Aoyama

Chapter 452 Trading
"Lord Zhang?"

Zhang Baishi leaned weakly against a tree, examining the traces of the past by the moonlight, and sneered, "I am not some Lord Zhang, I am just a night scout in Chongli Pass."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Then I'll call him Uncle Baizi, just like Ah Sheng."

In the mountains and forests, being more than ten steps apart is a perfectly safe distance.

Chen Ji and Zhang Baishi stared at each other, their eyes never leaving one another. This was the posture of true combat; a hunter's eyes should never leave their prey during a hunt.

Ah Sheng and Xing Xing both gripped their knives tightly. Zhang Baishi appeared weak, but he was actually secretly moving his joints to prevent any accidents from happening to his aging and injured body when he made his move.

But he suddenly realized that Chen Ji wasn't nervous at all. Zhang Baishi could count the number of people who could remain so calm on the battlefield on one hand.

He looked at Chen Ji and suddenly asked, "Ah Sheng, who is this?"

Ah Sheng was silent for a moment: "He is a newly arrived junior officer at Chongli Pass. He got lost while repairing the city wall. I met him on my way here, so I brought him with me to find you."

Zhang Baishi remained silent for a moment, not exposing Asheng's lie: "No wonder you look unfamiliar. Now that we're all in Chongli Pass, just let us know if you need anything in the future."

Chen Ji smiled and agreed, "Okay."

Zhang Baishi straightened up by leaning against the tree trunk and slowly walked towards Asheng and Chen Ji: "Let's go back to Chongli Pass. I have news to send to the general. It's extremely urgent."

Ah Sheng gripped the knife hilt tightly.

Zhang Baishi took a step forward, then took a step back: "Uncle Baizi, did you encounter the 'Capturing the Living' general when you came here?"

Zhang Baishi stopped in his tracks, looked at Asheng, and then at Chenji diagonally behind Asheng: "No, we probably just missed it. After all, the mountains and forests are so big, it's common for several people to miss each other."

Ah Sheng gritted her teeth and said, "Uncle Baizi, Gao Yuan from the Wansui Army said he saw you in Liutiaogou yesterday. How did you spend the past day and night?"

Zhang Baishi explained, “Xingxing and I left the pass nine days ago to investigate the movements of the Jing Dynasty outside the Dama Mountains. We first went to the east to confirm that no grain or supplies were gathering in Baidadan City before heading back. Before we came out this time, your Uncle Hong said that there was a problem with the map of the Liutiaogou area, so I came here in person to redraw the map. As a result, we encountered Zhuoshengjiang entering the mountains. But Zhuoshengjiang did not find us, and we hid in that cave in Liutiaogou for a whole day.”

Ah Sheng said in a low voice, "Uncle Baizi, are you injured? How did you get hurt?"

Zhang Baishi looked down at his arm, where bloodstains were visible on his sleeve: "I hid it too hastily, and while protecting Xingxing, I fell down the hillside and scraped it."

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, and the marks on his arms did indeed look like scrapes.

Zhang Baishi's account has no major flaws, except that it omits the events that occurred in Liutiaogou on that day.

What happened in Liutiaogou? No one knows.

However, at this moment, Ah Sheng suddenly said, "Uncle Ke Baizi, you never explained these things to me before."

Zhang Bai was speechless for a moment, then laughed: "The knife you're holding is a gift from me. It's the sword of a general who captures prisoners, with the character 'Yuan' engraved on the hilt, so he must be a descendant of a noble family from the Jing Dynasty. What, you intend to use the knife I gave you to kill me?"

Ah Sheng's hand, gripping the hilt of the knife, trembled slightly.

It wasn't fear, it was holding on too tightly.

Zhang Baishi said no more and headed south: "Let's go back to Chongli Pass first. We have to travel through the night, otherwise we might not be able to get through Ping'an Gate before it closes tomorrow."

