People in the Qin Dynasty sought good fortune and avoided misfortune.

Chapter 202, Zifang, you owe me a favor (Seeking monthly votes!)

South Korea, border military camp.

At the end of the month, above the treetops, the entire camp fell into a deathly silence, with only the footsteps of patrolling soldiers and the crackling of firewood burning in the brazier as the only sounds.

The main tent under the commander's banner was brightly lit. Liu Yi sat in the main seat with a worried expression, staring blankly at the border map in front of him.

Liu Yi, who stayed up late at night, was not worried about military affairs or the exhaustion of the Han army. He did not have such feelings for his country and family. What he was worried about was the long-delayed military pay.

"Why hasn't the military pay that the Fourth Young Master sent arrived yet? If this continues, the army might mutini."

Liu Yi stood up from his seat anxiously, his rugged face full of worry and unease.

This army had been stationed on the border for a year, and was owed three months' worth of pay. A year of intense pressure and homesickness, coupled with the fact that payday had passed but the pay was still not being paid, made a mutiny inevitable.

Liu Yi naturally learned of the ghost soldiers' robbery of the army's pay. In order to buy time for Han Yu, he used various methods to stabilize the army. However, without the army's pay, it was ultimately just a temporary solution, and one day he would be unable to suppress it.

Three days have passed since Han Yu agreed to deliver the military pay. Faced with the increasingly restless army, he has long been at his wit's end and can only hope that the military pay can be delivered before he can no longer control the army.

What Liu Yi didn't know was that his life-saving military pay had already been robbed by his good brother Xu Qing's men on the way.

"Damn Ji Wuye, how could he come up with such a vicious method?" Liu Yi said viciously.

He had assumed that Ji Wuye was too far away to act against him because he had fled to the border army, which was why he hadn't made a move against him yet. He never expected that Ji Wuye was planning something big.

Just as Liu Yi was insulting Ji Wuye, a deafening battle cry suddenly rang out outside the tent, startling Liu Yi so much that his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.

"Guards! Guards! What's with all this shouting? Is the Qin army attacking? Or has the camp been thrown into chaos?!"

Liu Yi, leaning on the table, shouted in panic towards the outside of the tent.

Three guards rushed into the tent in a panic, shouting to Liu Yi.
"Right Commander, something terrible has happened! The vanguard has mutinied and they're heading straight for the main tent!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yi's pupils dilated, his face filled with shock, and he collapsed to the ground.

"How could this happen? How could there be a sudden mutiny?"

Liu Yi's eyes were filled with terror, and he kept muttering to himself. Although the army was restless during the day, it was still well-behaved. How could it have mutinied at night?

Seeing Liu Yi so frightened, the guards quickly stepped forward to help him up. One of them said in a panic...
"Right Commander, the vanguard is getting closer and closer to the main tent. What should we do next?"

Liu Yi snapped out of his shock and tried to get down from his guards' support, but his weak legs made it impossible for him to support himself, so he could only let his guards hold him up.

"Help me out first, and let's see what the situation is like outside," Liu Yi said in a panic.

"Yes."

Three guards helped Liu Yi into the main tent.

Looking at the firelight not far away, Liu Yi's face was gloomy. He understood that the sudden mutiny in the army must have been instigated by someone, but he knew without thinking who that person was—it was Ji Wuye.

An officer with disheveled hair ran towards Liu Yi, carrying a blood-stained sword and wearing damaged armor.

"Right Commander, the vanguard has mutinied! They're demanding their pay, or they'll rebel!" the officer shouted.

Hearing the increasingly close shouts of battle, Liu Yi knew that even if he conjured up 100,000 taels of military pay out of thin air, the soldiers would still mutini, and he would have no choice but to suppress them by force.

"Immediately organize the central army to block these rebels. You take my orders and bring in the rear army to surround the rebels from both sides," Liu Yi said coldly.

"Rebels!?"

Both the guards and officers looked at Liu Yi with incredulous eyes. Mutiny and rebellion are two different things. The former is forced, while the latter is a deliberate rebellion. The outcomes are also two completely different methods.

"But the Right Sima..."

The officer was about to say something more, but Liu Yi forcibly interrupted him.

"There are no 'buts'. Just do as I say. My words are military orders," Liu Yi said in a deep voice.

Seeing this, the officer could say nothing more and took Liu Yi's military order to lead the soldiers.

After the officers and the surrounding soldiers had left, Liu Yi beckoned to his personal guards and whispered...

"Go and bring me my warhorse, and find me a set of armor for an ordinary soldier."

The guards were taken aback when they heard this, and immediately realized that Liu Yi was going to run away. However, with the army mutiny, Liu Yi, as the commander-in-chief, had to run away as soon as possible. Even if he escaped the pursuit of the mutineers, he would not be able to explain it to the court.

"What are you standing there for? Go now!" Liu Yi kicked his bodyguard and said anxiously.

Now that he knew that Ji Wuye had instigated the mutiny, Liu Yi naturally knew that the mutiny could not be suppressed and that the only way to save his life was to escape as soon as possible.

As for the court's investigation afterward, that's not important anymore; saving one's life is the most important thing.

The guards, no longer hesitant after being reprimanded, took the two men away to find armor for Liu Yi. They were Liu Yi's personal guards, and their lives were closely tied to his. Even though they knew that what Liu Yi was doing was a violation of military law, they still had to go with him.

