“Lord Jiang, let’s leave this dinner until I come back.”

Jiang Zhengyang stared blankly at Ning Chen.

Ning Chen said, smiling, “I have urgent military business and cannot be held up… When I come back I’ll certainly look you up and we’ll drink deep.”

That said, he looked around him. “Have the Changling Army’s people come?”

Just then a tall, dark-skinned fellow pushed his way through from behind the Lingzhou officials.

“This officer, Lei An, Vice Marshal of the Changling Army, greets General Ning.”

A marshal’s post stands one rank above a commandant’s. Lei An was a vice marshal, which put him at about Yuan Long’s level.

Ning Chen looked at the indignation all over Lei An’s face and found it a little funny.

Civil officials and military officers have never got along.

He supposed Lei An had been deliberately blocked to the back of the crowd.

“Come on. Take me to the Lingzhou camp.”

“Yes. This way, General Ning.”

Having said it, Lei An threw a satisfied glance at the Lingzhou officials, high and low.

What good does it do you to rush in first? General Ning still has to go with me.

A military man’s mind is a simple thing, and every bit of that feeling was up on his face.

Ning Chen took his men and went straight for the Lingzhou camp.

Behind them a crowd of Lingzhou officials were left looking at one another, in disarray in the wind.

“Lord Jiang, this General Ning does not seem to show you much face.”

One of the officials said it in a snide voice.

Jiang Zhengyang turned his head to him. “General Ning and I have been through life and death together. What the hell do you know… Do the work you were given, and stop thinking all day about patting the horse’s rump. If you can’t do it, go home and farm.”

The official who had spoken went red in the face. The pat on the horse’s rump had landed on its leg.

The rest of the officials were all pleased at another man’s misfortune.

Ning Chen took his men to the camp outside the walls of Lingzhou.

A big, powerfully built man was waiting at the gate of the camp with his people.

Ning Chen waved a hand, and the two thousand musketeers halted where they stood.

He went forward with Pan Yucheng and Feng Qizheng.

Lei An made the introduction. “General Ning, this is Mu Anbang, Marshal Mu.”

“Marshal Mu, this is General Ning.”

Mu Anbang looked Ning Chen over, and a doubtful look came onto his rough face. “You’re General Ning?”

Ning Chen nodded. “The same.”

“You don’t look it. You don’t look it at all.”

Ning Chen raised an eyebrow. “What don’t I look like?”

Mu Anbang said in a thick voice, “I’ve never seen General Ning, but I’ve heard the name a long while… They say General Ning is eight feet tall, with knotted muscles, and that he has three heads and six arms.”

Ning Chen’s forehead filled with black lines.

Feng Qizheng could not hold it in and burst out laughing.

Ning Chen looked back and glared at him, and then looked at Mu Anbang with nothing to say.

“Who has been spreading that around?”

Mu Anbang’s whole face was serious. “That is what the brothers in the army all say.”

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched, and he said sourly:

“Eight feet tall, three heads and six arms… Think about it. Would that still be a man?”

Mu Anbang scratched his head. “I didn’t believe it at first either, but everybody said so… It seems the reports were wrong. General Ning is the same as us. No three heads and six arms. Only one head and two arms.”

Ning Chen went numb, and said flatly, “You’re the one with one head and two brain cells.”

Ning Chen suspected the blunt fool was calling him names by a roundabout road, but he had no proof.

Lei An said, “General Ning, Marshal Mu… shall we go in and talk?”

Ning Chen nodded and made a sound of assent.

On the way Ning Chen asked, “Is the grain and fodder ready?”

Mu Anbang said, “It should be ready.”

Ning Chen raised an eyebrow. “Should be?”

Lei An said quickly, “Let General Ning’s anger go. The grain and fodder are Army Supervisor Liu’s charge… Marshal Mu has the drilling of the men.”

“Army Supervisor Liu?”

Lei An said, “Liu Wenying, the Army Supervisor. He is waiting for General Ning in the camp.”

Mu Anbang was a hard fighter, first into the charge and not afraid to die… but strategy was his weak point. Put plainly, he had courage and no head.

So the court had given him Lei An.

But Lei An was only a vice marshal, and his authority was limited.

Mu Anbang had the drilling of the men and Liu Wenying handled everything else. The division of work was clear.

They came to a tent.

Lei An went ahead and lifted the flap. “Ning the Silver Coat, please.”

