The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

On the third day of the sixth lunar month, outside the city of Shuozhou.

Before the morning mist had even dissipated, Huo Qubing had already packed his bags.

His luggage was pitifully little.

Two sets of military robes to change into, a Breaking Formation Blade given to him by Chen Jing, and a map of the northern border drawn by Chen Qingzhi.

And there's that heavy tiger tally at his waist.

The tiger tally was then returned to Chen Jing. When the old Marquis received the tiger tally, he didn't say anything, but simply patted him on the shoulder.

The brothers of the vanguard battalion lined up to see them off.

No one cried; the rule of the Vanguard Battalion is not to cry for the dead, nor for the living.

Captain Zhao Meng punched him in the chest, said, "Don't forget the brothers who went through hell with you after you got promoted," and then turned his head away and refused to look at him again.

Zhou, the head of the third detachment, stuffed a bag of baked flatbreads into the satchel next to his saddle and said in a hoarse voice that he would eat them on the road.

Huo Qubing mounted his horse, glanced at the red dragon flag planted on the city wall of Shuozhou behind him, and then turned his horse to head south.

His horse was newly purchased.

Chen Jing specially granted him a Ferghana horse, a tribute from the Western Regions. The horse was tall, with snow-white hooves, and ran fast and steadily.

Outside the command tent, Chen Qingzhi had been waiting for a long time.

He also wanted to return to the capital, but he took a different route than Huo Qubing.

He needed to detour through Yunzhou first to deliver a military document to Han Chong on behalf of Chen Jing, and then head south back to the capital to report to the Ministry of War's Department of Military Affairs.

The two rode side by side for a while without saying a word.

As they approached the fork in the road, Chen Qingzhi suddenly asked him what he most wanted to do after returning to Beijing.

Huo Qubing thought for a moment and said he wanted to see someone.

"Ninth Prince?" Chen Qingzhi's tone was flat, as if he were saying that it would rain today.

Huo Qubing did not answer, but simply nodded slightly.

Chen Qingzhi turned his gaze away from his profile and looked at the official road that was faintly visible in the morning mist in the distance, and nodded slightly.

We've reached the fork in the road.

Chen Qingzhi cupped his hands in greeting and turned his horse to ride eastward.

Huo Qubing watched his figure disappear into the morning mist, then spurred his horse on, and the Akhal-Teke horse neighed and galloped south.

Meanwhile, at the Yunzhou camp.

Li Wenzhong was also packing his things.

His luggage was even less than Huo Qubing's.

A change of military robe, Han Chongci's Tiger-Slaying Short Sword, and a stack of sketches of Yunzhou's terrain drawn by him.

These sketches were what he intended to bring back to the capital and present to the Ministry of War.

He fought more than a dozen battles, large and small, against the Hu people here, memorizing every terrain feature and knowing how to use each one to deal with the Hu cavalry.

Han Chong did not come to see him off, because Han Chong was still busy with the military affairs of post-war cleanup.

But Han Chong summoned him to the commander's tent last night and threw him a bag of silver ingots.

Tell him to do his job well in the capital and not disgrace the Tiger Guard. If the Ministry of War dares to suppress his achievements, send a message to Yunzhou.

Li Wenzhong held the silver ingot, kowtowed, and accepted the order. As he was leaving, Han Chong called him back.

He softened his tone, which was unusual, and said that this appointment in Beijing was well-deserved, but he shouldn't get arrogant after being promoted.

No matter what position a general from the Tiger Guard takes, he must remember two things.

Soldiers are soldiers, battles are battles, and one should not meddle too much in the intricacies of court politics.

Li Wenzhong mounted his horse at the entrance of the Yunzhou camp.

His warhorse was that chestnut mare, who had been with him for many years; she was gentle and had excellent endurance.

He glanced back at the red dragon flag on the Yunzhou city wall from his horse, then spurred his horse south.

News travels faster in the capital than their horses can travel.

The urgent military report, delivered by express courier, had been sent to the Ministry of War three days prior.

Huo Qubing's 500 cavalrymen breaking through the royal court and Li Wenzhong's capture of the Right Guli King alive have become common knowledge throughout the court.

