On the third day of the fifth month, the weather grew increasingly hot. After Zuo Du finished leading his men through daily drills, he was too lazy to return to the barracks for rest. Instead, he led them to the riverside, washed his face and neck, and was about to take them into the woods to find shade and lie down.

As he was squatting by the river, a soldier came running from the distance, pointing ahead. “Vice General, there’s a merchant caravan coming from up ahead!”

Zuo Du splashed water on his face, unconcerned. “If they’re coming, let them come. The Governor and the General have strictly ordered us not to harass passing merchant caravans.”

“No, they look terrible, as if they’ve just been through a fierce battle. There are even several corpses loaded on the carts.”

Hearing this, Zuo Du perked up immediately and stood. “They must have encountered bandits. Let’s go ask!”

If it wasn’t far, they could go eliminate the bandits.

Their days recently hadn’t been too good. The Governor was quite fair and valued their General. Whatever good things Zhao’s Army had, Xiliang Army would also get a share.

It was just that the Governor didn’t have much in her hands either, so basic sustenance was no problem, but if they wanted better, they had to work for it themselves.

But they were all elite soldiers, working hard daily. Just eating meals wasn’t enough—they needed meat! They needed fat!

So to get more, they had to earn it themselves.

And the Governor and General both forbade them from offending the common people, so they could only offend mountain bandits and thieves.

Unfortunately, the neighboring General Zhao Er of Xin’an also knew this. Since going to Xin’an, taking advantage of being some distance from Luoyang city, he’d wiped out several newly formed bandit groups in the vicinity, seizing quite a lot from those bandit lairs.

Once, he even attacked a fortified estate. Reportedly, those bandits were maintained by a fortified estate, pretending to be bandits to rob people. Who knew Zhao Erlang would pursue them so relentlessly, chasing them right into the estate.

Being rather rash, without any warning, he occupied the estate and bound the entire small clan that had built it, treating them all as bandits and conscripting them into the army.

Although Zhao Hanzhang scolded Zhao Erlang afterward, she turned around and issued an edict: anyone who dared rob passing merchants and travelers, regardless of status, would be treated as bandits.

Then she tacitly accepted Zhao Erlang’s occupation of the estate, and didn’t even pardon those conscripted men. According to law, they were tattooed and pressed into service clearing wasteland.

This had happened just a few days ago. Reportedly, because of this battle, every member of Zhao’s Army in Xin’an received a sum of money. They should have a good Dragon Boat Festival this year, possibly with meat every day.

Zuo Du grew excited and called over those new recruits, running directly toward that merchant caravan.

Xiliang Army had also recruited new soldiers this year—promising prospects selected from the newly recruited ordinary soldiers. Following the old-leads-new model, they’d been training for some time, hoping they could learn more skills before going to battle, increasing their chances of survival.

Gao Hui’s face was grim as he walked beside the cart. He’d given up his horse to a severely wounded guard.

Seeing a military unit rushing toward them, Gao Hui’s spine stiffened, and with a swift motion he drew his sword, his eyes coldly fixed on the approaching force.

The guards also tensed up, but remembering this was already Luoyang territory, they relaxed somewhat.

Zhao Chang also stepped forward with his blade, saying to Gao Hui, “Patriarch, Zhao’s Army never harms civilians. It should be fine. Have everyone sheathe their swords and blades to avoid conflict.”

Sima Hou also came forward, advising, “Right, let’s not provoke trouble first.”

Gao Hui thought about it and trusted Zhao Hanzhang’s character, though he was less confident in the approaching army. What if someone was defying orders from above and wanted to rob merchants?

Zuo Du ran up to them and, seeing the troop still had nearly a hundred sheep, couldn’t take his eyes off them.

He stared covetously for a while before finally forcing himself to look away and sized up Gao Hui, asking, “Who are you? Where did you get those injuries?”

