Perfect Encounter - Chapter 2.2
PROOFREAD BY AFREANA
Chapter 2.2
Yao Kun, the governor of the city, received a report from the city gatekeeper that 20,000 men from the Long family army had arrived at the camp outside the city. General Long was leading a group of men to enter the city. Yao Kun was shocked and led all the officials out of the city gate to meet them.
This general was quite unpredictable. According to the report, he should have arrived at noon tomorrow, but he took the initiative to come early and did not inform him. The county magistrates and officials were scheduled to enter the city tomorrow morning to greet him, but now they missed it. The general didn’t seem to be friendly, he didn’t even bother to be polite. He wanted to lead the troops into the camp after he finished the order. He said there was no need to have a banquet. The soldiers have just entered the city. They needed to settle down and train. Then, he would wait for the officials to arrive and proceed to conduct the meeting.
The people who thought to befriend this second-ranking general were disappointed, while governor Yao Kun was relieved. Eight years ago, he went to the capital. He met Big Long once when General Long Sheng was still alive. Big Long was only a 17 or 18-year-old boy but had the serious face of the youth. Now, the youth has become a young man, tall and powerful, but his serious face remained all the same.
But seriousness has a positive side, Yao Kun felt that this martial artist is simple, without scheming, not using the opportunity to rectify his Pingnan County and pick on his mistakes, which is good. Better than those who do not fight properly and only think about the power struggle all day.
The military camp was located 20 miles southeast of Zhonglan City. The governor led Big Long to meet with captain Hou Liliang in front of the camp gate. The Long family army and the Pingnan county soldiers lined up separately. Hou Liliang and Big Long exchanged military tokens, after which each officer and captain of the county army came forward to give a salute to Big Long.
The chief secretary of the county army holding the army and horse account books in his hand, and the official of military affairs holding the army and defense construction account books both went forward and saluted Big Long, presenting them to him. The banner soldiers put the Emperor Xiao flag, the imperial flag of the capital army, and the Long family army flag on top of the camp wall, indicating the Long family army was stationed at the border by order of the emperor and has entered this camp.
After the military music played, the banner soldiers led the way and the battalions entered the camp. The soldiers lined up, divided in line, inserting flags, setting up posts, lighting fires, and setting up guards. Big Long led the generals to inspect them one by one. Everywhere they went, the soldiers shouted slogans and were in high spirits without the fatigue of a long journey. Yao Kun, the governor, and Hou Liliang, the captain, looked at each other and felt some pressure.
The reputation of the Long family army is indeed genuine.
After everything was arranged, Big Long discussed with Yao Kun and Hou Liliang about the border defense, the movements of the South Qin, etc.
Yao Kun and Hou Liliang shared the same views about the bandits. The South Qin must have sheltered those bandits. They are trying to ask for favors from the Xiao Kingdom. If they admitted the bandits were the South Qin people, they would not be able to make a stand and could not negotiate any favorable terms. Therefore, the matter has been suppressed. The bandits must have understood and sneaked back to South Qin after attacking the village.
As for the South Qin invasion, Yao Kun thought it impossible.
“I have a strong army and strong horses, sufficient food and grass, and armament far beyond that of the South Qin’s. The South Qin Kingdom naturally understands the disparity in strength. The East Ling Kingdom is a small country. The South Qin Kingdom giving up its relationship with our Xiao Kingdom to please the East Ling Kingdom is not a wise move. In my opinion, South Qin Kingdom is putting up an act to scare the emperor in order to loosen the iron ore limits and reduce the transaction prices. I heard the South Qin Kingdom’s grain harvest these two years has not been good, but jade trading revenue is getting better. The jade business through this Pingnan County is quite large and their customs revenue is not low. If they intended to attack the Xiao Kingdom, wouldn’t they lose both iron and money? Once a country loses a war, it will have to give up profits and seek peace, leaving the people upset and the officials dissatisfied, and although the South Qin emperor is young, he is not stupid. The East Ling Kingdom cannot give them something of equal value and can only drag them along to put on a show.”
Hou Liliang said: “According to the scouts,the South Qin Kingdom did send more troops to the border. We negotiated with the other side and made precautions to strengthened ourselves. The other side claimed that our bandits had entered their territory and so they had to guard against these unidentified people. They warned us not to play these tricks. They are not afraid of provocation and we should not act rashly. The implication is rather to accuse us of having bad intentions.”
Big Long asked, “Apart from sending troops to the border, have the scouts found anything else in Southern Qin?”
Hou Liliang shook his head: “ Nothing. There has been no accurate news of their intention to invade.”
Big Long said no more. As he was new here, he had to wait for more investigation results before making a judgment.
When Big Long returned to the barracks, a pile of documents was already waiting for him to review. He just entered the camp, and there were many trivial matters to attend to. Each battalion, each team, and each army had their respective organization, and once they entered the camp, they started to deal with military affairs according to the division of duties. For example, determining which parts of the situation of the outer defenses needed to be fixed and how much stone, mud, and hay would be required, arranging accommodation in the camp buildings, as well as the securing necessary water and food supply, reporting which weapons were in need of repairing, placing the horses in the stables, arranging the training site and further arranging personnel, inspection shifts, the process for requesting a permit and so on. All the battalions have submitted reports on these short period. After the secretary read them, they were sorted and placed on Big Long’s desk.
Big Long roughly looked through the documents, and read the reports on arrangement of the 80,000 troops. The 20,000 troops, led by several generals under his command, will arrive in eight days. There is no return date for the troops. Yao Kun, the governor, set up a residence for him in Zhonglan City according to the rules, so he can conveniently governs from the city. He provided the house deed and arrange staff, transferring them along with formal documents.
Big Long took a glance and put it aside. The residence named Purple Cloud House was far neither from the East City Gate nor from the camp area. It consisted of six large courtyards with more than 30 rooms for the general officers to live and work. There were even magistrate halls and guard towers, which was very thoughtful.
Big Long finished all the official business, raised his eyes and saw the package on the table.
Hmm, the girl who pretended to admire him and wanted to see him.
Big Long opened the package and carefully examined its contents.
Money, clothing, dry food, nothing special. It seems she was trying to escape.
Big Long raised his eyebrows, what does this mean?
He searched all the clothes but did not find any letters.
Is she running away?
Interesting.