Chapter 901: Master

“Here, here, and over there. Have all these granaries been properly sealed?”

“They have. Don’t worry. These days, I practically sleep here.”

“With you managing the granaries, I can rest easy. The Chief Commander can rest easy too,” Xu An said to Guo Dong.

“Hahahahaha!”

Guo Dong burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry. The men below all have clean hands. The ones assigned to guard the granaries are Standard Household men. Throwing away their iron rice bowl just to skim a little grain? That would be a terrible bargain. They know how to do that calculation. Besides, everyone knows the grain stored here will be put to great use when the Prince goes to war again in a few years. The people below understand what is at stake.”

The Garrison Commander responsible for the granaries was named Guo Dong.

He had no ears.

At first glance, the sight was strangely jarring.

There were also characters carved into his face.

Two characters:

YAN DOG.

A mutilated man with words carved into his face ought, by ordinary logic, to have lived a broken and dispirited life. In an age that placed such importance on preserving the body inherited from one’s parents, he might even have been shunned by society.

Yet Guo Dong was extremely well regarded throughout the area.

No one despised him for his mutilation.

Still less did anyone dare joke about the words “Yan Dog” carved into his face.

Because everyone knew who had carved them.

Nian Yao, Grand General of Chu.

Among the soldiers stationed around the granaries, one story had spread especially widely: their Prince had seen those two characters on Commander Guo’s face, flown into a rage, captured Grand General Nian Yao alive, and, in repayment, had the man castrated.

In any case, Guo Dong had originally been a tomb raider by trade. After recovering from his wounds, he had been promoted and placed in charge of grain supplies.

It was a lucrative post.

And no matter the era, rear-area grain stores had to be entrusted to someone absolutely reliable.

Guo Dong was clearly such a man.

“Come on. You finally came down here for once. I told your sister-in-law this morning to make something good for lunch. Come home with me and eat properly. This afternoon, I’ll accompany you on another inspection.”

Xu An reminded him:

“No drinking.”

“Relax. Alcohol is forbidden inside the Granary Garrison Camp! Anyone who really can’t hold back and wants a drink has to request leave first and go outside.”

As he spoke, Guo Dong turned back and looked at the rows of granaries.

Softly, he murmured:

“This place is my life.”

Guo Dong brought Xu An back to his home.

It was easy to tell that Guo Dong’s wife had probably once been the daughter of a respectable modest household. Of course, marrying Guo Dong meant her life here was hardly difficult, but she was still thoroughly accustomed to doing housework alongside her mother-in-law.

As Garrison Commander, Guo Dong received a monthly official salary.

As a Standard Household man, he also received fixed monthly rations of rice, flour, grain, and oil.

On top of that, he received a monthly disability pension.

In other words, he personally drew three separate shares of pay and provisions every month.

Because of that, his mother and wife did not have to keep working outside for extra income the way women in many other Standard Households did.

As for the disability pension, he had never returned it even after receiving an official post.

A little more for the household was still a little more.

He was crippled now.

He looked like this.

Some part of him always felt he had wronged his wife.

He knew perfectly well why she had first taken a liking to him all those years ago.

Back then, among a crowd of rough Yan men, Guo Dong had actually been rather delicate and handsome.

So why should he refuse the grain and silver the Residence properly owed him?

He had earned it.

Besides, the people Guo Dong had to support were not limited to his elderly mother, wife, and children.

There was also his elder brother, paralyzed and bedridden, together with his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

Many mouths.

Many elderly people.

Few able-bodied laborers.

There was pressure.

But Guo Dong understood even more clearly what the Prince truly valued: whether he could guard the great granaries behind Zhennan Pass properly.

“You’re back.”

Guo Dong’s wife, Madam Yang, wiped both hands on her apron and came out smiling to welcome him.

Then she saw Xu An behind him and immediately said:

“Brother Xu is here too! Come in, come in.”

Guo Dong was the granary Garrison Commander and therefore already counted as an official.

But the army distinguished between combat and logistical posts.

Guo Dong clearly belonged to logistics, almost a local post.

Xu An, by contrast, served as Central Army Sima beneath Chief Commander Jin Shuke of Zhennan Pass and enjoyed the Chief Commander’s deep trust.