As the mutinous army stormed into the central command, Liu Yi, inside the main tent, changed into ordinary armor. "Let's go!"

Seeing the rebel army so close at hand, Liu Yi did not hesitate at all and fled out of the camp with his personal guards.

As soon as Liu Yi fled, the officer who had gone to mobilize troops returned. He lifted the curtain of the main tent and was about to report the military order when he saw the empty camp.

"Right Sima? Right Sima?"

The officer called out twice but received no reply. He then realized something was wrong. If Liu Yi escaped, what would happen to the rest of them?
Without the commander-in-chief's presence and command, the remaining 20,000-plus men were a disorganized mess and had no chance of stopping the rebels.

"Never mind, the commander has already escaped. Staying here is just suicide."

The officer didn't have time to scold Liu Yi for being a coward; he turned and headed towards his own camp, preparing to escape with his brothers.

Liu Yi's escape left the remaining troops without a commander. It is unknown who spread the news of Liu Yi's escape, but the soldiers suppressing the rebels scattered in an instant, and the rebels quickly occupied the entire camp.

On the hill outside the military camp, Liu Yi, who had escaped, hurriedly looked back at the camp. Seeing the camp engulfed in flames, he was filled with fear and relief.

"Luckily I escaped, otherwise I would have surely perished in the military camp," Liu Yi thought, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

Just as Liu Yi was about to continue his escape on horseback, several figures rushed out from both sides. Liu Yi only saw a flash of sword light, and his personal guard screamed and fell off his warhorse.

The sudden fright startled the warhorse, and Liu Yi, caught off guard, fell off. He rolled several times on the ground before regaining his balance.

"Who! Who is it!" Liu Yi knelt on the ground, looking around warily. What came into view was a man wearing a hood and holding a strange sword, and several men dressed in black.

"Right Sima Liu Yi, it's time for you to pay for your blood debt," Wei Zhuang said coldly.

"Blood debt?! What are you talking about? I don't understand!"

Liu Yi shouted in alarm, but his flustered expression betrayed him.

When he thought of blood debts, the first people he thought of were Fire Rain Manor and the Three Wolves with Broken Hair. Of all the sins he had committed in his life, only this one could be called a blood debt.

Wei Zhuang did not answer Liu Yi. Xu Qing had asked him to deliver this message to Liu Yi; otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to say a word to a piece of trash like Liu Yi.

When the army was thrown into chaos, the commander-in-chief was the first to flee. Wei Zhuang had never seen a more useless commander-in-chief than Liu Yi, but this also made it easier for him to capture him.

If they were to lead men into the military camp and capture Liu Yi amidst the chaos of battle, it would be quite difficult.

The Mohist disciples on both sides swarmed towards Liu Yi, and before he could resist, he was knocked unconscious.

"Send the person to the designated location," Wei Zhuang ordered.

"Yes."

The Mohist disciples carried Liu Yi and left first, while Wei Zhuang took a few steps forward, coldly watching the burning camp.

The raging fire was reflected in his cold eyes, and Wei Zhuang said in a cold voice.
"In order to eliminate political enemies, South Korea did not hesitate to lose 30,000 elite troops. It is true that South Korea has become extremely corrupt."

After leaving a comment, Wei Zhuang flicked his sleeves and turned to leave.

While the border troops were mutinying, Xinzheng remained a scene of peace and prosperity.

Xinzheng, Zilanxuan.

Xu Qing stared speechlessly at Zhang Liang, who chuckled and cupped his hands in greeting.

“Zifang, you and Prime Minister Zhang are here to see the Ninth Prince, so there’s no need for me to show up for this kind of occasion, is there?” Xu Qing said.

Two days ago, Zi Nu gave the Water Elixir to Han Fei through the exchange of treasures. Today, Zhang Liang brought Zhang Kaidi to Zi Lan Xuan to find Han Fei.

"The Imperial Physician worked hard today, seeing patients for the people. My grandfather and Ninth Prince would like to invite you over for a drink to express their gratitude," Zhang Liang said.

“It seems I have no choice but to go today, but Zifang, you owe me a favor from now on,” Xu Qing said with a shrug.

"Of course, it was my oversight, I should just consider it a favor I owe you," Zhang Liang said apologetically, cupping his hands in apology.

His grandfather and Han Fei met at Zilan Pavilion to discuss cooperation. Regardless of whether Xu Qing appeared or not, outsiders would assume that Xu Qing would play an important role in it.

After all, everyone in Xinzheng knows that Zilanxuan is Xu Qing's territory.

Since Han Fei and Zhang Kaidi had never been in contact before, their sudden cooperation naturally led to suspicions about their common connection: Xu Qing.

After all, no one would have thought that Zhang Liang, the grandson of the dignified Zhang Kaidi and a gentle and refined young gentleman, would have such a close personal relationship with Han Fei, a free-spirited Legalist disciple.

Xu Qing essentially took the blame for Zhang Liang, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to ask for a favor.

“It’s not ‘when,’ it’s ‘is.’” Xu Qing said, standing up.

Zhang Liang's favors are quite valuable. Although Zhang Liang is still very inexperienced now, these favors will be very valuable when he becomes a strategist.

(End of this chapter)