Chapter 21

Seeing Tang Yin’s back that furthered gradually, Wu Yi had mixed feelings. If it wasn’t for the appearance of Tang Yin, today’s mission would have definitely fallen onto him. Now that there was Tang Yin to replace him, he should be happy. However, he couldn’t feel happy at all. The more Tang Yin appeared to be peaceful and casual, the more he was ashamed of his weakness and cowardice.

Just as Tang Yin was about to leave the camp, Qiu Zhen caught up.
Tang Yin took a pause as if he had already guessed his purpose for chasing them. Only when the other subordinates had walked a far distance did he said smilingly, “Qiu Zhen, why are you here?”

Qiu Zhen didn’t smile and his face was gloomy. He asked in return, “You really don’t plan on bringing me along?”

Tang Yin said, “You have to first ask yourself, how can you help in the melee.”

“I can at least help you come up with an idea during critical moments.”

“Forget it, I’m just afraid that before your brain could come up with something, your brain would have already left its home. If you really wish to die, I can’t stop you. However, you will have to die further away from me, and not in front of my eyes.”
Qiu Zhen’s face turned red and then white with Tang Yin’s words. He was so smart, of course he could tell that Tang Yin said such cruel words on purpose. Yet at this time, he hated his intelligence to its core. If he couldn’t understand Tang Yin’s true intentions, he might feel a little better. At least he wouldn’t be as he was now, that was having a heightened feeling of unwillingness in letting him go.

There was no time to waste. Seeing how his subordinates had gone far, Tang Yin turned away and left. He waved without even looking back and said, “That’s that, bye.”

“Bye?” Qiu Zhen was stunned.

“It means goodbye.” Tang Yin laughed as he knocked on his head.
Qiu Zhen ran a few steps after him and asked, “Will we meet again?”

“I don’t know.” Tang Yin turned back out of a sudden. With a big smile on his face, he said, “I will do my best to see you again!”

“…” Qiu Zhen stood with his head bowed. He had joined the army for a long time and seen too many companions and comrades die brutally under their enemy’s swords and spears. However, he had never been like this. His eyes were stinging, and it felt like tears were about to fall.

On the way to Tongmen, Tang Yin and the others were walking very slowly. They knew clearly that the path in front of them wasn’t a path back home, but a door to death instead.
Feeling that the atmosphere was a little dull, Zhang Bao opened his mouth to sing out of a sudden, “The country is in distress, I am heading out for battle; we are to be buried in a horse hide, strengthens my great Feng!”

Soon enough, his voice infected everyone and people sang along with him, over and over again.

This song was called the <Great Feng Song>. The content was simple, and there were only four lines with sixteen words. Yet it was Feng state’s military song, the tune started from low to high, and there was a hint of sad glory behind the burning passion.

Feng state was the latest to appear among the nine major vassal states, and was located on the northeastern part of Haotian Empire. Inward, it had to compete and contend with all vassal states; outward, it had to defend against the harassment and intrusion of the provisional state of the empire – the Murphis Federation. It could be said that ever since the founding of the country, war had never stopped. For eight hundred years, there had been an unknown amount of Feng soldiers that had died on the battlefield and on strange land. However, the Feng people had made it through with their unyielding will to fight, and had managed to lay a vast territory within the empire.

The <Great Feng Song> was a portrayal of Feng state, and was written with the blood and tears of countless Feng people.
Listening to singing voices, even Tang Yin who was cold in temperament started to sing along unconsciously.

At noon, Zhang Bao, who was at the forefront of the team ran over to Tang Yin and said hurriedly, “Big Brother Tang, there is an enemy situation up front!”

Hearing this, Tang Yin’s spirit was stunned. He went to the front of the team to take a look. It was exactly that. A group of people and horses were rushing quickly from the front. They were a team of cavalry dressed in white with more than a hundred people, and were waving the Ning flag.

After taking a good look, Tang Yin looked back. His people had already got into their stance and were preparing for battle. He shouted, “Keep all your weapons. Keep calm and don’t get anxious. Don’t forget, we are now Ning soldiers!”

When Tang Yin spoke, there was an irresistible force. After listening to his words, everyone’s flustered mood had settled down. The guys who showed their weapons had also kept them away.

