After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 91

Li Chanxiu frowned, instinctively feeling that this Cai Shu would sooner or later cause trouble.

But the other party had already gathered the old forces and raised troops in his father’s name. Since things had reached this point, his father could only accept it and go to take command of the old forces. Otherwise, even before any campaign began, the old forces would split and all their years of effort in the southwest would be destroyed.

Yet now Cai Shu commanded seventy to eighty thousand troops; in the dream, when the split occurred, he alone had taken fifty thousand. It was evident that over the years, under the banner of the old forces and using the assets his father had left in the southwest, he had actually been raising his own army.

In this case, even if his father went to take command, the other party would still rely on his troops for power. In the end, the old forces would very likely follow the same path as in the dream, splitting and suffering heavy losses.

Of course, in the dream, his father had mistakenly believed that he was no longer alive and was deeply struck, coughing blood and gravely ill, leaving him powerless, only then did Cai Shu manage to take away fifty thousand troops.

Now that both he and his father were alive and well, they would not let him succeed so easily. But it was also a fact that Cai Shu, having already developed ambition, would not readily obey his father’s command.

The other party’s plan was likely to invite his father into the army as a figurehead, then use his name to command loyalty and help himself compete for the realm. But those among the old forces who remained loyal to his father would not obey, and his father would not truly allow himself to be manipulated.

However, his father had just been rescued, dealing with a “meritorious subordinate” immediately would also be improper. Thus, both sides would inevitably fall into a prolonged struggle for power, ultimately still leading to division…

While he was pondering this, Zhou Kai at the side cupped his fists and spoke, “Your Highness, should we first hurry to Qinzhou to join the master?”

Though phrased as a question, it was actually urging Li Chanxiu to leave quickly. After all, Yongzhou was not their territory, and having just “robbed” the border army, staying long would be dangerous.

In truth, Zhou Kai did not quite understand why the Little Highness had them pretend to be bandits and abduct him, would it not have been simpler to just leave together with them?

Li Chanxiu saw through his thoughts, but only smiled without explaining.

Doing so was naturally to protect Pei Er. The identity of “Shen Xiu” was that of a criminal’s relative; if he left quietly, it would be treated as escape and would inevitably implicate Pei Er, who had once married him.

But if he was “kidnapped” by bandits, it would have nothing to do with fleeing, and Pei Er would not be implicated. Moreover, when Pei Er returned and saw the letter he left, he should no longer worry. As for whether the other party would hate him…

Li Chanxiu’s gaze flickered slightly, and he quickly shifted his attention, looking toward Zhou Kai and his group.

These hundred-odd people are all loyal to Father.

But in the dream, the faction loyal to Father was outnumbered and weak, with fewer than twenty thousand troops. And after Father learned of his “death,” he had been gravely ill ever since, which allowed Cai Shu and the others to gain the upper hand.

Now the best solution is to let Father’s faction take the upper hand and suppress Cai Shu. That way, the old subordinates won’t split apart for the time being and can maintain a surface balance. As for later, once Cai Shu truly does something that harms the old subordinates, it will naturally be justified to deal with him.

Seeing his scrutinizing gaze sweep over himself and the group of subordinates, Zhou Kai misunderstood somewhat and said awkwardly, “Please forgive us, Your Highness. The number of people we brought this time is a bit small, but once we join up with the lord, it will be fine when we reach Liangzhou. There we have seventy to eighty thousand troops.”

Li Chanxiu shook his head. Of those seventy to eighty thousand, I’m afraid fifty thousand already belong to someone else.

But it didn’t matter, he already had a plan.

“Mount up first. Come with me to another place,” he said with a faint smile at his lips.

After speaking, he turned and went to the carriage to take his bundle.

But when his hand touched the cloth bundle, he paused again. When he had changed clothes in the carriage just now, he discovered that the jade bracelet and hairpin he had previously “returned” to Pei Er had been put back into his bundle by the other party.

The other party had even deliberately left a note reminding him to wear the bracelet when returning to his maternal home, saying it would look nicer that way and not so plain.

Pei Er…

Li Chanxiu’s gaze stilled slightly, his fingertips stiff for a moment, before he finally grabbed the bundle.

Besides that, he also remembered something: previously, when Pei Er went beyond the frontier to ambush the Hu people, he had taken from him the Buddhist bead bracelet his father had given him for protection. After returning, he didn’t know whether he had forgotten, but he had never returned it.

And because over these past few days he had been worried about the matter of the other party liking him, he had also not remembered to… forget it, just treat this jade bracelet as compensation for his bead bracelet. After all, it’s impossible to return it now.

He shook his head inwardly, shouldered the bundle, and nimbly swung himself onto the horse.

Zhou Kai had originally wanted to take the bundle and carry it for him, but before he could even reach out, he was refused.

“Let’s go.” Li Chanxiu flicked the reins and took the lead in galloping off.

Yi Xun cast a somewhat sympathetic glance at the stunned Commander Zhou and shook his head: no sense of awareness.

