Chapter 95

Yangtze River region, the situation on both sides of the river was about to erupt into conflict.

An Yuanqing’s arrival boosted the morale of many strategists and generals under Chu Chengji.

Discussing the current situation, An Yuanqing volunteered, “Your Highness, I have twenty thousand troops under my command, ready to serve at your disposal!”

The strategists couldn’t contain their joy, but Chu Chengji remained calm as ever, praising, “General An, your loyalty is commendable. Coming with twenty thousand soldiers before a major battle, your contribution cannot be overstated.”

An Yuanqing modestly replied, “I dare not, it’s just my duty as a subject.”

After some pleasantries, although Chu Chengji’s tone was mild, An Yuanqing couldn’t shake the feeling that he was unfathomable.

“Compared to the other four cities, Qingzhou is located upstream of the Yuan River. It will be the first to clash with the rebels from Chen Kingdom.

Xuzhou and Meng County are key areas and cannot afford to send too many troops.

The army stationed in Qingzhou will ultimately be outnumbered by Chen’s forces.

General An, with your twenty thousand troops, could take a detour from Yunzhou through Hangu Valley to attack the rear of Chen’s army, which would be a more surprising and effective strategy,” Chu Chengji said to him.

An Yuanqing held the lukewarm teacup in his hand, unsure of how to respond.

The Crown Prince had instructed him to defect in order to betray the Chu army during the battle.

But instead of accepting his troops, the former Crown Prince had him sent to attack Chen’s army from behind.

This way, he could betray them without affecting the morale of the Chu army.

This strategic arrangement seemed to make sense, although it left An Yuanqing feeling uneasy.

“If General An has any doubts, feel free to voice them,” Chu Chengzhi said.

All the strategists and generals in the tent turned their gaze to An Yuanqing.

He had no choice but to set down the teacup and bow, saying, “I understand, Your Highness.”

As he walked out of the central military tent, An Yuanqing couldn’t help but feel that the former Crown Prince was completely different from before.

It suddenly occurred to him that the former Crown Prince had not mentioned the size of the troops stationed in Qingzhou or the specific deployment of forces.

Thinking about the secret letter he had to send to the current Crown Prince, An Yuanqing’s expression darkened.

If he didn’t send periodic intelligence back, his family would suffer on the other side.

Coincidentally, Dong Cheng also emerged from the tent, carrying a large water jug.

They nodded at each other, and Dong Cheng went straight to fetch water from the camp.

Watching Dong Cheng’s retreating figure, An Yuanqing asked a nearby soldier, “It seems that General Dong is highly regarded by His Highness.”

The soldier replied, “Of course, when His Highness first met General Dong, he sparred with him and taught him martial arts. Since then, he has kept General Dong by his side and personally instructed him.”

Reflecting on everything he had seen in the Chu camp, An Yuanqing realized the soldier’s words were true, and his expression became complicated.

Well, he would inform the Crown Prince about Dong Cheng’s betrayal.

Meanwhile, Dong Cheng, who was queueing for water in the distance, suddenly sneezed loudly.

Rubbing his nose, he thought the former Crown Prince must be scheming again to trap him into defecting.

He had to be vigilant.

Inside the tent, Chu Chengji instructed Lin Yao, “Keep an eye on An Yuanqing.”

Lin Yao was puzzled, “Is Your Highness suspicious of General An? He brought troops from Yunzhou to surrender, completely cutting ties with the rebels.”

Chu Chengji merely replied, “Just do it.”

Outside the tent, Dong Cheng wiped his nose and continued with his task, determined to remain vigilant against any traps set by the former Crown Prince.

Inside the tent, Chu Chengji’s thoughts were inscrutable as he observed the unfolding events.

Lin Yao suggested “I think, General An is trustworthy.”

Chu Chengji questioned Lin Yao in return, “If you have over twenty thousand mercenaries under your command and the provincial capital where you’re stationed is not affected by war, would you suddenly lead your men to join a force about to engage in a major battle?”

Lin Yao hesitated for a moment, “Isn’t this part of Your Highness’s initial plan? Let Cai Hanchi go persuade those fence-sitting officials, use Li Xin’s suspicious and ruthless nature to kill those fence-sitters, and make the officials of other provinces wary. There have been quite a few officials coming to seek refuge these days…”

Chu Chengji’s tone was calm, “Twenty thousand mercenaries, in the current situation, are enough to establish oneself as a king.”

