Ch40 - Army Camp

When Mu Hanzhang woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.

His body felt like it had fallen apart; he struggled to even open his eyes, and everywhere ached, so much so that his body even felt like it was still constantly rocking and swaying. Mu Hanzhang thought somewhat distractedly, Jing Shao that hoodlum, how many times did he do it last night? He only remembered that when he was so tired he fainted, the guy was still above him, tossing him about.

There was the sound of wooden wheels rolling over stones in his ears. His long and delicate eyelashes trembled. He slowly opened his hazy, beautiful eyes. Dazed, Mu Hanzhang stared blankly for a moment. He felt that today, the ceiling of the bed canopy looked strange, like it was the ceiling of a carriage… a carriage roof!

Only then did Mu Hanzhang realize that something was wrong, and he struggled to get up. The ache in his waist made him frown, and he had to lean against the wall of the carriage.

The layout of the carriage was very refined. A high platform took up the bottom of the whole carriage and was covered in a thick and soft cushion, upon which a jade summer sleeping mat had been thoughtfully laid out. The walls of the carriage were inlaid with a bookshelf and small nooks, where several books and a censer had been placed. In the recess in front of the door, there was a small table and his shoes. A water flask and two cups had been placed on the small table.

Under his body was the comfortable jade mat, and he was surrounded by several pillows of different sizes, each of which was carefully wrapped in a jade mat layer. Mu Hanzhang squinted slightly and reached out to lift the light-colored gauze curtains. He saw a handsome black horse outside the carriage, and sitting on the horse was the Wang Ye who should have already left for the army camp!

Jing Shao was riding Xiao Hei in clear and lively spirits. He had enjoyed himself to the fullest last night, which had caused him to get up late. He couldn’t bear to wake up Jun Qing, who was sleeping soundly, so he had directly carried him into the prepared carriage and handed the residence’s matters over to Duo Fu, with his wrinkled steamed bun face, and Steward Yun. Pleased with himself, Jing Shao then took his Wang Fei to the army camp fifty miles south of the city.

Suddenly he felt a gaze on him. Jing Shao turned his head to look in the carriage, and saw his Wang Fei’s handsome face appear at the window. He quickly waved to the coachman to stop, jumped off of Xiao Hei, and barged into the carriage.

“Awake?” Jing Shao laughed and poured a cup of water, handing it over.

Mu Hanzhang didn’t take it, but leaned against the carriage wall and looked at him quietly.

“Cough cough, don’t sit over there like that.” As the object of that gaze, Jing Shao felt a bit weak. He took off his shoes and climbed up, threw a big pillow aside, and hugged his Wang Fei, whose body was sore all over, and had the latter lean on him. Trying to curry favor, he placed the cup to his lips. “Drink some water first, Yun Song will deliver the meal soon.”

“Where are you taking me?” Mu Hanzhang didn’t resist him at all this time, which was quite rare, and drank the whole cup of water in Jing Shao’s hand. He still stared at Jing Shao quietly.

“Hehe, my army is short of a trusted advisor – you don’t have much to do in the capital, why don’t you go to the southwest with me?” Jing Shao scratched his head, turned around, and poured another cup of water.

“When the husband is away at battle, one’s wife and children must not leave the capital.” Mu Hanzhang suppressed his gaze and looked at the cup that was handed to him. His hands rested on the cushion and he slowly rubbed the smooth and round jade pieces.

“There’s another concubine in the residence, you don’t have to worry about that,” Jing Shao said proudly. “I was going to take you away secretly at first. Who would have expected that when I mentioned it to Imperial Father yesterday, he would actually agree. As long as you don’t let others know of your identity as Wang Fei, it’s ok.”

… The dust raised by the carriage covered the Wang Ye, who was still holding his shoes. He looked rather desolate.

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“You actually dare laugh at me!” Jing Shao angrily grabbed Xiao Hei’s mane and used all his strength to rub that big head hard. “You haven’t even gotten a wife yet! Not as good as me!”　

The carriage moved slowly, and by the time they arrived at the camp, it was already dusk.

The campsite was on flat, open land and surrounded by tall poplar trees. The tents were arranged neatly, torches blazed in iron basins, and soldiers with pikes patrolled around the tents.

“Wang Ye!” The soldiers on lookout saw Jing Shao riding Xiao Hei and hurriedly signaled to the people below to open the wooden fence.

