____

When the first steam railcar roared away…

____

In the ninth year of Long An, Jia Lai Ying Huo died. The Crown Prince succeeded to the throne and officially announced their surrender on behalf of the Eighteen Tribes. The new Wolf King relinquished his royal title, knelt on his knees and kowtowed to the Emperor’s decree. The whole Eighteen Tribes with a small population and sparse land were incorporated into the northernmost province of Shuobei of Great Liang. All the surrendered nobles were controlled by the governor of Shuobei.

At this time, the Eighteen Tribes no longer paid tribute to the imperial court and was integrated into the general tax revenue. The vast Ziliujin fields would be mined and transported by the special institution established by the imperial court.

The whole country of Great Liang celebrated.

Shen Yi stayed for the time being to hand over the duties, while Gu Yun had to return to the capital for his report. Cao Niangzi joined him. Chen Qing Xu had just made a copy of the complete secret art of the goddess, but she still have not digested it yet, she also bid farewell to return to the Chen family.

Before leaving, Gu Yun called her to one side. At first, he wanted to ask if there was a certain possibility that there would be an antidote. Later, he thought it was an unnecessary question. Chen Qing Xu, a responsible person, would never confirm it beforehand. At most, she would say ‘I will try my best’. In this way, there was nothing else to say. In the end, he thanked Chen Qing Xu very solemnly and added: “Everything depended on Miss Chen.”

Chen Qing Xu did not dare to accept the courtesy, breaking the norm and explained to Gu Yun: “In these two days, Xiao Cao had helped me translate a lot. There is no division between sorcery and poisons in the secret arts of the goddess. Many strange and unimaginable practices are only rituals, which ones are really meaningful and which are nonsense, it is difficult for me to say for certain right now. Marshal, please give me some time.”

Gu Yun hurriedly said no trouble.

Chen Qing Xu took out a sealed envelope again and advised: “These are all nourishing prescriptions. It is not effective if taken only once or twice but had to rely on time to slowly nourish. Marshal’s body had lost too much, it is still better than nothing. The drug you normally use must be controlled no matter what.”

Gu Yun nodded and put it away. Looking up, he caught a glimpse of Shen Yi over the other side with longing eyes.

Shen Yi glared at him. Gu Yun had known him for so many years. For the first time, he found out that Shen Ji Ping’s eyes could be expressive enough to scold people, he clearly saw from those eyes the anger of ‘Where do you two find so many words to say?’.

Gu Yun took a look at him and thought to himself, “You are doing this to yourself. Are you expecting the woman who was naturally born quiet to initiate a conversation with you? There are wastes every year, but there are especially many this year.“

The two men fought for a moment with their eyes across the air. Finally, Shen Yi could not help but come over. First, he said to Gu Yun unhappily, “It’s time to go, Marshal. Don’t be late.”

Then he turned to Chen Qing Xu.

Gu Yun didn’t want to look at his dumb appearance anymore. He tapped Shen Yi’s back lightly with his whip and rode away.

When Gu Yun returned to the capital for his report, the common people had heard about it first, passing the words by mouth. On that day, the streets and alleys were packed with people, waiting for a glimpse of the general of Black Iron Camp. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long time, there was nothing — coming from the post station and the Northern Camp, there were only a few civil officers who had been sent on behalf of the imperial court, accompanied by the Northern Frontier garrison and a general unknown to many from the Black Iron Camp.

Gu Yun had found himself an inconspicuous small carriage to go home and directly went to the palace for an audience with the Emperor the next day.

He used to love trotting across the markets, with a cartful of fruits tossed, numbing his lids from winking to all the ladies with neat face on the side of the road. But now he no longer liked such things. Firstly, Jiangnan has yet to be recovered, there was no face. Second, he gradually began to dislike such pomp and bustle, he could not tell why, perhaps he was already tired, perhaps he had already grown old.

At this time, Chang Geng was on the way up north, not knowing what was keeping him, he had yet to return. Chang Geng was not at home, Gu Yun had nothing to do but listen to the bird’s scolding.

He dared not relax to eat and sleep for three or five days to cultivate his vitality — that’s the way of a young person. He no longer had the luxury for such thing, if he really relaxed the strings of his mind, he feared that what awaited for him was not high spirits, but serious illness.

Thus he came to Li Feng for a quick attendance then went to Jiangbei.

Before Gu Yun left, Master Feng Han visited him.

Master Feng Han didn’t even have time to drink tea after sitting down, hurriedly taking Gu Yun away: “Marshal, Your Highness Yan Wang wrote to me and asked me to show you something before you go.”

Gu Yun said with a smile, “Why, did Master Feng Han make a sea monster?”

Zhang Feng Han laughed and did not reply, acting mysterious. In the past few years, he always bore the face of having no one to take care of his funeral. Turns out it was due to having nothing to do. In these years, he lived in Ling Shu Institute all day long. Instead, he was like an old tree that bloomed, there were colors on his face, as if he had met a beautiful old lady.

Gu Yun had to get on his old man’s carriage and took on the job of serving tea, pouring water automatically, not letting Zhang Feng Han become dehydrated from talking too much: “Master Feng Han becomes stronger with age, truly makes people feel envious.”

Zhang Feng han hurriedly said ‘I dare not’ and received the tea cup. His white beard was raised as he smiled: “Only when the imperial court had use of this old man did my life have any joy. Everyone is disgusted with dirty engines and steel armors. But I loved this line of work since I was a child. Not only do I love it, but also love it to fruition. Isn’t it a beautiful thing?”

Gu Yun thought about it for a moment, and felt that it was very true, but unfortunately this logic couldn’t be applied to himself — it’s normal for people to love fire engine and steel armour, and it’s just like human beings for people serving as officers to love high ranks and wealth, but when it came to him, if he were to say that he loved fighting wars, loved killing people… it was not a sensible thing.

But it was he who chose this road.

Why?

Gu Yun could not tell for a moment. All he remembered was that he hated ‘going to the frontier’ when he was a child, because it meant being separated from his playmates, seeing his terrible father every day, and not being able to eat well or sleep well.