He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter Seventy - Time is Like An Arrow

"It is their duty.." Jie Long attempted to argue, although he knew it was in vain. His brother could be very stubborn about such things.

"Their duty? And what of our duty?" Yu Long asked. "How many tales of bandits have you heard of with each merchant wagon that passes us on the road?"

"Yet we haven't seen one," Jie Long reminded him.

"Would you be so foolish as to attack an army?" Jie Long shook his head helplessly, unable to deny these words. "Bandits only attack the weak and only because they can get away with it. Clearing the mountain and forest passes of those wretches would better trade and bring greater wealth. After all, have you ever heard of a bandit paying taxes?"

Jie Long laughed. "And this is why you are a scholar and I am a warrior. You do the thinking for me!" Yu Long hit him gently around the head with his bow.

"You cannot rely on my brains forever, brother," he chided, softly. Just then, there came a rustling from a nearby bush and Jie Long grinned as Yu Long sighed, before drawing his bow. Their guards held their swords ready to unsheath them at a moment's notice.

"Seems that at least a few bandits will be reformed this day," Jie Long mentioned as unwashed bodies sped towards them. As these bandits were untrained and relied only on brute force, they were ill equipped to deal with actual soldiers. More fool were they when they saw the two young princes and thought they might be weak. It was a very one sided battle from start to finish. "How did they survive this long?" The First Prince muttered as he withdrew his bloodied sword.

"Probably attacked less guarded wagons," Yu Long replied, notching his bow and aiming at a fleeing man. His shot was true, the arrow pierced his heart from behind. Finally, a squadron from their own army appeared in order to assist.

"A little late for that," Jie Long said, wryly, before walking past the squadron in order to return to camp.

*****

Wu Chang felt shamed. He was an exemplary soldier and had risen through the ranks without relying on his father's name, but still he felt humbled by these two Princes who he'd thought were merely playing soldier.  Not only did the First Prince prove he had immense knowledge of war craft, history and was skilled martial arts, the Second Prince had chided their rough handling of the commoners and had insisted purchasing fodder for the horses and hunted to supplement their supplies. Were these boys truly just sixteen years of age?

Now he watched as the Second Prince stopped a travelling merchant, who had a wagon of fresh fruit and was headed to the capital. After speaking with the merchant for a moment, the Prince turned appearing smug and walked up to him, hands behind his back. "Ah, I've negotiated a price with that man," he announced. "I will leave it to you to make payment." As the merchant need not travel further and risk being attacked by bandits, the Prince had managed to purchase the fruit cheaply. While it was true that it would not feed many in this army of 10,000, Wu Chang could not help but admire this Prince's ethics. Many of his men disliked purloining grain from farming communities, even if that was in the name of the Emperor, as they had been raised on farms themselves. The Prince was winning over soldiers and commoners alike.

Jie Long was also learning from his brother. "Emperors treat the people as heaven, moreover people treat food as heaven," Yu Long told him, when asked again why he was bothering with these extra efforts. The First Prince allowed himself to be influenced by his brother's ways and would take a small squadron of men to hunt in nearby forests and the large grasslands almost every night. And while they still had to claim sacks of flour and rice from farms, they offered silvers in return.

*****

The overall journey took six weeks marching to reach the West border and eighteen months to force the neighbouring armies into submission, eventually relying on tactics created between Jie Long and the army generals. There was also discussions of building a second army base upon this volatile border and improvements of the existing base and border walls. The third army remained to patrol the border and would wait for the fifth army to relieve them, while the first army would return to the capital with the two Princes. For some reason, Yu Long requested that Wu Chang return with them. Not willing to turn down this young man, who unexpectedly never demanded anything, this was agreed to.

As the army neared the border that joined Western Counties with the Northern ones, Jie Long's hunting squadron came across a group of bandits manhandling a young woman. From her torn clothing and dishevelled appearance, there was no doubts behind their actions. The Prince ordered his men to dispatch the bandits swiftly as he joined in the fray. Jie Long then approached the frightened woman, who was wrapped in a cloak one of the soldiers had passed to her.

"Zank you," she said with a strong accent, causing the soldiers to glance at one another.

"Can you tell me what happened here?" The Prince asked softly, noting that the girl was around his own age and quite pretty beneath the dirt. She had dark toned skin, something that was unfamiliar to him. The harem women were all pale, like white jade and commoners women had been kept from view of the army. Her hair was matted with leaves, but seemed to be curly and black. She was very curvy and voluptuous, which drew the eyes of many of his soldiers appreciation.

"I flee here. Zen say zey help, but attack me," her broken language was still clear enough to catch.

"What shall we do, your highness?" One of his men asked.

Jie Long asked himself what his brother would do. "We'll take her along with us until we reach the next village and decide from there." They needed to be clear about her story before they could dismiss her completely. What could she mean when she claimed to be fleeing something?

The dark skinned girl looked up at them with startling green eyes, but only when one got close enough would they notice the twin black pupils held by one.

Translations;

Emperors treat the people as heaven, moreover people treat food as heaven, people are most important to rulers, food is the most important thing for people.

Author's note; I am cheekily avoiding describing war battles.  Not only am I not good with battles and tactics (although I could research), I also want to get our to MC/ML's to finally meet in this world!  Adding war stories feels superfluous.  Of course, there are always later extras if you feel I should pursue this.