Huo Tingshan's appetite was as hearty as ever; he quickly polished off the six meat skewers Pei Ying had roasted.
Only after finishing the meat did he look across at Sha Ying. "Sha Ying, write a letter to Ming Ji later. Tell him the forest bandits here are in cahoots with the officials in Luoyang. Have him comb through Luoyang one more time, and deal with whatever parasites he roots out as he sees fit."
During his previous purge of Luoyang, his main focus had been rooting out spies from other provinces. Other issues hadn't been particularly glaring, so they had been temporarily set aside.
But things were different now. Since they had stumbled upon this and even captured witnesses, they might as well go all the way and weed out the corrupt officials festering within Luoyang.
This would not only establish his authority but also boost his prestige.
As the bonfire banquet drew to a close, Chen Yuan, Xiong Mao, and the others returned.
They returned with a bountiful haul.
Aside from cartloads of gold, silver, and valuables, they also brought back three captives. Chen Yuan had been shrewd; these three were no mere low-level grunts. Two were minor leaders, while the third was none other than the stronghold's third-in-command.
"Send them back to Luoyang tomorrow," Huo Tingshan ordered.
After issuing the command, Huo Tingshan cast a glance at Shi Chenglei not far away. "Will Young Master Shi be returning to Luoyang with the convoy tomorrow?"
Caught off guard by the sudden mention, Shi Chenglei, who was sitting nearby, immediately snapped back the stealthy glances he had been stealing at the young girl beside him. "I... I'm not going back."
Huo Tingshan did not press the matter.
*
The night had grown late, and the march had to continue the next day. Thus, once the bonfire banquet concluded, the crowd dispersed, with everyone returning to their respective tents.
Upon returning to her tent, Pei Ying emptied the night-luminescent pearls from the black gauze pouch, instantly filling the space with a soft, radiant glow. By the time she finished organizing her personal belongings, Huo Tingshan had also returned, having briefly issued a few orders to his subordinates outside.
He had gone up the mountain today, and his ring-pommel sword had tasted blood. Therefore, upon entering the tent, Huo Tingshan consciously stripped off his armor and all his clothes, then used the bucket of water Pei Ying had specifically set aside for him to wash up.
In a flash, Huo Tingshan was done. His speed made Pei Ying seriously doubt whether he had washed himself properly at all.
"Huo Tingshan, are you sure you wiped yourself clean?" Pei Ying asked, already settled onto the soft couch.
Huo Tingshan casually grabbed an inner robe and draped it over himself. "Spotless, of course. If you don't believe me, Madam, you are more than welcome to inspect it yourself."
Pei Ying reminded him, "Need I remind you that we are in the middle of a military march?"
Huo Tingshan joined her on the bed. "Well, it's not as if there aren't other ways."
Pei Ying had absolutely no desire to recall what those "other ways" entailed. This man had far too many tricks up his sleeve. Even without going all the way, he had a myriad of techniques at his disposal.
"Madam, where is that armlet?" he asked suddenly.
"It's in the jewelry box on the low cabinet over there." Pei Ying hadn't expected him to still be fixated on that armlet. "Huo Tingshan, what are you planning? We have a march tomorrow."
A hint of wariness crept into her voice as she said the latter half.
Upon hearing her answer, Huo Tingshan actually got out of bed. In a few strides, he reached the low cabinet and opened the box resting on top. It was Pei Ying's jewelry box. Since they were traveling, she had packed light, and the box contained only a few essential pieces of jewelry.
Huo Tingshan frowned, finding the box not only small but also pitifully empty.
Out of all the treasures in the Provincial Governor's estate, were there truly so few that caught her eye?
He retrieved the armlet and returned to the bed.
Autumn nights carried a slight chill, but with a massive human furnace right beside her, Pei Ying's sleepwear had—without her realizing exactly when—become increasingly thin, and the sleeves progressively shorter. While everyone else wore long-sleeved inner garments, hers had evolved into half-sleeves.
"Huo Tingshan, don't even think about it." One look at his eyes, and Pei Ying knew exactly what was running through his mind.
Huo Tingshan twirled the armlet in his palm. "Madam, this is a truly beautiful piece."
Perhaps due to its history as the capital of successive dynasties, Luoyang was renowned for its prosperity. Merchants from all corners of the realm loved to converge there. All sorts of rare treasures, exotic flora, and extraordinary novelties had left their mark on the city.
In his younger years, Huo Tingshan had visited Chang'an and attended imperial banquets. When the dignitaries presented their gifts to the throne, many of the tributes were just as exquisite as this armlet.
Having said that, he gently grasped Pei Ying's left hand and slid the multi-layered armlet up her arm.
Pei Ying was naturally fair. Under the soft, radiant glow of the night-luminescent pearls, her skin seemed to emit a luminous white light. Yet it wasn't the cold, pallid white of porcelain, but rather a supple, creamy fairness tinged with a healthy, rosy flush.
The golden armlet sparkled brilliantly, its embedded gemstones catching the light, while the beauty's snowy skin exuded a delicate allure. The contrast was breathtakingly gorgeous and alluring.