Madam Yang had heard her husband tell stories many times about how he and Brother Xu had once been together in a laborer camp.

Guo Dong had told her bluntly that without Xu An, he himself would probably have died long ago.

Perhaps before the fighting even started.

Maybe he would have drowned in the Wang River and left his family without enough of a death benefit to collect.

“Greetings, Sister-in-law.”

Xu An saluted Madam Yang very respectfully.

The orphaned boy who had fled to Yingdu after the Savages broke through the pass and once survived by mixing with laborer gangs had now become steady, composed, and properly mannered.

“Look at you. Why so formal?”

“Let’s eat,” Guo Dong said. “We still need to go down to the granaries this afternoon.”

“All right. Oh, right. There’s a guest at home too. He said he was one of your colleagues and came to visit.”

“A colleague?” Guo Dong frowned. “Where is he?”

“In Elder Brother’s room.”

Guo Dong had originally had two elder brothers.

One died in battle.

The other returned from the battlefield disabled and had been confined to bed ever since.

“All right. I know.”

Guo Dong entered the inner room.

His elder brother lived with them.

Guo Dong had never once regarded his brother as a burden.

Under the old traditions of Great Yan, the eldest son was conscripted first.

If not for his elder brother, then Guo Dong himself or their father would have gone to war.

Xu An was a guest and followed him inside.

Guo Dong pushed open the door.

A man was sitting on a chair beside his elder brother’s bed.

The two seemed to have been chatting quite happily.

His elder brother was even smiling.

At first glance... nothing seemed especially strange.

Then Guo Dong looked again.

His eyes widened instantly.

Behind him, Xu An dropped straight to his knees.

“This subordinate general pays respects to Your Highness!”

Only then did Guo Dong suddenly remember.

Wasn’t that the Prince?

“Paying respects to Your Highness!”

Guo Dong dropped to his knees as well.

The elder brother lying in bed simply froze.

Zheng Fan stood and said to the bedridden man:

“I actually haven’t spent that much time in Yan proper, and I haven’t eaten all that many local Yan snacks. I spent more time in the capital. But you’re right. The food in the capital really doesn’t have the same flavor as the local things back home in Great Yan.”

The elder brother had no idea how he was supposed to answer.

Zheng Fan turned toward Guo Dong and Xu An.

“Has Jin Shuke arrived?”

“The Chief Commander?” Guo Dong looked confused.

At that moment, Madam Yang shouted from outside:

“Husband! The Chief Commander is here! The Chief Commander is here!”

Clearly, Madam Yang recognized Jin Shuke.

He had come down several times to inspect the granaries.

Zheng Fan walked out.

Guo Dong and Xu An followed behind him.

Jin Shuke happened to be entering the courtyard at that exact moment.

The instant he saw Zheng Fan, he dropped to one knee.

“This subordinate general pays respects to Your Highness. May Your Highness live a thousand years!”

Jin Shuke was not wearing armor.

He was dressed in ordinary robes and had grown a beard.

By now, he already carried the bearing of a great general of Xia, no longer resembling the crude image most people instinctively associated with Barbarians.

“We are hungry. Let’s eat.”

...

The dining table was set up in the courtyard.

Zheng Fan and Jin Shuke sat facing one another.

Guo Dong and Xu An stood to the side and waited on them.

As for Guo Dong’s family, none came over.

Even when dishes were brought out, Guo Dong himself carried them.

Zheng Fan did not force some grand display of closeness and insist everyone sit together.

For Guo Dong’s family, that would probably have been more torment than honor.

Jin Shuke stood and ladled soup for Zheng Fan.

There was no wine.

More precisely, alcohol was forbidden around the granaries.

“Your Highness, try this fish-ball soup. It’s very fresh.”

Zheng Fan drank two mouthfuls and ate one tender white fish ball.

He nodded.

“We came from Snow Sea Pass,” Zheng Fan said.

Jin Shuke listened respectfully.

“Keyan Dongge has already been dragged back to Fengxin City by Us to sweep the streets. What he was doing over there had really become somewhat outrageous.”

Jin Shuke gave a small nod but did not dare comment.

Zheng Fan looked at him.

“You have done very well.”

“Your Highness... this subordinate would not dare!”

