Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 47

Book 2: Chapter 47

Volume 02

Even a sky filled entirely with stars could not cover the brilliance of the crescent moon. The fire inside the tent's furnace was unable to dissipate the night's coldness. The lights guided the mosquitoes to travel over ten li to find this area. When they encountered the repellent incense, a few of them flew far away and some of them dived down head first.

After Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were full, they rested for four more hours and then they opened their eyes almost at the same time. They packed their backpacks, and walked towards tomorrow's destination while borrowing the light of the stars and moon outside to illuminate their path.

The guards guarding in the camp hurried over to stop them.

"Young Master Zhang, where are you two going? It's late, there aren't many people around to protect you."

"We're advancing forward. We don't need others to protect us. It's cooler at night." Zhang Xiao'bao replied, and continued walking with Wang Juan.

The guard was taken aback. He stopped the two again, and while chatting with them, he sent someone to inform the Young Prince.

Li Xun was in the middle of dreaming about eating ants. He was woken up by someone, and he opened his sleepy eyes and asked what was going on. When he heard that Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were heading out again, he shook his head vigorously, and he put on a piece of clothing and rushed out.

"We're getting a head start. It's not hot when it's dark out, so we're taking advantage of this time to travel a bit more. We will rest when it's dawn. The desert is not the same as other places. If we don't leave now, then we will die from exhaustion during the day. Who said that outdoor survival means surviving during the day and resting during the night? In the next morning, people will send us food. Young Childe Li, you should go back to sleep."

Zhang Xiao'bao explained. He and Wang Juan did this deliberately because they wanted to obliterate Li Xun's original mentality. The point of outdoor survival was to achieve the goals, so what does it have to do with day and night?

"But--but...wait, I'll go with you two. Someone, come bring me my backpack." Li Xun wanted to say something rebuttal, but he realized that he couldn't say it. Zhang Xiao'bao was right. Who said that you can only travel during the day? When the army is moving, critical moments can happen at any moment. If not, there would be no such things as night time ambushes.

He forced himself to resist his drowsiness, and got people to make some preparations so that he could follow Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan. If he wanted to learn more about the things involved with outdoor survival, he could only learn from them. Up until now, he didn't receive any news from Li Cheng. He had no idea how Li Cheng was interacting with the mastermind right now.

Li Xun's people were quick to do things. They were already done preparing the items that Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan used during the day and they packed these items into his backpack. They brought the backpack over to Li Xun.

During this time, Li Xun changed his clothes and when he was done, he said to Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, "Okay, let's go."

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan couldn't refuse him, so they nodded their heads. They each took out a small lantern from their backpack, put in a lit candle, and walked in front.

"Quickly, bring me a lantern." When Li Xun saw that they had a lantern that was foldable, he hurriedly asked the person next to him for a lantern. However, his lantern couldn't be folded.

Walking in the desert at night was indeed different from during the day. It was hard to see far ahead, so you could only stare at the area right in front of your eyes. Lesser energy was needed, and the temperature in the desert at night was low, which kept the person feeling more awake.

"You two didn't tell me earlier. I was confused just now, but I understand now. It's better to travel in the desert at night. That's right, it's so hot during the day that people could die from the heat. Under conditions of low water supply, it's better to bury oneself and sleep when it's hot, and travel when it's cooler.

I'll remember this for sure. In the desert at night, you need to light a lantern to make people feel less scared and feel warm. When I go back, I will have someone make a lantern just like yours. Am I correct?"

Li Xun was still sleepy, but his sleepiness was blown away by the cold wind. He followed behind Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang while talking about the summaries he came up with.

Zhang Xiao'bao extinguished his lantern, and Wang Juan did the same. Then he said to Li Xun, "Who said that lanterns should be lighted at night? If there were sneak attacks, wouldn't you just be telling the enemy where you are? We prepared these lanterns because we're afraid that others can't see us. We lit our lanterns up for you to have some light.

"Yeah, which soldier would light his lantern as he travels at night? He would be discovered. I'll extinguish mine too." As he said this, Li Xun extinguished the fire in his lantern, and the surroundings became dark immediately. The three of them continued to walk forward. They were unable to see the path clearly, so they could only walk step by step mechanically. This saved them a lot of energy.

With Li Xun with them, it was a given that many people would follow behind the three of them. At the beginning, they all held lit torches but when they saw that their Young Prince had extinguished his own lantern, they all stuck their torches into the sand. They travelled in the dark, and fortunately, there was still moonlight shining, so they could vaguely see the figures of the three children.

"Here, sprinkle this powder onto your body." Zhang Xiao'bao was walking and he stopped suddenly. He took out a paper packet from his backpack, and handed it to Li Xun.

"What is it for?" Li Xun asked suspiciously after taking the item.

