Chapter 35: Return to Qingzhou

"The Imperial Court has sent a letter, saying that unidentified bandits are roaming in this area, and has ordered me and the garrison of Yangyang Prefecture to dispatch elite troops to carefully investigate this region."

Sun Shouren kept circling and marking points on the map, his tone truly puzzled.

He was clear about the situation in this area; logically speaking, there were not even many living people there, so how could there be bandits roaming about?

Even if disaster victims really formed a bandit threat, they should be drifting toward Xingyuan Prefecture or Yangyang Prefecture.

Because that area really has nothing worth robbing now; what kind of thieves would be so irrational as to insist on staying there?

Anyone wanting to rob something would have to travel one or two hundred li back and forth.

Sun Shouren really could not figure out why any thieves would be there.

Of course, according to his assessment, it was more likely that there were indeed thieves roaming that region, but they might have already left, and the intelligence provided by the Imperial Court was significantly delayed.

But even if the Imperial Court's intelligence was wrong, he still had to send people to investigate, and he had to show sufficient importance.

Because this was an order from above, not a request.

"You few make some preparations, each take five Soldiers, and travel light to enter this place for investigation. If you encounter thieves or people with suspicious behavior, you may execute them on the spot." Speaking to this point, Sun Shouren's tone became serious.

If the intelligence was correct and there were bandits roaming there, it was highly likely they had already drifted into the territory of Xingyuan Prefecture.

As a garrison commander, he would have to mobilize troops to suppress the bandits immediately.

The garrison troops in various places were naturally unreliable; he could only rely on his Personal Soldiers and the elite troops trained during this period.

"Understood." Mo Dao nodded in obedience, and Chen Mo and the others did the same.

"I will not allocate the other Personal Soldiers in the camp to you. Tomorrow there will be new recruits entering the camp; you each go and select five," Sun Shouren instructed.

Reconnaissance did not have much effect; they might just go through the motions and end up finding nothing.

But he could not afford not to go; this was a direct order from the Imperial Court. Even if it was a futile effort, he had to maintain a sufficiently solemn attitude.

As a garrison commander, loyalty to the Imperial Court and loyalty to the Emperor were the most important things.

As long as one could achieve this, even if one was lacking in other aspects, one could still have a smooth official career.

But if one could not achieve this, no matter how capable one was, it would be impossible to be promoted or entrusted with important tasks.

Letting his own foster sons and nephews go could both train the new recruits and show the importance he placed on this matter, and the remaining Personal Soldiers could be used to guard against the upcoming bandits—it was truly killing three birds with one stone.

Chen Mo and the others each received their orders and went to prepare. There was not much to bring; Chen Mo prepared some extra dry rations and a set of clean clothes.

As for the new clothes Zhao Yu made for him, it was better not to wear them for this long journey.

Do not let the newly made clothes get dirty, torn, and worn into old clothes.

The next day, more than 150 new recruits who passed the selection and examination were successively added to the Personal Soldier camp; these new recruits had been screened from various military camps.

Those with the best results entered the Personal Soldier camp, and those slightly inferior could also remain under General Sun's command for training; if a real war broke out, they could also be used as veteran elite soldiers.

As for the lowest tier, they were sent back to where they came from.

"Brother Mo!" Ma Cai saw Chen Mo from afar and waved to him with great joy.

"Alright, you follow behind me and come with me for a trip later." Chen Mo pulled him over directly.

Chen Mo was not familiar with others, and since there was an acquaintance here, he naturally had to press him into service.

Moreover, Mo Dao had also roughly analyzed the situation with them yesterday; that group of bandits might have been roaming there before, but now it was more likely they had already entered Xingyuan Prefecture.

And the reason the foster father let them investigate was mainly to show importance, letting the Imperial Court know that he valued the Imperial Court's orders immensely.

Therefore, rather than staying in the military camp to confront the bandits head-on, going out to investigate was relatively safer.

Even if they really encountered thieves, they were few in number and fast, and that group of people would not be able to catch up.

"Alright." Ma Cai nodded and agreed without asking more; it seemed the training of the past few months had not been in vain.

Faced with orders, he already knew to execute them instead of asking too many questions.

"There are other good hands among the Personal Soldiers who came in this time; go and pick four more for me," Chen Mo ordered Ma Cai.

He was not familiar with these new recruits, and he had not participated in their training, but Ma Cai had trained with them, so he should be somewhat familiar with them.

"Yes." Ma Cai obeyed the order and quickly picked four people to follow behind him.

Mo Dao and the others also called for a few new recruits each. They did not take this matter to heart, because this matter was important but not dangerous.

"Brother Mo, this is the money I owe you." Ma Cai followed behind Chen Mo and took the opportunity to hand over some scattered silver pieces.

He had money on hand during this time, but he had never had the chance to see Chen Mo, so he had not been able to pay it back.

Now that he had finally seen him, he naturally wanted to pay the money back quickly to settle a matter on his mind.

Chen Mo weighed the silver and stuffed it into the pouch in his Huai.

"We will first take a carriage to the Post Station to reach Qingmu County, rest and inquire about the situation there, and then travel light to enter this area for investigation."

Mo Dao instructed the group, and Chen Mo and the others had no objections.

As General Sun had instructed earlier, everything on this trip would be led by Mo Dao.

They left the military camp and headed south. This was official business, so they did not need to stay at inns for large carriages and could rest at the Post Stations along the way.

Three days later, they arrived in Qingmu County. Mo Dao went to find the local County Magistrate and County Lieutenant to understand if there was any information about bandits roaming into the territory recently.

Chen Mo and the others, under the arrangement of the local county officials, found a place to rest well to relieve the fatigue of the journey.

Although taking a carriage was easier than walking, after the bumps along the way, Chen Mo and the others were fine, but those new recruits were slightly exhausted.

"I have asked the County Magistrate and the County Lieutenant; Qingmu County is very stable, and there is no trace of any bandits." After Mo Dao finished inquiring about the situation, he informed Chen Mo and the others.

"This means that either that group of thieves hasn't entered yet, or they headed straight for Yangyang Prefecture." Mo Hu spoke up; his thought was also the thought of most people.

Chen Mo did not speak, but he had another guess in his heart.

That was that this group of thieves had already entered Qingmu County, but they had not pillaged and instead dispersed and hidden themselves.

However, this possibility should not be high; if this were really the case, then this group of thieves would not only be sufficiently elite, but what they were plotting would definitely be very significant.

"Regardless of the specific situation, we must go and take a look. Once there, we will first conduct reconnaissance; if we encounter a small number of bandits, we will execute them directly.

If we encounter a large group of bandits, then we will temporarily avoid them and not engage them head-on." Mo Dao carefully instructed the others.

Chen Mo did not speak of his own guess, because the probability of this was truly too low.

The Great Gan has been established for three hundred and seventeen years, and it is indeed beginning to go downhill now; the administration is dark, and corrupt officials run rampant.

Qingzhou has suffered a great disaster, and no one knows how many people have starved to death.

As of today, while there are indeed civil uprisings, there are truly none where elite forces are lying in wait, preparing to raise a banner and rebel.

Chen Mo absolutely does not want this situation to happen; his life is still fairly stable, and as long as he waits a few more months to go to the prefectural examination, he can earn a scholarly rank and from then on leave the military registry to become a Scholar.

The few of them then discussed the remaining circumstances and went to rest.

The next day, they officially stepped into the territory of Qingzhou.

(End of this chapter)