Entering the City

Li Yan listened to this, glanced at Li Yu and Li Shan, and said, "It's nothing much. If things really are as Uncle Guoxin says, and we've held off the enemy these past few times, then even if there's fighting later, there shouldn't be any major battles for a while. After those first few assaults failed to take the county town, with so many dead and wounded, the enemy must already be wary of Marshal Hong. They must know that unless they change their commander, they might have a chance to break in—or unless a natural disaster strikes, or someone inside the city betrays us. But I imagine Marshal Hong and his advisors have already thought of all that. They're veterans who've been through countless battles, so the enemy probably won't be pressing in with a large army anytime soon."

Hearing this, Li Guoxin couldn't help but look at Li Yan in surprise. What Li Yan said was indeed true—for nearly a year now, the Meng Kingdom hadn't sent a large army against Green Mountain Pass, only the occasional small cavalry raid. But the fact that Li Yan could articulate this showed that the boy had a mature mind, unlike some other youths who didn't think things through.

"This young brother speaks very truly. Our Marshal Hong and Military Advisor Ji are fierce generals and great talents of this age. Those Meng Kingdom bastards attacked with large armies four or five times and couldn't break through, and then Military Advisor Ji even took the head of their deputy commander. They've long since had the guts scared out of them. Now our army often goes out to attack them, beating those enemy dogs until they can't stop crying."

Just then, a voice suddenly came from ahead. They had unknowingly arrived at the city gate. A dozen soldiers in armor stood in two rows on either side of the gate, and in front of them stood a single man. He wore a waist saber and was also clad in armor, except that atop his helmet was a red tassel. He was of medium build, with a dark face and no beard, a straight nose that was slightly hooked, and eyes that flashed like lightning as he looked at them. He stood in the middle before the two rows of soldiers, blocking the entrance to the city gate. He was presumably the leader.

The one who had just spoken was this man. He was now looking at Li Yan, a hint of surprise in his eyes. After all, from his build, Li Yan appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen, dressed in coarse cloth—not the son of a wealthy or noble family. If he had been a young master, the man wouldn't have found it strange, since those born into such families often heard their elders talk about these matters and could parrot them back. But the North Gate, where they were on duty today, was usually used by villagers from the surrounding area or merchants traveling within the Imperial Dynasty. Young masters from the capital hadn't come here to sightsee in recent years—after all, accidents could still happen. Given Li Yan's attire, the man didn't think he was some young master from the capital playing at traveling incognito. A village boy like this having such insights piqued his interest, so he spoke a few words.

When Li Yan saw the man looking at him, he immediately jumped down from the cart, bowed, and said, "That was just this boy's reckless talk. Please forgive me, my lord." The old scholar in the village had taught them these matters of etiquette many times, telling them to remember not to be uncivilized barbarians and to practice diligently. In truth, everyone in the village was familiar with each other, and as farming folk, they often used rough language. But the old scholar had been very strict with them, the younger generation—this was probably the old scholar's greatest pride in his life.

The leader was only mildly curious. After hearing Li Yan's words, he said no more. Then he turned to Li Guoxin and asked, "What business do you have entering the city at this hour?"

Li Guoxin had already stopped the cart and come before the man who seemed to be the leader. He replied respectfully, "Reporting to you, sir, I am the village chief of Great Green Mountain Li Family Village. Here is our travel permit." As he spoke, he took out the prepared travel permit and handed it over with both hands, then continued, "I'm bringing a few young men into the city to become apprentices and to enlist in the army."

The leader took the travel permit, looked it over, and nodded. "It's correct."

When he heard the words "enlist in the army," he smiled and asked, "Is it for the Imperial Guards?"

Li Guoxin quickly replied, "Yes, sir."

The man then asked, "Which of these are enlisting?"

Li Guoxin pointed at Li Yan and said, "Sir, only he is enlisting. The other two are going to be apprentices."

Hearing this, the man turned to follow Li Guoxin's finger and looked at Li Yan. Seeing it was him, he said to Li Yan, "Oh, so it's you. That little bit of insight you showed earlier wasn't bad. Enlisting suits you well enough. Our Marshal Hong places great value on men with talent and strategy—after all, there are plenty of soldiers with just brute strength."

When Li Yan heard this, he bowed again and said, "Thank you for your guidance, sir."

