Chapter 15: Repairing the Beacon Campfires
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Zhao Mang was somewhat surprised.
This fellow had some real ability, he thought. Remaining at Dunzi Peak was rather beneath him.
As for the other man, however, he could not quite make him out.
Zhu Qiqi’s strike missed. After regaining his balance, he clasped his hands and bowed.
“My name is Zhu Qiqi. Many thanks, Squad Leader, for showing mercy.”
Zhao Mang waved it off.
“That probing attack of yours was rather rash, though there is nothing wrong with staying vigilant.”
He then turned toward the other, frail-looking man.
“And you must be Wang Mazi?”
Wang Mazi replied in a low voice, “That is correct. Squad Leader, you must be disappointed. My martial ability is mediocre, and I am not of much use.”
Zhao Mang laughed heartily.
“Everyone has their uses. How can you speak so poorly of yourself?”
“All right. Let us go inside and talk.”
Wang Mazi raised a hand, inviting them in.
The moment they entered the room, everyone was stunned by what they saw.
Xiao Han shook his head repeatedly.
“Good heavens... This place is even more run-down than I expected.”
Zhao Mang looked around the interior and sighed inwardly. The room could only be described as bare to the walls.
There was almost nothing inside. Two longbows hung on the wall, while a large earthen sleeping platform occupied much of the room.
Two straw mats had been spread across it.
In one corner stood a wooden table. Upon it rested an inkstone that had long since dried out, along with a single oil lamp.
Nothing else.
“You make do with conditions like these?”
“You do not even bother improving your own quarters. You are truly careless.”
Upon hearing this, Zhu Qiqi answered frankly, “We are only here to guard a beacon tower. There is no use in having fine furnishings.”
“Besides, if the Tubo raiders come, we light the beacon and run. Staying behind would not accomplish anything.”
“In that situation, no matter how well we furnished the place, we could not take any of it with us.”
Zhu Qiqi’s words were quite reasonable, leaving Zhao Mang momentarily at a loss for words.
Suppressing his feelings, he began his own round of persuasion.
There was no helping it. When one had nothing to offer, drawing up grand promises was the best course.
After all, he was no wealthy man himself. He could not simply hand them silver or shower them with rewards.
“From now on, I will serve as captain here. I will not let you go on living in such a ridiculous state.”
“This camp at Dunzi Peak is our base. We have only one goal: to kill the Tubo raiders!”
“If I have food to eat, then you will not go without.”
At these words, Zhu Qiqi and Wang Mazi both showed a trace of disdain.
The last person to speak in such a manner had long since vanished to enjoy himself somewhere.
Now another impractical squad leader had arrived.
One grand and empty promise followed another, and the two men immediately lost interest.
The two ordinary soldiers brought from the camp, however, nodded furiously, believing every word Zhao Mang said.
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Zhao Mang looked at everyone, his brows drawing together slightly.
These people were truly stubborn beyond reason, he thought.
With no alternative, he first instructed Xiao Han to inspect the surrounding terrain and draw a map for his reference.
Now that he had come here, he intended to do the job properly. If history was any guide, the Tubo raiders would inevitably come to cause trouble during the summer and autumn harvests.
He had to familiarize himself with the nearby terrain in advance.
Otherwise, he might not even know how he had died. Dunzi Peak was the small mountain nearest the Tubo border.
Naturally, its beacon tower was also the most dangerous.
Upon receiving the order, Xiao Han turned and set off.
Zhao Mang then looked toward the two men who had originally been stationed at the camp.
Since persuasion had failed, he decided to use force. He drew the long saber from his waist and lightly flicked a finger against its edge.
“Our work is all about licking blood from the edge of a blade. I will not bother with pretty words.”
“When the enemy comes, anyone willing to draw his blade will be my brother, Zhao Mang’s comrade.”
“But those who cower and refuse to lift a finger...”
“I will not mind adding a few more heads to my tally of military merit.”
The threat in Zhao Mang’s words was unmistakable.
Everyone’s expression changed.
They had not expected him to threaten them so openly and brazenly.
Naturally, they felt some resentment.
Still, they had witnessed Zhao Mang’s strength.
In his eyes, every person present was trash.
Seeing that he had achieved his purpose, Zhao Mang began issuing orders to the ordinary soldiers.
“You two, inspect the beacon tower and make sure all its supplies and equipment are in order.”
He then turned to Zhu Qiqi and Wang Mazi.
“As for you two, take me into the nearby mountains to cut some timber.”
“We will properly repair this camp. In its current state, even two enemies wandering in could enter with ease.”
“When the time came, we might not even have time to flee.”
“Your thinking is not entirely wrong, but as the foremost beacon tower, we must also delay the enemy for as long as possible.”
“That is the most basic duty of a garrison soldier.”
Zhu Qiqi snorted when he heard this and spoke bluntly.
“New squad leader, it is not that I disagree with you. But have you even looked at where we are?”
“We have been working here for two or three months, yet our superiors have not paid us a single coin. And now they still expect us to risk our lives.”
“Do you honestly think that is a reasonable thing to say?”
The momentum in Zhao Mang’s heart immediately faltered.
Damn those wicked exploiters.
No—that was not quite accurate. They were even more detestable than ordinary exploiters. They never mentioned wages, yet never stopped talking about sacrifice.
No wonder this place was in such a ruined state, he thought.
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No wonder the six prefectures of the Hexi Corridor had been reduced to little more than Shazhou.
No wonder the Tubo raiders carried out more than a hundred large and small incidents of looting, smashing, and burning every year.
The problem had been severed at its very root: the soldiers had lost all hope.
Did ordinary people not join the army for the sake of those few coins?
If even that could not be guaranteed, how could anyone be expected to risk his life?
Zhao Mang reined in his turbulent emotions.
He took half a string of cash from inside his robe and tossed it before the two men.
“This is your military pay for following me.”
“From now on, I will not make empty promises. Everything will depend on your performance.”
Zhao Mang felt a pang as he parted with the money. His last suppression of bandits had earned him only five taels of silver.
He had already spent one tael on cloth and meat.
He had not yet paid Jiang Wan the rent for Fragrant Willow Courtyard.
Now he had given these two men another tael in one stroke, leaving him with almost nothing.
Thinking of the small amount of silver remaining in his pocket, Zhao Mang realized that he urgently needed to win military merit by killing enemies.
The two men were quite astonished. This squad leader was not all talk after all.
Although the money he had produced was less than the military pay promised by their superiors, even a little meat was still better than none.
The moment they received the coins, their earlier disdain vanished without a trace.
Grinning broadly, they led Zhao Mang toward the nearest stretch of woodland.
The sun sank toward the western hills.
Although there were only a few of them, Zhao Mang possessed tremendous strength. In a single day, the group worked together to repair every dilapidated section of the camp.
It no longer resembled the wreck they had first entered.
Looking at the small camp he had put in order, Zhao Mang felt a surge of emotion.
Apart from Fragrant Willow Courtyard, he finally had the foundation for building a future in this world.
The camp at Dunzi Peak.
As fate would have it, just when one needed sleep, someone was always there to deliver a pillow.
Having just finished repairing the camp, Zhao Mang sat atop the watchtower, admiring the surrounding scenery.
At that moment, three unsteady figures suddenly appeared in the distance where the mountains met the horizon.
The Tubo raiders had come...
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