Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 235 Backstab
When Taishi Ci heard Ling Tong say that his father died in battle, he did not avoid the subject but sighed, "Ah, it will be fine."
"What will be fine?" Ling Tong asked with obvious hostility.
"The 'future' will be good. When the lord restores order and cleanses the world, our children will not lose their fathers due to war, and they will no longer have to wait for their husbands to come home every day, only to wait for a jar or even just a piece of news. More than half of our manpower will not be withdrawn every year, and we will not be out of breath after just lifting a hoe..." Taishi Ci said.
After gradually taking over the responsibilities of the Wind Catcher, Taishi Ci had a more direct understanding of first-hand information from the people.
For example, sergeants and squad leaders, although they are also grassroots officers and generals, but... their wives and children don’t actually live a very good life.
Many of the generals who were merely squad leaders or sergeants were illegitimate sons of powerful families’ side branches. In fact, their daily lives were no different from those of ordinary farmers, and some were even unemployed and idle people... or "wanderers".
In Yangzhou, which is guarded by the General's Mansion, the army has always believed in the "elite troops" route. The total strength is just over 100,000 and no more than 120,000. They have gone to the grassroots garrisons of various ordinary counties, and the main combat troops that can be deployed are only about 80,000 - with the individual soldier configuration of the General's Mansion, the number is too large to be supported!
However, the General's Office has always been fully equipped with basic generals. There are nearly 15,000 generals in the 80,000 main battle army. Unless there are casualties in battle, every five Ji-made soldiers must have a sergeant...
Of course, it is not surprising that other princes are equipped with an army of 200,000.
Therefore, military dependents also form a considerable group in Yangzhou.
Even ordinary families without generals are having a hard time now. The princes have overdrawn their manpower and have entered a vicious cycle!
"The future? But the dead will never come back." Ling Tong's tone became calm.
At the same time, a cold light flashed at Ling Tong's waist, and he took out a dagger and stabbed it towards Taishi Ci's waist!
Taishi Ci had not been on guard against Ling Tong at all before - after all, it was the Battle of Jiangxia, and there were generals who had made great contributions first. If he had to be on guard against even such a person, Taishi Ci would probably have to keep one eye open even when he slept.
However, the moment Ling Tong drew his knife, his undisguised murderous intent and the sound of the dagger cutting through the air made Taishi Ci instantly alert. Although he had no idea what was happening, he still pounced forward.
At the same time, Ling Tong cried out in pain, and two streaks of blood bloomed in the night in the alley next to the general's mansion...
One was that Taishi Ci had a two-finger-deep cut on his lower back by a dagger. Fortunately, he fell forward in time, otherwise his waist might not have been saved...
The second one was Ling Tong's palm, which was pierced by a thin branch!
Because the branch is not as thick as the tip of a chopstick, it is only about three inches long, and when it "drills" out, it is like a snake leaving its body, fast and cunning, so it is not conspicuous in the night.
However, this inconspicuous branch directly pierced Ling Tong's palm, causing his dagger to fall to the ground, and he lost the opportunity to continue attacking!
At this time, an "ordinary woodcutter" came out from the darkness...
"I thought they were going to harm Mr. Bai, but it turns out the target is you, Ziyi." The woodcutter said apologetically.
When he discovered Ling Tong's abnormality before, the reason why he didn't take action immediately was, firstly, he had no evidence, and secondly... he wanted to see if there were any other big fish.
But he didn't expect that his target was Taishi Ci. Fortunately, Taishi Ci reacted quickly, otherwise he would have lost his kidney...
And near the General's Mansion, with such a big commotion, naturally someone immediately rushed up to this alley.
Ling Tong's eyes flashed with despair - he had clearly made up his mind to kill Taishi Ci for revenge no matter what the cost, but... now that the price had to be paid, he had failed!
As for why the woodcutter from the general's mansion had such skills, Ling Tong no longer had time to think about it.
But at this moment, Taishi Ci's face changed several times, and he quickly stood up, facing the guards who came over, blocking the injured Ling Tong behind him and said, "It's okay here, General Ling just fell down, what are you guys watching?"
When several guards saw that it was Taishi Ci, they laughed and said a few words, clasped their fists and left - although Taishi Ci had now been transferred to the Fengbuwei, most of these guards were brought up by Taishi Ci, so naturally they would not suspect anything.
Or... at most, we suspect that Taishi Ci and Ling Tong had some personal grudge and had just had a fight!
It was dark at this time, and if you only looked at the front, you couldn't really tell that Taishi Ci had almost had his waist removed...
The woodcutter was also there, but he did not question Taishi Ci's decision. He just stood there to "calm the situation".
After several guards left, Taishi Ci immediately tore his clothes - of course, his own clothes - and barely bandaged the wound.
"Why are you helping me?" Ling Tong asked, staring at Taishi Ci.
"Who is your father?" Taishi Ci asked with a cold face.
No matter how slow Taishi Ci was at this point, he knew that Ling Tong's previous words had a hidden meaning.
"The general who first attacked Shucheng... Ling Cao! You probably have forgotten him?" Ling Tong wanted to sneer, but when he saw Taishi Ci bandaging himself, he couldn't help but soften his tone .
"Well, I don't remember." Taishi Ci continued with a cold face.
"You!" Ling Tong said with anger again upon hearing this.
"When fighting on the battlefield, do I have to remember every person I killed?" Taishi Ci said calmly.
"Just for what you said... the future?" Ling Tong asked sarcastically.
Seeing that Taishi Ci did not reply and the bandage had been completed, Ling Tong continued to ask: "Then why did you lie just now? Could it be that the famous Taishi Ci has only killed enemies and never killed assassins?"
"For the 'future'." Taishi Ci said after a pause.
Obviously... it's not about Ling Tong's future, but the future of the General's Mansion!
At this time, the war with Jingzhou started on three fronts. The one led by Sun Ce in Jiangxia was the first to achieve results. Chen Gong's army was not the main force. As for Chen Dao and Zhang Xiu's pincer attack on the upper reaches of the Huai River, they were encountering some "small troubles". The military intelligence that was presented to Bai Tu at the banquet and the order that Taishi Ci had just conveyed to Cheng Ji's Mansion were all about Yiyang.
If news came out now that Sun Ce's subordinates had assassinated Taishi Ci, no matter how much Bai Tu and Sun Ce trusted each other, they would have to recall Sun Ce, Zhou Yu and others - the former chief of the guards who assassinated Bai Tu... To put it in a more far-reaching way, was it because the assassination attempt on Bai Tu failed that they had to resort to the next best thing?
It didn't matter what Bai Tu and Sun Ce thought or how they communicated. In the entire General's Office, from the six ministries to the Privy Council, no one could tolerate Sun Ce continuing to lead troops outside under such circumstances...
"Bofu actually asked you to be the representative to ask for credit, haha." Taishi Ci really wanted to drag Sun Ce in front of him and slap him a few times...if Sun Ce was not worshiping his father.
Hearing Taishi Ci's words, Ling Tong's eyes turned red. Although he did not have much of a sense of the overall situation, he had thought about the impact this matter would have on Sun Ce, so he had been struggling with it before.
It’s just…what he had thought before was very superficial!
The best case scenario is that the Western Expedition will be thwarted, which may affect a series of subsequent major strategies. The worst case scenario is that the General's Mansion and Sun Ce's troops may face division - there are still many people in the Sun family who still have the desire to be independent, and they are just lying in wait now.
So Taishi Ci's first reaction was to cover up the matter first...
