CHAPTER 302: CHAPTER 11 EARTH SOLDIER_1

"Where is the noise coming from?" Man Le asked nervously. He knew that Qian’s northern lands were currently clashing with Yan State. Although there hadn’t been large-scale warfare yet, small units of Yan people had been relentlessly raiding Qian State’s border recently.

What concerned him the most was that the city he was currently in had been breached by Yan people just a few months ago!

It was like a man who had recently cheated—his words couldn’t be fully trusted. Staying in a city that had just been breached hardly provided any sense of security.

"Damn it, something’s happened at the north gate! Last time, the Yan bastards broke in from there."

Upon hearing that "Yan people" had arrived, Mr. Man was instantly scared witless.

Unlike Meng Geng, he was merely a scholar employed by the Royal Mansion. His secondary role was as the Prince’s advisor, but his primary duty was to keep the Prince company and alleviate his boredom.

No matter how thoroughly he had analyzed the state of the world in his room earlier, it didn’t lessen his shock and panic upon learning the Yan people were attacking again.

Meng Geng took a deep breath, grabbed Mr. Man by the shoulders, shook him a few times, and roared, "Mr. Man, quickly inform the Prince’s guards to protect him! I’m going to rally the local troops!"

"A-alright... alright..."

Man Le swallowed hard and immediately rushed back to the government office.

Meng Geng, without further delay, ran straight towards the storehouse where the local troops were quartered.

Before he had run far, a group of figures suddenly appeared ahead. They were dressed in navy-blue padded jackets, with cloth strips wrapped around their heads, and carried assorted weapons.

The leader, a woman clearly in her thirties, was mounted on a horse, wearing a red cloak and a hairpin crown.

Before Meng Geng could speak, the woman shouted, "General Meng, what’s the cause of the commotion in the north?"

Evidently, these local troops had rushed out immediately upon sensing the disturbance at the north gate. This greatly reassured Meng Geng. Casting aside formalities, he quickly approached the woman on horseback and said, "Lady Daxi, it seems there’s trouble at the north gate. It might be the Yan bastards again."

Hearing that the Yan people had arrived, Lady Daxi showed no sign of panic on her face; instead, a hint of excitement was visible.

The Wolf Land Soldiers behind her also grew eager. Although their equipment was poor, with even cotton armor being scarce, they let out excited, long shouts.

"Lady Daxi, I don’t know if the Yan bastards have already captured the north gate. The city defenders are scattered. If the Yan bastards have indeed taken the north gate, I fear the overall situation will collapse. Please, dispatch troops quickly to secure the north gate!"

"If the Yan people have come, I, of course, will fight them. But General Meng, you must honor the terms we agreed upon when we set out: five taels of silver for every Yan person’s head!"

"Absolutely!" Meng Geng promptly patted his chest, then quickly pointed to the government office behind him and said, "Please rest assured, Lady Daxi. A Prince of our Great Qian is currently residing in that government office. If you protect this city today, it’s equivalent to saving the Prince’s life. Both the Prince and the imperial court will surely not be stingy with rewards."

To Qian, the Wolf Land Soldiers were, in essence, mercenaries.

Previously, when Tattoo-faced Master was quelling the rebellion in the Southwest, he had proactively brought some local chieftains to submission, and it was by leveraging their forces that the Southwest was finally pacified.

Subsequently, whenever rebellions or uprisings occurred in the interior of Qian, the Wolf Land Soldiers were often dispatched to help suppress them.

Although these tribal soldiers were poorly equipped, they fought with extreme ferocity, fearless of death!

However, although they were nominally subjects of Qian and recognized Qian’s emperor as their own, in the Southwest they were more like independent kingdoms.

Of course, it was normal for them to demand a bounty. Even soldiers maintained by the imperial court received military salaries, and in wartime, enemy heads could be exchanged for monetary rewards and military merits. These Wolf Land Soldiers, having journeyed from Qian State’s Southwest to the north, were certainly not here out of selfless patriotism to serve the emperor.

Having received Meng Geng’s assurance, Lady Daxi opened her mouth and a long call issued from her throat. This type of call would often be heard in the folk songs of later ages, but Lady Daxi’s long call at this moment carried a resonant, murderous intent.

"My warriors, follow me and kill the Yan people!"

Lady Daxi took the lead, and the Wolf Land Soldiers behind her surged forward courageously, swift-footed as if flying, like a pack of agile cheetahs.

They were children of the mountains; their feet traversed mountain paths as if it were level ground. Running on this flat terrain, they were naturally even swifter. Although Lady Daxi was on horseback, many of the soldiers on foot had surprisingly already overtaken her.

Meng Geng immediately started running after them. As he passed the government office, he happened to see the Prince stepping out of the doorway, supported by his guards.

"Your Highness!"

"General Meng, have the Yan people truly attacked again?"

Upon hearing the news of trouble at the north gate, Prince Fu, who had just been preparing to wash his feet and go to bed, leaped up. Of course, his jump wasn’t very high, and he ended up falling directly onto the floor.

"Your Highness, please seek shelter quickly! And please, do not remain in this government office."

Meng Geng was a military man. His father had once been a leading general under Tattoo-faced Master, capable of holding his own front. Naturally, Meng Geng himself was not given to superstition.

The reason he urged Prince Fu not to remain in the government office was simply that it was too conspicuous a target. Earlier that day, he had inquired with local people about the previous instance when the Yan people entered the city and had learned that after breaching the gate, the Yan people had stormed directly towards the government office.

Prince Fu was so frightened that ripples ran through his plump flesh.

He was just a vassal prince. Although astute and perceptive, he had never experienced any truly dire situations because Qian had always kept its vassal princes "penned up" in their fiefdoms, raising them like pigs.

However, at this critical juncture, Prince Fu still quickly pulled a bright-yellow imperial edict from his robes and, without hesitation, thrust it into Meng Geng’s hands.