Chapter 18: The Flickering Light in the Forest

  At noon, despite having a thousand reasons to be reluctant and ten thousand reasons to bid farewell, Li Jing and the other nine newly registered soldiers still set off under the urging of that officer.

  Han and Gui Niang saw them off for several miles outside the village, reluctant to part ways. Li Jing's heart was also somewhat unwilling, but in the end he steeled himself not to look back. He didn't know if joining the local militia had any prospects, but time waits for no man, and he couldn't continue waiting around anymore. Moreover, that dog thing Wang Liang had been drafted this time, and Li Jing's joining the local militia just happened to provide an opportunity to get rid of him.

  In Wang Li village, there were ten new dings. Apart from Wang Liang, Xiao Shitou and Li Jing, the other seven people were also young men who had not yet truly become household heads. They were all eighteen or nineteen years old, big youngsters around twenty years old. At home, they did not have real control over their households. This time, when they were drawn as dings, their fathers, being the pillars of their families, could not possibly go to enlist, so they sent their sons instead.

  Apart from Xiaoshi, and Li Mujiang's son Qiusheng who was a bit excited, the others all looked as dejected as Wang Liang. Especially Wang Liang, who had already arranged to get married in the second half of the month, but hadn't expected this conscription order to come down, not even giving him one night's time, and he didn't even have the chance to get married hastily. It's said that going into the army is easy, but coming back is hard, who knows when this marriage will be fulfilled?

  His eyes inadvertently saw Li Jing, Wang Liang hummed heavily, but still kept a distance from Li Jing, hanging far behind him. The other young men looked at Li Jing with some incomprehension in their eyes, and also with thick envy.

  Although he didn't understand why the young scholar, who obviously hadn't won the lottery, had to substitute for the old village chief's family. However, they also heard on their way that the old village chief rented 100 mu of land to the Li family without collecting rent. Moreover, he even lent the Li family 10 stones of grain from his warehouse, with so much grain, the Li family didn't have to worry about food until next summer's harvest.

  However, what they envied more was the horse given by the royal family to Li Jing, and the big package on the body of the three-year-old sorrel horse, which is said to be the ancestral armor treasured by Wang Lao Village Chief's family, now given to this scholar.

  Apart from the horse and the armor he had never seen before, Li Jing also wore a horizontal knife at his waist and carried a horn bow on his back. Compared to other young men who were wearing short jackets with empty hands, they looked like beggars, while Li Jing looked like a general.

  Among the ten young men, except for Li Jing who had gone to Dongzhou's government office in Penglai to take the state examination when he was young, only Wang Liang had been to Fangdeng County before, when he followed Zhang Kuoguan as a servant in Chishan Town. The others, such as Xiaoshi and Qiusheng, had not gone further than the town. Leaving behind their village of Wangli for over ten years, they couldn't help but feel bewildered. Xiaoshi had become Li Jing's shadow, closely following him and addressing him as "Xiucai Ge". In addition to Li Jing's horse, there were five donkeys in the group, two men sharing one donkey, which was not for riding but for carrying various military supplies. When they set out, everyone only brought a few clothes with them, nothing else. The village had collected over 200 bolts of cloth, which would be enough to cover the cost of tents, weapons, and armor, which would be distributed uniformly when they arrived at the military camp.

  The five donkeys are now carrying those silk fabrics, as well as some local products such as rice wine and dried fruits that the villagers have prepared for the scholar-official and the military officer.

  Apart from Xiaoshi and Li Qiu, two other young men with the surname Li also gathered around Li Xuan. The rest were all surnamed Wang, who did not follow Li Xuan but instead gathered around Wang Liang, forming a small clique. Firstly, Wang Liang shared the same surname as them, and secondly, Li Xuan was a scholar, whereas Wang Liang had experience working in the town, so those young men from the Wang family looked up to him as their leader.

  The ten new recruits were clearly divided into two groups, but the goat-bearded clerk and the sword-wearing officer seemed to be ignoring each other. The clerk rode a large blue-flowered mule, while the officer rode a black warhorse, both riding at the front of the group, yet not exchanging a word, silent all along the way.

  Li Jing had been secretly observing the two men along the way. From Wang Lao Village's previous account, he only knew that this clerk was a deputy official of Fangdeng County, surnamed Zhang. Deputy officials were not officials but clerks, belonging to miscellaneous duties that didn't even count as flowing outside. However, in the county government, they were also very important, ranking below the main clerks and county captains who had official ranks, just below the position of county recorder which Li Jing's father had once held, belonging to the powerful clerk positions.

