Pei Er turned his head to look at the small house. Bitterness and reluctance filled his chest, as if something were stuck in his throat, making it unbearably uncomfortable.
He wanted to go see Li Chanxiu once more, at least to say goodbye, but his eyes suddenly grew hot.
He quickly turned back, lowering his head somewhat awkwardly.
Seeing this, Zhang Hu hesitated before asking, “Thousand-man Commander?”
Pei Er quickly lifted his head, his voice tinged with bitterness and hoarseness. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
“…Ah, alright.” Zhang Hu nodded. After mounting his horse, he couldn’t help but glance at him again.
Although Centurion Pei still wore his usual expressionless face, he felt that… it was as if that expression was about to crack apart. Those eyes, usually calm and steady, had just now seemed to flash with a suspicious trace of moisture.
Combined with how, after mounting his horse, Pei Er kept turning back to look toward the small courtyard with a sense of loss, a startling thought suddenly arose in Zhang Hu’s mind: Could it be that Thousand-man Commander Pei had quarreled with Miss Shen? And even lost the argument, so much so that he had almost been angered to the point of… tears?
Hiss!
Zhang Hu imagined the scene of the usually cold and decisive Thousand-man Commander Pei losing an argument and couldn’t help but shudder. But thinking that if it were against Miss Shen, it somehow seemed reasonable again.
Who would have thought that such a tough, cold man outside would also be driven to tears at home from losing an argument with his wife… uh.
“How many of them came? Did they say anything?” Just as his thoughts were running wild, Pei Er’s slightly hoarse yet steady voice suddenly sounded beside him.
Zhang Hu snapped back to his senses and hurriedly answered, “About a hundred or so. General Chen didn’t say their purpose… how did you know people from the prefectural city had come?”
Halfway through speaking, Zhang Hu suddenly looked surprised.
Pei Er frowned upon hearing this, over a hundred had come? Didn’t Commandant Qian say forty or fifty? Could it be that Commandant Qian had only seen forty or fifty, but in reality there were more than a hundred?
Just what kind of crime had he committed that so many people were sent to capture him?
For a moment, Pei Er was filled with doubt, and his heart sank even further.
He had originally thought that, with the border war so urgent, even if those people had come to arrest him, General Chen still needed him. The strategy for the next battle against the Hu people was also devised by him, perhaps some leniency could be granted, allowing him to fight this final battle first.
He wanted to be a hero, even if only for a single day.
Because Miss Shen had once said that she greatly admired someone like Pei Shizi… such an extraordinary hero.
But if so many people really came to capture him, then this final wish would likely be impossible to fulfill.
“Oh, right, Thousand-man Commander, when we get to the central command tent later, you must hold back. Aside from the prefectural city sending a eunuch surnamed Lu to act as military inspector and cause trouble for us, that Jiang He has also come,” Zhang Hu suddenly added.
Pei Er abruptly reined in his horse and turned his head, “A military inspector?” His expression stiffened.
“Yes.” Zhang Hu nodded and explained, “Previously, General Chen wrote to the prefect to report the enemy situation, but the prefect never replied. The day before yesterday, when the Hu people really came to attack, the prefectural office suddenly sent a Lu Gonggong to act as inspector… well, not exactly sent by the prefect. It’s said he was dispatched by the court to Wuding Pass, but on the way, he heard there was enemy activity here, so he came here first.”
Seeing Pei Er’s expression grow even stiffer, Zhang Hu felt uneasy and cautiously asked, “Didn’t you… already know?”
Pei Er came back to his senses. His eyes were completely calm as he looked at him, expressionless. “If you didn’t say it, how would I know?”
Zhang Hu: “…Uh.”
“And what about Jiang He?” Pei Er quickly urged his horse forward and continued asking.
Zhang Hu hurried to follow and answered, “Not sure, but he’s now that Lu Gonggong’s guard.”
Jiang He had previously been stripped of his military post due to being implicated by his younger brother Jiang Chong and had been detained in the prefectural city for investigation. However, because there was no evidence proving he was involved in his brother’s case, he had not been convicted.
Unexpectedly, in just half a month, he had transformed and become a guard by Lu Gonggong’s side, truly… connections reaching the heavens.
Although, in name, a military inspector only represented the Son of Heaven to supervise the army and held no actual command authority, the phrase “acting on behalf of the emperor” overrode everything. Moreover, since the current emperor, those appointed as inspectors were all favored eunuchs from the palace.