The Ministry of War has been extremely busy these past few days.

The war in the North had just ended, and the task of rewarding those who had contributed to the victory was piling up.

Verifying battle achievements, drafting rewards, and arranging assessments have kept several vice ministers up at night for several days.

The newly appointed director of the Department of Military Affairs of the Ministry of War was personally approved by Emperor Wu of Zhou, and was given to Chen Qingzhi, the military commander of Shuozhou.

Although this man was not skilled in archery and horsemanship, he made great contributions to the planning and drawing in Chen Jing's command tent. It is said that he drew the route map for Huo Qubing's raid on the royal court after staying up for three nights.

The people in the Ministry of War were full of curiosity about this new colleague, but they were even more interested in discussing the names Huo Qubing and Li Wenzhong.

An eighteen-year-old captain seized the royal court, and a twenty-two-year-old centurion captured the Right Guli King alive.

No one can guess what positions these two people will be given after returning to the capital.

Based on seniority, they can only be promoted one level at most.

Based on his military achievements, it wouldn't be unreasonable to award him the rank of guerrilla general.

Several old doctors argued for a long time in the duty room, and finally decided to leave the difficult problem to the Minister himself.

On the eighth day of the sixth lunar month, Huo Qubing arrived in the capital.

When he led his Akhal-Teke horse into the city through the north gate, the soldiers guarding the city stared wide-eyed at his military badge and snapped to attention, giving him a military salute.

His face was a living legend in the Northern Army, but no one on the streets of the capital recognized him.

He led his horse through the bustling Qipan Street, heading towards the Ministry of War amidst the shouts of vendors and the snorting of the horse.

That evening, Li Wenzhong also entered the city through the south gate.

His chestnut mare was exhausted, so he simply dismounted and led her slowly.

His gaze, however, remained fixed on the capital city, a place he had never lived in for long in either his past or present life.

The streets and alleys are crisscrossed and densely populated, a completely different world from the grasslands outside Yunzhou City.

When he arrived at the Ministry of War, the clerk was closing and locking the gate.

The clerk took his military badge, glanced at it, then looked up at his weathered face, and hurriedly pushed the door open again.

That very night, the Ministry of War arranged temporary accommodation for them in a row of side rooms next to the government office, which were specifically for officers returning to the capital from other places to report on their duties.

Huo Qubing was assigned to the room at the east end, while Li Wenzhong was assigned to the room at the west end.

The two met in the corridor. Huo Qubing was carrying a basin of water back to his room to wash his face, while Li Wenzhong was carrying a bag of dry food as he came out of the kitchen.

Huo Qubing asked first if he was from Yunzhou, and Li Wenzhong nodded and said he was from Shuozhou.

The two looked at each other across the corridor for a moment, then smiled almost simultaneously.

It wasn't a polite laugh; it was the kind of laugh that comes from seeing each other's battle reports on the battlefield and understanding each other implicitly.

"I heard about your raid on the royal court from Lord Han in Yunzhou. Five hundred cavalrymen wiped out Attila's stronghold. He has never been subservient to anyone in his life. I read the battle report from that day three times."

Li Wenzhong tucked the dry rations under his arm and extended his right hand.

Huo Qubing switched the basin to his left hand, extended his right hand and shook hands with him, saying, "You personally captured the Right Guli King in Yunzhou, didn't you? That was a tough battle."

Li Wenzhong loosened his grip and smiled: "He was lucky; he just happened to run right into my line of fire."

The two chatted for a while in the corridor. Both were veterans of the war, so they spoke directly and without much formality. They only returned to their rooms when the night watchman's clapper sounded from the other end of the corridor.

The Ministry of War's assessment began early the next morning.

The Ministry of War's assessment consisted of two parts.

The test consisted of a written exam and a military drill. The written exam tested military strategy and tactics as well as military documents, while the military drill tested archery and horsemanship as well as combat command.

Huo Qubing answered the written test very quickly, not because he wrote particularly well.

Rather, he was simply not good at those literary military theories; the essay question asked him about "the method of infantry and cavalry coordination."

He wrote directly, "The coordination between infantry and cavalry does not depend on the law, but on the general."

