Chapter 83: Conquest And Taking A Wife
In the large camp in the northern part of Longyou Commandery, the teams of miners recruited from Donghua Commandery have arrived one after another. Troops and military supplies entered the wooden buildings and fence, with drumbeats and horns alternating in various camps, directing each squad to line up separately.
And one month ago, the previous batch of non-commissioned officers from Lingnan arrived early, took over the eight hundred soldiers given by Wu Hanluan, then built this camp according to the drill manual, and completed the core facilities of the camp in just twenty days.
These facilities include clean water pools, kitchens, stables, manure pits, and other seemingly insignificant but commonly used and practical facilities for the army.
Therefore, the miners recruited from Donghua Commandery, upon arriving at the camp, could simply set up tents and move in.
It is worth mentioning that the eight hundred soldiers used by the first batch of non-commissioned officers to build the camp were divided from the troops under the Wu Family disciples of the Northern Army. — There is a reason for dividing these troops.
Wu Hanluan reminded these Wu-surnamed youngsters from his own family who had troops divided to them in advance: Don’t complain now, don’t be reluctant; receiving these troops for you is to pave the way for you. Once Wu Fei arrives, he will stuff you all over there together.
These local Wu Family disciples felt relieved upon hearing that Wu Fei was coming. As long as the soldiers under them were not given to outsiders, it was fine. Moreover, after going under Wu Fei, the troops would still be their own.
Within the Wu Family, Wu Fei’s popularity was much better than Wu Fei had imagined. Wu Yuanchang and Wu Hengyu were of the same generation in the Wu Family, but their relationship was more like that between the “Eight Pillars of State.”
The Northern Army Wu Family Army discovered a pattern in recent years: after the army set up camp, following the delivery of Wu Fei’s batch of family letters, Southern Merchants would follow; and the military procurement officers would purchase from the Southern Merchants, and three days later, there would be oil and meat in the pots.
So when Wu Fei arrives, the army’s days will be a bit better.
…Relatives are about to gather…
In the main military tent, Wu Hanluan was looking at the accounts, that is, the supply lists of gunpowder, armor, military grain, etc., received from the Southern Merchants over these three months, and said to Wu Hengyu: “The kid has managed the family very well. The South has been pacified, and we have no worries at our backs.”
Wu Hengyu, who was carving words on bamboo slips with a carving knife, shook his sore hand: “When is he coming?”
It was obvious that Wu Hengyu couldn’t wait to hand over the matters.
Wu Hanluan didn’t look up: “He is negotiating the price with the Imperial Court, can’t urge him. Take good care of the people he sent, help them quickly familiarize themselves with the Northern Army’s situation.”
Wu Hengyu: “If Yuanchang comes to our side, will the family really be stable?”
Wu Hanluan: “Every October in the South, have him go back to sort out the family.”
“Rushing back and forth, isn’t that too hard on him?” Regarding Wu Hengyu’s doubt, Wu Hanluan: “This year he has a strange beast mount, round trip in just two days. And~”
At this point, Wu Hanluan felt the chat had gone on long enough, and urged Wu Hengyu: “Study the map well. Things in Zhenzhou are getting more and more unstable; the Imperial Court may send us up at any time.”
…Blood red, skull…
In the Five Prefectures of Chong Shui, Lelang Commandery. The Imperial Envoy appointed by Emperor Shu, riding in a horse cart, had just entered the prefecture territory when it was polluted by a foul and murderous aura, forcing the cart to stop and deploy silk screens to shield.
However, as they approached the city, this discomfort grew worse. After the Imperial Envoy entered the prefecture city, he smelled an unusual madness. The residents in the city were bustling about, whether beggars or wealthy merchants, all running and shouting something. But the beggars were using pebbles in the corners to represent something for betting, while commoners in cloth clothes used copper coins, and those in silk clothes used silver pieces.
In this frenzied board game atmosphere, the faces of the people in the city all carried an abnormal flush. And conflicts often led to bloody fights.
This Imperial Envoy had visited this city several times before, but now he felt it was increasingly abnormal. He couldn’t help but reprimand the accompanying armored soldiers sent by the city after entering: “Where is Prince Lelang? Why doesn’t he come out to receive the decree?”
