Chapter 358

A few months ago, an order came down to gather up useless skilled soldiers from each army.

The commanders, thinking it was a brilliant idea, rounded up the scrap and sent them off.

You might wonder what a useless skilled soldier is.

But the soldiers’ monthly salaries do increase, albeit just a tad.

It’s a measly raise, but it adds up every year.

The problem is whether those raises are worth it.

The soldiers are most loyal and obedient during their first year as recruits.

As they gain experience, they start making excuses to dodge work, and instead of just getting out of things themselves, they’ll try to drag their entire squad down with them.

Just because their years stack up doesn’t mean they become skilled soldiers like the ‘real army’ of the North. They’re just a bunch of waste, treating orders like a joke and passing down nothing but shortcuts.

Thus, among the officials at Cheonho, there’s a secret trade to eliminate such wastes.

They basically join forces to take each other out.

If a soldier dies on a mission, they can even chalk it up as a “grief compensation” in the records.

It’s a compensation that never reaches the families, so getting rid of these wastes is surprisingly economical.

Doesn’t the higher-ups know about this situation?

It’s practically a scheme to assassinate a prince.

If it succeeds, they keep quiet; if it fails, head on the chopping block.

So, they resort to fire tactics.

They’re going to die anyway, might as well burn them to crisps.

It’s convenient since they don’t have to put in the effort of executing each one individually.

Not that the whole country’s army is like this.

Outside the fire zones, there’s a real army.

The Northern Army!

These are tough soldiers battle-hardened from constant skirmishes with the barbarians of the north.

They receive proper martial arts training, ample salaries, substantial supplies, and significant perks for their children’s careers, which makes their loyalty unwavering.

They are among the few elite soldiers that can be found in the Central Plain.

Such troops are treated with utmost importance from the get-go.

That’s why, behind the cleared ground free of trees and leaves to prevent fires, the real army lies in ambush, not to be touched by the fire tactics.

They aren’t using fire tactics out of necessity.

Search and destroy missions?

With soldiers that can’t even find motivation to lift a finger, how can they pull off a search and destroy mission?

They’d get completely blown away, which is no different from letting the enemy slip by.

But dispatching the Northern Army is out of the question due to numbers, and they are valuable assets for the country (this is important).

But when you light a fire, it’s just so convenient.

If those wastes burn alongside it, that’s even better.

Even if they manage to survive, they’ll inevitably emerge on fire from three sides, and the solid elite troops will just finish the job.

That’s why the soldiers patrolling the fire line are acting like beacons or alarms.

What if a battle breaks out inside?

For whatever reason, whether a missed escort is regrouping or an injured old man is fighting for his life, it means that the prey is packing some serious power.

At that point, no matter the fire line, it’s time to light it up.

After all, what’s a few lowly ones burning up compared to the bigger picture?

A man wearing a helmet cracked up.

“Start the fire tactics. The wind’s blowing from the west, right?”

“Uh, the feng shui master said it might also shift to the north or southeast.”

If the west wind blows, the weather warms up.

When the temperature rises, one of two things happens.

A cold wind from the northern sea moves down, or, though rare, a hotter wind from the southern sea moves up.

The man with the helmet laughed at that.

“A southeastern wind, huh. Heh, is that feng shui master’s last name perhaps Je-gal?”

That was an open mockery.

The real weather forecasting in the ancient, primitive Central Plain is just a collection of stats gathered from experience, so the accuracy isn’t that great.

(Qing’s hometown is the same, but over there, they’ve got a ton of data from various perspectives and exceptional calculations handling it.)

“Just give me four days, no, three more days-”

The army general’s desperately pleading words were cut off by the man with the helmet.

“Do it now.”

“But if the fire spreads, the people will suffer greatly. We protect the Emperor’s citizens-”

“You fool!”

*Smack!*

The helmet man’s leader slapped the general on the head.

With a hit packed with inner strength, the helmet flew into the air, and the general stumbled, barely regaining his balance.

“Ha, stupid bastard. You’re not protecting the Emperor’s army or his citizens; you’re only protecting the most noble imperial family—the imperial family, and nothing more. Hey, Ja-seong. You.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“There’s a traitor over there. So, what should the army do?”

“…They should eliminate him.”

“Hmph. With a heart so soft, I hoped for greatness seeing your military prowess, but you’re just a nobody; is it because of your lowly birth?”

The general gritted his teeth.

Saying he wasn’t fit for greatness was a clear declaration that his career advancement ended here.

“Go set fire. Count yourself lucky that the traitor isn’t hiding in the city. At least we won’t have to burn down the city.”

“I’ll follow your orders.”

—-

Lying sprawled, Qing suddenly saw a flicker of red light at the edge of the sky.

Qing was bewildered.

What is that? Dawn? Did I doze off?

But why is dawn coming from the west?

Is the sun really rising in the west?

Are there occasional events in this ancient primitive Central Plain where they have the sun rising in the west?

When they talk about the west wind, it means the wind blowing from the west, not flowing westward.

So, when they use fire tactics in the winter, it’s natural to light the fire in the west first.

There’s a saying: “The fire pierces the heavens,” meaning a significant fire or similar force.

As Qing frowned, trying to focus, what on earth is going on? Is this what they call the aurora?

Before long.

Ah. There’s a fire. A forest fire.

Hmm? That’s not bad, is it?

If I can hide in a cave or dig really deep into the ground and hide away.

That’s the thought from Qing’s background.

In Qing’s hometown, people don’t live surrounded by mountains and forests, so they don’t realize how terrifying a forest fire can be.

