I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 85 Strategist and Military Commander
Ji Ling led his army back to Shouchun. Just as they were about to disembark, they saw a large number of corpses floating at the ferry dock.

These corpses were covered in blood, and their clothes had been stripped off. Ji Ling saw that the wounds were long and thin, and immediately guessed that they were caused by whipping with a long whip.

Just then, Chief Secretary Yang Hong was also there, urging the cargo ship to unload logs downstream. Ji Ling stepped forward and asked, "What's going on in the water?"

Ji Ling was tall and imposing, standing behind Yang Hong like a mountain!
Yang Hong was startled at first, but relaxed immediately when he saw that it was Ji Ling: "So it's General Ji."

"It's nothing, just some corpses."

"I recognize it as a dead body!"

Ji Ling said impatiently, "I'm asking why they died. Did you do something?"

Yang Hong immediately frowned: "General Ji, don't wrong me!"

"As you know, as soon as General Hou arrived in Huainan, he used the excuse that the Shouchun Prefectural Governor's residence was too cramped to build a new palace in the south of the city, and he demanded that it be completed as soon as possible. What could I do if I didn't push him harder?"

"Do you think it's just that they died? Can't you see I can barely stand? I haven't slept for days while dealing with palace affairs. Just being able to stand here and talk to you is my limit. What do you think I should do?"

Ji Ling remained silent.

Because he knew that Yang Hong was telling the truth.

After Liu Miao rescued Chen Yu that day, Yuan Shu took control of Shouchun. He then complained that the city of Shouchun was too cramped, so he ordered his chief secretary Yang Hong to oversee its repairs.

Moreover, if Ji Ling remembered correctly, Yuan Shu demanded that the palace be repaired before the beginning of next spring.

Such a rushed and labor-intensive effort yielded no benefit whatsoever for any of the officials and laborers from Yuan Shu down the line! Casualties were, of course, inevitable.

For some reason, Ji Ling suddenly thought of Liu Miao at this moment.

When he met Liu Miao at Chaohu, there were naturally more than just Liu Miao on one boat.

Ji Ling knew perfectly well who was on those ships and why Liu Miao was still in Huainan.

The contrast between the two situations made Ji Ling extremely agitated. She simply said, "Don't dump it at the dock! Dump it a little further down! What if it blocks the boat?"

"Isn't this more convenient!"

Yang Hong gave a perfunctory answer, and after confirming that the goods were in order, he called out to Ji Ling: "General Ji, are you going to see General Hou?"

"Yes."

"Let's go together! Let's go together! I also have some things to discuss with General Hou!"

When the Later Han Dynasty was established, Shouchun was not actually the capital of a prefecture or state, but rather the fiefdom of Liu Yan, the seventh son of Emperor Guangwu (Liu Xiufu).

As a fiefdom of a vassal king and also one of the few large cities in Yangzhou, Shouchun was not as bad as Yuan Shu described, nor was its prefectural governor's residence as cramped as Yuan Shu claimed.

To the left, in the central court, was a splendid figure, holding court and residing in his quarters. Precious trees flourished, and rare flowers grew luxuriantly. A gentle breeze carried the fragrance of orchids, and sweet dew flowed like fine wine.

To the right lies a sparse garden and winding pond, below which is a garden and a high hall. Above, there are layers of beams and multiple halls, below, an ice chamber and a dark, gloomy space. The surrounding pavilions reach the sky, and the red steps overlook the towering peaks.

The inner streets converge, with vermilion gates at the corners. Stone beams and flying bridges lead to the Zhang Canal. Ditches are dredged to border the roads, and green locust trees are planted to provide shade...

As it was once the capital of a feudal lord, its scenery and grandeur, though not as magnificent as Luoyang or Chang'an, were still unmatched by ordinary cities!

Yuan Shu now lives there. It takes Ji Ling and Yang Hong half an hour to walk from Xiaoyao Ford outside the city to the mansion, which shows how magnificent it is!
Ji Ling arrived at the inner hall to wait, only to find that there were quite a few young boys dressed in gorgeous clothes waiting at the entrance. She couldn't help but ask Yang Hong, "Who are these people?"