Ning Chen went in, and the first thing he saw inside the tent was a civil official in a crimson official’s robe, sitting down.

The man was long and thin, somewhere in his fifties, with a beard, and his skin was pale — nothing at all like the rough men of the camp.

The Lingzhou garrison was not like Beilin Pass.

At Beilin Pass the army was quartered inside the walls.

The Lingzhou garrison was quartered outside them, so the Army Supervisor had to travel with the army.

Seeing somebody come in, Liu Wenying put a hand on the low table and got to his feet.

“Army Supervisor Liu, let me introduce you. This is General Ning.”

Liu Wenying came to meet him with his face heaped with smiles, and clasped his fists and bowed. “I have long looked up to your name. General Ning is wise beyond his years, and your name has come into this official’s ears like thunder… To see you today is the good fortune of three lifetimes.”

Ning Chen returned the bow. “The Army Supervisor is too kind.”

Then all at once Ning Chen sniffed. “You’ve been drinking?”

He had caught the smell of wine off Liu Wenying.

Drink was forbidden in the army.

Liu Wenying lifted his sleeve and smelled it. “Army business is heavy and this official often can’t sleep. Last night I couldn’t get to sleep, and drank a few cups… I never thought the smell would still be on me. Bear with me, General Ning.”

Ning Chen made a sound and did not take him up on a small thing like that. He walked over and sat down in the chief place, square and at his ease.

“Army Supervisor Liu, how does the grain and fodder stand?”

Liu Wenying bowed. “Nearly ready. Two days more and it can all be ready.”

Ning Chen’s face darkened. “Nearly ready?”

Liu Wenying said, smiling, “General Ning, getting grain and fodder together takes time. This time really is too tight.”

Ning Chen said heavily, “Army Supervisor Liu, do you know what is meant by in war, speed is everything? It took me five days on the road from the capital to Lingzhou… Five days, and the grain and fodder for not even thirty thousand men and horses is not ready?”

“Do you know what crime it is to hold up a military movement?”

Liu Wenying’s whole face was a fawning smile. “Let General Ning’s anger go. This official has done his best… Two days. Give this official two more days and it will certainly be ready…”

Before Liu Wenying had finished, a woman’s voice came from outside, all sweetness.

“Lord Liu… Lord Liu, where are you?”

“Lord Liu, stop playing hide-and-seek with this girl. Come back and this girl will drink with you.”

Ning Chen’s face darkened, and his eyes came down hard on Liu Wenying.

Liu Wenying’s smile was fawning. “Don’t take offense, General Ning. They are two concubines of mine… They only guessed today and came to the camp to visit this official.”

By the military law of the Great Xuan, family may visit, but they may not enter the camp, and still less stay the night in it.

Lei An looked as though he had something to say and did not say it.

Ning Chen glanced at him but did not press.

“Feng Qizheng, go and bring them in.”

“Yes.”

Feng Qizheng took the order and went out of the tent.

“Aiya… don’t drag a person around, you’re so rough, you’ve hurt this girl’s arm.”

Along with the sweet voice, two women were dragged in by Feng Qizheng.

Ning Chen looked the two women over.

Both were good-looking, with figures made to draw the eye and pale skin… and the dust of that trade all over them.

The weather was bitter and the ground frozen, but the two of them had drunk and did not feel the cold. They were thinly dressed and showing a great deal, half their bosoms out.

And each of them had a wine pot in one hand and a cup in the other.

Feng Qizheng let go of them, and to his surprise the two began to make free with him, pressing up close of their own accord and holding a cup to his mouth. “My lord, come… this girl will drink to you.”

Feng Qizheng frowned and pushed the two of them away.

He knew what mattered and what did not. At the courtesans’ quarter it could go as late as it liked, since that was a place for chasing pleasure… but not here. This was an army camp.

And he had come with Ning Chen. Every word and every act had to be watched, and he could not make Ning Chen lose face.

“Don’t push me!”

“How dull you are… Come, my lord, let’s drink…”

The two women fastened on Mu Anbang instead.

Ning Chen went livid, and his eyes were on Liu Wenying. “These are your two concubines?”

Liu Wenying’s smile could not have been more fawning. “If General Ning likes them, I’ll have them stay tonight and wait on you.”

Ning Chen very nearly ground his back teeth to powder. “You really are damned generous.”

(End of Chapter 240)