229 The Wilderness at Nigh (2/2)

Ning Que had left the Blue Water Battalion and entered the Wilderness due to the news from Master of Nation, Li Qingshan who had in turn received it from the Imperial Center Administration. They would have left him an informant near the Palace if they wanted him to cooperate.

He looked at the man and said, ”Let's cut the chase and talk business.”

The soldier smiled and answered, ”If Sir wants to talk about nothing, we can talk about nothing. If he wants to talk business, we shall talk business.”

Ning Que paused for a second. He smiled and thought that the man was indeed a member of the Imperial Center Administration. He must have been in contact with stuck-up cultivators that he didn't have the usual awe and respect an ordinary person usually had for cultivators. However, he spoke with a certain flair and acted in such a way that was indeed rare when dealing with cultivators.

He asked directly, ”Do you know my mission?”

The Tang soldier replied honestly, ”I don't know.”

Ning Que nodded and said, ”That's good. Because what I am about to ask has nothing to do with the mission.”

It was the soldier's turn to be surprised. A look of respect appeared on his face as he thought that this was indeed a visiting professor of the Imperial Center Administration. He had spoken so casually even as he was about to do something so shameless like using the imperial court's power to settle his personal things.

Ning Que continued, ”How many people are there in the Tang camp?”

”Including the cavalry and grain soldiers along with administrative staff, about five hundred or so.”

Ning Que looked at the flying flag in the Tang camp and furrowed his brows, ”It doesn't seem like there are so little people just by looking at the camp site.”

The soldier explained, ”A person rides three horses, so we need a larger space.”

”How well do you know the situation at camp?” Ning Que had only asked casually. He thought that the man was only an ordinary cavalry and would not know the situation well.

However, he did not expect that the man was planted by the Imperial Center Administration in the north-east camp. He observed the camp every single moment of the day. When he heard Ning Que's question, he did not hesitate to nod and said, ”I know the basics.”

Ning Que looked at him and thought that his luck was pretty decent and asked, ”Did anything out of ordinary happen in the last five days? For example, any injured cavalry... or general?”

The man thought and shook his head, ”No.”

Ning Que paused before asking,” Regarding food and medicine, is there anything worth looking out for?”

The man was about to answer no when he thought of an incident. He pinched his brows and thought for a while before saying, ”There was indeed something. A certain camp has indeed used more food than before. This is not surprising, but there has been some issue with the amount of medicine we keep as well.”

He did not wait for Ning Que's question, but instead continued, ”The medicine we bring with us is controlled heavily. That is why I think there is a problem. Other than the mysterious disappearance of medication to stop bleeding, the next that we are missing is some tranquilizers. But we don't need this kind of medicine lately.”

Ning Que's eyes brightened as he heard this. He knew that his guess was in the right direction. He looked at the lit up Tang camp and asked, ”Which is the tent? Can you find out who is inside?”

”There are three hundred cavalries escorting General Shu into the wilderness. They all came from Tuyang City. Those tents belong to the eastern army and security is strict. An ordinary cavalry like myself will not be able to go close to it.”

Ning Que's brows furrowed slightly as his gaze swept through the camp slowly. He said, ”If security is this strict, is there any way I can slip in to take a look?”

The man did not even think, but shook his head, ”Unless you barge in. ”

He looked at Ning Que's serious expression and quickly added on, ”Sir, even though you are a much-revered visiting professor in a strong state, but barging into the military camp would still be a problem. Even if you've managed to get in, many would die. How will you explain this to the imperial court?”

...

...

There was no way to slip in, so he had to barge in. Even though he was already a student of the Academy, deep within him, he still thought of himself as a part of the empire's army. Pulling his sword at his brethren was something he could not do, which was why he had to think of another way in.

As the night got deeper, the soldier planted by the Imperial Center Administration returned to the Tang Camp, leaving only Ning Que on the meadow.

There was some sparse yellow grass covering the frozen ground. It looked like the beard of a malnourished old man. Ning Que laid on the grass and looked at the stars above his head, pondering.

A shadow covered the star-studded skies above his head, as if the real darkness of the night was arriving.

Ning Que looked at the face of the black horse and at its thick curling lips looking as if it was trying to curry favor and could not help but to scold laughingly, ”Everyone in the palace is trying to capture you, how dare you come back to see me?”

The Big Black Horse nudged his shoulder gently, looking extremely docile and even well-mannered. It looked as if it was telling Ning Que that he shouldn't be angry and that what others said did not matter.