“Greeting Your Highness Cheng Wang!” Several generals in armor came and knelt down in salute together.

“Everyone get up!” Jing Shao jumped off his horse and patted the men kneeling in front of him. Before everyone got up, he turned around and walked to the carriage. He slowly lifted the curtain. “Jun Qing, come down.” Then, he fawningly stretched out his hand.

Obviously, the person in the carriage didn’t appreciate such kindness. They lifted the curtain and came down themselves.

Several officers and soldiers watched as the Wang Ye invited an unusually handsome man out of the carriage. He was dressed in a light blue wide-sleeved robe, which looked extremely conspicuous among the people in full armor and uniform. His sophisticated and scholarly aura was also rather at odds with the surrounding environment.

“Wang Ye, this is?” The man in front was about thirty years old. He was tall in stature and sturdy, and he looked rather fierce.

“This is my military advisor, Gentleman Jun Qing.” Jing Shao made the introductions to everyone with a smile. 

Military advisor? The generals looked at each other. They had never heard of Wang Ye bringing along a military advisor when he led the troops. This also wasn’t a time of great chaos in the whole country, where all the military leaders needed to plan and scheme together in order to bring peace and stability to the nation.

Mu Hanzhang’s gaze swept indifferently over the crowd before he raised his hands and cupped his fists. Military leaders always disliked the literati. Naturally, these people would also harbor some hostility toward this military advisor who had suddenly appeared, so he was unconcerned about the cold eyes on him. 

Jing Shao frowned slightly, but couldn’t say anything at this time. He introduced his Wang Fei to all the people one by one.

The leader of the group was Zhao Meng, General Zhao. Of the two behind him, the cold-faced one was the left protectorate general, and the smiling one was the right protectorate general. 

“Wang Ye didn’t inform us in advance, so this general has not prepared an army tent for the military advisor,” Zhao Meng said in a rather disdainful tone as he looked the weak and scholarly Mu Hanzhang up and down. “We can only wrong the military advisor and have him stay with the soldiers tonight first.”

“It’s no matter, the military advisor can just stay with Wang Ye.” Although he knew that General Zhao was deliberately making trouble for Jun Qing, Jing Shao quickly pretended to be magnanimous and spoke. 

“How can that be? It would be even worse for someone else to stay in Wang Ye’s tent!” Zhao Meng said harshly.

“I’m fine with staying anywhere,” Mu Hanzhang said slowly in a gentle and mild voice. “The general need not worry too much about it; just arrange a tent for me as you see fit.” 

“Haha, the communal tents are dirty and smelly. How can such a delicate military advisor get used to staying there? If you don’t mind, come and stay with me.” The right protectorate general came closer with a grin.

Jing Shao heard this and became quite angry. He slapped the right protectorate general’s head. “Don’t even fucking think about it. The military advisor will stay with Benwang.” 

After saying this, he didn’t care about the others. Taking Mu Hanzhang’s arm, he dragged the latter into the biggest tent.

Zhao Meng looked at their backs, snorted coldly, and turned to leave. 

The right protectorate general curled his lip and said to the left protectorate general, “This army advisor is quite good looking. That old fellow Zhao Meng is unexpectedly willing to embarrass him.”

The left guard shot him a glance and silently turned away. 

“Hey, hey, why didn’t you wait for me to leave?” The right protectorate general waited for a long time and no one answered. He turned his head and saw the left protectorate general gradually disappearing into the darkness. He hurried to catch up with him.

The tent prepared for the Wang Ye was indeed much more spacious than the other tents. Because it was summer, there was no carpet on the ground, and the cold air which rose up from the ground at night felt extremely cool and refreshing. There was a very big bed on the wooden platform. It was cold in the outskirts at night, so the woven mats weren’t used in summer. Instead, a soft and smooth brocade quilt was spread out on the bed, and for Mu Hanzhang whose whole body was aching, it truly was very enticing. 

Seeing his Wang Fei lie down on the bed immediately after entering the tent, Jing Shao rubbed his nose, and slowly and tentatively stroked Mu Hanzhang’s waist with both hands. “Is it still painful?”

Mu Hanzhang glanced at him and said, “If Wang Ye tries it himself next time, he will know.” 