Looking over the crowd, Tang Yin said again, “Check each other, don’t show any flaws!” Although there were only a hundred over enemies and he didn’t take them seriously, what he wanted was to mix into the enemy, not battle against them outside.

Besides Zhang Bao’s team, the others were all disguised as captives. Their bodies were tied in ropes where it only looked as if they were tied firmly, but there was a secret buckle underneath that would loosen up the ropes with just a pull. There were also sharp knives hidden under their clothes.
Not much time passed and the cavalry team had approached Tang Yin and the others in the speed of light. The leading captain urged the horse to go forward. He first took a look, and then frowned. He asked coldly, “What’s going on?”

Zhang Bao was just about to go forward to speak when Tang Yin pulled him silently. He looked up, smiled at the leader on the horse and said, “These are the Feng state captives…”

Without waiting for him to finish, the captain of the cavalry interrupted him with dissatisfaction, “I’m not blind, of course I know that they are captives. My question is why are you bringing these captives along? Why don’t you just kill them on the spot?” Between his words, he pulled out a long spear from the back of his horse and aimed directly for the Feng state soldier who was standing at the front without even giving a greeting.

No one expected for him to kill someone so suddenly. The soldiers face turned pale, but it was already too late for him to get out of the ropes and dodge the other party’s attack. Just at this moment, Tang Yin reached out like electricity. Just as the spear was about to pierce the soldier’s neck, his arm that was holding his sword flung outward. He didn’t pull out his sword, but only used the scabbard to knock the spear, pushing the cavalry captain’s spear to the side.

Shua! The tip of the spear swept across the soldier’s neck.

The cavalry captain’s expression changed. Tang Yin’s outfit was no different from an ordinary soldier. At best, he was just a small captain. How dare he hit him like this, he must have eaten the guts of a leopard. He yelled in anger, “You…”
The smile on Tang Yin’s face did not reside. He said without a rush, “Sir, I am just following orders to escort these captives. I do not dare to go against the higher ups’ orders. I hope sir will not make it hard for me.”

His words were still politeful, it’s just that his tone was not humble and his expression was calm. It’s like he had a big thing going on.

The anger on the captain’s face resided a little, and asked in suspicion, “Which infantry regiment are you from?”

Tang Yin took down the military badge from his waist and handed it forward, saying, “We are part of the Fifth Infantry Regiment.”

The cavalry captain only took a glimpse at his military badge and didn’t bother receiving it. He asked again, “Where are you escorting these captives to?”
How would Tang Yin know where to escort these captives. He just made something up and said simply, “The battlefield ahead.”

The cavalry captain was suspicious and murmured, “Could it be that someone among these captives possesses an important information about Tongmen?”

Tongmen? He had only mentioned the battlefield ahead, how was it related to Tongmen? Suddenly, a glimpse of light flashed across Tang Yin’s mind. He remembered something Qiu Zhen said, that was Ning state would never let go of this opportunity, and would definitely attack Tongmen. Could it be that Qiu Zhen’s words were indeed right, that the Ning army had already prepared to attack into Tongmen?

Ai! He sighed silently, It seems that this time’s huge defeat had jeopardized Feng state’s circumstances. He was also thinking at the back of his mind and did not remain silent. He said laughingly, “Who knows! I’m only in charge of escorting them. I do not know of the details.”
The captain of the cavalry turned a side eye on him as if he was dissatisfied that he was talking nonsense. If you were to know the details, you wouldn’t just be a small soldier.

He turned the horse’s head away impatiently, and looked up to say, “Up front is our military checkpoint. I still don’t know if I can let you go over. I’ll head back to report this first.” As he spoke, he didn’t care about Tang Yin and the others and returned to his original path with his hundred over men.

Tang Yin laughed secretly. With such an important checkpoint, how is it possible for them to let a group of random Ning soldiers through? Plus, we only have military badges of the Ning soldiers and no military documents. If they were to interrogate further, we will definitely blow our cover.

As he thought, he didn’t dare to delay anymore. He hurriedly said to his men, “Hurry up! We will have to think of a way to mix into the Ning state’s checkpoint before they return!”

The cavalry team had just left, and Tang Yin had already begun to urge his men to hurry their pace, moving toward the checkpoint in full speed.