Green Mountain
Chapter 282 - 224, Direct Disciple

Chapter 282: 224, Direct Disciple

Winter of the 31st year of Jianing, the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

A fierce wind outside Guyuan whipped up the yellow earth into the sky, and then it gently floated down, producing a rain-like rustling sound as it fell upon people.

On the walls of Guyuan City, soldiers wrapped their mouths and noses with grey scarves and dozed off leaning against the crenels.

At that moment, a sound of camel bells came from the distance.

The soldiers pulled down their scarves a bit and looked out from the city, only to see a long caravan approaching on the dusty official road stretching beyond sight.

Here the road was rugged, even the official road was pitted and bumpy. Horses and ox carts couldn’t travel here; even wheel replacements were required every few dozen miles. All merchants from the Central Plains had to switch to camels and mules at Taiyuan Prefecture to continue their journey.

The soldiers squinted and sized up the caravan, muttering quietly, "It’s almost New Year’s Day, and yet someone comes to this godforsaken place? Eh, an official?"

In the caravan, servants walked in front leading the camels by their reins, with people sitting atop the camels behind them.

If it were a merchant group, the merchants would loathe nothing more than to load the camel humps with goods, never willing to sit on them themselves. Only officials would do such a thing.

After a while, the caravan arrived below the city. The soldiers, hands on their waist knives, shouted loudly, "Who goes there?"

A servant holding the reins raised his hand and cupped it in salute, "Esteemed military officer, our master is Junior Scholar Chen Liqin from the Master’s Mansion, Secondary Fourth-rank, sent here by the Crown Prince’s orders! Open the gates quickly!"

"So it’s the Crown Prince’s man," the soldier’s expression slowly darkened, and he said lightly, "Wait here, I will report this."

The caravan waited in the sandstorm for an hour, but the city gate remained closed.

No matter how much the servants called from below the city wall, no one paid any attention.

At the back of the caravan, Zhang Xia, Zhang Zheng, Ji, and Xiao Man wrapped red scarves around their mouths and noses. The scarves piled layer upon layer around their necks and shoulders, yet they could not block out the cold wind.

Zhang Xia sat on the saddle, half his face hidden in a scarf, and spoke in a low voice, "Something is not right. In such a remote place as Guyuan, why would they neglect a court fourth-rank official?"

Ji grunted in agreement and raised his head to examine the fortress city. On both sides of Guyuan were mountain ranges, as if the city itself was built within a giant canyon, blocking the route of the Jing Dynasty cavalry from heading south.

With a creak, the city gate slowly opened.

Two rows of armored soldiers bearing long spears marched out and subtly encircled the caravan.

Chen Liqin looked on wearily, "What’s all this about?"

Wang Gui, who was leading the camel by the reins for him, eagerly said, "Master, shall I ask?"

"Go ahead."

Wang Gui was tireless, not yet the Housekeeper, but if he didn’t find work for himself, he feared he’d never achieve the position in this lifetime.

He stepped forward and asked, "Generals, why have you surrounded our caravan? We are the family of Junior Scholar Chen Liqin."

One armored lieutenant smiled, "No need to hurry, sirs. Guyuan is a military stronghold, and recently there’ve been Jing Dynasty spies infiltrating to gather intelligence. To avoid any mishaps, we need to search everyone’s luggage."

Wang Gui’s face changed, "Our master is a Secondary Fourth-rank official, with orders from the Crown Prince and travel permits at hand, how dare you search our luggage?"

The lieutenant placed his right hand on his waist knife and sneered, "Here at the border army, we sacrifice our lives to kill enemies and capture spies. We don’t care about any third-rank officials or fourth-rank officials; anyone who comes will be searched!"

Wang Gui was at a loss for words. From the Imperial Capital to Luocheng City, he was used to being courted, but he hadn’t expected the border army to disregard even the face of a fourth-rank official!

How could it come to this?

Seeing negotiation was futile, Chen Liqin dismounted from the camel with the help of a servant, "General, might I know if we have done anything to offend? If so, I, on behalf of my subordinates, apologize for our mistake."

The lieutenant smiled insincerely, "You overstate the matter, Mr. Chen. We are merely performing our duty. You see the pass behind me—if Jing Dynasty takes it over, the people of Ning State and Shan State will suffer. Wouldn’t you agree?"

Mrs. Liang, who had wrapped herself tightly in her scarf, signaled Wang Gui with a glance. He immediately took a silver ingot from his sleeve and stealthily slipped it into the lieutenant’s hand, "Our master knows the hardships of frontier soldiers, please, be accommodating."

"What’s this?" The lieutenant tossed the silver ingot onto the yellow earth, "We are just following orders. If you keep obstructing, you will all be detained as Jing Dynasty spies! Search them!"

Wang Gui grew desperate, "Hey, stop that!"

He stepped forward, grabbing the soldier’s arm to prevent them from searching. But the border army soldiers’ murderous intent was chilling, and with a clang, one of them drew his waist knife, "Get out of the way!"

Mr. Wang sheepishly retreated a few steps.

From the rear of the caravan, Zhang Zheng cheerfully said, "It’s good that we don’t have any luggage, so there’s nothing to search."

