Chapter 00293: Each to Their Own Tasks
# Each to Their Own Tasks
Chapter 293
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 293: Each to Their Own Tasks
“How many casualties do we have?”
“Seven were injured, one seriously, but they are alive,” a soldier replied. “The bandits are just a ragtag group, but their stronghold is well-built and difficult to attack.” The skills of these bandits were quite poor, and without any yuan power, facing regular troops, they would only be waiting for death if caught.
Fu Xin spat. “Then there are still injuries, aren’t there? There are villages everywhere; why not just take one over? There’s food and drink, far better than this impoverished mountain wilderness.”
Attacking common folk was much easier than taking on mountain bandits.
“It’s more concealed here,” Hong Chenglue came out of the row of houses and casually answered. “There’s also food and drink.”
During his stay in Bailu Town, he learned that this bandit den was the largest within a hundred miles, with numbers exceeding three hundred.
With so many mouths to feed every day, they couldn’t survive solely by robbing.
There were rumors that these bandits colluded with merchants from down the mountain to trade their plunder for grain.
Even though Hong Chenglue led a surprise attack, it still took them four to five hours to conquer the place.
When they opened the granaries, they found it stocked with grain and various supplies, and everyone rejoiced.
In truth, the farmers were well aware; when the harvest was poor and they couldn’t steal grain from neighbors, they might as well search for field mice at the edges of the land, as there might be surprises in the mouse holes that could last for several meals.
Clearly, these “field mice” they killed were thrifty and had even saved up some during the lean years.
“Hong!” Upon seeing him, Fu Xin's eyes turned red, and he rushed forward, grabbing his clothes. “You left us in the mine to wait for death; what do you mean by this?”
His personal guards moved to pull him back, but Hong Chenglue waved them off.
“I ordered everyone to retreat, but you refused,” Hong Chenglue said calmly. “If disobeying military orders leads to a complete loss of the army, is that my fault?”
“You didn’t even come down to intercept the officers; why is that?”
“When we came down, we found no trace of the officers. We couldn't return empty-handed, so we executed the overall mission given by Marshal Nian, which is to attack and burn the enemy’s grain and supplies. Is there a problem with that?”
Fu Xin looked around, his anger momentarily in check, yet he noticed something was amiss with the numbers. “So did you succeed in burning? Hmm? Did you use us as bait only to let the local officials kill, and burn their supplies?”
His shouting grew louder, eventually turning into a roar, drawing out the soldiers from the row houses.
Hong Chenglue seized his wrist and flipped it outward, then struck a fist against Fu Xin’s chest, sending him stumbling back five steps, nearly hitting the ground.
Fu Xin's personal guards surged forward.
Hong Chenglue stood with his hands behind his back and asked, “Where is General Baili? At the very least, you could have retreated through the mine path from the back mountain, right?”
The route he left for Baili Qing and the others was not a dead end.
As long as they acted quickly, Baili Qing still had the chance to escape.
In anger, Fu Xin fell silent, only for his personal guard to respond, “The troops from Xia Prefecture went around to the back mountain, blew up the mine exit, and used smoke to drive them out. General Baili... was captured. We witnessed from the mountaintop that the Xia Prefecture leader killed everyone.”
An uproar erupted in the stronghold, and even Hong Chenglue’s forehead twitched with a vein.
The officers killed Baili Qing and all those defectors from the mine? How ruthless.
However, considering that in marching and supplying, there was no better way to handle prisoners than to simply kill them, it indeed was the simplest solution.
He stared at Fu Xin. “Then how did you survive? Are you afraid of death?”
Fu Xin was filled with rage, but the cold chill in Hong Chenglue’s eyes made his back stiffen, and he clenched his neck defiantly. “We took advantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness and fought our way out!”
“Abandoning your commanding officer to flee, that’s a death sentence,” Hong Chenglue's single sentence chilled Fu Xin to the bone.
“However, we were short of manpower. I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself,” Hong Chenglue suddenly drew his sword, and Fu Xin felt a chill on the back of his hand, pain following closely behind.
The tip of his finger fell to the ground.
He let out a loud cry and clutched his left hand as blood flowed uncontrollably.
When his scream began to subside, Hong Chenglue continued, “If you dare to cause trouble again, or make baseless claims against your superiors, or stir up discord, or fear for your life, then it will be your head that rolls.”
Fu Xin hung his head, no longer meeting his gaze, but he clenched his back teeth so tightly that they rattled.
Hong Chenglue swept his gaze around, and everyone lowered their heads.
With Baili Qing dead, this army had no choice but to follow Hong Chenglue’s command.
They had nowhere else to go, as Xia Prefecture was the enemy's stronghold.
Hong Chenglue said, “Take off your clothes.”
Fu Xin looked up in disbelief. “What?”
“Strip down for inspection, lest someone has placed a tracking spell on you.”
With hundreds of eyes trained on him, Fu Xin’s face turned crimson. “No, I, I…” Stripping in front of so many soldiers was more painful than death.
Deputy General Xu Yingxian quickly stepped in to mediate. “It's fine to take him inside for inspection! General, that will work too.”
Hong Chenglue nodded.
Several personal guards stepped forward and led Fu Xin to a small room nearby.
Hong Chenglue turned and walked away, his face as icy as frost.
Wu Qing had long been observing from the row house and now stepped forward to ask, “General Hong, what are your plans next?”
“Bide our time. He Chunhua’s nearly ten thousand stones of grain will surely reach the front lines; we can’t intercept it. We can only wait for the next rear action against the enemy.”
