Chapter 301 - 300: Negotiation
After she left, the carriage started moving again. Skinny grabbed Hee Lingchuan by his uninjured arm, his eyes wide with yearning. "Home? Home! You’ve got it made, kid. On the cusp of fame and fortune, and you still get to enjoy the favor of a beautiful woman!"
The envy of a single man was written all over his face.
Two claps of thunder echoed across the sky.
Hee Lingchuan sat up and stretched.
That was the good thing about drinking in a dream—no headache upon waking.
Hu Min had thrown him a victory celebration at the Yixiang Building. It was supposed to be just the four of them, but somehow, more and more people joined as they drank. By the end, even Willow and Door Panel had shown up.
Seeing the two of them exchanging flirtatious glances, Hee Lingchuan was certain they were having an affair.
Of course, that was before he got dead drunk.
How many jars of wine had he drunk? Hee Lingchuan couldn’t remember. All he knew was that he opened his eyes and was back in reality.
Speaking of which, Sunx Fuling still hadn’t fulfilled her promise.
There just hadn’t been a chance.
Hee Lingchuan rubbed his face, got up, and lifted the tent flap. Outside, the heavy rain was still POURING down. ’The heavens have been dumping water on the earth for days on end,’ he thought. ’Don’t they ever get tired of it?’
He had asked a local soldier and was told that Xia Bei had now entered its flood season. It would rain for thirty to forty consecutive days, with only brief pauses in between.
By comparison, the rainy season in Black Water City had never been this long.
Obviously, this weather posed a challenge for grain storage. But that wasn’t the most pressing issue at the moment. Just as Hee Lingchuan finished getting dressed, Hee Chunhua sent someone to summon him.
When Hee Lingchuan arrived at the Central Army Tent, a meeting was in progress. He waited in an auxiliary tent for a while and could hear that the main topic of discussion was relocating the camp.
It was now almost certain that the Hanhe River’s main flood season had arrived early. After several days of heavy rain, the riverbanks were prone to loosening and collapsing, so it was best for the Yuan Army to retreat another thousand feet.
As for their encampment, the ground south of the Hanhe River, which the Yuan Army was defending, was all soft soil. The north side, however, had rocky mountains. In previous years, floods had always inundated the south bank before the north.
Therefore, Zhao Pan was on high alert. The main camp had to be moved, and quickly, but they couldn’t retreat too far and simply hand the enemy on the opposite bank an advantage.
He was the one who had to judge the right balance.
When the meeting ended, Hee Chunhua came out and saw his son.
"Dad, what’s going on?" For the past two days, he had been engrossed in his Cultivation, forgetting he was at the front lines.
Hee Chunhua spread a crumpled, damp letter on the table. "You need to come with me."
The letter was soaked, and the words on it were blurred, but it was still legible:
3:30 PM, Soaring Dragon Peak, Hundred Cries Valley. If you do not come, the front line will fall.
’Could it be...?’ He looked up at Hee Chunhua, only to hear his father say, "Hong Chenglu insists on meeting with us."
’Just as I thought.’
"To be precise, he wants to see his wife and confirm she is safe and sound," Hee Chunhua said in a low voice. "The day before yesterday, I ordered my men to fire a dozen message arrows into the surrounding woods, demanding he withdraw from Xiazhou. Hong Chenglu clearly received them. What you’re looking at is his reply."
He had been certain that even after the Grain Transport Team reached the front, the Xunzhou Rangers would still be monitoring the area nearby.
And sure enough, the message arrows his men fired had reached Hong Chenglu’s hands.
"’If you don’t go, the front line will fall’?" Hee Lingchuan asked, surprised. "That’s quite the boast. Something the tens of thousands of Xunzhou troops on the other side can’t do, he can accomplish so easily?"
Hee Chunhua remained silent, his eyes glinting.
"And yet, you still want to meet him, Dad?"
"Better to be safe than sorry." Hee Chunhua was a cautious man. "Besides, he has little more than a hundred cavalry. What do I have to fear?"
