Female Novel
Chapter 725 The Birch Pass (Part One)
On the way to South Kingdom, the journey went smoothly for Matthew and everyone else. In fact, itwas way beyond their expectations. When the envoys arrived at the station of the Birch Pass, Luther,who was responsible for guarding the south domain, personally led his soldiers to receive them.
"Your Highnesses, good day to you all. I'm Luther Lu." With thick and seemingly impenetrable armor,Luther looked like a mighty general. The innocent face that he once had was nowhere to be seen. Afterstrenuous training, he gave people the impression of being steady and sophisticated.
Matthew lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked at Luther. The prince actually thought highly of thegeneral. He got promoted to this position solely because of his military prowess and didn't keep closerelationships with the courtiers.
"You, are Luther?" Actually, a lot of people were surprised when the late emperor chose Luther to takeover the south domain's army. After all, he didn't attract much attention at the imperial court. If the lateemperor hadn't suddenly promoted him as a commander in chief, only a few people would have knownhis name.
"That's right, Your Highness. I am Luther, the commander in chief of the south domain's army," Lutherplainly answered in a tone that was neither humble nor rude. The army of the south domain had alwaysbeen a headache for the imperial court. It was all because the place was located near South Kingdomwhere the people were very skilled at using poison. Additionally, the soldiers in the south domain werearrogant. It was impossible for them to passively obey an order from anyone who they regarded asincompetent and undignified.
"How many soldiers are in the garrison of the south domain?" Matthew asked slowly.
"Your Highness, in total, there are 200, 000 soldiers in the garrison. The troop of 100, 000 soldiers isdirectly under my command. The other 100, 000 are being led by General Xu and General Wei." Morethan what Matthew was asking for, Luther explained in great detail the division of the south domain's
army. Including himself, there were three leaders in the army. However, even when a prince had cometo the Birch Pass, the other two generals didn't show up. Even though Luther didn't say anythingoutright, he was actually trying to snitch on the other two generals.
"Where do you live right now?" Matthew then asked. After entering the Birch Pass, he had beendeciding whether they should stay in the official inn or in the military camp.novelbin
"Your Highness, the late emperor gave me the former marquis's mansion as the general's residence.I've already asked my men to clean up the guest room. You may go there right now so you can take arest. You must be really tired after traveling for so long." It seemed like Luther already had an ideaabout Matthew's concerns. He even prepared their accommodation in advance.
With one hand resting on her chin, Harper smiled. "General Luther, you're very considerate. Thank youvery much."
"Well, then please lead the way, General Luther," Matthew said.
There was a time when the mansion was extremely grand because the former marquis Harrison hadguarded the south domain for an awful lot of years. But the man used his influence over the people fortheir own selfish and avaricious gains. They robbed a lot of people's properties and assets. Wheneverything that they owned was confiscated, all of the treasures almost filled half of the nationaltreasure house.
As soon as Matthew and Harper entered the mansion, they noticed that the layout was very simple,other than the fact that the estate was very large. With a slight change of the original layout, themagnificent mansion had become a simple and stunning residence.
"You have good taste, General Luther," Harper praised.
"I'm flattered, Your Highness. I'm not particularly good at designs. It's just that I like it to be simple, so Itried my best to organize the mansion in this way," Luther slowly replied with a small smile on his face.
"You're too modest, General. This place is indeed well arranged. Now I feel sorry as we'll have totrouble you in the following two days."
"It's my pleasure. I'll take you to your room. Please follow me." Luther led the way, giving Harper achance to observe the interiors of the mansion more closely. Although Luther was very humble, he hadactually put a lot of effort in decorating the mansion. It was apparent that he had unique tastescompared to ordinary martial generals.
Luther had arranged a picturesque and tranquil house for them. Harper was very satisfied with it so sheinstantly had a good impression of the general.
"So apparently, it's true that Luther is capable," Matthew idly stated while looking at the dishes servedto them. The food was neither too luxurious nor too shabby. They were actually delicate and delicious.It was obvious then that Luther made a lot of effort to prepare the meal, the accommodation, and thejourney to be as comfortable as it could be.
While enjoying the delectable dishes, Harper couldn't help but praise Luther a lot. "He knows us verywell."
"Yes, I think you're right. He is very thoughtful and detail-oriented. He has a good understanding of ourconcerns," Matthew said while his eyes lit up.
While Harper continued to eat, she picked up some food for Matthew. "This tastes good. Give a try."
Matthew always ate at a very quick pace, which was a habit that he picked up from the military camp.Although he had changed a lot since he got married, he was yet to get rid of that habit. Compared with
Matthew's, Harper's pace of eating was very slow. When she finished eating about half of her meal,Matthew already put down his chopsticks and bowl.
"I've told you many times already. Don't eat so fast. It's not good for your digestion. Do you know therepercussions of not giving yourself enough time to digest your food?" Harper asked while shecontinued to eat.
"You'll have a stomachache?" Matthew tried to guess.
"It's not as simple as that!" Harper swallowed the food in her mouth before continuing, "If a person iskilled and his death time cannot be recognized due to external reasons, another way is to open hisstomach and see the contents. We will then calculate the time of his death based on the food digestedin his stomach because once a person dies, his stomach would, of course, stop digesting. With that, wecan roughly know the death time from the amount and state of food that is digested."
"You're eating," Matthew reminded her. He was at a loss while he looked at Harper. She was talkingabout cutting open a dead person's stomach while eating the food as if it was nothing.