"The general knows the soldiers, the soldiers know the general, and the infantry and cavalry cooperate naturally," he said, then put down his pen and handed in his paper.

Li Wenzhong's written test paper was filled with densely packed text.

In his previous life, he had served in the Ming army for many years, and in this life, he started from scratch in the Tiger Guard. In terms of practical experience, he was more solid than anyone else.

The essay question was about how to use the terrain of Yunzhou to build a cavalry defense line. The essay was so detailed that the Ministry of War official who was reviewing the paper nodded in approval.

On the training ground, Huo Qubing's archery skills amazed everyone.

He rode his Akhal-Teke horse across the training ground, took the iron bow from its back, and fired three arrows in quick succession, hitting the bullseye three times in a row, the arrowheads clustered together in the same bullseye.

Then he drew his Breaking Formation Blade, spurred his horse past a row of scarecrows, and the scarecrows were severed at waist level with a clean, smooth cut, without any mud or water.

Li Wenzhong's martial arts demonstrations are more focused on practical combat.

Instead of using the targets prepared in the training ground, he set up several sand tables in the training ground to simulate the formations of the Hu cavalry.

Then, they were shown how the cavalry squad's formation changes were broken down step by step.

This was a skill he learned under Zhu Yuanzhang in his previous life, and a fighting method he had personally verified in the hilly terrain of Yunzhou.

Several vice ministers from the Ministry of War who were observing the examination nodded frequently. One of the older vice ministers took off his glasses, wiped them, and said to his colleague beside him with emotion, "In previous years, the examinations were either just for show or empty talk. This year, they really rolled around in piles of dead bodies."

A few days after the assessment, the imperial decree finally came down to confer the official titles.

Inside the main hall of the Ministry of War, Minister of War Sima Lie personally read out the appointment document.

Huo Qubing was appointed as Zhaowu Colonel, a sixth-rank official, and placed under the command of the Northern Expeditionary Army, temporarily remaining in the Ministry of War pending further orders.

Li Wenzhong was appointed Zhenwei Colonel, a sixth-rank official, under the Tiger Guard, and temporarily retained by the Ministry of War pending further orders.

Chen Qingzhi was appointed as the Director of the Military Affairs Department of the Ministry of War, a seventh-rank official, in charge of maps and military intelligence files of the northern border.

The reason they were all "temporarily retained by the Ministry of War to await further orders" was because the Northern War had already ended.

However, the remnants of the Hu people are still active deep in the grasslands and may launch a counterattack at any time. The Ministry of War needs a group of young officers who are familiar with the northern border war and can be deployed at any time to stay in the capital and await orders.

When Huo Qubing received the official seal and the certificate, he glanced down at them.

Lieutenant of the sixth rank, Zhaowu.

In his previous life, he was ennobled as the Marquis of Champion at the age of eighteen. In this life, he starts from scratch and is far inferior in rank to his previous life, but he is not disappointed.

He knew that this promotion from the sixth rank was obtained in exchange for the capture of the royal court by five hundred elite cavalry, an unprecedented promotion since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

He also knew that sooner or later he would achieve even more brilliant accomplishments than in his previous life.

Emerging from the Ministry of War, Huo Qubing and Li Wenzhong walked side by side along the passageway outside the Meridian Gate.

Li Wenzhong suddenly asked him if he knew when Chen Qingzhi would arrive in the capital.

Huo Qubing calculated the days and said that it would probably take a few more days for him to deliver the document via Yunzhou.

Then the two of them stopped in their tracks simultaneously.

There was a person standing in front of them.

The man was dressed in a scarlet official robe with a dark palace sash around his waist. He had a young face but a calm and composed demeanor. He was none other than Zhao Gao, the eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

"Two captains, His Majesty summons you." Zhao Gao's voice was neither loud nor soft, but his gaze lingered on each of their faces for a moment as he spoke.

Huo Qubing and Li Wenzhong clasped their hands in a salute and followed him toward the Qianyuan Hall.

The three walked along the passageway between the palace walls, with Zhao Gao leading the way at a leisurely pace.

Huo Qubing and Li Wenzhong followed closely behind, their armor and official robes casting three long shadows on the bluestone road.