“You have done very well. Among the memorials sent up to the Residence, there are basically no criticisms of you. First, you coordinate extremely well with the local officials. The reclamation around Zhennan Pass and the resettlement of Chu refugees have produced excellent results.”

“Your Highness, those are the achievements of the two Prefects. They truly are—”

“Enough. Without you, the Chief Commander, cooperating with them, how would they take in Chu refugees? How would they open new land? You know We have never liked useless talk.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Second, you have controlled Shanggu Commandery extremely well. The Chu across the Wei River basically no longer dare violate the border. You have even managed to establish several fortified outposts on the far bank of the river. Good. Very good.”

Militarily, Jin Shuke was faultless.

Administratively, he had performed almost perfectly as well.

Snow Sea Pass had inherited the foundations and order Zheng Fan and the Demon Kings had originally built there.

Zhennan Pass, by contrast... had been created almost from nothing.

Jin Shuke had come from the earliest three hundred Barbarian cavalry who formed the foundation of Zheng Fan’s rise.

Very few of that original group were still left today.

Jin Shuke was the brightest among them.

Unlike Keyan Dongge, who had the Keyan Tribe as his capital from the beginning, Jin Shuke had truly started with nothing.

From an ordinary city guard... all the way to his current position.

His starting point had been low.

There had been no heaven-sent stroke of fortune.

He had climbed purely through his own effort.

That kind of man... was the true protagonist template ordinary people could actually understand.

“You have done very well.”

The Prince said it again.

“Your Highness...”

Jin Shuke stood.

“Sit. Sit down.”

“Yes.”

Jin Shuke sat again.

“But We are still going to transfer you away from Zhennan Pass.”

“This subordinate obeys!”

Jin Shuke accepted immediately, without the slightest hesitation.

“It is not because you have done too well and We have become suspicious of you.”

“This subordinate would never dare think such a thing. In this subordinate’s heart, Your Highness’s breadth of mind is like the sea!”

“But fundamentally... it is still because you have done too well. With Jin Shuke sitting in Zhennan Pass, the men below naturally keep thinking about attacking Chu.”

“Yes. This subordinate has written all of that into memorials and submitted them to the Residence.”

“We have read them. You should also understand that right now Great Yan... No. Right now eastern Jin itself needs to rest and recover. It needs to accumulate properly. For the next few years, this Prince does not intend to fight any wars. You can keep the men below under control. We believe you can. But precisely because you, Jin Shuke, are sitting in Zhennan Pass... the men below have a harder time controlling themselves.”

Everyone knew Jin Shuke could fight.

Everyone knew Jin Shuke was capable.

Naturally... that made them even more eager to strike outward.

“This Prince will stay here for a few days. Finish the handover, then return to Fengxin City with Us.”

“This subordinate obeys.”

Jin Shuke stood and smiled.

“I can finally return to Your Highness’s side again. This subordinate is happy.”

“Relax. That idiot Keyan Dongge is going to sweep streets for a year or two before We think about him again. You? We have use for you.”

At that moment, a carriage stopped outside Guo Dong’s home.

Tian Tian and Ji Chuanye climbed down.

Tian Tian took the Crown Prince by the hand and led him into Guo Dong’s courtyard.

“Jin Shuke.”

“This subordinate is here!”

“We appoint you as instructor in military arts to His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Heir Prince Jingnan. You will teach both Highnesses the art of war and the practices of the army.”

Shock appeared across Jin Shuke’s face.

He had been prepared for the Prince to transfer him back to Fengxin City and leave him idle.

He had not once considered resisting the Prince’s order.

But he truly had never imagined the Prince would entrust him with something this important.

No.

This was not merely important.

This was supreme honor.

He was a Barbarian.

A Barbarian!

At that moment, Tian Tian and Ji Chuanye bowed together.

“Tian Tian greets Master.”

“Chuanye greets Master.”

Jin Shuke drew a deep breath.

He forced back the tears filling his eyes.

For a moment, he even forgot to return the salute of his two new “disciples.”

Instead, he turned toward Zheng Fan, dropped to his knees again with extraordinary solemnity, and bowed deeply.

“Jin Shuke, in this life... No. In this life and the next... is willing to die for Your Highness!”

[End of Chapter 901]