3 The Course of Events

“Oh!”

Han Lei withdrew her hand and waited quietly for Zhao Zun to answer her question.

The tip of her fingers was cold and soft, like a wisp of cloud brushing across Zhao Zun’s heart. When that touch suddenly withdrew, he even felt a faint sense of longing.

Zhao Zun followed the movement of her small hand with his eyes, and only after a long while did he speak weakly.

“There are many small and large kingdoms surrounding the Great Prosperous Dynasty. To the north alone, it borders Ala, the Turks, and the Mongol Kingdom. Yong’an City and Ling’an City are the northern passes of the Great Prosperous Dynasty, and the hundred thousand soldiers under my command are the garrisons of these two cities…”

He spoke very calmly. Before losing consciousness, he had already observed carefully that everything that had appeared with Han Lei did not belong to any country around the Great Prosperous realm.

As a commander of border forces, he had always paid close attention to, and understood well, the strength of the neighboring states.

Even the Eastern Bright Empire, which was stronger than the Great Prosperous Dynasty, could not possibly produce such an exquisite ambulance, let alone a weapon that could kill from afar with only the lightest click.

If the Eastern Bright Empire possessed such a formidable weapon, it would have long since become the overlord of this continent. How could it still remain so tranquil? The other nations were all weaker than the Eastern Bright Empire, and it was even less likely that they possessed equipment this powerful.

Most importantly, iron was already a scarce resource, let alone refined iron. Where could there be such fine refined iron to forge such an unusual ambulance?

Thus Zhao Zun felt that this mysterious woman before him, even if not a friend, could certainly not be an enemy. Telling her a little would hardly be a problem.

Moreover, when he had just awakened, he had caught the two key words “time travel” and “stay for life.”

That further confirmed his judgment, even though he did not understand what this thing called time travel actually was.

Zhao Zun licked his dry, peeling lips with the tip of his tongue and continued, “The Turkish Kingdom is cold, and its people live by nomadic herding. They lack clothing and grain. In the past, they would always ride south after the autumn harvest and before winter to plunder cities. This year, after the harvest, there had already been one battle. Unexpectedly, after winter set in, the Turks gathered another great army and attacked Yong’an City again.”

“You didn’t have enough troops, so you lost?” Han Lei recalled how the marshal had just been relentlessly hunted and driven off by the Turks like a stray dog. The scene had indeed been rather miserable.

Couldn’t she speak properly?

Zhao Zun shot her a glance and shook his head.

“The fifty thousand garrison troops in Ling’an City still have to guard against the kingdoms of Ala and Meng, so they cannot be withdrawn at will for reinforcements. But the fifty thousand stationed in Yong’an City were enough to deal with the Turkish army gathered on short notice.”

“The grain and fodder for our northern garrisons are normally allocated by the Ministry of War from Jingzhou and Cangzhou, delivered on time and in set amounts every month. If there is war, additional supplies are gathered. But after the last great battle, there was not much grain and fodder left. In peacetime it would last half a month; once fighting began, it could support us for at most five days. Yet next month’s supplies would not arrive for more than ten days. I had no choice but to order Cangzhou to gather grain and fodder at once, and sent an urgent memorial to the court by the fastest post.”

“Cangzhou is already a barren land, and with warfare year after year these past few years, the grain and fodder collected were pitifully little. The fighting in Yong’an City became deadlocked and dragged on for nearly a month, and the provisions brought from Cangzhou were soon exhausted. Yet there was still no word from the court’s supplies. The soldiers could only gnaw bark and roots to survive. I sent men to inquire several times, and each time the answer was that they were still being gathered.”

Hearing this, Han Lei’s mood grew unbearably heavy. It is said that armies march on their stomachs, and as a soldier herself, she could naturally feel it keenly.

Han Lei unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Zhao Zun. “Then couldn’t you have used Ling’an City’s military grain first?”

This time, Zhao Zun gave her an appreciative look. He propped himself up, and drank a deep mouthful of the sweet, cool water.

“Ling’an City was also waiting for next month’s military grain, but in desperation I still set aside some, intending to send it first to support Yong’an City. Even if it could only be cooked into thin gruel, it would at least let the soldiers in Yong’an City hold out a few more days. I was worried about the battle situation in Yong’an City and wanted to go see for myself, but I did not want the spies of Ala and Meng to know that I was not in Ling’an City. So I changed into the armor of my personal guards, took only twenty of them, and under cover of darkness before dawn, quietly escorted the grain out of the camp.”

Beside them, Xiao Zhengfei blinked, his gaze fixed on the bottle of mineral water the whole time. So that thing was opened like that.

Xiao Zhengfei was thirsty too. After carefully recalling Han Lei’s motion of unscrewing the cap, he picked up his own bottle of mineral water and copied her, twisting it open and drinking greedily.

“Uh... Miss Han, do you have anything to eat?” Xiao Zhengfei asked, wiping the water from the corner of his mouth. Since he had already drunk the water, asking for a little food probably wasn’t too shameful.

“Oh, yes, yes, yes.”

Han Lei slapped her forehead, then hurriedly took out several cartons of milk and a few bags of bread from the passenger seat and handed them over.

How had she not thought of that? If they were short of grain, then even a prince might be hungry too!

Watching Zhao Zun and Xiao Zhengfei tear open the bread packaging and eat ravenously, Han Lei quickly helped them insert the straws into the milk.

“What is this? It smells wonderful.” Xiao Zhengfei let out a satisfied sigh, as if he had tasted some delicacy beyond compare.

Zhao Zun swallowed the bread in his mouth and nodded repeatedly as well.

“This is milk and bread. Eat slowly; there’s more in my car.” Seeing how they ate, Han Lei felt a pang in her heart.

Xiao Zhengfei nodded hard.

They really were starving.

When they set out at dawn, they had only drunk a bowl of thin porridge in which one could nearly see one’s reflection, and eaten half a flatcake. Now it was already evening.

Only when they had slowed their eating did Han Lei ask, “Was the grain and fodder you were escorting seized by those Turks just now?”

Zhao Zun shook his head. “Part of it never even made it here. The rest fell off a cliff.”

“What?” Han Lei stared in astonishment. “How could it fall off a cliff?”

Zhao Zun gave a long sigh, his eyes filled with deep grief.

Seeing that Zhao Zun’s mood was poor, Xiao Zhengfei continued, “The prince had originally decided to take the main road. But when we passed Yin Mountain, one of the guards suddenly suggested using the suspension bridge in the mountain pass, which would save half the journey. The prince was anxious about Yong’an’s situation as well, so he agreed. That suspension bridge was narrow and long, barely wide enough for two people to pass side by side. The prince led ten of us guards ahead and crossed safely. The horses carrying the grain were lined up in a single file. Just as they reached the middle of the bridge, it suddenly snapped, and the horses and grain on it all fell into the cliff. The remaining grain and the guards at the rear were still on the other side of the bridge. We looked for a road, trying to circle back and rejoin them, but we had not gone far before more than a hundred Turks rushed out from the forest beside us and ambushed us.”

Han Lei stroked her chin, her brows tightly knit.

“Listening to you, why do I feel like there’s a traitor among your guards?”