Having seen the Changling Army off, Ning Chen went back to his tent.
He called in Yuan Long and the others.
“Brother Qi, Yuan Long, the frontier is stable now… I’ll set out for the capital tomorrow.”
“The men left holding the frontier were rebels once, after all, so you’ll want to keep an eye on them… after I’m gone, drill them harder, and don’t be afraid to tighten the military code.”
Qi Yuanzhong and Yuan Long nodded.
Yuan Long looked at Ning Chen with worry all over his face.
The business between Ning Chen and the Wu woman emperor was a butcher’s blade hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment.
If it came out on this trip back to the capital, there would be far more chance of ill than good for Ning Chen.
Ning Chen saw what he was thinking, smiled at him, and gave him a look meant to put him at ease.
“Report… General Ning, a small enemy force has been sighted inside the pass.”
They were still talking when a young, ringing voice came from outside the tent.
Inside the pass?
Ning Chen stared for a moment, then understood, and laughed. “That’ll be Pang Yun and his people.”
“Yuan Long, go and bring Pang Yun to me.”
Yuan Long rose. “Yes, sir!”
Out on the snow-covered open ground, Pang Yun and his party were in rags, filthy and unkempt.
That bastard Ning Chen had taken their horses and their weapons… which meant they couldn’t even hunt. The whole way had been bitter cold, with too little clothing and too little food, and after twenty-some days on the road every one of them had wasted away.
Several of their soldiers had starved to death.
They had thought things would be better once they reached the frontier.
But as soon as they got near it, they were surrounded by Great Xuan soldiers.
“My name is Pang Yun. I want to see your Grand Tutor Zhao.”
The man in charge was a Captain of a Hundred. He looked Pang Yun over as though he were a moron and gave a small, contemptuous laugh. “Grand Tutor Zhao? You mean Zhao Bokang?”
Pang Yun was startled. How did these soldiers dare say their own commander in chief’s name out loud?
Before he could make sense of it, the Captain of a Hundred drew the saber at his waist. “Come here. Stick your neck out.”
Pang Yun was shocked and furious. “What do you think you’re doing? Do you know who I am?”
“Of course I do. Wu Kingdom garbage… you wanted to see Zhao Bokang, didn’t you? Stick your neck out and I’ll send you to him right now.”
Pang Yun realized something was wrong. “What do you mean by that?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard that Zhao Bokang was cut down by General Ning Chen of our Great Xuan?” The Captain of a Hundred pointed at the wall. “Take a good look. Zhao Bokang’s head is still hanging on the gate.”
Pang Yun’s face changed completely. He squinted hard, but the distance was too great and he could make out nothing at all.
His face was full of disbelief. “How is that possible? Zhao Bokang had a hundred and forty thousand men. How could Ning Chen have taken the pass in a matter of days?”
The Captain of a Hundred gave a small, contemptuous laugh. “Days? That’s an insult to General Ning… I don’t mind telling you, General Ning led us in and took the pass in half a day.”
Pang Yun and the rest of them stood gaping, dumbstruck.
“Take a look at these bits of Wu Kingdom garbage. Don’t they look like a flock of stupid geese?”
The Great Xuan soldiers looked at Pang Yun and his party and burst out laughing.
Just then, Yuan Long arrived.
“Pang Yun, come with me. General Ning wants to see you.”
Ning Chen sat cradling a bowl of hot tea, warming his hands and sipping at it.
“General Ning, I’ve brought Pang Yun.”
Yuan Long’s voice came from outside the tent.
“Come in!”
The tent flap lifted and Yuan Long brought Pang Yun inside.
Ning Chen looked him up and down and couldn’t help being amused. “What happened to you? Anyone who didn’t know better would think you were fleeing a famine.”
The moment Pang Yun saw Ning Chen, his eyes were almost on fire.
But this was no place to run wild, so he said coldly, “For all of it, we have General Ning to thank.”
If they had reached the frontier alive at all, it was because heaven had not sent a blizzard down on them these past weeks.
Ning Chen smiled radiantly. “No need to thank me. It was the least I could do.”
