Chapter 241: Plan
Editor: Atlas Studios
Qi Haoran fell into deep thought.
Mu Yangling pointed at the map and said, “Split up into three groups. One group will ambush here in advance. Remember, your men have to wear the military uniform of the Jin soldiers. The other two groups will take a shortcut to surround West Xia’s guardhouse from here. One group will be responsible for attracting their troops. The other group will go to the horse farm to steal horses. After stealing the horses, get the group in ambush to retreat immediately. When the time comes, the West Xia soldiers will definitely discover our true goal and chase after us. There’s no need to fight the rest of the way and we’ll retreat from the original path. They’ll be ambushed when they chase us here. Then, directly lure them to the Jin Kingdom’s guardhouse. Remember, you have to pretend to be powerless.”
Qi Haoran’s eyes lit up. “If we clean up the traces, they definitely won’t be able to guess that we did it.”
Mu Yangling nodded. “Those who go to steal horses and attract troops have to wear our Great Zhou’s military uniform, but the clothes can be mixed. For example, a team of people can have two of them wearing the company commander uniform or something.”
“They will think that the person who took the shortcut and left are Jin soldiers trying to frame the Great Zhou. This will add credibility to the story.” Qi Haoran rolled his eyes and said, “Why don’t we send a few more people to shoot a few fire arrows at the Jin Kingdom’s guardhouse at the critical moment and let the Jin Kingdom and West Xia fight? Even if they figure out that they were schemed against by us by then, they will also have become enemies.”
Mu Yangling’s eyes lit up as if there was a fire in them. “Qi Haoran, you’re so smart! Let’s do that. However, the person who does this has to be more flexible. He mustn’t be caught, and we can’t leave our men’s corpses around for them to discover.”
Qi Haoran nodded. “Looks like I still have to prepare a few sets of West Xia military uniforms.” After saying that, he said with a frown, “But that guardhouse is not far from that road. My men are not familiar with that area and only know the general direction. What if they fail to lure them over?”
“My father is familiar with the forest. As long as he has a general direction, he can always find the guardhouse.”
Qi Haoran scratched his head and said in distress, “But I’ve already sent your father away. He won’t be back anytime soon.”
Mu Yangling glared at him. “Don’t tell me you asked my father to be a spy again?”
Seeing that Qi Haoran did not deny, Mu Yangling gritted her teeth and said, “My father is already a company commander. Why are you still asking him to do this?”
“Don’t despise it. This mission allows one to accumulate military merits quickly. Furthermore, your father was the one who took the initiative to ask for it.” Qi Haoran glanced at him and said, “Your younger brother came in first in the entire academy for this year’s examination. Doesn’t he have to work harder to remove your family’s military status before your younger brother participates in the Imperial Examination?”
Mu Yangling gritted her teeth, but she had nothing to say. After a moment of silence, she said, “Can I achieve military merits?”
“No, you’re a girl.” Qi Haoran said, “My dynasty have long stopped deploying female generals.” Emperor Shizong did have female generals when he was in power, but after Emperor Shizong died, Emperor Gaozong let the two female generals retire in glory. There had not been any female generals in the Great Zhou for a hundred years.
“Then put the military credit in my father’s name.”
Qi Haoran thought for a moment and nodded. “Alright, but are you planning to go with me? You have to think carefully. You might not be able to survive on the battlefield.”
“Don’t worry. I’m only going to shoot arrows at the Jin Kingdom’s guardhouse. This won’t kill me. In the mountains, no one can kill me.” Mu Yangling said, “I’m only responsible for luring the Jin soldiers and West Xia soldiers to meet. I don’t care about anything else.”
Qi Haoran nodded and said confidently, “I only lack someone for this. How many people do you want?”
“Three.” Mu Yangling said, “The clothes, arrows, and knives have to be in West Xia’s style and bear their logo.”
“No, if you run into West Xia’s soldiers, are you going to use these arrows too? Half of the arrows I give you will be unmarked, so that you can use those to shoot anyone.”
The two of them discussed the time and number of people who would be taking action. After finalizing the plan, Mu Yangling finally had time to eat the snacks on the table.
She poured herself two cups of tea and asked, “I heard that you removed the two training commissioners?”
Qi Haoran snorted coldly. “I’ve already given them enough face by enduring for a year before removing them. Initially, I thought that since I’ve endured them for a year, it’s no big deal to endure them for a few more years. But the two of them actually dared to lead troops to rob the commoners. I didn’t kill them only because they previously risked their lives with Big Brother.”
When the two training commissioners led their troops to guard Hanzhong Prefecture, they had a conflict with the commoners. Fortunately, no one died in the end. Otherwise, with Qi Haoran’s temper, these two people would not have been spared from death.
“I’ll follow you, but I’m worried about my family. You’ll have to send some reliable people to keep an eye on them for me.”
“No problem. Don’t worry. You will return to find your mother and younger siblings in the same state as when you left.”
Only then did Mu Yangling leave in relief.
Fei Bai said with a headache, “Master, we’ve already asked six people to take turns guarding the Mu family. Isn’t it too much to add more people?”
“Add three more. Previously, we only asked them to protect them from afar because we were afraid that Ah Ling would discover them. Now, tell them to protect them at a closer distance so that if anything happens to the Mu family, they can immediately provide support.”
Fei Bai did not dare to say that Miss Mu had caught the six of them previously. He could only smile apologetically and say, “General, don’t worry. I’ll ask them to lay ambush in the fields. Not only will the people who go to find trouble not notice, but even Miss Mu won’t notice.”
Qi Haoran patted his head and said, “Didn’t you hear what Ah Ling said? The most powerful spies aren’t the ones who hide very well and aren’t discovered. Instead, they’re the ones whose presence people don’t sense is out-of-place even though they’re just standing right there. What’s the use of getting them to lay an ambush in the fields?”
Fei Bai smiled bitterly. However, there were only a few people in Chenggu Garrison and Mu Yangling knew everyone there. As long as there were strangers entering and leaving, Mu Yangling would definitely know. How could she not realize it?
However, he did not dare to say this out loud. He thought that since Mu Yangling already knew that there was someone protecting her family, so be it. It was fine as long as they could fool others.
Mu Yangling went back and went up the mountain to cut two carts of firewood. Xiuhong dragged the dried branches over for her to tie up and said, “Cousin, these branches are too small and won’t burn. We have to cut from some big trees.”
“They’re not small. I’ll chop off more of these first and see if there are any big tree trunks later.”
“Everyone chops down entire trees…”
Mu Yangling turned around and looked at her seriously. “That’s others. I don’t agree with cutting down entire trees. Xiuhong, I’m a hunter who relies on the mountain for a living. I’ve never cut down an entire tree in my life, and neither has my father.”
Xiuhong thought for a moment and nodded. “Alright, then I won’t cut down an entire tree in the future.”
“You don’t have to be anxious. I’m strong and my speed is several times faster than others. If I make a few more trips a day, I’ll definitely be able to chop enough firewood for the family to survive the winter before the winter solstice arrives.”
Mu Yangling brought the two carts of firewood home and placed them in the courtyard to dry.
Xiulan and Bowen helped Bosi and Kejia out and carefully taught them how to walk. When they saw Mu Yangling and Xiuhong, Bowen shouted happily, “Sister, our academy is on holiday. Sir has assigned us a lot of homework and asked us to study at home. We’ll return to school next spring.”
Mu Yangling patted the sawdust off her body and said, “Your academy’s holiday starts really early. You have to stay at home for more than three months.”
However, when she thought about how Bowen and the others didn’t have the so-called summer break, she felt relieved.