All the border garrison troops were concentrated in the first two cities of the eastern, central, and western regions.
The populations of the rear cities had grown, with the military also stationed in the rear to take charge of the supplies and rations sent from the capital.
As the General Who Conquers the North, Qu Dubian had come on behalf of the Emperor. The five hundred soldiers accompanying him carried enough rations for the journey, and whatever was left over would be confiscated to supplement the military supplies.
He sat on his horse, looking over this main city.
Yellow sand and yellow earth, the wind cold and arid, without a single speck of green in sight.
"Why don't I see Imperial Uncle Ming?" Qu Dubian asked.
He knew of the existence of the Border Army Inspectorate, but this place was under the full authority of Prince Ming. Since he had arrived, Prince Ming should be the one to receive him.
Feng Bing said, "The Inspectorate just patrols all day, occasionally sitting in on troop deployments. There are no other major matters, so Prince Ming went to take charge of the livelihood of the people in the rear garrison cities. He knows you are coming and should be back by the afternoon."
"Would you like to take a walk around the main city? I have already prepared..."
Since Imperial Uncle Ming was absent, Qu Dubian did not want to waste time here. Seeing as his grandfather could not return from the first central city, he decided to go directly to him.
"There's no need," Qu Dubian gave a slight nod, not even dismounting. "I won't trouble you, Eunuch. I have matters to attend to and will not stay long in the main city. When Imperial Uncle Ming returns, please let him know."
They had rested well before entering the main city and did not need to adjust further. Qu Dubian led his men and left straight away.
"Very well, then I shall not see Your Highness off. After Your Highness meets with Marquis Xu, please return. The main city is safer."
Feng Bing reluctantly saw Qu Dubian off for about ten meters before stopping.
Only when the group was out of sight did the smile plastered on his face slowly drop.
"I've been away from the capital for too long after all. People don't even care to dismount and greet me anymore."
In the past, when he was in the Eastern Depot, even if a prince saw him, they would politely say, "Greetings, Eunuch Feng."
His subordinate said, "Eunuch, the princes in the capital are all arrogant. When you came to the border, the Seventh Prince was not even three years old. How could he understand the ways of the world? Once he spends enough time at the border, he will know."
Feng Bing replied, "Pampered and raised with delicate skin and tender flesh, whether he can even survive at the border remains to be seen."
He had heard of the Seventh Prince's exploits in suppressing bandits, but suppressing bandits was one thing, and the battlefield was another; the two could not be mentioned in the same breath. He was still young and unpolished. Wait a few days, let him see a real battlefield and real blood, and he will behave himself.
Right now he disdains staying in the main city; let us just hope he does not cower inside it refusing to go out when the time comes.
While passing through the second central city, Qu Dubian pricked his own sphenoid sinus acupoints a few times.
He had pestered the simulator to give him a scent-shielding function, but it was useless. To this day, it still had not given him a backdoor.
So he went to Imperial Physician Yang and studied for a while, learning how to needle his sphenoid sinus acupoints. This could block his sense of smell for a few days. If these acupoints were needled too many times, his sense of smell would be ruined, but that was exactly what he wanted.
If the simulator would not give him a backdoor, he would just cause a problem with his own body first, and then simulate it when the time came.
Having experienced the bandit suppression, his tolerance for the stench of blood had improved significantly. But just in case, he did not want to throw up from a stress reaction to the bloody smell when facing wounded soldiers. It was not just a matter of disrespect.
He also did not want his sense of smell to affect his plans.
The acupuncture quickly took effect. His nose felt numb. Qu Dubian sniffed but could no longer smell the piercing cold of the northern border's chilly wind.
His little actions did not escape the notice of Yi Shier. "Your Highness."
Qu Dubian understood: "Rest assured, I will just get used to it after a while."
Yi Shier pursed his lips, "I brought incense."
Qu Dubian did not know whether to laugh or cry, "Who uses incense in the northern border? It is a small matter. Let us go first. We will head to the first central city and see how Grandfather arranges us."
He wanted to stay in the first central city and go into battle with the main army, but his current identity was only the General Who Conquers the North, which held more symbolic meaning than practical significance. If he were to directly lead troops right after arriving, he feared many people would be unconvinced.
The first central city.
The two armies had temporarily ceased fighting.
Standing atop the city walls and looking forward, one could see the stationed northern border army in the far distance.
