Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

147. A Disturbance at the Border

Translator: Flying Lines

The soldiers at the border continued to guard the remote areas of State YanLing day after day. It was still dawn and the soldiers had already started patrolling in a well-trained manner, while Vice-general Yan was personally training hundreds of elite soldiers.

There are a lot of elite soldiers at the border, but Vice-general Yan divided these elite soldiers into teams. There were 100 people in each team, and he only trained 100 people every day.

Generally speaking, it was rare for those elite soldiers to get trained by Vice-general Yan personally. Although the training process was painful, it was undeniable that those elite soldiers would always improve a lot every time after the training was completed. Therefore, no one would miss Vice-general Yan’s training, but today, there was an exception. A handsome teenager with a healthy complexion shouted to Vice-general Yan, “Report, Vice-general Yan, I want to take leave!”

“Yue Wanzhi, what’s the matter?” Vice-general Yan was famous for his ruthlessness. He had always been strict in terms of training. He liked soldiers who were determined and who could endure hardship, such as Yue Wanzhi.

Before he met Su Jie, Yue Wanzhi was ruthless. He was ruthless to others, but he was even more ruthless to himself. In the past, Yue Wanzhi had never had the chance to practice martial arts because his father, who was a civil official, did not like military officers. Now he was fortunate enough to experience the difficult life at the border, so he never missed the opportunity to be trained by Vice-general Yan.

At first, Yue Wanzhi would get tired from running just five kilometers. And when he reached the finish line, Yue Wanzhi would pass out directly, but now he could keep up with Vice-general Yan’s training intensity.

It was because of Yue Wanzhi’s stubbornness that Vice-general Yan appreciated him particularly.

Initially, Vice-general Yan was polite to Yue Wanzhi because Su Jie was his master, but as the time went by, Yue Wanzhi impressed him with his action.

Now, Yue Wanzhi had grown a lot taller. He was already 1.8 metres tall and he had gotten strong muscles on his body. His handsome face was less ferocious and fierce than when he was young, and he’d got a calm and solemn temperament, which made people around him feel very secure.

Yue Wanzhi had never been absent from Vice-general Yan’s training and Vice-general Yan would occasionally give Yue Wanzhi trainings privately. In private, the two of them were on good terms.

“Report, Vice-general Yan, I need to find Jiale,” Yue Wanzhi answered loudly with a strong voice.

Ever since Yue Wanzhi joined the army, Prince Xian of State YanHui seemed to be very interested in State YanLing. He stayed at the border and refused to leave. And in the course of time, Xiao ShengXian and Yue Wanzhi became very close to each other, so he allowed Yue Wanzhi to address him as Jiale.

Usually, Xiao ShengXian would go out early in the morning and come back before sunset.

Yesterday, Yue Wanzhi went directly to sleep after training. And this morning, to Yue Wanzhi’s surprise, Xiao ShengXian was nowhere to be found.

After asking the patrol, Yue Wanzhi learned that Xiao ShengXian didn’t come back last night.

Yue Wanzhi was afraid that something would happen to Xiao ShengXian, so he planned to go out to look for him. However, it was impossible for him to find Xiao ShengXian alone. Therefore, during the training this morning, Yue Wanzhi asked for leave. In fact, he meant to ask Vice-general Yan to help find Xiao ShengXian.

Vice-general Yan understood what Yue Wanzhi meant, but he couldn’t get involved in this matter. Although he was qualified to mobilize the army in the border, what reason could he use to order the soldiers of State YanLing to look for a missing prince of State YanHui?

Vice-general Yan was loyal to Su Jie, but even if Yue Wanzhi called Su Jie master, Vice-general Yan still refused to compromise when it came to such a serious matter like this.

Therefore, after he gave Yue Wanzhi the permission for his leave, he continued to train the soldiers.

Yue Wanzhi meant to ask, but he said nothing. He looked anxious, but he didn’t know how to ask Vice-general Yan this favor.

At this moment, a few soldiers came over to him and said, “Yue, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor?” Yue Wanzhi was confused. Could that person be someone from State YanHui?

And when Yue Wanzhi saw him, he felt even more confused.

He saw a teenager in plain clothes sitting in a chair with a cold expression waiting for him. This teenager had ordinary eyebrows, but he’d got an indifferent temperament.

Yue Wanzhi was confused. He didn’t recognize this young man in plain clothes. Could he have asked for the wrong man?

