Chapter 54: Granting You a Pasture

A troop of cavalry escorted a convoy of wagons laden with silver as it departed.
Everyone, including the steward, was executed on the spot, leaving no survivors.
Lin Chuan stood upon a high ridge, gazing down at the jumble of lifeless bodies scattered across the ground.
Involuntarily, he reached up to touch his own face.
The sensation was real... This was no dream.
To be honest, having crossed over just two months ago, the feeling still possessed a surreal edge.
The wind whipped sand and gravel across the battlefield, rustling a few tattered soul-banners.
In the distance, a wolf howled—first one, then a second, and soon they merged into a chorus of overlapping echoes.
Vultures circled low in the sky, casting their shadows downward,
sweeping over bodies that grew colder by the minute.
"Such is this chaotic era..." Lin Chuan muttered to himself.
In this world, human life was cheaper than blades of grass.
Silver, political maneuvering, hatred, scheming...
In the end, all must inevitably return to a handful of dust.
He knew that within a few days, nothing would remain here save for bleaching bones.
Skulls picked clean by vultures would roll into ditches, while thigh bones gnawed by wild wolves would lie half-buried in the sand.
By next year, spring grass would sprout from those hollow eye sockets,
burying everything beneath a vibrant, thriving green.
As if nothing had ever happened.
As if this damned world had always been thus.
"Commander Lin?" A personal guard's voice pulled him back to reality. "The General wishes to see you."
Lin Chuan straightened his blood-stained armor and strode toward the center army camp.
Beneath the great banner bearing the character "Chen", the General sat firmly in his saddle.
Pang Dabiao was drenched in blood, the white cloth wrapped around his right shoulder soaked completely through, yet his left hand still held the General's reins with steady composure.
"General!" Lin Chuan dropped to one knee, catching sight of Pang Dabiao's wounds out of the corner of his eye, his heart tightening: "Brother Pang?"
"It's nothing!" Pang Dabiao grinned, pulling at his wound and causing a few fresh beads of blood to seep through. "We took a thousand-man commander alive, magnificent!"
He jerked his chin toward the rear, where several guards were keeping watch over a securely bound Tatar officer.
The General stroked his beard and smiled, lightly tapping Lin Chuan's shoulder with his bronze whip: "Lin Chuan, how shall I reward you this time?"
The fist Lin Chuan held in a salute trembled slightly.
"Reporting to the General," he took a deep breath, "this subordinate serves to the death, not for the sake of rewards."
The General cast a meaningful glance at him, then suddenly raised his whip:
"The pasture ten li north of Tielin Fortress shall be under your jurisdiction as of today."
Pang Dabiao's eyes widened sharply.
That was a fertile grazing ground capable of supporting three hundred warhorses!
Several guards exchanged covert glances, unable to suppress their astonishment.
"Well?" The General smiled, prodding Lin Chuan's chest with the tip of his bronze whip. "Is that enough to feed those forty warhorses of yours?"
Lin Chuan let out a chuckle: "The General is providing charcoal in the dead of winter; this subordinate is endlessly grateful!"
"Providing charcoal in your grandmother's winter!"
The General laughed heartily. "A scholar's mouth is the least trustworthy thing under heaven!"
His piercing gaze locked onto Lin Chuan: "How are your preparations for the frontier military examination?"
Lin Chuan was momentarily stunned, wondering why the General would bring this up.
"Reporting to the General!" He hesitated. "I haven't really prepared much!"
"What?" The General's brows knitted into a tight knot.
"General, the combat soldiers of Tielin Fortress drill without rest day after day! They live only to charge into battle and slay the enemy, not for any examination!"
"You damned..."
The General's hand holding the bronze whip hung frozen in mid-air. Abruptly, he turned his head toward Pang Dabiao:
"What did I just say?"
Though blood was still seeping from his shoulder wound, Pang Dabiao suppressed a smile and muttered,
"A scholar's mouth... is the least trustworthy..."
"Scram! Get out of here!"
The General's whip made a sweeping motion across Lin Chuan's back as he cursed with a smile:
"I grow weary just looking at you slippery rascals!"
...
"Commander, why didn't you ask the General for a bit more silver?"
On the way back, Hu Dayong muttered under his breath.
"What do you know?"
Lin Chuan glanced at him sideways. "That pasture is far more precious than silver..."
"How so?" Hu Dayong asked, perplexed.
Lin Chuan smiled without answering.
