Chapter 217: Chapter 114: The Start of the Storm_1
Hui Wenzu returned to the post station with his troops. He brought not the Yin City garrison, but troops from the county garrison in the southern suburbs of Yin City.
The local official system of Yan State was somewhat chaotic. It was divided into substantive and nominal posts, alongside a plethora of symbolic positions used to reward and pacify local influential families. This gave an overall impression of a hodgepodge.
However, Yan State’s military system was very streamlined, divided into three main armies: the North Border Army, under the jurisdiction of the Earl of North Border; the Forbidden Army, in the capital; and the Jingnan Army, permanently stationed in Yinlang County.
These three armies could be considered Yan State’s ace field armies, serving as the cornerstone of the country.
The North Border Army was controlled by the Earl of North Border and could, to a certain extent, even disregard the Yan Emperor’s edicts. The Forbidden Army and the Jingnan Army, however, were the private forces of successive Yan Emperors.
Below these three armies were the county troops. The strength and equipment of these county troops varied greatly from one county to another. Tiancheng County, being near the capital city and its troops led by the Eldest Prince, naturally had county troops superior in both loyalty and equipment. As for the county troops in other commanderies and fiefdoms, there were ambiguous factors regarding their quality and the extent of their infiltration by local influential families.
Further down the hierarchy were the purely local garrison forces, like the Hutou City garrison and Zheng Fan’s current garrison troops at Green Willow Fortress in Yinlang County. Frankly, over seventy percent of these were essentially the private forces of local influential families. For example, Zuo Jiqian’s Jitui Fort was entirely propped up by the Zuo Family’s support.
Logically, since Hui Wenzu had left first, he was presumably going to summon reinforcements. He should have called for the Yin City garrison, which was closest to the post station. However, the Yin City garrison didn’t arrive; instead, it was the county troops from the Yinlang County garrison stationed outside Yin City.
There was much to ponder in this situation.
It was like the Hong Kong police in later-generation movies: by the time they arrived, the incident was already over, leaving only Blind Bei and Xue Three lying on the ground, seriously wounded.
Initially, Hui Wenzu planned to send Xue Three and Blind Bei to a nearby medical officer for treatment, but Blind Bei refused, insisting on returning to Green Willow Fortress.
Hui Wenzu agreed. He personally led two county garrison captains and eight hundred county soldiers to Green Willow Fortress ahead of the others, while Blind Bei and Xue Three followed in a horse-drawn carriage.
By the time the carriage carrying Blind Bei and Xue Three reached Green Willow Fortress, it was already bright daylight. As their carriage entered the fortress, they happened to see a gloomy-faced Hui Wenzu leading his troops out. Judging by their direction, they appeared to be heading straight for Nanwang City.
A Ming and Liang Cheng each carried one of the heavily injured men, Blind Bei and Xue Three, from the carriage into a room.
After dismissing everyone else, Siniang used a pair of scissors to cut open all the clothes on Blind Bei’s upper body. Then, she took out a needle and thread and began to stitch the terrifying wound on his chest.
Meanwhile, Liang Cheng was setting and splinting Xue Three’s bones, simultaneously instructing Fanli to go outside and fetch some stone slabs.
A Ming wasn’t idle either; he told Blind Bei what had happened.
Blind Bei listened, pondering. Siniang, who was stitching his wound, said with concern, "Stop thinking for now. Rest after I’m done stitching you up."
Blind Bei shook his head. "I can’t rest, at least not yet. That Mr. Chen, has he been brought into the fortress too?"
"Yes," A Ming replied. "Following My lord’s instructions, we’ve given him some medicine, but nothing else has been done. My lord has gone to bed. He was probably drained and utterly exhausted after the Mo Wan possessed him."
Blind Bei nodded. "That Mr. Chen... although he’s a bit naive, a bit foolish, and rather reckless, he’s fundamentally a decent, honest man. My lord did the right thing."
"Did the right thing?" Siniang interjected. "Earlier, My lord had A Ming help him walk over to that man, and he was nearly dragged down to die with him by that man in his last moments!"
Blind Bei shook his head. "As they say, ’nothing ventured, nothing gained,’ and ’you can’t expect to catch a wolf if you’re unwilling to use bait.’ My lord had a profound reason for doing so."
"Are you praising My lord, or trying to comfort yourself?" A Ming asked.
"Perhaps both." Blind Bei paused and clenched his teeth. The pain from Siniang’s stitching was clearly intense, yet he forced himself to stay alert. "A Ming," he said, "go immediately and contact the liaison person the Sixth Prince left near us. Have them get their spies within the Qian State merchant caravans to investigate what exactly happened in Chahe Village. Tell that person this is extremely important and must be investigated with the utmost speed."
"Alright, understood," A Ming replied.
Blind Bei opened his mouth again, enduring the excruciating pain, and continued, "As for Mr. Chen, give him the best medicine. Also, assign two young ladies from the household to attend to him day and night. Make sure he has plenty of good food and drink, without interruption."
Treating someone who had nearly killed him with such generosity... truly, an ordinary person would find that difficult.
"I understand," Siniang responded.
Her young female agents were still too inexperienced for field missions, but this kind of caretaking was well within their abilities.
"A Cheng," Blind Bei said to Liang Cheng, "instruct the barbarian soldiers under your command that the presence of Shatuo Queshi and Mr. Chen in our fortress must absolutely not be leaked. You already told Hui Wenzu that you drove Mr. Chen away. I don’t think Hui Wenzu completely believed it, but he won’t pursue the matter."
"Understood," Liang Cheng acknowledged.
"This whole affair is exceedingly strange," Blind Bei concluded, his voice strained. "The powers involved are significant. Although My lord appeared to be the target, it’s possible he was merely caught up in it all as collateral damage."