight with enemies in Shubi Lake. If the people of Seven Cities Fortress came to grab the military glory, we never quarreled with them.”
Ning Que looked at the calm lake. He shook his head and said, “We directly draw a knife to chop them.”