The Innocent Heart - Chapter 39

As time went by, the most difficult part of summer inadvertently passed in day-to-day training. By the time Guan Yueyao realized it, the summer heat had gradually faded, and it was already early autumn. The unnamed vegetation planted in Chang’an City was also gradually turning golden yellow.

This particular day was a rare day off. Both Huo Qubing and Guan Yueyao had time, and they decided to take advantage of the crisp, clear autumn weather to ride out and hunt.

Firstly, after spending a long time in Chang’an City and Weiyang Palace, both youths were feeling a little bored and wanted to enjoy themselves freely in a place where adults couldn’t see them.

Secondly, Huo Qubing was very interested in the military training and long-distance marches that Guan Yueyao had mentioned. He had never traveled far in his life, and he honestly didn’t know how long he could endure marching on horseback for such extended periods.

Early that morning, just as the gates of Chang’an City were being opened by the soldiers, two youths in fine, luxurious clothes were seen riding two fine horses toward them.

“Here, quickly check the travel passes and let us out of the city,” one of the youths handed over two passes and urged them. The sky was still somewhat dim, and visibility was blurry. The soldier didn’t dare to be careless and was about to examine the passes closely when he felt a sharp pain in his head. Turning around, he saw it was his superior.

The middle-aged man snatched the passes from the soldier’s hand and respectfully returned them to Huo Qubing. “Young Master Huo, you are too kind. Who in Chang’an City doesn’t recognize you?”

Huo Qubing pursed his lips, frowned, and didn’t speak. He silently took the passes and put them back into his bosom, then turned to look at Guan Yueyao, who was still curiously examining the tall city gate.

“Ah Yao, let’s go.”

Behind them, the officer who had just looked respectful now slapped the soldier’s shoulder with a look of disappointment: “You don’t recognize the nephew of Lady Wei? When you get back, you’d better thoroughly memorize the family crests and relationships of all the high officials and nobles in Chang’an! Offending any one of these important people would be enough trouble to last us a lifetime. If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!”

The soldier was shocked when he heard this and leaned close to his superior, whispering: “This… this is the child from the Wei family, the family of all those illegitimate children?”

“How dare you speak carelessly?!” The man’s eyes widened in a glare, and he ignored the soldier, turning to busy himself with other matters.

The soldier guarding the gate gave a meaningful look at the backs of the youths who had long since ridden away and curled his lip in disdain.

By this time, the common people and merchant caravans waiting behind him to leave the city had formed a long, dense queue. The noise began to grow loud. He impatiently looked at the queue, which seemed to repeat day after day with no end, and skillfully yelled to maintain order.

“Line up properly, all of you! One person at a time!”

The two rode their horses along the main road for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Looking back, the magnificent city that had seemed so towering just a moment ago now appeared to be nothing more than a low, small mound in their eyes.

“Ah!! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such an open plain. But Chang’an is such a huge capital; why doesn’t it have city walls?” Guan Yueyao looked back again at the gradually blurring Chang’an City. Without the obstruction of city walls, the exquisite pavilions and towers within the city were still vaguely visible at a glance.

“The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system. Chang’an evolved from the former Xianyang. It occupies the strategic center of Guanzhong, commands the danger of the Five Passes, and is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Naturally, it doesn’t need city walls.” Huo Qubing held his horsewhip and explained the approximate location of the Five Passes to Guan Yueyao.

“Ah Yao, look. The mountain range we can vaguely see in front of us is the Qinling Mountains. To the north is Xiaoguan Pass, to the south is Wuguan Pass, to the east are Tongguan and Hangu Pass, and to the west is Dasanguan Pass.”

“Currently, only the Hetao region, west of Dasanguan Pass, is occupied by the Xiongnu and remains a constant threat to My Great Han. But one day, it will return to the hands of the Great Han, in our hands. When that time comes, our Han people will graze our horses on Yinshan Mountain and herd our sheep on Qilian Mountain!”

Huo Qubing spoke with great confidence, but Guan Yueyao looked bewildered. He didn’t know any of the geographical terms Huo Qubing mentioned and naturally couldn’t form a mental picture.

Despite this, he still greatly admired Huo Qubing. In the Han Dynasty, where access to information was scarce, a youth who rarely left Chang’an knew so much about the surrounding terrain and the affairs of the Xiongnu. Even though he received careful tutelage from Liu Che, it also indicated that he himself had put a great deal of effort into this matter.

“Qubing, you’re amazing.” Guan Yueyao was a straight talker, and his praise for the youth was heartfelt at this moment, making it particularly sincere.

Huo Qubing’s face flushed at the compliment. Just a moment ago, he had been composed and commanding like a general, but now he suddenly stammered: “This… this is nothing! Didn’t ‘The Art of War’ say that only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you fight a hundred battles without danger?”

“Oh! I know that phrase!” Guan Yueyao replied happily: “But didn’t you refuse to learn when His Majesty wanted to teach you military strategy?”

