Seeing a child fall and unable to get up, nearly trampled by adults behind, and the child’s parents putting down their heavy loads to pull up the child, the soldiers couldn’t help but look toward Deputy General Gao Yi.

Gao Yi tilted his head to look into the distance and saw a team of horses appear within his line of sight, running toward them. They looked like several hundred people.

Gao Yi gave a cold laugh, spurred his horse forward, and said: “Move out!”

The two thousand troops positioned themselves beside the villagers, shields raised, forming a wall.

The villagers sheltered behind them suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and were no longer so panicked. Everyone helped each other run toward the water channel.

The soldiers kept their eyes straight ahead, not helping, only staring intently at the approaching Yanzhou army.

On the Yanzhou army’s side, the officer leading them was one of Gou Chun’s adjutant generals surnamed Xu. He naturally recognized Gao Yi, knowing he was one of Zhao Ju’s deputies. He stopped outside arrow range.

With a wave of his hand, the soldiers behind him also stopped.

He stepped forward, staring at Gao Yi across from him and asking: “Deputy General Gao, this is Yanzhou territory. What do you mean by bringing troops to our side?”

Gao Yi said with a stern face: “I came to rescue our Yuzhou people.”

“Who?” Adjutant General Xu’s voice cracked. The Yuzhou soldiers blocked everything tightly, but looking past the distance blocked by those two thousand people, near the small grove, he could still see people passing through.

Furious, his hand trembling as he pointed, he asked: “You say those are your Yuzhou people? They’re clearly our Yanzhou citizens!”

Gao Yi’s face darkened as he snorted coldly: “Bullshit! They’re clearly our Yuzhou people. You plundered them.”

He continued: “A month ago during the summer harvest, you led troops across the border and charged into our Yuzhou farmlands to seize and harvest wheat. Our villagers refused and resisted you, so you captured and abducted them. You plundered people and you have the nerve to say they’re yours? You’re spouting utter nonsense!”

Adjutant General Xu paused, couldn’t help but turn back to look at his soldiers: “Is what he said true?”

The soldiers also paused, thinking hard: “We didn’t plunder people. We only seized grain, and we didn’t see anyone else plundering people either.”

One soldier was relatively calm: “General, you must have been deceived by him. If we really plundered people, would we dare just leave them alone like this?”

“Right, if we plundered people, wouldn’t we have to send them to the army as military slaves?”

Only then did Adjutant General Xu come to his senses. Furious, he spat at Gao Yi: Damn it, it was all because he spoke so convincingly that even he believed it was true.

“You’re the one spouting nonsense! These people are from our Yanzhou. Stop slandering us.”

“I say they’re from Yuzhou, so they’re from Yuzhou. If you don’t believe me, shout at them and see if they’ll acknowledge being Yanzhou people.”

They’d be fools to acknowledge it. Everyone had run to the other side already. To acknowledge now—could they really come back to die?

But he didn’t care. Those people were Yanzhou people.

The two sides, separated by several fields, started arguing, questioning each other’s generals, top generals, and nearly even each other’s emperor if it weren’t for the fact they shared the same one.

Gao Yi wasn’t anxious; he let them argue.

As they argued, Zhao Ju and three guards arrived with villagers from two more villages.

Adjutant General Xu’s eyes widened, then his face darkened. With a wave of his hand, archers immediately stepped forward, drawing their bows with a swish, aiming at Zhao Ju and the villagers behind him about to cross.

Gao Yi’s face darkened. With a raise of his hand, archers behind the shields also drew their bows. Then the shields pushed forward, the entire troop of soldiers advancing, directly bringing them within range.

Gao Yi said gravely: “Adjutant General Xu, you can try to see whether your arrows are faster or ours are faster. Also, are you certain your arrows can reach our general?”

At the current range, of course they couldn’t reach. The line was diagonal; he and Gao Yi were the two shortest points in a straight line, just barely within range.

Zhao Ju naturally also saw they couldn’t shoot him, so he told the villagers to move forward boldly. He rode forward to Gao Yi’s side and said to Adjutant General Xu across from them: “If Yuzhou and Yanzhou go to war, never mind you—even Gou Chun couldn’t bear that responsibility. Adjutant General Xu, I advise you to go back and ask General Gou for instructions before deciding.”

Adjutant General Xu’s expression changed. He narrowed his eyes at Zhao Ju and asked: “General Zhao, Master Ming is in your hands, isn’t he?”

Zhao Ju didn’t respond, but Adjutant General Xu already knew what he wanted to know. His heart sank. His gaze swept over those villagers walking past the Yuzhou soldiers. He said coldly: “I will report this matter to the General. Your Yuzhou army crossed the border without cause and abducted so many of our people. Administrator Zhao must give our Yanzhou an explanation for this!”

Zhao Ju remained silent. First bring the people back, then talk. As for an explanation, that was a matter for those above. Let them fight it out. When they needed him to send troops, then he’d act.

However, Zhao Ju felt the two regions probably wouldn’t fight.

Zhao Ju said nothing, but Gao Yi emphasized: “These are our Yuzhou people. We came to rescue them. If we’re talking about crossing borders, your Yanzhou army crossed first. A month ago, you crossed the border to seize and harvest our grain, abducted villagers from our three villages, blah blah blah…”

Zhao Ju couldn’t help but turn to look at him.

Gao Yi struggled to maintain his facial expression, looking seriously at Zhao Ju and nodding.

Zhao Ju was silent for a moment before nodding: “That’s right!”

Adjutant General Xu was furious. He hadn’t expected Zhao Ju, such a high-ranking general, would also lie with his eyes wide open. But he had no way to deal with them now. He could only watch helplessly as those villagers crossed the water channel and left, then the two thousand Yuzhou soldiers also withdrew in orderly fashion.

Seeing they were almost back to the Yuzhou side, soldiers couldn’t help but look anxiously at Adjutant General Xu: “General, are we just letting them go?”

Adjutant General Xu: “What else? We have even fewer people than them. Do you think we can win?”

The soldier said nothing.

“Even if we could win, would we dare fight?” Adjutant General Xu said: “Starting a war between two regions—who could bear that crime?”

If this were a year ago, they definitely wouldn’t be afraid. If someone came, they’d fight directly. Who was afraid of whom?

But now, with the Emperor in Yuncheng and Zhao Hanzhang solely occupying Yuzhou and Luoyang, clearly wanting to peacefully coexist with their general, starting a fight now—their top general might not be willing.

Moreover, now was different from a year ago. Back then, Yanzhou was in an expansionary state. As long as someone dared provoke them, they’d dare to fight.

But now the top general was indulging in sensual pleasures. They’d heard he hadn’t left his quarters in Yuncheng for two months. Counselor Yan had only advised him not to be too extravagant and was killed. At this time, who dared start a war?

Adjutant General Xu gritted his teeth, watching them cross the border before waving his hand: “Let’s go. Return and report to the general.”

“What about Chai Shi and the others? General, our squad leader must be in their hands.”

“Being in their hands is better than being in ours. Don’t worry about them. Let’s go.”

The soldier thought about it—that was true. Having lost Master Ming, even if the squad leader and others returned alive, they’d be severely punished. A beating with rods might cost them their lives. Being a captive on the other side wasn’t bad. Serving as a soldier for anyone was still being a soldier.

Thinking this way, the soldier happily turned to leave. After all, both sides would definitely fight in the future. Maybe they’d see each other on the battlefield. If they were fortunate enough to survive, perhaps they could reminisce about old times. Or maybe they’d capture each other as prisoners, and they could be together again.

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