Ch60 - Wang Fei

“General Hao,” said Mu Hanzhang as he stood up. He saw that the other man’s expression wasn’t quite normal, and asked, “Is something the matter?” 

“Military advisor, I, Hao Dadao, am a coarse man. I lack knowledge and experience, but there are some things I really can’t just stand by and watch.” Hao Dadao looked at him fiercely. His big and tall body, which made him a head taller than Mu Hanzhang, felt quite oppressive.

Mu Hanzhang was stunned. He stepped back and offered the man the flat and clean stone boulder for him to sit on. He said in a warm voice, “If the general has encountered a difficult matter, there is no harm in saying what you think. Jun Qing has no talent, but if Jun Qing can help the general, I will do so without exception and will never refuse.”

“…” In front of the gentle and polite military advisor, Hao Dadao felt like he was punching cotton with a fist. The flames of fury in his heart were forcefully suppressed, making his entire body suddenly feel uncomfortable, and he could only sit down on the stone angrily.

“Wawu!” Xiao Huang jumped onto the stone and pulled and scratched at the cloth bag at Hao Dadao’s waist curiously. 

Mu Hanzhang looked at his expression and his lips curved up slightly. “What problem has the general encountered?”

Hao Dadao sighed. “Military advisor, I have no right to interfere in exactly what is going on between you and Wang Ye, but I heard that Wang Ye already has a wife in the capital, and that he is a male wife of noble birth.”

Mu Hanzhang frowned. “What does the general mean by saying these things?”

“According to Dachen’s law, male wives are allowed, but not male concubines. The military advisor and Wang Ye spending time together in such dubious ways is very disrespectful to the Wang Fei.” As Hao Dadao spoke, he became more and more impassioned. He had never been able to tolerate those who got married yet still mingled around outside. Getting married wasn’t easy. A man of good character would take care of his family properly.

“General Hao…” Mu Hanzhang blinked.

“With the military advisor’s abilities, it’s more than enough for you to be able to place first in the imperial examination. It’s strange that you would bother to stay at the side of another man.” When spoken out loud, these words could really hurt a person’s feelings. Hao Dadao didn’t dare look up at Mu Hanzhang’s expression. The military adviser had always treated him well, and Hao Dadao really admired his conduct and ideas in the last few days; he really didn’t want to see him wasting away like this.

Looking at Hao Dadao’s current appearance, Mu Hanzhang pursed his lips, but they still curled up slightly. He saw that Xiao Huang had already bitten the cloth bag at Hao Dadao’s waist open in the blink of an eye. Using a claw to fish out some of the dried meat inside, it was currently eating to its heart’s content. Mu Hanzhang finally couldn’t hold it in anymore, and laughed. Seeing Hao Dadao look up, he quickly toned down the smile on his face. “Sure enough, General Hao is truly a faithful and affectionate husband of great character.  Jun Qing admires you. It’s just that I’m afraid I can’t take part in the civil examination.”

“Why is that?” Hao Dadao asked doubtfully. 

“Because he is already married to the Cheng Wang.” Jing Shao had stopped a few steps away at his Wang Fei’s meaningful glance, but he couldn’t help but interrupt now.

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Mu Hanzhang broke away from the arm that was wrapped around his waist. His face flushed a light red, and he coughed slightly and said with a somewhat apologetic tone to Hao Dadao, “It was a matter of necessity that we haven’t spoken on this matter. It is truly against etiquette for wife and children to leave the capital when the husband is away at war. Moreover, I also hope that the officers in the army will truly accept me, instead of showing me meaningless politeness due to my status as Wang Fei; as a result, however, we’ve caused the general to misunderstand…” 

Hao Dadao’s eyes widened. His resolute face gradually turned from black to red, then from red to green, and finally became ghastly pale!

