Chapter 5

Chapter 5

In my previous life, not long after my parents died, the capital also began to descend into chaos.

Bandits ran rampant, and murders were countless.

But the imperial court could barely take care of itself, let alone spare the energy to care whether commoners lived or died. Before long, the capital was besieged for the first time, and I fled with my neighbors.

From then on, my life became one of endless wandering.

At the time, the man in the north whose forces were the strongest and who could briefly stand on equal footing with Song Shixing was named Xiao Mu. He had started out as a bandit, and he was also the last to rise in rebellion.

Yet in just half a year, he gathered eighty thousand troops and grew rapidly in power.

A year later, he could almost hold his own against Song Shixing and the Prince of Qin.

Unfortunately, from the day he rose to the day he fell, only seven months passed.

Even Xiao Mu’s death was legendary. Back then, he fell into Song Shixing’s trap, his entire army was annihilated, and he took more than a dozen arrows. Before he died, he still shot one final arrow and snapped Song Shixing’s military banner in half.

Later generations judged Xiao Mu to be brave but brainless. As a general charging through enemy lines, he was an exceptional talent. But as a leader who had to make decisions, he was far too impulsive and reckless.

I presented a hundred jars of wound medicine and moved into Langya Stockade.

When Mr. Lang and I finally met Xiao Mu, we were both stunned.

“You’re Xiao Mu? How old are you this year?” I looked over the boy in front of me. He was not tall, and his voice had not even changed yet. He did not look weak, exactly-just plainly green and immature.

His father had died at the beginning of the month, and he had only just taken over the stockade. From the looks of it, he was not managing it very well.

Xiao Mu’s brows snapped down, and he said furiously, “This young master is fourteen this year.”

Fourteen? He did not look it.

“I just haven’t hit my growth spurt yet.” Xiao Mu was so angry that he split the stone block in front of him with one slash, using force to prove his point.

I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I wondered if the reason Xiao Mu had been so brave but brainless in my previous life was because he had simply been too young and too inexperienced.

“Is the food in the stockade not to your taste? I’ll cook for you tonight.”

Xiao Mu was disdainful at first, but once he tasted the dishes, he ate three large bowls in a row. In the end, he lay on a bamboo mat, rubbing his belly.

Langya Stockade was far from peaceful. The second and third chiefs bullied him for being young and inexperienced, causing trouble every day in an attempt to seize power. They even took men down the mountain without permission to rob travelers on the road.

After Xiao Mu found out, he got into a fight with the second chief.

He lost, but he did not cry. Instead, he began training day and night without rest.

“You don’t necessarily need a blade to kill someone.” In the middle of the night, I handed him a cup of tea.

He looked at me in surprise. “If not a blade, then what?”

Mr. Lang and I exchanged a glance, then I leaned in and whispered a few words beside his ear.

“You’re a woman. You dare kill people?” Xiao Mu looked at me.

“I’ll solve them for you, but from now on, you have to listen to me.” I patted him on the head. “And you have to acknowledge me as your older sister.”

Xiao Mu was indignant. He snapped, “Kill them first, then we’ll talk.”

That very night, I buried a thousand taels of silver under the locust tree inside the stockade, then led the third chief’s son to dig it up at lunchtime the next day.

The tree was in the second chief’s courtyard, but the money had been dug up by the third chief’s son.

The two of them fell out on the spot and asked Xiao Mu to judge the matter. Xiao Mu waved his hand and said, “If you want me to handle it, then everyone can split it equally.”

The second and third chiefs immediately disagreed, and the two of them went off in private to fight over the money.

That night, I had Xiao Mu ambush the second chief with an arrow. In the latter half of the night, the brothers who followed the second and third chiefs began killing one another.

There were no small number of casualties.

The second chief lost the use of one arm, and the third chief died.

Another day later, the third chief’s widow locked the second chief’s door, splashed fragrant oil over it, and burned his entire family to death with a single fire.

After Xiao Mu finished putting out the fire, he came to find me and obediently called out, “Sister!”

I stroked his head.

“Good boy. Your sister will make you braised pork hock.”

Xiao Mu’s face flushed bright red.

Outside, Song Shixing’s troops rose in the Central Plains and divided into left and right armies. In this life, the one leading the right army was no longer Mr. Lang, but Mr. Lang’s student from my previous life, a man surnamed Kuai.

Kuai Renfeng was also extremely capable, but he was certainly no match for Mr. Lang.

After the new year, Song Shixing faced off against the Prince of Qin. Battles large and small broke out between them, with both victories and defeats, and the two sides kept each other in check.

Meanwhile, I led Xiao Mu to silently swallow up three stockades, garrisoned thirty thousand soldiers, and secretly continued recruiting troops.

“We still need more money,” Mr. Lang said, deeply worried. “The military pay you promised is too high.”

Sitting on the mountaintop, I pointed toward a distant peak. “Sir, deep in the mountains over there, there’s a gold mine.”

In my previous life, I had heard people mention it. Some had been driven mad by poverty and gone in to steal, but none had ever returned.

“I know. That mountain belongs to Marquis Liu’an. What do you plan to do?”

“Rob him!” I said.

But Mr. Lang shook his head. “The moment you make a move, you will attract the imperial court’s attention. When that happens, all our plans will be ruined.”

“Unless…” Mr. Lang paused, and I finished for him.

“Unless we find someone to take the blame.”

I did not know what the result would be.

But if we did nothing, there would definitely be no result at all.