Coaxing Zhou Cang

Chapter 35 – Coaxing Zhou Cang

Tong returned home with Zhou Cang on horses. He called Hua Shi to treat Zhou Cang's wound.

To his dismay, he found out that Hua Shi's wrist and shoulder had been dislocated and couldn't perform surgery to treat Zhou Cang's wound.

Her right arm was hung in an arm sling, and her wrist and shoulder were wrapped up in bandages.

In the end, Tong had to perform the surgery himself with Hua Shi assisting him. She pointed out where to cut, what to do and when to stitch the wound.

Tong learned a lot by having her coaching him. She was once a nurse in her previous life after all.

In the modern era, it was common knowledge among hospital residents that senior nurses had more practical knowledge than doctors when it came to treating the patients. They spent all their times in their entire career with patients and treatment procedures, while doctors were always busy multi-tasking in various duties.

In short, Nurses ran hospitals.

This was the reason why Tong valued Hua Shi highly, despite her having a disgusting hobby. Tong didn't want to let her go or made her an enemy.

Tong finished stitching Zhou Cang's thigh and bandaging him. Hua Shi used her handkerchief to wipe Tong's sweat like a good wife, causing Tong to have a complicated face when he looked at her.

However, after wiping Tong's sweat, Hua Shi took the handkerchief back to her room and started sucking and licking her handkerchief like a perverted old man. She couldn't reveal her hobby in front of a stranger so she had to do it behind the scene.

For the entire surgery treatment, Zhou Cang stared at Tong in a daze. He couldn't believe his eyes that the rumor Immortal saved his life and treated his wound. Everything seemed surreal.

"Alright, it's done. Try not to exert your strength on the leg. The anesthetic is still in effect but it will wear off in an hour. The pills on the table are called 'Pain Killer'. Swallow one of these with clean water when you feel pain in your leg. But don't eat all of them at once or you will have a heart attack."

Tong gave a series of advice to Zhou Cang which awoke him from the daze. Though he didn't pay attention to it, he could remember the latter part where he shouldn't eat all of the pills at once.

"What's your name?"

Though Tong already knew his name from the HUD radar map, he still asked Zhou Cang.

"I-I'm Zhou Cang."

"Have you eaten? I haven't had my dinner yet. Want some?"

"Umm. Thank you."

Tong had his servants brought them food so they could take it in the current room. Tong wanted to build a good atmosphere so he could coax Zhou Cang, step by step.

Tong created a relaxing atmosphere to make Zhou Cang let his guard down so it would become easier when Tong asked him questions. When someone was asked questions when his guard was down, the person would be prone to slip out something he didn't mean to say.

The food was brought in and Tong allowed Zhou Cang to finish the food first. After they were done with the food, he continued his questioning.

"How old are you?

"Seventeen this year, my lord."

"Where are you from?"

"Umm, I'm a wanderer. I don't have a home."

"What about your parents?"

"They died years ago, I live alone."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Then why were you fighting that boy?"

"W-We had a fight earlier in the town today, s-so I wanted to pay him back."

Tong squinted his eyes. Tong sensed that Zhou Cang was lying when he asked the latter question. Tong had taken classes in police military school about psychological questioning and interrogation before. He had his way to detect lies and signs when he asked someone questions.

This teenage boy wanderer should have caused some kind of trouble and lost the fight. Then he found Sima Xin and tried to get his revenge, but ended up getting a bullet in his leg instead.

But it didn't matter. Tong didn't care about Zhou Cang's past because he already knew Zhou Cang's true potential.

Tong wanted to rope him in so he could train him into a proper general, making him surpassing the history Zhou Cang who followed Guan Yu around.

"Do you have a job?"

"Err, no."

Zhou Cang face turned red. He was embarrassed that he was just jobless and homeless. When he saw Sima Xin flaunted his gold purse, he was tempted and wanted to rob him. But he ran away instead.

"Then, will you be interested in working for me?"

"Huh?"

"I'm looking for a bodyguard and a good captain for my men. You see? My father and my uncles have followers of their own. But I still don't have one."

"Umm."

"Then you fit in for the job. You have good physics. You are good at close combat and good reflex."

"Ah … haha."

"How about it? Want to work for me?

"It is sudden. I …"

"I'll pay you two golds a month and provide you a place to call home."

"…!!!"

"Is it not enough? I've trouble with my pocket money. Then how about three golds a month."

"Z-Z-Zhou Cang greets the lord!!"

Tong grinned in his mind. It was too easy coaxing a jobless man into his follower. He was lucky to have found Zhou Cang before he started his career as a bandit. This person could be trained.

…

…

After arranging a place for Zhou Cang to stay, Tong went back to his room with a solemn face.

Though he managed to rope in Zhou Cang, soon, he would face another challenge in this life, which was Sima Xin and Julu County itself.

Sima Xin was with the 20 Julu men. Then he would report the incident to the higher up, after which the governor might dispatch more troops to cause trouble for Zhang family again.

If the Julu Governor dispatched less than a thousand men, Tong's 1,000 men and Zhang Liang's 1,000 men would be more than enough to deal with them.

However, if they were smart and dispatched more than 2,000 troops to eradicate Zhang family, this could spell trouble.

But crisis could also mean an opportunity for the Zhang family.

If the Julu Governor dispatched more than two thousand troops to deal with the Zhang family, then the Zhang family would have a righteous cause to counter-attack Julu County, claiming that the official was bullying its citizen by dispatching troops to attack an innocent family.

With the claim, even if Tong were to occupy Julu County and made it his, no neighbor governor would risk their reputation and troops to claim it back, unless there was a decree from the emperor.

Though Tong's face was gloomy, burning ambition was hidden deep within his eyes. He prayed in his mind that Guo Dian would not be stupid and sent fewer troops.

The only thing Tong was worried now was whether he could resist the incoming imperial troops with 2,000 men of Zhang family soldiers.

Tong closed his eyes and sat cross legs to meditate and think.

To deploy over 2,000 troops, the Julu Governor and his general had to prepare for weapons, armors, soldier wages, rations and supplies for the invasion, which was an expensive task.

They would have to spend several thousand golds in preparation just to deploy and attack a small family with 2,000 troops.

From the businessmen point of view, this war wasn't worth it.

However, if the Julu Governor waited for the harvest season in September to October, they would get crops and grains as taxes which would reduce the cost of the army deployment. They no longer had to buy grains from the greedy merchants.

After the harvest season, the deployment would be less expensive as the food was cheap. And farmers who were freed from the harvest season would look for a new job, which made it easier to recruit them and turned them into meat-shield militias.

Thinking up to this point, Tong estimated that if Julu would deploy troops to eradicate his family, then they would dispatch their army in October, after which would take another few days to march from Julu County to his village.

Tong had about half a year to prepare his troops and the strategy for the defensive warfare. The time for the Yellow Turban to rise might even be faster than Tong expected.

Tong sighed. He freed his mind and was ready to go to bed. Then the system announcement sounded out.

[Ding! Ding! Congratulation my favorite contestant. You have done it again!]

[You've killed 20 men this time, so the reward will be 20,000 lifespans!]

[And the completion reward, another shopping pass!]

[Well, there's six more main quests and one of your unfinished quest and you're free. Keep it up!]

The messages ended. Tong checked his status again.

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**Status**

Name: Zhang Tong

Age: 16

Lifespan: 31,262 Years

Shopping Pass: 2

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Tong continued to hoard more of his lifespans and shopping pass. He would not buy anything yet unless it was truly necessary.

Next morning, he would consult his plans about potential Julu threat with his father again.