Chapter 348: Speaking from the Heart

When a superior calls you over and says, “There’s something I’d like to discuss with you,” if you actually believe him and sit down expecting a genuine discussion, then you are simply too young, too simple.

It was not that General Zheng failed to understand this principle. He simply genuinely did not want to leave his own nest.

What the hell kind of arrangement was this?

I had barely finished building Cuiliu Fort before I was sent to Shengle.

I had barely finished building Shengle’s new city walls, and now I’m being transferred to Snow Sea Pass?

Am I a general who leads troops into battle, or Great Yan’s goddamned Country Garden?

But no matter how dissatisfied Zheng Fan might be, the moment Tian Wujing said those words, the matter had already been decided.

Actually, no one cared whether he was willing.

The sentence described the present relationship between the Marquis of Jingnan and the General of Shengle, but did it not carry an even deeper meaning as well?

Zheng Fan fell silent. He stopped resisting, because the door to resistance had already been sealed shut.

Tian Wujing looked at him and continued:

“Snow Sea Pass is a good place.”

“Marquis, that was before.”

Even if he intended to accept his fate, he still had to voice a few grievances.

He could hardly be kicked out of his old nest and still shamelessly answer, *The Marquis is wise.*

In the past, Snow Sea Pass itself had been a mighty strategic fortress. The Shengle Army’s ability to hold it successfully had relied heavily upon the advantage of its terrain and fortifications.

The savages hated it, but they had failed to destroy it completely for two reasons. First, the Savage King had stopped them in time. Second, the fortress itself was simply too sturdy.

Its foundations were deep, its bricks thick, and its scale enormous. Even if the savages genuinely wanted to tear it down, doing so would have taken an absurd amount of effort.

Even if the newly rebuilt Shengle City were expanded several times over, it would still be difficult to match Snow Sea Pass in scale.

Because Snow Sea Pass was not merely one city. An entire defensive line extended outward from it, dotted with many military forts similar to Cuiliu Fort, along with smaller satellite towns.

In both strategic status and sheer scale, it was comparable to Tuman City back in Beifeng Commandery.

This was, after all, a mighty fortress the people of Jin had once built by exhausting the strength of the entire state. How could it possibly be poor?

And although it was called a “pass,” the space within the city itself was enormous and capable of holding a large population.

Originally, if one held Snow Sea Pass, one could trade with the snowfield savages to the north while extending trade routes toward Chu in the south. At the same time, it could receive commerce from Jin, Yan, and even lands farther west. Properly managed, it was the kind of place that could overflow with wealth.

But now, after a war like this, the surrounding region had nearly become white ground.

The savages were not the sort to understand sustainable exploitation. They were starving wolves driven half-mad by poverty.

Toward the end, they could no longer even find nearby Jin civilians to seize as slaves. They could not find cannon fodder to throw at the walls. Even their “food” was gone.

That alone showed how catastrophically the local population had fallen.

Most importantly, this place was certain to see frequent warfare in the future.

Yan’s rule across the lands of the Three Jin was practically military government. If you were stationed here, the court might provide only half the money and grain you needed and leave you to make up the rest yourself.

Elsewhere, this was essentially an unwritten rule. The court knew perfectly well that any commander in charge of a region would have plenty of unofficial income of his own. Put simply: do not pretend to be some spotless incorruptible official.

The fatal part was that the moment war began, not only would you need to send out your own troops, you would also have to shoulder the expenses of armies arriving from elsewhere. Just as Shengle City had supplied grain, matériel, and civilian laborers when the Marquis of Jingnan led his previous expedition into the snowfields.

In other words, Zheng Fan would be taking over something that looked enormous from the outside but was almost hollow within, while also preparing to host a pack of poor relatives in the future who would come over to eat his food and carry away his belongings.

“You need to look farther ahead. Shengle is ultimately too small.”

Tian Wujing looked calmly at Zheng Fan and continued:

“This Marquis’s residence will most likely be moved from Litian City to Yingdu. As for Litian City and Quhe City, the court will take back half the authority there and appoint civil officials alongside the military commanders.”

Quhe City and Litian City had once been the respective “capitals” of the Helian and Wenren clans. According to the Marquis of Jingnan, their current pure military administration would end. Each place would instead be governed jointly by one senior civil official and one senior military commander.

That matched the broader trend of the age: civil officials governed local administration, while generals controlled military affairs. Because of Yan’s political environment, however, civil officials would not immediately begin pressing military commanders beneath them the way they did in the State of Qian.

Even so, a commander accustomed to holding everything in his own hands would inevitably find the arrangement uncomfortable.

Once economic administration and civilian governance were divided away from you, how were you supposed to train troops? Develop peacefully? Expand your army? Build your own ideological and political system?

By comparison, the Marquis of Jingnan moving into Yingdu was perfectly logical.

First, it would calm the local population.

Second, it would deter both the snowfields and Chu.

Third, it would continue eroding and dismantling the remaining foundation of Dacheng, accelerating its complete absorption into Yan.

“You could go to Quhe City or Litian City, but would you actually want either of them? Yingdu is naturally impossible to give you. There are only so many genuinely desirable posts across the Three Jin.

“Or do you want Yupan City?

“There are still tens of thousands of Chu troops trapped there, and after battle after battle, the city has long since been emptied out.

“Snow Sea Pass, on the other hand, occupies a vital position. To the north, it can restrain the snowfields. To the south, its troops can threaten Chu territory.

“A general should not fear having battles to fight.

“What he should fear is having no battles at all.

“Great Yan has quite a few Chief Commanders, but the gap between one Chief Commander and another can be enormous. ‘Chief Commander of Shengle’ does not even sound imposing. Once this campaign ends, give it another two or three years—who will still remember you?