However, the armored soldiers ignored him, raised their whips and lashed at a passerby nearby, who immediately fell in the middle of the road. The horses seemed to have gone mad too, quickly trampling over, and as the cart rolled over the flesh and blood, the cart moved even faster.
Yet as the horse cart dragged bloodstains down the street, the people on the street acted as if it were nothing unusual; even the onlookers cheered while watching this blood cart.
The court envoy, jolted suddenly, bit his tongue and then pursed his lips in silence. Although generals everywhere in Da Yao were somewhat arrogant, they all observed the ritual system when receiving envoys, but here the collapse of ritual and music had spread from top to bottom.
The court envoy finally found Prince Lelang in the arena. In the arena, over a thousand city military generals and noble families were watching lions and tigers fight; and Prince Lelang himself was covered in blood, as if he had just personally participated.
When Prince Lelang walked out of the arena, the fighting in the arena didn’t stop. Because this round had twenty Prince’s Mansion guards holding axes enter the field to battle over a hundred Wei Guan war captives holding knives on the other side.
Although the captives outnumbered them, the Prince’s Mansion guards seemed to have gone mad, because with each kill, the blood would soak into their bodies, making their entire bodies like heated iron blocks, growing stronger and stronger.
Prince Lelang walked up to the Imperial Envoy, snatched the imperial decree from him—not that the Imperial Envoy didn’t proclaim it, but Prince Lelang was bare-chested with chest hair still stained with blood and filth. How could the sacred intent be proclaimed in such irreverent appearance?
After reading it, Prince Lelang directly used the imperial decree to wipe the blood and filth from his chest, then waved his hand. The Imperial Envoy, who was being held down nearby, had a knife stuffed into his hand. Then a Wei Guan captive was selected, and both were pushed into the arena, after which he watched the two fight with great interest.
On the Map of Mountains and Rivers in the Divine Capital, these five prefectures suddenly broke away from the imperial aura’s control.
…Controllable rebellion erupts…
Wu Fei arrived at the Northern Army corps and met his uncle. They attended a grand banquet at the squad leader level together. This was actually a welcome banquet for Wu Fei.
But Wu Fei felt it was Wu Hengyu’s show. Because as soon as he appeared, all the young squad leaders present followed his lead. Wu Fei looked at Wu Hengyu seated upright to the right of the commander’s seat, inwardly mocking his clan brother: as ferocious as a bully dog, making many people tremble just by appearing.
But before Wu Fei could continue critiquing Wu Hengyu, Wu Hanluan, as the main general, issued a flag order, assigning Wu Fei to form one camp and independently lead three thousand troops.
In the military tent, the Winged Tiger suddenly stood up, gazing at Wu Fei with eyes like an orange cat’s, saying that the sisters Wu Fei brought this time were mounts of the new squad leaders, now divided into separate camps, which would trouble it.
Wu Fei exchanged a glance with the Winged Tiger, giving sufficient hint, and this big-headed tiger immediately pretended to sleep. Wu Hanluan saw this and gave a small elbow nudge to the mount behind him, but the tiger seemed really asleep and remained unmoved.
Then Wu Fei saw the squad leaders assigned to him and discovered a problem: all assigned to him were Wu Family people.
And another group disdained this, still following Wu Hengyu’s lead.
Wu Fei thought about it and understood the reason: those squad leaders with Donghua and bamboo region accents, their hometowns, he had all skimmed the top layer from. (Wu Fei knew his reputation was bad.)
Although later they also knew that he (Wu Fei) skimmed impartially, and the money skimmed was basically used to support the army, making their impression a bit better, but the “first impression” was still too bad.
In the latter half of the banquet, the court envoy arrived and announced a bombshell: officially declaring Prince Lelang in the North disloyal, ordering the army to march to Chong Shui.
And this decree was unusual; the Imperial Court issued a golden plaque command arrow, from which a human figure flickered out.
Wu Fei raised his head, looking at this projection that appeared in the camp like a curious baby, and the projection looked back.
Wu Hanluan quickly kicked the rigidly standing Wu Hengyu to the ground, and pulled Wu Fei down to kneel on the other side.
