Chapter 298: Cross-dressing

Chapter 298

When he saw Xu Mo suffering from injustice, Fang Heng was furious.

When he discovered that the injustice to Xu Mo came from the Fang family, he was distressed and indignant.

When Xu Mo allied with powerful families to fight for another chance at the exam, Fang Heng was overjoyed and stamped his feet.

“Has the captain gone crazy?” Jiang Er whispered to Jiang Yi.

“You just don’t understand,” Jiang Yi said knowingly. “Letters from home are worth more than gold, the words convey deep feelings.”

“I suppose so,” Jiang Er nodded. “The captain did receive two very thick letters this time.”

As he spoke, Fang Heng had finished reading the first letter and opened the second with tears in his eyes.

Hmm? Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com

Identical?

Word for word?

Fang Heng thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He read from beginning to end again. Indeed there was no difference. Looking at the addressee on the envelope, he realized it was addressed to Zheng Ruqian.

“A letter meant for Second Brother was delivered to me, meaning he hasn’t gone back either,” the clever man was already speculating. “So the fraud in the imperial exam is being propped up only by Big Brother and the younger siblings?”

He hated that he couldn’t go back, and could only watch the Fang family bully his older brother and younger siblings.

The anger made Fang Heng grip his sword tightly, and the resentment gave him the urge to slash and hack.

“Captain,” Jiang Er cleverly stood up. “Why don’t we go practice some of the squad formations?”

Since Fang Heng had taken over the Fifth Squad, not only had he put the fresh recruits through special training, he had also taught the veterans the Fang family’s exclusive formations that could best restrain the Northern Nomads’ cavalry.

They all liked the formations because ten people working together could exert the power of twenty men—it was truly amazing.

But unexpectedly Fang Heng gritted his teeth and said harshly, “Go to the grasslands.”

The men of the Fifth Squad were stirred up.

They still remembered that after the New Year festival, Fang Heng had learned from Wang Xiaosong and others’ experiences and had actually dispatched Jiang Qi and Jiang Ba to pretend to be merchantmen.

For example, at the end of April the Northern Nomads suffered losses from the Fifth Squad, then turned around and killed over a hundred from the Sixth Squad, even taking the Sixth Squad Captain’s life.

Finally when the Northern Nomads withdrew, the Dayu were able to relax and nurse their wounds, strengthen training, and prepare for next year’s defense.

But why should it be this way? Why must they always endure the Northern Nomads’ harassment and be battered passively?

Dayu horses were inferior to the Northern Nomads’, and Dayu soldiers were not as good at mounted archery as the Northern Nomads. But Dayu had the Art of War, clever strategists, and countless nimble brave fellows.

Fang Heng took stock of the men in the Fifth Squad—nimble vanguard, average rearguard, and those who stayed behind to continue practicing.

Not knowing the details, it would be shocking to learn that:

The other squads had at most two to three hundred men, some as few as around a hundred.

The Fifth Squad somehow accumulated to five or six hundred without realizing it. Even excluding those not combat ready, there were still around three hundred who could ride and fight.

This was a considerable force, but could not be wasted recklessly either.

Fang Heng repeatedly marked lines across the map before finally settling on a grassland relatively near the northern border. “The Northern Nomads are cunning and fierce. Over the years, Dayu has also tried counter offensives, and those they keep on the outskirts are some ferocious clansmen.”

But for that same reason, if these men perished, the Northern Nomads would be in agony as if skinning their own flesh.

“But Captain, they’ve got five- to six hundred men, we definitely can’t beat them. Our maximum is three hundred men, only a bit over one hundred elites.” Jiang Wu reminded them, “We can’t just charge in.”

So attack directly was not an option. Lure them in instead.

Fang Heng’s eyes alternated between gazing at Jiang Wu and Jiang Ba, eventually settling on Jiang Ba.

“Captain, you’ve already made me pretend to be a merchant, now what else could you want me to pretend to be?” Jiang Ba felt uneasy, forlorn and helpless.

Fang Heng stared fixedly at him, blurting out two words from his mouth, “A woman.”

Delicate, weak, and helpless—a young Dayu woman who accidentally wandered into the grasslands.

The watchmen were not fools either, they became vigilant and came up wielding sabers.

But this young woman wept pitifully in a way that compelled sympathy. They didn’t even dare dodge her knife. And the way she cried made them want to toy and chase her for fun.

Yet when they turned around, they only saw sabers raised high above them. The helpless young woman had vanished without a trace.