The God of War Who Protects the Nation: Starting with Saving a Mother and Daughter in Distress

As they traveled swiftly with Tong Rong in tow, the outlines of the government army's camps came into view on the horizon.

The endless expanse of tents and fluttering banners stretched out in a dark, oppressive mass, like a giant beast crouching on the wilderness.

Seeing this from afar, Tong Rong suddenly tightened her grip on the saddle bridge.

Qin An looked down, and she happened to turn around and smile at him.

"We've arrived." Her voice was very soft, with a barely perceptible tremor at the end.

Qin An didn't say anything, but tightened his arms around her waist a little.

Tong Rong slowly relaxed in his arms, tilted her head back, and raised a hand to touch his chin: "General, are you afraid I'll get stage fright?"

"Aren't you afraid?" Qin An looked down at her.

"There was a little bit just now. It's gone now." Tong Rong withdrew her hand, looked back at the camp, and said in a steady voice, "With the general here, I'm not afraid of anything."

The sentry outside the camp gate saw the cavalry from afar, shouted at the top of his lungs, and ran inside to report.

Before long, Cheng Zhiyuan rushed out of the camp gate, his voice booming even before he arrived: "General Qin is back! Quickly, open the camp gate wide and line up!"

Dozens of people surged out from behind him, including personal guards and centurions, crowding on both sides of the camp gate.

As Cheng Zhiyuan ran closer, he suddenly stopped abruptly, his steps halting abruptly.

He saw that Qin An was holding a woman in his arms.

Cheng Zhiyuan blinked, then blinked again, his gaze sweeping from Tong Rong's face to Qin An's face, and then back to Tong Rong's face.

After a long pause, he finally grinned and said, "Oh! General, where...did you bring back a fairy?"

"Keep your mouth shut." Qin An dismounted and then reached out to help Tong Rong down.

When Tong Rong landed, her legs went weak, and she instinctively grabbed his forearm to steady herself. She then gave Cheng Zhiyuan a generous smile.

Cheng Zhiyuan immediately straightened his expression and coughed lightly, "This humble general greets you..."

He paused, then turned to look at Qin An. "What's your name?"

"Tong Rong," Qin An said succinctly.

"Greetings, Miss Tong!" Cheng Zhiyuan shouted in a loud voice. The soldiers behind him, not understanding why, also clasped their hands and shouted in unison, "Greetings, Miss Tong!"

Tong Rong was startled by the scene, but then couldn't help but laugh and glanced at Qin An.

Qin An smiled slightly, said nothing, and put his arm around her shoulder as they walked into the camp.

Yuwen Rong was leaning against a flagpole outside the central command tent, with his gilded halberd lying horizontally at his feet.

Seeing Qin An approach, he straightened up, his gaze lingering on Tong Rong for a moment before shifting to Qin An's face: "Has your injury healed?"

"I'm all better now," Qin An replied with a smile. "Thank you for your hard work, General."

"It's not that it's hard work, I'm just bored." Yuwen Rong said, glancing at Tong Rong again.

"Looks like injuries heal faster with a beautiful woman taking care of them!" Yuwen Rong raised an eyebrow, his tone slightly teasing, but his eyes held a hint of inquiry.

It is common knowledge that military camps are not a suitable place for women.

Now, Qin An has openly brought Tong Rong here, which puzzles him a little.

He didn't believe Qin An was the kind of person who was reckless and would joke about matters of national importance.

When Tong Rong saw Yuwen Rong, she instinctively hid behind Qin An.

She hadn't forgotten the psychological trauma this man had inflicted on her.

If I hadn't been quick-witted enough to bring up Qin An back then, I probably would have already been in line with this man.

"Stop joking around." Qin An said this, offering no further explanation, but simply gave Yuwen Rong a look. Yuwen Rong understood, raised an eyebrow, and without saying anything more, turned and waved his hand: "Alright, alright, everyone's back. Start cooking tonight, and call that kid Li Jing back too; his brother-in-law is celebrating his victory!"

The crowd responded with a resounding roar.

……

When Li Jing received the news and rushed back, it was already dusk.

When he rode his horse into the camp gate, his armor was still covered in dust.

When he dismounted, his steps were much more steady than they had been half a month ago, but his cheeks were thinner, his cheekbones were more prominent, and his eyes had dark circles from prolonged lack of sleep.

"Brother-in-law!" He rushed to Qin An in three steps, grinning and revealing a row of white teeth.

Qin An looked him up and down, then patted him on the shoulder: "You've lost weight."

"It's good to be thinner, you can run faster." Li Jing's gaze drifted to the side, and he paused for a moment when he saw Tong Rong, then realized, "This is...?"

"We'll talk about it later." Qin An also winked at him.

Li Jing wisely kept quiet, but the mischievous smile on his lips was impossible to hide.

A victory celebration banquet was held in the camp that evening.

A dozen or so bonfires were lit, and the people sitting around them ranged from generals to centurions, with plenty of wine and meat.

Cheng Zhiyuan was the first to stand up, holding a wine bowl, and raised the bowl to Li Jing.

"Young general, what you've accomplished in the past two weeks is enough for me to brag about for a lifetime. Two thousand men burned down a camp of seventy thousand! When I was your age, I was just beating dogs at the village entrance!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Xue Ju smacked his lips with his bowl and slowly replied, "Beating a dog takes skill, the key is whose dog it is."

