IDWBE -Chapter 300 Beyond the Northern Frontier

Just as Pan Duo reached the pavilion, he saw Tao Yingyi inside, warming wine over a brazier.

Tao Yingyi was bare-chested, holding a wine cup in one hand and chopsticks in the other. He chewed peanuts loudly and waved at Pan Duo.

“Brother Pan! If I remember correctly, we’re fellow countrymen. Come have a drink.”

Tao Yingyi’s hometown lay north of Yongzhou. Though not from the exact same place as Pan Duo, people from beyond the northern frontier were considered one family—their dialects and customs nearly identical. In that sense, they truly were countrymen.

“Many thanks.”

After a brief hesitation, Pan Duo sat down, accepted the cup, and downed three in a row. Then he removed his outer robe as well.

With a palm like a cattail fan, he scooped up a handful of snow from the ground and rubbed it over his broad chest, unbothered by the cold.

“Haha!”

Tao Yingyi burst into laughter and gave a thumbs-up. “After all these years in the south, you haven’t lost the bold spirit of us northerners! Admirable!”

He could tell that although Pan Duo was a Ninth-Rank martial artist, he wasn’t using inner energy to ward off the cold—he was enduring it with sheer physical strength.

“The cold in Jinling is nothing,”

Pan Duo said with a grin, taking another gulp of wine. “Back home, snow piled up to your neck—that’s real cold. Even stepping outside to relieve yourself, you needed a stick.”

“Exactly!”

Tao Yingyi sighed. “In the dead of winter, I’d still hunt in the mountains and chisel through river ice to fish. Those days were happy. Then the Wadan people came, and we had to leave home and flee everywhere. Counting it up, it’s been over ten years since I’ve gone back. If one day His Highness retakes the northern frontier, I won’t be some constable anymore—arguing with street thugs all day is pathetic. If I serve, I’ll serve as the vanguard. Once the north is recovered, I’ll lay down my armor, return to the fields, and die there. I’ll never leave again. The south isn’t fit for people. Nowhere compares to our homeland.”

Pan Duo laughed. “I feel the same. And I’ll marry a northern wife! Who cares for those delicate southern girls? Back home, you can at least scrape together a few coins and not starve.”

A few cups in, he suddenly opened up.

He himself didn’t realize how many years it had been since he’d chatted so freely with someone.

He had once been a bright, laughing youth.

“Brother, that’s the honest truth!”

Tao Yingyi belched, rubbed his bald head, and glanced around before lowering his voice with a chuckle. “Northern women—if they like you, they say so. If they don’t, they say so. Not like these southern ones. Capable enough, sure, but they twist their words and actions in circles. Watching them tires you out.”

“You know about their situation too?”

Pan Duo asked in surprise.

“Who’s a fool here?” Tao Yingyi tossed another peanut into his mouth. “Only they think no one knows. Always shy and coy—not at all like sons and daughters of the martial world.”

Everyone knew what was in Hong An’s heart.

They just didn’t understand her taste.

No matter how skilled the Blind Man was, he was still blind.

Pan Duo smiled. “But she can tell who’s a hero and who’s not. Fang Pi is a good one.”

“Even like this, he’s still a hero?” Tao Yingyi asked curiously.

“Because he has breadth of mind. Even after losing, he didn’t complain,” Pan Duo poured himself another drink. “His Highness once said—whether rich or poor, a man without magnanimity is lowly and no true hero.”

Tao Yingyi smacked his lips. “Can’t argue with that.”

Though he said so, he didn’t quite believe it.

How could their prince say such words?

The least magnanimous one was Prince He himself!

Petty and small-minded.

That was common knowledge in Sanhe.

But even with only the two of them present, Tao Yingyi didn’t dare say it aloud.

The Provincial Office had too many sharp ears. Better not invite trouble.

If even a whisper reached the Chief Steward, he’d lose more than just a layer of skin.

They drank and talked until an entire large jar of wine was gone.

Pan Duo rose and cupped his fists. “Next time I’ll host. We’ll call He Hong too. We northerners can drink to our hearts’ content.”

“Agreed!”

Tao Yingyi watched him leave.

Then he put on his clothes and exited the Provincial Office. Seeing the soldiers already assembled outside, he shouted, “Move out!”

They had only arrived in Jinling today.

After a long and exhausting journey, they had no rest.

As He Jixiang had said, restoring order in Jinling was urgent.

The Sanhe troops were formidable, but when it came to catching thieves and suppressing bandits, the constables were the professionals.

Each profession has its specialty.

Less than three hours after its formation, the Jinling constabulary marched through the streets like a dragon of fire, torches blazing.

Occasionally they encountered beggars and refugees curled up in temples, alley gates, or beneath red walls.

They would stop, check each for breath, and load the frozen corpses—stiff as boards—onto the wagon behind them, to be buried outside the city the next day.

Those still clinging to life were sent directly to the medical halls. The physicians, yawning as they opened their doors under the looming shadow of drawn blades, dared not complain.

To be fair, they had little reason to—the Provincial Office paid well and in advance.

That was one advantage of these “southerners.”

The only complaint was the lack of sleep.

“That’s quite a few dead already. Sixteen so far?”

Tao Yingyi looked at the wagon piled high with bodies and sighed. “In this freezing weather, the ground’s solid ice. Digging graves tomorrow won’t be easy.”

A trace of compassion stirred in him.

These days, survival wasn’t easy.

Some people, truly desperate with hunger and no way out, had resorted to scaling walls and breaking into homes.

So when they later encountered petty thieves, he let them off lightly.

Heaven cherishes life—he didn’t want to be too ruthless.

Marching beside him, Duo Mazi hunched against the cold and muttered irritably, “Handle things like this, and how will you answer to Mr. Xing?”

“If they’ve never hurt anyone, I can’t bring myself to cut off their heads,” Tao Yingyi replied firmly. “Let them go. If there’s trouble later, I’ll take responsibility.”

Then he glanced at Duo Mazi curiously. “You and You Mazi both have ‘Mazi’ in your names. Related?”

“Bullshit! He’s surnamed You. I’m surnamed Duo!”

Duo Mazi was a regular soldier temporarily assigned to Tao Yingyi—no superior-subordinate relationship between them. Naturally, he didn’t bother being polite.