THE FLOWER PALACE'S SECRET
Chapter 1: General, Is that You?
The dark shadow in the heavy rain disappeared along with a loud shouting sound that sounded like a rough swearing. In addition to the screams, the heavy rain was also accompanied by lightning and the sound of falling from the body of someone who seemed to be burly and big.
“Bai Ru, are you crazy?”
“General?” Bai Ru held onto the torch that was soaked in rain while shouting in shock.
“Close to a brighter direction so that I can recognize you,” Bai Ru said as she tried to calm down.
“I thought your eyesight was myopic Bai Ru. How could you not recognize your own leader?”
The small debate ended when Bai Ru brought the mud-soaked stocky body to the tent. There is not wet, the candle is brightly lit until the entire contents of the tent are clearly visible. Bai Ru slightly held back a laugh when she saw her general wet and mud-soaked like a child splashing down.
“After making me take a mud bath, now you want to laugh at me?” furious with the General while removing his armor. The tent was quite large, illuminated by seven candle boxes. The center is filled with a large sand table containing a picture of the Chang Valley complete with mountains, rivers, ravines, and all kinds of details. This tent is filled only by the General.
“I really don't know if it's a General. It's dark in there. After all, what is the General doing there raining like this?”
“I just got home from Lake Yui, it happened to be raining heavily and the gate was already closed. So I climbed the rear fort because it was quite short and easy. I didn't think I was even considered an intruder and treated like an animal by you.”
“Why don't you go to the front gate? Wouldn't those guards not mistakenly recognize you?”
“If I go to the front gate, where will I put my face? There is no way a special person like me would come soaking wet like a rain cat at night like this.”
Bai Ru seemed to be interrupting the words of her general, but she did not do so because of the General's hand signal that told her not to say anything more. Now, the burly man deserves to be called a man because all the mud that skinned him is gone. His armor was perched in a round wooden container.
“How about the preparation of the troops?”
Bai Ru remained silent.
“You won't answer me?” The General's eyebrows almost fused together.
Bai Ru shook her head.
“Stupid basis! I'm telling you not to chim in on my words so you don't reason anymore. Now, answer!”
Bai Ru was about to open her mouth, but her General immediately said,
“Ah for a minute, talk later. I'm hungry.”
Bai Ru growled. The General passed by just like that after making him almost like a prisoner of war. He soon followed his general to the soup kitchen. He passed by some soldiers who had started to stand guard because the rain had subsided. After a few steps, Bai Ru was made stunned by the behavior of her general. The General seemed to be busy cutting chives with an apron.
“General, let me tell the cook. You should go back to your tent now.”
“Why? Can't a soldier like me cook? Ah or because I'm a special person?”
“It is not so, General. It's just,”
“If the General continues to cook like this, maybe you should ask the Emperor for a wife immediately.”
“Shut up!”
“General, what do you think of the girls of the capital?”
“Where do I know. I never met them.”
The general then signaled Bai Ru to go back to silence.
The sand table in the large tent began to be filled with various objects and small versions of war weapons. Bai Ru and the other commanders did not take their eyes off the sand table. His eyeballs were moving in unison with the General's hand movements that were strategizing about besieging the goddamn enemy that these few months had damaged the border and caused public anxiety.
“General, I think you should put down your soup first,” asked Bai Ru for fear that the soup in her general's left hand would spill over and damage the big sand table.
“Why? Are you planning on starving me after treating me like a prisoner?”
“Of course not, General. I'm just worried you spilled it. If the sand table is broken, no one will be able to make it again.”
The General nodded. If this sand table is broken, he himself will suffer a loss. He would definitely not be able to clearly see the image of this valley. Even if he were to force someone to make it back, that person would definitely choose to die in his hands instead of having to make a replica of the difficult valley instead of playing. The maker must thoroughly describe the entire state of nature in this valley. Many of them died first from exhaustion and had accidents while they were observing on the mountain top. The maker of the last replica of this sand table is old and will soon face his death due to old age.
“Caused too. But still, I made it with great difficulty after you treated me like a raining street rat!”
Bai Ru relented. There was no arguing with this stubborn master. Arguably, he will not win. His generals are good at seeking defense and opinion. No wonder he never stopped talking even if it was nonsense.
“In your opinion, we will win with this strategy?” ask the General after the soup is over. He placed his bowl under a large table, took a bottle of water and downed it.
“If considering the quantity, we are certainly superior. But if we measure through strength, it doesn't seem perfect yet. How is this, General?” ask Bai Ru. His eyes were still focused towards the large sand table.
“Then use intelligence to defeat them. Xiaxi's forces were notoriously tough and great at weapons, but they were actually slow and reckless. In addition, from what I've learned so far, they are not careful enough in strategy and are not good at seeing the terrain.”
“So?”
“So, we use the right place to finish them off. You recall? This valley has a high level of difficulty to reach because the terrain is very steep and difficult to pass. Don't you think it's better if we take advantage of it a little?”
Bai Ru and a few others nodded in understanding. The rain has completely stopped. The ground for tomorrow is definitely very slippery and muddy.
“Let's finish this. This will be the last fight of the autumn of this year.”
The big tent was still burning until midnight. The rain had left a puddle of water and cold. The soldiers in the camp began to fall asleep. Some more are awake. The young general took back his soup. Chilly. His soup bowl still left a little heat left earlier.
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