Chapter 190: It’s Always One Person who Makes the Decision
Han Ruzi did not sleep well. When he woke up, the tent was pitch black and chillingly cold. The charcoal fire had gone out. If Zhang Youcai had been serving him, he would have gotten up several times during the night to stoke the fire, but Meng E did not do such things, likely thinking it unnecessary. She seemed not to fear the cold at all.
Han Ruzi could endure it too. Besides, the cold had its benefits; it could help clear his mind.
He quietly got up, put on his coat and boots, and tiptoed to the tent entrance. There was no sound from Meng E’s bed, but she must have been awake as well.
As Han Ruzi stepped out of the tent, a sharper gust of cold air hit him. One foot had barely crossed the threshold when he already regretted his decision to leave the relative warmth of his bedding.
But he still went out, slowly inhaling the icy air, gradually adjusting to the environment.
It turned out he was not the earliest riser. Not far ahead, a group of soldiers had just changed shifts at their posts. Many people were cooking and feeding horses. The various sounds merged and, filtered through the cold air, clearly reached the hilltop. Han Ruzi could even hear a few unrelated shouts.
With the battle imminent, Han Ruzi felt more hesitant than when he had made his decision the previous day.
Regardless, he could not let his hesitation spread to the troops. He retreated back into the tent and sat on his bed, waiting for dawn.
“The Great Chanyu is not an easy opponent,” Han Ruzi said.