"Go and prepare. We leave in one double-hour."
Hee Lingchuan looked as if he wanted to say something but held his tongue, accepting the order and departing.
...
One double-hour later, Hee Chunhua led over six hundred cavalrymen through the rain toward Hundred Cries Valley.
This force included the four hundred men from the Grain Transport Team, plus two hundred Elites assigned to him by Zhao Pan. Hee Lingchuan noticed they were all carrying large bows.
"In a place like Hundred Cries Valley, archers are the most effective." Those were Zhao Pan’s exact words.
They were also accompanied by a carriage, inside which lay Hong Chenglu’s wife, Ajin. Of course, this was no longer a shabby, civilian carriage. Before they set out, a matron had helped her bathe, change her clothes, and apply a touch of makeup to improve her complexion.
Ajin was very quiet, allowing them to do as they pleased.
Another double-hour passed before the contingent arrived at Hundred Cries Valley.
Upon reaching the area, Hee Lingchuan understood Zhao Pan’s reasoning. Hundred Cries Valley was encircled by great mountains with large, exposed rock faces, forests of bizarre stones, and countless caves dotting the landscape.
This terrain was ideal for concealment. No wonder Hong Chenglu had specified this as the meeting place.
A local guided them. Soaring Dragon Peak was the first low peak they encountered upon entering Hundred Cries Valley and wasn’t difficult to climb.
Hee Chunhua sent a few Scouts up ahead, and they reported back that all was normal, with no signs of an ambush.
However, Hee Chunhua did not ascend the mountain. He had the troops halt on the flat ground at the entrance to Hundred Cries Valley.
He then had a chair brought from the carriage and sat down imposingly.
’I’ve come to Hundred Cries Valley as promised, but I won’t go any further inside. I won’t let you call all the shots. If you want to see your wife, come out and see her yourself.’
The terrain of Hundred Cries Valley was complex; Hee Chunhua certainly couldn’t let Hong Chenglu lead him by the nose. Who knew what strange arrangements awaited them on Soaring Dragon Peak?
The Elites he brought with him secured the high ground nearby, and the archers took up hidden positions.
As if the heavens were doing them a favor, the rain stopped just as Hee Chunhua arrived in Hundred Cries Valley.
The fragrance of wet earth lingered in the air, and birds began CHIRPING in the forest.
The valley was secluded, with not a soul in sight.
Patience is a virtue. Hee Chunhua simply closed his eyes to rest.
After about half an hour, the ground fifty feet in front of Hee Chunhua suddenly stirred, sending pebbles scattering. The Personal Guards immediately surged forward, surrounding him protectively.
The stones and sand on the ground rapidly converged. In less than ten breaths, a pit more than ten feet wide and several feet deep sank into the earth. From it climbed a Stone Man, two heads taller than a person, which began walking toward Hee Chunhua with heavy steps.
The Personal Guards drew their weapons and shouted, "Halt!"
But Hee Chunhua waved a hand. "Let it approach." ’This thing doesn’t seem to have any ill intent,’ he thought.
The burly Stone Man took a few more steps forward before stopping. Its voice was as low and grating as a stone mill. "Mr. Hee!"
Hee Chunhua raised an eyebrow. "Hong Chenglu?"
"Where is my wife?"
"Let’s talk business first." Hee Chunhua’s gaze scanned the distance. The Stone Man was merely something his opponent had summoned with Puppetry Art to speak through. But this kind of Spell had a limited control range, meaning Hong Chenglu himself had to be hiding nearby. He mused that Zeng Feixiong should be leading his men to search for Hong Chenglu’s position right now.
"I don’t want your life, nor do I need to make things difficult for you. I only require that you withdraw from Xiazhou and not re-enter for one year," Hee Chunhua said slowly. "Your wife will be an honored guest here. She’ll be well-fed and cared for, and I guarantee she’ll suffer no discomfort. In fact, it will be better than enduring the elements with you. After one year, I will return her to you."
