The order had been to rest an hour.

But after an hour’s rest Ning Chen felt more tired than before.

He gave the order to rest another hour.

After an hour and a half the officers and men had gotten a lot of their strength back.

That was when the infantry battalion finally caught up.

Better than twenty thousand of them had set out, but only a little over ten thousand were left with the column… because there were so many prisoners that men had to be spared to guard them.

“Mu Anbang, Lei An. The two of you stay behind and clear the field.”

Mu Anbang and Lei An said together, “Yes!”

After a great battle, plague spreads easily.

So every body had to be buried deep, in what they called a mass grave.

The gear and the armor all had to be brought back.

The Grand Tutor would not be able to come again anytime soon.

Even if he did manage to organize another attack, the scouts would report it well ahead of time, and the army would have plenty of warning to fall back.

Ning Chen took Pan Yucheng and Feng Qizheng and started back to the city.

His seat on the horse was not a dignified one. The insides of his thighs were rubbed raw, and he kept his legs as wide apart as he could.

Chasing the Grand Tutor half out of his mind the day before, he had not noticed anything.

But the whole way back, the ground was littered with bodies and severed limbs, like something out of hell.

Feng Qizheng grinned wide. “Now that was a hell of a fight… Ning Chen, how does your head even work? I’m supposed to be the clever one and it never once occurred to me you could make gunpowder into a bomb.”

“We won this one easy thanks to those satchel charges and powder kegs, or it wouldn’t have gone half so smooth.”

Ning Chen gave him a look and had nothing to say.

Feng Qizheng laughed. “Ning Chen, once the reinforcements get here… let’s push straight through to the frontier and finish off that old mangy dog the Grand Tutor.”

Ning Chen smiled slightly. For once Feng Qizheng had gotten something right.

Whether the Grand Tutor rebelled or not made no difference. It had nothing to do with why Ning Chen meant to kill him.

He had cut down the Empress’s brother, and as good as killed the Empress with his own hand.

The Grand Tutor hated him to the bone for it.

Rebellion or no rebellion, Ning Chen would have had to find a way to kill him regardless.

By the time they reached Mangzhou it was already afternoon.

Which meant they had spent the whole night chasing the enemy down.

Seeing Ning Chen coming, Yuan Long hurried out of the city with men to meet him.

“General Ning, how did it go?”

Ning Chen shook his head and sighed. “The Grand Tutor got away after all.”

Yuan Long laughed. “Never mind that! We can call this one a clean victory.”

“General Ning, what should be done with the prisoners?”

Ning Chen asked, “How many are there?”

Yuan Long said, “A rough count puts it at better than fifteen thousand.”

Ning Chen thought it over. “I said surrender and live, so give them a chance to earn their way out of the charge.”

“Same as before. Take them out to clear the battlefield first… afterward, break them up and put them into our own units.”

Yuan Long cupped his fists. “Yes!”

Ning Chen said coldly, “Tell them they’re all men under sentence, and they’d better mind themselves… if any of them acts up, it’s beheaded without pardon.”

Yuan Long nodded. “This officer understands!”

Ning Chen said, “Have men watch closely over the satchel charges, the powder kegs and the tung oil that weren’t used.”

“Yes!”

Ning Chen said, worn out, “The rest is on you all now. I’m going back to see to my wounds first… it hurts like hell.”

Yuan Long, Mu Anbang and the rest had fought in more battles than they could count… clearing a battlefield and putting things back in order afterward was not something he needed to worry over.

Ning Chen went back to the Mei residence.

Pan Yucheng sent for a physician to see to Ning Chen’s wounds.

Ning Chen took off his trousers. The insides of his thighs had been rubbed to a raw mess of blood and torn skin.

The physician finished treating Ning Chen.

Feng Qizheng said, “See to me too, would you.”

He took his trousers off, and the insides of his thighs were much the same as Ning Chen’s.

Feng Qizheng was no different.

Ning Chen found it funny — so he wasn’t the only one.

But he was honestly impressed. “How is it neither of you was yelling about the pain?”

Both of them answered that they’d gone numb and couldn’t feel a thing.

Once all three had their wounds dressed.

Ning Chen had Zhang Youcai bring in some food.

The three of them ate their fill, then went off to their own rooms and dropped straight into bed… they were simply too worn out.

Ning Chen slept like the dead, and when he woke it was fully dark outside.

He went out. Zhang Youcai was standing right at the door. “Has anyone come looking for me?”