“They found some handsome young boys from outside, castrated them, and had them serve the general.”

Ji Ling's Adam's apple bobbed, and he subconsciously uttered a word: "Eunuch?"

"How to speak?"

Yang Hong kindly reminded Ji Ling, "You mustn't let General Hou hear this! General Hou personally eliminated the Ten Attendants and other eunuchs back then, how could he possibly keep eunuchs now?"

"But General Hou is of noble birth and has many concubines. Ordinary men cannot easily enter and leave the inner palace, so castrating a few boys is not a big deal!"

Yang Hong's explanation seemed reasonable, but Ji Ling felt a chill run down her spine.

He not only renovated the palace to the standards of Luoyang, but also kept eunuchs around him. Most importantly, Yuan Shu had held the Imperial Seal of the State for so long, yet he had never said anything about returning it to the Emperor…

"General Ji! What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

At this moment, a boy with rosy lips and white teeth came to the two of them and invited them inside.

The boy's smile was so bright that it didn't look like that of a eunuch at all.

Perhaps he didn't realize what he had lost, and was just happy to have enough to eat every day... Thinking of this, Ji Ling decided that he should advise Yuan Shu today no matter what, so that Yuan Shu would not slack off!
But when Ji Ling entered the inner hall, his expression was even more surprised!

Looking around, the hall was filled with jewels and treasures, almost a golden expanse!
A large number of gold and bronze artifacts were displayed in the inner hall. Even the emperor's palace was probably not as magnificent as this.
In the center of the inner palace, musicians played music and maids sang and danced, displaying extravagance.

Yuan Shu sat on the throne in the main hall, with his most favored concubine, Lady Feng, kneeling before him. Lady Feng was offering Yuan Shu a rare winter persimmon, urging him to enjoy it.

Yuan Shu gently bit through the sour skin of the persimmon with his teeth, greedily sucking out the sweet juice inside until his throat trembled and he had sucked out all the honey inside. Only then, with a hint of drunkenness, did he look at Yang Hong and Ji Ling and ask, "What brings you here today?"

Yang Hong took out a silk handkerchief from his bosom and had the eunuch beside him hand it to him.

Yuan Shu had a habit of disliking rough wooden or bamboo slips. He insisted that officials write everything on silk before reading it. So even the smallest matters had to be written on soft silk before being submitted.

"General, the Jiujiang treasury is full and there is no shortage of money and grain, so the expenses for repairing the palace are quite generous, but..."

Yang Hong glanced at Ji Ling: "But nowadays, only three out of ten able-bodied men remain in Huainan, so it's impossible to find laborers to come and repair it. Therefore, it's probably difficult to complete the work before next year's Spring Festival."

My dear mother!

Ji Ling cursed under her breath and glared at Yang Hong. She finally understood why Yang Hong had come with her to see Yuan Shu. He wanted her to take the blame for his death.
As expected! Yuan Shu immediately turned to Ji Ling: "I sent you to investigate this matter, have you found out anything?"

Ji Ling quickly cupped his hands in greeting: "It has been confirmed!"

"Now all the people of Huainan have fled to Jiangdong! And the one who provided them with boats is none other than Liu Miao and Liu Zhongshan!"

Liu Zhongshan?
Yuan Shu reached out to urge Lady Feng, who was kneeling at his feet, to leave, and then asked Ji Ling again, "Have you investigated thoroughly?"

"Absolutely great!"

In the past few days, Ji Ling has investigated and found out the full picture of Liu Miao's transportation of people across the river.

"Liu Miao first recruited the river bandits of Chaohu Lake, and then his subordinate, General Zhou Yu, with the help of Chen Yu, obtained boats docked in Hefei. Only then was he able to bring so many people across the river in a short time!"

Ji Ling said solemnly, “I have met Liu Miao in Shouchun and Chaohu. I always felt that he was a man of great ambition and not one to be subservient to others. I urge you, General, to take advantage of the fact that he has not yet established a firm foothold in Jiangdong and order me to lead a large army to suppress him!”

Before Yuan Shu could say anything, Yang Hong couldn't stand it anymore—"Are we still going to send troops?"

