Tie Yihan Chapter 2

Mao Xiang was a little surprised to see Jing Huan appear in such an embarrassing manner. He helped him up and asked, “Why are you panicking? What did you see?”

Jing Huan gripped the handle of his knife, gasping for breath before he finally managed to say, “Just now, I walked around the forest on the west side of the mountain to see if there was a way to avoid climbing the steep slope up ahead. I was surprised to find a border village there, but it’s been destroyed. All the people in it have been burned to death. There are burnt corpses everywhere. It happened some time ago.”

“Border village? What kind of border village is it?” Mao Xiang asked.

The current generation of Jurchen, Hou Liao, Goguryeo, Mongolian, and Han ethnic groups were extremely complicated, and the chaotic people gathered into villages, most of which were divided into ethnic groups.⁽¹⁾ The rare mixed border villages, in which good and bad people mingled together, became black market gathering places for merchants and army deserters. If there was any place that the emperor couldn’t control, it was definitely this kind of place.

“They’ve all been burned beyond recognition. It’s impossible to tell.”

Mao Xiang pulled out a map from the front of his armor. This map had been drawn by Beizhen Fusi three years ago, but the border villages here were like living creatures, with the climate causing the people to move around constantly. The village that Jing Huan claimed to have found wasn’t on the map at all.

“Speaking of burning villages, when we were in Pingwo in Eastern Zhejiang, we did it all the time. Why are you in such a panic now?” Mao Xiang asked him as he put the map away. “You’ve only been a sixth-ranked officer for a few months, yet you’ve already forgotten that you were so ruthless? What, do you think you were born a Hanlin or something?”⁽²⁾

“Sir, I wouldn’t dare. It’s just that the circumstances surrounding the burning of this village are really serious. If only a few people had been killed, then this subordinate wouldn’t be so afraid. But this village is really—”

“Speak more clearly. If you dare show fear again, I’ll cut off your tongue,” Mao Xiang said a little angrily. He was extremely annoyed with this kind of situation, because if the scout panicked, then the troops’ morale would become unstable. If they were at war, he would have cut him down on the spot.

Jing Huan’s face was pale, and he was just about to speak, when a voice suddenly came up from behind them, “Officer Jing, please have a word with me.”

Mao Xiang looked back and saw that the white-clothed scholar had already approached them. Ignoring the look on his face, the white-clothed scholar grabbed Jing Huan’s shoulder and pulled him aside.

Mao Xiang wanted to follow them, but the white-clothed scholar immediately turned back and said, “Please stay there. This is no small matter. You should remember His Majesty’s imperial order.”

Mao Xiang had no choice but to stop following them. He saw the white-clothed scholar pull Jing Huan behind a tree and start whispering a few words in his ear. Jing Huan immediately nodded and made some very strange gestures like he was trying to express something. Mao Xiang, who was trying to pick up some of the scattered words carried by the wind, involuntarily leaned closer. Then, he suddenly saw a flash of cold light. The white-clothed scholar had some kind of weapon in his hand which he used to slash Jing Huan’s throat.

Completely caught off guard, the still-talking Jing Huan didn’t even have time to react as his throat was cut open. He covered his neck, turned, and then fell to the ground with a thud. Mao Xiang was alarmed by this sudden development, but he immediately pressed his hand to his knife and rushed towards them, only to see that the cold light from before was a sliver hairpin, which the scholar was shaking out in his hand.

“What are you doing?!” Mao Xiang ran over and took a look, but he knew that it was already too late. Not only was Jing Huan’s throat slit, but the wound was so deep that he had died almost immediately. “If my subordinates do something wrong, I’ll punish them myself, you—!”

The silver hairpin in the white-clothed scholar’s hand was quickly hidden away in his sleeves as he said, “According to the emperor’s orders, anyone who sees that thing will not be allowed to live. Unfortunately, Officer Jing saw that thing, so I had to follow the emperor’s orders.”

“What did he see?”

“If I tell you, then you will lie here as well. You have taken special care of me the whole journey; I don’t want anything unpleasant to happen.” As the white-clothed scholar sighed, Mao Xiang noticed that there weren’t any bloodstains on his body. “But there’s no need for General Mao to grieve. Even if Officer Jing didn’t die by my own hand just now, he didn’t have much time left once he saw that thing.” After that, the white-clothed scholar looked in the direction Jing Huan had come from, “General Mao, please rest here for a while. I’ll be right back. Don’t follow me; otherwise, you never know what misfortune will befall you.” With that said, he leaned forward and then rushed into the forest like a white fox before finally disappearing.

<Tie Yihan Chapter 1><Table of Contents><Tie Yihan Chapter 3>

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TN Notes:

(1) Jurchen= a Tungus ethnic group, predecessor of the Manchu ethnic group who founded the Later Jin Dynasty and Qing Dynasty; Hou Liao=ethnic group that I think branched off from the Khitan people from the Liao Dynasty; Goguryeo= Korean ethnic group.

(2) Hanlin refers to academics employed as imperial secretaries from the Tang onwards. There was even a Hanlin Imperial Academy.

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RIP Jing Huan. You were a good bro for the half chapter that we knew ya.