Chapter 34: The Storm is Coming

  He Canjun and the two supervisors, as well as Jiang Ba's local garrison commander, inspected the three cities before arriving at Bi Chun's camp. Bi Chun was a reserve general, only temporarily assigned to his jurisdiction, so he had always been less docile than other generals.

  Last night, there was another food shortage in Bi Chunying's camp. He Zanjiang only cared about his own main force having enough to eat and drink, but ignored the others. If Yang Yizheng hadn't generously released grain, his soldiers would still be starving now. Therefore, he had some resentment in his heart and looked at He Zanjiang with a cold expression.

  He Canjiang did not think much of it, inspected the defensive situation in the camp, and was about to go to Sun Dazhong's camp when the scout horse had already arrived at Bi Chun's camp. He Canjiang had just come out of Bi Chun's large account, received the urgent military report, and returned again, examining the documents under the lamp light.

  The military book was sent from the General's Headquarters. After reading the urgent military report, He Can, the general, passed on the letter to the other generals and paced back and forth in the main tent, his face changing between sunny and cloudy, filled with a look of regret.

  Originally, this time the Mongol prince Bayan Temur gathered a total of 20,000 troops from various tribes, separately disturbing more than ten postal stations along the border, wanting to plunder supplies in order to make up for losses caused by the severe snow and cold winter, and smoothly pass through this winter. Strategically, there was no intention to wage a protracted war; actually, since the Ming Chengzu's five expeditions against the Mongols and the Oyirad, until now, foreign tribes outside the Great Wall have not recovered their vitality, they really do not have the strength to attack cities and plunder villages at present.

  After the beacon fire was transmitted, several large armies of the Ming Dynasty went out together. The army on this road was the last to arrive due to the heavy snow blocking the road. As for the other two armies, before the Tartars had captured Zhuolu, the army led by General Shi Ma of the Northern Route had already arrived. The enemy had about 5,000 troops and only looted a few villages along the way before fleeing in disarray. Halfway through, they were ambushed by General Ge Wei, suffering heavy casualties, with only about 3,000 troops remaining. The Northern Route Army was said to have won a great victory and achieved the first merit.

  Xiao Wangzi Bayanmengkeqin led 10,000 Mongolian cavalry to attack Chixian County, and had already taken down three small cities. The southern route's commander Wei Guangcan and General Yang Jialong, along with the defender of Chixian County Wang Chengxuan, joined forces with an army of also 10,000 men, and clashed with them, each having victories and defeats, resulting in a stalemate.

  However, in the early hours of today, the Little Prince's army divided into two routes and retreated. Wei Guangcan led his troops to pursue them hastily, with one route fleeing north and the other already escaping without a trace. General Shu ordered He Can to coordinate with the left and right armies to recover the lost stations and seek opportunities to attack the enemy.

  Although Yongning's general, Baoyouzhi, managed to hold on to Jimingyi, his military achievements were far inferior to those of his two colleagues. From the letters, he understood the enemy's intention to fight, and it became clear that the Tartar army had no reinforcements yesterday, nor did they intend to fight to the end. At that time, he failed to seize the opportunity to make great contributions, and now he can't help but feel regretful.

  Ye Yushi looked at the military book and his face was also extremely ugly. He was afraid of being questioned, so he took the lead and said: "When our army first arrived, we didn't know the enemy's situation, and it was cautious to use troops. Now that we know the enemy has no intention of fighting for a long time, tomorrow we will look for the enemy's traces and take the initiative to go out to battle!"

  Liu Gonggong nodded in agreement and said, "Today our army did not pursue them, the Tartars do not know the details of our army, they may not be able to escape far, tomorrow we will catch them off guard, great merit is within reach."

  "Generals, the two supervising officials, the Tartars are more skilled in field battles than our army. Moreover, on the routes of Zhuolu and Chixian, there are two roaming generals working together, while our army's numbers do not have an advantage over the enemy's. The front is mostly mountain roads, which is unfavorable for a large-scale pursuit. I think..."

  Ye Yushi interrupted him, "Now that the enemy's situation is clear, we should take advantage of our victory and pursue them, making the Tartars not dare to underestimate the military power of the Great Ming. General Bi said this, is he afraid of war?"

  He glared at the old man with a triangular eye, his anger had reached its peak. He took a deep breath, his face turned iron-green, and he didn't say a word. But in his heart, he was cursing: "When I wanted to pursue victory, you said I was greedy for merit and rashly advanced. Now that I don't want to pursue it, you say I'm timid and afraid of battle. You deserve to be beheaded, you dogshit scholar!"

  Jiang Bin recalled that in the letter, it was mentioned that among the two routes of the defeated army in Chixian, one route with about 5,000 people had gone missing, and he couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart. However, he immediately thought that if the Tartars wanted to escape, they should have fled northward, and it was absolutely illogical for them to run eastward to Huai and deliver themselves to death. So, he swallowed back the words that had reached his lips.

  He Zan glanced at Bi Chun and smiled: "Bi Doushu came from the south, unfamiliar with the geography and unaware of the enemy's situation, so it's not surprising that he didn't know. The mountain road is indeed difficult to travel, but precisely because the mountain road is difficult to travel, the enemy's cavalry can't exert its strength. My subordinates are all local people, familiar with the terrain here, tomorrow when the army sets out, my troops will take the lead."

  Bi Chun coldly smiled and didn't speak: This is clearly knowing that the Tartar troops are retreating, wanting his own direct line to seize military merit. He Shen Jiang also ignored him, rubbing his fists and palms, immediately sending a message to summon the main generals of various routes to come to Bi Chun's army camp, starting to discuss the matter of sending troops out tomorrow.

