Ch59 - Cloud City

“How did you determine that Wang Er was a problem?” Mu Hanzhang went to Jing Shao and asked after Jiang Lang left. Everything had been perfectly fine, so why did he suddenly decide to investigate a bookkeeping scribe? 

Jing Shao reached out to hold Mu Hanzhang tightly with one arm around his waist as he wrote a letter to his father to let the latter know that he was safe. “I saw his shifty eyes today, and I became suspicious.” In fact, he hadn’t seen Wang Er’s face at all; such a majestic Cheng Wang wouldn’t admit that he had done it in order to get rid of the lecher who coveted his Wang Fei!

The body in his arms had the light fragrance of medicine. Jing Shao hadn’t liked the scent of medicine before, but when applied on his Wang Fei and it mixed with his natural scent, it unexpectedly smelled very nice. He couldn’t help but bury his nose in his clothes and take a deep breath.

Tickled, Mu Hanzhang struggled out of his arms and sat to the side. “Are you reporting the abnormal movements of the Southeast King to Imperial Father?”

“En.” Jing Shao wasn’t satisfied with the meager amount of tofu he had managed to steal. He couldn’t do anything about it, however, as his Wang Fei was sitting to the side; if he reached out to take him into his embrace from this angle, he wouldn’t be able to write, so Jing Shao could only leave it for now, and earnestly finish writing the letter as soon as possible. 

“You should mention Hao Dadao’s merits and the bravery of the Shu army,” Mu Hanzhang said, after taking a look at what Jing Shao had written.

“The Shu army?” Jing Shao looked at him doubtfully. Hao Dadao’s meritorious service and family background were things he had been about to mention. He also hoped his Imperial Father would officially bestow the title of general on Hao Dadao, but what was with the Shu army? They had simply fought under Hao Dadao, and were no different from the Hunan and Guizhou armies. Why should he bring them up in particular?

Mu Hanzhang smiled and said, “Did Wang Ye forget that the Shu army was still fighting the northern barbarians with the first prince in Yunnan-Tibet previously?”

The Shu army had originally been ordered to go rescue the eldest prince. After Jing Rong was rescued, he took the Shu army to attack the northern barbarians again, and as expected, had little to show for it. When the battle against the southwest began, Emperor Hong Zheng transferred the Shu army back under Jing Shao’s command to fight the southwestern vassals, leaving only the troops of General Zhengdong, who had initially been assigned to the eldest prince, to continue the struggle in the north.

When Jing Shao heard this, he frowned and pondered. If he praised the bravery of the Shu army, Emperor Hong Zheng would consider how the Shu army hadn’t achieved anything in the hands of the eldest prince, and a comparison of the two situations would clearly show who was superior.

“Jun Qing… thank god you didn’t marry someone else!” Jing Shao said slowly, after a moment of silence.

Mu Hanzhang shook his head and sighed. “Even if I married someone else, I would never help them with all my heart like this.” I’m afraid it’s hard to find someone else like you in this world, who dotes on me and always believes in me. He didn’t say the last sentence out loud, and just looked at Jing Shao quietly. Seeing the other man about to open his mouth, he couldn’t help reaching out to pinch his cheek.

“Naturally, there’s no one in the imperial family more handsome than I am,” Jing Shao said proudly. 

Mu Hanzhang was immediately amused, and chuckled. “In the imperial family, there’s no one with thicker skin than you.”

The two people chatted and teased each other, and finally finished the letter informing the emperor of their safety. The left protectorate general then arrived to report the results of the interrogation.

Wang Er was unable to endure the interrogation, and soon confessed everything. The person who had contacted him was a small official from the capital, who had given him money and only asked him to send information about the total amount of provisions used by the army every day; he didn’t need to worry about anything else.

“When did this start?” Jing Shao asked. 

“Wang Er has been in touch with them after he became a clerk and from the moment we were based in the outskirts of the capital. However, he only started sending the information out after we crossed the Shu border.” The left protectorate general’s answer was very detailed. He had always been in charge of interrogations in the army, and was most clear on how far he had to go to obtain a believable answer.

The number of soldiers in the camp could be estimated based on the daily amount of food that was distributed. Jing Shao frowned. No wonder the mounted archers had launched a surprise attack that day; they had determined that the bulk of the army wasn’t in the camp, and there was a very high chance that they could kill him.