Then he mounted his horse and chased after Li Chanxiu’s departing figure.

***

At the border between Yongzhou and Bingzhou, the army reached this place and temporarily stopped to rest.

Pei Zhen sat on a slope, holding a string of Buddhist beads in his hand, staring at them absentmindedly for who knew how long.

Beside him, the gray-brown steed lowered its head to eat dry grass, occasionally letting out soft neighs, white breath puffing from its nostrils.

Yang Yuanyi came over holding a piece of dry flatbread, plopped down beside him, broke off a piece for him, and while chewing asked, “Since when did you start believing in Buddhism? It’s just a string of beads, staring at it this long, can you make a flower appear?”

Pei Zhen quickly put away the beads and cast him a faint glance. “What do you know?”

This isn’t an ordinary string of beads, this is… a bracelet his wife gave him for protection.

Speaking of which, the other party should have already arrived at his maternal home by now, right? With Zhang Hu escorting him along the way, nothing should have happened.

He wondered whether the other party… had missed him?

Pei Zhen took a bite of the dry flatbread, gulping water as he chewed, thinking gloomily.

Yongfeng garrison.

When Zhang Hu returned and learned that General Chen was not in the camp, he said, “We’ll report when the General returns.”

Hearing this, Chen Qing was once again furious.

And this wait lasted until nightfall, when General Chen finally appeared.

General Chen had just returned from the prefectural city. He had already learned from Lord Zhang, who had resumed office, about Pei Er’s identity. Upon hearing that Li Chanxiu had been abducted by bandits, he was instantly shocked, so angry that he grabbed Zhang Hu by the shoulders and sprayed spittle as he yelled, “Are you crazy?! Such a major matter, and you only tell me this now? Do you know whose wife that is?!! Oh heavens, how did I… Quick, quick, get men here, muster the troops, I’ll personally go after those bandits.”

However, everything was too late. They searched for two full days, and in the end only found the carriage that had fallen off the cliff, along with bloodstains on it.

After searching the nearby mountains and forests, they still did not find any remains. When they sent people to try to deliver news to Bingzhou, they heard that after reorganizing the troops there, General Pei had already set off for Luoyang.

***

On the other side, two days earlier.

Li Chanxiu had ordered Zhou Kai and the others to push the carriage off the cliff, fabricating the illusion that “Shen Xiu” had already died, then led everyone straight toward the Wuding Mountain region.

Deep within layers of mountains, at the mouth of a mountain hollow.

Ice and snow covered scattered rocks and withered trees. The cold wind was biting, occasionally blowing down the snow piled on branches.

Xuanping and the others had already been waiting at the mouth of the hollow for a long time. When they saw Li Chanxiu arrive with over a hundred people, they were stunned on the spot.

Even more surprising to him was that the other party was dressed as a man, with handsome features and delicate brows and eyes. Though it was a familiar face, the contours somehow seemed a bit sharper and more imposing. When he dismounted, the hem of his black robe embroidered with silver patterns fluttered in the wind. His movements were clean and unrestrained, his figure straight as pine and bamboo, elegant and tall, almost as if he had always been a man, and moreover a refined young master of a noble family… even possessing a kind of noble aura that such young masters did not have.

Xuanping only came back to his senses after a while, hurriedly cupping his hands in greeting, but didn’t know whether to address him as “Miss Shen,” or “Young Master Shen,” or… “Madam Pei”?

Li Chanxiu saw his dilemma and spoke with a smile, “You can just call me Shen Xiu.”

No longer lowering his voice or deliberately softening its tone, his original voice was clearly a few degrees more crisp, like jade striking jade, pleasant to the ear.

Xuanping was momentarily stunned, even less certain now.

With his preconceived impression, he naturally believed Li Chanxiu to be a woman. But the person before him, in attire and voice, was unmistakably male. Yet if one said he was male, his face was too exquisite and beautiful, though… it was a sharp kind of beauty, it still had a somewhat androgynous quality.

He couldn’t make up his mind for a moment. At that moment, Lu Zhi walked out from the mountain hollow.

This time, Lu Zhi was not in a wheelchair. He wore a white robe, his figure tall and straight, his complexion no longer the previous pallor, clearly his leg injury had already healed well.

Upon seeing Li Chanxiu, he too was momentarily stunned, but he reacted faster than Xuanping. He quickly returned to normal and greeted with a smile, cupping his hands: “Young Master Shen.”

Li Chanxiu returned the greeting with a slight smile, then briefly introduced Zhou Kai and the others, saying, “They are all my companions.”

Zhou Kai and the others each gripped the blades at their waists, their expressions tense, vigilance hidden in their eyes.

Lu Zhi’s gaze swept lightly over them, quickly seeing that none of them were ordinary people, yet his expression remained unchanged as he made a “please” gesture toward Li Chanxiu.

Li Chanxiu nodded and walked forward. The moment Zhou Kai and the others saw this, they immediately followed closely behind.

Xuanping lagged a step behind and, when no one was paying attention, couldn’t help but ask Lu Zhi in a low voice, “Big brother, how did you know Miss Shen was… I mean, how did you know he is a young master?”