Jing Shao moved closer to hold his Wang Fei’s waist and put his chin on his right shoulder, amused as he watched the changes in Hao Dadao’s face. In his previous life, he had been scolded by Hao Dadao when he was prowling around a brothel in Jiangnan. However, he had been deaf to the man at that time, and even ridiculed Hao Dadao for being afraid of and subservient to his wife. Now, he felt that Hao Dadao’s way of doing things was right; after taking a wife, he should respect and protect him.

“Ha ha, in this case, it was this Hao meddling too much in other people’s business.” Hao Dadao laughed drily, then turned to go.

“General,” Mu Hanzhang quickly called out to him, “it’s better not to make this matter public.” 

Hao Dadao pondered for a moment, frowned and said, “Zhao Meng and the others at least should know, otherwise it will dampen the prestige of the military advisor.” He added this when he recalled how those people secretly laughed at him. It wouldn’t be good to let things continue like that; he couldn’t be the only one to lose face!

“That’s reasonable,” Jing Shao hastily agreed. “You go and tell those few, but keep it from the rest.”

When Hao Dadao left, the smile was wiped from Mu Hanzhang’s face as he turned to Jing Shao, who was very pleased with himself. “Your goal has been achieved. Are you satisfied now?”

Jing Shao blinked innocently, trying to bluff his way out of the situation. 

“The way you’ve been acting these days, isn’t it because you want everyone to know who I am?” Mu Hanzhang wasn’t in a good mood, and said, “Why are you doing this?”

“Hmph, if I want to hold my own Wang Fei every day, I have to sneak around to do so. How does that make sense in this world?” Jing Shao felt a little guilty at first, so he casually pulled out an excuse, but the more he spoke, the more reasonable it felt, and he gradually perked up.

Mu Hanzhang sighed and turned away to pick up the dried meat that had scattered so that the little tiger cub wouldn’t eat too much and get indigestion. He said in a low voice, “Although Imperial Father tacitly agreed to this matter, other people in the capital aren’t aware of it. If this gets out, I’m afraid that it will stir up trouble.”

Jing Shao then crouched down next to him, took him into his arms, and kissed his smooth forehead. “With me here, nothing will happen.” 

—

Hao Dadao cupped his fists as he withdrew and rushed directly to the tent of the right protectorate general. As expected, Zhao Meng was still there, and the left protectorate general had also come. Hao Dadao yanked off the broken bag from his waist, took another one, and put the dried meat that was on the table into it.

“Hey, hey, this is my dried meat. Where’s yours?” The right protectorate general hurriedly protected his pile.

“Eaten by the tiger cub,” Hao Dadao hmphed and said. 

“Did you really go look for the military advisor?” Zhao Meng’s eyes widened. This man was really too bold. They also had only just spoken about it in private. Hao Dadao was brave, and directly went to question the other party. As a military advisor who was both wise and courageous, there had to be some sort of secret trouble which left him with no choice but to give his body to the Wang Ye. Thinking this, Zhao Meng jumped up. “How can you be so muddled? Speaking out loud about such things; how will the military advisor get along with the rest of the army in the future?”

“That’s right, you acted too rashly!” On one side, the right protectorate general packed up his dried meat as he directed his accusation at Hao Dadao as well.

The left protectorate general was silently drinking a cup of hot tea. Seeing that the right protectorate general didn’t have enough space in the bag, he handed him his cloth bag.

“What do you people know?” Hao Dadao waved his big hand and said indignantly, “He’s the officially wedded Cheng Wang Fei!” 

The lively army tent instantly turned silent. Zhao Meng, who was about to immediately rush out and comfort the military advisor, stumbled. The dried meat in the right protectorate general’s hand fell to the ground. Only the left protectorate general continued to silently drink his tea.

“Ah!” The patrolling guards heard a scream in the right protectorate general’s tent, and rushed over. In the end, they were shooed out, and baffled, they resumed their patrol.