“That small official,” Mu Hanzhang said, slowly rubbing the agate paperweight on Jing Shao’s desk, “I think it can be assumed that he’s one of the spies that the Southwest King planted in the capital.” It should be the Southwest King who started to pay attention to the army’s movements when they set out.

“Wang Er doesn’t know the name of that person. When we arrived in the southwest, his contact was a different person.” The left protectorate general presented a letter to Mu Hanzhang. “This is the message that Wang Er wasn’t able to pass on today.” 

Only a few neat words were written on the note, as well as some numbers. The message was wrapped up extremely securely in a piece of oiled paper.

Mu Hanzhang looked at the note for a moment, before he took a piece of paper and wrote down something. The words he wrote were exactly the same as in the note, but the numbers were nearly three times more. “This includes the number of soldiers in the Shu army.”

Jing Shao took the note and looked at it. He immediately understood his Wang Fei’s meaning. Let the other party mistakenly think that the Shu army had returned to camp. The southwest army and southeast army who were lying in ambush nearby thus wouldn’t dare act rashly. When they set off tomorrow, the chance of an ambush would be greatly reduced.

The left protectorate general looked at the note in his hand and was shell-shocked. He had spared Wang Er’s life because he thought that Wang Ye might want to use him to deliver false information to the outside. Who would have thought that it would be the military advisor who was so cunning. “Wang Ye, what should we do with Wang Er?” 

Jing Shao frowned. “Kill him, but don’t make it known yet.” Although he really wanted to kill that person in front of the whole army for lusting after the military advisor – no, because he was a person who had collaborated with the enemy and committed treason, and should be beaten to death with a stick – he had to use Wang Er’s identity to pass on the information, so it had to be kept quiet.

When they set off the next day, Jing Shao had Jiang Lang put another quilt inside the carriage for fear that the road was too bumpy.

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Seeing that there weren’t many obstructions on the road, Jing Shao got into the military advisor’s carriage and let Xiao Hei follow behind it. 

The little tiger’s front paws were on the window ledge inside the carriage as it looked out. It was quite curious about Xiao Hei, and stared fixedly at him. Seeing Xiao Hei continue trotting along and ignoring it, the little tiger stretched out its claws toward Xiao Hei. Xiao Hei glanced at the ball of fluff near the window and snorted hot air at it.

“Meow ~” The tiger cub was scared, rolled into a ball, and fell down onto the soft quilt, yowling sharply.

“Oh, you even learned how to call like a cat.” Jing Shao was so surprised that he grabbed Xiao Huang and tugged on its ears. “Meow again.”

“Wawu!” The little tiger wasn’t happy when it saw Jing Shao. It shook its head, not letting him touch its ears. 

Mu Hanzhang smiled and rubbed its soft and round ears. “Why haven’t you left yet?  What do you think it’ll look like if you stay in the carriage?”

“The military advisor is still in bad condition and Benwang loves him more than life itself. Naturally, Benwang wants to take care of the military advisor in the carriage.” Jing Shao lay down on the soft and big pillow and inched close to his Wang Fei like a hoodlum.

“Doing things like this, what will the people in the army think?” Mu Hanzhang sighed helplessly. The right protectorate general had asked outright that day. Jing Shao must have done something that Mu Hanzhang wasn’t aware of.

“Let them think whatever they want.” Jing Shao didn’t really care. In his heart, he plotted how he might let everyone know that the military advisor was his Wang Fei, so that he could immediately shut down the indecent thoughts of others. Since discovering the portrait of Jun Qing in Wang Er’s personal belongings, Jing Shao realized how popular his Wang Fei was in the army; even that spy couldn’t help but admire him.  Then, wouldn’t there be many others? He had the sudden feeling of crisis that someone else had discovered his treasure, and they didn’t even know that the treasure belonged to him. 

Mu Hanzhang glared at him and hugged the little tiger in his arms as he closed his eyes to sleep.

The little tiger that was nestled in its master’s arms twisted back and forth and kneaded his graceful chin with its paws, rubbing its round head against him.

“Ha ha…” Mu Hanzhang lowered his head at the itchy feeling to look at the little tiger.