Chen Ji laughed heartily, "Brother Zhang certainly has an optimistic nature, living more joyfully than others."

Zhang Zheng, flattered by the praise, grinned with delight, "Exactly, after returning I must tell my father not to come to the borderlands. Otherwise, he would have to endure this humiliating search."

Zhang Xia glared at her older brother and then whispered to Chen Ji, "I don’t know what exactly the Crown Prince did in Guyuan to provoke such public outrage. My father also mentioned that ever since General Wen Tao was executed by dismemberment, the border army has experienced endless issues, with occurrences of soldiers defecting to the Jing Dynasty..."

Chen Ji asked in confusion, "Dismemberment? What was the charge?"

"Colluding with the enemy," replied Zhang Xia, glancing at the nearby border soldiers, whispering, "In previous years, people in Ning State secretly built a temple to honor General Wen Tao. When the court discovered it, they demolished it all. At that time, there was a mutiny in the border army, and it coincided with the southern advance of the Jing Dynasty cavalry. If it weren’t for Mr. Wang taking command and quelling the rebellion at the last minute, it might have turned into a major disaster."

Zhang Zheng smiled, "I’ve heard about that incident. Apparently, it was a mutiny at a thousand households unit. Mr. Wang, being a civil servant, alone with a horse, entered the unit and quelled the rebellion overnight. Later, Mr. Wang was promoted to Commander and led five thousand households in a surprise attack on the Jing Dynasty supply lines, driving back the cavalry. He became a well-known scholar-general in the Imperial Capital... Originally, my father thought Mr. Wang could have been promoted to the Ministry of War this time, but someone intercepted his appointment document, what a pity. My father said, with Mr. Wang in the border town, we could ensure twenty years of peace, and he would be at ease to do many things."

Chen Ji suddenly understood why Lord Zhang in Luocheng City was so despondent when he didn’t see the promotion document for Mr. Wang.

Although the two of them didn’t agree politically, they were confidants.

At this moment, watching the border soldiers take the Chen family’s luggage down from the camels and open it to search, tossing the gold and silver around, it was clear this was not merely a search for Jing Dynasty spies. They were trying to intimidate the ministers of the Eastern Palace.

When the soldiers came to search where Chen Ji was, one of them saw a long cloth-wrapped Whale Blade lying in front of his saddle, and immediately asked in a cold voice, "What is this? Is it a weapon?"

Chen Ji didn’t answer.

The soldier called over a comrade, "Come here, this man has a weapon on him! Capture all these horse riders and send them to the General to be dealt with!"

Hearing about someone carrying a weapon, a dozen soldiers circled them squarely, pointing their long spears towards Chen Ji and the others. Zaozao became restless, spewing white jet streams from his nostrils as his thick hooves trampled the yellow earth.

The shouting woke up Xiao Man, who was dozing off on her small horse; she clutched the reins tightly and asked in a low voice, "Young Master, what should we do?"

Wu Yun stood up on Zaozao’s head, staring coldly at all the soldiers.

Chen Ji whispered, "Don’t act rashly."

However, just then, the sound of horses’ hooves came from the city gate tunnel, and a man was seen galloping towards them, with heroic eyebrows and eyes, donned in silver armor, with a white pheasant tail fluttering straight up on his head, exuding valor.

Seeing the scattered gold and silver on the ground, the man shouted loud, "How dare you, this is a minister of the Eastern Palace, how dare you make things difficult for him?"

A border army lieutenant scoffed and said, "Lord Li, we’re searching for Jing Dynasty spies, what’s wrong with that? You may indulge in luxury by the Crown Prince’s side and ignore the severity of letting spies slip through."

The silver-armored Lord Li angrily retorted, "You’ve let so many merchants in, Jing Dynasty spies have long blended in with them. The Crown Prince ordered you to search for Jing Dynasty spies on your own, yet you start with the Prince’s ministers, what kind of conduct is this?"

The border army lieutenant stated unhurriedly, "His Highness the Crown Prince said that there are many Jing Dynasty spies in the Guyuan Military Town, so we are following his orders in conducting the search, and regarding where to start the search, we have the final say."

Lord Li snapped, "You!"

The lieutenant touched his waist knife, "What, can’t we check the Prince’s minister?"

At this moment, Chen Ji slowly advanced on horseback, bowed his hands to the officer, and said, "This General, I am a Direct Disciple of Mr. Wang Dao, I wonder if there’s any room for leniency?"

The lieutenant was slightly startled, "Are you actually a disciple of Mr. Wang?"

The soldiers looked at each other, their hands lowering their long spears unconsciously.

Regaining his composure, the lieutenant hurried a few steps to Chen Ji’s horse and asked, "Young man, is this true?"

Chen Ji smiled, "Mr. Wang is observing mourning at home, and I have studied with him. At Lu Hun Manor, in front of over a hundred scholars, Mr. Wang personally acknowledged me as his Direct Disciple; there’s no falsehood in that."

After pondering for a moment, the lieutenant bowed to Chen Ji, "I apologize for the offense."

And with that, he turned and waved his hand to the soldiers, "Let them through!"