Outside, soldiers from both sides were cleaning up the battlefield, though even while cleaning, they kept a great distance from each other.
At this time, both sides had a tacit understanding not to intentionally start conflicts. They dragged away the corpses of their own brothers, either to bury them together or to burn them in a large fire.
Weapons dropped on the ground also had to be retrieved.
Xu Jin was observing from the city tower, "We just called a truce yesterday. For these two days, there should not be any movement. Is the east still fighting?"
Lang Qing replied, "Yes, casualties have been minimized as much as possible."
"The west side lost two cities, but the third city relies on the mountains, making it easy to defend and hard to attack. They want to take all three sides, but they have dispersed their own forces as well," Xu Jin coughed twice. "Is the Seventh Prince about to arrive at the main city?"
"Yes, according to the news this morning, he should have arrived by now. It is a pity you cannot get away."
Xu Jin sighed, "In the afternoon, you can go in my stead..."
"Marquis! Marquis!"
A soldier ran up, panting heavily. "The Seventh Prince is here!"
Xu Jin asked in astonishment, "Who?"
The soldier replied, "The Seventh Prince! He did not stay in the main city, he came..."
A blur flashed rapidly past his eyes.
The old Marquis leaped directly off the city wall, stepped on the sandbags below, and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Lang Qing: "..."
The soldier: "..."
Lang Qing's mouth twitched. Seriously, Marquis? You did not even run this fast when the military camp kitchen caught fire last time.
Xu Jin ran all the way to the rear city gate. At this time, Qu Dubian and his party were still undergoing routine inspections by the gate guards, this was a mandatory requirement during wartime; everyone had to be checked.
At a glance, Xu Jin saw the youth wearing a light red martial outfit and black wristguards. He was helping the inspecting soldiers at the gate move things off the cart.
They had not seen each other for nearly fifteen years.
Xu Jin's eyes instantly grew moist.
He wiped the dirt off his hands onto his clothes and called out, "Little Darling." His voice was actually very soft, as if murmured unconsciously, almost imperceptible amidst the surrounding noise.
The youth helping to move things paused.
The surrounding soldiers noticed Xu Jin: "Marquis!"
"The Marquis is here!"
Qu Dubian actually almost did not recognize the voice calling him; it sounded much older than he remembered.
He put down the items and turned around.
Xu Jin's hair and beard were completely white. Because he had not had time to groom himself recently, he looked unkempt and a bit dusty.
He was still wearing heavy armor, with faint traces of blood remaining on it.
Qu Dubian strode over: "Grandfather!"
He tightly hugged the old man before him, whom he had only met once since childhood.
"Aye."
After a long time, Xu Jin finally said in a trembling voice, "You have grown up... You have grown up..."
He raised his hand and roughly wiped his face, smiling as he took Qu Dubian's hand: "Come, come, return to the camp with Grandfather!"
"Alright."
Qu Dubian called out to Liuliu. The rest of the soldiers stayed behind to continue the inspection according to procedure, while Yi Shier followed by his side.
Only after the three of them left did a soldier suddenly realize, "Oh right! The Seventh Prince is our Marquis's grandson."
"Just realized it?" His companion didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "General Lang Qing has said it several times. You really don't take anything to heart, kid."
"The General Who Conquers the North is a fourth-rank official, right? Will our Marquis let the Seventh Prince lead the troops?"
"Hiss... It's unlikely. When General Xia first came to the Northern Frontier, no one respected him either; he had to fight for it. The Marquis might let the Seventh Prince lead a unit, but around here, we only respect true capability."
"..."
Xu Jin's tent.
Qu Dubian followed him all the way in. Every time they passed a spot, they could hear several greetings of "Greetings, Marquis" and "Greetings, Seventh Prince."
Qu Dubian didn't know how many curious gazes he had attracted.
Lang Qing had been waiting here early on. As soon as he saw Qu Dubian, he cupped his fists and said, "Your Highness the Seventh Prince."
Qu Dubian: "Uncle Lang Qing."
A flash of surprise crossed Lang Qing's eyes. He hadn't expected Qu Dubian to still remember him, considering they had only met a few times fifteen years ago.
However, he didn't think a child who was just over two years old at the time could remember anything. He assumed the Seventh Prince had seen their portraits on the way, or the Marquis had mentioned him in advance.
Xu Jin: "Alright, step down, go somewhere else. I want to have a good chat with my grandson. Unless there's an unusual movement from the Northern Frontier's army, no one is allowed to enter."