"It drives away snakes and insects. A real desert is not like the place here. Anything can happen at night. Even if many people cleaned up the place here, dangerous things may still come out at night. This is a medicine prepared by some hunters. It's quite effective."

No one answered his question, but he didn't care. After he asked the question, he wrapped the rest in paper and threw it onto the ground along with his extinguished lantern. As the three people walked away, one of the people behind them carefully placed the paper packet into their robe and turned to leave.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were still walking with their heads lowered. Li Xun followed behind and was more awake at this time. He felt that it was boring to walk like this, so he began to ask questions again.

"Zhang Xiao'bao, tell me, if we encounter something at night, like snakes, then should we catch it? We will then have food for tomorrow at noon."

"I don't have the skills for that. Who knows who would be eating who at that point. Young Childe Li, keep walking. From now to tomorrow, we don't have anything to eat so save up your energy."

Zhang Xiao'bao was really annoyed. Li Xun asked about everything, and he also wanted to catch snakes in the desert? If it was only him and Wang Juan, he would really dare to try, but with the Emperor's nephew here and the people following behind, he didn't want to expose his ability to catch snakes. People would grow suspicious if they saw little children like them catch snakes.

"Okay, I won't ask anymore. Yeah, I won't ask anymore now." Li Xun was relying on them for help, so he didn't become angry. He agreed and he really did not ask any other questions .

*

In the camp, news of the three people's departure spreaded quickly. Those adults who accompanied their children heard that Li Xun and the two children from the Zhang manor left not too long ago to continue travelling at night. They resisted the reluctance in their hearts, and they woke up their own children and begged them to also keep travelling.

The main reason they did this was not because they thought that it was cooler at night, but because they wanted to be on good terms with Li Xun, who was a person with a high status.

The group of children got up reluctantly after being urged by their families and they walked at the back in a daze. An uncle of Han Yong'yao followed him here, and he also woke him up. At the beginning, Han Yong'yao refused to go out no matter what. His chubby body was almost exhausted to death after a day of travelling, but when he heard that Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were gone, he jumped up and was no longer sleepy.

"I'll go. I refuse to believe that I can't catch up with them when it's cooler out." Han Yong'yao gritted his teeth and spoke. He was still thinking about the embarrassment he had to endure the other day. No, it was just yesterday, since it was not past midnight yet. He didn't dare to seek revenge on the Emperor's nephew, so he ended up hating Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan.

During the day, he was constantly thinking about causing trouble for them, but he never had the chance to. He was fat. It was hot out and this made him feel weak. His large body was formed by lazing around, not by training, so when did he ever suffer this much?

He shouted that he wanted to go because he knew that he wasn't scared of the cold. He wanted to catch up to Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan to scare them, or slap them twice in the face to let them know how powerful he was.

If this kind of thing happened to Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, they would not have this kind of idea, but for Han Yong'yao, a ten-year-old child, this was the best plan ever.

Little children weren't able to understand adults. He cursed at them secretly as he travelled.

"They came out too? That's good." Li Xun saw the people behind him and said happily. He didn't know how to explain to others why he broke the rules he had set before, but now that everyone was here, some trouble was saved.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan don't care if the others have come or not. Their goal was to get Li Xun engrossed in this, so that he can put more energy towards these kinds of things, and don't always think about targeting the Zhang and Wang manors.

Han Yong'yao hastily caught up this time. He thought it would feel better at night, but he didn't expect that by the time he caught up to them, he was still this exhausted. Seeing that a bunch of people have grouped together, he felt that an opportunity had come.

At this moment, all he could see was Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan. He ran two steps vigorously and came behind them. He smiled and said, "Zhang Xiao'bao, and you Wang Juan, are you scared of me?"

Li Xun was stunned for a moment. He didn't know who was talking. Just when he was trying to see clearly, Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan didn't pay attention to this person and they continued to move forward. This person chased after them again, and Li Xun couldn't get a clear view of them.

"Zhang Xiao'bao, you two stop there. I think you two want to be beaten." Han Yong'yao caught up with them, and as soon as he spoke, he reached out to grab their heads.

Before Li Xun could stop him, Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan suddenly dipped down. They crouched and swept their legs back at the same time. With a thud, Han Yong'yao fell down onto the sand with his entire face pressed into the ground.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan acted as if nothing had happened, and at the same time, they stepped onto Han Yong'yao's hand with their feet. After Han Yong'yao let out a muffled groan, they continued to walk forward.

Li Xun took two quick steps forward. "Who was that person? Is he one of the children?"

"I don't know, who cares. Let's go. That person was so careless. The sand is different from flat ground. It's more slippery than usual when wearing leather boots." Zhang Xiao'bao threw these words out and speeded up.