Chapter 80 - Proof of Allegiance

Chapter 80 – Proof of Allegiance

After they left the camp, they rode their horses for almost ten miles before stopping. Wu Xinyu got his men to look for some wood to start a fire. Meng Changan was so cold that he kept shivering. Even then, he did not say a single word.

He wore an overcoat over his unlined garment on the inside. Even if the overcoat was any thicker, it was of no use. His body was basically frozen stiff as they traveled over the distance of ten miles. However, he did not tell the troops to stop.

Wu Xinyu instructed a few of his men, and they left immediately after, disappearing into the snow.

He tossed a few pieces of wood into the fire. “You have nothing to say?”

Meng Changan lowered his head. “Thank you, general.”

“Just that?”

Wu Xinyu added, “No wonder Guo Leiming said that you’re a taciturn person. He is indeed correct…if we traveled another ten miles in the harsh winter weather, and in order to save your life, you have to cut off your arms and limb, are you not afraid?”

“I will not let myself become a useless person.”

Meng Changan’s body slowly started to warm up. He lowered his head and looked at the small hunting knife in his hand that was reflecting light from the fire.

“Stay here and work for me for a while. I will think of a way to keep you here, and not let you return.”

Wu Xinyu looked at Meng Changan. “Do you know why I took you away in a hurry?”

Meng Changan answered, “You did not make the order for my transfer.”

“Hahahaha…”

Wu Xinyu laughed, feeling pleased. “A person like Pei Xiao, who is full of fake arrogance, naturally will not immediately lower his head to pick up the military command I tossed at his feet. But that does not mean that he will not suspect. For me to suddenly appear at your camp, he will not pick it up to take a look.”

Meng Changan looked at Wu Xinyu. “General, why did you come here?”

“Because somebody doesn’t want you to die.”

Wu Xinyu looked up into the night sky. He came together with Great General Tie Liuli, but halfway through, Tie Liuli suddenly thought of something and got him to immediately return with his men to take Meng Changan away. Of course he did not have any brush and paper. But naturally, Tie Liuli had a great general’s tiger tally that allowed him to move troops around. Yet at the same time, he did not want other people to know that he was nearby.

“Without an order of transfer, Pei Xiao will make things difficult for you.”

“Order of transfer?”

Wu Xinyu shrugged. “In the future, I will give him another soldier. I will say that I was too eager and took the wrong person. What can he do about it?”

Meng Changan lowered his head and continued looking at the fire. “There’s not enough time. When he finds out that the order of transfer is fake, he will immediately report you to the great general, and secretly come over here to take me away. This is a grave violation of the military laws.”

He stood up and stretched his body. After he felt that his limbs had recovered, he turned around and walked towards his horse.

“Where are you going?” asked Wu Xinyu.

“I’m heading back.”

Meng Changan’s reply was so simply that it made one frustrated and angry.

“I spent so much effort trying to get you out, and yet you want to head back?”

“Yes.”

Meng Changan got on his horse and hit it with the whip. The horse neighed before charging forward. However, after it took two steps, a hand appeared from within the darkness, grabbing hold of the reins. The horse charged forward at such a huge power, and yet that hand was powerful enough to stop it. The horse neighed in fright before toppling over.

With a loud thud, the horse landed on its side. Meng Changan had already leapt off the saddle. He swung the small hunting knife in his hand forward but he kept it midway. The tip of the blade was right in front of those pair of eyes.

The person walked out from the darkness. The light from the fire gradually made his face clearer and clearer.

Wu Xinyu stood next to the fire and laughed. “Indeed, he is one obstinate fella.”

He bowed and cupped his fist. “Greetings, great general.”

Meng Changan looked at the horse that collapsed onto the ground. He was still slightly shaken up…Was this the power of a great general in one of the four borders? He was able to use only one hand to stop a charging horse. When he used his body weight to put pressure downwards, he was in a precise horse stance. When the horse flipped over and fell onto the ground, his horse stance did not move a single bit.

“Greetings, great general.”

“By going back, do you want to implicate Wu Xinyu?”

Tie Liuli tilted his head to one side and stared at Meng Changan.

Meng Changan did not answer. He did not say a single word.

Tie Liuli snorted. “A while ago, the head of the academy wrote me a letter. He told me that Meng Changan is someone who is not willing to say a word even when he cares, and that he was born a lonely person. Are you afraid of letting others know that you’re not that cold of a person, or that you don’t want others to know that you’re actually not that proud?”

Meng Changan continued to stand there with no expressions on his face.

“I want to talk about one thing.”

Tie Liuli pointed to the empty seat next to him. “Sit down and talk. This concerns your life and death, as well as my honor.”

Meng Changan said to Tie Liuli, “I will not gamble with my life.”

Tie Liuli asked, “What about commands?”

“If military commands are not related to military duties, they will not be deemed as military commands.”

Tie Liuli knew that Meng Changan could tell that he knew what he was getting at. He thought to himself about how the head of the academy indeed recommended the right person, that he was a smart person, except that he was difficult to control.

“I’m referring to His Majesty’s commands.”

Tie Liuli reached his hand out and pinched a piece of wood from the fire. He seemed to enjoy the heat from the fire at a close distance. Or perhaps the northern border was way too cold. He dusted the wood shavings off his hand. “Wu Xinyu, take your men and be on guard at a distance away. You cannot listen to what I’m about to tell Meng Changan next.”

Wu Xinyu acknowledged and brought his soldiers with him before leaving.

Tie Liuli was silent for a good amount of time before he said, “Pei Tingshan does not have a son. He only has a nephew, who is Pei Xiao. Not long ago, Pei Tingshan wrote a second petition to His Majesty to allow him to adopt Pei Xiao. If he was not one of the biggest state founders or the great general in the military, it would only be a family matter, and His Majesty would not be bothered by it.”