"General Ji, don't you know that your soldiers are all weary of war and need rest? Are you not afraid of something going wrong by sending troops out at this time?"

"Moreover, the few able-bodied men we have are currently repairing the palace. If we are to use troops again, does General Ji intend for them to abandon the repairs and instead transport grain and build camps for you?"

Ji Ling snorted coldly: "That's exactly what I meant!"

"Now that it's the dead of winter, the people have no warm clothes and not enough food. Forcibly conscripting them into service will surely make them resentful! It would be better to temporarily incorporate them into the army, at least that way they can have a full meal!"

"Moreover, once we can conquer Jiangdong and defeat Liu Miao, we can relocate hundreds of thousands of households to Huainan. With so many able-bodied men, what difficulty would there be in repairing a few palaces?"

……

Yuan Shu put both hands into his sleeves and watched with interest the two people arguing below.

The resources in the world are limited in number, and not only the feudal lords want to compete for them, but also the people under their command.

If we listen to Yang Hong, we can continue to repair the palace and then move into a beautiful and comfortable new house next spring.

If they listened to Ji Ling, they would send troops to conquer and plunder the people of Jiangdong to enrich Huainan, but they would not be able to move into their new houses in time.

Moreover, both Yang Hong and Ji Ling's arguments were quite compelling. Yang Hong believed that Yuan Shu had suffered several defeats in succession and his soldiers needed rest; Ji Ling, on the other hand, believed that Liu Miao was a major threat and needed to be eliminated as soon as possible…

Now, it remains to be seen who can win the argument!

Yang Hong was the first to launch an attack.

"General Ji said he wanted to attack Liu Miao and Liu Zhongshan. Does that mean he has a pretext to attack them?"

"Liu Zhongshan is a descendant of the Prince of Langya. He has rendered meritorious service to the General of the Rear by presenting the imperial seal to him. The General of the Rear has just appointed him as the Governor of Yangzhou and General Who Conquers the East, and has also married a daughter of the Yuan family to him. Now you suddenly want to send troops to attack him. Do you want to put the General of the Rear in a position of being unrighteous and immoral?"

Ji Ling got angry!

He didn't understand any concept of titles or honors; all he knew was... Liu Miao was in danger! Extremely dangerous!
The scattered stars on Chaohu Lake were a scene he would never forget in his life! If Liu Miao really occupied Jiangdong and Yuan Shu had such a behemoth squatting next to him, Ji Ling probably wouldn't be able to sleep soundly!

"What need is there for righteousness? Liu Miao went to great lengths to embezzle the people and the Lujiang treasury. Isn't that blatant disloyalty? And he was the one who rescued the traitor Chen Yu! Isn't that right?"

Yang Hong then said, "That is incorrect!"

"It is common knowledge in Huainan that Liu Miao was greedy for money and lustful."

"He took those people's treasuries, maybe he was just after their wealth, and it's not as serious as General Ji said!"

"As for rescuing Chen Yu... doesn't General Ji think that Liu Miao's rescue is actually beneficial to the General of the Rear?"

“Chen Yu was appointed Governor of Yangzhou by the General of the Rear. Although he rebelled, he cannot die at our hands, otherwise wouldn’t we become a laughing stock in the eyes of the world? Besides, Chen Yu is, after all, the son of Grand Commandant Chen Qiu! Chen Qiu had students and former officials all over the country and was a model for scholars! If we really kill him, wouldn’t we be making enemies of Chen Qiu’s students?”

"Therefore, Liu Miao's rescue of Chen Yu is not a bad thing for General Liu, but rather a great thing!"

Ji Ling never expected that Yang Hong could actually turn black into white with his bright smile!
Liu Miao's rescue of Chen Yu was clearly an act of opposing Yuan Shu, but in Yang Hong's mouth, it became an act of helping Yuan Shu get rid of a problem!
Ji Ling, being a military general, was not good with words. Although he felt the reasoning was wrong, he didn't know how to refute Yang Hong, and could only point at Yang Hong and say, "You, you..."

Yang Hong, however, gave Ji Ling no chance to refute him, delivering a fatal blow directly to her—

"General Ji just said that Liu Miao has great ambitions?"

