Chapter 344: Firelight
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling suddenly opened her eyes. In the darkness, she stared at the roof with bright eyes for a while before frowning. She turned to look at the window. Although the paper window blocked the light outside, she could still tell that it was not dawn yet. Why was she awake?
Mu Yangling lay lazily on the bed and thought for a while. When she heard the occasional barking from the village and the chattering of some little insects, she felt a little sleepy and wanted to close her eyes and continue sleeping.
However, after lying down for a while, she woke up and became frustrated for no reason.
Mu Yangling thought for a moment before putting on a thick shirt to get out of bed. She quietly opened the door a crack and, feeling the cold wind, she let out an exhale. How could she not be able to sleep on such a cold day?
Just as Mu Yangling was about to look up at the moon in the sky and guess what time it was, she saw orange and red in the north. Mu Yangling’s expression changed slightly. She hurriedly opened the door and ran out without putting on additional layers of clothes.
Half of the sky in the north was dyed red. Was this a fire???
With her eyes narrowed, Mu Yangling tried to estimate what was in that direction. However, her expression became even uglier. That was the direction of Xingcheng Pass.
Mu Yangling turned around and ran to knock on Shu Wanniang’s door. When Shu Wanniang saw that her hand was cold, her heart ached. “What can’t you say tomorrow? What’s so urgent?”
“Mother, I’m afraid something has happened at Xingcheng Pass.”
Shu Wanniang was shocked. Mu Yangling said, “I’ll go to the 5th Division to inquire about the news. Stay at home and restrain Bowen and the others. Close the door and don’t go anywhere.”
Shu Wanniang hurriedly nodded and stood up. “Then hurry up and go. I definitely won’t let Bowen and the rest go out.”
“I’ll call Xu Jian and Chen Sanzhu over later and let them stay at our gatehouse. Just let them guard the door and release the dogs at home.”
If something really happened at Xingcheng Pass, the military disaster wouldn’t affect them for the time being, but they had to be wary of some hooligans nearby taking advantage of the situation.
“Remember, no matter what happens, don’t go out, and you’re not allowed to use the back door. The walls of our house are high, and I’ve set traps along the walls. No one can sneak in in one piece. As long as they guard the door, it’s fine.”
After giving her instructions, Mu Yangling ran out to wake Xu Jian and Chen Sanzhu up. She let them stay in the gatehouse while she led Blackie to the 5th Division.
There were a total of four observation points in the 5th Division. They had long discovered the phenomenon at Xingcheng Pass. However, Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin were not in the army. Even if they discovered something amiss, there was nothing they could do.
As soon as Mu Yangling reached the entrance of the military camp, she was let in. Mu Yangling looked at the soldiers who trusted her so much and didn’t know if she was happy or worried. ‘Even if I’m on good terms with your Little General, you can’t let me in without investigating.’
However, this was a good thing for Mu Yangling, so she decided not to fuss over it.
However, the soldiers’ thoughts were very simple. Everyone said that Miss Mu would be the Little General’s wife in the future, and most of the soldiers in the 5th Division had been jointly trained by her and the Little General. Therefore, her status in the army was second only to Fan Zijin, and she was ranked third.
The reason why Fan Zijin was ranked second was because according to everyone’s estimation, Young Master Fan had provided a lot of the 5th Division’s rations. Therefore, they naturally valued their bread and butter.
Mu Yangling went straight into the middle tent. The middle tent was originally noisy, but when Mu Yangling entered, the tent fell silent.
Mu Yangling swept her gaze around and realized that only one of the four regiment commanders had come. She asked, “Where are the other three regiment commanders?”
The only one who came hurriedly said, “Miss Mu, the other three were transferred to Hanzhong Prefecture half a month ago. They said that it’s almost the New Year and they went on patrol in order to prevent the Jin soldiers from plundering resources. The border of Hanzhong Prefecture is too long, so most of the people in the 5th Division were transferred away.”
“How many people are left in the camp now?”
The people in the middle tent were not unfamiliar with Mu Yangling because she often sneaked into their camp with her men to find loopholes in their defense. Later on, when Little General wanted to train scouts, Mu Yangling also helped out with the training for three months. Sometimes, she would even transfer soldiers from among them to form a military unit to play attack and defense with Little General. Everyone knew that she knew how to fight in wars.
However, since this was a confidential matter after all, the regiment commander hesitated for a moment. Seeing him hesitate, no one spoke.
Mu Yangling glared at him. “Since you’ve already taken 99 steps, does this last step matter?”
The regiment commander’s face instantly turned red. That’s right. While they were preparing for battle, he had let her into the camp (although he didn’t personally let her in, he was the highest-ranking officer here at the moment, so he deserved to be punished for this). Just now, he even accidentally blurted out to Mu Yangling that more than half of their men had been transferred away. Mu Yangling was well aware of the situation in the 5th Division. Even if he didn’t say it, she could probably guess it after walking one round. Blushing, he said, “There are still 898 people, out of which 542 can’t be deployed.”
In other words, they were all old, weak, sick, and disabled. They had all retired from the battlefield or were eliminated as soon as they joined the army.
Mu Yangling held her forehead with a headache and asked, “How long has it been since the incident at Xingcheng Pass?”
The regiment commander hurriedly said, “It’s been an hour. As soon as we discovered it, we got someone to rush over and ask about the situation.”
Mu Yangling said, “Send out another two groups of people, one setting off 15 minutes after the other set off. Continue to scout for me. Once the people on the way return, immediately turn around and send someone to open the city gate. Immediately take over the northern city gate. Keep it down and don’t disturb the commoners.”
“How many people should we send?”
Mu Yangling sneered and said, “General Qi has already blocked all the defensive lines in that battle three years ago. Now that Hanzhong Prefecture is in our hands, they can only charge through Xingcheng Pass if they want to come over. Therefore, they just have to guard the northern city gate. Why are you still guarding the camp?”
The regiment commander immediately understood and quickly ordered everyone to get ready.
Mu Yangling sat in the middle tent and stared at the map in a daze.
The regiment commander of the remaining battalion was old. He had been in charge of logistics since he was experienced. Therefore, he was the only one left after the three battalions’ regiment commanders were transferred away. This was because he was in charge of the logistics of the 5th Division. Yes, there was also the workshop that Fan Zijin had set up in the military camp. Therefore, this regiment commander had never commanded anyone to fight. At this moment, his forehead was covered in sweat.
The other soldiers clearly knew the ability of their regiment commander, so they all looked at Mu Yangling.
Mu Yangling no longer had any hope for them. It had been an hour since the flames were spotted from Xingcheng Pass, but they were still sitting in the middle tent and breaking out in cold sweat.
She pressed the map with a paperweight and asked, “Are any of you familiar with the people from the 3rd or the 4th Division?”
There were military households from the 4th and 3rd Divisions nearby, so Mu Yangling asked.
Although the 5th Division was newly built, most of the core members were transferred from the other four divisions. Although Qi Haoran had suppressed many people in the past three years, there were still a lot of people left behind. When Mu Yangling asked, six people stepped forward. Mu Yangling asked, “Have the 3rd and 4th Division transferred troops recently?”