Chapter 233
Book 21 Chapter 4 – Illicit Relations In A Secret Room
Xiang Shaolong lay in the underbrush observing the enemy's barracks. In just two days, he had covered what would have taken an ordinary person ten days, reaching a Zhao encampment approximately ten miles from Zhongmu. He was initially confident of sneaking past the enemy's defensive perimeter, but upon seeing the situation, this unfulfilled dream burst like foam bubbles in suns.h.i.+ne. Most aggravating was the fact that Li Mu had cut down all the trees in the area that might have offered him cover. He had also dug long trenches in the plains where Xiang Shaolong was and posted guards on all pa.s.sageways. Even if he could somehow cross the trenches, he still had to surmount three layers of fences before he could reach the barracks. And then he had to sneak past ten miles of barracks and finally though a stretch of plains outside Zhongmu that was completely devoid of cover.
Looking at Li Mu's arrangements, he must be preventing anyone from approaching Zhongmu. Xiang Shaolong was like a delirious half-starved kitten seeing a fish but was unable to consume it. The agony was beyond description. His only gratification was that while Li Mu had put a water-tight seal around Zhongmu, he was still unable to breach Zhongmu's st.u.r.dy walls. He was most familiar with Zhongmu's capabilities. Defending Zhongmu for even a year would not be a difficult thing.
At the moment, he had only two choices. The first was to follow his original plan to get to Daliang and then to the Zhao border before reuniting with Huan Qi at Tunliu. The other option was to go round Zhongmu, sneak past the Zhao soldier's frontier defence and then back to Qin. The latter option was of course much more dangerous. With Li Mu's meticulous planning, he is sure to have outposts preventing Qin soldiers from rendering a.s.sistance from the East. If he did not have his skis, this option was akin to walking into a trap. But at this point, it was not without a chance of success. Just as this desire was burning in his heart, the sound of horses and dogs came from the Southwest. Xiang Shaolong's heart sank. He let go of this enticing thought and headed towards Daliang.
He reached the outskirts of the Wei capital of Daliang at dusk the next day. Having returned to the scene of his previous exploits, he thought about the late Prince Xinling Wei Wuji and could not help his conflicting emotions. At this point he had already exhausted his dried rations and was both hungry and tired. Yet Daliang's defences had obviously been strengthened. All the high points were staffed with sentries. Most despairing for him were the few large rivers and man-made ditches obstructing the road towards Daliang.
Observing the area, he realised that he had to cross the rivers to reach Daliang before crossing the ditches on the other side of capital in order to get to the Zhao border. It would also be best for him to stock up on foodstuff on the way as the bitter cold made it impossible to gather wild fruits to allay his hunger as he had been doing. At present, his greatest advantage was that the Wei people were still unaware that he had arrived at the vicinity of Daliang. It was therefore not impossible to traverse Daliang before rus.h.i.+ng to the Zhao border.
After the decision was made, he hid his equipment such as the ski board and crossbow at a certain place and marked a symbol. Then he climbed up onto a big tree, swept away the snow and huddled in between the branches to wait for dawn.
At midnight, snow fell heavily and he felt frozen and trembled in the cold. Despite suffering from cold and hunger, the only thing he could do was to be patient. As he was being attacked, he was always escaping capture using his wits and strong determination and therefore had no time to think. However, as he settled down, he was plagued by stray thoughts.
Thoughts about the man who was sent by Jing Nian and whether this man managed to reach Teng Yi with his news. Thoughts about those wives in Xianyang, what how they would react to his news. These thoughts felt like tonnes of pressure on his mind, and he was unable to relax.
The painful borne by the body is far less than the pressure felt in the heart.
Suddenly he felt the chill and lost consciousness. When he woke, he felt the pain throughout his entire body and realised that he had fallen off the tree in the night, and his body was covered by snow. The winter sun had risen and the soft sunlight entered the forest. He tried to get up and felt the heat on his face and a weakened mental state. He realised that he had fallen sick at this critical moment! Xiang Shaolong felt extremely weak both mentally and physically, but he knew that if he didn’t continue the journey before nightfall, he would not live to see tomorrow’s dawn.
By thinking about his wives to distract the weakness, he tried his hardest to stand. Every step that he stumbled, he would get back up to try to reach the edge of forest. When he barely got to edge, his strength gave out and he fell back down unconscious.
After a long period, he was woken by the sound of cart wheels sc.r.a.ping against the ground. He opened his eyes and saw a convoy of carts moving along the road to Daliang. Sunlight had already faded and dark clouds gathered overhead to signal another incoming snowstorm.
Xiang Shaolong knew that this very moment would be about life or death. Trying to avoid attention, he snuck into the convoy and climbed onto one of the carts, falling onto soft wheat.
Then he lost consciousness.
A voice woke Xiang Shaolong. Although he still suffered from hot and cold, tiredness, and a leaden head. He still felt better than before. But his throat burnt and he desperately needed some water or tea.
Xiang Shaolong lifted up the tent of the cart. The only thing he saw in the endless white snow, besides the road, were some houses. It felt like he had arrived in the city of Daliang after a nightmare.
The cart moved slowly and headed off in another direction. At that moment, Xiang Shaolong could not decide whether it was better alight here or not, and as he hesitated, the cart turned into a street and entered into the yard of a residence.
Xiang Shaolong gathered his remaining strength and willpower and waited for the right moment. The cart stopped in front of a warehouse. Sunlight had been extinguished, and thus the workers were not going to offload the cart immediately. Instead, they just parked the cart and left.
Xiang Shaolong thanked his lucky stars. After for a while, he used his remaining strength to crawl out from the cart, and fell onto the show.
Lying on the ground, he refreshed his mind to observe the circ.u.mstances. He saw that the warehouses were dark but that the front lawn was lighted. He observed that the residence should belong to one of the Wei's n.o.bles as it was surrounded by