Green Mountain-Chapter 588 - 445: Mr. Hong and Ah Sheng

Chen Ji walked barefoot behind the Common Households, through a chorus of clanging iron.

He curiously asked, "How much Silver for one ear?"

The Common Households replied without turning his head, "One ear can be exchanged for ten silver taels at Chongli Pass, selling you one hundred taels, everyone is happy about it. Three ears guarantee your promotion to General Banner, ten ears ensure your promotion to Common Households."

Chen Ji pondered, "What about households?"

The Common Households casually said, "Aspiring for households is a rare chance. There won’t be large battles in the near future, no opportunities for siege, capturing banners, leading assaults, or beheading generals, it requires killing two Jing Dynasty ’Life-catcher Generals’ instead."

"Life-catcher Generals?"

The Common Households said solemnly, "Similar to our Ning Dynasty’s Night Patrol. If you go chopping wood in the mountains, you’d best pray to Bodhisattva to ensure you never encounter them."

Chen Ji responded, "But such straightforward buying of military exploits, the court won’t interfere?"

The Common Households laughed derisively, "You just have to make arrangements with the court-appointed Merit Officer, they inspect our achievements for half a year as if grieving for their mothers. But once you achieve exploits, they turn a blind eye, they too despise stagnation in this lousy place and dare not offend you."

Chen Ji probed, "Are there others like me inside Chongli Pass?"

"Yes," the Common Households said casually, "There are about ten others like you, they’ve all become Common Households, waiting for military exploits to become households before departing. But for Hong Zuer and others, killing a Life-catcher General isn’t easy, they can only wait in line slowly."

Chen Ji exclaimed, "Then how much Silver for the head of a Life-catcher General?"

The Common Households suddenly stopped, turned back to Chen Ji, "It depends on the bidder, the last head of a Life-catcher General sold for two thousand taels. If you wish to buy, I can help connect you."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "No rush, I’ll wait and see."

The Common Households calmly advised, "It’s your first time at Chongli Pass, be mindful of some things, upon the sound of evening drums, curfew starts, refrain from wandering around. If caught by the court-appointed Military Supervisor, you’ll be fine, you wealthy brats have plenty of connections. But if caught by the General’s personal soldiers, you’ll be skinned alive."

He glanced at Chen Ji’s bare feet: "I see you’re not a haughty one, that’s why I’m telling you this much. Many offspring come to Chongli Pass for military exploits, but Chongli Pass won’t tolerate such antics. If you don’t want to be betrayed by your comrades and die a foolish death, curb your usual behavior here, lest be thwarted by the veteran soldiers in more than a hundred ways... after all, they’re just broken souls, barefoot fearing nothing."

Chen Ji respectfully clasped his hands, "Thank you, Sir, for the reminder."

The Common Households continued walking forward, "Gather enough military exploits and leave early, this isn’t a place for you to be."

Chen Ji saw that inside the Pass, the well was guarded by dedicated personnel, soldiers pushed wheelbarrows back and forth, transporting grains, bricks, and timber.

Rows of brick houses lined up, yet no shops or ordinary people were seen.

Chongli Pass and Guyuan are entirely different.

If Guyuan was a border town, then Chongli Pass was truly a war fortress. Inside the Pass, there were no civilians, only generations of military households, with grooms and blacksmiths whose ancestors were all grooms and blacksmiths.

As Chen Ji followed the Common Households through the streets, people cast curious glances at his rags, but he remained unbothered.

At this moment, Chongli Pass’s North Gate opened, cheers erupted from afar, "Mr. Hong and Ah Sheng are back!"

Chen Ji looked up, seeing a middle-aged man wearing a melon peel hat, in grey cloth robes, weathered from travel, riding towards them, followed by a skinny boy of thirteen or fourteen on horseback.

The man’s horse had a string of ears tied to its back, the boy led two spare horses.

Onlookers, blacksmiths, and infantry pushing wheelbarrows to transport bricks all dropped their tasks and gathered around like stars surrounding the moon.

Someone shouted, "Mr. Hong’s time out of the Pass wasn’t short this time, must be over twenty days?"

"Thanks for your hard work, Mr. Hong!"

Mr. Hong said nothing, dismounting and tossing the reins to the groom casually, "Feed him some roasted beans, mix in two eggs, it worked hard this time, deserves to gain weight."

The groom beamed brightly, "Alright!"

Mr. Hong suddenly remembered something, "The horseshoes should be replaced too."

The blacksmith loudly replied, "Rest assured, Mr. Hong, I’ll fix the hooves and replace them with good horseshoes tomorrow."

Another voiced curiosity, "Mr. Hong, any gains this outing?"

Mr. Hong rasped, "The harvest wasn’t great, encountered two Life-catcher Generals, entangled for over ten days. Had it not been for Ah Sheng’s wits, I would’ve met my demise at Huang Family Kiln."

Everyone looked toward Ah Sheng behind Mr. Hong, with a warm smile, "Ah Sheng accomplished something!"

Ah Sheng was a bit shy, "Mr. Hong taught well."

Then, someone suddenly wondered, "Huang Family Kiln? Why are Life-catcher Generals so close? They usually don’t venture into the mountains easily."

Mr. Hong shook his head, "Those Jing Dynasty scoundrels act like madmen, who knows what they’re thinking. Earlier, I saw from afar they had ears hanging on their horses too, but couldn’t tell which flag’s brothers fell victim. By the way, have Bazi and Star returned?"