Ah Sheng was stunned. He had already exposed the truth, but the other party still wanted to go to Chongli Pass? Could it be that they were going to set a trap on the way?
Zhang Baishi walked at the front, familiar with the route.

Xingxing tried to help him up, but he pushed her away, saying, "I've walked this road dozens of times, all by myself. No one has ever helped me."

Ah Sheng gestured for Chen Ji to follow behind: "If you encounter a trap, take a detour back to Chongli Pass and make sure to bring back what happened here... Please."

Chen Ji said casually, "He's your Uncle Baizi."

Ah Sheng turned and walked forward: "Master Hong said that every night watchman must remember that Chongli Pass does not belong to anyone but to many people. If you do something wrong, many people will die."

From Birch Gully to Madi Gully, and then to Wafang Gully, Zhang Baishi had more than one injury, but he walked extremely fast.

Ah Sheng and Chen Ji followed behind, cautious and vigilant, keeping a distance of about ten steps.

They all thought Zhang Baishi would look for an opportunity to make a move on the way, but as dawn broke and they saw the outline of Chongli Pass in the distance, Zhang Baishi still did not turn back, his mind only on continuing on his way.

……

……

As Chongli Pass drew ever closer, Ah Sheng finally couldn't help but exclaim, "Uncle Baizi!"

Zhang Baishi stopped on the dirt road in the mountains and turned around to look back.

Zhang Baishi's face was pale, and behind him stood Chongli Pass, where he had lived for over forty years, towering like a mountain. He looked directly at Asheng: "What's wrong?"

Ah Sheng looked intently at Zhang Baishi, as if trying to memorize his face: "Uncle Baishi, you should take Xingxing with you."

Zhang Baishi laughed nonchalantly, "Let me go? This is the perfect solution you came up with after thinking about it all night?"

Ah Sheng lowered her head and said, "Uncle Baizi, you should take Xingxing and leave. It's not too late to leave now."

Zhang Baishi casually asked, "Where are we going?"

Ah Sheng thought for a moment and said, "Master Hong is intolerant of any wrongdoing, and you can't fool him. If you leave, I'll just pretend I never saw you and Xingxing tonight, and Master Hong won't be disappointed in you. We'll just assume you died at the hands of the Capture General, and maybe the court will even give you a posthumous title... at least it's better than leaving behind a reputation for betrayal."

A gentle breeze swept through the forest, causing the petals to roll along the ground.

Zhang Baishi stood in the wind, staring intently at Asheng: "What level is that kid behind you? He dares to let you challenge your Uncle Baizi? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"

Ah Sheng shook her head: "It has nothing to do with him. I know you won't kill me."

Zhang Bai was taken aback for a moment, then simply found a rock and sat down: "I'm tired from walking. Anyway, Ping'an Gate isn't open yet, so let's rest for a while before continuing our journey."

Ah Sheng was stunned: "You're not planning to leave?"

He didn't understand why Zhang Baishi wouldn't leave now that the truth had been revealed and his collusion with Jing Chao was a foregone conclusion.

Zhang Baishi turned to look at Chongli Pass in the distance: "I've lived most of my life here, where else can I go? I'll die in the mountains."

Ah Sheng hesitated and said, "But I will definitely tell Master Hong about what happened tonight. The direction the hunter left from is exactly the same as the direction you came from, so you will definitely meet. You have other injuries, right? I guess they are from the hunter's torture. I heard Master Hong say that the hunter likes to peel off the skin on the inside of the arm first when he tortures people, and that's where it hurts the most... Uncle Baizi, would you dare to roll up your sleeve completely so I can take a look?"

Xu Xingxing said urgently, "Ah Sheng, it's not what you think, it's..."

“Let me speak,” Zhang Baishi raised his hand to stop Xingxing from speaking, looked at Asheng, and pointed at Chen Ji: “Can you trust this kid you brought?”

Ah Sheng pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment: "He's trustworthy. He just killed two capture officers today, there's no mistake."

