25 Forged Evidence

As the sun sets, the shadows of the neighboring houses have moved to the left. The group of soldiers was supposed to arrive at noon, but because of some incident with the bandits, they did not reach the city of Nta-tsua late evening when the sun had already set. The boat slowly docked, and from where the soldiers stood on the boat, they could hear the chattering voices of the villagers on the street.

Haitao said, "After getting off the boat, you all go to the first tavern on the pier to rest. Chinua, Khunbish, Khenbish, and I will escort this bandit to prison."

Od gave the rope to Khunbish.

Haitao said, "When we are done, we will meet you at the pier. The two of you started looking for Captain Taban." He looked at Erden and Terbish.

When the boat docked, Timicin paid the boatman, Haitao led the way, and Chinua, Khunbish, Khenbish, Khawn and Drystan followed him to the courthouse.

Approaching a stall selling cosmetics, Drystan smiled and said, "Before you send me to jail, why don't we stop by and see what she's selling."

Chinua didn't look at Drystan, but said, "Khunbish, if he talks again, cut off his tongue."

Khunbish looked at Drystan and said, "Yes Chinua."

Drystan looked at Khunbish strangely and asked, "Why are you listening to everything she says?"

Khenbish said, "You'd better keep quiet. Chinua is a woman of her word. I advise you not to test her patience."

Drystan was about to speak, but they were already at the courthouse. Haitao spoke to one of the two guards guarding the gate. A moment later, a well-dressed officer came out of the court building and greeted Haitao.

Haitao snatched the belt from Khunbish and handed it to one of the guards. He said, "We left in such a hurry that we forgot to tell the village chief that there were some corpses on the mountain road. On the way here, we encountered a group of bandits who wanted to rob us. Tomorrow morning, please send someone to Dav Village and inform the village chief."

"Thank you, Captain Haitao, for bringing this long-wanted bandit," the officer said. "Tomorrow I will send someone to notify the chief villager of Dav."

Haitao said, "This bandit is no ordinary bandit. You must lock him up immediately and don't listen to him. Given the chance, he would try to escape."

"I see," said the officer.

Just as the soldiers turned to leave, Drystan called out, "Chinua! Wait."

Chinua turned around facing Drystan, "What is it?"

Drystan reached into his belt and pulled out a small wooden box and threw it at Chinua He smiled and said, "A meeting gift."

Chinua opened the lid and found that there were two smaller boxes inside the big box. Chinua asked, "What are these?"

Drystan said, "Inside is what a woman should use."

The officer pushed Drystan toward the door. "Enough talk."

Chinua watched as the officers dragged Drystan into the courthouse. Chinua slowly opened the small box and found two small boxes inside. She opened one of the boxes and found red powder inside. She turned to Khunbish and asked, "What are these?"

Khunbish said, "I do not know."

Chinua asked, "What about you? Do you know?"

Khenbish shook his head.

Haitao looked at Chinua with a smile and said, "Although he is a bandit, it is very considerate of you to give you such a gift." He patted Chinua's shoulder lightly. "Let's regroup with the others."

Chinua stuffed the box into her robe, and followed Haitao, Khunbish, Khenbish, and Khawn to the pier.

Muunokhoi went to the table and put a jug of water on the table. He pushed the medicine bag to Och and said, "The doctor said, you should change the medicine every two days."

Och picked up the medicine bag and stuffed it into his inner robe. "Thank you," he said with a smile.

Muunokhoi looked around and asked, "Where are Erden and Terbish?"

Od said, "They are looking for Captain Taban." He looked up and saw Erden walking towards them. "Here comes Erden."

Erden stopped before the table and said, "We found captain Taban and his crew." He looked around the table. "What about the captain and the others, have they arrived yet?"

Timicin said, "They haven't arrived yet."

Erden said, "Let's wait for them."

Timicin asked, "Where are Captain Taban and his men?"

Erden said, "Outside the village, there are other southern captains."

Od asked, "Where is Terbish?"

"He is buying water bag for us on Captain Taban's suggestion," Erden said, turning to see Terbish running towards them with some leather water bags.

Terbish sat down and put the water bags on the table. He frowned. "I walked around the market, and only found six. That's not enough for all of us."