Suddenly, a fair hand adorned with a crystal beaded bracelet reached over and clamped down on the armlet—which had just passed her wrist—stopping it from being pushed any higher.
"Huo Tingshan, no messing around." Pei Ying knew him all too well by now.
Once his desires were stoked, there was absolutely no stopping him until he had his way. They had to wake up early the next morning to travel, and she had no intention of letting everyone see her looking exhausted.
"I'm just looking," he said.
His tone sounded innocent enough, but Pei Ying wasn't buying it for a second. Seeing that they were at an impasse, a sly glint suddenly flashed in her eyes. "This belonged to someone else. I don't like it."
"Fair point." Frowning, Huo Tingshan slipped the armlet off and tossed it onto the floor like a piece of trash.
Just as Pei Ying was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she abruptly heard him add, "I'll have a brand new set custom-made for you, Madam."
Pei Ying replied, "...There is really no need for that."
She lifted her gaze to meet his, only to find his intense stare trailing slowly down her neck, over her chest, down her arms, and further down past her waist...
He was already getting ideas.
Pei Ying shoved him back onto the bed. "Stop talking. It's time to sleep."
*
The fifty-thousand-strong army marched eastward, and it wasn't until they encountered the first great river that Huo Tingshan finally halted their advance.
They were transitioning from a land route to a water route.
The fleet of one hundred ships he had commissioned Shi Xiangsong to build came in various sizes and specifications. The largest of the warships closely resembled the "Yiren Pleasure Boat" that Huo Tingshan and Pei Ying had once boarded.
However, unlike the pleasure boat—which was designed for aesthetics and leisurely cruises, with a sparsely built, highly open-air first deck that offered little protection against incoming arrows—the modified large warship was far more robust. Its first deck had been reinforced with numerous solid barricades for soldiers to take cover behind. Furthermore, it retained the multi-tiered structure of the pleasure boat while incorporating newly added small watchtowers.
Equipped with a telescope, as long as no fog rolled in over the river, one could clearly observe activity from a thousand meters away.
"Make sure the wooden gangplanks are secured tightly," Sha Ying instructed the soldiers earnestly.
The ship was massive enough to easily accommodate the Madam's carriage. By loading one carriage per large ship and dispersing the load in batches, the journey would be much safer and more stable.
Broad, long wooden planks bridged the gap between the shore and the deck. Once he ensured this makeshift bridge was completely stable, Sha Ying personally rode his horse aboard. Only after safely reaching the deck did he unhitch the horse's ropes.
Standing on the shore, Pei Ying watched the horses that had already been led onto the deck. A sudden thought popped into her head. "Huo Tingshan, horses don't get seasick, do they?"
Huo Tingshan paused slightly, frowning as he said, "My Youzhou horses are strong and sturdy, it shouldn't be a big problem."
Pei Ying's tone was highly skeptical: "Your Youzhou men all get seasick, so what makes you think Youzhou horses won't?"
Huo Tingshan: "..."
In the end, that horse was led off the warship, leaving only the carriage to travel by boat. Once everything was ready, Pei Ying and Huo Tingshan also boarded.
Looking down from high above, the river channel, which sprawled across the earth like a long dragon, carried a small, wood-colored snake. The little snake was not as robust or long as the dragon, but resting on the dragon's back, it still occupied a considerable amount of space.
Lowering the view a bit more, one could see that it was no small snake at all, but rather a fleet of ships connected almost nose-to-tail.
The ships slowly began to move. Pei Ying stood on the deck, feeling the breeze brought by the ship's motion. She felt a sense of cheerful openness, as if an invisible hand had expanded her chest to take in the oncoming wind and the clouds in the sky.
Finally, she no longer had to stay cooped up in the tiny carriage.
Perhaps because there was no industrial pollution in this era, the river water here was exceedingly clear, allowing visibility to a depth of over ten feet. Pei Ying saw fish swishing their tails as they swam freely in the water, and little turtles floating on the surface like duckweed.
"The wind is strong at the bow, Madam shouldn't stay out here too long." Huo Tingshan noted that she had been standing there for quite a while.
Pei Ying: "I will head back in the time it takes to finish a cup of tea."
However, after saying this, Pei Ying thought of another matter. She turned her head to look at Huo Tingshan. "By the way, how is the soldiers' seasickness? Has it been alleviated?"
Huo Tingshan: "It is manageable. I ordered people to buy up a lot of sour plums and sour jujubes from the market and distribute them to every ship. Plus, they had some training beforehand, so it shouldn't be a major issue."
Hearing him say training, Pei Ying's brow twitched. "Training? You don't mean just forcing them to tough it out, do you?"
Just like that time he used poison to fight poison.
"Not exactly." Huo Tingshan coughed lightly. "At first, we distributed enough sour jujubes and sour plums to the soldiers. Once they adapted a bit, we gradually reduced the amount."
They had to reduce the amount. Otherwise, if they kept it up every day, even for the soldiers of just a hundred ships, the daily consumption of sour jujubes and plums would be a massive figure.
