In the snowy and windy night, approximately 300 cavalry left the camp and headed in the northwest direction. Not long after they left, the news had already traveled all the way to Guo Leiming’s ears. He had sent people to keep an eye on them at all times. He was only waiting for Pei Xiao leave with his men.

“Meng Changan, I hope that you will survive this.”

Guo Leiming looked at his soldier. “Notify the general.”

The squad leader of his soldiers heard what he said and knew what was happening. He had followed Guo Leiming for several years. Most of the general’s affairs could not be hidden from him. When he saw how solemn the general’s face was, he stayed silent for a moment. Thereafter, he could not help but ask, “Will anything bad happen to Military Officer Meng?”

Guo Leiming was taken aback. “You should not ask that.”

The squad leader lowered his head, turned around and left.

“If he dies, it would mean heaven is unjust.”

He heard the general’s voice coming from behind him.

“Heaven is unjust?”

There was something he wanted to say, but he did not dare to say. What does Meng Changan’s death have to do with heaven.

On the third day at noon, Tie Liuli, who was eating, received the news about Pei Xiao leaving the camp. He put down his bowl and chopsticks and was deep in thought for a moment. He got up and walked over to the map that was hanging on the wall. He raised his head and looked carefully for a long time. After that, he turned around and instructed his man, “Transmit an order to Wu Xinyu!”

In the boundless snowy woods, Meng Changan squatted and scooped some snow up before gnawing on it. He turned around and looked at his men; all of them had already reached the peak of their exhaustion.

“Dig a hole in the snow. We will stay here tonight.”

It was clearly still afternoon, hence the scouts were rather surprised. One veteran who had been with Meng Changan for a good amount of time understood him best. Why would he allow them to stop to rest that early on in the day? According to the distance of their course of journey, it would take them at least five or six days before they could get to their destination

However, an order was an order. Everyone got off their horses and started to use their hengdao to dig a hole in the snow. If it started snowing in this bitter cold, there would be no end to it. The only way for them to save their lives was to hide in the shell scrape.

“We have already traveled almost 40 miles.”

Meng Changan opened up his hand-drawn map and took a look. They had been to this area once before. In less than 6 miles away, there was a small Heiwu town. However, the people there were all from the Lang Jue ethnic group. The biggest ethnic group in Heiwu was called Gui Wu. Their totem was a moon, hence they were also known as Gui Yue people.

In Heiwu, Lang Jue people were considered to be the lowest in the social hierarchy. They used to be nomads in the grasslands of Great Ning. When the Chu army invaded the grasslands, the Lang Jue people fled and paid allegiance to Heiwu.

At that time, the Heiwu people pledged to give them several benefits, hence they went over. However, when they got there, they realized that they were unable to receive those benefits they were promised. They were even inferior to slaves.

Nearly 70,000 Lang Jue people fled to the north and entered Heiwu. Today, 600 years later, there were only slightly more than a million of them. It had been a long time, but their population increased at a very slow rate. That was because the Heiwu people captured young Lang Jue men who were in their prime every couple of years. They claimed that they were used as laborers, but in truth, all of them were executed.

Just like that, they had been suppressed for a few hundred years. Lang Jue people had already become numb, or perhaps they were concealing their enmity.

Slightly more than a hundred years ago, the head of Lang Jue, Keke Damu plotted to mobilize the entire clan to return to Great Ning. He even sent people to get in touch with the military on the northern border of Great Ning. In the end, their plans were leaked, causing the Heiwu emperor to order his people to massacre the Lang Jue people for three days. At least 40,000 Lang Jue people died tragically.

Ever since then, the Lang Jue people were split up. A portion of them lived in the southern border of Heiwu. They were forced to become slaves at the border garrison in the bitter cold. They were in charge of providing Heiwu’s military with food, livestock, and even women.

The last time they went to the small town, Meng Changan had a nagging feeling that something was amiss. Because they were in a rush at that time, he did not have enough time to ponder carefully. After he got back, he thought it through for a long time. He had a feeling that he overlooked something.

“Qu Xiong.”

Meng Changan turned around and yelled. The squad leader of the reconnaissance squad, Qu Xiong, quickly walked over to him. He was a man who was about 30 years old. He was extremely strong and stocky, like a tiger or panther. His father was a Ning man, and his mother was a Lang Jue woman. Perhaps because of that, he constantly felt as though he was inferior within the Ning military.

However, undeniably, Qu Xiong was one of the best scouts in the reconnaissance unit.

“Yes, military officer.”

“On our way here, there were some markings on the tree. Did you notice them?”

“Yes, I did. They look like Lang Jue words.”

“Can you read them?”

“No, I can’t…since I was a child, I have only learned Great Ning’s culture. It’s not only me, even amongst the Lang Jue people who remained in the grasslands, there aren’t many people who can read those words. Ever since the time before Chu was vanquished, the Lang Jue people had gradually adapted to the culture of Central Plain. Even the virtuous elders of prestige amongst the Lang Jue people might not be able to read everything.”

Meng Changan nodded. “Take your ten-man squad and follow me there to take a look. When I passed by that village, I kept feeling as though something was amiss.”

Qu Xiong quickly gestured to his ten-man squad. Each of them brought with them the number of equipment for two people before they set off. Six miles of snow covered ground made it extremely hard for them to travel on. When they arrived right outside of the town, The sky was starting to become dark.

Meng Changan took out his field glasses and looked in that direction. After a while, he passed the field glasses to Qu Xiong and said in a lowered voice, “I finally know what’s wrong. Can you tell that there’s something different going on in that town?”

