Finest Servant

Chapter 511 The Situation

Turning around, Lin Wanrong found himself facing a beautiful female general. She wore cloud-stepping boots and a silver-white battle robe. Her figure resembled a willow swaying in the wind, graceful and exquisite. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and her eyes shimmered like reflective pools of autumn water. A touch of rosy fatigue colored her porcelain-like cheeks. She gazed intently at Lin Wanrong, and it was hard to tell whether she was smiling or annoyed.

"Ah, if it isn't Miss Xu," General Lin said, a smile gathering on his face. He waved his hand hurriedly. "Brothers, quickly salute Advisor Xu!"

"Advisor Xu!" The soldiers under his command were evidently well-trained. At General Lin's single command, thousands raised their weapons and shouted in unison, their voices piercing the heavens.

This seemed like the theatricality of a mountain bandit, and Xu Zhiqing slightly furrowed her brows, casting him a few glances. "General Lin, I heard from Du Xiuyuan that you're still recovering from injuries and resting in camp. Even the matters of the council are being led by others." She paused, her eyes darting to his leg, her expression tinged with irritation. "Indeed, General Lin, your 'serious' injuries seem to have healed remarkably."

The irony in her words was so obvious that even Gao Qiu could catch it, let alone a clever man like Lin Wanrong.

"Oh, really?" Lin Wanrong looked at his leg in feigned surprise, a joyful expression filling his face. "Had it not been for Miss Xu's keen observation, I wouldn't have noticed. Seems like these continuous marches and exercises have paid off; my injuries should be mostly healed. Ah, I've been so busy these days that I even forgot something as crucial as my recovery. Your visit is well-timed, Miss Xu. I'd like to host a feast today, just a few small dishes among the troops, to celebrate."

Annoyed by his nonchalance, Xu Zhiqing couldn't help but huff. "The army is near Xingqing Prefecture, approaching the border between Great Hua and the nomads. War is imminent, and you're still in such high spirits? Not to mention that gambling and drinking are prohibited in the army—have you not read the military regulations?"

Lin Wanrong laughed, "Miss Xu, you misunderstand. I've always despised wine and gambling. Celebrating with my brothers over some tea shouldn't violate any rules, should it?"

She had long experienced his cunning logic and bit her teeth in annoyance. "Even if you haven't violated any prohibitions, faking injuries is a serious offense. Once we return to camp, I'll report this to the Marshal—"

"That's a bit unreasonable, Advisor Xu," Lin Wanrong interrupted. "What do you mean by 'faking injuries'? You were well aware of the state of my leg before I joined the army. As the old saying goes, it takes a hundred days to recover from a bone injury. The fact that I've recovered this much in just ten days is a blessing. My family and my comrades, including Brother Gao, have poured in a lot of effort. How can you accuse me of faking injuries? I really don't understand."

His expression turned sour, and he refuted her allegations openly. Both Gao Qiu and Du Xiuyuan exchanged puzzled glances. They knew there was a grudge between General Lin and Advisor Xu, but they hadn't expected an argument to break out after just a few words.

Quick to catch Xu Zhiqing's brewing anger, Hu Bugui gave Lin Wanrong a meaningful glance and interjected, "Advisor Xu, you've come a long way. How about this—our right-wing cavalry is currently training, and General Lin has invented a new method for training the troops. Would you care to observe and offer your advice?"

"Tying sandbags for training? I've already seen that." Xu Zhiqing sighed softly. "While it's an innovative idea, it might be too late to implement it now."

Her words were clearly intended for someone. Hu Bugui glanced at Lin Wanrong but did not dare to speak.

‘Why am I arguing with her again?’ Lin Wanrong found it amusing; encounters with Miss Xu had always been far from peaceful.

"You shouldn't think like that," he shook his head, locking eyes with Xu Zhiqing, and spoke generously, "A good method is never too late to implement. I've discussed it with Gao Qiu. We'll see results within a month if we train this way. We must look to the long-term. Fighting the nomads isn't a matter of a day or two. Even if the current batch of soldiers starts training late, what about the ones who come later? If we begin with the new recruits practicing with sandbags, I refuse to believe that our valiant men of the Empire can't catch up to the Turkic forces!"