The little tiger coquettishly flipped so that it was belly up, and softly called out to its master. Because its voice turned too soft and high-pitched, its “wawu” now became a “meow ya~”! 

Jing Shao found it displeasing to the eye and picked up the tiger cub, before throwing it into one corner of the carriage. He then moved over and forcibly occupied the spot next to Jun Qing.

Looking at his childish behavior, Mu Hanzhang couldn’t help chuckling, and reached out to pat his head. “If you don’t want to go out, then come sleep for a while. Once we arrive at Cloud City later in the evening, you’ll barely get the chance to sleep peacefully.”

Jing Shao was caressed very comfortably by the slender and warm hand. He couldn’t help closing his eyes and burying his face in the chest of the person next to him as he hugged his narrow waist. “Then you accompany me to sleep.”

“Am I not here? Where can I go?” Mu Hanzhang smiled and slid down a little, resting his head on the same long pillow. En route to a battle, they were unexpectedly able to take a peaceful afternoon nap like this as Jing Shao really stole half a day to relax. 

There were no obstacles the entire way, nor were there many weapons and bodies scattered around. Presumably, while Hao Dadao was fighting his way down, he didn’t forget to clean up the battlefield on the way. The word was that Hao Dadao broke through Tiger’s Teeth, Crane’s Beak, then detoured and went to the second pass, breaking through it in one stroke. After joining up with Zhao Meng, the troops fought nonstop. The southwest army hadn’t expected them to break through Sheng Jing Pass in just a few days, and they were immediately thrown into chaos and defeated soundly every step of the way.

The southwest fief wasn’t large either. Not far beyond Sheng Jing Pass was the main city – Cloud City.

As they rushed to Cloud City, the southwest army learned that Hao Dadao had unexpectedly already taken people to besiege the city.

Cloud City had been named as such because of its unique terrain: It rose steeply from the ground and sat much higher than the surroundings. Outside the high wall, it looked like it had been built on clouds. 

It was late, and the army had just returned to camp. Seeing the main army, Zhao Meng took the lead and galloped over to greet them.

When Hao Dadao saw them, he dismissed the other soldiers and dismounted to meet them as well.

“Military advisor, military advisor, those three mystic messages you gave me were very useful! It’s amazing. I, Old Zhao, truly admire you ah!” Zhao Meng didn’t see Wang Ye, so he ran straight to the military advisor’s carriage and shouted loudly as he stood outside.

When the curtain was lifted, it was unexpectedly their commander-in-chief who came out first! 

Jing Shao had been holding the fragrant and soft body of his Wang Fei inside the carriage and sleeping soundly. He got out and shook out his limbs, before turning to help the person who was still inside. He took and pulled out a hand that was as lustrous as always, then the military advisor came out slowly, dressed in snow white clothing and wearing a jade ornament on his head, with the fluffy tiger in his arms.

Stunned for a moment, Zhao Meng then said with a smile, “I was wondering why I didn’t see Wang Ye; it turns out Wang Ye was avoiding work by hiding in the military advisor’s carriage.”

“I trust that General Zhao has been well since we last met?” Mu Hanzhang said as he greeted Zhao Meng.

Afraid that Mu Hanzhang would jump out of the carriage and jar the wound again, Jing Shao took the little tiger and threw it to Jiang Lang. He then stretched out his arms and lifted his Wang Fei. 

“Wang Ye!” Mu Hanzhang had let down his guard for a moment, and was caught up in Jing Shao’s arms. He immediately blushed. Even if everyone else did know that they were husband and wife, he would still be embarrassed in front of so many people. What was more, in the eyes of these people, they were only the military advisor and commander-in-chief. Acting like this was truly too improper!

“You’re hurt. Don’t move randomly!” Jing Shao’s expression didn’t change, and he put the man down carefully.

Hearing this, Zhao Meng immediately forgot the ambiguous situation he had just witnessed, and asked in a hurry, “I heard that the camp was attacked, and it seems that the military advisor was injured?”

Mu Hanzhang pressed his lips together and glared at the man who had obviously done it on purpose, before he smiled lightly and said, “It’s nothing, it’s just a small injury.” 

“Ha ha, as long as it’s not too serious. I, Old Zhao, have also gotten a few more adornments this time; men should have a few scars in order to truly be manly!” Zhao Meng laughed heartily and was about to pat the military advisor’s shoulder, when Jing Shao caught his wrist with hate in his eyes.