The leader waved his hand and said, "Then you'd better hurry. This time the Imperial Guards are only recruiting a hundred and fifty men, and this is already the second day. This camp fills up pretty fast—I expect they'll be full by today. After all, the Imperial Guards are a logistics unit; they see little blood, and their pay is only a bit less than ours on the front lines."

He paused, then said to Li Yan, "My name is Liu Chengyong. I'm the squad leader of Zhan Bing Battalion Third Squad. We might have dealings with each other in the future."

Li Yan was puzzled by this. Are all soldiers in the camp this easy to talk to? But he didn't dare ask, and only said, "Squad Leader Liu, if this boy is fortunate enough to enter the camp, I will be at your command should you need anything."

Liu Chengyong laughed heartily and said, "Very good, very good." He then returned the travel permit to Li Guoxin, stepped aside, and waved them into the city.

Li Guoxin took the travel permit, tucked it into his bosom, thanked him, and called for Li Yan to get back on the cart. He then began driving slowly toward the city gate tunnel, but his mind was still unsettled by Squad Leader Liu's words. He knew that these soldiers were ruthless men who had rolled through blood countless times. On ordinary days, apart from when they saw officials, they were never this polite to people like him. At best, they'd grunt an "oh" and let them through—that was already thanking heaven and earth. At worst, they'd find an excuse to beat someone up; if you ran into real trouble, you might be locked up for a few days, and you wouldn't get out easily without greasing some palms. But with other things on his mind, he didn't dwell on it and hurried the cart into the city.

As they watched the group enter the city, a soldier beside Liu Chengyong asked curiously, "Chief Liu, why were you so polite to a country boy?"

Liu Chengyong glanced at him and said flatly, "In this army, when it comes to fighting, Marshal Hong calls the shots. But ever since last time, when Military Advisor Ji rescued Marshal Hong from an enemy siege and, like a god, took the enemy deputy commander's head from amidst ten thousand troops, Marshal Hong now lets Military Advisor Ji decide many things. And for the past two years, whenever Military Advisor Ji recruits soldiers, he personally goes to the training ground and tests every single applicant—especially those who can read." As he said this, he also looked a bit puzzled. After all, although the number of applicants was limited, ever since the recruitment started offering advance subsidies to families, there were still dozens to hundreds each time. But even so, Military Advisor Ji tested each applicant's physique one by one. Although everyone knew the reason later, thinking about it, testing each person's physique individually was a huge workload, so it still seemed strange.

At this, another soldier chimed in, "Yes, yes. I heard that Lord Ji wants to pick a suitable person to be his successor and pass on his skills. That's something to envy. Lord Ji's martial arts are transcendent—he must be at least a top-tier expert in the martial world. Otherwise, he couldn't have taken a general's head from amidst ten thousand troops and brought Marshal Hong and his squad back. If anyone could learn those martial arts, they could go anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, Lord Ji has already tested everyone inside the camp, and so far, no one has caught his eye. But I heard that early last year, Lord Ji did pick a suitable apprentice from a small squad in the Central Army Camp. Not many people know about him, though. A lowly soldier like that among hundreds of thousands of troops, with no outstanding qualities in daily life—only the few people around him and his direct squad leader would know him. Later, Lord Ji took him back to his residence to train. But I heard that because he couldn't read, he probably couldn't understand the flow of meridians, and when he practiced internal energy, he made a mistake, had a qi deviation, and died. Some say they saw his body swollen and black—it was terrifying. But that just shows how domineering and unmatched Lord Ji's martial arts are." Hearing this, some of the other soldiers said they had heard of it, and a few began whispering among themselves.

Liu Chengyong swept an unhappy glance at the soldiers and said, "Shut up. The higher-ups don't allow talk about Military Advisor Ji outside."

The soldiers quickly shrank their necks and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, yes, yes," and dropped the matter.

Then another soldier asked curiously, "Chief Liu, why were you so interested in that kid just now? Do you think he has a chance to enter Lord Ji's tutelage?"

A hint of a smile appeared on Liu Chengyong's dark face. "That's not certain. I just thought the kid had some insight, which shows he's not stupid. From the way he spoke later, he's probably read some books. I just gave him a few casual reminders. As for the opportunity? Who knows, maybe. If I run into someone like that again later, and I think they're decent, I might say something too. Alright, let's get back to duty."

The soldiers quickly stood at attention and resumed their posts, but they were all thinking, So he's casting a wide net.