Zhang Youcai shook his head. “No!”

“Are Old Pan and Old Feng awake yet?”

Zhang Youcai said, “Both my lords went out an hour ago.”

“Where did they go?”

“They said they were going to see if there was anything they could help with. And they told this small man not to disturb the general’s rest.”

Ning Chen made a sound of acknowledgment, went back inside, shut the door, and went straight back to bed and to sleep.

If there had been anything, they would certainly have come to him.

Nobody coming meant nothing had come up.

Ning Chen slept like the dead again.

When he woke the second time, it was already the next day.

He was getting ready to go out and see how things stood when Zhang Youcai came running in, his whole face one fawning smile. “General Ning, there’s a young lady asking to see you!”

“Hm?” Ning Chen blinked, puzzled. “A young lady?”

“She says she’s a physician, come to look at Ning the Silver Coat’s wounds.”

Ning Chen felt a stir of confusion. He hadn’t sent for a physician… could Pan Yucheng have found one for him?

Ning Chen said, “Tell her to go home. Get me an army surgeon later instead.”

It wasn’t that Ning Chen looked down on lady physicians. It was only that he was a man, the wound was on his legs, and treating it meant taking his trousers off — a lady physician would find that no small awkwardness, one way or another.

Zhang Youcai’s smile turned even more fawning. “General Ning, this subordinate really does think you should see her.”

Ning Chen gave him a puzzled look. “Is this lady physician some relation of yours?”

Zhang Youcai shook his head hard. “If this subordinate had a relative that pretty, he’d have handed her over to the general long ago.”

“Pretty?”

Zhang Youcai’s eyes lit right up, and he nodded again and again. “That lady physician looks like something out of heaven… she and the general are a perfect match, honestly. Nobody else is fit for him but the general.”

Ning Chen rolled his eyes, but his curiosity really had been caught.

“Come on. Let’s go take a look.”

Ning Chen came out to the main hall and saw the lady physician — eighteen or nineteen, by the look of her.

At the first glance, Ning Chen genuinely felt struck.

For looks and figure, this lady physician was not beneath Yudie.

Ning Chen looked her over.

She had a soft, delicate oval face, dark bright almond eyes beneath her brows, and a fine jeweled hairpin set in hair piled up like black clouds… a pale green silk skirt, with a cloak thrown over it.

The heavy cloak could not hide how sultry her figure was.

Ning Chen kept one hand behind his back, looking easy about it, but that hand could reach the crossbow at his waist in an instant.

The woman rose and bowed low. “This humble woman is Zisu. I greet Ning the Silver Coat.”

Her voice was lovely too, like pearls falling on a jade plate.

“Zisu?”

Ning Chen felt the name was somehow familiar.

Zisu smiled charmingly. “Does Ning the Silver Coat find this humble woman’s name familiar?”

Ning Chen inclined his head slightly.

“Because zisu is a kind of medicine.” (TL Note: Zisu — perilla, or purple mint — is a common herb in Chinese medicine.)

It came to Ning Chen all at once — no wonder it sounded familiar.

Ning Chen looked at her. “I wonder who sent Miss Zisu to see to my health?”

Zisu smiled brightly. “This humble woman came on her own.”

“Hm?”

Ning Chen narrowed his eyes, watching her.

Zisu said, easy and self-possessed, “Ning the Silver Coat of Great Xuan is a man of great and famous name, his good name known the whole world over… beauties have always loved heroes since ancient times, and Zisu is a woman too, and can feel admiration like any other… so I slipped away from my master and came here in secret.”

Ning Chen kept his face perfectly still, but underneath it he was more on his guard than ever.

Zisu laughed sweetly. “Doesn’t Ning the Silver Coat want to ask who my master is?”

“Who?”

“My master is… the Physician Immortal, Shang Lu.”

Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed very slightly. He knew that name.

When Prince Fu and the Empress had plotted their rebellion, he had gone looking for Lin Wen, the Master Director of the Imperial Physicians’ Bureau… Lin Wen had told him he had a senior classmate named Shang Lu, and Ning Chen had even sent Gu Yichun to Liangzhou to find the man, but he had never been found.

Shang Lu — that was also the name of a medicine.

Did every one of these physicians like to name themselves after herbs?

Zisu smiled charmingly. “Lin Wen is this humble woman’s uncle in the craft. Ning the Silver Coat surely knows him?”

(End of Chapter 260)