Gao Hui saw that he’d brought so many men with excellent weapons, and knew he couldn’t win a fight. So being quite sensible, he sheathed his sword, bowed, and said, “I am Gao Hui, a man of Shu. I came to Luoyang to sell some goods, but didn’t expect to encounter bandits on the road, which is how I got injured.”

“A man of Shu? How are you coming from this direction?”

Gao Hui quickly explained, “I didn’t come from Shu. I previously transported a batch of goods to the north, and I’m returning from there.”

The goods they’d brought back had strong northern characteristics. Never mind anything else—just looking at those sheep behind him, they clearly weren’t raised in Shu. So Gao Hui told the truth.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t restrict merchants’ dealings with the north. In fact, she somewhat encouraged it, because… Luoyang was very poor, while the north was currently quite wealthy.

Zuo Du once again regretfully glanced at those sheep, not particularly interested in the dozen carts of goods.

“Where did you encounter the bandits?”

Gao Hui said, “At Hai’er Ridge.”

That was outside Luoyang’s territory, though not far from Luoyang. Cross Hai’er Ridge and walk a bit further, and you’d enter Luoyang territory.

That place wasn’t under Zuo Du’s jurisdiction. According to territorial management, that place…

Hmm?

That place didn’t seem to have any Zhao’s Army garrison.

Zuo Du perked up. “Such vicious bandits—if we don’t eliminate them, it won’t be enough to appease the people’s anger. Let me go wipe them out for you.”

With that, he was about to lead his men on a forced march to suppress the bandits.

Gao Hui’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Seeing Zuo Du truly leading his men toward Hai’er Ridge, he quickly stopped them and, after thinking, selected ten sheep from the flock to give him, his face full of gratitude. “The General has a public spirit. We cannot be ungrateful. These ten sheep are a small token to reward the army. When the General returns victorious, Hui will have more substantial gifts.”

If this military unit could wipe out the bandits on Hai’er Ridge, his future journeys in and out of Luoyang would be much safer.

Zuo Du did want to accept, but this violated Zhao Hanzhang’s regulations.

The Governor had said that even if well-meaning people rewarded the army, supplies must first be turned over to headquarters and then distributed from there.

So even if he took these ten sheep, they might not all end up in his hands.

He couldn’t eat them now, and herding them would waste manpower. So Zuo Du waved his hand and refused. After roughly inquiring about the situation with the Hai’er Ridge bandits, he led his men away.

He encouraged the soldiers behind him, “Those Hai’er Ridge bandits dare rob such a large merchant caravan, which shows they’ve done plenty of robbing before. If we take down that place, we’ll add a dish for the whole army.”

The soldiers all happily agreed.

His deputy had a slight hesitation. “Vice General Zuo, it’ll take at least a day to run from here to Hai’er Ridge. Being away from camp so long, will it be alright?”

Zuo Du said, “Don’t worry. Our Xiliang Army is rough and ready. Taking men out for drills and not returning to main camp for three to five days is perfectly normal.”

That said, he still called over a messenger and had him return with a message. “Tell them I’ve gone to Hai’er Ridge to suppress bandits. Only tell the Grand General about this—don’t spread it to Zhao’s Army.”

He was afraid they’d come steal the bandits.

The messenger acknowledged and turned to run.

But they’d only run a short distance when they encountered a massive procession. Seeing the raised banner with Xiliang’s totem and the characters “Beigong” on it, Zuo Du couldn’t help but stop.

The soldiers behind him also stopped, everyone staring wide-eyed at that banner. A new recruit couldn’t help but exclaim, “They say our General is divine and miraculous. Turns out it’s true—he swooshed right in front of us.”

Zuo Du was only stunned for a moment before reacting. He slapped the new recruit’s head with his big palm and, excited, let out a long howl. “Fool! The General is a war god, not an actual god who can fly. This is General Huang! General Huang has brought people back.”

His wife and children! Zuo Du broke into a run toward that direction.

—