Sha Po Lang

…die for this home country.
____

When Gu Yun came out of the hall, his eyes were slightly groggy. He stood still and gasped for a few breaths. For the first time in his life, he felt that the Light Armor of ten kilograms was this heavy on his body.

In critical situations, the strength of a person could perhaps become infinite. Withstanding the headache that was difficult to endure even with acupuncture and a proper bed, busying himself for an entire day and night, before he could feel anything, it had already pa.s.sed by.

Just now there was still a ray of sunshine in the sky, but they were now quickly covered by dark clouds in a blink of an eye. The morning light had faded.

Chang Geng stood waiting for him at the gate, his back facing the golden hall with many layers resembling a fairy palace, the coats of Yan Bei w.a.n.g’s formal attire flowing in the wind. He was staring at the direction of Qi Yuan tower from afar, there was no telling what he was thinking.

Hearing footsteps, Chang Geng turned around. As he glanced at Gu Yun’s face, he frowned and said, “The carriage is waiting outside. You should go rest a bit.”

Gu Yun was already too exhausted, only making a sound in response.

Chang Geng: “What did that person keep you behind to talk about?”

Gu Yun replied with indifference, “Nonsense… needless words.”

Early in the morning, countless orders were sent down, and all six local branches had to follow suit. They all knew that this might be the only time left for adjustments and resting.

As soon as Gu Yun entered the room, his knees instantly turned soft, he staggered and fell over on the bed.

The armor on his body had yet to be unloaded, collapsing down with a loud bang. Half of his body felt numb, the ceiling was spinning in front of his eyes. Gu Yun had an illusion that he could never get up again.

Chang Geng put his hand on his pulse, and the usually cold hands on both sides were terribly hot as if he had just fished them out of a brazier: “Yifu, when did you start having a fever, did you know of this?”

Gu Yun moaned softly, exhaustion leaking from the cracks on his bones, his eyelids were too heavy to stay open. He struggled to ask, “Is my little mouse brother still alive?”

Chang Geng: “… Who?”

Huo Dan hurriedly follow after, taking out the little gray mouse from inside his chest, the creature was twisting about happily: “Marshal, it is alive and well.”

“Then I’m all right as well,” Gu Yun muttered, leaning on his elbow to climb up on his own, letting a few people circling around him to take off his armors. Feeling slightly more comfortable, he carelessly swept away the sweat-soaked hair sticking onto his face: “Either if it was a cold or it was a fever, it will pa.s.s after taking the medicine and sweating it out.”

Huo Dan did not know the whole story, standing on the side wondering why had their Marquis decided to live and die together with a grey-haired mouse. But Chang Geng understood, his eyes glinting. He pressed Gu Yun onto the bed, not letting him move about: “Leave everything to me.”

For anyone who didn’t understand, he fed and kept the mouse as a cautionary measure
in case someone poisoned him while he was in prison.

He motioned for Huo Dan to step down first, and began to pull off Gu Yun’s clothes that were wet enough to wring out water. Gu Yun’s body was soft, and he would feel dizzy as soon as he opened his eyes. He had no choice but to close his eyes and lean aside, letting him do whatever. His breathing was a little erratic, making him appear somewhat weak.

Chang Geng’s hand shook as soon as his outer and middle garments were removed.

Gu Yun’s thin undergarment was already soaked through with sweat, resembling a layer of garlic skin. Nothing could be hidden. His chest and waistline that should have been covered became all the more exposed. Somehow, Chang Geng felt that this was even more fatal than the last time when Gu Yun jumped directly into the hot spring in front of him.

Chang Geng’s heart beat like thunder for a moment. He dared not take anything off anymore. He pulled a quilt over and wrapped it around Gu Yun, taking out a set of clean clothes and putting it next to him. He whispered with a pleading tone: “Yifu, would you mind changing the rest by yourself?”

Gu Yun did not fall ill often after becoming an adult, but once in a while as it happened, it always seemed to be especially serious. Smoke emitting from his seven orifices, his ears were ringing. He waved his hand powerlessly at Chang Geng, complaining, “When is it already? You really…”

Chang Geng stood aside, averting his gaze. His embarra.s.sment caused Gu Yun to feel uncomfortable himself. They were silent for a moment, Chang Geng then awkwardly said, “I’ll go make the medicine for you.”

He turned around and left, eventually giving both men a little relief.

After Gu Yun had laid down for a while, his thoughts were quickly stirred by the high fever into a pot of porridge, everything was poured into the mix. On one hand, he thought, “What on earth should I do with this kid Chang Geng?”

