Chapter 47: Concealing One's Origins

  Yesterday evening, I cleaned up my computer and as a result, many software couldn't be used after booting up today. It's really frustrating, I spent half a day dealing with this stuff, and now I'm finally updating, sorry about that. There will be another chapter later. (Thanks to 4313, book friend 100122220343059 for the reward)

  On a summer evening, the cool breeze was blowing gently, and the earth that had been scorched by the sun all day was still emitting waves of heat. The Wei army's camp in the darkness of night was like a bustling night market. Another day of attacking the city had ended, and Liaodong City still hadn't fallen. For the generals and soldiers in the Liaodong camp, every evening watching the siege troops withdraw from under the city walls seemed to have become an inevitable daily routine. As soon as the siege troops returned, each camp would start serving dinner, and then another day would come to an end.

  The generals and soldiers in the camp had been hot for a day, and at this time most of them took off their clothes, standing bare-chested outside the tent, three or five people gathered together, taking advantage of the cool night breeze to boast and chat about hometown affairs. Having been out for so long, everyone began to worry about things back home.

  In the big account of Lu Shi's military camp, Lu Shi and Mao Yi were sitting upright in the account, but at this time neither of them spoke, instead they both turned their heads and sighed sorrowfully.

  "Alas, you say Shen Liang has appeared here and even changed his name to Shen Guang. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have dared to believe it." Lu Shide sighed deeply.

  "Yes, I didn't think we'd run into him again. I thought we could really be ordinary people like my father said. Alas, I've already seen it earlier, Shen Liang has recognized us too. Now he's the person brought by Li Jie, and I heard he used to be a brave warrior by the emperor's side. Do you think he'll tell the emperor about our affairs? If so, we're done for." Maoyu sat there somewhat dejectedly, one hand desperately rubbing his forehead.

  Lu Shi Shen clenched his fists with some anxiety, "You said he shouldn't know the general's identity, right? Otherwise, we can go and get rid of him now, or we can tell Young Master about it and leave together. Anyway, we didn't plan to make any achievements in the first place, and we're not short of money and wealth either. Let's return to Chen Jia Village. Didn't our old master say that we should bring Young Master back and live a normal life?"

  "This matter was originally intended to be kept from the young master, as per my father's wishes. My father and uncles thought that the less the young master knew, the better it would be for him. Being an ordinary person might have been a good thing for the young master. However, look at the young master now - he doesn't seem like an ordinary person at all. Perhaps we should tell him everything and let him make his own decisions. The young master is no longer the same as before; he has become a wise and intelligent young master."

  Mao Yu got up and walked back and forth in the tent, his eyes filled with unspeakable hesitation and worry. He sighed and said, "I've heard that the Central Plains are now plagued by war fires everywhere, and the rebels are all over Shandong, Henan, and Hebei. The great Sui dynasty is already beginning to totter, and the world is once again in chaos. Perhaps this is an opportunity for our young master. We have 10,000 men now, why don't we go persuade our young master to take a chance and lead his troops away? I really can't bear to let him stay here."

  "Alright, let's go and tell the young master right away. If Shen Guang goes to inform on us, it will be too late. Dammit, I think the current Sui dynasty is not much better than our own time. The young master is now just like Emperor Gaozu of Tang in his younger days, so heroic! As long as the young master is willing to take action, who can say for sure that he cannot recreate the great achievements of Emperor Gaozu in this chaotic world? Let's go!" Lu Shide stood up and pulled Mao Hui out of the camp, hurrying towards Chen Kefu's tent.

  Chen Kefu was drunk in the afternoon at Li Yuan's house and was supported back home, where he slept for a whole day until evening. After waking up, he had just washed his face under the service of Xiao Ye Lisha and was eating when Mao Yi and Lu Shide walked in.

  "How did you come here? Have you eaten yet? Let's eat together." Chen Pojun casually greeted them as soon as he saw they had arrived.

  "Master, something big has happened, let's think of a way to leave quickly, if we're late, there might be a disaster that costs us our lives." Lu Shide said as soon as he got up.

  Chen Pojun turned his head and said to Ono Risa, "Can you help me get a good wine from the kitchen?"

  After she left, Chen Pojun turned to look at Mao Yi and said, "What's going on? You've been with me for so long, can't you be a bit more calm? How could you say something that might bring disaster upon our heads?"

  "Young master, this afternoon we had several generals from the Imperial Guard come to our camp. They were all summoned by His Majesty from the Left Bodyguard. At that time, you were still drunk, and Lord Li introduced them to us. I saw one person at that time."

  "What's going on? Just say it clearly, what happened to that person? How come you saw him and we're in trouble?" Chen Pojun was also confused by the two of them. If they weren't his most trusted people, he would have thought they were joking with him.

  Lu Shi said, "The newly arrived Wu Yonglang, Shen Guang, was originally a valiant warrior by the emperor's side. Last time when attacking the city, he showed great bravery and was specially promoted to Wu Yonglang General of the fifth rank. This person used to be called Shen Liang, not Shen Guang. His ancestors were from the south and his father was a official in the Ministry of Rites of the Chen Dynasty."

