"Haha, Lord Yuan, please, please come in!"
"Ah, you've all had a hard time of it. This journey wasn't easy, was it?"
"Dashan, Dashan, take these brothers to eat first, then let them have a good rest!"
Yang Zhengshan received them with a face full of warmth.
It was not that he was doing it on purpose. Rather, Yuan Wanli and the others truly did not look too well.
He reckoned they had suffered quite a bit hurrying on the road these past four days.
They had not come directly from Chongshan Pass. Instead, they had gone to Jia City first, and after learning Yang Zhengshan's location, had come over from Jia City.
Coming from Jia City, the distance was not very far—only about three or four hundred li.
But this was the northern land. Although all the places they passed through had already been traversed by the Garrison Battalion, who knew whether there were still Hu Cavalry around? If they happened to run into Hu Cavalry, with their handful of people, they would probably only be delivering themselves on a platter.
So along the way, they not only had to eat in the wind and sleep under the dew, but also had to be extremely careful in hiding from the Hu Bandits.
They ate poorly, slept poorly, and still had to hurry on the road. One could imagine what they looked like now.
"I've made Lord Yang laugh at me!" Yuan Wanli said, somewhat embarrassed.
Yang Zhengshan smiled and said, "What is there to laugh at? Lord Yuan came all this way in fear and hardship to help us verify our military merits. This official cannot thank Lord Yuan enough, so how could I laugh?"
"Lord Yuan, let us go eat first."
As he spoke, Yang Zhengshan led Yuan