Chapter 34 - Expedition

Chapter 34 Expedition

The sun had just risen.

The 500 local soldiers who had been stationed in Taoyuan Village and trained by Xiahou Yong for a month lined up neatly, waiting for orders.

Chen Zhiyuan also brought out more than 50 warhorses from his space, letting the experienced local soldiers ride forward.

Although Xiahou Yong felt that he should not be rewarded without merits and did not accept the Lion Cong that Chen Zhiyuan had given him, it was still acceptable for him to ride for a while.

Chen Zhiyuan was not in a hurry. After all, he would not go against the imperial court any time soon. He still had a lot of time to win the trust of this sworn brother. Right now, he was busy saying goodbye to Li Zhu’er and the other two girls.

“Hubby, be careful. We will wait for you at home.”

Li Zhu’er looked at Chen Zhiyuan reluctantly. Her expression was full of worry. Lu Shuxue and Wu Qiushui were the same.

After receiving Li Zhu’er’s approval, they could be considered to have entered the Chen family. It was just that Chen Zhiyuan had been busy with the suppression of the bandits and had not had the time to repair the house and prepare a banquet. That was why they had not officially married yet.

Wu Qiushui and Li Zhu’er had thought of following Chen Zhiyuan. However, after Lu Shuxue persuaded them that it was a big taboo for the commander-in-chief of the army to bring along his family during an expedition, and it would also distract Chen Zhiyuan, the two of them gave up the idea.

“Don’t worry. You’ve seen my kung fu, not to mention that I have so many people protecting me. I’ll be fine.”

After Chen Zhiyuan hugged Li Zhu’er tightly, he opened his arms and looked at Lu Shuxue and Wu Qiushui. “When I come back, I’ll marry you.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to say that! You haven’t said it for so many days…”

Wu Qiushui mumbled and took the initiative to go up and lean into Chen Zhiyuan’s arms.

“Hubby, I’m waiting for you to come back…”

Lu Shuxue, on the other hand, was blushing. She lowered her head and spoke in a mosquito-like voice, not daring to come forward.

“Aiya, Sister Lu, our husband is about to go on an expedition. Why are you still dawdling? Do you want me to help you?”

Wu Qiushui stepped forward and pulled Lu Shuxue into Chen Zhiyuan’s arms.

Chen Zhiyuan then hugged the two of them and said goodbye.

“Alright, I’m leaving. I’ll be back in ten days or a month. Do what you need to do at home, don’t worry.”

Chen Zhiyuan gave them a few instructions before stepping out of the room.

Outside the door, Wang Shan and Xiahou Yong were already waiting in the courtyard. Almost all the people of Taoyuan Village had come to the village entrance to send off Chen Zhiyuan and the others.

“Move out!”

Chen Zhiyuan gave the order, and the army finally started to move out.

The infantry was in the middle, and the cavalry split up on both sides. It was time for them to train their horses.

“Brother Chen, these 50-plus horses are all good warhorses. How did you get them? And the one you’re riding is a rare Ferghana Horse. It’s even rarer to spot it on the grasslands.”

Xiahou Yong finally couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

When he really saw Chen Zhiyuan bring out the warhorses from the mountain, he was beyond shocked.

“Brother Xiahou, when I went into the mountain to fetch water, I accidentally entered a valley. At that time, it was shrouded in thick fog. I didn’t know how I ended up inside, but I met an expert inside. He told me the method to identify potatoes and gave me some seeds and warhorses. He told me not to tell outsiders where that place was, so he sent me out. I can only say so much. Please don’t make things difficult for me, Brother Xiahou.”

Chen Zhiyuan came up with a plausible excuse, hoping to fool Xiahou Yong.

“A valley shrouded in thick fog? There’s even food and warhorses inside. Could it be the residence of an immortal? I didn’t expect Brother Chen to have the help of an immortal. Since that’s the case, I’m not a tactless person. From now on, I will never ask again. If I reveal the whereabouts of an immortal, I will be punished by the heavens. Brother Chen, you must be careful.”