Jing Shao gave a hollow laugh, wisely shut up, and carefully kneaded the area between Mu Hanzhang’s waist and thigh. The thin summer clothes allowed the temperature of the skin beneath to penetrate the fabric, and the soft silk outlined Mu Hanzhang’s beautiful body lines distinctly. Jing Shao’s big hands couldn’t help but slide down a little.

“I’ll have another tent prepared for me tomorrow,” Mu Hanzhang said coolly as he lay on the pillow, not looking at Jing Shao. 

“Out of the question!” Jing Shao refused without even thinking about it. The hand that had just caressed a soft and perfectly round globe of flesh obediently moved back to Mu Hanzhang’s waist.

“When has a military advisor ever stayed in the same tent as the Wang Ye?” Mu Hanzhang yawned a little. It was quite bumpy in the carriage and he hadn’t been able to rest well given his sore body. He was now a little sleepy. 

“The military advisor is supposed to stay with the marshal so that they can discuss the war at any time!” Jing Shao said confidently. “It has been so since ancient times.”

Mu Hanzhang rolled his eyes. He had read all the history books and had never heard of a dynasty or period with such rules, but he didn’t feel like explaining. He was feeling very comfortable from the alternating heavy and light kneading pressure on his waist, and he let Jing Shao massage him quietly for a while. When Jing Shao thought he was already asleep, Mu Hanzhang suddenly asked softly, “Why did you trick me last night?” 

“Ah?” Jing Shao was startled, scratched his head, and said without confidence, “I didn’t lie or anything! It was just that we were going to be in the army soon, and when we’re marching later, we’ll have to preserve our fighting strength, so it’ll be really hard to find a chance to be intimate with each other in the future!”

“It’s good that Wang Ye knows that. Go sleep with General Zhao tonight.” After Mu Hanzhang finished speaking, he turned over, pulled the brocade quilt over to him, and faced the side, no longer paying any attention to Jing Shao. 

“Jun Qing…” Jing Shao called out pitifully.

“Wang Ye, have you gone to bed? If not, come to the center tent and have a drink!” Zhao Meng called loudly from outside the tent. 

Head hurting, Jing Shao rubbed his forehead. He wanted to scold and drive Zhao Meng away, but was also afraid of disturbing the person next to him. He could only walk out and say, “Why are you being so noisy? Benwang is tired. I won’t drink tonight.” Having finished saying that, he reentered the tent.

“Wang Ye, wait, this general has something to say.” Zhao Meng pulled Jing Shao back and dragged him a little further away. 

“Say it!” Jing Shao shook off General Zhao’s hand rather impatiently.

“This general doesn’t know where Wang Ye found this military advisor, but the journey to the southwest will be very difficult and dangerous. I’m afraid that his weak body won’t be able to bear it. Besides, for a scholar who can only theorize about military affairs on paper, if he doesn’t understand how to actually fight, he will command blindly. This general is afraid that this will botch things up.” Zhao Meng, a martial arts practitioner, spoke in an extremely neutral manner. They hadn’t even taken two steps out of the tent, and Mu Hanzhang, lying inside, could hear everything clearly. 

“This is at Benwang’s own discretion.” Jing Shao frowned and sighed. “I know you don’t accept it now, but you can’t be too intolerant of people. I won’t ask you to recognize him as the military advisor right now, but we will talk about it later. There is just one thing: I invited Gentleman Jun with great difficulty. Even if you don’t accept him right away, you are not allowed to do anything disrespectful to him or put him in danger! If anything happens to him, I won’t forgive it so easily. “

“Tsk, at the end of the day, this general won’t make things hard for some scholar who is so weak he can’t even truss up a chicken,” said Zhao Meng, who felt like he had been belittled. He snorted coldly. “But if he tries to criticize me or order me around, don’t expect me to be patient with him!” 

“Alright, alright, stop being so troublesome. Get lost, Benwang is going to bed.” Jing Shao waved his hand, as if he was trying to bat away a fly, to dismiss him.

“Wang Ye, you’re really not coming to drink?” Zhao Meng said after taking a couple of reluctant steps before turning back around. Seeing Jing Shao lift his foot to kick him, he quickly ran away. 

Waiting until General Zhao left, Jing Shao cast a sad look at the prince’s tent behind him. He didn’t dare go in right away, so he could only wander around the camp aimlessly.