Once these people arrived in the army, relying on imperial favor, if they insisted on directing anything, even the generals who truly commanded the troops would not dare openly oppose them and could only try to persuade them tactfully.
Not to mention someone like General Chen, merely a minor frontier commander. Upon Lu Gonggong’s arrival, he could only treat him with deference and dared not offend him.
And for someone like Jiang He, whose suspicions had not yet been cleared, to suddenly become the guard of Inspector Lu Gonggong, it would be impossible without some backing.
It seemed that Lu Zhi had not been wrong before, the illegal trafficking of official salt implicated many parties, and the people behind it had significant origins.
But for now, these were no longer matters Pei Er needed to consider.
What puzzled him was why the person from last night had not yet arrived at Yongfeng garrison. Could it be… that the situation was not as Commandant Qian had described?
While he pondered, the two had already reached the military camp.
After dismounting, Pei Er quickly walked toward the central command tent.
Entering the tent, he saw General Chen seated at the head. In the first seat to the left sat a middle-aged man with a pale, beardless face, dressed in a purple eunuch’s robe, this must be the newly arrived military inspector, Lu Gonggong.
Behind Lu Gonggong stood a guard who looked very familiar, it was Jiang He, who had once served as Commandant at Yongfeng garrison.
However, at this moment, Jiang He wore no armor, only an ordinary guard’s outfit, holding no official position. He was no longer the Commandant Jiang of before.
Although standing behind Lu Gonggong gave him some semblance of prestige, the army had always disliked inspectors interfering in military affairs. In many people’s eyes, he was now nothing more than someone relying on another’s power.
Perhaps knowing that serving as a eunuch’s lackey invited disdain, Jiang He was more composed than before. When Pei Er entered, he glanced at him once, then quickly withdrew his gaze.
Pei Er’s eyes swept across the crowd, finally passing over Jiang He before he cupped his fists toward General Chen above and said steadily, “General.”
Seeing him arrive, General Chen visibly relaxed. He quickly gestured for him to sit and introduced, “Come, come, this is Lu Gonggong from the capital. He is asking about our strategy to repel the enemy. You explain it to him.”
It was not that General Chen did not want to speak himself, but some matters required confidentiality. Moreover, it wasn’t that he hadn’t said anything, he had already shared what he could. But this Lu Gonggong had little ability yet many ideas. For every sentence General Chen spoke, he would question it, almost ready to accuse him outright of incompetence in command and demand he hand over authority.
General Chen truly couldn’t deal with this person and could clearly see he had come to cause trouble. That was why he had Pei Er step in.
After speaking, he even gave Pei Er a look, meaning: muddle through if possible, after all, Lu Gonggong doesn’t understand military matters.
Pei Er caught the hint and turned to bow toward Lu Gonggong. But before he could speak, he was interrupted,
“Enough. I have no patience to listen to your excuses. Isn’t the situation obvious? Just a few Hu soldiers, and you were so frightened that you wrote to Lord Yan and even wanted Wuding Pass to send troops. The troops at Wuding Pass are guarding His Majesty, what, are your lives more important than the safety of the Emperor?”
As he spoke, Lu Gonggong lifted his eyelids and made a gesture of respect toward the upper left.
At the mention of the Emperor, General Chen and the others hurriedly said, “We wouldn’t dare.”
Lu Gonggong snorted coldly and continued in a mocking tone, “I think you dare quite a lot! You even exaggerated the enemy situation, deliberately making it sound more severe! If things were really as you say, how could your mere few thousand men have repelled that group of Hu soldiers yesterday?”
“This… Lu Gonggong, the truth is…”
General Chen had just begun to explain when he was interrupted again.
“Enough. I only ask you this, since you’ve already repelled the Hu soldiers and know they’re stationed to the north, why not press the advantage and immediately send troops to attack?”
General Chen’s face nearly turned green. Forcing himself to remain patient, he explained, “Gonggong, this time the attackers are forces led by the Eldest Hu Prince Wulie. We still do not know their exact numbers, but it is estimated to be at least a hundred thousand. Yongfeng currently has only a little over three thousand stationed troops, many of whom are wounded…”
“That’s enough. Don’t try to fool me. Earlier you said there were ten thousand Hu soldiers attacking, yet you repelled them with just two thousand men. Clearly there weren’t ten thousand at all, you exaggerated the facts to claim merit for yourselves.” Lu Gonggong heavily set down his teacup, displeased. “General Chen, it’s not that I wish to make things difficult for you. But if you continue to delay and miss military opportunities, then I will have no choice but to impeach you before His Majesty, ”
Before he could finish speaking, Pei Er suddenly stood up, pressed on the curved blade at his waist, and walked to stand in front of him.