  Another officer who didn't speak much, the old village chief Wang only knew that his surname was Wang, and it's said that he had a good background. He seemed to be the nephew of a general from Qingzhou, now serving in Dengzhou Prefecture, but the specific official position was unclear, only knowing that Zhang Zuo treated that officer with great courtesy.

  Because everyone was reluctant to leave home, taking three steps back and forth, from noon till dusk, they had only walked over ten miles. Seeing that there were still nearly ten miles to reach Chishan Town, the officer who seemed to be dozing off on horseback suddenly ordered a halt.

  "Let's take a short rest here and seize the time to feed and water the horses."

  Zhang Zuoyi looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was already setting in the west. He walked over to the officer's side and said softly, "An Yong, it's almost dark now. If we rest for a while, we won't be able to enter the town on time. There are only ten miles left ahead, let everyone make an extra effort, and we'll rest after entering Chishan Town."

  Wang Xiao Wei smiled ambiguously and dismounted his horse. Wang Liang immediately ran up with a flattering smile, bowed and handed over his water bag. Then he opened a cloth package, took out two golden-yellow and fragrant sesame seed cakes, and presented them to Wang Xiao Wei and Zhang Zuo Shi like precious treasures.

  Li Jing recognized at a glance that the sesame seed cake was made by his mother, Han Shi, and his elder sister-in-law. Han Shi had borrowed some mutton and wheat flour from the Wang family, and each sesame seed cake was of high quality. A pound of mutton was used, layered in the well-mixed wheat flour, with chili peppers and fermented soybeans placed between the layers of the cake. Then, the whole cake was drizzled with butter oil and put into the oven to bake. When it was half-cooked, it was taken out.

  The aroma of wheat, mutton, butter, pepper and fermented bean paste wafted out, and Han made a total of ten, each weighing about three kilograms. He gave Li Xuan three of the buns, and also gave Xiaoshi three, but Wang Liang, that scoundrel, got four all to himself. This made Li Xuan quite displeased for a moment, but in the end he tolerated it, thinking that since they were all part of the same unit, there would be plenty of opportunities to get rid of this cur later on.

  This luxurious sesame seed cake, Li Jing had only eaten once in his memory, and that was when his father Li Gang was promoted to county recorder, the whole family indulged in it for the first time. He treasured this cake so much that he put it in his luggage and couldn't bear to take it out to eat. But Wang Liang was willing to part with it, and actually took it out to fawn on and curry favor with the two superior officials.

  Han's sesame seed cake was indeed a delight to both sight and taste, and Wang Xiao Wei and Zhang Suo were both tempted by it. Each of them grabbed one and took a big bite.

  Wang Xiao Wei was gnawing on a sesame seed cake while mumbling to Zhang Zuo, "I know you're worried that we won't make it back to Chishan Town before dark. Don't worry, even if we really can't make it back, what's the big deal? We're not some merchant caravan, are we afraid of being robbed by mountain bandits?"

  "We had agreed to rest in Chishan Town tonight, and the united troops summoned from other villages in Qingning Township also need to gather in Chishan Town. I'm not afraid of the mountain bandits, what I'm afraid of is that if we don't assemble on time, our superiors will blame us."

  "Blaming the top, who is the top? You really took chicken feathers for a sharp arrow." Wang Xiao Wei bit into his fragrant sesame seed cake, savoring it.

  Zhang Zuoyi said: "Accompanying the Rong is an imperial decree, so naturally we don't need to pay attention to these things. It's just that as a small official, I'm not capable of shouldering such responsibilities."

  "Alright, you also make sense. Since it's about my brother's future, I shouldn't make decisions on my own either. Let's check if the horses and donkeys have been fed and watered properly. Once they're done, we'll continue our journey immediately. We need to reach Red Mountain Town before nightfall."

  Li Jiong had previously studied, but later followed his brother to learn martial arts and helped with farming at home for a few years, making his body extremely robust. After walking for half a day, he didn't feel the slightest bit tired, and he even didn't bother to ride that horse, only feeling a little emotional about leaving. Just after crossing a small river, eating a piece of baked pancake, he was full of energy again. Hearing the call to hurry on the road, he got up to untie the horse, while calling out to Xiaoshi to lead the donkey.

  He raised his head, and suddenly found that the forest in front of him was flashing with several bright lights. The light flashed by, but Li Jiong's heart suddenly surged with a huge wave. Xiaoshi and Li Qiusheng were still standing there in confusion, Li Jiong suddenly jumped up, grabbed the two of them and pressed them to the ground, his voice low and urgent: "Get down, don't make a sound!"