The Sword-toothed Country Makes Its Move

"Don't worry, big brother. I'll get things arranged right away."

Guan Shan lifted his head and drained his wine in one gulp, then quietly swapped out the wine jug.

He left at once to take care of the Military Camp's affairs.

After Guan Zhen finished training, he came over to the stone table, drenched in sweat. He picked up the wine jug, felt how light it was, and froze.

Then he turned toward Guan Shan's retreating figure and let loose a stream of curses.

"You little rascal, Third! You actually drank all my wine!"

This wasn't just wine. It was spirit wine brewed with heavenly treasures and earthly riches, capable of helping temper one's Blood Qi.

It didn't make people drowsy—instead, it left them more alert and enhanced the effects of tempering their Blood Qi.

"Damn it! Our parents died young, and I raised you lot from the ground up, wiping your asses and feeding you. Now you've got your eyes on my spirit wine, too?"

Guan Zhen's face darkened. He reluctantly took out a new bottle of spirit wine and tipped his head back to drink.

Zhongcheng, General's Mansion.

Compared with the General's Mansion in Mushan City, the General's Mansion in Zhongcheng, Sword-toothed Country, was shrouded in gloom.

More than a dozen captains and Pian Generals stood inside the General's Mansion, all with their heads bowed and their faces dark, not uttering a word.

Wang Kaishan, the garrison commander seated at the head of the hall, slammed his palm down on the table before him, smashing it to pieces.

"Zhang Meng, what the hell are your scouts good for?"

"The Running Wolf Nation was out in the open, and you were in the shadows. How could you still lose more than ninety scouts? You're all a bunch of useless eaters!"

Wang Kaishan pointed at Zhang Meng in the crowd and started cursing him out.

"The other side only lost twenty or thirty? Not even half our losses!"

"The Military Camp gives the scouts the best food and drink first. And this is how you repay me?"

"In my view, you can forget about being a guerrilla captain anymore!"

Zhang Meng, hunched over, shuddered and didn't dare make a sound.

The other captains couldn't spare a thought for gloating. They all stepped forward, cupped their fists, and said solemnly,

"General, please calm your anger."

Wang Kaishan was still fuming. He slapped the table.

"I don't feel like arguing with you about the scouts. After all, this is enemy territory. We went out to investigate, so it's only natural we lost more men."

"Have you finished drawing the topographical map?"

At that, Zhang Meng's face went even paler. In a trembling voice barely loud enough for him to hear, he said,

"N-no... not yet..."

Wang Kaishan picked up a broken corner of the table and hurled it at Zhang Meng, instantly splitting his head open.

"Tell me, what the hell are you good for?"

"The scouts are dead in droves, and the map still isn't finished!"

"The Imperial Court assigned the task ages ago. Our job is to take Mushan City before the end of the year and claim credit from the Imperial Court! With your efficiency, you'll be lucky if you're not punished!"

Facing Wang Kaishan's tirade, everyone in the hall lowered their heads and kept quiet.

After a while, Wang Kaishan's anger eased a little.

"There are still three months until the new year. I'll give you one more month at most to finish the map!"

"If I don't see a complete border defense map of Mushan City in a month, you can go to Vanguard Camp and serve as the vanguard."

Zhang Meng's face darkened.

The four great merits on the battlefield were slaying a general, seizing a banner, breaking into enemy ranks, and being the first to scale the walls.

Every one of them was a life-or-death mission!

Even he had no guarantee he'd survive after being the first to scale the walls!

"General, I..."

Zhang Meng tried to speak again, but Wang Kaishan glared at him furiously.

"You what? Get the hell out of here!"

Zhang Meng shrank back fearfully and could only keep his mouth shut.

After the meeting broke up, Zhang Meng returned to his tent and took out his anger on the scouts.

The scouts got an earful and muttered in low voices,

"General, it's not that we haven't done our job. The Running Wolf Nation was prepared for us from the start."

"In other places, we've clashed with Sword-toothed Country's scouts in secret plenty of times, and we've even come out ahead."

"But this particular area is like a forbidden zone to us."

One of the scouts took out a freshly drawn map and circled a section of it.

"From what we've observed, not one of the men who entered this area has ever come back alive."

"No one knows what kind of trap is waiting inside. After losing dozens of our men, we didn't dare go in again."

Zhang Meng studied the circled area on the map, his brows drawing tight.

After looking for a while, he seemed to recognize the place. He turned to a young man beside him.

"Zhao Qin, isn't this where your sword-toothed boar went missing?"

Zhao Qin clenched his teeth and replied angrily,

"That's right! This is the place!"

"Brother-in-law, you have to avenge me!"

Zhao Qin was Zhang Meng's younger brother-in-law. He'd come here to serve as a scout just to earn some merit.

A mission to slay a general or seize a banner was too difficult for Zhao Qin. By comparison, drawing maps as a scout wasn't too dangerous as long as he was careful.

Besides, Zhao Qin didn't operate alone. He just wandered around sightseeing under the protection of several other scouts.

If danger arose, the other scouts would naturally deal with it for him.

Even so, Zhao Qin's sword-toothed boar had still died in the Running Wolf Nation.

A sword-toothed boar that had barely reached two stars wasn't especially valuable to Zhang Meng.

But after that, worried something might happen to his brother-in-law, Zhang Meng had forbidden Zhao Qin from venturing deeper into the Running Wolf Nation.

He was to stick to the outskirts and wait for the other scouts to finish their missions.

Now that Zhao Qin had confirmed it, Zhang Meng tapped the table lightly twice with two fingers.

"This area has a radius of more than five kilometers, and its rugged terrain could hide plenty of War Soldiers."

"If there really are a lot of men lying in ambush inside, and we go around without finding out, we could end up surrounded by the Running Wolf Nation's troops."

"Then we'd be walking straight into a dead end!"

As he spoke, Zhang Meng's eyes swept over the several scout captains in charge.

"The map must be finished within ten days. Otherwise, every one of you will face military punishment!"

At this, the scout captains' expressions changed dramatically.

"General, isn't ten days much too rushed?"

"Drawing the terrain isn't difficult, but we have to investigate it thoroughly. If we overlook something and the enemy slips past our notice, the consequences will be disastrous!"

"Then half a month!"

Zhang Meng seemed to have made a tremendous decision. His voice was solemn as he said,

"Because our scouts have suffered heavy losses, I've already given the general my solemn pledge to complete the mission within ten days!"

"I can only buy you half a month at most!"

"I hope you won't let me down."

Seeing Zhang Meng go to such lengths for them, the scout captains still felt the task was too much and hard to complete.

But no one stepped forward to argue. Instead, they all cupped their fists in turn.

"Rest assured, General. We'll complete the mission on time and won't fail you!"