Simply Trading

Nor was Li Changhai the only one who recognized the markings on that particular flag. He could sense the soldiers around him relaxing once again, as soon as they saw the markings. And started to do the same.

Only to stop himself, and give out a shout, even as he stiffened his own spine:

"Watch yourselves! We don"t know if they are truly my ... the Westland Duke"s men! They could be using false insignia. Stay alert!"

To his left, he could hear the sharp inhalations of breath from the driver of the wagon as well as Lieutenant Wei who had already ran up to join him, on the other side of the wagon. Only Qin Feng was silent, although Li Changhai could see that the younger man was watching the riders carefully. With one hand on the hilt of his sword.

Clearly, he was similarly wary of the newcomers.

But Li Changhai did not waste any of his energy on the people at his side. And kept his eyes on the riders that were rapidly approaching. If they were enemies ... If there was going to be a fight ...

He bit down on his doubts at once. These may not be enemies, he reminded himself. Although he knew just how impossible it would be, if his ragged, half-trained band were to go up against these apparently skilled riders. The horses and the men looked as though they had gone through much, with all that dust and grime on their uniforms. But that may just be part of their ploy, to disguise their true purpose.

But the group pulled on their reins, before they entered bowshot. Leaving just one of their company to ride ahead, and approach the soldiers, who had already braced for a fight, around the wagons.

"Sanlang! Is that you, Sanlang?"

Li Changhai jerked upright and stared at the man with the scruffy beard who had been the only one to ride within fifty feet or so. And all at once, he realized that he recognized the fellow, despite the extra facial hair that now adorned his jaw.

"Cousin? Cousin Biyun? What happened to you?" he laughed, as he stepped forward. Ignoring the soft grunting sounds that he heard from Lieutenant Wei and Qin Feng.

"You look as if you have been out in the field for months!"

Li Biyun laughed as he dismounted and half-ran to the man in the sergeant"s uniform. And clasped him to his chest. Making Li Changhai gag when he took in the reek of the unshaven man"s obviously unwashed body.

"More like a month and a half, to the tell the truth. Your father sent me out to keep an eye out for you, the moment that he had word that you were attacked Southwest of Changqing City. As you can guess, me and my men have not had any rest since then. So you owe us all a good meal, at least!"

"Bah! You are making this up! I didn"t send word to my father that I was on my way before last month, so how can you blame me for being sent out here for a month and a half?"

Li Changhai grinned at the bearded fellow, although he pushed the stinking fellow out at arms length. "You must have gotten yourself into trouble before then, didn"t you? That was why you had been sent out into the field, hey?"

"And kept there for almost half a year! And your father made me drill all of these useless boys at that! They have barely started to look the part."

Li Biyun groaned as he said that, although he threw a hand out to make an encompa.s.sing gesture at the mounted troops that had pulled up a short distance away. Thankfully, Li Changhai realized, they were still a little out of earshot.

"Well, from the way that they are keeping their mounts under control, and holding to a parade rest at that, I will admit that your training should meet with my father"s approval. But why were you called in to do this? I thought the Red Eagle Flag was under my older brother"s command."

"Well, things have changed since you were gone. Your father suddenly decided that he was getting too old to be running around in the field every year, to deal with the Barbarians who come through the Wood Spider Pa.s.s. So he has placed your brother in charge of the Yellow Eagle riders and sent him to deal with them."

"What?"

The bearded fellow grinned, and shrugged at his surprise. And laughed when he saw that change to an evidently sour expression. By then, he was almost within arm"s reach of the Second Ducal Prince. "You should know that your father had this planned for years. So you should have expected it to happen, sooner or later. Just your luck to be out of the Duchy when it did, hey?

Then he seemed to take in the state of the escorting troop, and the way that Li Changhai had taken pains to disguise himself. "What happened to you? Did you meet with trouble then, on the way back North?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Li Changhai sighed and shook his head at his older cousin, waving a hand at the mounted troop at the latter"s back again. "I think we shouldn"t waste too much time talking about that now. I"ll give you the gist of it as we head back to Yanyun City. But the short of it is that I was attacked ... Or rather, the whole troop was attacked, shortly after we cleared the forest lands further South."

Li Biyun scowled at once, and he glanced at the soldiers on foot around the wagon. Lieutenant Wei had already seen to it that they were moved away from the wagons, to give the pair some privacy. But it didn"t escape the bearded man"s notice that the majority of the foot soldiers were very young.
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"I"m surprised that you managed to get away unscathed with this lot protecting you."

Li Sanlang sniffed when he heard that. And poked a finger at the bearded man"s armored chest. "I"ll have you know that we fought off about thirty attackers. And there were a handful of them who were skilled pract.i.tioners. Iron Fire Mountain Sect, unless I miss my guess."

The burly captain"s eyes widened as soon as he heard that, and his answering nod was clearly respectful. "Impressive. That is better than I had expected of you. But honestly? It couldn"t be because of your leadership, hmmm? And I don"t think your lieutenant over there is that good either. Otherwise, Uncle would have s.n.a.t.c.hed him up for his First or Second Army."

Li Changhai laughed as he agreed. "It was thanks to a friend of mine. Who has been throwing himself between me and those out to kill me. This was the second time that he did that. The first was when we had to fend off true Barbarians.

"That"s him sitting on the wagon there. His name is Qin Feng."

"This Qin Feng is that young fellow there then? The one who"s pretending to be you?"

* * *