They would pass by some small counties and prefectures along the way where they could get supplies, but the quantities they could replenish would definitely not be as abundant as in Luoyang City.
They had to use them sparingly.
Pei Ying looked thoughtful. "That works too."
On their first day aboard the ship, the army cooks sourced ingredients locally, and Pei Ying finally got to eat river fish, which she hadn't had in a while.
As the saying goes, When the autumn wind rises and the leaves fall, the sea bass in the Wujiang River grow plump. It was evident that the fish in this season were exceptionally succulent.
Looking at the table full of a whole-fish banquet, Pei Ying immediately felt that her stomach, having endured many days of dry rations, was finally receiving a sweet rain after a long drought.
The three of them set up a small table and sat around it.
However...
"Is this dish yu kuai?" Pei Ying asked, looking at the plate placed in front of her.
"Indeed." Huo Tingshan nodded, but upon saying this, he noticed Pei Ying frowning. "What is wrong, Madam?"
Pei Ying shook her head. "Try not to eat this in the future."
Yu kuai was, in fact, thinly sliced raw fish.
In ancient times, people actually had the habit of eating various kinds of raw meat and fish from a very early period. They even developed specific ways to eat it, as recorded in the Book of Rites: For all kuai, use scallions in the spring and mustard greens in the autumn.
The ancients simply ate it, only thinking that it tasted delicious at the time. As for any illnesses that flared up half a year or a year later, it was very difficult for them to trace the cause back to the raw fish.
"Mother, why can't we eat this?" Meng Ling'er asked curiously.
From the previous dynasty hundreds of years ago to the present, people had always eaten it this way.
Pei Ying carefully weighed her words: "Just like how dodder vines cannot survive on their own, there are actually many tiny bugs invisible to our naked eyes that behave the same way. These bugs can only survive by attaching themselves to other animals. If the food is not cooked thoroughly to kill these bugs with high heat before eating, then they will..."
Pei Ying did not continue, leaving the rest to the imaginations of the two of them.
In ancient times, raw fish slices were always extremely popular. Because they were crystal clear and translucent, the nobility praised them for being elegant and beautiful. At the same time, because they were inexpensive, commoners could afford to eat them; they could even just get a fishing net and catch the fish themselves.
Of course, the most important thing was that, when paired with various dipping sauces, the taste was indeed excellent.
It wasn't until the Ming and Qing dynasties, when people drew the connection between raw fish and parasites, that the consumption of sashimi drastically decreased.
Many people felt that the osmotic pressure of marine fish differed from that of freshwater fish, believing that parasites from marine fish could not survive in the human body. Therefore, they stopped eating raw freshwater fish and only ate raw marine fish.
Pei Ying initially thought the same way. However, ever since she learned that Japan had the highest rate of parasite infections in the world, she gave up raw marine fish as well.
Simply put, she was afraid of dying, and she was also afraid of the excruciating pain of deworming.
She would rather just go without that one bite.
Meng Ling'er was stunned for a long time. Then, she lowered her head somewhat stiffly and looked at the plate of raw fish on the table, her expression complicated.
Huo Tingshan smiled and said, "It is fortunate that Madam is so knowledgeable."
He called in the guards from outside and ordered them to take the plate of raw fish away to be steamed. He also instructed them to pass a message to the army cooks: from now on, raw fish was no longer to be prepared in the army.
The raw fish was taken away, and the three of them resumed their meal.
However, after what had just happened, the little girl, who was already slightly seasick, clearly lost her appetite.
Seeing this, Pei Ying couldn't help but feel remorseful.
If she had known, she wouldn't have said anything and just taken it away so her daughter couldn't eat it. Sometimes she really spoke without thinking.
"There are sour plums on the ship. The little lass can have some later. The kitchen has food prepared, so you can go get some anytime," Huo Tingshan had also noticed.
After lunch, Meng Ling'er felt a bit unwell and went back to her room first, planning to lie down for a while.
Whether it was due to the change in environment or something else, Pei Ying was still very energetic after lunch today and had no desire to take a nap at all.
"Stealing a half-day of leisure from this floating life. Madam, how about we go fishing?" Huo Tingshan suddenly suggested.
Pei Ying's interest was immediately piqued. "That sounds wonderful, but do we have fishing gear on board?"
Huo Tingshan: "We have both fishing nets and fishing rods, to make it easier for the army cooks to catch fish."
And so, not long after, the couple arrived at the stern of the ship. They each set up a wooden chair, a fishing rod, and half a small box of bait, each taking up a spot.
"Merely fishing is not very interesting, Madam. Why don't we have a competition? We will use the whole afternoon to see whose fish are heavier, comparing the total weight at the end." Huo Tingshan curled the corners of his lips into a smile. "The loser must agree to one request made by the winner, and no going back on one's word."
Fishing relied entirely on timing and luck; skill was actually not that important. Thus, Pei Ying thought about it and nodded in agreement, but cautiously added a condition: "This request must not violate any matters of principle."
He agreed readily: "Naturally."
For some reason, looking at the curve of his lips, Pei Ying suddenly felt that something was not quite right.