Muunokhoi said, "At least we have some. We can share. One water bag for two people."

Och said, "I agreed with you." He looked up and said Chinua, Khunbish, Khenbish, Haitao, and Khawn walking towards them. "Captain and the others."

Haitao walked over and looked at the empty table. He frowned, "Why haven't you ordered?"

Terbish said, "Captain Taban said they had food ready for us, that's why we didn't order anything."

Haitao tapped on Terbish's head, "Do you really want to eat roasted potatoes?"

Och said, "I don't want to eat roasted potato."

"Me either," The others muttered.

Haitao turned around and was about to leave but was stopped by Timicin. "Where are you going?" Timicin asked.

"Before we leave, we'll eat some good food." Haitao walked into the tavern.

When the group of eleven people arrived at the soldier camp, it was already evening, and they were greeted by Taban, who was in his late twenty. Taban was darker and shorter than the rest of his crew.

Taban smiled and said, "Captain Haitao, let's eat." He led the eleven-member team to the campfire, where there were roasted potatoes and some roasted frogs. He sat down and looked at Haitao. "I honestly thought that the person who will accompany us will be captain Dawa."

Haitao said, "Captain Dawa is very busy these years, and we have a lot of newcomers this year." He smiled. "Also, we are the group with the smallest number of people, so it is more convenient to go with you."

Chinua looked around and asked, "Captain Taban, it seems that there are quite a few soldiers here. You mean, so many soldiers cannot send food south?"

Taban said, "We are traveling south, but with a different destination."

Od asked, "What do you mean?"

Taban explained "Once we get to the southern border, everyone goes back to their base camp. Our base is further south than the other bases. What we usually bring south is rice, weapons, salt. These are the most wanted by the bandits. This time, I have to ask for help because we have more supplies than usual."

"Does that mean you don't usually get this much?" Chinua asked.

Taban shook his head. "Usually we don't get this much," he said. "I was surprised when I saw five thousand bags of salt and ten thousand bags of rice."

Chinua thought that sounded right. This amount is sent to Mönkhbat camp every three months. She was puzzled by the differences. She asked, "Generally, how much do you get every three months?"

"We usually receive two thousand bags of rice and three hundred bags of salt," Taban said.

Chagatai asked, "How many people are there in the camp at the South Gate?"

"Twenty thousand elite soldiers," Chinua gnashed her teeth.

Khunbish grabbed Chinua's right hand. "Chinua," he whispered.

Och said, "You mean, the twenty thousand soldiers have two thousand bags of rice, for a three-month period."

Taban said, "We help ourselves too."

When Chinua learned that Mönkhbat's army, which should have been Hmagol's most well-fed troop, was struggling to survive down south, she went mad. She knew that the longer she stayed to hear Taban's story, the longer she might not be able to contain her anger. She stood up.

"I'm going to pee." Chinua walked away from the crowd of soldiers. Khunbish, Khenbish, and Khawn quickly followed her.

Timicin was about to get up, when Od held Timicin down. "Khunbish and Khenbish are by her side, don't worry."

Standing farther away from the others, Chinua was so angry that she hits the tree twice with her left hand.

Khenbish said, "Chinua… hurting yourself won't help general Mönkhbat with his supply problem."

Chinua said madly, "Before we came, I checked the rations of all the bases in the south. Third brother had the most rations. Listening to what Captain Taban said now, among the generals stationed in the south, he seems to have received the least amount of supplies. Someone is playing tricks on the third brother. Someone wanted to see the third brother, failed to defend the southern border." She hit the tree once more.

"The person responsible for distributing the rations is Prince Dzhambul's third uncle," said Khenbish.

Chinua hit the tree again, frowning, "What does he have to gain out of this?"

"One less competitor," Hye rosed from the grass behind the trees. He stood up and yawned forcefully. "That's the life of a politician."

"Are you eavesdropping on our conversation?" Chinua asked.

Hye smiled and said, "I didn't, I was sleeping here, it was you who woke me up from my sleep by talking loudly."

Khunbish held the hilt of his sword and looked at Chinua. "Chinua, give me your order," he said looking at Hye.