On the other, he thought, “The Black Iron Camp retreated to Jiayu Gate, the brothers who had lost their lives have no one there to collect their bodies even if they were wrapped in only a piece of horse leather.”

After a while of thinking, his heart seemed to have a hole. Every single miserable wind and bitter rain drilled into it. The pain that was suppressed back by Jiang Chong’s words on his way returned and became much worse, making him pained to the point of no longer wanting to live.

Half of the 50,000 iron armors was lost overnight.

Finally, Gu Yun’s consciousness gradually blurred. Rather than falling asleep, in fact, it could be said that he had fainted, falling into unconsciousness then regaining consciousness alternatively. Many things from the past and the present became a mess, falling down onto him, old memories resembling floating shadows sweeping by.

He remembered his childhood years, when he was neither deaf nor blind, when he was like a flea that could never be laid down regardless of how much he was disciplined, and the Old Marquis would always glare angrily whenever he saw him.

On one rare occasion, however, the Old Marquis had patiently led him to see the sunset outside the fortress.

The Old Marquis was tall and dignified, even with a child only as large as a bun, he still treated him with equality. He refused to carry him and only led him by holding his hand – coming from the Old Marquis, this could already be considered a rare display of affection. In this way, the adult had to bend over, the child had to stretch their arm, no one could be comfortable.

However, Gu Yun did not complain. It was the first time he saw the blood-hue sunset in the desert of the border city. The figure of a Black Eagle flew by from time to time, like a golden crow dragging a white rainbow, everywhere were the vast yellow sand, flat forest and desert, the young Gu Yun was almost shocked.

They watched the vast red sun sink into the ground. Gu Yun can hear the Old Marquis expressing towards the deputy general beside him: “For a general, to be able to die for the home country, that would be great luck.”

He did not understand at the time, but now, twenty years have pa.s.sed.

“Marshal,” Gu Yun thought: “Perhaps I… truly will die for this home country.”

…Like a foal in a gap, fire in a stone, a body in a dream.

At this time, someone pushed the door in, held Gu Yun up and fed him a bowl of water. The other person truly was incredibly gentle, as if he was long used to taking care of other people, not letting even one drop to spill.

Then he lowered his voice and coaxed in Gu Yun’s ear, “Zi Xi, drink the medicine then sleep again.”

Gu Yun did not open his eyes, hazily answering: “Half an hour…wake me up in half an hour later, if I could not get up, splash a bowl of cold water on me.”

Chang Geng sighed, silently fed him medicine, then watched over him at his side.

Gu Yun seemed to be uncomfortable, tossing and turning,  the quilt was almost kicked away by him. Chang Geng tried to cover him several times, then, in the end, he simply wrapped it around and held him in his arms.

It was strange. Perhaps due to how Gu Yun was never particularly close to anyone since childhood, right now as he could feel himself leaning against someone behind him, he instantly laid still. The person holding him carefully adjusted him to the most comfortable posture. Miss Chen’s tranquilizer filled his every breath, one hand brushed by his forehead, the fingers pressing at the back of his neck, his shoulder, and forehead repeatedly with enough strength, neither too strong nor too light.

Gu Yun hadn’t slept in such a comfortable ‘bed’ in his life. In a blink of an eye, he could no longer tell what night it is.

Peaceful time flowed as swiftly as running water. Half an hour quickly went by.

Chang Geng glanced at the clock next to him and was very reluctant. He did not have the heart to let go, nor to wake him up.

But there was no other choice. The war disaster was imminent. Casting one sight at this entire world, where else could he be able to have a peaceful sleep?

Chang Geng tried his best to will himself and tap Gu Yun on his acupoint, waking him up on time and went to the kitchen by himself.

Gu Yun’s heart was continuously tense, with a bowl of medicine and a body full of sweat, the sickness had been pushed back. After half an hour of rest, when he woke up again, the fever had almost disappeared. He stayed in bed for a while then put on his clothes, feeling that he had come back to life.

His body felt better, his heart had also become much more relaxed.

Gu Yun thought, “Aren’t they just a group of foreigners? If they are so extraordinary, why must they play devious tricks?”

Even if it was any worse, as long as he was still alive, as long as Gu family still had someone left, the Black Iron Camp still could not be counted as being destroyed entirely.

Gu Yun let out a long exhale. Only now did he realize he was starving to death. He pressed his stomach and painfully thought, “Whoever gives me two hot pancakes at this moment, I will marry* that person immediately.”

