Chapter 197 - Xiao Baozhu Was Alive (1/2)

…The watchman hesitated. He remembered the general’s appearance well. After all, the general looked just like Xiao Baoshan who was that tall and cold. No one would forget such a special man. But the watchman didn’t want to be ridiculed as a boaster, so he decided to echo what Squire Liu had said. “I must have mistaken him for someone else. How could I know such a great general?”

The Xiao family didn’t take his words to mind.

Just then, the guards called their numbers and let them into the county. Squire Liu gave the guards more beef jerky in return for their care and help these past few days.

…Xiao Baoshan had led the troops to Hexin county. The forces of Hongyan country were so week that they were annihilated within three days. The locals left alive poured out of their houses to express their grat.i.tude and praise him as the G.o.d of war. As a result, Xiao Baoshan and the sixth prince rose to fame overnight.

At that moment, the reinforcements from the imperial court had just arrived at Zhengwu county. The leader of the reinforcements was Qian Qi, a fourth-ranked general in the imperial court. After he reached Zhengwu county, he received a letter saying that Xiao Baoshan had defeated the enemy with the sixth prince’s forces. Although he had known it was Xiao Baoshan who led the troops, he still thumped the table angrily after learning the news.

Qian Qi had sent his people to find Xiao Baoshan, but he failed. The wanted man was missing; only his old mother and his newly-married wife were in the house. But these two women didn’t reveal any information about him. Qian Qi regretted not kidnapping them before Xiao Baoshan went to the sixth prince for shelter and even became a commander. Anyway, he would try every possible way to get Xiao Baoshan to show up.

Now that the enemy had been driven back, he decided to encamp his regiments in Zhengwu county. Then, he wrote a letter to the imperial court, waiting for the next order.

Xiao Baoshan owed him a debt that couldn’t be written off. He had lost his brother, Qian Dong, in that war two years ago. He had believed all the people had died at that time, but then Xiao Baoshan proved to be the only one alive. Besides, it was said that this man had colluded with the enemy. Therefore, he must find Xiao Baoshan.

The capital.

The news of Xiao Baoshan’s triumph had reached the imperial court. At that moment, the ministers were discussing what to do with him.

The state preceptor and the prime minister represented two different camps. The state preceptor held that Xiao Baoshan had exceeded his authority. He, as well as the sixth prince, should be punished for dispatching troops without permission.

The prime minister insisted that Xiao Baoshan was not necessarily a traitor. They should investigate the case again and ask Xiao Baoshan for an explanation after he came back. They couldn’t put a good man in the wrong.

He put forward the question that if Xiao Baoshan was a traitor, why did he beat back the enemy?

All the ministers were then engaged in a heated argument. But the old emperor had become drowsy. In the end, the state preceptor’s party won the debate. They decided to let Qian Qi arrest Xiao Baoshan and bring him back to the court.

…After recapturing Hexin county, Xiao Baoshan let a deputy general and some soldiers guard the place. Since the county wasn’t the sixth prince’s fief, the forces couldn’t station there for long. When a new governor took over control, all the soldiers had to retreat. Otherwise, some base people in the imperial court would try every way to defame the sixth prince.

Xiao Baoshan asked the deputy general to handle the overall situation and the soldiers to help the locals rebuild their homes. Then, he led the troops back to Qinghe county. This time, he would inquire about his family’s whereabouts from door to door.

Qinghe county was in ruins, corpses filling the suburbs. People were wailing and weeping everywhere. Widows and orphans were struggling for the future of their lives. Xiao Baoshan brought these people together and provided them with part of the army provisions. Then, he headed for his home.

The locals who hadn’t escaped far were all back. The streets were not empty anymore. On his way home, Xiao Baoshan could see smoke rising continuously from two or three kitchen chimneys. He visited his neighbors one after another. They were all surprised to see he had returned. Of course, they didn’t know he was the general who had beaten back the enemy.

He said, “Yes, I’m back. Do you know where my family is?”

The first two families shook their heads. But the old lady in the third family told him, “They must have escaped. I saw your whole family leaving at that time.”

“My whole family?” he asked. “Including my relatives from the village?”

“Yes. They were here one evening. There were four adults, several kids and an old man who was always cursing. The next morning, they drove two carriages and pulled two carts away from here.”