“W-what are you doing?” Lu Gonggong’s voice instantly caught in his throat as he leaned back in fright.
Jiang He behind him immediately drew his blade upon seeing this.
Ignoring him, Pei Er spoke directly to Lu Gonggong: “What you said is correct, Gonggong. We should indeed launch an attack immediately. But to prevent anyone from falsely reporting military information again, please accompany us personally and supervise.”
After speaking, he made a “please” gesture.
Lu Gonggong was immediately dumbfounded. He had only been talking, if he were truly made to go to the battlefield, his legs would give out before he even got there.
Seeing this, Pei Er directly extended his hand. “I’ll support you, Gonggong.”
Jiang He immediately drew his blade to block him, but Pei Er struck at the same time. With a turn of his curved blade, the cold edge nearly swept across Lu Gonggong’s face. With a clang, he forced Jiang He back.
Lu Gonggong instantly turned pale with fright, afraid the blade would slice across his neck the next moment. He hurriedly said, “N-no, no, no. I am only the military inspector, I just offer opinions. How to fight should still be decided by your General Chen…”
Pei Er withdrew his hand and frowned. “So you won’t accompany us to the battlefield?”
Lu Gonggong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “No, no.”
Pei Er still frowned, looking troubled. “But if you don’t go, who will supervise the command?”
Lu Gonggong choked, then gritted his teeth and said, “I trust in General Chen’s command ability. I’ll remain here and await news of victory.”
Only then did Pei Er withdraw his blade and say regretfully, “Then it’s a pity you won’t be able to witness it yourself.”
After speaking, he returned to his original position.
General Chen had also been stunned by this turn of events. Perhaps he had never seen someone so reckless. After Lu Gonggong suppressed his displeasure and left together with Jiang He, he couldn’t help but sigh, “You… you… sigh, you shouldn’t have offended him so directly.”
After all, the other party was someone from the palace. Having offended him like this, there would surely be trouble later.
Pei Er remained expressionless. “He came together with Jiang He, it’s obvious they were targeting us. Whether I offended him or not, it would still be the same.”
General Chen was at a loss for words. After thinking about it, he felt it made sense.
“Let’s not talk about that for now. After you went to Yongding garrison yesterday, how did the discussions go?” General Chen leaned forward and asked.
Only then did Pei Er report the outcome and said, “I’ve already arranged with Old General Zhao and the others. When the Hu people attack again today, Yongfeng, Yongding, and Yongsheng passes will all send troops simultaneously and ambush them according to plan.”
“Good!” General Chen immediately nodded. “This matter should be done sooner rather than later, go handle it at once.”
Pei Er nodded. Seeing that General Chen had not mentioned anyone coming to “capture” him, he felt even more puzzled.
But it was good they hadn’t come, this way, he could at least finish this battle first.
Thinking this, he turned to leave.
“Wait!” General Chen suddenly called out again.
Pei Er’s body paused, and he slowly turned back.
“I almost forgot, last night…”
Pei Er’s breathing stilled slightly, and his grip on the hilt of his blade tightened unconsciously.
“…a group of soldiers from Bingzhou came, saying they wanted to see you. They’re in the tent next door.” General Chen took a sip of tea, finally finishing his sentence.
The palm gripping Pei Er’s blade was already damp with sweat, but upon hearing the end, he froze.
“They only… said they wanted to see me?” he asked, his voice hollow.
“Yes.” General Chen nodded.
Pei Er: “……”
They didn’t say they came to arrest him?
***
In the adjacent tent, Yang Yuanyi and his group were gathered around a charcoal fire, eating the freshly delivered camp rations in large bites.
He had indeed arrived the previous night, and as soon as he did, he met General Chen, showed him the portrait, and confirmed that Pei Zhen was in the army, and was even a Thousand-man Commander.
It was just that, according to General Chen, after returning from Yongding garrison, the man hadn’t gone back to the military camp, but had gone straight home to sleep with his wife.
“I allowed it. The Hu people have been attacking the passes lately, he and his wife haven’t slept for several days. Today they finally had a chance to catch their breath, so after he finished discussing matters with Yongding garrison, I let him go home directly to rest and recover his energy,” General Chen had told them.
After confirming Pei Zhen was indeed in the army, Yang Yuanyi sent someone to check outside the small courtyard and, once he confirmed the man hadn’t run, he actually stopped being in a hurry. Hearing this, he simply said, “Then let him rest first.”