Hu Bugui slapped his thigh, suddenly enlightened. "Exactly! Why didn't I think of starting with the new recruits? General Lin, you've awakened me from my dream. The nomads didn't come out of their mothers with those strong legs; they acquired them from horseback riding. Our Empire has plenty of elite soldiers. If we persevere, whether it takes one year, three, or even five, there's no reason for us to lose to the Turks."

Although Lin Wanrong was not extraordinarily skilled in battlefield tactics, his vision and wisdom were unmatched. Coupled with the tactical insights from aides like Hu Bugui and Du Xiuyuan, the fighting capacity of his army was not to be underestimated.

That was precisely what Xu Wei and Li Tai admired most about him. Xu Zhiqing was no exception. Despite their arguments, his few words had the power to part the clouds and reveal the sun.

Hu Bugui's enthusiasm spread to the others. Even Miss Xu couldn't help but smile, dissipating the earlier tension.

The drill ground was bustling with activity. As Xu Zhiqing watched soldiers fall and rise again during their sandbag exercises, she thought back to Lin Wanrong's impassioned speech. When it came to rallying people, no one was better than Lin San. If everyone had such fighting spirit, what could stand in the way of vanquishing the nomads and rejuvenating the Empire?

She stood still, lost in her thoughts, when she suddenly felt someone gently tugging at her clothes. Looking up, it was Lin San with whom she'd just argued.

"What are you doing?" Her cheeks, as smooth as white jade, flushed a shade of crimson. She lowered her voice, irritably saying, "This is a military camp, you know!"

Lin Wanrong chuckled, "I know this is a camp. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t have pulled you aside. The army has finished its drills and is about to eat. What are you still doing here?"

Xu Zhiqing looked around and realized that she had been so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed the soldiers dispersing. The army cooks had already brought out big pots of steaming food, filling the air with inviting aromas.

Her cheeks turned even redder, but she snorted defiantly, "I was observing the terrain to mark it on the map. What are you doing here?"

"It's not that I want to stay here," Lin Wanrong lamented. "Advisor Xu, I just want to remind you—you're stepping on my foot, and I happen to be disabled!"

Xu Zhiqing glanced down and realized she had been so engrossed in watching the troops drill that she had stepped on his new boots, leaving half a dainty footprint embroidered onto them.

Witnessing this, Hu Bugui, Gao Qiu, and the others couldn't help but stifle their laughter. Xu Zhiqing's cheeks flushed as she snorted indignantly. "That's not my fault. Your feet are as big as palm-leaf fans. Stepping on them is almost like stepping on the ground."

"If having big feet is my fault, then having a large chest must be yours," Lin Wanrong hummed under his breath. His eyes quickly darted over her voluptuous bosom, reminding him of a sensuous moment in Ning'er's room in Jining, making him feel a tingling sensation.

Xu Zhiqing took out a sealed letter from her clothing and handed it to him expressionlessly. "This is an urgent message from the Emperor, just delivered to the army. Take a look."

Lin Wanrong tore open the letter and quickly scanned its contents. His expression underwent several changes before he sighed deeply and handed the letter back to Xu Zhiqing, rendered speechless.

"Prince Cheng was en route to his exile in northern Sichuan when he took his own life by hanging himself at midnight, overcome by shame and unable to face the world. In his final moments, he left a long suicide note claiming that he had failed both the late Emperor and the current one, and that death was his only way of atoning for his crimes. The handwriting has been verified by Mr. Gu Shunzhang to be that of Prince Cheng. Upon hearing the news, the Emperor wept bitterly on the Golden Throne, his eyes red and swollen. He has not eaten for three days and nights. Despite public opposition, the Emperor personally saw to the prince's burial next to the tomb of the late Emperor."

Having read the royal decree, Hu Bugui spat out, "Finally, he felt some shame and killed himself out of fear of punishment. The Emperor is indeed too compassionate to bury this traitor in the imperial tombs."

