17 'A Danger' (III)
Zhang explained the situation in which they were already set to be in, The Mongols and their deep incursions have cost a lot for the Imperial Court. Costs, which were ought to paid with men, population and infrastructure.
"So, what you want from me?", Yun broke his silence. Following this question- A moment of pause greeted both two of them. 'What is destiny up to now?', Yun thought quietly.
"A-Actually, Imperial Court has ordered me secretly to give you command of the Black Knights' and fight off these Raiders.", Zhang replied with a serious voice.
"Shen Me*?", Yun nearly shouted out- "Heh...Command, and me?- Let Court deal with them. I have no skills Brother", Yun spoke out carelessly.
"But-", Zhang tried to give a reply- "You are the General Xiao, if you don't have the skills- who else can have defeated those Thirty-five thousand Mongols last year?"
'Are these persons going mad about this, Zhang is better than anyone else here to command- and Why me?, I am just a nuisance in the name of a prince'- RSK in Yun's body thought blatantly.
"I even don't know how to fight properly-", RSK muttered slowly.
"Did you say something just now?", Zhang asked, hearing the 'mutter-putter' of Yun.
'Ahem-ahem!', Yun took his stance back, he can't expose this fact. "Nothing-Nothing, I didn't said anything yet.", Yun replied covering his previous response.
"Okay then, Nice.", Zhang responded- "So, when are you going to take charge?"
"Heh...seriously?, Do I really need to?", Yun replied unwillingly.
"Our army needs a tough political command, at least to be eligible to act on.", Zhang explained- "If we don't have a political support, I can't get my soldiers believe in the State- and more to that, if we act without taking you as Commander, the court will punish us to belittle the Royal blood-"
He continued, "-And if you keep the authorization of our defensive actions, I can recruit some more soldiers in the name of the mandate."
"Ah...So, you need me to take command on papers- I guess.", Yun remarked mischievously.
"Heh...No no no no!", Zhang quickly replied- " I don't dare doing that, But if you won't take charge of this army- I am afraid the soldiers wouldn't be on high morale after being deterred by yesterday's tragedy."
Hearing "Tragedy", Yun's face ashened out- he almost remembered all the scenes of the dead and wounded before him, blaming him for their misery.
"Lord Yun?", Zhang took out Yun out of his sore imaginations.
"Ah...Yes, Okay okay... I am fine-", Yun collected his senses- "So, it's okay then, I would take the charge from here- but, since I don't have the Royal seal of Military, I will not fight."
"It's okay, I understand.", Zhang nodded.
"Oh...yes, before going back- give me a map or something of this county, Let me take a look on that.", Yun requested.
"Sure- but, keep it safe- This is the only map i found here.", Zhang replied, handing Yun a big roll of paper folded like the charts we see nowadays.
Taking the Map, Yun opened its cliched ends and unrolled it flat on the table, which was now moderately visible; thanks to the candles Zhang lighted as he came in-
*Cough*
A purge of dust escaped from the clothed borders of the Map, as Yun straightened them stubbornly.
-"Heh...it's old, slow down."
-"Okie."
As the Map was unfolded, RSK's soul got It's idea of the surroundings, about which he was not sure to the level of being clear about.
This Qing county was situated at 112 Li* from the Capital city, and had a long lining of forests and hills surrounding it-
In north, The 'Tieshan siang' hill stood as a gaurd to the northern feilds of the 'Wugang' village, which was situated in the north of the 'Si Po' village- where the County's Yamen was. While a lining of the 'Jing Wang' hills secured a long stretch of 24 Li along the west, the 'Hou Hu Zhuang' mountains naturally fortified the western ends, while South being covered by the 'Shi Man Tian' Lake and 'Yuanmen' mountains.
Indeed, That 'Shi Man Tian' Lake was the one which RSK stated as a 'heavenly' lake when he opened his senses to this reality. It's position was highly necessary for the irrigation of 'Shan Dian Zhen' County which was based in the west foot-hill of the Southern hills.
The Eastern side of the Qing County was mostly covered by a splattered series of small hills covered by dense forests lining up to the Wuyang city in the north. Well, Sure enough it was true that this landscape was the only defense which the county had to offer.
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RSK had no ideas about wars, but he was a person who wasn't easily deterred. To his luck, he was doing a War History research before he was thrown into this archipelago of past, which now- seemed to benifit him by all ways. He immediately tried to recall and sum up all the stuff which he had done research on to build up his understanding of the situation.
Soon, the advantages was before him clear and shining- But, he was still unconfident about his understanding of the situation; as he was just a curious student when doing the research- Afterall, who knew that this knowledge will be really needed someday?
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"So, they are somewhere around Baohexiang?",Yun enquired Zhang being concerned about the position of Enemy.
"They aren't around it, they have already captured the fortress of Baohexiang and villages around it.", Zhang replied-" They are camped in the west of the northern Wuyang County, and are already being amassing up at the riverbanks."
Zhang took out a piece of paper from his sleeves, and putting it under the flickering candle-light, he pointed out some seemingly irrelevant inkspots on the pale brown paper.
Having no idea what it was, Yun watched with curious eyes towards Zhang.
"Ah...", Zhang responded as he noticed the confusion brewing inside the Prince's mind. "-This is the note which I got from my sources, those points are the camps of the raiders."-Zhang explained.
Feeling awkward at being noticed, Yun fell nervous a bit, but he kept his face unchanged. He immediately changed the situation-
"Okay, I understood. Get me a *pen* and a paper-"
"What is a *pen*?", Zhang got startled by the word. "-Paper is okay, but I never heard of this word.", Zhang added.
"I j-just mispelt!", Yun exclaimed; raising his eyebrows in a deep stare- "Can't I? Go get me a gang*"
"Ah...you can, you can- You definitely can."
Zhang rushed to his room and fetched a dozen of papers alongwith a writing brush. Putting them on the table, he stood beside it with such a proud face- that Yun almost laughed out.
Anyways, he held his laughter for the moment- and started writing some letters to the nearby Jin garrisions and capital army to cooperate on his plan. His plan, which probably he just framed to make it exist so.
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But, is really that was the case?
