Chapter 99: Chapter 99 Cavalry

In the bustling street, it was lively and crowded, with vendors’ cries echoing endlessly.

Su Yang loved the hustle and bustle by nature. Being cooped up in the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion, he spent all his time thinking about how to sneak out and play, except when sleeping.

Now that he’s finally on the street, everything seemed new and exciting.

From a small stall selling candy figurines, Su Yang bought some candy figurines.

He couldn’t hold them all with both hands.

Xingxing saw this and said to Su Yang, “Madam only allows you to eat three strings at most.”

“I was shocked today, so I need to eat a few more strings to calm down,” Su Yang said, biting into a candy figurine.

“Young master, your excuse is not convincing. If even I don’t believe it, let alone Madam,” Xingxing replied.

Su Yang gave her a sideways glance, “Who lied to you? I was really shocked!”

“Where were you shocked? In the head or the hands?” Su Chong asked seriously.

“….”

Su Yang felt exhausted.

Even eating a candy figurine was not allowed, they were driving him crazy.

Su Yang glared at Su Chong and said, “Of course, it was Marquis Jibei who scared me. You don’t know how kindly he looked at me. No one has ever given me such a genial look before; I almost called him Grandfather.”

Su Chong, “….”

Su Jin, “….”

Xie Jingchen, “….”

Su Jin had a forehead full of black lines.

Xie Jingchen rubbed his forehead.

Frightened by the geniality of Marquis Jibei that he needed candy figurines to calm down, it seemed he was used to being glared at and couldn’t stand the kind looks.

“No, I need to buy a few more strings of candy figurines to take back home. That look, I won’t forget it for three days; it was too terrifying,” Su Yang said with a gloomy face.

“….”

Watching Su Yang walk towards the candy figurine stall, Su Chong said, “Was he really that genial? Why didn’t I see it?”

“Definitely,” Xingxing replied.

Su Chong looked at Xingxing, “You saw it?”

Xingxing shook her head, “I didn’t see it, but I know Marquis Jibei must be a good person.”

Su Chong chuckled, “You’re just a little maid. How do you know if he’s a good person?”

“The Marquis originally planned to snatch the Young Master of Jibei Marquis Mansion to be his son-in-law,” Xingxing said.

“….”

“Then he must be a good person,” Su Chong said.

His own father doted on his sister to an outrageous degree.

If someone wasn’t flawless, they wouldn’t be considered by him, no wonder the Emperor let Marquis Jibei be the Chief Grain Transport Officer, and father tolerated it.

Afraid that Su Yang would get lost, Su Chong went over to keep an eye on him.

Since it was rare to stroll on the street, Su Jin wandered around, stopping at a small stall selling sachets and lightly sniffing them.

The woman selling them was introducing, when over in the distance, a teenage boy of about eight or nine rushed over carrying a few pounds of meat, huffing and puffing, saying, “Mom, Mom, Grandma says don’t do business today, go home and cook dinner.”

The woman looked at the pork in the boy’s hand and asked, “What’s the good news?”

“It’s a windfall from the sky, Dad’s home,” the boy said joyfully.

“Your dad’s home?” The woman’s voice raised a few pitches, “Wasn’t he delivering grain and grass to the border?”

“No, the people from Dongxiang Marquis Mansion took off Dad’s clothes, saying they’ll go to the border to deliver the grain and grass instead, giving Dad a month off without needing to go to the barracks,” the boy said happily.

Not having to deliver grain and can still receive military pay while having a month off?

This truly was a windfall from the sky.

The woman was overjoyed, looking at Su Jin, “Madam, do you want to buy or not? If not, I’m closing the stall.”

Su Jin slowly put down the sachet.

The woman happily closed the stall.

Su Jin rubbed her forehead, “What exactly is my father up to?”

Delivering grain and grass, it caused such a stir just after leaving the capital, she was worried for that batch of grain and grass.

Xingxing shook her head, she didn’t know either.

