Chapter 81: I Will Join You No Matter Where You Are
It was late at night when the duo were done treating their wounds and eating a small meal.
Fang Hetong was equally fatigued and had gone to sleep a long time ago. It was only thanks to Establishing Merits that he was able to create the impression of a thousand-strong elite unit out of three hundred militiamen. Suffice to say, boosting three hundred people at once was no small feat, and Fang Hetong had depleted most of his mystic energy in just a short time.
Thankfully, the scholar had received some qi nurturing pills belonging to the Four Sages Academies from Lee Zhi beforehand. Both the Four Sages Academies and White Maple Academy consisted of Confucian cultivators, so the pills were extra effective for Fang Hetong. A single pill not only restored his depleted reserves, but also healed some of his hidden injuries. That said, the pill could not wash away the weariness of his primordial spirit, so he still needed to rest.
The night was still long, so Lee Zhi entered a meditative cultivation, while Wei Yuan read under a lamp. He was matching everything he experienced today to what was described in the books.
Knowledge gained from a book is ultimately superficial. It was only after today’s relentless battles against the Northern Liao did Wei Yuan truly grasp their nature and gain fresh insights into the accounts of his foes. That was why he was studying. He sought to deepen his understanding while the experience was still vivid to him.
The next day, as soon as the first light of dawn shone across the earth, Lee Zhi personally carried the dead of his personal guards toward the neighboring county. The young general cherished each and every subordinate deeply, so much so that he had taken a blow to snatch a body back from his foes. Unfortunately, despite his and his guard’s greatest efforts, they only managed to retrieve six bodies in total. The rest had to be left behind in the Liao realm. If a body was left behind in the Liao realm for over a day, then there was basically no need to retrieve them. After all, the animals living in the Liao realm were ferocious, and even the Liao horses were carnivorous.
As for Wei Yuan and Fang Hetong, the duo spent the entire morning fortifying the village’s defenses and digging more pits. While working, the scholar recounted the current state of affairs and the latest war developments to Wei Yuan. The young man had found the conversation to be immensely enlightening. Although Fang Hetong had fallen on hard times—nearing forty and failing to secure even a minor official post—there was no doubt that he was an expert in farming, teaching, training and organizing troops, and more. His analysis of the situation was also incisive and uniquely sharp.
Unfortunately, despite being able to grasp every principle and dissect the political landscape and bureaucratic intrigues with crystal clarity, Fang Hetong could never follow through with his thoughts. Simply witnessing an act of injustice was enough to make his blood boil. That was why he wrote that letter about Staff General Liao even though he knew inside his head that he couldn’t bring down the man. His nature was such that he was simply unfit to become an official.
Wei Yuan had been cultivating in the Palace of Absolute Beginning for the past decade. His understanding of the current state of affairs were purely theoretical. It was only through his deep conversations with Fang Hetong that he came to understand the origins of many sufferings that plagued the common people.