With one sentence, Chu Chengji silenced all of Lin Yao’s words, and he instantly grasped the key point.

If An Yuanqing’s current defection was seen as loyalty to Great Chu, when Chu Chengji had just captured Qingzhou and was besieged, he didn’t see An Yuanqing bringing troops to help, so loyalty doesn’t hold up, at best, he was still assessing the situation.

But now, the outcome of their battle with the Chen army was still undecided.

An Yuanqing suddenly stopped assessing the situation and directly surrendered and joined them.

Setting aside the euphoria of having a windfall, upon reevaluating this matter, it’s hard not to suspect that there’s some conspiracy involved.

Lin Yao almost gasped for breath, turning to Chu Chengji, he clasped his fists, “It’s still Your Highness’s thorough thinking.”

Chu Chengji said, “Just keep an eye on it, don’t reveal any clues.”

Lin Yao hurriedly agreed.

After finishing military affairs, Chu Chengji didn’t return to his residence until the night had completely fallen.

The gatekeeper said Qin Zheng was looking for him, so Chu Chengji went straight to the main courtyard.

After Qin Zheng finished inspecting the progress of digging the secret tunnel today, she went to check the progress of several irrigation ditches being dug.

It was scorching hot, even though she traveled back and forth in a carriage, she was still sweating.

After Chu Chengji entered the room and called her, not hearing a response, he went to the inner room but didn’t find anyone, just then, he heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom.

Qin Zheng was enjoying a bath, currently washing her hair.

When Chu Chengji suddenly lifted the curtain and entered, she instinctively shrank back into the water, “I haven’t finished washing.”

Her hair, though soft, was thick and dense, making it quite a hassle to wash.

In ancient times, there was no shampoo. Ordinary people washed their hair with rice water.

If a family couldn’t afford rice, they used leaves, soapberries, grass ash, or tree leaves to wash their hair.

Wealthier families had access to soapberries, but for Qin Zheng, who was used to shampoo, washing her hair was still a disaster.

In order to wash it clean, she had to fuss around for a long time.

Beauty in bathing is generally graceful, but now, Qin Zheng, in order to wash her hair, had her hair all messy, wet and disorderly draped over her forehead, it’s hard to say there was any beauty in it.

Chu Chengzhi paused for a moment before asking her, “What are you doing?”

Qin Zheng dryly replied, “Washing my hair.”

Although they were husband and wife who shared the same bed, they still rarely saw each other in such a disheveled state.

Speaking of which, this was the first time Chu Chengzhi had caught her washing her hair like this.

Their most intimate moments were when they bathed together, but she didn’t need to wash her hair then!

Qin Zheng tried to salvage her image, lifting her hand to haphazardly push her long hair back.

Chu Chengzhi couldn’t help but chuckle, “Who washes their hair like this?”

He walked over, picked up a ladle, and scooped up half a ladle of water, “Close your eyes.”

Qin Zheng gave him a suspicious glance, “Are you helping me wash?”

Chu Chengzhi didn’t say anything, but his expression holding the ladle said it all.

Qin Zheng suppressed a smile and closed her eyes.

He held her head with one hand, letting her lean back against the edge of the tub, while the other hand slowly poured the warm water from the ladle.

His slender fingers interlaced through her hair, applying just the right amount of pressure to massage her scalp, patiently untangling the tangled strands of hair.

The soft and dense black hair wrapped around his fingers, like tendrils of affection sprouting from the depths of his heart and growing from his fingertips.

When his fingertips slid from her scalp to her earlobes, he couldn’t resist gently pinching them.

Qin Zheng chuckled and shrank a bit, “It tickles.”

The hand pinching her earlobes loosened and moved to the back of her ear, continuing to use his fingertips to comb through her long hair, occasionally massaging her scalp.

At first, Qin Zheng was a bit tense, but gradually she relaxed completely.

Having been busy all day, she even felt a bit drowsy, “Your technique is really good. Did you learn it before?”

Chu Chengzhi said, “The scalp is full of acupoints, I’m pressing them according to the acupoints.”

Inappropriately, Qin Zheng thought, martial arts training is really good, not only can it defend oneself, but when necessary, it can also turn into a massage therapist.

Finally, he helped her wash her hair with clean water.

When Chu Chengzhi put down the ladle, he looked at her two snow-white arms resting on the edge of the tub, leaned down and lightly kissed her shoulder on one side, asking, “Did you leave a message for the gatekeeper to find me?”

