The Straight Man and the Clown Put on a Grand Show

"Could it be you were one of them, too?" The two men who had spoken earlier sat up in surprise.

"I was assigned to General Fu later, as one of his attendants. You..." Song Chen nodded blankly, then glanced at the people lying nearby.

A few more people sat up one after another. They introduced themselves, explaining that their original commanders had all died in battle, so they had been assigned to work for Fu Shiren. They were the sort of people nobody cared about.

Some had looked after Fu Shiren's daily needs, some had been responsible for his armor and weapons, and others had done odd jobs like putting up his tent. They had all kinds of jobs, but every one of them had something to do with Fu Shiren.

"Hiss."

Song Chen sucked in a breath, then looked at the five remaining onlookers. "You wouldn't happen to have been with Fu, too..."

"We were all General Fu's personal guards, but we never went to the Jiangling battlefield, and we weren't from Jiangdong, either," one of them replied.

"Personal guards? My apologies, my apologies." Song Chen cupped his hands in salute, then asked in confusion, "If you never went to Jiangling, why did you end up here, too?"

"Alas, when Jiangxia fell, we didn't manage to get away."

Song Chen nodded, suddenly understanding. "So there's a reason we've been sent to reclaim wasteland and have our rations docked."

"What reason?" asked Li Chang. Like Song Chen, he had come from the Scout Battalion and was now a key member of the Jiao Province Chamber of Commerce. His role at the moment was to play the straight man.

"Isn't it because of General Fu? He surrendered to Jiangdong, didn't he? Now he's a prisoner of his former master, Jing Province.