Chapter 15:

Chapter 15

The introductions were thankfully short and Yu Zong turned out to be a demure woman that made me wonder what was she doing here.

All those that have come to join a sect are in some way or form individuals that seek power. Some seek it for a specific reason, others because they wish to achieve immortality and others because they want power and she doesn’t give me that impression from looking at her.

“It seems the cherry boys left in groups, and so did most of the others already.” Da Xiu gruffly observed.

I looked at the groups and saw that my new brother was correct. Most of the people gathered here already left, some in groups and some alone. We weren’t the only ones left, nor were we the only sons and daughters of the banners, albeit most of the others seemed to be preparing to leave as well.

“They forgot the banner girl.” I replied.

The woman that held the cherry tree banner was left behind for some strange reason.

“Poor thing.” Yu Zhong said softly.

“Could we take her into our group then?” Bao asked.

That was a good idea and I nodded my head at that. More hands could not hurt, especially as the woman has some weapons and tools with her in her backpack from the looks of it. She and every single one of the children of the banners came with at least part of the soldier’s kit on them.

“Bao, please go and bring her here. We might as well find out what she did to get the rest of her siblings to leave her behind, even if she doesn’t want to join us.” I asked her.

This wasn’t an order, not like the one before, it was a request, one that my wife took with a nod and a smile.

“I’ll go with her as well.” The other woman said and off they went.

The two of us were left here to look at our wives bringing a third woman to our group.

“We don’t need her.” Da Xiu declared.

Great, the day isn’t even over and there’s discontent I need to nip in the bud. My position as the leader of our group exists because I took the banner up and thus upheld its honor, but there’s nothing stopping the other man from just not listening to me or leaving along with his wife.

We are linked by our connection to the Banner, but there’s no real reason for us to stick together.

“We most likely don’t, but we don’t abandon our own, even if they come from other banners. Also aren’t you curious to find out what went on that the cherry boys abandoned her?” I replied.

The man grunted, but did not speak against it. To hold the banner is a position of honor and responsibility yes, but it was a responsibility that few people wanted according to my uncles.

“Your wife’s quite persuasive it looks like.” I observed.

The banner girl did not seem to appreciate Bao’s attempts at getting her in at first, but Yu Zong managed to turn the girl into putty in her hands and just got her to follow the two of them with ease.

“Yu Zong, can be like that. Daughter of a dancer, she can sweet-talk anyone if they listen to her speak.” He answered amused.

Ah, that made sense, most dancers are beautiful women that learn their way around people to put up with people that spend all day dancing and not producing anything.

“Err.. greetings?” The banner girl said.

Now that she was closer I could make out the rest of her features and she looked plain all things considered. Plain face, smooth skin and the same white shirt and dark gray pants as the other bannermen. About the only thing that jumped to my face were her green eyes which were quite rare.

“Not the most sociable one ain’t it?” Da Xiu jested.

“Husband, please be more welcoming, our new friend has not had a good day.” Yu Zhong admonished lightly, her tone thick with disappointment.

Da Xiu sighed as if this mild rebuke was the equivalent of hours of nagging.

“Sorry.” The man said softly.

He looked sorry too.

“Y-you have nothing to apologize for.” The new girl said as she stumbled through her words.

Well, that was as good an introduction as could be expected it seems.

“Welcome to our group, I am Tai Su, the big lug with little propriety is Da Xiu and I think Yu Zhong and Bao Xiaoli have already introduced themselves.” I greeted.

“I am Ya Xue.” She introduced herself.

It seems she regained a bit of her confidence back.

“Why did the cherry boys abandon their Banner Holder?” Da Xiu asked bluntly and her confidence was obliterated once again.

I sighed, for a man with his name he is horrifically blunt. You don’t just ask that our of the blue.

“Da Xiu, have some tact please.” I asked the man.

“No.” He replied with a smirk.

I looked at his wife to hopefully get him to behave, but she shrugged her shoulders and smiled in a silent message of ‘I won’t be fixing it.’

It wasn’t an ‘I can’t fix it.’ but a ‘won’t fix it’ judging from her smirk. It seems she was testing my leadership now too.

“Despite his bluntness, Da Xiu does ask an important thing, why did they just leave you behind? We’re willing to have you join us but we would like to know why you didn’t just join up with the others.” I asked.

Ya Xue’s features turned from defeated to resigned as her shoulders slumped even further.

“I took the banner while the other groups were arguing about who to carry it. They didn’t like that I ‘went above my station’ and have decided to shun me.” She answered.

She expected us to believe that that was it?

“That’s a stupid reason assuming it’s true. When you see your Banner on the ground you lift it up as soon as there’s somebody to lift it or you bring shame to it and all who held it before you.” I replied.

In my past life, there was a nation that placed the same importance on the eagle standard, that the Empire place on their Banners and to bring dishonor to it in any way was to bring dishonor to the entire army it belonged to.

Arguing about who to hold it can be done after somebody holds it as a Banner is not to touch the ground if there is a single Bannerman that can hold it.

“It’s true, holding the banner is an honor.” she answered defensively.

“Holding the banner is a responsibility, not something you fight for, but something you have to do.” Da Xiu denied.