“I just feel that the military strategies of our predecessors mostly originated during the Eastern Zhou period. At that time, conflicts between feudal lords were constant. Those strategies were created for the struggle for hegemony between the lords and are not applicable now.”

“The enemy of the Great Han is the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu people are nomadic and accustomed to being loosely organized. If the Great Han rigidly adheres to the experience of our predecessors, it would be like ‘marking the boat to find the sword’ or ‘climbing a tree to find a fish.’ If we do this, we will not be able to defeat the Xiongnu.”

“Then how do you think we can defeat the Xiongnu?” Guan Yueyao tilted his head to look at his friend. After spending a long time in the military, he had heard many legends about the Xiongnu from the soldiers. In the eyes of the Han people, the Xiongnu were savage, brutal, and lived like beasts. To be captured by the Xiongnu meant almost certain death. Yet, every winter, these same Xiongnu would gather in groups to raid the Han border passes, plundering livestock and people. And within the Han army, it seemed only the elderly General Li Guang could slightly curb their advance.

Hearing Huo Qubing’s assessment of the Xiongnu now, he couldn’t help but be curious. Could his friend have already devised a good plan to deal with the Xiongnu? After all, even the adults frowned when they spoke of the Xiongnu’s harassment. It was clear that even brilliant figures like Liu Che and Wei Qing found the Xiongnu to be a very troublesome problem and were not completely confident.

But who knew, Huo Qubing merely shook his head when he heard Guan Yueyao’s question: “I don’t know. I haven’t seen the true Xiongnu. Even if I have some ideas, they only come from deduction and can’t be relied upon.”

It was merely a casual chat, but Guan Yueyao hadn’t expected Huo Qubing to answer so seriously, nor had he expected Huo Qubing’s attitude toward the Xiongnu to be so cautious. It was vastly different from the idle talk he occasionally heard in the army.

Many officers in the Northern Army had been transferred back from the frontier, and quite a few of them had had direct contact with the Xiongnu. Yet, Guan Yueyao often heard two completely different opinions from these people. Some expressed disdain for the Xiongnu, considering them to be nothing more than groups of savage bandits, nothing to fear. Others were extremely fearful of the Xiongnu, almost turning pale at the mention of the name.

This left Guan Yueyao with a very fragmented impression of this unseen tribe. Hearing Huo Qubing speak like this today suddenly gave Guan Yueyao a sense of enlightenment.

That’s right. He had heard so many people’s opinions, but those were others’ views, all carrying an unavoidable subjectivity. One should neither completely disregard them nor fully believe them. One must see for oneself before making a judgment.

“What’s so difficult about that? We’ll know once we see those Xiongnu people for ourselves. I want to see how, since they are human just like us, only growing up in a different environment, they could be so terrifying.” Guan Yueyao laughed heartily in relief, but suddenly pulled on the reins as he clearly saw the scenery ahead.

At this moment, the two had ridden a long distance. All around them were large fields of farmland. It was the autumn harvest season, and the fields were a golden expanse, filled with wheat and other crops waiting to be harvested by the farmers.

“Qubing, stop quickly!” Guan Yueyao violently pulled the reins, stopping the Chizhou beneath him, and shouted loudly at Huo Qubing, who had trotted slightly ahead. His action was sudden. Although he managed to restrain Chizhou, it startled the horse, which reared up on its hind legs and neighed.

Huo Qubing was enjoying his run with Benxiao when he suddenly heard Guan Yueyao’s shout. Thinking his friend had met with an accident, he subconsciously pulled the reins, turned his horse, and galloped toward Guan Yueyao.

“Ah Yao, what’s wrong?” Huo Qubing looked at his friend, who was sitting calmly on horseback, and his expression gradually changed from tense to confused.

“If you go any further, you’ll step into the farmland!” Guan Yueyao reminded him, smiling.

“You shouted for Me just because of that?” Huo Qubing frowned, displeased. It was just some farmland; if he stepped on it, so what? Would these commoners dare to stop him and Ah Yao to argue?

Guan Yueyao noticed something from Huo Qubing’s indifferent expression. These noble youths, ignorant of the people’s hardships, had very limited empathy, even when they possessed some.

“These are the results of the farmers’ hard work all year. If you just ride your horse right over them, they’ll suffer losses but won’t dare to ask for compensation because of your power, enduring the grievance themselves.”

“If you do this, aren’t you just the same as the grandson of the Eldest Princess who we fought with earlier? You’re both just bullying people based on your power.”

Guan Yueyao looked seriously at his friend. He didn’t want him to become one of those spoiled, ignorant nobles in the future. The mere thought of such a Huo Qubing made him shiver.

“You dare to compare Me to the likes of Chen Zhi?” Huo Qubing was enraged upon hearing this. The two seemed to have forgotten the initial intention of their outing and stood confronting each other on the ridges of the farmland outside Chang’an City.