On the other side of the camp and on the battlefield, Yuan Baifu’s horse had its leg slashed by the enemy. The injury wasn’t serious, but the pain made the horse rear up in the middle of the fiercest fighting and threw Yuan Baifu, who was still fighting bravely, down to the ground.

In war, such things were common. For the soldiers, however, a horse was like a part of their own body. Some even felt more affection for their horses than for their comrades, because at critical moments a comrade might not make it in time to save you, but your horse would always seize the chance to save your life.

…

 

Yet Yuan Baifu’s case was the complete opposite. His horse had thrown him off. While every other general boasted about the bond between them and their steeds, his own horse had tossed him aside just for a small wound.

Although Yuan Baifu wasn’t injured, when he returned to camp his heart felt very unsettled.

He removed his armor and walked with heavy steps to the clay stove. He poured himself a cup of water irritably, but when he drank it, he found it was cold.

Yuan Baifu: “…”

He held the cup, half-filled with cold water, staring at it blankly, not knowing what he was thinking. At that moment, his personal guard came in to report, “General Yuan, General Qu has come.”

Yuan Baifu froze. Why would Qu Yunmie come here? Since they had marched out of Yanmen Pass, Qu Yunmie never came to find him even once.

He instinctively stood up, but the one who lifted the curtain and entered was not Qu Yunmie, but Qu Jin.

Right, if it had been Qu Yunmie, the guard would have called him the King. Ever since Qu Yunmie became king, no one would call him General Qu anymore.

In fact, even before he was king, Qu Yunmie didn’t allow his men to call him “General Qu.” “Great General Qu” was his father and “General Qu” was his elder brother. He reserved those titles to honor them. As for himself, he had his men call him by his posts—such as “General Who Annihilates the Hu,” “Grand General of the North,” and so on.

In his younger years, Qu Yunmie liked giving himself all kinds of flashy titles. None of them were given to him by others, nor were they officially bestowed by the Emperor, but he had the ability to make those childish titles sound across the land. The people came to recognize them, and in the end, everyone, including the court, had to pinch their noses and admit those titles belonged to him and even beg him to accept imperial decrees.

It was strange. Why, when hearing “General Qu,” had Yuan Baifu instinctively thought it was Qu Yunmie himself?

No one knew, and Yuan Baifu wouldn’t think too much about it. He only asked Qu Jin, “Why did you come?”

Qu Jin wasn’t a direct subordinate of Qu Yunmie, nor of Yuan Baifu. Qu Yunmie had placed him under Wang Xinyong, as the Left Commandant. The Left and Right Commandants held the greatest authority aside from the four main generals, and the Left held higher rank than the Right. So when Wang Xinyong was sent to lead troops to Qingluan Ridge, Qu Jin had temporarily taken his place, commanding the rearguard.

Earlier, for insolent words, he had been punished by Gao Xunzhi with a military cane beating. Though his rank was high, he couldn’t avoid being bedridden for several days. By the time he recovered, Qu Yunmie’s own injuries had improved greatly. After much hesitation, Qu Jin had gone personally to Qu Yunmie to plead guilty.

Qu Yunmie hadn’t held his offense against him. After all, Qu Yunmie himself was someone very prone to offending others with his words. Since both bore the surname Qu, perhaps this was a family trait. Qu Yunmie simply ordered him to return and atone through merit, docking one year of salary, to be offset from his military merits.

In truth, it was no punishment at all. With Qu Jin’s rank, even if he slacked off, plenty of merits would still fall on his head. This was why everyone dreamed of becoming a great general: aside from the prestige, the speed of accumulating merit was far greater. Common soldiers had to kill countless enemies to rise a little, while generals earned the same merits for every enemy their men killed.

This was Qu Yunmie’s leniency toward Qu Jin, but Qu Jin failed to realize it. Or perhaps he did, but simply didn’t care. What he remembered most was what Qu Yunmie told him when he went to confess.

“Since when is it your place to accuse me of recklessness? Was it in the moment I lay gravely wounded and unconscious, that you stopped being Left General and became my strategist instead?

“My parents are also your elders! If you cannot distinguish closeness and distance, seniority and respect, then go home and copy the Qu family genealogy two hundred times! Your year of salary is docked. It will be tallied with your merits after this war ends, so you’d better learn your lesson!”

Then Qu Yunmie had thrown him out.

Xiao Rong had watched from the side and could not help asking, “The Qu family still has a genealogy?”

Qu Yunmie turned his head slowly. “It has been passed down for four hundred sixty years, twenty-eight generations. Our ancestors once held office. One of them was even Chancellor of the Dragon City State.”

Xiao Rong was baffled. “I’ve never heard of a Dragon City State.”

Then suddenly he realized, “Is Dragon City that small town in what used to be Beiping Commandery, now Liaoxi Commandery, near Shaohai? People claimed to have seen dragons rise from the sea there, so it was called Dragon City.”

