Chapter 4
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Since Ji You’s team had run into Duan Wang, they naturally wanted to escort him. Ming Yu did not refuse at this time. He was not a stubborn person. He had previously rejected the protection of the garrison troops because he underestimated the situation here. Now that he saw the scene in the village, he knew that he was too naive. Now, he understood the situation here. This matter definitely will be spread amongst the guards after they return. He was afraid that the people would panic. So if they have the renowned Red Robe Army here, it should stabilize the people’s hearts. If he didn’t have to worry about it anymore, why not do that? It doesn’t hurt anyway, right?
Mo Jiang’s heart was completely settled. At first, he was afraid that His Highness would not agree, and he prepared a lot of excuses to persuade him. He didn’t expect his Highness to respond so readily. It was beyond his expectation.
He instructed people to deal with the funeral here, then escorted Ming Yu back. It was getting late, and they could no longer station themselves at the village. They could only camp and rest on the spot, then set off after dawn.
Ming Yu’s expectation was not wrong. Before they returned, the village being slaughtered by the barbarians and the news that the barbarians might not be far from them had spread to everyone. Those who can serve as guards of the Imperial Guards had very good family conditions. They were used to living in peace in the capital, so where could they have experienced such things? So for a while, the whole team panicked.
When Li Man heard the news, he looked anxious and sighed in despair, “These barbarians indeed kill people without blinking an eye. If we run into them, this…..this….”
Zhou Dadan was eager to meet the barbarians. He was capable of taking ten enemies on his own. He rolled up his sleeves and said excitedly: “What is there to be afraid of? I heard that there are no more than a hundred people. Run into one, kill one. Run into two, chop down two. One sentence, you just have to kill them to finish them.”
Li Man was speechless. He cast a glance at him, then reached out to support his forehead.
“Zhou Dadan, we are not like you, who doesn’t value his life.”
These words somehow alleviated the depression of the surrounding people, and another person smiled: “Brother Li Man, there are so many of us, we don’t have to be afraid of these barbarians. We haven’t even seen the shadow of the barbarians since we entered the boundary of Liangzhou.”
“Still, you can’t take it too lightly. Since the barbarians had slaughtered a nearby village, maybe they hadn’t walked far.”
“Ai! You guys tell me, why did we run into such an unlucky thing?”
“Okay, okay, don’t say it anymore. Look, His Highness and them are back now.” Someone reminded.
When Ming Yu returned to the team and saw the gloomy atmosphere of the entire guards, he had already guessed what was going on. He shook his head. Compared to the Red Robe Army, these imperial guards before his eyes were just simply incapable. The gap between them was too wide.
Ming Yu squinted his eyes. When he found a place to settle down, he had to train and reorganize them carefully, otherwise he really wouldn’t dare to use this group of people.
Ming Yu turned his head and told Mo Jiang, “You go and pass on the fact that the Red Robe Army joined the escort. Tell the soldiers to do their part, or don’t blame Ben Wang* for being rude.”
(Ben Wang: refer to I but spoken by the King or Wang as in Duan Wang)
The tone of his last sentence was a bit cold. Since he came out of the capital, what he had shown to others had always been his nice and warm temperament. It’s just because no one had provoked him. If someone provoked him, he didn’t mind letting them see the rumored, domineering and imperious reputation side of him.
Mo Jiang heard Ming Yu’s implication, and he looked a little embarrassed. He knew exactly what happened to the guards who came out of the capital, and he knew that these people had a lot of criticism of His Highness in private. He had never prodded, but he didn’t know that Ming Yu had seen all of this in his eyes. He respectfully accepted the order and retreated. This Royal Highness was becoming more and more difficult for people to see through. The best thing to do is to not touch his inverse-scale (weakness).
The news passed on. The red-robed army that could let the enemy be terror-stricken at the news of them had come to escort him, thus, he would be absolutely safe without any worries. This time, the hearts that were about to jump out of the people’s throats finally had gone back down to their original position. Regarding the legendary Red Robe Army, even though all the guards wanted to pay their respects, Commander Mo had passed the order for each person to perform his own duties. They must not disrupt military order, otherwise the military law will deal with them, thus everyone settled down in their own place.
It was already late, and everyone camped on the spot and buried the pot to start making a meal without mention it. Ji You arranged for his subordinates to protect Ming Yu with ensured strict obedience, and they did everything in an orderly manner. This made Ming Yu can’t help but envy. The five hundred people of his own, distributed to him by the Emperor, were really extremely useless. En, he really had to think of a way to dig out one or two generals to help him train these people into proper guards.
Otherwise, inside his own territory, they won’t be able to form a mob. When the time comes, if something happens, he was afraid that besides fleeing, he wouldn’t be able to defend his territory. What would be the worth of raising a bunch of waste?
The lowly guards at this moment did not know the tragic fate that they would face in the future. Inside the tent, Ming Yu, Mo Jiang, and Ji You were discussing the route to advance. Although Ji You was familiar with Liangzhou, he still depended on how the prince wanted to advance forward. This, he could only give a little advice at most.
In fact, Great General Wei’s original intention was to let them and General Xie to personally come greet and escort Duan Wang’s troops. But how can General Xie compromise easily? With a cold light sweep of his eyes, Great General Wei who was on the verge of saying what was on his mind changed his mind: No matter what, Duan Wang’s party should not have any mishaps. Your Red Robe Army is the only one who can handle it. You do not need to dispatched everyone. Just dispatch a few people to go and protect him throughout the whole journey, only to safely guard the people to Liangcheng.