*The term used here was
“take someone home as a wife”,
since there is another term
for a wife to be “wedded to”
someone else’s home.

Just as he was thinking this, Chang Geng came in with a bowl of hot noodle soup. Hot steam and delicious fragrance rushed forward without hesitation. Gu Yun’s organs had been starved to the point of twisting itself together.

He swallowed his own words: “Except for this person, this one does not count…”

Unexpectedly, as soon as this thought began, there was a sudden roar of thunder outside.

Gu Yun: “…”

Chang Geng reached for his forehead to check his temperature and said, “Your fever had gone down, yifu come eat something first.”

Gu Yun silently took the chopsticks, as he heard the word ‘yifu’, he could vaguely feel something was strange. Unfortunately, this idea pa.s.sed by in a flash, he was not able to catch it.

Gu Yun: “Did you cook this?”

“In a hurry, there’s only time to make one bowl of noodle.” Chang Geng replied with his expression unchanging. “Is it alright?”

Gu Yun was feeling uncomfortable all over, he did not understand what Yan Bei w.a.n.g was doing, making himself so virtuous*.

*The word used here was a term
used to describe women or wives
who are skilled in household matter
such as cooking, sewing, etc..

Chang Geng seemed to know what he was thinking, he calmly said, “If the country was lost, just push Li Feng aside. I can go open a noodle shop in the northwest, it will be enough to make a living.”

Gu Yun was choked by a mouthful of noodle broth, coughing to h.e.l.l and back.

Chang Geng laughed and said, “I was only joking.”

Gu Yun took the cup of cold herbal tea and downed it: “Good boy, knowing how to use me for entertainment already, truly getting worse and worse.”

Chang Geng said with a serious expression, “When you suddenly want to bring me back to the capital from Yanhui town that year, I had wanted to run, I had thought about either being a hunter in the deep mountains, or opening a puny shop in a small border area to make enough living to pa.s.s the day. But later as I felt that I was unlikely to be able to slip away from your eyes, I have instantly become obedient.”

Gu Yun pushed aside the vegetables, picked out the smoked pork under the bowl and ate them all. Before he could thoroughly chew it, Chang Geng suddenly leaned back on the chair and spoke with a long sigh of relief, “Yifu, you don’t know, as long as you don’t appear in front of me safe and sound for a day, I will not dare to close my eyes to rest for a day, and finally…”

Gu Yun said lightly, “I am still a hundred and eighty thousand miles from safe and sound — tell me everything.”

Chang Geng understood he was referring to things that he had not spoken of in front of Li Feng.

Gu Yun: “The Black Iron Camp must have been withdrawn by you. Otherwise, He Rong Hui would have fought until the last man.”

“I imitated your handwriting.” Chang Geng said, “Take the Black Iron Camp back to Jiayu Gate and let General Cai go north to aid the frontier. Calculating the time, General He must have already received the emergency supply of Ziliujin. This needn’t be known to Li Feng, he intended to abolish the Drumming Order anyway.”

Gu Yun blinked: “You imitated…”

“They’re all underhanded tricks.” Chang Geng shook his head. “I had sent a letter to Teacher on the southern of Jiangnan, but it was still too late. Besides, I suspected that there were spies left behind by the barbarians twenty years ago in the palace, I have already asked someone to investigate, and there was still no news from General Shen, I’m afraid there would be no good news.”

“No news is the best news,” Gu Yun said after a moment’s silence. “That old maid has great fortune, he won’t die.”

Chang Geng: “Yifu, the enemies on the northwest side are coming fiercely, but now it seems that there will be nothing wrong for a while. According to you, after the disaster of the Eastern Sea, will we be able to defend the capital?”

Gu Yun looked up at him. His eyes were like a pair of flints — they were cold, hard and indescribable, appearing as if they could ignite into countless sparks with only a touch.

There were only himself and Chang Geng in the room, separated by a bowl of noodles. Gu Yun did not speak empty words and said frankly: “It depends on whether we can support ourselves until the reinforcements arrive. Coming from a thousand miles away to launch a surprise attack, the foreigners must also want a quick victory, otherwise, they won’t make such a grand opening. The longer it dragged on, the more advantageous it would be for us, but…”

But the resources of Great Liang cannot sustain a prolonged war.

The reason Li Feng turned mad and desperately wanted to possess the Ziliujin mine in Lou Lan was because in this place with the most abundance of wealth in the world, there were very little Ziliujin mines. The supply was insufficient for the necessity. Nearly 40 percent of the Ziliujin in Great Liang came from the tribute of the Eighteen Tribes, another large part were bought from various sources outside. The money flowing in by sea trade flowed out again all the same.