“A blade that is not sharpened will rust.

“A man who does not stand before the world will be forgotten.”

Tian Wujing was truly speaking from the heart now.

Had it been anyone else, and Tian Wujing offered him promotion together with a strategic command, only for the man to show anything less than tearful gratitude—much less start picking faults with the appointment what then?

Had you grown too arrogant, or had the Marquis of Jingnan suddenly become unable to lift his saber?

Only with Zheng Fan would Tian Wujing bother explaining this much.

“It is true that the land outside Snow Sea Pass is almost white ground now. But General Zheng, are you not best at development and administration?

“You managed to turn a little place like Shengle into something respectable. If you rebuild Snow Sea Pass here and restore the region, then in the future this place could truly become extraordinary.

“If you had not earned the greatest merit of this Eastern Expedition, then under ordinary circumstances, even if you wanted the post of Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass, it would be difficult for this Marquis to push you into it.

“You are skilled at manufacturing and fond of commerce. Quite a few goods from Shengle’s workshops are already being sold in the shops of Litian City.

“You want those twenty thousand savage prisoners. This Marquis can give them to you.

“But if you still want more...”

The Marquis of Jingnan raised one hand and pointed north.

“The snowfields are full of them.”

Slaves.

Laborers.

If Zheng Fan lacked either, he could simply go into the snowfields and seize them.

After this campaign, even if Yan temporarily refrained from launching a northern expedition, the snowfields had already suffered catastrophic losses and would find it difficult to cause serious trouble again.

In earlier years, trade in snowfield savage slaves had flourished enormously.

Zheng Fan believed that if the Blind Man handled the matter, he could reproduce every trick Westerners had once used on black slaves.

Zheng Fan nodded. His tone softened slightly.

“Marquis, what you say is naturally true. This subordinate also understands how highly the Marquis regards me and how much you have promoted me, but...”

“For the first three years, Yingdu will fully supply Snow Sea Pass with the money and grain you require.”

Zheng Fan’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Some places can be shorted a little and told to make up the difference themselves. Shengle is one example.

“But Snow Sea Pass is strategically vital. After suffering the savage calamity once already, neither the court nor the people of Jin will tolerate the possibility of it happening again.

“That is the difference created by position.

“This Marquis heard that when Wujiang led the Eastern Expedition, you even went to him asking for grain and military pay. Some of that was deliberately making excuses, of course, but everyone also understood the truth: a place like Shengle could never receive full military provisioning.

“But once you are seated atop the walls of Snow Sea Pass, whatever you want, you can memorialize Yingdu directly. You can memorialize the court directly.

“They will not dare refuse you.

“Money and grain are only the beginning.

“You can ask for people.

“Officials.

“Warhorses.

“Official posts.

“One request after another.

“One item after another.

“You can even open your mouth like a lion and demand that every merchant caravan leaving Snow Sea Pass be exempt from transit taxes throughout the Three Jin and Yan proper.”

The longer Tian Wujing spoke, the brighter Zheng Fan’s eyes became.

*Holy shit. Is Old Tian teaching me how to become a warlord?*

Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan’s face, shook his head, sighed, and continued:

“Of all the talented men beneath Heaven, perhaps one part remains among the grass roots and nine parts enter the court.

“Whether civil or military, the traditional path has always been to sell one’s talents to the imperial house.

“There are many things you can spend years accumulating for yourself, scraping together bit by bit, exhausting every scheme and effort, only to end with this little.”

Tian Wujing raised a hand slightly.

“Rather than doing all that, it is better to open your mouth and ask the court directly.

“When the court first sends it over, it belongs to the court.

“But after you have used it long enough, it becomes yours.

“This Marquis believes General Zheng does not need anyone to teach him exactly how that transformation is accomplished, does he?”

“This subordinate is dull and foolish, but I will ponder it day and night. I would not dare trouble the Marquis further.”

Truthfully, these words crossed an enormous taboo.

Tian Wujing was practically using himself as the example.

Who had the Jingnan Army originally belonged to?

The court.

More than ten years ago, Tian Wujing had inherited the title Marquis of Jingnan from the previous holder.

Unlike the Marquis of Zhenbei, whose title was hereditary without reduction, before Tian Wujing the title Marquis of Jingnan had nominally been a noble rank but functionally resembled an official appointment.

Yet in a little over ten years, Tian Wujing had branded the entire Jingnan Army with his personal mark.

Its armor, weapons, money, and grain had all been supplied by the court.

But look at the situation now.

The court had swallowed half of the Zhenbei Army.

Meanwhile, the Jingnan Army had instead become the one genuinely independent military bloc within Great Yan.

Even when the First Prince had carried the Emperor’s command east on campaign, the various Chief Commanders of the Jingnan Army had dared ignore him outright.

Zheng Fan genuinely felt somewhat moved.

For Tian Wujing to say things like this to him meant the Marquis did not want resentment to remain in Zheng Fan’s heart. He wanted Zheng Fan to accept Snow Sea Pass willingly and take root here.

“Marquis, this subordinate understands. I will not disappoint the Marquis’s expectations. I will defend Snow Sea Pass properly.

“It is only that... what this subordinate truly worries about is this: if I spend several years pouring blood and effort into rebuilding Snow Sea Pass, and then one day I am ordered to move somewhere else again, would I not suffer a terrible loss...?”

Tian Wujing interrupted him.

He smiled.

“If you govern it well...”

He paused.

A trace of deep thought appeared in Tian Wujing’s eyes.

“Who would still dare make you move?”

[End of Chapter 348]