Han Quan chuckled softly.

Luo Kai stood up, holding his wine bowl, and said solemnly, "Li Jing really did a great job this time. He burned the grain and the camp, and caused the rebels a lot of trouble. No one can take away this credit."

Li Jing blushed as he was surrounded by people praising him. He stood up, holding his wine bowl, and returned the compliments.

"It's all thanks to the support of you all, my elder brothers. Anyone in my position could have done it. I couldn't have accomplished this alone."

As he spoke, he gestured towards Qin An, who was holding a bowl and hadn't said a word, saying, "Especially brother-in-law, if you hadn't given me the authority, I wouldn't have dared to do this."

After achieving certain results, he no longer needed to care that others would make a fuss about his relationship with Qin An, which made him seem much more at ease.

Qin An picked up the bowl, took a sip, and didn't say anything, but the corners of his mouth were turned up.

After several rounds of drinks, the atmosphere around the campfire was incredibly warm. Yuwen Rong, holding a wine bowl, sat down next to Qin An, gestured with his chin towards Tong Rong, and lowered his voice: "What's going on? You brought a woman back."

Qin An put down his wine bowl and beckoned to Yuwen Rong to come closer.

Yuwen Rong turned his head to the side.

Qin An whispered in his ear about Tong Rong and the Wang family's situation, as well as his own plan.

As Yuwen Rong listened, his eyebrows rose. After Qin An finished speaking, he sat up straight and looked him up and down several times.

"That's a pretty underhanded trick of yours," Yuwen Rong said, his voice not loud, but his interest was clearly rising. "Using a woman to provoke the Wang family father and son, Qin An, when did you become so cunning?"

"On the battlefield, no means are too cruel," Qin An replied without changing his expression.

Yuwen Rong chuckled but did not refute.

Cheng Zhiyuan, who was standing nearby, had sharp ears and leaned over to ask, "What plan? Tell us about it too."

Qin An shook his head: "No rush, too many people will talk too much."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over the group of people sitting around the campfire.

Cheng Zhiyuan, Luo Kai, Han Quan, Xue Ju, and Li Jing were sitting a little further away, gnawing on a lamb leg. When they saw Qin An's gaze, they looked up.

Qin An beckoned to him, and Li Jing put down the lamb leg, wiped his mouth, and came over. The group formed a circle.

Qin An briefly explained his plan. The people sitting around listened with varying expressions.

Cheng Zhiyuan's eyes widened, Luo Kai stroked his chin thoughtfully, Han Quan remained silent but raised an eyebrow, and Xue Ju grinned.

"Use Tong Rong to provoke those two Wang brothers?" Cheng Zhiyuan couldn't hold back any longer, lowering his voice but unable to suppress the excitement in his tone.

"I've heard about Wang Cong's temperament. If he finds out that General Qin has taken the woman he's been eyeing, wouldn't he explode on the spot?"

"Wang Teng's side is probably even more ruthless!" Luo Kai chimed in. "That guy suffered at General Qin's hands before, and enemies are especially hostile when they meet. If he knew that the woman he wanted was also in General Qin's hands, he probably wouldn't even give up his life."

Han Quan said in a muffled voice, "Why don't we start with Wang Cong? He has a bad temper and is easily angered. Wang Teng is proud, but he has suffered losses before and can tolerate it a bit."

"I think we should deal with Wang Teng first!" Xue Ju threw the cleaned bone into the fire. "He was defeated by General Qin before, and he's even more eager to get revenge. If you use the woman he's eyeing to seduce him, he'll definitely take the bait."

Yuwen Rong also joined the discussion, muttering, "What's the point of beating up two little wolf cubs? Why don't we just go to Luocheng and see if we can provoke that old bastard Wang Chong out?"

Each person held their own version of events, and their voices grew louder and louder.

Qin An listened quietly for a while, and only spoke after they had all finished talking.

"Then let's go to both. I have my own legs, I can go wherever I want. Let's give it a try. Whichever side I can't sit still on first, that's where we'll eat first."

Clearly, after having this idea, he had thought it through very clearly.

He didn't actually know how feasible his plan was.

But no matter what, it's always good to give it a try.

The group of people sitting around looked at each other for a moment, and then Cheng Zhiyuan was the first to laugh out loud: "General, your method... alright, let them guess, anyway they don't know where you'll appear next."

Yuwen Rong snorted beside him, which was taken as tacit agreement.

The campfire crackled, casting flickering light and shadow on the faces of the people sitting around it.

Qin An picked up his wine bowl and took a sip. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tong Rong sitting on a log not far away, holding hot soup in her hands. Her gaze passed over the campfire and landed on him.

Seeing Qin An looking over, she smiled at him, showing that she was not panicked at all despite being in such an environment.

Qin An nodded to her, put down the bowl, stood up, and dusted off his hands.

The group exchanged glances and then dispersed.

As Qin An turned to walk towards Tong Rong, the light of the campfire cast a long shadow behind him.

He knelt down in front of her, took the empty bowl from her hand, and placed it beside her: "I'll take you somewhere tomorrow, are you scared?"

Tong Rong shook her head, reached out and wiped the wine stain from the corner of his mouth, her eyes crinkling with a smile: "Following the general, you can go anywhere."