The last time Hu Dayong returned from the frontier garrison camp, he had brought back a message from the General:
"If you can place in the top five of the frontier military examination, you will be permitted to form your own independent battalion!"
Even back then, he knew the matter was far from simple.
Over the past few days, he had been pondering the General's true intent,
while continuously planning in his mind: if he truly secured a top-five finish, how should this independent battalion be built?
Tielin Fortress was currently nothing more than a border garrison post, mustering a total of fifty combat soldiers and over a hundred auxiliary troops.
An independent battalion, however, was a full-fledged formation of a thousand men!
Over a thousand combat troops, several thousand auxiliaries, hundreds of warhorses...
Just thinking about it made his blood run hot.
Expansion was inevitable.
He had long since set his sights on the valley situated on the northern side of Tielin Fortress.
Surrounded by mountains on three sides, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack, with a small river meandering right through its center.
During his patrols these past few days, he had already sketched out a blueprint in his mind:
Watchtowers would be erected on the eastern slope to oversee the surroundings from a commanding height;
barracks would be constructed on the flat western expanse, laid out according to modern military camp standards;
and near the water source to the south, an industrial zone would be established...
He had even considered building a water-powered casting workshop by the river.
People of this era might not understand, but he was well aware of the terrifying efficiency of water-powered machinery.
Now, the General rewarding him with the pasture ten li north of Tielin Fortress was equivalent to someone offering a pillow just as he grew drowsy.
Not only would that pasture provide abundant forage for the warhorses, but more importantly, it directly connected to the northern valley!
"Commander? Commander?"
Hu Dayong's voice snapped him back to the present.
"You will know when the time comes."
Ambition flashed brightly in Lin Chuan's eyes.
Hu Dayong wore a blank expression,
yet seeing his commander so excited, he grinned in response.
...
Over the next few days, Magistrate Qin felt as though he were sitting on pins and needles.
Outside the window, tree shadows swayed, and every rustle of the wind filled his heart with panic.
"Sir!" The secretary pushed the door open in a rush,
shutting it behind him and hurriedly sliding the wooden latch into place.
"How is it?" Magistrate Qin seized the secretary by the sleeve. "Did you find any news regarding Squire Zhang?"
The secretary shook his head, lowering his voice: "Not a whisper of news, Sir!"
He wiped sweat from his brow.
"However, this subordinate heard rumors that the Zhang family is secretly selling off their shops... That silk shop in the south of the city was disposed of overnight yesterday."
"What?"
Magistrate Qin's face drained of color, and he staggered backward two steps.
"Could it be... that Squire Zhang used the excuse of delivering the silver and fled to the Tatars?"
"Sir, it's highly likely!" The secretary leaned in closer. "Early this morning, some people saw members of the Zhang household fleeing with their valuables."
"That fellow surnamed Zhang!" Magistrate Qin slammed his palm onto the desk, causing the teacup to bounce with a clatter. "He runs off and leaves me stranded—what am I supposed to do?!!!"
"Sir, Sir! Calm yourself, remain calm..."
The secretary hastily tried to soothe him, terrified of alerting outsiders.
"How can I possibly remain calm?!!!"
Magistrate Qin's voice pitched high in panic. "If he has fled, won't I be implicated..."
He abruptly cut himself off, gazing out the window in sheer terror.
Fortunately, it was only the wind rustling the leaves.
The secretary's eyes rolled as a thought struck him: "In this subordinate's view, this whole affair is exceedingly strange..."
"Explain," Magistrate Qin gripped the secretary's wrist tightly.
The secretary spoke in a low murmur: "If Squire Zhang truly escaped, why would he go alone? His manor houses twenty-odd wives, concubines, and children, yet not a single one has been missing these past few days... Even his most favored second young master remains in the residence..."
Magistrate Qin's pupils contracted violently: "You mean... he was captured?"
"If he was captured..."
The secretary smiled grimly. "Based on your understanding of him, Sir, would he be able to withstand severe torture?"
"Most certainly not, most certainly not..." Magistrate Qin blurted out.
"Therefore, the fact that you are still sitting here safe and sound today..."
"True, true, I am still sitting here, I am still sitting here..."
Magistrate Qin nodded mechanically. "Yet... yet where on earth could he have gone?"
The secretary pondered for a moment: "There is another possibility..."
"What possibility?" Magistrate Qin asked anxiously.
The secretary remained silent. Instead, he dipped his finger into some tea and traced a few hasty strokes across the tabletop.
"Dead?!!!"