  Yang Ling returned to the post house and temporarily lived in the room where Ma Yi's deputy usually worked. The room was not big, the outer hall was very small, but there was also a plaque hanging above the desk. In the back room, a temporary resting place, a kang occupied two-thirds of the space, and inside the kang was a row of heavy pear wood cabinets.

  Yang Ling had never slept alone since he came to this world. Tonight, without Han Youniang leaning against the pillow and chatting with him on the kang, he couldn't sleep at all. Yang Ling couldn't help but smile wryly - this little girl actually had such magical powers that she unknowingly controlled his emotions, making him feel like a lovesick young boy.

  As soon as he thought of the young girl, his body felt warm and cozy, and his heart was filled with sweetness, like honey had been poured into it. Since their last kiss, the little girl seemed to have also tasted the sweetness, although she didn't dare take the initiative to ask for another kiss. However, when they got on the bed, she would no longer quickly burrow under the covers and hide herself, only revealing a lock of her hair. Instead, she would lie at the head of the bed, gazing at him with sparkling eyes that shone like black grapes, smiling sweetly.

  That girl, unaware that just exposing her shoulders in a coarse linen undershirt, with an innocent and pure appearance like a shy little flower, already contained infinite attraction. Heaven have mercy, Yang Ling felt that he might transform into a werewolf at any moment.

  Yang Ling was increasingly losing confidence in his self-control, he didn't know what he was still holding on to. The shadow of You Nang had filled his heart, selfishly speaking, his feelings for You Nang had evolved from initial sympathy and affection to deep love, magnanimously playing the role of her happiness guide, the idea of sending her into someone else's arms had long been thrown away by him.

  But to possess her, to make the young girl thoroughly his own, he was increasingly afraid. It was precisely because of his initial hesitation that he felt he had wasted too much time and didn't know how much more time he had left to live. This was like a gambler who, when he only has a little capital left in his hands, feels an intense feeling of gain and loss, which makes him dare not easily place this last bet.

  He shook his head, shaking off the bittersweet feeling, and casually opened a cabinet. After Ma Ji's death, his keys were also handed over to Yang Ling. In the afternoon, Yang Ling came here to work and made a joke, on this kang cabinet, there are four cabinets in a row, each locked with a peculiar copper lock.

  The shapes are dogs, horses, shrimps and fish. Yang Ling spent a lot of effort to open the copper dog and copper horse locks, but even with the key bent, he couldn't open the copper shrimp lock, so he had to call in a small official to help, it turned out that the shrimp-shaped lock wasn't twisted, but hooked outward.

  The fish lock, according to the little official, is because the fish does not close its eyes at night, so even when sleeping, it keeps its eyes open. Therefore, a fish lock is used, symbolizing constant vigilance. This must be where the superior puts the most important documents in the cabinet. This lock is also quite peculiar, after inserting the key into the correct hole and turning it, you still need to push it further inside before it can be opened.

  At that time, Yang Ling hastily found the seal and stamped a few urgent documents before rushing back to the mourning hall. The cabinet was not locked, and when he casually opened the copper fish lock cabinet, he saw that all the letters inside had already been opened, with a strange fish tail next to the fire seal on each one.

  Yang Ling pulled the kang table closer, brightened the lamp wick of the vegetable oil lamp, and hastily browsed through it under the light. After flipping through only a few letters, Yang Ling realized that this must be intelligence from the Jin Yiwei system.

  Those intelligence reports contained not only some private affairs of officials, but also folk customs, land yields, and weather conditions, which can be described as being all-inclusive.

  Yang Ling did not expect that the Imperial Guards' intelligence network was so vast, and the direction of gathering intelligence was not limited to the loyalty and honesty of officials. If such a large intelligence network is utilized properly, then the rulers of the Ming Dynasty can obtain first-hand information on all aspects of the situation, which would be extremely important for governing the country. Unfortunately, it seems that no one has ever heard of the Imperial Guards doing anything useful during the Ming Dynasty.

  As he flipped through them casually, Yang Ling was stunned by a letter that was over half a month old. The letter stated that this winter, the areas outside the pass had been hit with continuous heavy snowstorms, causing countless cattle and sheep to freeze to death in many tribes. Some small tribes were already on the verge of collapse, and there were frequent contacts between various tribes, which might be unfavorable to the Ming dynasty.

  Yang Ling sighed over this letter, but unfortunately, these secret agents who were ordered to infiltrate and risk their lives in distant lands, the high-level officials of the Embroidered Uniform Guard only cared about the things that interested them, and most of the intelligence was shelved with no one paying attention. If there had been an effective official who noticed this intelligence earlier, would the border civilians have suffered fewer disasters?

  After a long sigh, Yang Ling suddenly laughed dryly: I'm just a small station clerk, worrying about the country and the people here, what impact can I have on this vast empire? It's better to be down-to-earth and take care of my loved ones, do my part, than to try to push the giant wheel of history.

  The next day, the heavy snow started again. Yang Ling stood under the corridor with his sleeves rolled up, admiring the flying snow in the sky. The snow at that time was whiter than the white of later generations, and the snowflakes were also large pieces, floating in front of his eyes, sparkling and transparent. Yang Ling stretched out one hand to catch a few falling snowflakes, but they melted as soon as they touched his palm, disappearing too quickly for him to appreciate their beauty.

  Yang Ling sighed regretfully, and the snow water that had just fallen from his palm was interrupted by a delicate voice at the end of the corridor: "Master!"