I could feel that things were moving in a bad direction and so had to intervene.

“I suppose we found one more thing the cherry boys can’t do right then. Makes one wonder why their parents bothered going to the reserves for them to turn out like this.” I said and shook my head.

Deflecting blame from her to her Bannermen's incompetence was easy enough, and if the girl was smart she would realize the out I gave her.

Da Xiu snorted at that and our wives giggled.

“Reserve? Each of us are the sons and daughters of soldiers on the payroll.” She asked curiously.

I snorted at that. No wonder they can’t do much right if they get their position like that.

“We aren’t, at least not us who got the boots. The Lemon trees don’t get enough pay to justify having the numbers we do and be paid normally, so General La introduced the reserve system. Half of the warriors join the reserves without pay and go live in a village as its garrison to keep things running smoothly. They will be called in case of emergency, but are to otherwise act as civilians outside of drills. If they behave properly, keep the peace, deal with minor issues and honor the Banner then one of their children is put on the fast track to get elite training assuming they can pass the physical tests.” I explained.

From what father said, the south near the border with the foxes is underfunded as the foxes are not a threat and the Banners need more resources near the spider clans and to deal with the treacherous Shu and the rebellious Stellar Blade Sect.

This made the Southern Lemon Tree Banner and probably the Cherry Tree Banner severely underfunded and put General La in a tough spot where she either has to cut the number of soldiers she can field or pay them less and she decided to do both of those with the Reserve system. The only thing she added to it was that if the Reservists agreed to continue to do their duties without pay and while pulling double duty as normal civilians and pillars of the community then one of their children will get preferential treatment and the official endorsement of the Banner to joining a sect. That is assuming they don’t turn criminal that is, then they will be treated as deserters.

Like this the next generation of elites gets raised by upstanding individuals, the books are balanced and the frontier is ordered and the general can still draw on the same amount of troops if needed be.

“That’s not how things are handled in the cherry trees.” She replied.

I felt a hint of sadness in her tone, it seems that things were worse there.

“How are things there then?” Yu Zong asked and put her hand on the other girl’s back.

“We rely on local donations, the clans that donate enough get to have some of their family join the Banners.” She answered.

“No wonder that they’re like this, those idiots aren’t banner men, but clan troops wearing the banner.” Da Xiu scoffed.

“Your general sound stupid.” Bao scoffed too.

Yu Zong and I just held our tongue. A look at each other was enough to confirm that it would be better if neither of us added wood to the fire.

The cherry girl did not like hearing that but sighed once Yu Zong started gently rubbing her back in support.

“She probably isn’t the best, but we all have to do what we can to keep things running, especially now that the funds are even tighter after the Shu decided to open a new front and betrayed their alliance with the foxes.” She answered diplomatically.

Poor girl couldn’t even defend her commanding officer, yeah things aren’t going well up north. If things were that corrupt over there then no wonder the idiots didn’t know how to treat the Banner.

“Well, we won’t have any of the clan nonsense here at least, you pull up your weight and we’ll look after you same way you look after us, if you want to join us that is.” I assured her.

“Yeah, no useless clanners in our group.” Da Xiu continued.

“Then count me in.” She answered simply.

I clapped my hand to attract everyone’s attention

“Perfect, now that our group is formed it’s time to check our supplies, resupply if we can from the outpost, then make our plan for the trek and see if we can make head or tail of cultivation.” I declared.

“Shouldn’t we rush to the next mountain?” Da Xiu asked.

I pointed towards the mountain in the distance.

“How much time do you think it’ll take us to reach and move past it? Three, maybe four days assuming no complications and assuming that the next mountain is as far, then we’re seeing two to three weeks of trekking at most if we're slow or have to take a detour or two. We’re in no rush and can afford to take stock and prepare.” I answered.

“The sects are part of the Armies of the Empress even if they are not one of her Banners, there’s no reason for us not to act like it and prepare supplies for a mission or make use of the local infrastructure if it’s available.” Bao continued shortly after me.

“I guess it doesn’t hurt to check.” Yu Zong shrugged.

"Might as well." Da Xiu said simply.

Our fifth member remained silent and lost in her thoughts.

“Ya Xue? What do you think?” I asked.

She was just abandoned by her Banner, the last thing I wanted was for her to feel isolated here. I don’t know how the cherries handle their units but the southern lemons are family and stick together when on the mission.

“We might as well.” She replied meekly.

That’s a start I suppose.

I looked at Yu Zong tilted my head in an unspoken but easy to notice question of ‘Will you handle this?’

She nodded at me and I nodded back.

“Excellent, let’s return to the outpost and see what we can requisition, be it resources or knowledge, or even time to properly rest. We don't need to leave on a mission with little to no rest from a long trek like the other idiots did.” I declared.

We were now the only group still left, but unlike everyone else we did not head towards the distant forest, but towards the sect outpost.

We are not some sort of ascetic survivalists and neither is the sect composed out of such people. We are to be soldiers and soldiers cannot exist without the infrastructure to support them and supplies. If the others want to act like it then they are welcome to it but that doesn’t mean I have to.