Chapter 751: Why

After Xu Hongru said this, he cast aside all decorum and shoved Xu Hongju hard, shouting furiously, "What are you standing there dumbstruck for? Get into the city and pass the order! If there are no horses, then seize some! Go, quickly!"

The movement of Zhao Jin's main force was roughly as Xie Mingxian had predicted — clad in heavy armor, they simply could not gallop at full speed.

Still, there was no need to worry about this force being blocked on the road; in this entire region, even the Smelling Incense Sect could not muster a mounted troop stronger than Zhao Jin's cavalry.

From Zhao Jin down to the household troopers, everyone knew they could not linger here. After all, this was not Xuzhou or its surrounding territory, and their opponent was the Smelling Incense Sect with its countless followers. Every extra moment they stayed meant endless trouble, so since they were leaving, they would leave fast.

After traveling for a little over a double-hour, Zeng Village was left far behind, and the cavalry troop's pace temporarily slowed. As soon as the mounts slowed, Mu Shulan, who had been on Zhao Jin's horse, awoke from her stupor.

The girl opened her eyes and instinctively looked around in all directions, her expression tense and terrified, as if searching for something. But the moment she turned her head and saw Zhao Jin, Mu Shulan's face quickly relaxed, and a smile surfaced.

"Brother Xiaojin..." Mu Shulan called out with a beaming smile. After saying it, she seemed to find it very amusing and called out again.

Zhao Jin nodded with a smile and raised his arm, bringing the entire cavalry troop to a halt. The load on every mount was far from light, and having ridden this far, there was no immediate danger of pursuit catching up. A brief rest was essential, or else the horses would be ridden to death.

"Don't rush to talk. Eat this dried meat first, and remember to chew it thoroughly. The water in the gourd is a bit cold — hold it in your mouth and wait until it warms before swallowing." Zhao Jin handed the dried meat and water gourd to Mu Shulan. While giving these instructions, he lifted Mu Shulan off the horse. The cavalry troop had purposely set aside several horses for them to ride.

Ji Xiang hurriedly spread a felt blanket on the ground. Zhao Jin set Mu Shulan down on it, then began adjusting the horse tack. From top to bottom, every household trooper was busy in an orderly fashion — feeding the horses, adjusting tack, and even wiping sweat from their mounts.

Whether a local strongman's village bravo or a mounted brigand, anyone who had a horse to ride got an extra share of the spoils and cut an imposing figure wherever they went. Yet in the Zhao Character Camp, the household troopers were hardly eager to join the cavalry troop on horseback. The reason was that it was simply too tedious. Everyone said that those Tatars on the steppe had tricked Lord Jin, deliberately making the business of raising and riding horses so troublesome.

When riding, you had to feed the horse at regular intervals; you couldn't stay mounted for too long without dismounting; you had to let the mount rest; you had to regularly wash and brush it down, and check its shoes and mouth. When heading out on horseback, the time spent leading the horse on foot might not be any shorter than the time spent riding it. If you had only one last mouthful of dry rations left, you'd rather feed it to the horse than eat it yourself — and so on and so forth.

Everyone drilled in their respective regiments, and however tiring their own training was each day, it was still better than riding a horse and having to wait on the mount hand and foot. But the Zhao Character Camp's discipline was strict — whatever was demanded, everyone had to carry out, and no one dared disobey.

However, everyone had guessed the reason wrong. It was not those Mongol household troopers who had beguiled Zhao Jin into doing this, but rather Dong Bingfeng and his masters who had said so.

Dong Bingfeng's several masters were all natives of the garrison, men who had served as personal troopers and household soldiers for military officers. Their knowledge and experience were far from poor, and coming from a garrison background, they knew the regulations for using and caring for cavalry horses on the battlefield. Yet when they had been out on assignment and service themselves, they had rarely seen any family seriously follow these regulations. It was just that when they taught, they held nothing back and passed this entire system on to Dong Bingfeng. And when the Zhao Character Camp was established, everything was done strictly by the book — they truly implemented this whole set of rules.

As a result, when Dong Bingfeng's masters came to observe, they were astonished, but also deeply moved, and they even made a point of pointing out a few shortcomings. The Zhao Character Camp's cavalry troop faithfully adopted those pointers as well.

The regulations might be tedious, with the cavalrymen treating their mounts like lords and masters, utterly devoid of any swagger or ease, but doing so preserved the horses' strength, allowed the mounts to travel farther, and made them faster when charging — bringing the cavalry's combat power to its fullest, and from another angle, maximizing the cavalrymen's safety.

But from the founding of the Zhao Character Camp until now, the cavalry troop had not fought any battle of real consequence, so no one could feel the benefit of these regulations — they only found them grueling and troublesome. This was hardly surprising.

"Brother Xiaojin, you're still so meticulous." Xiaolan sat on the felt blanket, looking around at the bustling crowd. Elsewhere, several hundred people bustling about would seem utterly chaotic, but here, everyone worked in perfect order.

Given the standing of Chen Sheng, Ji Xiang, and Liu Yong, they all had men helping them with their tasks. With their hands freed, they all came over here to show their faces.

"Ah, Dasheng has gotten a bit taller and stouter, Daxiang has grown taller too, but Xiaoyong's height is still the same — though he seems taller than me now." Seeing Chen Sheng and the others, Mu Shulan beamed radiantly.

A rare smile appeared on Chen Sheng's face. Ji Xiang chuckled foolishly, scratching his head nonstop. Liu Yong's face showed no particular expression, but from time to time he wiped at his eyes.