Having sensed his arrival, the plain-clothed teenager lazily raised his eyelids and his eyes fell on Yue Wanzhi. He was a little surprised, but pretty soon, he started smiling and his eyes were filled with an intoxicating smile.

Yue Wanzhi felt that this smile was familiar but he couldn’t remember who he was.

“Yue Wanzhi, are you used to your army life in State YanLing?” The young man in plain-clothes gently sipped the tea and asked.

“Ma… Master?” When Yue Wanzhi heard the familiar voice, he couldn’t help but have mixed feelings. He was stunned and not knowing what to do, he just looked at Su Jie in a daze.

Didn’t his master become the Emperor? Why did he come to the border?

Yue Wanzhi thought that Su Jie had forgotten about him!

He did not expect Su Jie to come to the border with a disguise.

Did he sneak out of the palace?

All kinds of thoughts popped out from Yue Wanzhi’s mind. His smile filled his handsome face, giving out the kind of warmth you could only feel from the sun right after it’d stopped snowing.

“I’m here to see how you’re doing here,” Su Jie squinted and smiled.

“I’m doing pretty well. Thank you for your concern, Master,” Yue Wanzhi laughed heartily. During the time he was here, Yue Wanzhi and the soldiers of State YanLing had established a certain relationship, and his temper and personality were much more cheerful than before. He used to only have mercenary friends, and that could never compete with the bond between the comrades at the border.

To be honest, aside from missing his father, Yue Wanzhi has fallen in love with this borderland.

He really experienced the heavy responsibility and hardships of garrisoning the border and not being able to reunite with his family. Also, Yue Wanzhi admired Vice-general Yan very much. He thought that Vice-general Yan had more bark than bite. He was always fair when it came to rewarding and punishing his soldiers. Besides that, what was more important was that Vice-general Yan knew how to train soldiers, so the soldiers at the border both loved and hated him.

“Master, I want to compete with you. I am much more powerful than before. I can deal with more than ten or twenty servants at home, “Yue Wanzhi said confidently.

“Alright, since you want to fight, I’ll definitely accompany you to the end… By the way, when Shengnian passed by the border, was his arm better?” Su Jie asked.

Hearing Su Jie’s inquiry, Yue Wanzhi suddenly remembered that he still needed to find Prince Xian. He screamed “Oops” in his mind and hurriedly explained to Su Jie, “Master, when Prince Rui passed by the border, Jiale, I mean, Prince Xian didn’t leave with him. My room was next to Prince Xian’s but Prince Xian didn’t return last night. I’m afraid that something might have happened to him and I was going out to find him just now.”

“Xiao ShengXian is still in State YanLing?” Su Jie was a little stunned. Why did Xiao ShengXian stay in State YanLing?

“Yes, Master. Why don’t you dispatch a troop to look for him?” Yue Wanzhi said anxiously.

“Sure,” Su Jie did not plan to reveal his true identity at the border, but when he heard that Xiao ShengXian was gone, he had to go and see Vice-general Yan with Yue Wanzhi.

Vice-general Yan was now conferred the title of General Xuanlie, and his salary was much higher than before. However, he never allowed himself to feel proud. After all, all he did for helping the Emperor take his throne from the usurper was guarding the border and he did not joined any of the battles.

Seeing Su Jie, Vice-general Yan was overjoyed. He immediately obeyed Su Jie’s orders and dispatched 500 soldiers to look for Xiao ShengXian.

And the city that they mainly searched was the City of Divine Traces, which was the only city close to the border. But, to their disappointment, the soldiers failed to find Xiao ShengXian there even after searching every corner of the city.

However, a middle-aged man who farmed a land outside the city told the soldiers, “Officers, I’ve seen that beautiful man you’re looking for. When I went to farm in the fields, I saw that he went in the direction of Mount Zangling.”

The soldiers reported their findings to Vice-general Yan.

And Vice-general Yan repeated what he heard to Su Jie.

Because Su Jie did not want to reveal his identity, the soldiers at the border did not know that their beloved Emperor had actually come all the way here. Only Yue Wanzhi and Vice-general Yan knew Su Jie’s identity.

“The terrain of Mount Zangling is steep, and there’re many fierce beasts and poisonous snakes up there, Prince Xian might be…” Vice-general Yan didn’t finish his sentence.

Prince Xian had not returned all night and with all odds against him, it was highly likely that he was in great danger.