CHAPTER 354 IT WAS A PLAGUE

Rocky came back to the stationed military camp late at night.

"Where have you been?" Marin looked petulant as she interrogated earnestly upon Rocky's

appearance. She had been waiting for him in the middle of the campsite. She sounded to be daunted

witless that Rocky would not come back. And the mere thought agonized her a bit.

"As I informed you before I took off, I went for a stroll." Rocky twisted his lips as he responded. And

again he sought from the Deputy Commander Chen, "Are you done with what I assigned you to do?"

"Yes, everything is all set up." Deputy Commander Chen nodded his head as he took a glimpse at the

hundred bodies that were laid beside them. Those bodies had been degraded beyond recognition.

Rocky approached the bodies to look at them by himself in order to ward off any mistake. He found no

foibles in the result. So he proposed to the Deputy Commander Chen to lead in person of several

scores of soldiers to complete the plan. They commanded the soldiers to stuff the hundred bodies on

ten grain carts. They subsequently transported the bodies out of their stationed camp. They went on

until they appeared to a small river which was adjacent to the two eastern camp sites of the Timber

Deity Empire. They forced all the bodies into the stream.

They returned to the stationed camp under cover of the night after they had completed their tasks.

The next morning, inside the right camp of the Timber Deity Empire at the east side, two Commanders

were debating about the schemes to beleaguer and apprehend the Rough Slope by one single battle

since they received the order from their princess.

"Commander Zhou, Commander Zuo, we are in a tight corner!" A Deputy Commander shrieked as he

hastened like a hunted deer into the camp with significant perturbation at that moment.

"What is the matter there?" Commander Zhou rapped over the knuckles.

"Many soldiers felt numb this morning when they woke up this morning. They were utterly paralyzed,"

the Deputy Commander reported straight away.

The two Commanders looked at each other in silence as a lamb for a few seconds before Commander

Zhou asked hurriedly like lightning, "What is the diagnosis of the military doctor?"

"The military doctor thought they might have been poisoned," the Deputy Commander replied.

"Poisoning?" Commander Zuo looked grave upon the news. Again he inquired again, "What did they

have for supper yesterday?"

"They presumably had the same food as the others," the Deputy Commander responded.

"Is that possible that someone poisoned the food?" Commander Zuo made suppositions.

"The military doctor recommended paying a visit to the river where we used to take the water from to

have an investigation on the cause..." The Deputy Commander continued his answer.

"Then what are you still twiddling your thumbs for? Send someone to find out what is the problem in a

flash," Commander Zhou ordered in a dull voice.

The Deputy Commander disengaged himself with the directive.

"Commander Zhou, what about the plan to blockade the Rough Slope? Shall we institute it in a dash?"

Commander Zuo fixed his gaze at Commander Zhou as he posed for answers.

"It will be appropriate for us to hold our horses for the result of the investigation. We cannot afford to fail

this time. Otherwise, we will have to start digging our graves. The princess will not exonerate on one

more out of the blue failure." Commander Zhou figured out that they had put themselves in grave

jeopardy since they let the northeast army get the military provisions and supplies. They would be

incarcerated to death if they flopped in the capture of the Rough Slope.

Shortly thereafter, the squad that was dispatched to investigate delivered back the report promptly after All content is © N0velDrama.Org.

they found a hundred rotten bodies on the upstream of the water source. They found the bodies were

severely disgusting with overpowering malodor.

The news frightened the two Commanders. Unable to comprehend what had just occurred, they

decided to go to the spot in person with the military doctor. The military doctor concluded after careful

examination and identification.

"They might have infected by some sort of plague which fatally festered their body. It seems that the

soaked body resolved some kind of poison which contaminated the water of this river. That was why

some of the soldiers paralyzed after consuming the water from this river," the military doctor judged.

"Then, why are the rest of the soldiers all in perfect condition?" Commander Zhou inquired.

"It probably has something to do with the constitution of the body. But what is imperative right now is

whether the poison would develop into another plague. Everyone in the entire military camp would be

infected once it develops into a plague. If that were the case, we'd be in big trouble," the military doctor

acknowledged.