Lin Wanrong gave him a wry smile and patted his shoulder. "Don't be too harsh, Brother Hu. He's dead now; does it really matter where he's buried? Who knows where our bodies will be covered by the sands when we are deployed beyond the Great Wall?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Xu Zhiqing shot him an irritated glare. "A great battle is imminent; don't shake the soldiers' morale. You've also been absent from our strategy meetings lately. You probably don't even know where we are heading."

"The person who trusts me the least in the whole army must be Advisor Xu here," Lin Wanrong said with a wry smile. "Miss Xu, I make my living with my brains. The lives of tens of thousands of soldiers are in my hands. Do you think I'm that incompetent?"

He took out a blank sheet of paper and a pencil from his pocket. With a few simple strokes, he sketched an outline. "We left the capital city and have been moving along the southern side of the Great Wall, heading from west to east. We crossed Yanmen Pass, passed through Mayi, and reached Shuofang. We're currently stationed north of Yanchuan, just a few hundred miles from Lingwu, Xingqing, and Helan Mountain. Technically speaking, once we cross the Great Wall, we'll be able to see traces of the nomads."

His sketch was simple, but precise in its details, marking the routes and key points with great clarity. At critical junctions, he even thickened the lines for extra emphasis. In this one skill alone, aside from Xu Zhiqing, no one could match him.

"Brother Lin, I must say, I'm impressed," Gao Qiu slapped his forehead and said. "Every day I see you eating, sleeping, frolicking around. Never once have I seen you study military tactics or maps, yet you already know them like the back of your hand."

Lin Wanrong chuckled, "You're too kind, Brother Gao. I don't have any particular talents; I simply use the time you spend sleeping to read and the time you spend reading to sleep."

Having long known that beneath his playful facade, Lin Wanrong was as transparent as a sheet of window paper, Xu Zhiqing finally let her guard down. She scolded, "Don't think that just being able to draw some maps is enough. The real work must be put into practice."

She took the pencil from Lin Wanrong's hand and traced over the directions he had marked on the map. "Look here," she said softly, "there's no need for me to stress the importance of Xingqing and Helan Mountain. They serve as natural barriers, holding back the desert sands and the nomadic cavalry. Xingqing is our focal point."

"Two hundred miles north of Xingqing is Wuyuan, far beyond the frontier and bordered by Yulin and Dingxiang north of the Great Wall. These three locations are isolated beyond the border, enduring years of wind and sand. They are the first line of defense against the nomads. 'Ten years of wind and sand, eight years of dust, two years of calamities that rip the soul,' so goes the ballad among our border troops. Over decades, we've had hundreds of battles here, and Wuyuan is still in enemy hands. Tens of thousands of our valiant soldiers have found their eternal rest here."

She sighed, tapping the map lightly with her pencil, her mood somewhat somber.

Lin Wanrong had already examined this map; aside from a sense of lament, there wasn't much he could do about the situation. Isolated and with harsh climate, even the formidable Turks hesitated to linger there. And this 'first line of defense' that Miss Xu spoke of was largely already in enemy hands; for the Empire, this defense line had virtually ceased to exist.

"And the second line," Xu Zhiqing drew a few more lines on the map, "stretches from Mayi, Yanmen Pass, with Xingqing in the middle, to the Qilian Mountains in the west, extending northward to Kunlun Mountain and Dunhuang. This is the lifeline on which our empire depends."

She drew a heavy circle in the northwest direction of Xingqing, "Right now, the Turks have assembled two hundred thousand elite cavalry in the Qilian Mountains and Wuyuan. They aim to capture Xingqing and Yulin directly. If this line is broken, the nomads will sweep through the land, and it would be an unmitigated disaster for our empire."

Xu Zhiqing spoke for a while, but the last two sentences were the crux. The Turkic elite troops were already amassing in force; the Empire had only this last natural defense to rely upon.

What's more, the nomadic cavalry, numbering two hundred thousand, were highly mobile. They could attack the foot of the Great Wall or retreat deep into the grasslands. As for the Empire's defense line, it stretched thousands of miles from west to east. A single lapse could cause the entire line to collapse, leading to an irrevocable disaster.

The situation was far more complicated than he had initially thought. How could this war be fought? Lin Wanrong sighed deeply, his eyes glazing over.

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