Continuing forward, hearing about Dongxiang Marquis taking six thousand sets of the soldiers’ uniforms, Xingxing suddenly realized and said, “I know what the Marquis wants to do now.”

Su Jin looked at her, “Do what?”

“Preempt before reporting,” Xingxing said with a bright smile.

“Preempt before reporting what?” Su Jin asked.

“It’s just…,” Xingxing opened her mouth, not knowing how to explain.

She started from the beginning.

“Previously, when the Emperor was granting amnesty, he initially planned to make the Marquis a Dongxiang Bo, but the Marquis didn’t want that. He wanted the Emperor to make him a General, so he could gather his brothers under him and bring them into the capital together. But the Emperor and his ministers didn’t agree. Everyone took a step back, the Emperor made the Marquis a Dongxiang Marquis, and the Marquis disbanded the brothers from Qingyun Mountain, asking them to change their ways and live well.”

“The Marquis planned to put a knife to the Emperor’s throat and force the Emperor to agree, but Uncle Lin persuaded the Marquis not to be impulsive, saying it was okay to disband the brothers, that they could join the army and wait for the Marquis in the barracks, but the Marquis insisted they couldn’t be separated, they must be together. Finally, the Marquis let the brothers stay on the mountain while he first went into the capital to see the situation, believing he could find an opportunity to persuade the Emperor, otherwise, he would preempt before reporting, making it a done deal so that the Emperor would have to agree.”

A done deal?

Was this term really appropriate for this situation?

Su Jin rubbed her forehead, “So my father took six thousand uniforms for the brothers from Qingyun Mountain to send them to the border to fight?”

Xingxing nodded repeatedly, “Fighting and killing, that’s what we from Qingyun Mountain are best at.”

“When the brothers from Qingyun Mountain have made military achievements, the court won’t call them a ragtag band anymore. They only listen to the Marquis, then the Emperor will have no choice but to make the Marquis a General,” Xingxing said.

“….”

“No one can stop the Marquis from what he wants to do,” Xingxing said proudly.

“….”

Su Jin was both amused and bemused.

With his father’s determination and convoluted thinking, who could predict or stop him?

She used to wonder why her father attended court every day but did no work, now she realized he was waiting for an opportunity all along.

Once he has soldiers and grain, even if he’s not a General, he is a General.

A Marquis who doesn’t want to be a General is not a true bandit.

Duke Chong’s Mansion.

Since breaking a rib, Duke Chong hadn’t stepped out the door, staying home to recover.

But he was aware of the court affairs.

In his eyes, Dongxiang Marquis’s eagerness to deliver grain and grass was like rushing to his death.

He was happy to see it happen.

But upon knowing Dongxiang Marquis grabbed six thousand uniforms intending to bring the bandits from Qingyun Mountain to the military camp, Duke Chong couldn’t sit still, feeling a pain in his chest out of anger.

“What are you still standing here for? Hurry and send someone to intercept Dongxiang Marquis and that grain and grass for me!”

Duke Chong had military authority.

With one command, a General led a thousand soldiers to chase Dongxiang Marquis.

Well.

They couldn’t catch up.

The bandits from Dongxiang Marquis Mansion were incredibly fast in foot and even more enduring; how could ordinary soldiers match them?

The mounted General caught up but dared not get too close.

Dongxiang Marquis had beaten both Duke Chong and General Zhongwu; going forward himself would be suicidal.

He quickly rode back to report to Duke Chong.

Duke Chong angrily said, “Can’t catch up? Didn’t know to send cavalry?”

He didn’t believe that their two legs could outrun four legs!

Then, the General dispatched five hundred cavalry to chase Dongxiang Marquis.

When they finally caught up, Dongxiang Marquis’s people were resting and having lunch.

Seeing them come, not only was there no fear, instead their eyes gleamed, and they said while munching on a bun, “Marquis, you are truly foresighted, indeed they’ve come to give us horses!”

Cavalry, “….”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep