After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 589 - 583: Chance Encounter

On the third day of May, as the weather grew increasingly hot, Zuo Du finished the daily training with his men and was too lazy to return to the barracks to rest. Instead, he led them to the riverbank, washed his face and neck, and was about to take them into the woods to find a cool place to lie down.

Just as he squatted by the river, a soldier came running from afar, pointing ahead: "Assistant General, there’s a merchant caravan coming over!"

Zuo Du splashed water on his face, unconcerned: "Let them come. The magistrate and the General have strictly ordered us not to disturb passing merchants."

"No, they look terrible, as if they just experienced a fierce battle. There are even a few corpses on their carts."

Upon hearing this, Zuo Du’s spirits lifted. He immediately stood up: "They must have encountered bandits. Let’s go ask!"

If they weren’t far away, they would go and take out the bandits.

Lately, their days hadn’t been very good. The magistrate was quite fair and valued their General, so any good things given to the Zhao Family Army, Xiliang Army would receive as well.

However, the magistrate didn’t have much in hand, so while basic food needs were met, if they wanted something better, they had to work for it.

But their unit was composed of elite soldiers, and daily toil meant that just eating rice was not enough; they needed meat and fat!

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

Since the magistrate and General forbid them from offending civilians, they could only target mountain bandits and robbers.

Unfortunately, General Zhao Er from neighboring Xin’an knew this too. Ever since he went to Xin’an, he had wiped out several newly formed groups of bandits near Luoyang City, taking a lot of loot from the bandit dens.

Once, he even attacked a Wu Castle; it’s said the bandits were nurtured by the castle, masquerading as bandits when robbing. But Zhao Erlang pursued them so fiercely that he drove them straight into the Wu Castle.

He was so reckless; he just occupied the Wu Castle without notifying anyone, capturing the small family that built it and conscripting them as bandits.

After Zhao Hanzhang found out, she scolded Zhao Erlang but then issued a decree, declaring that anyone who dared to rob merchants on the road, regardless of their background, would be treated as bandits.

Then she tacitly allowed Zhao Erlang to take over the Wu Castle, not pardoning even those conscripted, who were tattooed according to the law and sent to reclaim wasteland.

This happened a few days ago. It’s said that because of this battle, each member of the Zhao Family Army in Xin’an received a sum of money. This Duanwu Festival should be good for them, maybe even with meat every day.

Zuo Du got excited, called over the new recruits, and directly ran toward the approaching merchant caravan.

The Xiliang Army had also recruited new soldiers this year, selecting the best from ordinary recruits. They trained them, hoping they would learn more skills before going to the battlefield, increasing their chances of survival.

Gao Hui’s face was grim as he walked beside the vehicles. He had given up his horse to heavily injured guards.

Seeing a troop charging towards them, Gao Hui’s back stiffened, and he quickly drew his sword, his gaze cold and fixed ahead.

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

Zhao Chang stepped forward with a knife and said to Gao Hui, "Family Head, the Zhao Family Army won’t touch even a hair, so it should be fine. Tell everyone to put away their swords, let’s avoid conflict."

Sima Hou also stepped forward, advising, "Yes, we won’t start any trouble."

Gao Hui thought for a moment. While he believed in Zhao Hanzhang’s character, he wasn’t as sure about this troop rushing towards them. What if someone secretly disobeyed orders and decided to rob them?

Zuo Du ran up, eyes glued to the nearly hundred sheep in the convoy, unable to look away.

He drooled over them for a moment but finally forced himself to avert his eyes, looking Gao Hui up and down before asking, "Who are you? Where did you get your injuries?"

Seeing he had brought so many men and their weapons were top-notch, Gao Hui knew he couldn’t match them, so he honestly sheathed his sword and bowed: "I am Gao Hui, a man from Shu. I came to Luoyang to sell goods, but was unexpectedly attacked by bandits on the way."

"A man from Shu? Why are you traveling this way?"

Gao Hui hurriedly said, "I didn’t come from Shu, I initially took a batch of goods north, and this is on the way back."

The goods they brought back had a strong northern flavor. Without a word, those sheep behind him weren’t raised in Shu, so Gao Hui spoke truthfully.

Zhao Hanzhang did not restrict the interaction between merchants and the Northern Land, even encouraging it somewhat, because... Luoyang was very poor while the Northern Land was currently very wealthy.

Zuo Du regretfully glanced at those sheep again, not particularly interested in the goods on the ten or so carts.

"Where did you encounter the bandits?"

Gao Hui said, "At Hai’er Ridge."

That was beyond Luoyang’s jurisdiction, yet not far from it. Going beyond Hai’er Ridge and continuing a bit would enter Luoyang’s territory.

It wasn’t under Zuo Du’s control, according to territorial management, that place...

Hmm?

It seemed there were no Zhao Family Army stationed there.

Zuo Du’s spirits lifted, "Such heinous bandits must be eradicated to appease public anger. Let me eliminate them for you."

With that, he led his men to march swiftly to fight the bandits.

Gao Hui opened his mouth wide in surprise, seeing Zuo Du really take his men toward Hai’er Ridge. He hurriedly stopped him, thought for a moment, and led out ten sheep from the flock to give him, saying gratefully, "General’s public spirit cannot go unthanked. These ten sheep are to reward the troop, and when the General returns in triumph, I will present a grand gift."

If this troop could eliminate the bandits on Hai’er Ridge, it would make his travels to and from Luoyang much safer in the future.

Zuo Du really wanted them, but it violated Zhao Hanzhang’s regulations. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The magistrate had said that even if there were kindhearted people rewarding the army, the supplies had to be handed over first and then distributed.

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

Instead of eating them now, driving them would waste manpower, so Zuo Du waved his hand to refuse them, inquired briefly about the bandits on Hai’er Ridge, and took his men away.

He encouraged the soldiers behind him, "If the bandits at Hai’er Ridge dare to rob such a large caravan, it shows they’ve done a lot of robbery before. If we take them down, we can give the whole army an extra dish."

The soldiers gladly agreed.

His deputy hesitantly said, "Left General, it would take at least a day for us to travel to Hai’er Ridge from here. Might it be bad to be away from the camp for too long?"

Zuo Du said, "Don’t worry, we Xiliang Army are quite rugged. Taking men out for training and not returning to the main camp for three or five days is normal."

Saying so, he still called over a messenger and asked him to go back and report, "Just say I went to Hai’er Ridge to fight the bandits. This matter can only be told to the Great General, do not let it leak to the Zhao Family Army."

Afraid they would come to snatch the bandits.

The messenger agreed and turned to run.

Just as they ran some distance, they encountered a large troop. Seeing the high-towering flag with the Xiliang totem and the ’Beigong’ word on it, Zuo Du couldn’t help but stop.

The soldiers behind him also halted, everyone wide-eyed staring at the flag. Some new recruits couldn’t help but lament, "They say our General is beyond magical, turns out to be true. He just swooshed and appeared in front of us."

Zuo Du only paused for a moment and then responded, slapping the new recruit’s head with a big palm, let out a long, excited howl, "Fool, the Great General is a War God, not a real god, he can’t fly. That’s General Huang, General Huang came to fetch people back."

His wife and children! Zuo Du ran towards them as fast as he could.