Martial Cultivator

These two young people walked slowly, but Xie Nandu soon stopped in front of a courtyard, because there was a wooden plaque hanging on the gate. The plaque had names and enlistment dates written on it.

However, it was written in black ink.

Chen Chao said softly, ”When His Majesty ascended the throne, he implemented the enlistment law. Every soldier going to the Northern Frontier had to hang a wooden plaque in front of their home, stating their name and enlistment date. If the person is still alive, it is written in red ink. If they died in battle, it is changed to black ink.”

Xie Nandu remained silent. She had read many books and was likely more familiar with the affairs of Great Liang than most court officials.

As they continued along the long street, most of the courtyards had plaques hanging, but only a few were written in red ink, the rest were in black ink.

This meant that these families had already lost someone in battle in the Northern Frontier. Some courtyards even had more than one plaque. Xie Nandu stopped in front of one such place and looked at the plaques for a long time. There were three plaques here, all written in black ink.

Chen Chao looked inside the courtyard and saw an old woman with a head full of white hair sitting on the doorstep, staring blankly toward the north.

Xie Nandu then said softly, ”It looks like they were three brothers.”

Chen Chao sighed gently, then pressed his hand against the hilt of his saber, his thumb continuously rubbing the handle.

At that moment, neither of them felt like eating their candied hawthorns anymore.

As they walked further, the number of wooden plaques they saw became countless. One Xinliu Prefecture had paid an untold price for Great Liang, but how many people in Great Liang would remember these people? Or rather, how many people in the entire Great Liang would care about this?

”In recent years, His Majesty has been constantly elevating the status of military officials in the court, which has already caused quite a bit of criticism from civil officials. Initially, I also thought His Majesty was being somewhat radical, but after seeing this today, I understand His Majesty’s good intentions. Lives were exchanged for this, no matter how much their status is elevated, it’s deserved.”

Xie Nandu said softly, ”The sages of the academy said that reading a book a hundred times will make its meaning self-evident.”

”There was gold in books, and there were beauties in the books. But the most important thing to remember was that reading ten thousand books was not as good as traveling ten thousand miles.” ”In the past, I read so many books and thought I had a thorough understanding of Great Liang, but now it seems that it’s better to come out and see for myself. This trip was worth it.”

The Great Liang in books was always just the Great Liang in books.

Chen Chao nodded but did not say anything.

As they walked further, the sky began to snow lightly.

As they passed a small courtyard, a woman was about to close the door when she saw the young couple walking in the snow. After hesitating for a moment, she quickly spoke up, ”Guests, I have umbrellas here.”

Chen Chao and Xie Nandu stopped at the sound. The woman had already handed out two slightly damaged oiled-paper umbrellas. Chen Chao did not reach out to take them but instead asked, ”Do you have any more?”

The woman thought this well-dressed young couple was disdainful of the old umbrellas and felt a bit embarrassed, ”These are the only two.”

Chen Chao realized she had misunderstood him and said with a smile, ”I meant, if you give us the umbrellas, what will you do when you need to go out, Elder Sister.”

The woman waved her hand and smiled, ”It’s not a big deal. I’m sturdy and used to getting wet in the rain. But this young lady here doesn’t look very robust. If she catches a cold, she might be bedridden for ten days or half a month.”

Chen Chao smiled and pushed back one of the oiled-paper umbrellas, taking only one. He said, ”We’ll definitely return it when the snow stops.”

The woman shook her head repeatedly, ”No need to worry. Whenever you have time, that’s fine. If I’m not home, just leave it at the door. An oiled-paper umbrella isn’t worth much, and no one will take it.”

Chen Chao asked curiously, ”Elder Sister, are you going out too?”

The woman chuckled, ”Very busy. I have work to do, and later, I need to pick up my son from school. But my son is doing well in his studies, the teacher at the school praises him a lot!”

Chen Chao glanced at the woman’s door peripherally and noticed a wooden plaque with ink writing, it was written in black ink. He then asked patiently, ”Isn’t it hard raising a child alone, Elder Sister?”

The woman waved her hand, ”It’s still manageable. My husband died, but the government helps. They give me money every month, and my son’s education is free. Although my son is doing well in his studies, he’s always talking about avenging his father when he grows up. He’s very mischievous.”

Chen Chao frowned, ”The school doesn’t charge fees?”

The woman nodded, ”Thanks to our good Emperor, families like ours who had someone fighting at the Northern Frontier don’t have to pay for school.”

Chen Chao smiled without saying much, then opened the slightly damaged oiled-paper umbrella and bid farewell to the woman.

After walking a few dozen steps, Chen Chao finally opened his mouth to say, ”Every year, half of the state treasury’s income is used for the Northern Frontier, but not all of it is spent on the soldiers. Every aspect of this requires money. Some people in the court say that His Majesty is wasting resources on the military, but these common people are deeply grateful to him.”

Xie Nandu softly replied, ”The previous dynasty ruled the world with literati and officialdom, but our dynasty rules it with the common people. Unfortunately, many don’t understand this principle, and many who do understand don’t want to accept it.”

”A heavy burden and a long road ahead.”

Chen Chao smiled, ”I need to go outside the city to meet that General Xu Ming.”

Xie Nandu frowned, ”Are you going to kill someone again?”

Chen Chao replied helplessly, ”I don’t really want to kill people every day either, but some people just have to be killed.”

Xie Nandu frowned, ”Even though this unit isn’t at the Northern Frontier, they are still a part of the Northern Frontier Army. If you kill someone and it gets out, you’ll likely gain a bad reputation among the Northern Frontier Army.”

Chen Chao scratched his head, ”It’s troublesome. This time, there’s not only an order from His Majesty but also a military command from my superior.”

”You’re not in the frontier army, how can his military command affect you?”

Xie Nandu remained calm.

Chen Chao sighed, ”But damn it, who knows when he might come back and be my superior again.”

Xie Nandu said nothing more.

Chen Chao handed over the oiled-paper umbrella.

Xie Nandu took it and walked ahead on her own.

While Chen Chao walked into the wind and snow and slowly made his way out of the city.

……

……

The garrison unit of Xuanling Commandery was always stationed outside the commandery city in the Greenfield Camp. Commander Xu Ming had just finished discussing the route for the northern journey with Wei Xu and hurried back to Greenfield Camp. However, as soon as he returned to his command tent and before he could sit down, he heard that Commander Chen had arrived at the camp.

Before Xu Ming could leave the tent to greet him, the messenger soldier looked at him with a troubled expression, ”General, that Commander Chen said to let you wait for him in the command tent.”

Xu Ming frowned, somewhat displeased, ”He isn’t even part of the Northern Frontier Army. Even though being the Left Guard’s commander outranks me, he shouldn’t be giving this general orders, right?”

The messenger soldier nodded, ”This subordinate said the same thing earlier, but Commander Chen said...”

”Said what?” Xu Ming looked at him with dissatisfaction.

The messenger soldier said in a low voice, ”Commander Chen said it was His Majesty’s verbal decree.”