If a person gets caught in a forest fire, the hot air damages their lungs right away.

This hot wind is over twice as hot as boiling oil, and taking just one breath could burn everything from the throat to the lungs in an instant.

The spread speed varies with wind, but it can match or outpace a running horse, especially in strong winds, it can be twice as fast.

The people in the Central Plain know the horrors of forest fires and call it the work of demons, the fire demon.

If you hide in a cave, you wouldn’t just be Qing but an actual roasted Qing. Even a deep cave might not have enough air to breathe, leading to drowning outdoors.

Digging into the ground would just turn them into a roasted duck, not a Beijing roast.

“Yeon Pa? I think there’s a forest fire.”

“What? We have to run now! Wang Ya, you need to wake up!”

Yeon Pa, turning pale, shook Wang Ya awake vigorously.

Just looking at how frantically she shook the prince shows how desperate she was and how flustered she got.

“Yeon Pa? There’s no need to hurry-”

“What are you saying? The fire demon is rushing in!”

“Still far away-”

“You dense girl! The fire demon comes faster than a galloping steed! It closes in an instant! Wang Ya, get on the cart now!”

This was a small cargo cart Qing had brought while raiding a temporary military camp.

It couldn’t carry people due to its side, and if someone got startled and pulled their legs back, Qing would lose control, rolling on the ground.

If Qing dashed while moving, the passenger could at least get minor injuries, more severe if it went wrong.

Carrying someone forward would immobilize both hands, and lifting them over one’s shoulder would rip their insides, causing some messed-up version of a Chul-sang-go (a traditional Korean pot dish).

And it’s not one cargo item but two.

If Qing were fine, she could’ve wrapped one around her back and one in front and rushed through it all.

Then she spotted the cargo cart.

It was about the size of the small carts that folks collect waste in Qing’s hometown.

Qing thought, I could load the supplies there and pull it myself.

“Don’t rush, tie everything well. They might bounce out. Yu, keep your head low.”

“Why are you so calm?”

“If things get frantic, nothing good comes out, right?”

Qing said as she tied the straps under her armpits over her chest.

Well, there shouldn’t be any big obstacles coming down.

But this feels a bit off.

Me as a horse, really? With a perfectly good horse. I wonder how Wang-gung Dong is doing. Man, I want meat, horse meat, raw beef…

“Alright, let’s go! Hurry!”

“Hold on tight! It’s gonna shake a lot before we get to the horse cart.”

So Qing took off running.

Seeing a woman pulling a cart with two people in it would certainly draw attention in the market.

Especially as she climbed the rugged mountain slope, it’d have people gawking.

If people saw it, they’d be willing to spend gold coins for whatever potion she was selling.

“Just give me my money! Hurry!”

—-

The weather forecasting in the Central Plain is downright pathetic.

It might rain or it might not.

What’s the accurate probability? Over the last few days with no rain, it’s probably not too high, right?

Or maybe not. How could mere humans predict the will of the heavens?

So the feng shui masters make their predictions as broad as possible.

Right now, it’s a west wind, but it might shift to a north or southeast wind, which could mean rain or, while unlikely, perhaps even snow.

This way, they’ll have at least a 50% chance to get it right.

It’s how the feng shui masters escape responsibility.

Of course, these thin excuses don’t fly when droughts or huge storms cause damage, and the first to get blamed would be the feng shui masters.

However, the feng shui masters should’ve thought a bit more imaginatively.

They didn’t mention that the west wind could get stronger.

As night deepens, the west wind suddenly starts to howl, turning into a furious wind that shakes the forest.

When the wind’s strong, the embers spread faster and farther.

Thus, glowing embers and fiery leaves swirl around like crazy and easily leap over the barren land the people had just turned over.

While the feng shui masters previously argued that twenty became the benchmark.

And yet, the feng shui master was still considered somewhat lucky.

The fire ignites.

A monstrous fire demon greedily rushes forward.

—-

Boom! Bang!

A cart being pulled by human hands shoots up the mountain at unbelievable speed.

It’s more fitting to say the cart was flying than rolling.

The wheels spend more time in the air than on the ground.

With a rough ratio of about one to nine, it wouldn’t be wrong to say it’s practically a flying cart.

The first cart in the Central Plain comes with an awful ride for both young and old.

Yayu’s fine, but doesn’t know martial arts, while Yeon Pa is a master but has multiple holes in her body and wounds all over.

Thus, they can only cling to the safety straps in the cart, bouncing around without being thrown out.

Even the three layers of clothes and three hats are holding up against bumps and knocks.

Qing could feel the chaotic movements of supplies shifting inside the cart.

“Just hang in there a bit longer! We just have to get up there!”

But as the left wheel hits a big stone, the cart lifts and nearly tips over.

Qing gritted her teeth and raised her left hand to hold onto the support beam, shoving down hard! The ribs go “agh!” the muscles on her side scream, and her lower pelvis is all out with it! Just kill me! Aah!

In that moment, her left leg lost all strength.

It’s just a natural response.

Grinding her teeth, Qing stomped down with her right foot—one, two, three, four, five.

“Ugh…”

The blur in front of her isn’t due to her vision; the pain makes tears stream down her face.

But whether it’s clear or not, what’s in front isn’t any better.

So, after crossing one small ridge, the road, at least the cart should stop bouncing—

“Run, run!”

“The fire’s spreading! Hurry up!”

As soon as they crossed the ridge, a horde of bandits came thundering down the road, led by a strangely well-dressed bandit representative.

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