“Send some manpower to the three or four counties in the northwest to move around more and gather information,” Hong Chenglue had long had this planned. “Also, ask Marshal Nian for three hundred more cavalry.”
As the two entered the row house, Wu Qing looked around, and seeing no one else there, he lowered his voice and said, “General Baili has fallen, and Fu Xin returned; this isn’t a coincidence, is it?”
“Of course not.” Hong Chenglue snorted. “The people of Xia Prefecture specially sent them back to cause me trouble. Fu Xin at least has over a dozen men with him. We’ve not succeeded in our surprise attack on the Xinhang camp, and morale is low; it is not the time to act against him.”
He lowered his voice further. “How long should I remain behind enemy lines?”
“Master Guo Shuangye said you should hold out as long as you can behind enemy lines, as the situation at the Han River front requires your input.”
The situation at the Han River front? In other words, his return to Beijia depended on how things unfolded at the Han River next? Hong Chenglue pondered, “I’ve been away for too long. Which of our national masters is currently in charge?”
“Currently, it is Master Mianbing taking turns wielding authority,” The authority holder has the power to make decisions; the four national masters took turns holding this position.
Hong Chenglue’s pupils constricted slightly but quickly returned to normal. “What a coincidence; she was in charge when I left.” No wonder Master Guo Shuang’s tone had been lacking confidence.
Wu Qing smiled, “Indeed, indeed.” Yet, he thought in his heart that he had heard long ago about the rift between General Hong and Master Mianbing; it seemed to be true.
The two discussed supply issues, and soon a personal guard came to report:
“Fu Xin has completed body inspection and no tracking spells or items were found.”
“Understood.” Hong Chenglue waved him off, knowing that after this inspection, Fu Xin would hate him even more deeply.
Moreover, many soldiers in this stronghold had expressed their grievances about him; after all, Hong Chenglue was from Beijia, whereas they were all from Xunzhou.
Remarks like “The Beijia general doesn’t value the lives of Xunzhou people” were something Hong Chenglue had heard with his own ears during inspections.
When dealing with troops that were not his own, things always felt a bit off.
He then asked Wu Qing, “What about A Jin? Is she getting used to her new place?”
Wu Qing smiled. “Don’t worry; that village is very concealed, and my lady has two attentive maids catering to her washing and meals, plus someone to chat with her—it’s far more comfortable than with you.”
Hong Chenglue still had some worries. “Should I bring her over?”
“It’s best not to.” Wu Qing replied earnestly, “We are currently unsettled with no fixed abode; we don’t know when we might need to move. A delicate woman like her traveling with cavalry would find it too difficult.” Mainly, it was inconvenient.
Hong Chenglue exhaled, nodding, rationally acknowledging that this was the best course of action.
Wu Qing continued, “These days, every town and village is capturing bandits and spies, and they are strict with outsiders and unfamiliar faces. I heard that the jail in Haotian Village is packed, and they’ve executed dozens publicly to deter others. It’s tense everywhere.”
“Mr. Wu, you won’t be implicated, will you?”
“It’s fine. My unit has official credentials, so they won’t catch me. In these lean years, such merchants as us are even more critical.” Wu Qing sighed. “The local officials are also putting in a lot of effort, sending people to scour through every mountain village, digging people out of hiding to find the Xunzhou residents. You truly have foresight, General; if you had occupied a village randomly, you would be in a difficult position to retreat now.”
“This must be an order from the prefect; local officials must comply. I burned over ten thousand stones of grain from He Chunhua, and he went mad.”
Wu Qing laughed. “Yes, the bounty for you is about to be plastered all over the northern part of Xia Prefecture.”
What Hong Chenglue worried about was not himself. “Is there a bounty on A Jin?”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
After discussing everything, the two went off to do their own tasks.
￥￥￥￥￥
In Benlei Village.
Spring waters began to rise, and streams babbled gently.
Two farming women were washing clothes by the stream, glancing up at the sky.
They said, “Why does it look like it’s about to rain? It was just sunny when we came out!”
A large mass of dark clouds drifted in from nowhere, blocking half the sky.
Above their heads, it was still sunny, but the eastern sky had turned completely dark.
“Wash faster; we need to hurry back once we’re done.”
“You say that in spring, it just keeps raining. It’s hard to come by some sunshine, and it lasts only for a few hours,” one of the farming women complained. “The firewood is all damp, making it difficult to light, and it chokes you to death.”
“Aunt Liu, can I ask you something?” the other farming woman said. “Aren’t you helping in the kitchen at Village Head Chen’s? I heard that several relatives came to the village head’s place?”
“Ah, right.” Aunt Liu gripped the clothes tightly and pounded them. “I heard it’s the daughters-in-law from a wealthy family in the south; they fell ill and were sent to the countryside to recuperate.”
“Why do I hear there are many people?”
“There are, quite a few—there are three or four maids, and a few men, who seem to be guards… or bodyguards? One is tough and lean, the other strong; they look intimidating and have fierce faces,” Aunt Liu said. “These people came to serve that lady.”
The farming woman mused, “What illness could they have that needs to be treated in the countryside? Everyone knows the conditions are better in the city; even if there’s a doctor in the countryside, they are just barefoot immortals. Their medical skills can’t compare to those in a big city.”
“I don’t understand either; I only know that the village head emptied his big house to let them stay. That noble lady doesn’t come out of the house at all; hardly anyone has seen her.”
(End of Chapter)