Xie Yixiu didn’t speak. He closed his eyes and relaxed. It wasn’t known whether he had listened to the speech. Great General Wei felt as though his head could explode. He promised the Red Robe Army provisions of supplies for a month. Xie Yixiu curled his lips slightly, then said: “Alright!”
Xie Yixiu finally agreed. While Great General Wei relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief, he also felt distressed about the supplies he had promised. This time he really bled too heavily. This Xie youngster, if he didn’t see the bones, he wouldn’t let go of the eagle. Sooner or later, he will be hollowed out by him. Seeing Xie Yixiu’s calm and straight back when he left, Great General Wei shook his hand and accidentally pulled out two beards. He hissed in pain. He felt that he was not only distressed, but hurt everywhere.
Therefore, after General Xie returned, he only briefed it a bit. They also had to track down the barbarians anyway. Thus, if any teams ran into Duan Wang’s party, they had to escort him. Everyone of the Red Robe Army was unwilling to take on this task, but they had no choice since their general had already said so. All right, let’s see which team had bad luck to be unfortunate enough to run into him. Coincidentally, Ji You’s team was the one unfortunate child.
Ming Yu examined the map. From this place to Liangcheng, it was about ten days to half a month. It was neither long nor short, but it was the most dangerous route.
He looked at Ji You, who was standing respectfully at the side. His eyes were on his nose, his nose to his heart. It was a leaving everything to them to discuss on what is to be done. After the discussion, they only needed to notify him. In any case, he would just handle things according to the rules.
“Didn’t your General Xie send five to six teams to chase and block that group of barbarians. It appears from the speed, time, and route of operation of the group, they should be in the Changlan Mountain area at this time.” Ming Yu’s white and slender finger pointed to a certain point on the map and said confidently.
When Ji You heard what had been said, his heart shook, then he gasped in surprise. He didn’t need to lean over to look at the map, he already knew the place Mingyu had pointed at. That’s right, when he came out, General Xie had personally arranged this by himself. The soldiers were all rushing to Changlan Mountain. Duan Wang didn’t know anything, but from taking a glance at the map, he had already analyzed the location of the barbarians? Furthermore, his manner of speech was not that different from General Xie, this….is this Duan Wang really the rumored foolish prince?
Mo Jiang was already quite familiar with this. Throughout the whole journey here, it was all due to His Highness making good decisions about matters. Their Royal Highness’s insights were much better than ordinary people. Those rumors about His Highness being stupid certainly must be made behind the scenes by people who were jealous of him.
“Your Highness, in this way, don’t we have to take a detour to avoid the Changlan Mountain area?” Mo Jiang asked.
Ming Yu nodded, they don’t need to join in on the fun. A group of mobs, if they were to go, it would obstruct the work. In any case, it’s also their fault for being too weak. If they were to get hurt, it would be troublesome. It’s safer to make a detour.
Ji You was a little regretful. Their general had already set up the battle formation. They only needed to wait for the time to arrive, then those barbarians would enter the urn. Their team, not to mention their participation in rendering meritorious service, he’s afraid that he won’t even be able to have a lick of that soup, Hai! (sound of regret) Why are they so unlucky? If he had known earlier, he would have requested for Wen Xiansheng* to pinpoint a better time before setting off. It would be good if he could have avoided Duan Wang’s group!
(Xiansheng: I thought it would be better to put up the pinyin for this term, it means ‘Mister’ in formal term)
Mo Jiang was also somewhat regretful. He had always been standing in the Imperial Guard inside the capital, and had never seen a real battlefield scene or attacked the enemy. To be honest, their imperial guard’s reputations were just resounding, pleasant to hear, but they have never participated in any war before. Every year, when the Autumn Hunting time arrives, they would just stay inside the imperial garden to help catch a wolf, insect, tiger or leopard, making the Emperor and senior officials satisfied and enjoying themselves.
Which man isn’t hot-blooded? He was also looking forward to fighting with real swords and real spears.
Ming Yu looked at Mo Jiang’s regretful look, and smiled: “What? Does Commander Mo have any other opinions? You can talk about it, and we’ll see.”
Mo Jiang hesitated for a while before he said: “Your Highness, it is certainly feasible to go on a detour. However, the Red Robe Army’s combat, if we let them see the Red Robe Army’s fighting capability, then our guards will benefit a lot.”
Although he said he wanted to watch this battle very much, he had taken Ming Yu into consideration even more. He knew the morality and conduct of these guards. In this Liangzhou place, it was very difficult to establish a footing without real army troops for protection. Ming Yu’s thought, he also knew it. That’s why he said these words.
What Mo Jiang said made sense. A real soldier can only grow up by seeing blood. In the beginning, he won’t let them personally touch it. Just watching the war scene as spectators would be capable of giving them enough shock, right? As for the rest, they can take their time, they were not in a hurry anyway.
Ming Yu weighed the pros and cons and looked at Mo Jiang. He had already guessed at least seven or eight points from his careful thoughts. He agreed with a smile, but not a smile: “What you said is reasonable. If so, we don’t need to change the route. We can proceed according to the original plan.”
Mo Jiang was fully aware of his thoughts and didn’t care about it. On the contrary, he was delighted. He knew that His Highness would seize this opportunity, and he could witness the Red Robe Army fighting with his own eyes. It’s definitely worth it.
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