Lang Qing chuckled and said, "Rest assured, Marquis. We're having whole roasted sheep tonight. We will definitely take excellent care of the Seventh Prince."
Qu Dubian: "Uncle Lang Qing, you don't need to give me any special treatment. I'll eat whatever you eat. I'm not a picky eater."
"Nonsense, he's just being a glutton and using you as an excuse to eat something good." Xu Jin gave Lang Qing a kick. "Still fooling around here? Hurry up and leave."
Qu Dubian couldn't help but smile.
His grandfather was still quite energetic.
He and Liuliu entered his grandfather's tent together. Xu Jin knew Yi Shier; the two had exchanged blows back in the day, and he had even given him a Thousand Coins Pill.
For the people his grandson trusted, he could sparingly offer a point or two of trust.
As soon as they entered the tent, Qu Dubian couldn't smell anything, but Yi Shier reminded him, "There's a smell of medicine. Brewed herbs, as well as ointment for wounds."
Xu Jin pulled a long face. "Why can't this old man smell it?"
Qu Dubian: "Grandfather, are you injured?"
Xu Jin: "Of course not. Isn't your grandfather doing just fine?" He hopped on the spot a couple of times. "You didn't see it, but as soon as I heard you had arrived, your grandfather jumped straight down from the city wall! Very agile."
Qu Dubian ignored his nonsense, pressed his grandfather into a chair, took off the armor on his arm, and began to check his pulse.
"Oh, Little Darling, Grandfather is..."
"Careful, or I'll tattle to Grandmother."
Xu Jin instantly shut his mouth.
Feeling his pulse, Qu Dubian slightly furrowed his brows.
Xu Jin coughed lightly twice. "Good grandson, you even know how to take a pulse."
"I learned the basics from Imperial Physician Yang." Moreover, prolonged illness makes a doctor of a patient. He had been writing his thesis for over a decade; even the dumbest person would have understood something by now.
After practicing the inner breath of the Prolonged Longevity Art for a long time, circulating it once through a person's body allowed him to vaguely detect where the other party was feeling unwell.
His grandfather had many hidden injuries in his body. Though he looked robust, his insides had long begun to hollow out.
He had also caught a cold that hadn't healed.
Since the war with the Northern Frontier started, he had been going without sleep or rest, never fully recovering.
Qu Dubian: "Grandfather, I'm going to prick you for a drop of blood."
Xu Jin didn't ask him why, just smiled and said, "Alright."
Qu Dubian pricked his hand with a needle and rubbed the drop of blood with the pad of his finger. The simulator didn't issue any warning, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He wanted to use the simulator to check if there were any toxins in his grandfather's body.
Before leaving, his youngest uncle's words had made him cautious. It is hard to know a person's true heart. During a war between two countries, if his grandfather, as one of the chief commanders, met with a mishap, it would be a massive blow to morale.
It couldn't be ruled out that the Northern Frontier might coat their weapons with poison, nor could it be ruled out that there might be a traitor on their own side foolish enough to strike at their own people.
It was best to test and eliminate the hidden danger.
"Done."
Qu Dubian said seriously, "Grandfather, your body is being dragged down by years of accumulated hidden injuries. You are severely depleted and must be carefully nursed back to health."
In truth, how could Xu Jin not know?
It was just that he didn't have the time to stop.
He patted Qu Dubian's hand. "Once this battle is over, Grandfather will listen to you."
The temperature of his palm was slightly higher than a normal person's. Not knowing if he was still running a fever, Qu Dubian was just about to continue speaking when Xu Jin changed the subject. "You came as the General Who Conquers the North this time. Where do you want to be stationed?"
Seeing that his grandfather didn't want to continue the topic, Qu Dubian had no choice but to follow his lead. "I want to go into battle. If you're worried, Grandfather, I can hold off on leading the border army for now. I'll just take the five hundred soldiers I brought with me and earn military merits on the front lines."
"According to your rank, you are a fourth-rank official. According to your status, you are a prince, and you have come on behalf of His Majesty. That is enough to lead five thousand troops." Xu Jin had clearly thought this through beforehand. "Do you want to stay in the main city?"
Qu Dubian: "I will not stay in the main city."
"Then you can't stay in Central City One either, and you certainly can't go to East City One. You'll go to Jushan City in West Three."