  Chen Pojun put down his chopsticks and said, "This Shen Guang I've heard of, he has a very interesting nickname called 'Meat Flying Fairy', he has a skill in climbing bamboo poles that is particularly fierce, even ten or more zhangs of bamboo poles can be climbed with bare hands. I didn't expect him to be from the Southern Dynasty, but what does it have to do with us even if his father was the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Officials?"

  "Young master, originally the old master didn't allow us to tell you about this matter. He had hoped that you could live an ordinary and mundane life, finding a secluded place to spend your days. Perhaps the old master hadn't expected that the young master would be so formidable. Given the current situation, I think we should inform the young master about these matters now. You should know about them; even if the old master finds out, he won't blame us."

  "Little master, do you know Chen Chao?" asked Mao Yi, standing there and asking softly.

  Although Chen Po-jun found their conversation to be quite strange, he still cooperated and replied, "Of course I know. The founding emperor of Southern Chen, Chen Baxian, was indeed a heroic figure in a chaotic world. However, the emperors that followed were not as capable, especially Chen Shubao, who was even more so. A merchant's daughter doesn't know the sorrow of losing her country, and yet she still sings 'The Flower'. Such a great nation was ruined by him, what a pity."

  "Shut up, you little lord! Kneel down!" Mao Yi suddenly bellowed at Chen Pojun, his face red with rage and his expression extremely agitated.

  Chen Pojun was really stunned by his roar, and after being stunned for a while, he glared at Mao Yi, "What's wrong with you two today? You're not drunk, are you? Did you drink too much of my wine?"

  Lu Shi Shen and Mao Yi suddenly knelt down in front of Chen Ke Fu, "Young Master, no matter how others evaluate them, the Young Master cannot evaluate them like this. Because you are the eldest son of the Crown Prince of Southern Chen, the emperors of the Southern Dynasty for generations are all your ancestors."

  Chen Pojun still held a cup of water in his hand, and when he brought it to his mouth, he froze. This statement was too shocking for Chen Pojun; it was even more astonishing than discovering that he had traveled back in time to the Sui Dynasty. According to the memories he received, he knew that he was just a small landowner who lost his entire family in war, so how did he suddenly become a member of the Southern Chen imperial family, and even the eldest son of the crown prince? This was something he couldn't bring himself to believe; he had no memory of it whatsoever.

  "Are you and I joking? This joke is not funny at all." Chen Kefu really couldn't believe it.

  "Young master, everything we said is true, without a single falsehood." The two kneeling men spoke in unison.

  "It's been over 20 years since the Southern Chen dynasty was destroyed, right? I wasn't even born yet back then. Besides, where were you all at that time? Weren't you all just ignorant children, how could you possibly know these things?"

  "Master, on the day that the Sui army broke into Jiankang, it happened to be the birthday of Your Highness. The Crown Prince, seeing his country in ruins, entrusted you to my father and several other ministers, and then sent a team of Donggong guards to escort you out of Jiankang in disguise. To avoid being found by the Sui army, we fled all the way to Hebei's Zhuo County and lived in hiding. At that time, I and Old Lu were both around ten years old, but everything was witnessed with our own eyes. Those uncles from Chenjiazhuang are mostly former ministers of the Chen Dynasty."

  "My father was Chen Aodong, the county magistrate of Dongchang when the country was broken. Lao Ru's father was the Duke of Suizhou and a third-rank military commander, but unfortunately, he died in battle along with the last ruler of the Chen Dynasty. There were also several uncles and elder cousins in Chenjiazhuang who were all sons of Chen Dynasty officials, and even Chen Qing and his family were mostly descendants of Chen Dynasty officials. Young Master, after the country was broken, Emperor Wen of Sui did not order the slaughter of the Chen Dynasty royal family, but instead relocated them to Chang'an. At that time, many people thought it would be best to send you back to the Crown Prince in Chang'an, but the Crown Prince ordered everyone to stay in Chenjiazhuang with you, hoping that you would become an ordinary commoner rather than a member of a fallen royal family."

  Lu Shixian sighed and said, "If it weren't for the young master secretly bringing everyone to join the army this time, perhaps we could have lived a ordinary life in Chenjiazhuang. Young master, Shen Guang has already discovered our identities, if he guesses your identity later, it will be troublesome."

  Chen Kefu listened for half a day, and indeed had the feeling of listening to a story. However, Chen Kefu himself was also a person who had crossed over from another world, and what he heard now was even more unbelievable than his own experience. So after the initial surprise, he didn't take it too seriously. It wasn't as if he was the son of the current emperor, but just a member of a fallen royal family, which didn't have much to make him anxious about. Since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the thing that has been least valuable in this world is probably the so-called "royal family". Basically, every few decades, there would be a dynasty that falls, and every few decades, there would also be a new dynasty rising. In this era, the replacement of dynasties was too frequent, which made the royal families lose much of their mysterious and noble aura.

  "You don't have to worry, even if Shen Guang goes to report to the Emperor, it's not a big deal. The Sui dynasty replaced the Zhou dynasty and destroyed the Northern Qi, Southern Chen, and Liang states. Now, in the imperial court, you can say that there are people from all the previous dynasties, and they're all officials too. Even if the Emperor knows we're descendants of the Chen dynasty, what can he do? The Chen dynasty has been gone for over 20 years, those things have become like fleeting clouds, could I really do something to restore the country after knowing my true identity?"