"You two stand here and wait for a while."
After the leading soldier finished speaking, he left, leaving Li Yao and Liu Yuan standing there for a full quarter hour. When the dancing girls on the field got tired and went to rest, Wu Ling then beckoned to the two of them.
Li Yao stepped forward to explain her purpose, naturally using the identity of Liu Yuan's cousin.
"General Wu, I earnestly ask you to help rescue my cousin Liu Yuan."
"This is not easy to do," Wu Ling said. "The man was captured by the people of Hong Shan Stockade, and that stockade is within the borders of the Nanzhao Kingdom. If I rashly sent troops, it would surely upset the Nanzhao Kingdom. Then the two countries would see armed conflict first, and there would surely be casualties among the soldiers, which would further undermine the fundamentals of my stationed troops."
Li Yao knew that this was Wu Ling deliberately equivocating, just to raise the price.
"General, please be accommodating. My cousin is also a commoner of Great Ling. Your sending troops to rescue him would be for the country and the people," Li Yao said. "Of course, the mobilization of the main army will inevitably require the expenditure of grain and fodder. I am willing to bear the burden."
"Hehe, since you’ve said so, this general really can’t refuse." After thinking about it, General Wu said, "To go to Hong Shan Stockade and demand hostages, it would take at least a thousand people, and the time would be at least three to five days. The expenditure for this... Let's just say five thousand taels of silver."
When Liu Yun heard this, he became even more furious.
Five thousand taels of silver was enough to feed the entire stationed army for more than a year. This guy really dared to ask for it!
He really wanted to immediately return to the Yizhou Prefecture to mobilize the stationed troops and take him down immediately.
"Thank you, General. The banknotes will be delivered afterwards."
"Well, you can go back first. After the banknotes are delivered, this general will naturally arrange it tomorrow."
After Li Yao and the others left, Wu Ling waved away his concubines and called over a man dressed as a master.
"Was that Li Yao just now?"
"Yes, General."
"It seems that what you said is true. She does have money," Wu Ling laughed. "For a businessman who helped her sell goods, she readily took out five thousand taels without changing expression."
"According to this humble one’s knowledge, this Li Yao is quite wealthy, and five thousand taels to her is but a drop in the bucket," the master said. "General, five thousand taels is still too little."
"What's the hurry? Wine must be drunk one sip at a time, and meat must be cut one slice at a time." The general laughed. "After taking her money, the troops will definitely be sent, but whether the person can be rescued or not is up to me to decide."
"The general is brilliant."
...
After leaving the general’s residence, Liu Yun's face was very ugly.
When they reached a place with no one around, he couldn't help but ask, "Auntie, should I go back to Yizhou Prefecture to mobilize troops now?"
"What, aren't the frontier battles exciting enough for you, so you want to provoke Wu Ling to rebel, and then cause internal strife in Great Ling?"
"I..."
Okay, Liu Yun admitted that he was too impulsive.
With the military power Wu Ling currently wielded, as well as the special geographical location here, if he rebelled, the rear of Great Ling would really be in turmoil.
"Then we can only give him money, and then let him send troops to rescue people."
"The money will be given," Li Yao said, "but the person definitely won't be rescued."
"Why?"
Li Yao thought to herself that this Ninth Prince was still too young, he couldn't even see through this little trick.
Fortunately, he was not the Crown Prince, and would not succeed to the throne in the future, otherwise Great Ling would be in danger.
"Auntie," Seeing that Liu Yao didn't speak, Liu Yun hurriedly asked, "I know that I'm dull-witted, and I usually don't study or train in martial arts, but for such an important matter, please enlighten me, auntie."
"I don't understand any imperial power tactics, but I do know how to observe human nature," Li Yao said. "Wu Ling is insatiably greedy, swaggering everywhere he goes. This can be seen from the little soldiers under him. A person like this will never miss any opportunity to make money."
"Does auntie mean that after taking the money, he will find an excuse not to send troops, and then make us give him more money?"
"No, that would put him at a disadvantage. The troops will definitely be sent, but the person definitely won't be rescued."
Liu Yun understood, but was increasingly disgusted with this Wu Ling.
"What should we do now?"
"Send the money over first, then see the situation and talk about it later."
As the two spoke, they had already returned to the thatched shed.
By this time, the sky had already darkened, and night had arrived. Several soldiers riding warhorses were leading over a hundred infantry soldiers coming from the distance.
After inquiring, Captain Zhang found out that they were new soldiers transferred from Yizhou Prefecture.
Perhaps because of the long journey, the more than one hundred people all looked listless, and walked without any vigor.
Only the young man leading them looked fine. He was tall and sturdy, with complete armor, and carried a huge steel saber on his back. His eyes were bright and he walked with his back straight.
Li Yao's gaze fell on his long saber.
This was no ordinary war knife. The material used could now only be forged in He Wan village.
She remembered Wang San'er telling her that he had met a decent fellow while in the army. If not for his weapons being inferior to Wang San'er's iron club, the two could have competed quite evenly.
And before leaving, Wang San'er had asked Xia Xian to help him forge a long war saber, saying he would give it to him.
It should be this man before her eyes.
"That is the company captain. He looks no older than eighteen," Captain Zhang said. "At such a young age he can serve as company captain. He is indeed quite good. Unfortunately he was assigned to this place, destined to have no great achievements."
After the new troops passed by, everyone began to rest and wait for the next day.
But Li Yao couldn't sleep, constantly thinking of countermeasures. In the middle of the night she suddenly heard Captain Zhang give a low shout, followed by the sound of rapid chasing footsteps.
She got out of bed, confirmed Liu Yun was fine, then quickly followed along.
Below a small earthen knoll, Captain Zhang had already pressed a man firmly to the ground.
"Sir, spare my life! Sir, spare my life! I won't dare again!"
In the bright moonlight, Li Yao discovered that the one being subdued was actually a soldier.
Was this person a deserter?
After an interrogation, this person was called Zhang Quan, and was indeed one of the new soldiers who had just arrived today.
"Why did you desert?"
"I didn't desert," Zhang Quan anxiously explained. "I just went back to see my mother!"
It turned out that when they were about to leave Yizhou Prefecture, Zhang Quan received a letter from home saying his mother was critically ill and on the verge of death.
But the main army was about to march, and was not allowed to return home.
Taking advantage of the chaos as the new soldiers had just arrived that night and were heading to their assigned barracks, he made an excuse of going to the latrine and slipped away, intending to escape back home to take a look.
"Do you know that deserters are decapitated?"
"This humble one knows," Zhang Quan said. "If I am to be decapitated, I ask sir to show mercy and let me go back to see my mother first. My three elder brothers all died on the battlefield. Now I am the only son left in my family. If I don't go back, and something unfortunate happens to my mother, there won't even be anyone left to bury her and observe filial mourning."
"You may stand up."
Li Yao was not part of the stationed army, so of course she would not punish him according to military law.
She also thought of a good idea.