"Then let me ask you, if he truly had great ambitions, why would he present the Imperial Seal of the State to the General of the Rear?"

"If he truly had great ambitions, and was a member of the Liu clan, wouldn't he know to take the Imperial Seal of the State to Jiangdong? Don't you think so?"

Ji Ling was completely speechless.

Liu Miao's offering of the imperial seal is now his biggest shield!
That's the Imperial Seal of the State! A legendary national treasure!

Throughout history, what ambitious person would give it away to someone else? In other words, if someone could give away even the imperial seal, what great ambition could they possibly have?

Ji Ling blushed, but suddenly a round of applause came from above.

Clearly, Yuan Shu has now made his decision.

Yuan Shu licked his lips, as if still reminiscing about the sweetness of the persimmons, and then looked at Yang Hong: "The Chief Secretary is right."

“Zhongshan is a greedy and lustful man. What can the people do even if some money is transported there? If he really had great ambitions, why would he ask Zhou Yu to hand over the imperial seal?”

"When I crossed the Huai River, I heard that the local boatmen took the opportunity to extort money from those crossing the river. I suppose Zhongshan was willing to transport those people across the river for the same reason, just for their money!"

"As the Chief Secretary just said, Huainan is prosperous and Jiujiang's treasury is full. Zhongshan can take the money if he wants."

"And then there's Chen Yu. Although she annoys me... her father is, after all, Grand Commandant Chen Qiu, with many protégés and former subordinates. It's not easy to kill her so easily. Besides, I know Chen Yu's character. She's just a woman and a child, and she's timid. Letting her go is no big deal."

After Yuan Shu finished speaking, Yang Hong immediately praised him, saying, "General, you are so magnanimous and benevolent. Only a wise ruler could do that! Even Yao and Shun would probably only be comparable to your virtue."

Yuan Shu laughed heartily: "How could I compare to people like Yao and Shun? It's settled then! If the Chief Clerk is short of people, just continue to conscript people. Our great China may not have many other things, but we have as many people as we need!"

At the same time, Yuan Shu did not neglect one thing and comforted Ji Ling, saying, "General, you have worked hard. It is cold today, so you should take the soldiers to rest and not make them run around!"

After saying this, Yuan Shu generously bestowed upon Ji Ling clothing and money, telling him to rest well and not to overwork himself, thus harming his health, and showing him great care and concern...

Ji Ling had no choice but to leave the inner hall with Yang Hong. Before Ji Ling could say anything, Yang Hong apologized to her, saying, "I was wrong just now. Please forgive me, General."

Ji Ling didn't understand. Just now, Yang Hong had been at odds with him in front of Yuan Shu, but now he was being so humble and subservient. Yang Hong said helplessly, "If the general has to go to war, it will delay my mission... But my mission is actually the general's true wish. How can I abandon the lord's wish to satisfy your request?"

Although she understood that Yang Hong's intention was not directed at her, Ji Ling still said angrily, "But I said that entirely for the sake of the country!"

Yang Hong sighed softly: "How could I not know what the general is thinking? It's certainly not a good thing that Liu Miao took away so many people from Huainan."

"How about this? I've heard that there are powerful generals like Zu Lang and Yan Baihu in Jiangdong, with tens of thousands of soldiers under their command! General, why don't you offer a suggestion to the Rear General in a couple of days, grant them official seals, and have them attack Liu Miao, preventing him from establishing a foothold in Jiangdong? This way, you can stop Liu Miao without having to personally lead an expedition. Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

Ji Ling's expression became even more complicated: "Why didn't the Chief Clerk mention this to the Rear General just now?"

“What I said and what I said to the General are ultimately two different things. General, you are a talented person capable of commanding the army and a pillar of the General's great cause. It is our hope that you will gain the General's favor!”

After saying this, Yang Hong bowed and left.

As Ji Ling watched Yang Hong stumble away, she suddenly realized that this Chief Secretary had also had a very difficult time.

Sighed helplessly.

Since everyone is selfless and has sufficient strategy, why has things come to this point?
Who should be blamed for this situation?
(End of this chapter)