Ask the mountains and rivers

Chapter 99 Public and Private (Part 1)

"My respect and admiration for you are personal feelings. My full support for the Pei family has nothing to do with personal feelings. I am optimistic about the future of the Pei family army, and my heavy bet at this time is for the future of the Shi family."

Can public and private interests be separated so clearly?

Pei Qinghe was at a loss for words.

Shi Yan added, "Even if we can't distinguish between public and private matters, I'll be the one who suffers, and you won't lose anything. What do you have to worry about?"

Strangely enough, the person who confessed was completely at ease, showing no embarrassment whatsoever. Pei Qinghe, on the other hand, seemed somewhat guilty.

Pei Qinghe couldn't help but laugh: "You're right. Actually, I was just putting on an act. I wasn't embarrassed at all. Don't underestimate me; I'm cold and hard-hearted."

Shi Yan laughed and changed the subject: "The roads are not safe now, and with so much gold and silver on our backs, we might run into bandits and refugees."

Pei Qinghe was prepared: "I've brought fifty men with me, they'll go with you."

Shi Yan acted decisively, without any hesitation. He nodded and said, "I will appoint another thirty servants and have them prepare dry rations. We will set off in an hour."

These trivial matters could have been handled by Dong Erlang, but Shi Yan went in person today to avoid the awkwardness of their eyes meeting.

Pei Qinghe couldn't help but scratch her head. Why did she suddenly have the illusion of being a heartless woman?

When Pei Qinghe and Shi Yan were talking, everyone stepped aside so they couldn't hear what they were saying. Shi Yan's expression was perfectly normal, so no one suspected anything.

An hour later, several carriages and dozens of fine horses left Shijiawu Fort.

Shi Yan was frail from childhood, but after being carefully raised, he became much stronger than he had been as a child. However, he rarely went out during the cold winter. This time, for his trip to western Liaoning, he specially traveled in a specially made carriage. The carriage had an iron lining to protect it from arrows. There was also a layer of fur inside the carriage to keep it warm and protected from the wind.

During the break, Shi Yan invited Pei Qinghe to ride in the carriage for tea.

Seeing Shi Yan's carefree and forthright nature, Pei Qinghe couldn't be petty and boarded the carriage with a smile. She immediately noticed a familiar black bear skin and couldn't help but chuckle, "Is this the black bear skin I sent last year?"

“Exactly.” Shi Yan smiled and said, “Such a complete black bear skin is a rare treasure. My grandfather couldn’t bear to use it, so he gave it to me.”

Anyone else would have kept the black bear skin as a collectible. Shi Yan, being a pragmatist, took it out and used it directly.

Pei Qinghe admired this way of doing things: "What's there to be reluctant about? Good things are meant to be used. Next spring, when I go hunting in the mountains again, I'll hunt an even better one for you."

Shi Yan glanced at Pei Qinghe: "When spring comes, you'll be leading the newly trained refugees into the mountains to suppress bandits, won't you?"

Pei Qinghe raised an eyebrow and smiled: "Is my plan that obvious?"

Shi Yan pulled out a small wooden drawer, took out a small box of dried meat and a box of dried fruit, opened it and presented it to Pei Qinghe: "The women of the Pei family have fought several tough battles. The refugees have never killed anyone or seen blood. Only real combat can train elite troops. Take advantage of the winter to train the troops. When it gets warm in the spring, it will be perfect to go into the mountains to train them. While you're at it, take down the remaining mountain strongholds. From now on, Yanshan will be your territory."

"With the Yanshan Mountains at its back, it can advance or retreat. If a large army or a large number of refugees come, it can retreat into the mountains and forests."

Pei Qinghe picked up the dried meat and ate it one bite after another.

Shi Yan poured her a cup of tea and continued with a smile: "The Pei family army is not short of food or clothing, but it is short of weapons and warhorses."

"When we go up the mountain to suppress bandits, we don't need warhorses; buying weapons is the most important thing."

Pei Qinghe finished her tea in one gulp: "You're right. The weapons currently available in Pei Family Village are only enough to equip three hundred men. Now that we've trained eight hundred soldiers, we're still short quite a bit. It's a pity that the Beiping army went to the capital and took all their warhorses and weapons with them. We can't keep taking advantage of the Beiping army."

The regret of not being able to work together with General Meng due to differing principles goes without saying. With Shi Yan's shrewdness and meticulousness, he should be able to discern some of the reasons. Pei Qinghe wore a look of regret, as if she hadn't gotten enough of the advantage.

Shi Yan chuckled again. Seeing that she didn't like dried fruit, he took out a box of beef jerky.

Pei Qinghe practices martial arts every day, which expends a lot of energy and gives him a great appetite. The dry rations he eats on the road are barely enough to fill his stomach. After finishing a box of beef jerky, he drinks a cup of tea to cleanse his palate before continuing his journey.

They traveled along official roads, occasionally encountering merchants and commoners, and sometimes refugees following from a distance. The group consisted of dozens of women and dozens of strong men, all riding fine horses and carrying bows, arrows, and longswords; they were clearly not to be trifled with. Those without considerable influence dared not approach.

In order to make the journey faster, we spent several nights in the wild.

Pei Qinghe divided everyone into three shifts to take turns keeping watch at night.

The campfire burned continuously, and everyone huddled around it, sleeping fully clothed in their makeshift tents.

"A group of people have been following us all day. We don't know where they're from, they're bandits. We never know when they'll make a move."

Pei Qinghe whispered to Pei Yan, "You'll be on guard for the first half of the night. Be alert."

Pei Yan nodded.

This band of bandits clearly lacked patience; they rushed over before nightfall.

A motley crew, lacking even proper weapons, some wielding only hoes and wooden sticks. Before Pei Qinghe could even react, Pei Yan led her night watchmen forward, swiftly dispatching several with a few swift strokes. The dozens of bandits scattered in terror.

Pei Yan was about to give chase, but Pei Qinghe stopped her: "No need to chase. These are just villagers from the neighborhood. They saw our large number of carriages and horses and wanted to take advantage of us."

The people of the North are known for their fierce and unruly nature. It's not uncommon for villagers to work the land when busy and rob passersby when they're not. They're all a bunch of poor bastards, not worth squeezing out of anything, not worth hunting down.

The next day, they encountered another group of bandits.

This gang of bandits was clearly well-trained and organized.

Pei Qinghe drew his bow and shot the bandit leader dead. The remaining bandits immediately panicked, with most of them killed and the rest fleeing in disarray.

Pei Qinghe said coldly, "Kill as many as you can, don't chase them."

Young Master Shi remained calmly inside the carriage, watching Pei Qinghe slaughter everyone through the window.

Dong Erlang also peeked over to watch, and exclaimed, "Sixth Miss's arrows are divine, and her longsword is formidable. Those bandits couldn't even withstand a single blow. How can there be such a powerful girl in the world!"

Shi Yan stared at Pei Liu, who was wielding her knife to kill people as easily as chopping melons and vegetables. Her sharp figure was deeply imprinted in his eyes.

After sighing, Dong Erlang turned around and was given goosebumps by his master's gaze.

Shi Yan withdrew his gaze and returned to normal: "The bandits have been driven away, let's continue our journey."

Two days later, they finally arrived at the Liaoxi Army's camp.

The Beiping army set up sentry posts every ten miles, one every mile. The Liaoxi army was much more loosely organized, with sentry posts every five miles.

Pei Qinghe stopped five miles away: "It's inconvenient for me to go to the military camp, so I'll wait for you here."

(End of this chapter)