Chapter 4

As the sky began to brighten, Huagou, with his mouth full of dream saliva, blinked his eyes and woke up. He had managed to sneak in a lazy sleep, and after looking around, he put on a lethargic appearance.

"Hey, Madman, didn't the night patrol come in the second half of the night?"

"No, they didn't."

"Huh? That's strange. Usually, they patrol once in the first half and once in the second half of the night. How come one is missing?" Huagou had been at Yubei Mountain Fort for two years and had never encountered a situation where a night patrol was skipped. He was puzzled, but as a soldier, he couldn't figure out the reason.

Zhang Yan shook his head, indicating that he was also in the dark. He hadn't slept all night and had been fighting earlier, so he was really struggling to stay awake, his eyelids drooping heavily.

"Forget it, it's better if they don't come. We can get some rest every day. Hey, don't close your eyes. After breakfast, we'll change shifts and go down to sleep. Otherwise, the officers might catch you and whip you again."

Huagou patted Zhang Yan's back hard, almost making him lose his breath, but it seemed to help wake him up a bit.

Soon, a group of auxiliary soldiers carrying wooden buckets and utensils came up from below the city wall, bringing breakfast for the night guards.

A bowl of thick porridge, a large and thick pancake, two long and thin pickled vegetables, and a piece of dried meat about two fingers wide.

"Huh? How come there's dried meat? Did they deliver it to the wrong place?" Although Huagou was tempted by the dried meat, he didn't dare to eat it recklessly. The rules in the military were strict, and even a slight mistake could result in a whipping, and it wasn't worth it for such a small matter.

Huagou was an old hand in the military, and the auxiliary soldiers didn't dare to offend him. Most of them were familiar with him, so when they heard Huagou's question, they quickly replied, "Brother Li, the dried meat was brought back by the logistics camp last night. There were a lot of things this time. There will be pickled ham at noon!"

"What? Pickled ham? Wow! When did the logistics camp become so capable?" Huagou swallowed his saliva instinctively. Food preservation was difficult in the border army, and fresh meat was almost impossible to get. All meat was either smoked or pickled. Although it didn't taste as good as fresh meat, properly pickled meat had its own unique flavor, especially pickled ham, which Huagou often dreamed about.

It had been half a year or a year since the logistics camp had last obtained pickled ham.

The auxiliary soldier looked around and then leaned in to whisper, "Brother Li, you might not know, but the logistics camp's Captain Chen was replaced last night. A new captain came, and Captain Chen left the fort early this morning. I heard that the general's residence was quite lively last night, and it seems things won't be peaceful for a while."

"Captain Chen was replaced? Tsk tsk, hehe. Alright, go on with your work." Huagou and the other man exchanged a smile, but they didn't say much more. They were both old hands and understood each other without words.

"Brother? What's up?"

"Hehe, the fort is about to change hands!"

"Huh?"

"Don't worry, eat your food. Finish eating and get some rest. We might have more work to do in the afternoon." Huagou didn't explain much to Zhang Yan, picked up his small wooden bowl, and ate quickly. He put the piece of dried meat in his chest and didn't eat it right away.

After breakfast, they waited for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and the soldiers on the next shift came up. Zhang Yan then lined up with his long spear and began to change shifts. After returning to the tent, he quickly cleaned the blood off his body and fell asleep on his bed. Soon, the tent was filled with snoring.

After sleeping for three hours, Zhang Yan was woken up by his neighbor. He blinked his eyes and looked around, noticing that most people in the tent had already gotten up. Some beds were empty, and the people were probably out.

"Get up, stretch a bit, and go to the toilet. It's time to eat, and we'll be back on the city wall soon."

It was Huagou calling Zhang Yan. Since Zhang Yan had been assigned to Huagou's group, Huagou, as the group leader, had to take care of the five or six people under him.

"Huh? There's meat?!" After taking care of his business, Zhang Yan went to the food distribution area and saw pieces of meat in his bowl of rice, mixed with vegetables, emitting a tempting aroma.

"Hehe, pickled ham, and it's boneless, fancy that!" Huagou squatted next to Zhang Yan with his bowl. He liked this convict soldier, even though he was sometimes crazy, he grew quickly in battle. From his experience, this madman could survive for a long time, and building a good relationship might save his life in the future.

"Brother, do you know where I can get cinnabar?"

"Cinnabar? I don't know, maybe the logistics camp has it. What do you need it for?"

"Hehe, I want to draw a talisman for safety, to live a bit longer." Zhang Yan had been thinking about drawing a talisman since he woke up. His first choice was cinnabar and yellow paper. He would ask if he could get them, and if not, he would think of another way.

"Talisman? Do you use cinnabar for your talismans? I'll ask around when I have time. If I can get some, I'll bring it for you."

"Hehe, thanks, Brother."

"Don't thank me yet. We'll see if I can get it. By the way, didn't you notice anything different when you woke up?"

"What do you mean, Brother? What's different?"

"Look over there."

Following Huagou's finger, Zhang Yan looked up and saw the fort's flag. This... this isn't the same as before... Wait, the flag seems different!

"Ah? The general's flag has been changed?!" Zhang Yan finally noticed the difference. The old flag had the character "Liu," representing the highest commander of Yubei Mountain Fort, "Liu Wen." Now, the flag still had the same design, but the character had changed to "Song."

"That's right. General Liu returned to the capital this morning to report. Now, the fort is under the command of General Song Qinghe. This happened while you were still sleeping. But don't worry, only the top officials in the fort have been replaced. It won't affect us small soldiers. General Song brought a lot of supplies, so we'll have good food for a while."

Zhang Yan understood that the change in the fort would not leave them, the low-ranking soldiers, unaffected, but they couldn't change anything and could only accept it.

Zhang Yan also couldn't help but look at the carefree Huagou with more respect. This morning, Huagou had muttered, "The fort is about to change hands," which must have been a prediction of the change in command. It seemed that Huagou was not as crude as he appeared and had a sharp mind.