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Yong took a few glances at the mountain before he paid his respects to Chen Zhiyuan with extra caution and said seriously.

Upon seeing Xiahou Yong’s solemn appearance, Chen Zhiyuan was momentarily stunned. In the later generations, it sounded like a completely nonsensical reason, but people like Xiahou Yong completely believed it.

As expected, the times were different. People had different views on whether ghosts and gods really existed. In this era, some things couldn’t be explained normally. If they mentioned ghosts and gods, it would make

sense.

“Brother Xiahou, don’t worry. I naturally don’t dare to offend the immortals and reveal their whereabouts.”

Chen Zhiyuan also replied with a solemn expression.

Today, he had learned another trick.

Black Wind Mountain was in the south of the town, about 80 miles away from Qingshui County town, and Taoyuan Village was to the north of the county town. To suppress the bandits, they had to pass by a highway not far from the county town.

On the highway outside the county town, Chen Zhiyuan finally met the inspector of this suppression, Zhao Dengming, whom he had met twice before.

“Humph! Why are you guys so slow? The county magistrate and I have been waiting on the city wall for four hours.”

Zhao Dengming saw Chen Zhiyuan’s team coming over and immediately led his three close followers to join them while riding the horses. He snorted and complained.

When Chen Zhiyuan heard this, he looked up at the top of the city wall. As expected, there were many people moving on the city wall near them. Some of them vaguely waved at them.

It seemed that County Magistrate Liu had really put in the effort this time, but it wasn’t much. He didn’t even bother to go down the city wall to send them off.

“Inspector, the weather is hot right now. The local soldiers are recruits and not elite border soldiers. We covered 50 miles in two hours with the horses running at full speed. Don’t complain too much while riding.”

Wang Shan, who was behind Chen Zhiyuan, said coldly, and he asked in return. “Inspector, I would like to ask. Since you are the inspector of this bandit suppression, you are also going to the battlefield. Why are your personal guards not bringing swords but birdcages? The birds inside… are pigeons, right? Who are you sending information to?”

After Wang Shan’s reminder, only then did Chen Zhiyuan realize that the bird cage hanging on the warhorse of the personal guard of Military Governor Zhao was really a pigeon and not a usual ornamental bird.

Thinking of this, Chen Zhiyuan couldn’t help but take a deep look at Zhao Dengming, but he didn’t stop Wang Shan from asking.

“Since I’m the inspector, then I have the responsibility of passing the battle report to the county magistrate at any time. How is it your place to argue about me bringing a pigeon? Who are you? Men, arrest him!”

Zhao Dengming turned around and questioned Wang Shan angrily.

“Yes!”

His personal guards immediately turned their horses around and wanted to capture Wang Shan.

“Who dares to make a move!”

Chen Zhiyuan pulled up his warhorse and shouted. The followers of Zhao Dengming immediately stopped their horses and stood rooted to the ground.

Chen Zhiyuan then approached Zhao Dengming and said, “Military Governor Zhao, we are trusted by the county governor and the county magistrate. When we send out troops to suppress the bandits, we should set an example. This way, the soldiers can have a piece of mind.

“What will the troops think when they see you blaming the soldiers and having your personal guard bringing a birdcage? Wang Shan is my assistant and is also the person who leads the soldiers to suppress the bandits. Military Governor Zhao, will you be bringing your personal guards to battle if you are going to punish him?”

“This…”

Zhao Dengming was speechless. After a long while, he said hesitantly, “I will naturally follow the army to hold the fort…”

“Since that’s the case, you can supervise the army and report the battle to the county magistrate. Apart from that, I hope that you don’t blame the generals too much. If we delay the bandit suppression, neither of us can bear the responsibility. What do you think?”

Chen Zhiyuan said slowly as usual.

When Zhao Dengming heard that, he raised his head and saw that the soldiers around him were either glaring at or ignoring him and his personal guards. His arrogance immediately died down, and he said in a low voice, “This… should be the case.”