From the command arrow, Emperor Shu’s voice issued: “We specially permit your army to establish offices and government in Zhenzhou, temporarily stabilizing the people for the court!”
After this ethereal voice sounded, the golden figure faded.
Wu Hanluan led the clan disciples in kneeling to receive the order and accept the heavenly grace.
This was the first time in decades of Da Yao that such an order unbound by any civil official oversight was granted to a military strategist minister, showing how sudden the changes in Lelang Commandery were—how much fury had this rebellious son Prince Lelang provoked in His Majesty?
Wu Hanluan kept Wu Fei behind and rebuked: “Just now, why were you distracted?”
Wu Fei paused slightly, quibbling and shifting blame: “I was watching Hengyu, worried about his words and actions.” Wu Hengyu nearby glanced at Wu Fei and quickly said: “I was observing the imperial aura’s measurement. You? Dazzled by this collapse of ritual and music, right!”
The two brothers bickering made Wu Hanluan scold: “Enough, both shut up.”
The Da Yao Dynasty now seemed precarious, but its vast lands still held grace and might, with hundreds of thousands of troops up and down, able to withstand various storms.
Wu Hanluan ordered everyone to enter the main military tent for discussion. Just as Wu Fei thought his smoke bomb had fooled Wu Hanluan.
Before entering the tent, Wu Hanluan stopped Wu Fei. The family matters originally prepared for discussion at this banquet, he now advised Wu Fei: “Prince Zhou is willing to act as matchmaker; there is a daughter of the Li Shi in Jiuyang Commandery waiting to be married.”
Wu Fei was slightly stunned: “I came here for the army’s conquest? Won’t this marriage delay things?”
Wu Hanluan countered: “For the army’s conquest, no wife? Didn’t you say you wanted to marry a noble lady from the Central Plains? Handle this matter as soon as you arrive in the North. Betrothal gifts, divination, dowry, wedding date, and bride fetching—deal with them carefully, and don’t be as muddled as today.”
Wu Fei paused slightly and realized this was not a previous life’s blind date; marquis gate marriages required a series of cumbersome steps. Wu Fei: No wonder in ancient times legitimate sons were not always the eldest; by the time the noble lady entered, the man had long since had children with concubines during the trial marriage.
What did his fiancée look like?
Wu Fei’s thoughts wandered: With immortal spirit maintenance techniques, her appearance wouldn’t be too bad—but what about her personality? In a great clan, with differing worldviews and values, could they accommodate each other? That was a big problem.
Soon Wu Fei cast aside the fantasies, his expression changing from lecherous to calm and iron-blooded. Wu Fei knew this marriage was absolutely not some pure “blind box love” story, but a political event.
…Nitpicking Wu Fei enters realist considerations…
Although the Wu Family was a real-sealed marquis in Da Yao, located in a remote area, it needed recognition from the various noble families of the Central Plains. And with the world on the verge of collapse, the Central Plains noble families were also trying to select suitable investment targets.
At this time, those renowned military families in the Central Plains region with genealogies over five generations had long had their antennae up. You know, during the Southern Border, Wu Fei casually joked, never imagining a Central Plains noble lady would marry to the border to settle with him.
But Wu Hanluan had been working on this matter for a full two years.
Wu Fei: Such a “marriage” involves “political exchange” and will inevitably affect my well-arranged blood reward system.
Under the Eastern monarch-minister model, maternal relatives definitely have a seat at the blood reward table, but! Except for rare cases like Wei and Huo, most maternal relatives are unqualified. The most regrettable in history is Liu Bei’s troublesome maternal relative, who after ruining Guan Yu, caused Ji Han to plummet, practically a total annihilation engine.
The system popped up a line of super small text: “The more you nitpick, the higher the chance of staying single. Why think so much?”
However, Xuan Chong didn’t see it clearly, and knowing “small text is unmoderated,” ignored this barrage.
…Main military tent…
During the discussion, the map of the Five Prefectures of Chong Shui was brought out. At the same time, at Wu Fei’s request, the map of Yongzhou in the North was also displayed.
This silk cloth map had been prepared long ago. As for this weirdo Prince Lelang, in recent years he had been in an extremely uncertain state.