"Xiaolan, eat more. We'll have to keep traveling tonight as well. Once we reach Gaoping Mountain, all our horses will be there. After we regroup, we can speed up," Zhao Jin said, giving instructions to Mu Shulan and also to his brothers.

Mu Shulan nodded and said quietly, "Brother Xiaojin, Xu Hongru and his people will send men after us."

These words made everyone fall silent, and they all looked at Mu Shulan. That Xu Hongru would send men in pursuit was not unexpected; what was unexpected was that Mu Shulan could figure that out. But it immediately felt normal — so many years had passed, and none of them were still those carefree boys and girls from the freight yard.

The rest stop did not take long. Zhao Jin again padded his own saddle with felt and lifted Mu Shulan onto it. As Zhao Jin swung himself up onto the horse, he hesitated for a moment, then said, "Xiaolan, you're about to go home. Don't hold back — just be yourself."

Mu Shulan was taken aback by these words. She stared at Zhao Jin for a while, then gave a sweet smile, yawned, and said, "Brother Xiaojin, I'm so sleepy and tired. I'll fall asleep in a moment — don't let me tumble off the horse."

She tightened her cloak around herself on the saddle, nestled a little closer against Zhao Jin's chest, and closed her eyes just like that. Before long, her breathing became even, as if she had already drifted into dreamland.

Mu Shulan had been waiting to be burned to death at the Yuncheng County jail. Outwardly calm, inside she was utterly exhausted in body and mind. Now that she had been suddenly rescued, the abrupt release of tension inevitably brought profound weariness — it was only natural that she wanted to sleep.

Zhao Jin strove to hold his body perfectly straight, not letting any sway disturb Mu Shulan's slumber. The reason he had said that was because from the moment they had reunited until now, Mu Shulan had not truly relaxed. Some of her every gesture and motion came from the heart, but much of it was also affected. Yet with her already in his arms, some things were not convenient to probe deeply.

The sun was sinking in the west. Calculating the distance, they would cross the border into Juye County around nightfall. If they kept going without stopping, they estimated they could reach Gaoping Mountain by the time the sun rose the next day. Such a nonstop journey would inevitably mean more horses dropping dead along the way, but they could no longer afford to care about that.

They rode on in silence for a while, and then the several companions all drew near. From atop his horse, Chen Sheng asked in a muffled voice, "Why not wash that place in blood? Why not kill Xu Hongru?"

Everyone harbored this question in their hearts. Since Mu Shulan had just brought it into the open, they now asked directly.

"Those people still have their uses. They can't be killed," Zhao Jin answered curtly.

Having been together for so long, they could all read this tone — it meant he did not want them to press further. Still, Ji Xiang could not help but speak up: "Big Brother, if we don't kill this Xu Hongru, we'll be taking a huge risk. Not to mention anything far off — before we even leave Shandong, we'll probably have to fight a major battle."

"Taking this risk is worth it!" Zhao Jin's reply was again very brief. This time, no one dared ask further.

On the way there, they had to be cautious and discreet, traveling through the night without even daring to light a fire, for fear of startling anyone and exposing themselves. On the return journey, there were far fewer taboos. During the midnight rest, they lit a campfire right by the roadside. Only then did Mu Shulan get to eat hot soup and hot food. Having slept the whole way and now replenished with a hot meal, Mu Shulan's spirits had improved considerably. Yet the girl had also grown quiet — after eating, she simply curled up beside Zhao Jin.

Lighting the campfire was not only for the men and horses to rest, but also to leave a marker for the roving light cavalry scouts circling the main force, so they could see the firelight in the night and make their way back.

"Lord Jin, less than a double-hour after we left that Zeng Village, they dispatched fast riders with messages. The news has already spread everywhere. A bounty of one hundred thousand taels has been placed to stop our troop!" The scout's voice trembled slightly as he reported — not from the danger, but because the sum was simply too staggering.

"One hundred thousand taels?" Even Zhao Jin and the others were startled when they heard the figure, and then they broke into incredulous laughter.

"It's probably a nominal figure, but tens of thousands of taels is still likely," Liu Yong said, shaking his head.

Chen Sheng nodded and said, looking toward Zhao Jin, "Once this bounty is posted, the whole of Shandong will probably go mad. Still, the only ones who can make it here in time are the people from the western half of Yanzhou Prefecture."

"The mounted brigands will make a move, the local strongmen's village braves and militias will make a move, and it's very possible the government troops will make a move too. Even though the only way to intercept us is to pursue on horseback, there still won't be few who come. Big Brother, what do we do?" Ji Xiang asked.

"We charge right back through," Zhao Jin said in a deep voice.

Ji Xiang's original intent had been to ask whether they could take a detour, but with Zhao Jin putting it like that, there was no need to say what he had been about to say next.

"From now on, keep light cavalry scouts only within a five-li range ahead. Everyone else is to head straight for Xuzhou. Have the men there come out to Yutai to meet us. We're all mounted, and we're traveling in a straight line. Every other party has to prepare, has to take roundabout routes. The only place they can intercept us is somewhere between Jinxiang and Yutai. It looks like we'll have no choice but to fight a battle right there!" Zhao Jin said grimly.

The light cavalry scouts posted in the surrounding area kept reporting back. Only then did Zhao Jin and the others learn that some of the fast riders dispatched from Yuncheng County carrying the urgent bounty notices had even been traveling the same route as them — they had simply made a wide detour far off and had likely already raced ahead by now.

The night had grown deep. The cavalry troop's household soldiers finished their tasks and once again led their horses forward on the march. During this rest stop, they had eaten every last bit of dry rations in their saddlebags — a little for the men, a little for the horses.