At present, the Eighteen Tribes had rebelled, they were besieged from all directions. The only source left to mobilize was from their own stock. In the long run, they would inevitably be unable to make ends meet.

This was only the matter of Ziliujin, let alone the treasury that was even more frail than a wildflower, where could they find so much money?

Gu Yun: “Just as you said, in case it does not work out in the end, we will shrink our forces and slowly come up with a plan. That is the most rational solution. But it may not turn out the way we want.”

“It was alright for the Black Iron Camp to retreat to Jiayu gate. Although it is usually bustling outside the gate, most of the people are merchants settling down temporarily. The Silk Road has just been opened for several years, it was not enough for them to stay permanently, moreover, the situation there has tensed up near the end of the year, once the pa.s.sage is closed, no business can be done. It is estimated that they have all left already.”

“But it is not possible within the gate. There are thousands of villages and hundreds of millions of civilian still inside. Even if He Rong Hui were to perish, he cannot retreat any further.”

The Black Iron Camp was the belief of the people and even the pillar of Great Liang. Once this pillar collapsed, there was no need to battle any longer. It was faster for the nation to change its name directly.

Chang Geng was silent for a long moment. “What I said was a last resort.”

“No last resort.” Gu Yun shook his head. “You have talents. You know how to manage the country, but you have never fought in a war. Aside from favorable weather and geographical conditions, there are two more points: one is the equipment of steel armors and machines, the other is the courage of the human heart.”

“For equipment, it has already come to this, there is no other option… but I believe that for the foreigners, even if they are strong, they are not much better than us, let alone those country b.u.mkins barbarians. Even if someone handed them an explosive, they would still use it like a stick.”

“Subordinates are not chess pieces, they are all human beings, they can be courageous, but there is no one who doesn’t fear death. Do you remember what I said to you last time we suppressed the bandits in the southwest?”

Chang Geng: “I do. On the battlefield, who doesn’t want to die, will die first’.”

Gu Yun made an ‘Mm’ sound. Even when the country was in danger, it still could not delay his meal. In a few words, a bowl of noodles had been eaten to the bottom. He finally pinched his nose, drinking the rest of the d.a.m.n green vegetables mixed in the broth. He did not bother to chew either and put the bowl on the table: “Is there more?”

“No, I only have enough to make one bowl. You just recovered from sickness. The spleen and stomach are still weak. It’s best to be only partially full.” Chang Geng said. “How to fight, you have the final say. There is no need for you to worry about the future, no need to worry about what the others might think, how to make money, how to find Ziliujin, how to manage the layout, you can leave all of these matters to me.”

Gu Yun was a little shocked. He laughed and said, “Do I have the final say for everything? What if I can’t win?”

Chang Geng laughed but did not say more. His eyes were fixed on him, resembling a pool of quiet water suddenly started rippling. If his eyes could speak, then the words: “If you lose, I will accompany you in bearing the disgrace for thousands of years. If you die, I will follow you into the grave.” were clearly expressed.

At that moment, Huo Dan suddenly knocked on the door lightly: “Marshal, Master Feng Han had come with General Tan, they also brought along the battle report from the Eastern Sea.”

Gu Yun quickly said, “Please come in!”

Chang Geng retracted his gaze and tidied up his chopsticks. As he bowed his head, he suddenly said, “Just now, one of my sentences was a lie.”

Gu Yun was stunned.

“I said that year, the reason why I didn’t leave was because I could not escape from your eyes.” Chang Geng laughed, not lifting his head, “That year, I was just a frontier boy who grew up in a tiny place, I generally could not think so much..”

Gu Yun was keenly aware of his implications, “Chang Geng, don’t say any more.”

Chang Geng closed his mouth obediently, swallowing back his next words.

At that time, he could not think so much. The reason why he didn’t escape, in the end, was because he was not able to let go of one person.

Tan Hong Fei and Zhang Feng Han came in very quickly. When the battle report of the Eastern Sea was presented to Gu Yun, Tan Hong Fei’s hand was still shaking slightly. Gu Yun’s heart sank.

“Marshal, Jiangnan’s side had come to report, our navy in a thousand miles had collapsed. The Westerners have gone north, there was no telling what type of Dragons they were using, they move as fast as lightning, clashing with two to three of our navy boat, even circling around a large sea monster in the middle.” Tan Hong Fei said, “If this is the truth, then they will go north to Da Gu Harbor, it will only take about two or three more days to arrive!”