The Gap

Chen Yan stood at the edge of the training grounds, watching the daily drills of Great Yan's most elite border cavalry.

Du Zhen, deputy commander of the Tiger Leopard Battalion, stood atop the raised platform. He had clearly spotted the young man at the edge of the grounds, and heard the cavalrymen whispering among themselves.

His expression darkened slightly. Then he raised his right hand high, palm facing forward.

"Silence!"

At Du Zhen's shout, the soldiers on the grounds stopped what they were doing and looked up toward him on the platform.

Even the warhorses beneath them fell quiet.

Then Du Zhen hurried down from the platform and walked toward the young man at the edge of the grounds.

He stopped before Chen Yan and respectfully clasped his hands toward him.

"Colonel Chen, you've come in person to inspect the training grounds today. I, Du Zhen, failed to welcome you from afar. I beg your pardon!"

Du Zhen's voice was steady, his manner neither servile nor overbearing, and utterly impeccable.

Chen Yan was now a colonel in the Tiger Leopard Battalion of the Yanbei Iron Cavalry, a Principal Fifth Rank military officer of the court.

Du Zhen, a Zhaowu Colonel, held the same rank as Chen Yan. But within the Tiger Leopard Battalion, he was Chen Yan's deputy and subordinate.

It could be said that Du Zhen's gesture had shown Chen Yan every courtesy.

However one looked at it, Chen Yan was the commanding officer of the Tiger Leopard Battalion. As his deputy, Du Zhen might, to some extent, "put this young man in his place," despite their equal rank.

But he would never allow his soldiers to show such disrespect.

First, Chen Yan had been highly cooperative with Du Zhen's work in the Tiger Leopard Battalion, and had shown