The groom answered, "Not yet, though the Highland of Longevity Army returned, mentioning seeing them at Willow Ditch, no worries."

Mr. Hong’s brow furrowed upon hearing this, he squatted on the ground calculating something with a campaign map.

He then stood quickly, grabbed Ah Sheng’s reins, mounted his horse, "The Life-catcher Generals are too close, I’m going to meet them."

With those words, Mr. Hong, who had just returned to the Pass, rode off again.

Chen Ji watched from afar, curiously asking the Common Households beside him, "Is that Hong Zuer?"

The Common Households enthusiastically replied, "Indeed, this is the most renowned Night Patrol within Chongli Pass, even surpassing those in the Imperial Three Camps. Earlier the governor Highland of Longevity Army tried to recruit him, but Mr. Hong stays nowhere else but Chongli Pass."

Chen Ji curiously asked, "That Ah Sheng is so young, how can he be a part of the Night Patrol?"

The Centurion smiled, "Ah Sheng isn’t part of the Night Patrol yet, he’s just following Mr. Hong to train. He is a military household member inside the Pass, his parents died early, and Mr. Hong adopted him."

Chen Ji tried probing, "What realm of Executive Officer is Mr. Hong?"

The Centurion glanced at him sideways, "Why are you asking about this? Let’s go, I’ll take you to the military quarters."

...

...

The Ning Dynasty’s garrison consists of 5,600 men in one guard, and 1,120 in one household.

The stationed soldiers at the Chongli Pass number only two guards, far from the 300,000 mentioned by the merchants earlier.

Chen Ji was assigned to the Front Mansion Thousand Households’ military quarters, situated in the northeast corner of Chongli Pass, and it took an hour to get there.

The military quarters consisted of twenty large brick rooms, with each communal bed in a brick room housing over fifty infantrymen. Each small flag officer governs ten infantrymen, and each General Banner governs fifty infantrymen, perfectly filling a brick room.

Only by being promoted to Centurion or commander of a thousand could one be allocated their own private residence.

The rooftops of the brick houses were drying wild vegetables and dried radish, while clothes hung in the yard.

Chen Ji originally thought that the infantrymen had all gone for training, but upon entering the yard, he saw nine randomly scattered infantrymen sitting cross-legged on the ground, weaving straw sandals.

The Centurion glanced at the yard, "Where are the others?"

An infantryman lazily responded, "Reporting, sir, they were dispatched to repair the city walls. Our flag was left behind, and a new small flag officer will be appointed soon."

The Centurion pointed to Chen Ji, "Here is your small flag, everyone, greet him."

The infantrymen paused, looked Chen Ji up and down, and showed signs of disappointment, but none of them seemed inclined to stand up.

The Centurion went inside to fetch the roster, calling out names, "Zhang Tonggou."

An infantryman replied casually while weaving straw sandals, "Here."

"Li Ahu."

"Here."

"Li Erbao."

"Here."

The Centurion called out each of the nine names, then instructed Chen Ji, "Remember what I’ve told you. The horse you brought should be tied up in your yard, but be careful it isn’t stolen. But remember, you’re only a flag officer, Chongli Pass won’t manage your horse, if you want fodder you’ll have to buy it yourself from the groom, pay him some silver, and he’ll deliver fodder daily."

Chen Ji cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, sir."

The Centurion left.

The small courtyard became lively, Zhang Tonggou said, "I bet he’s from the Imperial Capital, who wants to bet with me?"

Li Erbao said, "In recent years, the officials from the Imperial Capital have gone to the Yulin Army, not our place here, so I guess he’s from Shan Province."

Li Ahu thought for a moment, "Look at how handsome his horse is. To find such a good horse, one would probably have to go to Shan State."

Zhang Tonggou looked up at Chen Ji, "Hey, where are you from?"

Chen Ji saw this group of infantrymen blatantly making a bet on him, actually just trying to show they don’t care about him.

But he didn’t get angry, he just smiled and replied, "From the Imperial Capital."

Li Erbao, Li Ahu, and the others cursed and pulled out a Copper Coin from their sleeves and threw it to Zhang Tonggou, "Lucky dog."

Chen Ji tied Zaozao in the yard, sat down on the ground, grabbed a handful of straw from the ground, and began to learn how to weave straw sandals from the infantrymen beside him.

The infantrymen exchanged looks.

Zhang Tonggou scratched his chin, "It’s the first time we’ve seen a noble officer’s face from the Imperial Capital weaving straw sandals, it’s rare."

Chen Ji, learning from Li Erbao, twisted the straw into a ’warp rope’, without lifting his head, replied, "You’ve got to have a pair of shoes first, right... By the way, why are you making so many straw sandals?"

Zhang Tonggou chuckled, "Straw sandals aren’t sturdy, they wear out after walking a few dozen miles, so a pair a day getting worn out is common. We never know when we’ll be sent outside the Pass, naturally, we’ll have to make extras. If you don’t have five or six pairs to take with you when going out of the Pass, you won’t feel at ease."

Chen Ji nodded, "Got it."

At this moment, a crisp voice sounded outside the door, "Who is Chen Ji... is it you, right?"

Chen Ji looked up and saw the young Ah Sheng standing at the door, his eyes sparkling as he surveyed him.

He inquired, "Are you looking for me?"

Ah Sheng had large eyes, long eyelashes, so his smile looked very bright, instantly showing him as a smart and enthusiastic person.

Ah Sheng, smiling, said, "I just ran into Brother Ah Si on the road, he said you need military achievements, so I came to ask you."