Hong Chenglu roaming freely behind Zhao Pan’s lines was a massive threat to Xiazhou. Hee Chunhua was furious that he had burned their grain supplies, but he was even more worried about the endless sabotage he could continue to inflict.
But the man was slippery and hard to catch. So, he had to settle for the next best thing: driving him out.
"No." Hong Chenglu refused outright through the Stone Man’s mouth. "Return Ajin to me now. Otherwise, I will help the Xunzhou people break through your defenses and defeat Zhao Pan within half a month."
Hee Chunhua couldn’t help but laugh.
Nian Zanli, with his massive army, was not far from the north bank of the Hanhe River. Even he couldn’t cross the natural barrier of the river or break through Zhao Pan’s defensive line. And Hong Chenglu dared to make such a guarantee?
Hong Chenglu didn’t make a sound, quietly waiting for him to finish laughing.
The Stone Man was expressionless by nature, making it even harder for Hee Chunhua to guess his thoughts.
Negotiation is an art. Being unable to see the other party’s facial expressions meant missing a great deal of information. Hee Chunhua was quite displeased by this. "You’re so confident you can defeat General Zhao, yet you don’t dare show your face to me? Come out and speak. I don’t trust those who hide and skulk!"
The Stone Man fell silent.
A short while later, figures seemed to flicker in the distance.
The Hee father and son stared intently. Two figures had appeared on a small peak a little over a hundred feet directly in front of them.
’Is that Hong Chenglu?’
Hee Lingchuan had never seen Hong Chenglu before, but he recognized the other person as Dong Rui.
’That guy has more lives than a cockroach,’ Hee Lingchuan thought. ’Impossible to catch, impossible to kill.’
Hee Chunhua swept his gaze left and right, and men naturally began to sneak quietly toward the small peak.
The Stone Man spoke again. "Mr. Hee, don’t bother with these little tricks. You can’t catch me."
’How will we know if we don’t try?’ Hee Chunhua chuckled. "General Hong, you certainly have guts. But you were originally one of the Yuan People yourself. Why help Nian Zanli, a man you’ve already defeated, attack the Yuan Kingdom? How about this: as long as you agree to withdraw from Xiazhou, I will release your wife within three months."
The situation on the battlefield could change in the blink of an eye. If Hong Chenglu really did lead his troops out of Xiazhou, it was hard to say whether he would—or could—ever get back in.
Therefore, the focus of their current negotiation was really this "withdrawal" by Hong Chenglu.
If he withdrew, Hee Chunhua would earn the credit for "persuading an enemy Grand General to retreat without deploying a single soldier." He would have answered to the front line, to Xiazhou, and to the Royal Court, all without damaging his prestige.
But this withdrawal would also bring trouble for Hong Chenglu himself. First, the troops he now commanded were all Xunzhou Rangers, not soldiers from the Beiga Army. The two sides had been working together for less than ten days. Furthermore, due to the incident at the abandoned mine a few days prior, the Xunzhou people were already dissatisfied with their leader. They had been muttering things like, ’Those not of our kind are sure to have different loyalties,’ in private.
If Hong Chenglu withdrew from Xiazhou for personal reasons, how could he expect the Xunzhou people to obey?
Second, raiding behind enemy lines was a direct order from the Beiga Kingdom. To withdraw without authorization would be to defy a superior’s command—a major taboo in the military. Hong Chenglu had only just returned to service; was he really going to cut off his own line of retreat?
And yet, the leverage Hee Chunhua held over him was very, very real.
Others simply couldn’t imagine the bond between him and his wife.
’This bastard Hee Chunhua is trying to sever my future.’ Hong Chenglu, a man long accustomed to making difficult choices, was now visibly hesitating.
Dong Rui nudged him with his elbow. "Hey..."
Hong Chenglu immediately raised a hand, cutting him off.
Seeing this, Hee Lingchuan understood that Hong Chenglu’s so-called claim of "helping the Xun People defeat Zhao Pan" was likely something he couldn’t prove to everyone.