That very night, he gathered information about Pei Zhen’s situation in the army and finally figured out how he had become “Pei Er,” and couldn’t help but sigh: what a coincidence!
When Pei Zhen had been gravely injured and unconscious, he had just happened to be rescued back to Yongfeng garrison. At that same time, there happened to be a soldier named “Pei Er” at the garrison who had gone missing, whom no one really knew. Then, coincidentally, Pei Zhen woke up with amnesia, so he was mistaken for Pei Er.
And not only that, the guy had even married a beautiful wife in the army!
Thinking about how he and his grandfather had been anxious and worried ever since Pei Zhen disappeared, searching everywhere in secret, while this guy had married a wife and been promoted, living quite comfortably, Yang Yuanyi couldn’t help but feel a complicated mix of emotions.
Originally, he had wanted to go to the man’s home early this morning, drag Pei Zhen out, and give him a good beating, but thinking that the man might be sleeping with his wife, he let it go.
…mainly because he couldn’t beat Pei Zhen anyway.
As for this morning, he had planned to wait at the central command tent, but upon hearing that Lu Gonggong had arrived as military inspector, he changed his mind.
This trip required him to keep a low profile. That Lu Gonggong was said to be from the palace, if he happened to recognize him, it would be troublesome.
Just then, the Black Iron soldier he had sent to gather information outside the central command tent returned and whispered a few words into his ear.
After listening, Yang Yuanyi immediately grinned. “That’s definitely Jianzhi, no mistake! He’s always hated military inspectors. Back then, the Emperor sent some meddlesome eunuch to Bingzhou as inspector, and he dragged him straight onto the battlefield, the man was so frightened he wet himself on the spot!”
He was about to laugh loudly, but the movement tugged at the wound on his mouth, making him hiss in pain.
“But that Lu Gonggong is from the palace and still didn’t recognize Jianzhi. Seems he probably doesn’t recognize me either,” Yang Yuanyi thought briefly, then immediately said, “Let’s go, let’s find the shizi directly.”
With that, he stood up at once and was about to leave, when the tent flap was suddenly lifted first.
Yang Yuanyi’s movements paused.
At the tent entrance, Pei Er held his blade in one hand and lifted the tent flap with the other, just about to enter. When his gaze met Yang Yuanyi’s, he also paused.
Yang Yuanyi squinted one bruised eye. Seeing that the injuries on Pei Er’s face had already been properly treated and were no longer very swollen, he suddenly felt a bit jealous.
Having a wife really does make a difference.
Pei Er glanced at the forty to fifty Black Iron soldiers in the tent, then at Yang Yuanyi. Suddenly, he let the tent flap fall and turned to walk outside.
Yang Yuanyi was momentarily stunned, then immediately understood and quickly lifted the flap to follow him out.
As Pei Er strode toward the outside of the camp, he said, “I heard from General Chen that you wanted to see me?”
Hearing his tone, Yang Yuanyi felt as if this was the Pei Zhen who hadn’t lost his memory, and couldn’t help but probe, “You… regained your memory?”
Pei Er’s steps suddenly halted. He turned his head, his dark eyes devoid of emotion as he looked at him. “No.”
Yang Yuanyi: “……”
Pei Er: “Yesterday was a misunderstanding. My apologies. If you have something to say, please speak directly.”
As he spoke, he continued walking out of the camp.
From Yang Yuanyi’s attitude, he had already guessed a few things, this person was not here to arrest him, but he likely knew him.
Yang Yuanyi frowned and followed him. “It’s a long story. We should find a place…”
Pei Er: “Then make it short.”
Yang Yuanyi choked, then said, “Alright. Prepare yourself first, this may be a bit of a shock to you. First… your name is not Pei Er.”
After speaking, he carefully observed Pei Er’s reaction. After all, since losing his memory, the other had always believed himself to be Pei Er, even married under that identity and built a family. Learning the truth suddenly would likely be hard to accept.
However, Pei Er only paused briefly, then expressionlessly gave an “Mm” and continued walking forward.
Seeing he wasn’t shaken, Yang Yuanyi relaxed slightly and continued, “Your real name is Pei Zhen, courtesy name Jianzhi. You are the current heir of Yan Wang, the General Pei who commands all military affairs of Bingzhou…”
Before he could finish, Pei Er suddenly stopped and turned to look at him directly.
![After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth]](https://i1.wp.com/lazygirltranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20240810023906_300_420.jpg?resize=151,215 "After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth]")
