Chapter 243: Preparation
Editor: Atlas Studios
“You’ve been wandering in the forest for a day and a night. How is it? How confident are you?” Qi Haoran asked Mu Yangling.
Mu Yangling took a sip of water and said, “I only walked about five miles around the guardhouse. I’m only 70% confident. It will depend on the cooperation of the ambushers here.”
Qi Haoran said, “After I steal the horses, I’ll stay behind to stall them while my men bring the horses back to the camp.”
The corners of Mu Yangling’s lips curled up slightly. “With our chemistry, the chances of success can increase by another 10%.”
Qi Haoran nodded. “Then let’s do this. Go back and sleep. We’ll start after dark.”
Mu Yangling nodded and turned to go to her tent. Seeing that she had left, Qi Haoran waved his hand and said, “Everyone, go to sleep. After dinner tonight, we’ll start breaking camp.”
Qi Haoran had brought his scouts and personal guards out in the name of patrolling. At this moment, they were stationed ten miles away from Hanzhong Prefecture.
Everyone knew that Qi Haoran was the general’s younger brother and had always been doted on, so they did not stop him. Anyway, this young master did not go far. If anything happened, they could help.
The sun was still high in the sky, and the entire camp was very quiet. Only a portion of the soldiers guarding the camp were still patrolling back and forth.
Qi Haoran also returned to his tent to sleep. Before the sun set, everyone was woken up for dinner. After dinner, everyone split up and left.
Qi Haoran looked at Mu Yangling and said, “I’ll leave these men to you. After they’re done lying in ambush, you can go to the Jin Kingdom’s guardhouse.”
Mu Yangling knew that Qi Haoran wanted her to help find the ambush location.
Actually, the two had already found it when they scouted the place. However, he was afraid that the soldiers were not hiding well enough, so he asked Mu Yangling to take a look.
Mu Yangling agreed and high-fived Qi Haoran before leaving with the men.
They chose to ambush on both sides of the forest. Based on the principle of ambushing on higher ground, this place was actually not very suitable for an ambush. However, the road here was flat and was very suitable for horses to run upon it. Since they had to pass by here after stealing the horses, they had no choice but to ambush here.
It was already the end of autumn, but the leaves in the forest were still dense. Mu Yangling had arranged for them to lie in ambush and let them use some branches as camouflage. This way, as long as the people hiding below did not move, no one would be able to tell that there was someone lying in ambush below.
Mu Yangling said, “I know it’s cold at night, but no matter how cold it is, you have to endure it. When the pursuing West Xia soldiers arrive, immediately take action. Remember, you’re not allowed to speak or shout throughout the entire process. You’re acting as Jin soldiers now. You don’t know how to speak Mandarin, or at least, you don’t know how to speak fluent Mandarin. Do you understand?”
“Understood!”
“Very good. You can lie in ambush here. If everything goes smoothly, you should be able to see Little General when the moon rises to the middle of the sky.” Mu Yangling led the remaining three people to the Jin Kingdom’s guardhouse.
The three of them were very agile and ran very quickly. That was why they were chosen by Qi Haoran to follow Mu Yangling.
At this moment, the sky was already completely dark. As Mu Yangling lit a torch and walked in front, she whispered to the people behind her, “Walk in pairs and follow closely. Don’t fall behind.”
Looking around, Datong could not see the direction at all in the pitch-darkness. He said, “Miss Mu, is this the right direction?”
“By the way, didn’t we just walk past here this morning? Cut the crap and follow closely.”
The three of them looked at the completely indistinguishable forest and hurriedly followed closely beside Mu Yangling. In the silent forest, the three of them became more and more nervous and could not help but swallow their saliva. Mu Yangling chuckled and the three of them were so frightened that they almost fell to the ground. Mu Yangling secretly regretted that she should not have slept in the forest last night. Instead, she should’ve brought them around at night to train their mental fortitude.
Although she regretted it, Mu Yangling asked in a relaxed tone, “Do you know how long we’ve been walking?”
Erqing said, “It’s been about two hours, right?”
Mu Yangling resisted the urge to hold her forehead and said briskly, “You’re too inaccurate. We’ve only been walking for 45 minutes. It only feels like a long time to you because it’s nighttime and you only see trees in the entire forest. Actually, you can use your ears to listen. Isn’t it very noisy in the forest?”
The three of them couldn’t help but listen to Mu Yangling’s words. Indeed, there were all kinds of sounds of insects and wolves. Mu Yangling said in a relaxed tone, “Actually, this is the same as the forest in the day. Don’t always look at those trees. Look at your feet. Is there a slight trampling mark below? This was left behind by us when we walked here today. Now, we’re just following the original path. After walking past the big tree in front, we’ll reach the place where we camped last night. We spent the night there last night…”
Thinking of the scene in the forest during the day, the three of them were immediately no longer nervous. Only then did they have the mood to look around. Little Quan said, “The forest looks dark at night. If we’re not careful, we might really get lost.”
“Therefore, after the attack, you have to follow closely in my footsteps. If you lose me, find a dense bush to hide and come out of the mountain at dawn. You remember the marks I left yesterday and this morning, right?”
“Yes.”
“Follow the marks outside. If you run to a place outside the marks, it will depend on your luck whether you can come out or not.”
The three of them couldn’t help but become nervous. Mu Yangling continued, “But you don’t have to be especially afraid. Do you still remember the methods I taught you to determine the direction?”
“Yes, yes.” Datong said, “We can look at the sun. If there’s no sun, we can look at the branches and leaves. Our camp is in the southeast…”
A smile appeared on Mu Yangling’s face. “As long as you remember.”
Mu Yangling suddenly placed the torch on the ground and said in a low voice, “The Jin Kingdom’s guardhouse is just a short distance ahead. Put out the torch.”
After Mu Yangling squatted on the ground and extinguished the torch with soil, she looked at the three people surrounding her and asked, “How is it? Can you adapt to the darkness now?”
Tonight was a good day. The moon was hanging in the sky, shining through the leaves. The trees were no longer as dense as before, but there was some light.
The three of them quickly adapted and replied in a low voice, “Miss Mu, we can all see each other.”
“Then let’s go.”
Mu Yangling led them to sneak outside the guardhouse and lay on the ground to keep an eye on it.
“Miss Mu, when are we going to make a move?”
“10 p.m.” This was the time Mu Yangling and Qi Haoran had agreed on. If anything happened, someone would light up the fireworks at the ambush location to warn them. She would come to help when she saw the signal.
However, neither Mu Yangling nor Qi Haoran was willing to light the fireworks because it would undoubtedly increase the possibility of Great Zhou being exposed.
However, it was obvious that fate wasn’t always on their side. Before 9 p.m., Mu Yangling saw the fireworks in the sky. Datong almost jumped up and cried out, “Miss Mu, something happened to Little General.”