Pang Yun was so angry his heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys were all trembling.
Ning Chen gestured to the other side of the low table. “Please, sit.”
Pang Yun hesitated, then came over and sat down cross-legged.
Ning Chen poured him a cup of hot tea.
Pang Yun pressed his cracked lips together but didn’t dare touch it.
Ning Chen laughed. “If I wanted you dead, it would take one stroke of a blade. I wouldn’t go to the trouble of poisoning you… I’m not like certain contemptible people who only know how to play dirty.”
Certain contemptible people meant the Wu woman emperor, of course.
Pang Yun knew nothing about Her Majesty drugging Ning Chen, and he thought Ning Chen had a point—killing him wouldn’t call for anything as troublesome as poison.
He picked up the bowl of hot tea and, never mind how hot it was, gulped down several long swallows.
Ning Chen said with a smile, “Yuan Long, have someone bring him some dry rations.”
“Yes, sir!”
Ning Chen studied Pang Yun. “I still don’t know what post Mr. Pang holds in the Wu Kingdom.”
Pang Yun let out a long sigh. “I hold no power and no post. I come out of the Bureau of Counsel.”
That got Ning Chen’s interest.
He knew the Wu Kingdom had two particularly famous institutions—the Bureau of Counsel and the Bureau of Arms.
By counsel, the realm is kept at peace.
By arms, the officials are kept in check.
One civil and one martial: that was the Bureau of Counsel and the Bureau of Arms.
The Bureau of Counsel devised strategy for the woman emperor and trained her secret agents.
The Bureau of Arms was like the Great Xuan’s Inspectorate, charged with watching the officials.
Both institutions answered to the woman emperor alone.
Ning Chen looked at Pang Yun, all smiles. “So you come out of the Bureau of Counsel. Then you must know how many Wu Kingdom spies there are in my Great Xuan.”
“Why don’t you take the trouble to tell me? A hundred taels of silver for every name. How’s that?”
Pang Yun shook his head. “I’m only a small fish. How could I know secrets at that level?”
Ning Chen smiled. “Mr. Pang shouldn’t sell himself short. I’ve met your Wu woman emperor. If you were only a small fish, why would she have sent you to see me?”
Pang Yun was stunned. “You’ve met Her Majesty?”
Ning Chen nodded. “Just yesterday. Your woman emperor invited me to a private meeting five miles outside the pass.”
A private meeting?
Pang Yun’s face darkened, anger in his eyes. “General Ning, mind your words!”
Ning Chen’s expression turned playful, and he said teasingly, “Every word of it is true. Ask Pan the Gold Coat if you don’t believe me… the moment your woman emperor laid eyes on me, she was head over heels.”
“She cried and begged to be my concubine, and I turned her down with the air of a man in the right… I, Ning Chen, live as a man of the Great Xuan and will die as a soul of the Great Xuan. How could I marry a woman of an enemy state? Not even if she’s an emperor.”
Pang Yun’s chest heaved with rage. “Ning Chen, how dare you insult Her Majesty the woman emperor of my Wu Kingdom. I, I—”
He kept on with the I, and still couldn’t think of a single thing to threaten Ning Chen with. In his fury he moved to overturn the table.
“You turn that table over and I’ll cut your hands off.”
Ning Chen said it, all smiles.
Pang Yun froze mid-motion. He believed Ning Chen would do it, and he sullenly lowered his hand.
Just then, Yuan Long came back with the dry rations.
Ning Chen picked up a piece and held it out. “Mr. Pang, you must be starving. Here, eat while we talk… tell me, how many Wu Kingdom spies are there in my Great Xuan’s capital?”
“I really don’t know!”
As he said it, Pang Yun reached out for the rations. Most days lately he had been filling his belly with snow, and digging up grass roots when he was lucky. He was so hungry he could hardly see straight.
But just as his hand was about to touch it, Ning Chen drew the rations back, took a bite himself, and said thickly around his mouthful, “Mr. Pang isn’t taking the hint.”
(End of Chapter 283)