“It’s over, it’s over…” Zhao Meng squatted on the ground and rubbed his sparse beard vigorously. He recalled what he had done since Mu Hanzhang entered the military camp; it was enough for Wang Ye to pound him into a pulp of meat.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Didn’t you just put an arm around the Wang Fei and drink together? The great Wang Ye is very magnanimous. He won’t bother with you.” The right protectorate general patted Zhao Meng on the shoulder without the least bit of sympathy. 

Because of such a shocking piece of news, these few generals didn’t dare talk to the military advisor for several days.

—

Putting aside the chaos in the barracks every night, the siege on the city didn’t stop during the day.

Because of Cloud City’s terrain, it wasn’t easy to attack the city. Every day, they went to the gate to challenge the enemy, and at first, some people came to the gate to fight. Later, after Hao Dadao cut off the head of one enemy general in a rage, no one dared to come out. They only relied on bows and arrows and rocks to prevent the army from getting close. 

After a stalemate for half a month, all the arrows in Cloud City were exhausted. Because civilians in the southwest were used to building houses with bamboo, all the stone houses that could be demolished in the city had been torn down, and there also weren’t many stones left that could be thrown.

Jing Shao ordered a pincer attack on the city with two gigantic wooden rams from both the front and back. The city’s people had been trapped on the plateau for half a month with no aid in sight. They were already discouraged. In the end, they were unable to defeat the 100,000 strong soldiers. Because of the defect in the back wall, Jing Shao’s army broke through in one stroke. The main army rushed into the city, and Jing Shao ordered them to guard the periphery. He only took 5000 personal guards into the city, strictly forbidding them from touching the civilians.

They rushed all the way to the Southwest King’s residence, but after searching the entire place, they couldn’t find the slightest trace of the Southwest King; only a gathering of concubines and a few unfavored bastard sons were left in the courtyard, weeping incessantly.

“Grandfather left with some uncles a few days ago.” When Jing Shao questioned these people, none of them could give an answer. Only a little child, about six or seven years old, replied in a bid to please them. 

Mu Hanzhang crouched down and asked him questions in a warm voice. Only then did he discover that this was the legitimate grandson of the Southwest King. The Southwest King should have left via a secret tunnel in his house. He had been in such a hurry that he hadn’t taken this grandson with him when he fled.

“Wang Ye, what should we do?” Hao Dadao stuck his Hun Yuan Blade into the ground with a dull thump.

`

“Search for a secret tunnel. Escort this child and the illegitimate children back to the capital, and dismiss all of these concubines; the army can rest outside the city, and my personal forces will rest in the Southwest King’s palace. The next course of action will be decided after Benwang asks Imperial Father for further instructions.” Jing Shao arranged matters methodically, and Hao Dadao accepted the orders and left. 

Mu Hanzhang stood in the courtyard and surveyed the southwest palace. The front courtyard was similar to the pavilions and kiosks in Jiangnan, but the back courtyard had bamboo buildings unique to the southwest. Looking at them one by one, each building was very interesting.

“Come, let’s go and see what good things this mansion has.” Seeing that Mu Hanzhang was interested, Jing Shao wanted to pull him into his arms, but he was wearing armor so it was inconvenient. Instead, he just took his soft hand and led him into the main courtyard of the Southwest King.

The Southwest King’s main courtyard had the familiar red pillars and glazed roof tiles; it had probably been built at the time of the founding of the country. There was also an inscription in the main hall in □□’s own handwriting, which read “loyalty and righteousness” in very steadfast and powerful big words.

The house was all in a state of disorder, which should have been caused by those concubines coming in afterward to search for valuables. 

“I’m afraid all the valuable items will have already been taken away.” Mu Hanzhang looked at a red sandalwood base on the table, which should have held a decorated jade carving before.

“That’s not true,” Jing Shao said with a mysterious smile. “Most of the things that are really valuable can’t be taken away.” In his last life, he had plundered several vassal palaces. Naturally, he knew where the marvelous treasures were, and he pulled his Wang Fei into the Southwest King’s study.