Hao Dadao looked at these noisy people coldly. Going to battle this time, he was in awe of the Wang Ye’s full trust and the military advisor’s ingenious calculations. The ambiguity between these two people, however, wasn’t very pleasing to the eye. Nevertheless, he was too lazy to care about the private affairs of others, so he pushed down the emotions in his eyes and went forth to salute them.

Jing Shao looked at Hao Dadao, who knew when to come and when to leave, and nodded to himself. He then looked at Zhao Meng, whose wrist he was still holding. He couldn’t help but feel his teeth itch. He told everyone to tidy up and gather in the center tent. Based on the merits and demerits earned during this attack of Sheng Jing Pass, he would reward and punish them accordingly.

Hao Dadao had made great achievements this time, and his bravery and fighting prowess spoke for itself in the army. Jing Shao directly promoted him to General, one of the top positions in the military. Apart from the commander-in-chief, these generals had great authority over life and death decisions; as for the general’s rank and status, that would have to be bestowed by the emperor. 

There were no objections to this. Hao Dadao knelt and accepted the uniform of a general.

“Ha ha, brother Hao is so brave and fierce; he deserves to be a general!” Zhao Meng also admired Hao Dadao, and happily gave Hao Dadao a light punch as the latter got up.

“It’s too soon for you to be happy.” Jing Shao looked coldly at the foolishly joyful Zhao Meng. “Zhao Meng was impulsive, and nearly caused our calvary to be completely eliminated. He is not worthy of the position of general, and is demoted to lieutenant general.”

Zhao Meng heard this and scowled wretchedly as he knelt to receive the punishment. “This general is guilty and accepts the punishment.” 

After rewarding and punishing the merits and demerits of this cadre of young generals, Jing Shao unfolded a map to discuss the plan to besiege the city with everyone.

“There are only two gates into Cloud City, at the front and the back. This general ordered people to guard the back gate to prevent the Southwest King from escaping.” Hao Dadao pointed to the map and said, “It’s just that Cloud City is too high up, and it’s really hard to approach the city gates. Moreover, this general has discovered that the walls of Cloud City are very strong.”

“This Cloud City was built during the founding of the country. As a show of favor, □□ built it with a high wall made from rice porridge and mud; it was so strong that it was unbreakable.” Listening to Hao Dadao, Mu Hanzhang remembered what he read in the history books, and frowned as he spoke.

“Rice porridge and mud!” Zhao Meng was extremely surprised. Rice porridge and mud could make lime plaster stick better together several times over, making it more dense; walls constructed with this mixture would truly be like an iron bastion and impenetrable. 

“I see.” Hao Dadao nodded. “Military advisor is truly erudite.”

Jing Shao smiled and pointed to the sketch of Cloud City. His long and slender finger pointed to the west side of the back gate. “For one zhang along the west side, there is no rice porridge and mud.”

When everyone heard this, they all looked at him with stunned expressions.

“How does Wang Ye know that?” Zhao Meng couldn’t help asking. 

Jing Shao shot him a glance and didn’t reply. “Tomorrow, the soldiers will be split into two groups to attack the city. Zhao Meng will take the vanguard and attack the main gate, while Hao Dadao will lead the rest of the troops in an attack on the back gate.”

“Yes.” Everyone received their orders and left.

Jing Shao stretched and followed his Wang Fei to the military advisor’s tent.

“You’re not going back to the imperial tent?” Mu Hanzhang stopped to look at him. 

“Benwang still has some things to discuss with my military adviser,” Jing Shao said without a change in his expression.

“What things?” Mu Hanzhang glared at him. Was this man afraid that everyone else didn’t know about his ambiguous relationship with the military advisor?

“Don’t you want to know how I know about the west side of the city?” Jing Shao laughed and moved closer.

Mu Hanzhang leaned on his side and said, “To indulge one’s enemy is to ask for trouble; □□, a person of such wisdom and godly martial skill, would naturally leave behind a path for later generations. It’s not strange for Wang Ye to know about this sort of imperial secret.” After he finished speaking, Mu Hanzhang turned around and left. 

