The Flood Controller's Wife

Chapter 7: This bow reminds me of you

Soon, Lanzhan got to imperial military school and undergo training as an imperial army. In terms of scale and grandeur, the imperial military school was up a notch compared to the regular military school. Besides its prime location as part of the imperial palace, the training grounds were vast and the trainers were experienced veterans. This was the place where real soldiers that were to be sent for campaigns and expeditions are bred.

The status of the five kingdoms was not always peaceful and their emperor would err on the side of caution so he emphasized on the importance of military training. A group of military generals from the capital would make an annual trip around the kingdom to scout students with exceptional martial arts skills as well as intellectual skills and round them all up to be specially trained in the imperial military school under the guidance of the imperial court. The ones attending imperial military school were guaranteed lucrative military career and would be first in line to be sent for military campaigns as elite soldiers.

Being the son of Commander of the Military Army, LanWangJi did not disappoint. He quickly grew to be the best student in the school. His training ethic and self-discipline surpassed most of his fellow students.

So when the opportunity for advancement came, he was the first in line to volunteer.

It was springtime when winter had left its residual frosts in on the branches of the maple wood tree by the imperial courtyard. The weather was getting warmer and the beautiful spring was interrupted by an urgent letter from a small state bordering between Xu and Qi kingdom. The Lord of Qinghe LuFeng wrote to the emperor requesting military assistant since the Xu general Xu XuanZhong was military campaigning opressing Qinghe.

The emperor was angered. Peacy treaty had been sign many many years ago by the previous emperor that the five kingdoms would coexist in peace and not fight over territories. The king called over his beloved commander Lanhongde and got him to take care of the matter. Naturally, he offered his son the case. It was not a difficult case so it was an easy success for his son to prove himself to the emperor.

"Master, I heard general Xu isn't someone simple. Is it a good idea to send Langongzi for this campaign?" Murong, LanHongde's number one secret guard asked.

Xu Xuan Zhong was a new uprising general of the Xu kingdom who was notorious for his arrogance and would adopt crude methods to get what he wanted.

"Qinghe isn't a big city. Xu would not waste resources to send such a big army over. It will be an easy win for us. Plus I have confidence in Wangji."

Soon, Lanzhan set off toward Qinghe with about a hundred foot soldiers. The trip took about two weeks on horseback. When he got closer, he sent an informant to gauge the situation.

The Xu army had about two hundred and guards spread over the city. Many were stationed at the entrance of the city.

In the distance, Lanwangji perched himself on a hilltop and held his ancient telescope. Black gold flags belonging to Xu kingdom covered the top and towers of the city gates.

"The audacity of them seizing our territory!! He boiled in anger."

Lanzhan realized their soldiers were outnumbered so he could not attack directly.

After observing at a distance for several days, he decided to secretly enter town through Tianlu mountain pass entrance. The road was situated at the back of the mountain and there were no guards placed there.

Qinghe was situated at the lower part Tianlu mountain and the spring weather brought many rains as well as fog. He chose a foggy day to enter the east entrance of the town and killed the Xu guards slowly then replacing them with Qi soldiers who donned the enemy's uniform to avoid suspicions. His stealth attacks continued for several days throughout many parts of the city.

He finally found LuFeng at an underground prison. He had been tortured and was dying. Lanzhan gave him a pill to stabilize his condition and it made him strong enought to tell him what was going on. LuFeng told him about the secret map that General Xu was after and gave him a piece of jade before dying in his arms.

Outside, the discrepancies had been discovered and the Qi soldiers had begun fighting with the Xus

General Xu came on horseback and face to face with Lanwangji who was just leaving the prison area.

"Who are you and where do you come from? You have some guts to interfere with the great General Xu!!"

General Xu had a big muscular build and looked about thirty years of age. His moustache hung from his lips, accentuating his good looks. His eyes fierce and he stared squarely at the intruder.

"My name is LanWangji. The king of Qi sent me to stop the likes of you! This territory belonged to us. You are the intruder and you should leave!!"

Lanzhan took out the bow that Yuxian made him and took out an arrow and launched his shot. He did not know why but every time he used the bow the maiden's beautiful face flashed across. It made him feel calm like she was with him all the time. The shot landed squarely on the horse's heart and General Xu was flunged out of his steed. He then clapped his hands and immediately Xu soldier began attacking eachother.

General Xu was outraged his soldiers turned against each other. He realized it a minute later that this new rookie called Lanwangji had slowly replaced his soldiers to Qi soldiers.

Enraged, he jumped and flew in front of him, wielding his guandao. Guandao was not a common weapon in the Qi kingdom and Lanzhan was new to fighting it. The weapon was a peculiar looking double curved cresent blade with a hook and a long pole attached as its handle. It resembled a spear but instead of a pointy arrowhead, this one had a whole blade attached to it.

He lunged the Guandao forward in an attacking stance. The long pole handle gave him the shield of distance. Lanwangji could not get close to him at all since his sword was much shorter. For a while he could only block the swift attacks of the blade with his sword.

The curved blade was shaped like a hook. It took a while before Lanwangji realized the utility of the hook. But that was also when the hook captured his sword and flung it out of his hands. The sword flew to the ground with a loud clang, quite indiscernible amongst the other metal clanking sounds from the soldier fight against each other.

The guandao continued its attacks and Lanwangji had to dodge the attacks with the strength of his movements. When he saw his chance, He flew to a distance tower and quickly grabbed the bow on his back. Xuxuanzhong was flying toward him pointing the guandao's sharp head toward his neck.

Lanwangji took two arrowhead and released it with two swift motion. At this moment, as General xu's was launching his body forward so he could not dodge in time. The arrow pierced through his arm and stomach and his heavy body fell freely to the ground.

He heard Jiangxi calling him in the distance and his sword was flying toward him. The sword hilt landed squarely on Lanwangji's palm and in one swift motion, it was swung across toward his enemy's neck, stopping at a couple centimeters.

General Xu's heavy body was pulled up and the blade of the white sword was pressed on to his neck.

Needless say, the remaining Xu soldiers were ordered to retreat as their general's life was in danger.

The siege was over and once again, the crimson gold Qi banners rose to fill the city gates replacing the black and gold ones.

Lanwangji had his father's seal token so he was able to make certain decision that normal lieutenant on his rank would not be able to. He assigned the empty post of Qinghe lord to LuFeng brother LuBu before heading back to the capital with XuXuanZhong as prisoner

*Dear readers, apologies for the boring early chapters. I am contemplating to delete the intros and reintroduce them later in flashbacks. Let me know what you think. This was meant as a romance cum martial arts story hence those romance seekers may find this boring if they could not find romance right away. But I promise you it will be more interesting as it goes.. perked with juicy parts and hopefully enough angst to keep your hearts thirsting for more! But be patient. It will come slowly..