“No, I can’t.”

“Smoke from the chimneys.”

Meng Changan continued, “How is it possible that every single family is cooking at the same time? It’s as if they agreed on a specific time to light the firewood. Naturally, every family did not eat at a fixed time at the same time. Think about it – what kind of people would do this?”

Qu Xiong was taken by surprise. “Soldiers!”

He raised the field glasses and looked over to the small town. Just as what the military officer said, smoke was coming out of every single chimney. This did not make any sense..

“Military officer, you’re saying that Heiwu troops are hiding in that village?”

“The Heiwu people have similar thoughts as us, don’t they? The dream of Great Ning’s combat soldiers is to invade Heiwu one day. Similarly, the Heiwu people are itching to conquer Great Ning’s beautiful rivers and mountains. It’s not unimaginable for Heiwu to hide their soldiers near the border. There are only two reasons why they did that – firstly, they are preparing to face us head on. Secondly, they are preparing to attack us.”

“We do not have any plans to invade.”

Qu Xiong widened his eyes. “Heiwu is planning an attack on Great Ning?”

“I lead you people into Heiwu’s territory to draw a map. I’m afraid Heiwu is doing the same too. Even though we our patrol around the border is very strict, it is possible that there are some loopholes still…”

Meng Changan was deep in thought for a while. “Give me your black cord sword, and some arrow cases.”

“Military officer, are you planning to go alone?!”

“The objective of the ten-man squad is too big.”

Meng Changan checked his equipment. He was holding onto a black cord sword, and there was one more on his back. There were also two repeating crossbows on his back. He also brought with him double the supply of arrow case. He lowered his body and charged over. “Wait for my signal.”

Meng Changan carefully approached the outermost row of houses of the town. The houses in the town were constructed in a very structured manner. This was the first red flag…He stealthily approached the door. He use the black cord sword to pry the door open and darted in. The main room was very quiet, but there was someone speaking in the side room. However, the voice was very soft – it was so soft that perhaps the people in the room had to be very close to one another for them to hear each other clearly.

Meng Changan saw that the door of the side room was unlocked. He went closer to push the door slightly to make the gap bigger. He saw two Lang Jue women, one older and one younger, cooking. There was a stench of blood in the house. A Lang Jue man, who looked strong and muscular, was honing his knife. It seemed as though he just killed a lamb not long ago.

Meng Changan noticed that the young person was muttering something. However, he spoke too fast. Meng Changan could not understand anything at all. He specially learned a few Lang Jue words but he realized that it was of no use.

Suddenly, the young man tossed his knife aside. He quickly ran over to the boiling pot and took out a piece of meat that was still on the bone. He ate aggressively, tearing the meat from the bone. The two women were so terrified that they went pale in an instant. They pounced over and vied with him over the meat. Not far from them was an old Tu Jue man who was tidying up the sheepskin. He rushed over to fight for the meat as well.

Intermittently, Meng Changan could understand a few sentences.

“We are the ones who raised the lamb, why can’t we eat one bite?”

“Do you want to die?”

The old Lang Jue woman finally managed to snatch back a piece of meat. She realized that someone had already taken a bite. However, she did not dare to place it back into the pot. The elder came over and used a knife to cut the bitten part off and placed it back into the pot.

The part that was cut off fell onto the ground. The young person picked it up and stuffed it into his mouth. He seemed to be peeved.

The strange thing was that when that family of four was arguing, they did not dare to raise their voice. Even though their faces were already flushed, they kept their voices very low.

Meng Changan made a vague guess. He took a deep breath and pushed the door abruptly before entering. Immediately, the four people were shocked. The young man opened up his arms, shielding his family. He muttered a lot of words.

“Shh!”

Meng Changan placed the black cord sword at one side, indicating that he would not hurt them.

“Ning…Ning man?”

Just as Meng Changan was thinking about how to communicate with them, the Lang Jue elder suddenly spoke the language used in Central Plain. Although the intonation was a little strange, he could understand clearly.

“Yes.”

Meng Changan heaved a sigh of relief and went to close the door. “Are the Heiwu troops hiding in this town?”

Before the elder could say anything, the young pounced over and grabbed Meng Changan’s arms. He said a bunch of words agitatedly. However, Meng Changan still could not understand a single word he said. He spoke way too fast.

“Quick, leave.”

The elder suddenly knelt down. “You will cause my entire family to die.”

Meng Changan reached out his hand and helped him up. “For all you know, I might be able to save all of you…tell me what is happening in this town.”

The elder subconsciously looked over to the main room. However, his gaze was very low; he was not looking into the room, but rather, looking at what was beneath it…

Meng Changan had a sudden realization. “There’s a basement below the main room? There are Heiwu troops in there?”

The elder nodded, “Quick leave, Ning man. We don’t want to die.”

“How many are there?” asked Meng Changan.

The elder trembled and answered, “Twelve…it’s about the same in every house.”

Meng Changan took a deep breath. There were at least 2,000 Heiwu troops in a small town as such. If there were troops hiding in the other nearby towns too, there would be at least 40,000 to 50,000 troops in total. If the Great Ning troops at the border were to follow his map and enter Heiwu, they would definitely be at a disadvantage.

He turned around and looked over to the main room, before shifting his gaze back to the pot of lamb meat. “Do you want to return to Great Ning’s grasslands and live there? And have meat for every meal.”

The young man looked at his father. The elder trembled as he translated what he said. The young man fell to his knees and kowtowed before Meng Changan. When he lifted his head, there were tears in his eyes.

Meng Changan helped him up. “Do me a favor, and I will take you home.”