A few people followed Shi Tou to a row of low wooden sheds. Several bare-chested soldiers were sleeping on long benches. Seeing people coming, they lazily crawled up.
"General," Shi Tou walked up with a smile, "we'd like to rent a few rooms and stay for two nights."
"What do you do?" asked the head soldier.
"We are merchants on the way to Nanzhao Kingdom."
"Do you have travel documents?"
"Yes, yes."
Shi Tou took out the documents from his clothes and respectfully handed them over. After the soldier checked without any issues, he said, "It's 500 coins per room per day, food, fodder and clear water are charged separately. How many rooms do you need?"
"So expensive?" Before Shi Tou could answer, Liu Yun couldn't help but cry out, "These are just wood sheds, I see there are not even beds inside, yet you charge 500 coins?"
The head soldier looked at him disdainfully and said, "You don't have to stay."
Liu Yun wanted to say more but was pulled by the sleeve by Zhang County Captain.
In a place like this, let alone 500 coins, even if they asked for one or two silvers a day, they would have to obediently take it out.
Otherwise they could only sleep in the woods.
But of course the woods were not a good place to sleep. Just mosquitoes, ants and other insects could make it unbearable, and there was a high possibility of encountering wild beasts. Ordinary merchants would rather spend more money than joke around with their own lives.
"General, we need four rooms," said Shi Tou.
"Oh, five people want four rooms?" The head soldier was suddenly delighted, "You guys are quite generous. I'll waive the fees for clear water and fodder for you."
"Thank you, General."
Zhang County Captain handed over two taels of silver, and they were led to the front of the wood sheds.
"Here are the four rooms. If you need anything, just call out and someone will come," said the soldier leader before leaving.
After the military leader left, they started assigning rooms. Li Yao, Liu Yun and Shi Tou each got a separate room, while Zhang County Captain would share one room with the other person.
Li Yao walked into her shed and found that apart from a simple bed made of wooden sticks, there was nothing else inside.
Moreover, there was only some hay on the bed, no bedding or straw mats at all. The floor was also messy, giving off a strange smell.
She didn't really mind though, having stayed in all kinds of harsh environments before, but Liu Yun couldn't take it.
"How can people live in this kind of place? And charge 500 coins, this is simply profiteering!"
Although he complained, after traveling continuously for three days, he was already exhausted. Lying on the messy hay, he fell asleep before long.
Li Yao also rested for a while. At dusk, Shi Tou bought some food and Zhang County Captain fetched a few buckets of clear water.
Without a proper table, they placed the food on a rock and ate around it.
According to Shi Tou, the stockade where Liu Yuan was trapped was still more than twenty li away, and there was no good road, only accessible on foot.
"How many people are there in the stockade?"
"At least a thousand I guess. It's a big one," said Shi Tou. "The stockade is built in a valley, surrounded by steep cliffs everywhere, no way to get in."
"No way in?" Liu Yun was puzzled. "Then how do they get in and out?"
"Cableways," Shi Tou replied. "There are two cableways at the stockade gate connecting to the hillside across."
"That's too inconvenient, isn't it?"
"But it's safe," said Zhang County Captain. "Unlike Great Ling, each stockade here in Nanzhao is like a small country, with the chief as its ruler. Conflicts and even wars between stockades are common."
"Doesn't the King of Nanzhao govern them then?"
"How to govern?" Zhang County Captain said. "You've seen how high the mountains are and how difficult the roads are. No matter how large an army is sent, it's useless. They can only let them be."
Liu Yun understood now.
No wonder those senior officials always said Nanzhao was an uncivilized place. Indeed it wasn't groundless.
With this kind of governance, how could it grow stronger?
"There are a total of 5 mountain stockades along the border here," said Shi Tou, drawing a simple map on the ground with a stick. Pointing to the nearest circle, he said, "Our master is imprisoned there, called Hong Shan Stockade."
"It seems we must ask the border army for help if we want to rescue them," said Liu Yun after looking for a while. "Otherwise there is no chance at all."
"That's what I thought too," said Shi Tou. "But to ask the border army, it will cost a lot of money."
"As long as we can rescue them, what does some money matter? It's better than giving money to that Hong Shan Stockade."
"We can go ask, but we can't reveal our identities," said Li Yao.
"Why not?" They looked at her puzzled. Wasn't that common sense?
Although all under heaven is the king's land, military orders must be followed when stationed outside.
Moreover, this was the Nanzhao border, sparsely populated and inaccessible. Without even a guard team, revealing the prince's identity as soon as they arrived, if the border commander had any ulterior motives, they might not even know how they died.
Li Yao was too lazy to explain too much to him, simply saying, "No reason, just better to be careful."
Liu Yun was unwilling at first, thinking the prince's identity was quite useful, no need to worry about the border army disobeying. But he had promised to listen to Li Yao before departing, so he could only say, "Alright, we'll go as ordinary merchants then."
Through the soldiers guarding the courier station, Li Yao and Liu Yun finally got to see the garrison commander General Wu after several referrals.
Following the two guides in, they saw almost all bare-chested soldiers everywhere. Some sprawled on straw mats sleeping, some gathered in groups of three or five sitting at tent entrances throwing dice and gambling, some were even shamelessly flirting with red faces.
Seeing Li Yao's good looks, some even dared to whistle at her and yell obscenities.
In short, none of them were proper.
Rather than soldiers guarding the borders, they were more like a bunch of rogues and hooligans on the streets.
Liu Yun's face turned blue from anger.
As soldiers guarding this critical border area, how could they be so undisciplined? How to defend Great Ling's territory?
Enduring the anger, Liu Yun finally entered the General's residence with Li Yao.
It was another scene here, over a dozen girls in thin gauze dresses were desperately flirting and seducing. Their appearances were as enchanting as can be, making even Liu Yun blush.
Sitting in the main seat was a fat man with a bulging belly wearing silk summer clothes, lazily lying on a long couch. His head rested on the slender legs of a delicate beauty. On both sides were two other beauties, one fanning him gently, the other lightly feeding him fruit slices.
Liu Yun recognized him at once. This was the General guarding the critical Great Ling-Nanzhao border—Wu Ling!
If it were somewhere else, he would have revealed his identity on the spot and arrested this man for questioning.
But even enduring great discomfort now, he still had to endure.
At this moment, he understood why Aunt Li did not let him reveal his identity. If Wu Ling knew his identity, he would likely kill him to keep it secret.