"What safety measures can be taken to deter it from occurring?" The two Commanders were struck

dumb to the diagnosis of the doctor. They stood as if paralyzed from the neck up. The tens of

thousands of soldiers in the east campsite would have no lack of conviction that they would be infected

if the plague were real.

"We have to burn these bodies in the first hand. Then we have to put the soldiers who were poisoned in

an isolated room. At the same time, we need to collect some herbs that can discharge the toxic. Then,

inculcate the herbs to medical liquid. Spray the liquid on every corner of the two campsites. And

everyone from the military camp, include the two Commanders, has to be immersed in the medical

liquid. As for the soldiers who had been poisoned, they would be all right if there were not any other

symptoms by tomorrow evening," the military doctor said.

"Tomorrow night? Then, does that imply that we have to bog down our ambush by two days?"

Commander Zuo glanced, making inquiries to Commander Zhou.

"These bodies should have been discarded here by the northeast army. I have the notion that the

plague might have been spread in the entire northeast military camp. They also wanted the epidemic to

spread over in our camp. If we take action to attack them, we may fall prey to their trap. What if it is

what they want? Since they have only a few thousands of soldiers, they will feel it worth to die with our

army of twenty thousand. So I think they threw the infected bodies to the source of our water to hook us

up. We need to be on guard about it." Commander Zhou had a sneaking feeling with his concerns.

"Then we shall follow the military doctor's instruction." Commander Zuo could not help but nod in

compliance. The Commanders ordered the soldiers to incinerate the bodies immediately. The first thing

they did when they showed up to their east campsite was to put the paralyzed soldiers in an isolated

place. Then, an army of several hundreds of soldiers were sent to the hills near their campsite to collect

some toxic-expelling herbs. They subsequently infused the herbs into medical liquid. They sprayed the

medical liquid to every corner of the military campsites very carefully, and used it to soak themselves

as a preventive measure.

But, the twenty thousand soldiers of the Timber Deity Empire were with one's stomach in knots in front

of a mere possibility of a plague. The morale of the soldiers fell to zilch.

Meanwhile, Rocky pricked up his ears to the report from the intelligence personnel in the camp with his

legs crossing and yarning at the same time.

"They have fallen into the trap. They were convinced that there was a plague. Hah-hah..." Rocky

laughed out loud. His giggle was a stone bouncing across a glossy lake, creating ripples of mirth where

there had been none.

"I can't believe we pulled a fast one on them." Marin was also shell startled by the outcome. When

Rocky first came up with the idea, she did not perceive it would stand any chance to work out. In case

the dupe was seen through, the scorned twenty thousand soldiers of the Timber Deity Empire would

take action to invade the campsite in Rough Slope. If that were the case, they would have been wiped

out by the twenty thousand soldiers of the Timber Deity Empire.

"But, it would not take long for them to smoke out, right?" Deputy Commander Chen worried. The

Commanders of the Timber Deity Empire would not be so dumb to have been fooled by Rocky for three

days.

"That can at least buy us some time till tomorrow evening. In this case, we will have two days in hand.

We will triumph the battle if we can hold on one more day." Rocky squinted his eyes as he said, filled

with aplomb.

"But, what if the twenty thousand soldiers of the Timber Deity Empire perceived it is out ploy to buy us

more time by tomorrow? And they preferred to assail us under the cover of the night. What shall we do

then?" Marin wondered.

"That is highly possible. So we have to finish all our deployment before the dark of tomorrow. We will

make a move before they could make a riposte." Rocky awakened everyone by his comment.

"Make a move before they could respond?" Marin and Deputy Commander Chen marveled in a lack of

credence.

"That is correct. We require to knock out the spirit of the army of the Timber Deity Empire. Let's call it a

Move of Decapitation." Rocky bowed his head.

"What is a Move of Decapitation?" Marin and Deputy Commander Chen were in complete

bewilderment.

"You know, there are two Commanders. Each of them commands two campsites respectively in the

Timber Deity Empire. If only we could eradicate either one of the Commanders, then the soldiers of the

two campsites could go to rack and ruins due to the lack of leadership. The military force of the Timber

Deity Empire would be forced to reorganize. That would take at least another day. Then we can make it

for these three days." There was a cold look in Rocky's eyes.

Marin and Deputy Commander Chen were left mouth-open after they heard Rocky's plan.