“But because Pei Tingshan is too special, hence His Majesty had no choice but to consider more carefully…if Pei Xiao is adopted by Pei Tingshan, in that case, the state founder’s nobility will be passed on to him. Do you understand?”

Meng Changan nodded.

“Not only is that the case, Pei Tingshan had mentioned again that he hopes that after his death, His Majesty would make Pei Xiao the commander of the eastern border…Pei Tingshan is already muddled – he is so muddled to the extent that he has forgotten that the eastern border does not belong to him. It belongs to His Majesty. If the main forces of the eastern border were to be passed down to his son from him, the Pei clan will become the local tyrant in the eastern border.”

Meng Changan understood.

“General, you want me to kill Pei Xiao?”

“I did not say that. I am merely revealing to you some secrets within the imperial court.”

Meng Changan shook his head. “If I know about the secrets, I will die.”

He walked over and sat down across from Tie Liuli. “If I agree to what you ask of me, if Pei Xiao doesn’t die, I will die. If Pei Xiao dies, I will still die. You and His Majesty will definitely not allow someone who is in the know to be alive, am I wrong?”

“You don’t understand His Majesty, young man.”

Tie Liuli smiled and said, “If His Majesty wants to do something, you think that he will go through all the trouble to get you to do it? The reason why he’s doing this is because His Majesty thinks highly of you. Furthermore, the head of the academy put in good words for you…there are some things that are hard to be explicit about, but I can give you an analogy.”

He looked at Meng Changan in the eye. “Do you know what the proof of allegiance in the underworld is?”

Immediately, there was fear in Meng Changan’s eyes.

Proof of allegiance?!

“Pei Tingshan has already forgotten his own identity. He only thinks of himself as His Majesty’s benefactor. He has forgotten that he is first and foremost a counselor…he kept bringing up endlessly about how he helped him, hence he is entitled to everything he asks for. Isn’t a person as such wearing down the comradeship and affection that he used his life to fight for?”

Meng Changan nodded.

“You are truly a man of few words.”

Tie Liuli was silent for a while before he continued, “What you are worried about will not happen. As long as you are devoted and loyal to Great Ning and His Majesty.”

Meng Changan sat there, deep in thought. Tie Liuli suddenly appeared out of nowhere and said those words to him. It seemed as though he forced him into a corner with no way to retreat. If he did not get rid of Pei Xiao, what would ultimately happen to him? As for this matter – was it arranged by His Majesty himself, or did Tie Liuli take matters into his own hand in the capacity of the emperor’s counselor?

“Let me think it over.”

He lifted his head and looked at Tie Liuli.

Tie Liuli raised his hand. “Bring the wine over.”

At a distance away, a soldier brought over two flasks of wine, each one of them had almost 90 ounces of strong wine in them. Tie Liuli tossed one of the flasks to Meng Changan. He twisted the cap of the flask open and started drinking, tilting his head backwards.

Meng Changan took the wine and drank a mouthful of it. He started to go into a trance. He had too much to think about.

Pei Tingshan was domineering; he made use of His Majesty’s old affection towards him and became more and more unreasonable in recent years. Perhaps a situation that made His Majesty worried had already developed in the eastern border; and if Pei Tingshan left his powerful position as the great general of the eastern border to Pei Xiao, it would greatly cause Great Ning to be unstable.

Pei Tingshan was the only person commanding all the troops in the eastern border. By then, if His Majesty were to send someone else there to be the great general, would a crisis break out in the eastern border?

But if Pei Xiao died, would it truly disrupt Pei Tingshan’s plan to use the eastern border as a family legacy that could be passed down? Pei Tingshan would still be able to pick someone else from the Pei clan to nurture.

“You have thought about it for a long time.”

Tie Liuli had already finished drinking almost 90 ounces of strong wine.

Meng Changan lifted his head and looked at Tie Liuli. “This seems to be underhanded.”

Tie Liuli snorted. “So him stealing your credit is not underhanded?”

Meng Changan replied, “Great general, you can uphold justice.”

“Great general is not your great general.”

Tie Liuli got up. “Great general is the great general of Great Ning; His Majesty’s great general.”

At this moment, one of the soldiers that Wu Xinyu sent out earlier on came back. After he dismounted from the horse, he took a set of clothes and armor and a black cord sword. He placed the items next to Meng Changan before leaving right after.

“When you entered Heiwu multiple times, it gave me a new idea. The conflict between Heiwu and Great Ning has been going on for hundreds of years. The reason why Heiwu cannot invade us is because Great Ning’s military is strong and powerful. The reason why we cannot invade them is because of the harsh winter and terrain, hence, it is unsuitable for a large scale battle. The most suitable way for us to fight them is sending you and your elite troops there. If you complete that task, I will give you the authority to assemble and train the reconnaissance unit – you will personally train them, and you will be allowed to use your own strategies to fight. If you need any supplies, you will get them. As long as the northern border has what you want, I will give it to you. If we don’t have it, I will get it from elsewhere; I will go to Changan city to get it from His Majesty.”

Tie Liuli turned around. He drew out a black cord sword. The light from the fire reflected off the blade. “Have you thought about it?”

Meng Changan stood up and wore his armor. “I need a place.”

Tie Liuli asked, “What place?”

“Feng Yan Tai.”

Meng Changan said in a cold voice. “Let Pei Xiao know that I am in Feng Yan Tai. I will handle the rest on my own.”

“Feng Yan Tai?”

Tie Liuli went into a trance. It had been a long time since someone mentioned that name. That year, Zhuang Yong led his troops to Feng Yan Tai and defended that area to the best of his abilities. Li Yong fought hard and killed several people, wounding dozens.

“Alright.”

Tie Liuli nodded his head. “Feng Yan Tai then.”