According to Wu Fei’s normal political logic, he couldn’t figure out why he was opposing the Imperial Court at all? What was the purpose? Normal people dissatisfied with the court either expose their own ambitions or have subordinates with ambitions too strong, forced to act to divert contradictions.
After the in-depth explanation by the advisors under Wu Hanluan, Wu Fei felt that Prince Lelang’s series of actions over the past two years were like having a rusty iron nail inserted in his brain, tetanus in the mind—baffling operations.
Once confirming Prince Lelang as his military target, Wu Fei first considered if there was intervention by external forces. Especially the “Guan” in the North and “Guotai” in the northeast.
Wu Fei asked the above questions, and the advisor gave an answer that surprised Wu Fei: Prince Lelang and Prince Bo did not have a good relationship; even when Prince Bo established Wei Guan in the North with Guotai’s support, he directly led troops to attack the Wei Guan cities, nearly driving Wei Guan to the northern Gobi.
In the tent, Wu Fei scratched his head, recalling the beatings Wei Guan took in its early founding, and sighed: “Prince Lelang really fought, not like some warlords holding back strength and fattening the enemy. Why did he rebel?”
Guotai originally planned to use Wei Guan as a chess piece to open a battle line on Da Yao’s east.
But right after deploying the chess piece, Prince Lelang nearly wiped out Wei Guan, forcing Guotai to divide troops to hold Wei Guan’s last few cities, turning itself into a two-front war, so much so that the Bohai Prefecture battle line had turned to defense these two years.
Logically, such tireless defense of the border should be loyalty personified. Was there some misunderstanding by the court? Was Emperor Shu muddled in judgment?
Wu Fei asked carefully and found it really wasn’t the court’s fault.
Transgressions aside. Now, let alone generals like the Wu Family transgressing, even local powerful noble families were transgressing, amassing retainers and conspiring with each other.
But Prince Lelang’s transgressions were different. He openly expanded the army to over fifty thousand. Claiming two hundred thousand. Good grief, how could the Imperial Court acknowledge your two hundred thousand army? Armies over one hundred thousand belong only to the Son of Heaven’s forces. Prince Lelang essentially stood up to tell the world he was shoulder-to-shoulder with the Son of Heaven. The court had long soothed, warned, and reprimanded, but he didn’t listen.
Not listening was one thing; the court planned cold treatment, but he directly plundered surrounding prefectures.
Wu Fei’s method used merchant gloves, focusing on robbing local powerful merchants, all in the countryside, never setting up checkpoints on official roads in broad daylight to plunder—in the court’s eyes, it was minor mischief, like civil cases.
He besieged court prefecture cities and let soldiers run rampant killing, which was a hundred times more egregious, disturbing the entire mountains and rivers aura to the point of heavenly wrath and popular resentment.
…Can’t analyze the rebellion’s cause, but still have to plan the pacification…
Wu Hanluan unfolded the silk cloth map and began planning.
He planned to divide the army into two routes. One assault route led by Wu Hengyu, while Wu Fei remained with the central army.
However, when it came to Wu Fei, he proposed another plan: he would lead the army to strike first. Wu Fei drew a large arc on the map, directly cutting to the northern region, seizing not strongly fortified but very important transportation areas, blocking external interference.
Then!
Wu Fei pointed with his finger: “Once my route shifts to the North, Prince Lelang will inevitably leave the fortified city.”
Then Wu Fei jokingly said to Wu Hengyu: “After I lure him out, how about you single-handedly challenge him?”
At this, Wu Fei assigned the giant beast chess piece representing Guiche and the war chariot troops under Wu Hengyu, strengthening his assault route’s capabilities.
Wu Hengyu looked at the map, pointing to the area near Yongzhou border: “Twenty days, lead twelve thousand troops here—can you do it?”
Wu Fei here had military maps personally surveyed by the non-commissioned officer corps; calculations showed ten days, but he still reported twenty days.
Feeling gazes converging, especially from the Wu Family disciples, Wu Fei said: “I’ll issue a military order certificate.” Then added to Wu Hanluan, “Those I’m leading are our own disciples; I must be strict with myself first to instill discipline in them.”
Wu Fei’s logic: family is hardest to punish. Without a desperate situation, he couldn’t enforce military law!