“I didn’t know,” Lu Zhi said calmly.

Xuanping: “Huh?”

Lu Zhi: “Since he’s wearing men’s clothing, just address him as young master. Why think so much?”

Xuanping: “…” So that’s how it is.

He quickly hurried to catch up with the group.

This time, Li Chanxiu had come because before setting out, he received a message from the informant Xuanping had arranged in Yongfeng Town, saying that Lu Zhi had returned and asking when he would come to take the horses.

Since he was leaving today anyway, he simply made a detour to stop by.

Zhou Kai and the others did not know what he had come here to do, nor did they know the origins of Lu Zhi and the others. All along the way, their expressions remained tense, constantly on guard.

Only when they saw nearly a thousand tall, fine horses enclosed within a fence did Zhou Kai and the others freeze on the spot. Immediately after, light burst uncontrollably from their eyes.

Each of these fine horses was extremely tall, with glossy coats, mighty and sturdy, long-limbed, at a glance, clearly top-quality horses that ran fast and had strong endurance. They were likely even a bit stronger than the warhorses used by the Black Iron Cavalry under Pei Shizi in Bingzhou.

It was said that the warhorses of the Black Iron Cavalry were bred from top-quality horses transported from Western Qiang and crossed with horses of Great Zhou, with the best selected afterward. That was why every member of the Black Iron Cavalry possessed astonishing combat strength, it would not be an exaggeration to say one could fight ten, or even a hundred.

Of course, this was also related to the fact that the Black Iron Cavalry wore heavy armor and that the soldiers themselves were brave and strong. But it could not be denied that the strength of the horses was equally important.

Zhou Kai and the others had never seen the Black Iron Cavalry, but they had seen the superior offspring bred from Western Qiang horses and Great Zhou horses. To be honest, those were indeed stronger than any fine horses they had seen before, but still not as good as the ones before them.

“Th-these couldn’t be horses transported directly from Western Qiang, could they?”

Zhou Kai and the others were instantly extremely excited. They were all military men and naturally understood the importance of warhorses. Even Yi Xun, upon seeing these fine horses, couldn’t help but have her eyes light up slightly.

Li Chanxiu looked at the horses within the enclosure, equally satisfied.

Although Western Qiang produced fine horses, their numbers were actually limited. For Lu Zhi to obtain nearly a thousand was absolutely no easy feat, it certainly wasn’t something that could be bought casually with a bit of money.

Seeing his satisfaction, Lu Zhi smiled and said, “According to our agreement, half of these horses belong to Young Master Shen. Speaking of which, this time things went so smoothly thanks to what Young Master Shen said before. Western Qiang is in need of salt, we delivered it in time, and along the way we encountered that Physician Sun you mentioned. He helped the people of Western Qiang identify illnesses caused by salt deficiency and also resolved some epidemics. The King of Western Qiang was very grateful, and that’s why he gave us some additional warhorses.”

Li Chanxiu was delighted upon hearing this. “You really did meet Ma … meet that traveling physician?”

Lu Zhi nodded and said yes, but added with some regret, “However, Physician Sun still wanted to travel around Western Qiang for a while longer, so he did not return with us this time.”

Li Chanxiu paused slightly, then laughed, understanding. “As long as he’s safe, that’s enough.”

After that, they began dividing the horses. Lu Zhi was very generous, letting Li Chanxiu and the others choose freely, with whatever remained going to himself.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Kai and the others couldn’t help but rub their hands together, somewhat eager and impatient.

After selecting the horses, Li Chanxiu and the others were in a hurry to continue their journey and did not linger.

Lu Zhi, worried that they only had a little over a hundred men and might not be able to protect these fine horses if they encountered roaming bandits or disorderly troops, asked, “May I ask where Young Master Shen is headed? If the journey is long, I can send some men to help escort you.”

Li Chanxiu had just swung himself onto his horse. Hearing this, he pondered.

He tightened the reins in his hand, and after thinking it over several times, finally stopped hesitating and asked, “Young Master Lu, earlier Xuanping said that you have already been targeted by a military officer surnamed Yang. You may need to keep a low profile from now on. May I ask what your plans are next?”

Lu Zhi was slightly startled upon hearing this. He had heard about this matter from Xuanping on the very day he returned.

Since they had been targeted, they naturally needed to relocate quickly and leave this place as soon as possible. In fact, if not for the need to hand over the horses to Li Chanxiu, he might have already arranged for everyone to depart yesterday.

However… the way “Miss Shen” was speaking felt very familiar to him, and he couldn’t help but recall the earlier situation of being recruited as well as their discussion at the restaurant.

He immediately understood and smiled. “Does Young Master Shen have some good suggestion?”

Li Chanxiu couldn’t help but smile as well, finding it effortless to speak with a smart person. Thus he no longer concealed anything and openly invited him, “If Young Master Lu has nowhere in particular to go, why not come with me to the southwest and join His Highness the Crown Prince, who has just raised troops there?”