Feeling the warmth of his lips on her shoulder was somewhat ticklish.

Qin Zheng instinctively trembled a bit, remembering the matter she wanted to discuss with him, she turned around, “You were discussing with Lord Song a few days ago about planning a surprise attack on the Chen army, and I have a way to ‘assist with hidden troops’!”

Chu Chengzhi seemed to notice her gaze lingering on him for a moment.

Qin Zheng blushed instantly, quickly shrinking back into the water.

Chu Chengzhi suddenly said, “I’ve seen it all.”

Qin Zheng blushed to the tips of her ears, glaring at him fiercely.

Chu Chengji suppressed the faint smile at the corner of his lips, bringing up the previous topic, “You want the soldiers in the surprise attack to disguise themselves as ghost soldiers?”

This man was annoying when he wanted to be, but when it came to serious matters, he always had a grasp of the situation.

Qin Zheng nodded, “Today, when I went to inspect the progress of the secret river excavation, I heard villagers nearby say that there were ghost fires all over the mountain at night, and the local villagers were all terrified.

I thought we could use these ghost fires to disturb the Chen army’s vision, carry out a surprise attack, and make the Chen army think they were attacked by ghost soldiers.”

Chu Chengzhi had heard of ghost fires before, and even seen them with his own eyes.@@novelbin@@

Most of them were near desolate graves, and people were extremely superstitious about them.

However, he had led a remnant army through mountains full of ghost fires and hadn’t encountered any evil spirits as rumored.

So Chu Chengzhi wasn’t afraid of this phenomenon.

Hearing Qin Zheng’s idea of using ghost fires to disguise as ghost soldiers, he subconsciously asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”

Qin Zheng paused for a moment, thinking that the so-called ghost fires were just a natural phenomenon caused by the combustion of phosphorus in bones after death.

Phosphorus has a very low ignition point, exceeding forty degrees can ignite it.

In the hot summer weather, the phosphorus on the mountain burns due to the strong light during the day, and it’s not noticed at all during the burning.

It’s only seen at night, and because it’s often seen near graves, it’s called ghost fire by people.

The peasant woman had described it mysteriously during the day, saying that ghost fires were burning on the mountain before and after the ghost festival.

It’s just because the Ghost Festival falls in the lunar July, and around July is also the hottest time of summer.

As for the child who came back from the mountain and became silly, most likely, they were frightened.

The ghost fires that chase after people are actually phosphine gas produced by the normal decay of corpses.

When it meets the air, it ignites, emitting a bluish flame. When living things move or when there’s wind, it causes air movement, and the burning hydrogen sulfide gas follows, making it seem like it’s chasing people.

To the ancients, this was truly terrifying, enough to shock a child into becoming silly.

Qin Zheng said, “Actually, those ghost fires in the mountains are not much different from burning firewood.

The difference is that those ghost fires are formed by the combustion of substances after the decay of corpses.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be human corpses; when animals die in the mountains, they can also produce ghost fires. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Chu Chengji listened to someone explain the reason for the formation of ghost fires for the first time.

He asked, “Is this a mystery solved a thousand years later?”

“Yeah.” For a moment, Qin Zheng felt like Chu Chengji was eager to know more about what happened a thousand years later, so she said, “A thousand years later, many mysteries have been solved, and people have even gone to the moon.”

Chu Chengji was stunned for a moment. “People in the future are practicing immortality?”

Qin Zheng replied, “… Not practicing immortality, they rely on technology.”

Afraid that Chu Chengji wouldn’t understand what technology is, she explained, “People a thousand years later are not much different from people now.

Everyone is mortal, but there are many talented people who have invented various tools.

By using those tools, they can go to the sky and dive into the sea.”

Chu Chengji helped her wipe her hair with a handkerchief while listening to her talk.

Looking at her serene profile in the candlelight, he suddenly said, “It sounds like a great era. If there’s reincarnation in the world, I’d like to go to where you grew up in a thousand years.”

When Qin Zheng was explaining the ghost fires to him, she still thought of herself as an atheist.

At this moment, hearing the word “reincarnation,” and thinking about her sudden crossing and his rebirth, Qin Zheng suddenly felt a bit confused.

She held onto his arm tightly and said in her most assured tone, “Sure, then you’ll accompany me to see it.”

Chu Chengji glanced at her hands tightly gripping his forearm, his eyes softened, and he kissed her lightly on her half-dry temple, saying a very soft “okay.”

In this eternal world, I want to see it all with you.