Ning Que stood up and brushed the dirt and grass off him. He punched the horse's neck lightly and shook his head, lecturing, ”A person is afraid of becoming and a pig is afraid of becoming fat. It's easy to get into trouble when you're famous and when a pig gets fat, they get slaughtered for mean. Are you not afraid that someone will steal you away now that you're famous?”

The Big Black Horse shook his head and opened its mouth. It's large white teeth looking rather scary in the starlight, as if it was smiling sarcastically. It looked rather devilish, proud and silly at the same time.

Ning Que fixed it with a stare and smiled, ”So do you mean that you'll be treated like treasure even if you were stolen away? And that you wouldn't be treated like a bull and being ordered around by me?”

The Big Black Horse lifted its hooves and tapped on the ground lightly on the ground, agreeing to Ning Que's words silently.

Ning Que laughed and pointed at the middle section between his strong legs and said, ”I don't know why the army didn't sterilize you and neither did the stud-farm. I don't know how you escaped being a eunuch, but you should be sure that I don't have any intention of slicing it off.”

”But my being benevolent doesn't mean that everyone else is. If you are still hot-tempered and end up in the hands of Chanyu or his consort, do you think you can still keep your balls?”

A cold breeze passed through the meadow.

Fear showed in the dark eyes of the Big Black Horse. It could be the cold, or something else, there was a sudden movement as the horse tried to keep his legs closed, but due to the muscular buttocks, it was unable to keep it completely closed.

...

...

Ning Que accomplished yet another spy mission in the night. He organized the information he had on the Tang camp and took the time to educate the Big Black Horse. He had done so many things, but the people at the bonfire by the Palace had only done one thing, namely drinking.

The Wilderness was like heaven in spring and like hell in winter. The harsh winter winds blew and it snowed frequently. It was extremely cold, which was why the people here liked to drink to keep themselves warm. They loved strong alcohol.

The people of the Central Plains and the barbarians of the grassland beside the bonfire had always been in contention over two things, business and war. The wars at the frontier and the retaliation by the soldiers of the Central Plains had led to many deaths. How would an agreement between the bigwigs settle the feud that had lasted so many years and paid with so much blood?

Filled with conflicting emotions, the people from the two tribes began competing in drinking. Even though they guzzled the alcohol, they were unable to dispell the hatred they felt for the other party. Instead, it just unleashed their emotions and it eventually became a competition on who could drink more and then, a full brawl. The soldiers in charge of maintaining peace had to run around trying to stop fights that broke out in many different places, the entire place was in chaos.

There were a few lonely tents pitched on the periphery of the field. They were near to the Tang camp, but not within the boundaries of it. They were not affected by the chaos by the bonfire and remained extremely silent, exactly like the person living within.

The girls from the Great River Kingdom saw many interesting things at the Ge Mumu festival. They returned to the camp by evening while Mo Shanshan sat in the tent quietly the entire day. She had her wrist on the white paper on her desk, writing frantically. It felt as if she did not realize what being bored or tired meant.

At this moment, the curtain to the entrance lifted. Zhuo Zhihua and another girl entered. She looked at Mo Shanshan warmly and said, ”Hill Master, you have a guest.”

Mo Shanshan stopped writing. She placed her brush into a clear water urn and turned around.

The young girl had on the uniform of Revelation Institute of the Divine Hill. Her eyes were proud as she walked into the tent. She looked around the tent, trying to calm herself down. However, she could not help but feel nervous when she saw that the young lady in white turn around.

This was her first time meeting the legendary Calligraphy Addict.

Mo Shanshan looked at her blandly, ”Who are you?”

The Calligraphy Addict was used to speaking directly. She did not like speaking more than she had to and was used to carrying a bland expression on her face. That was because she felt that making an expression was a rather torturous thing to do. She was used to looking languish and impolite, because...

Her eyes were not good.

But just like Ning Que, who did not know that she had an illness of the eye, the girl from Revelation Institute felt humiliated. Her tightly wound emotions became rather irritated. However, she did not dare to be impolite.

It was still, her first time meeting the legendary Calligraphy Addict. Even though she was slightly proud and impolite, it was acceptable to the students from the Revelation Institute who had to deal with another Addict on a daily basis.

The student from the Revelation Institute bowed politely. ”Princess Chen Jia would like to invite Senior Sister Mo to a meeting tomorrow.”

Mo Shanshan looked at her quietly and thought of the old friend she hadn't seen in a while. She thought of the friend in the horse carriage below the meadow who stayed silent through the gory fight and replied after a short pause, ”I got it.”