Jing Shao scratched his head. In fact, it wasn’t some imperial secret. □□ did leave this trick behind, but it was probably because, as the founder, he thought that the Southwest King might rebel at the start of the first dynasty. However, that Southwest King’s generation was a peaceful one, and □□ even forgot to tell his descendants about this matter. In Jing Shao’s last life, it was only because one of the soldiers carrying the giant wooden ram was killed by an arrow and caused the battering ram to veer off course slightly that they smashed the city wall by a stroke of luck.

Jing Shao looked up at the waning moon, which was as thin as a fish hook. In his previous life, he had wasted several months attacking and fighting in Sheng Jing Pass. Now, not even a month had passed, and he had already reached Cloud City. However, no one could share this joy with him. It was really lonely. Thus, he went back to the imperial tent and wrote a letter to his brother. After the lights were put out in the camp, he slipped out of the imperial tent and felt his way to the military advisor’s tent.

“Wawu!” Xiao Huang, who was sleeping at the foot of the bed, suddenly had its tail crushed by the person who had flopped onto the bed. It immediately jumped up and roared at Jing Shao. The outcome was that it was taken advantage of and flicked on the head.

Mu Hanzhang sighed helplessly and moved further in to make room for him on the bed. Elated, Jing Shao immediately took off his outer clothes and squeezed under the blankets. 

“You can’t just sleep in your tent for one night?” Mu Hanzhang turned on his side to look at him.

“I can’t sleep peacefully by myself.” Jing Shao pressed himself to that warm body. “What if there’s another assassin?”

Xiao Huang was very unhappy that the bed had been taken over. It tugged at Jing Shao’s collar for a while, but to no avail as it was a small tiger and wasn’t able to drag a person off the bed. Instead, it was grabbed by the scruff of its neck and thrown onto the ground.  Xiao Huang sullenly climbed back onto the bed and nestled on Jing Shao’s chest, causing the latter to have sleep paralysis and wake up with a start several times during the night.

The next day, Zhao Meng and Hao Dadao took people to attack the city, and the southwest army also sent people out to fight. Zhao Meng grappled with one of the other side’s high-ranking officers, and the soldiers on both sides rushed to join in the chaotic battle. The southwest army mainly focused on defending the city. Seeing that the gate was being besieged, they quickly drew back into the city and started to drop rocks from above.  Given Cloud City’s unique terrain, the rocks were extremely destructive, and Zhao Meng was forced to lead his troops in a retreat. 

Hao Dadao’s situation wasn’t great either; not to mention attacking the city walls, even getting close to the city gate was difficult.

After a whole day of fighting, the army returned to the camp; they would fight again the next day.

“Ai, I heard that Wang Ye stayed in the military advisor’s tent again last night,” one patrolling soldier whispered to the other.

“Aiyo, after the assassin appeared that time, I often check the imperial tent. Wang Ye has basically never slept in the imperial tent,” the other soldier whispered. 

“What nonsense are you spouting?!” The right protectorate general slapped both of them on the head from behind.

The beaten soldiers cringed and didn’t dare say more. They obediently continued to patrol.

“Ai, what on earth is going on between Wang Ye and the military advisor?” Zhao Meng, who had come to chat with the right protectorate general, walked out and saw the situation, and couldn’t help but ask the question.

“I don’t know either.” The right protectorate general looked at the ground in distress, and remembering what the military advisor said, involuntarily shuddered. 

“Doesn’t Wang Ye not like men? At first, when the emperor told him to marry a male wife, didn’t he make a lot of trouble?” Zhao Meng was extremely curious.

Hao Dadao, who came to find them to share some dried meat, couldn’t help frowning. “You’re saying that Wang Ye already has a wife, and it’s even a male wife?”

“Yes, you didn’t know?” Zhao Meng smiled mischievously; he finally knew something that Hao Dadao didn’t. “The Wang Fei is the son of the North Marquis’s second rank wife. He’s from a noble background, and I’ve heard that he’s very famous among the talented scholars in the capital.”

His wife was waiting for him in the capital, but Wang Ye was actually doing such a lowly, illicit thing. It was truly… 

Hao Dadao put down the dried meat, turned around, and left.

Mu Hanzhang was sitting on his own by the river and watching the little tiger play as it tried to catch insects in the grass. When he heard the sound of footsteps, he thought it was Jing Shao, but instead, he saw Hao Dadao with a dark face.