Zhang Baishi looked at Chen Ji and said with a smile, "Master, even Hong Ye and I wouldn't dare to fight two capture generals at the same time. Alright, since Asheng trusts me, I will trust him too."

Looking at Chongli Pass in the distance, Zhang Baishi sighed, "I still remember when Hong Zuer first carried you out of the house, you were just a tiny little thing. After Hong Zuer left the pass, he left you at my house and asked your aunt to take care of you. Your aunt washed your diapers... In the blink of an eye, you and Xingxing have both grown up. It's good that you've grown up, you'll soon be night watchmen."

Ah Sheng whispered, "Uncle Baizi, stop talking. Either roll up your sleeves and show me, or leave."

“I’m not going anywhere, there’s nowhere to go,” Zhang Baishi said. This time, he didn’t roll up his sleeves to prove himself, but continued, “I grew up in Chongli Pass. In the ninth year of the Jianing era, I became a foot soldier, and in the eleventh year of the Jianing era, I became a night watchman. I served as a night watchman for twenty-one years. I’ve spent more time outside the pass than inside it. During these many years as a night watchman, people around me have died or been injured. This Da Ma Mountain is also strange. The birch trees look like bone fragments. It’s quite eerie to look at them suddenly… To be honest, I never thought that one day I would also perish at the hands of the capture-the-lives generals, but there are too many of them this time.”

Ah Sheng was taken aback when Zhang Baishi actually admitted that he had fallen into the hands of the "Life-Catching General".

Zhang Bai chuckled: "There were outsiders here just now, and I wanted to keep the fact that I was captured alive a secret, which was quite embarrassing. But now that I think about it, how can you hide the truth forever? I might as well tell you everything."

Ah Sheng asked in confusion, "Why did the hunter release you? What did you promise?"

Zhang Baishi remained silent for a long time before looking at Chongli Pass and saying, "The Jing Dynasty envoys have already departed from Shangjing Liaoyang Prefecture to go to the capital of my Ning Dynasty to negotiate peace with His Majesty. They brought with them the youngest daughter of the old Jing Dynasty emperor, wanting her to marry His Majesty as a concubine, with Baidadan City as her dowry, and agreeing that the two dynasties will not provoke any border conflicts for a hundred years... in exchange for Yuancheng to return."

Ah Sheng was taken aback: "The daughter of the old emperor of the Jing Dynasty? Isn't she supposed to be the apple of the eye of that dog emperor of the Jing Dynasty?"

Zhang Baishi sneered: "We can give you Baidadan City, what's a daughter to us?"

He then changed the subject: "But if we really let them reach an agreement and let them exchange Yuancheng back, then what about all the blood feuds that my soldiers of Chongli Pass have accumulated over the years?"

Ah Sheng hesitated, unable to speak.

Zhang Baishi calmly said, "There are also people in Jingchao who don't want Yuancheng to go back, but they don't dare to do it themselves, so they want to borrow my Night Watchman's knife to do it. But it doesn't matter, we'll let them borrow the knife once. We'll kill the people they don't dare to kill."

Chen Ji's heart sank.

Zhang Baishi's words confirmed his suspicions. The capture of the live generals was indeed for the Jing Dynasty's envoys, but they were unwilling to take matters into their own hands and instead chose to make this deal with the Ning Dynasty's Night Hour.

The generals who were previously purged likely died because they opposed this matter.

The Jing Dynasty is in turmoil, and Yuancheng cannot return. The biggest beneficiary is his uncle, Lu Jin... But Chen Ji also has his reasons for making this happen.

He frowned, pondering how he could possibly get the Jing Dynasty envoy to the capital amidst so many thugs.

At this moment, Zhang Baishi slowly stood up: "Asheng, your father died during Yuancheng's southern expedition, as did your second uncle and my son. The military households of Chongli Pass hate him to the bone. I will go back to Chongli Pass and explain this matter to Master Hong. The blood debt that Yuancheng carries cannot be left unresolved."

"Once this is accomplished, you can kill me or torture me as you please, I will have no complaints."

(End of this chapter)