Qu Yunmie gave a low hum, tacitly agreeing.

Xiao Rong’s next words darkened his face immediately. “Such a tiny place could be made into a fiefdom? Hahaha, that prince must have been utterly out of favor. That’s no different from exile, hahaha.”

Halfway through laughing, Xiao Rong stopped, for he had seen Qu Yunmie’s black face. He pursed his lips, then solemnly said, “Small though it was, it was an auspicious place. The omen of dragons centuries ago was foretelling today. Though Dragon City never produced a true Son of Heaven, it appeared for your Qu ancestor—and for you, my Lord. A bit late in blooming, but it caught up in the end. What a coincidence, it matches your family’s story exactly.”

Qu Yunmie: “…”

You really could spout nonsense.

 

…

 

Thus no one cared about Qu Jin being driven out. They shouldn’t have cared anyway. Qu Yunmie’s words hadn’t been too harsh, and they were reasonable. It was Qu Jin who had erred, he deserved the scolding.

Regardless, Qu Jin didn’t think so. When he went to Qu Yunmie, he had believed he was pleading guilty, but deep inside, he’d wanted Qu Yunmie to help him regain face. Gao Xunzhi had ordered his punishment, and he wasn’t convinced. The only one in the whole army who could overrule Gao Xunzhi was Qu Yunmie.

Gao Xunzhi actually rated Qu Jin fairly highly. Unlike Zhang Biezhi, Qu Jin never caused trouble. In fact, he never caused trouble at all. His conduct was steady, he didn’t use his family name to suppress others, nor flaunt his ties with Qu Yunmie. Gao Xunzhi always thought Qu Jin was quite good.

Indeed Qu Jin wasn’t bad—except for one flaw. A cup of rice earns gratitude; a bushel of rice earns resentment.

 

…

When Qu Jin came to Yuan Baifu, he began with polite chatter, but gradually the topic shifted.

He revealed his dissatisfaction with Gao Xunzhi and Qu Yunmie, trying to get Yuan Baifu to share his resentment. He didn’t know where Wang Xinyong had gone, only that he must be on some special mission—missions that used to be given to Yuan Baifu.

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. His dissatisfaction grew into resentment. Xiao Rong hadn’t known this, but Qu Jin, though also a Qu and somewhat capable, was only noteworthy within the Northern Army. Outside, he was less known than Dongfang Jin. While serving under Wang Xinyong, he had been as invisible as Wang Xinyong himself.

Thus history had no record of Qu Jin.

Therefore, Xiao Rong didn’t know that when Yuan Baifu later betrayed them, there had been an accomplice: Qu Jin. He too was a Qu, from the same clan, but calmer and easier to get along with than Qu Yunmie, who was obsessed with vengeance. If the Northern Army must be loyal to a Qu, why not to Qu Jin?

Following Yuan Baifu, some who still felt loyal to Qu Yue might hesitate. However, if Qu Yunmie himself had problems, and they had no choice but to abandon him for another Qu, then their guilt would be much less.

Qu Jin had no thought of betrayal. He and Qu Yunmie were of the same clan. Families splitting across factions did happen, but rarely. Everything Qu Jin had now was given by Qu Yunmie, how could he dream of independence?

He came to Yuan Baifu because, first, Yuan Baifu had always treated him kindly, and Qu Jin couldn’t explain why, but of the four generals, he liked Yuan Baifu most. Second, he hoped Yuan Baifu would stand with him. Yuan Baifu had always behaved rationally, standing on the side of justice, so Qu Jin felt his reasoning would persuade him.

In truth, though, his actions were forming a faction. He wanted to split the generals into camps to counter and sideline Gao Xunzhi.

Who would be more suitable than Yuan Baifu? He was the King’s most trusted man. Though he could not stop the King from acting, at least the King had never shown murderous intent toward him.

Poor Qu Jin. May he realize in his next life the importance of updating information in time.

 

………

 

Under Qu Jin’s influence, Yuan Baifu recalled all the recent events. One after another, none had gone smoothly for him. This made him angry and restless.

Still, no matter what Qu Jin said, Yuan Baifu didn’t show the discontent Qu Jin had hoped for. Disappointed, Qu Jin left. Yuan Baifu sat in silence for a while, then stood up.

He went to the stables. At first, when the horse was injured, everyone thought its leg had been severed. Later they found it was only cut, the bone intact. Such a horse could be nursed back—perhaps not fit for battle again, but still useful as a riding horse.

Horses were expensive. Unless absolutely necessary, no one would give them up.

The vet had already examined the horse and, to prevent it from kicking, gave it mafeisan, an anesthetic that wasn’t cheap. Ordinary horses never received such treatment, but this was Yuan Baifu’s horse, a general’s horse was more precious than some people.

 

…

 

Edited by: Antiope

 

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