Late Night Tales Of The Capital

“Lend me a thousand soldiers. I have to test a hypothesis.”

The figure in red light armor standing in front of the military monument had just stopped releasing more sword energy when Ye Que walked up to her. When she turned to face him, Li Jianqi’s aura had reverted back to the youthful and beautiful young woman, completely devoid of the bloodthirsty battle intent she displayed earlier on. As Ye Que thought about it, he believed that it should be the effects of absorbing her ancestor’s Battle Soul in the Imperial Mausoleum.

“Ye Que?” Li Jianqi exclaimed, somewhat shocked. “You want to borrow a thousand soldiers? For a deduction?”

“Stop asking me so many questions. I can’t explain all of them right away. Just tell me if you would lend them to me?” Ye Que asked somewhat impatiently. Anyone would also be in a hurry to prove his or her theory correct after experiencing so many amazing things and a way of amplifying the power of one’s own cultivation technique. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

“It’s possible, but…” Li Jianqi said before being interrupted by Ye Que.

“That’s good. Where do I get them? Don’t worry, I’ll return them very quickly to you,” Ye Que said before reaching his hand out. It was impossible to arrange for the transfer of soldiers just by verbal orders. It was necessary to produce a military token to transfer even a hundred soldiers, much less 1000 of them.

“At the very least, you have to tell me what you’re going to use them for, right? And for how long? Also, where are you going to bring them?” she asked. Even though Li Jianqi was Li Chunzhi’s daughter and was going to become the esteemed princess of the Tang State soon, even she could not take the transfer of soldiers lightly.

“I won’t use them to kill or commit mayhem, and I won’t need them to leave camp. All they have to do is follow my orders. If all goes well, I’ll just need them for three days, and I’ll return all of them to you after three days,” Ye Que said earnestly as he showed three fingers.

Li Jianqi looked at Ye Que quietly for a while before fishing out a green token from her sleeves. “Look for a lieutenant called Zhang Yue at the Southern Encampment. Tell him to arrange for 1000 soldiers to you. I’ve to be honest with you. Don’t cause any trouble, the current situation is very complicated and even I can’t promise you many things.”

Ye Que waved after receiving the token before turning to leave.

The corners of his eyes twitched slightly as he looked at the three-meter tall military monument before leaving.

The Southern Encampment was situated about one and a half kilometers away in the south of Luoyang City. The main responsibility of the troops stationed there was to ensure the security of the city and to prevent its citizens and the Imperial Court from ever being attacked from the South. It could be considered as a strategic encampment, therefore Li Chunzhi made sure it was under a control a very long time ago.

Zhang Yue was one of Li Chunzhi’s men and naturally could recognize Li Jianqi’s token.

“Mr. Ye, I don’t know what you need 1000 soldiers for, but please let me know what I can do for you. You’re a person trusted by Her Highness and an esteemed guest of the Southern Encampment,” Zhang Yue said cheerfully. As they walked, he explained the encampment’s current situation to Ye Que.

“Gather 1000 soldiers as quickly as you can. After that, gather 1000 battle sabers and give each one of them one,” Ye Que said indifferently.

“1000 battle sabers?” Zhang Yue was stunned for a while and felt his heart tighten. “Is this brother going to a fight? Or has her Highness, Jianqi, been bullied and needs people to even things out for her? No, who in the entire city dares to offend her? Who doesn’t value his or her life?”

No matter what he thought, he would do whatever Ye Que instructed him to do, since he had shown up with Li Jianqi’s token, even if it meant going against the law. He was one of Li Chunzhi’s men, and that meant he served Li Jianqi as well. He understood the meaning of loyalty, especially in such sensitive times.

The Crown Prince had still not been coronated.

The new Emperor had not been determined yet.

It was a period of unrest for Luoyang City.

It was also at such times that unimportant, low-ranking officers like himself would prove themselves useful. Soldiers had to prove themselves in times of need, and he would regret it for the rest of his life if he missed such a golden opportunity.

“Please wait a moment, Mr. Ye. I’ll get your 1000 soldiers and sabers ready immediately,” Zhang Yue said, his cheerful expression turning serious.

A commotion soon came over the Southern Encampment, but it was obvious that the soldiers still went about their business in an orderly fashion. After all, the elite troops guarding Luoyang were incomparable to guards from other places.

In less than 60 breath cycles, 1000 soldiers, each of them holding a battle saber, stood before Ye Que in neat ranks.

“This gentleman is a special envoy of Her Highness Li Jianqi—Ye Que, or rather, Mr. Yue to you people. You have to follow his instructions for the next three days, clear?” Zhang Yue shouted loudly as he stood in front of all the soldiers.

Zhang Yue gave way to Ye Que after receiving his troops’ affirmation. After conversing for a while in soft voices, he left, leaving Ye Que with the soldiers.

Ye Que stood before them and told them in a clear voice, “I know that everyone’s time is precious, so I’ll waste no more time on courtesy. My purpose here is to test out one of Her Highness’ hypotheses. I need everyone’s cooperation. I’ll teach everyone a set of saber techniques that will be very simple to learn. I need all of you to practice them seriously, however.”

“This technique consists of three moves. The first is known as the Mountain-Splitter, the second is called the Water-Slicer, while the last will be Heaven-Splitter. I’ll explain them and give a detailed demonstration to everyone. All of you should look carefully and not miss any of it or learn the wrong moves.”

Ye Que began his demonstration as he spoke. He did so at an extremely slow pace, so that all of the soldiers could observe carefully, only stopping after doing it for 10 times.

“Now, everyone is to practice with your own saber. Practice on your own on the first day, and you can look for me anytime if you have any doubts,” Ye Que said as he stood on a tall platform.

Ye Que had just taught these soldiers the exact same set of techniques that he had imparted to the disciples of the Divine Sect Seminary. However, the disciples were aided by the sect’s cultivation technique and could comprehend the saber skills much more quickly.

The soldiers had their own natural advantage, however. After all, they had been wielding sabers for years now, and most of them had been in battle and possessed martial arts skills. Their foundation was actually much stronger than the civilians.

Everyone thought that Zhang Yue had gathered them for something important. They did not expect that they just had to learn saber skills.

And they were three fundamental saber techniques to boot!

“What’s so hard about that?”

“We just need one hour to master them.”

“This Ye Que fellow is looking down on us somewhat!”

Most of the soldiers had their own individual thoughts of learning these basic skills, but they did not let it show on their faces due to adherence to military discipline. Instead, they trained with more vigor, hoping to surprise Ye Que and make him eat his own words. “Soldiers from the Southern Encampment are not to be trifled with,” they thought.

However, after 10 minutes, the soldiers realized how immature their thoughts were. Even though they were three simple strokes that consisted of only about a dozen moves.

The individual moves were not very hard on their own, but once they were connected and had to be made from a saber, the difficulty level seemed to be increased by many times.

After a round of practice, sweat was already appearing on the foreheads of most soldiers. After three rounds, their muscles were already aching. They were unaware that this set of saber skills were meant to be used by cultivators. The disciples of Divine Sect Seminary had already learned the sect’s cultivation technique for a period of time, and most of them were able to sense the presence of Nature’s Spiritual Qi. They were already of a higher level compared to ordinary civilians and soldiers.