Brocade Robe Unparalleled

Chapter 23 A Lucky Job
After leaving the yamen, Lin Xuan, Zhang Hu, and Chen Bao went home together.

They're here to freeload a meal.

Since tasting Lin Xuan's cooking, the two have become frequent visitors to his courtyard.

Lin Xuan did not reject this. He came into this world all alone, and the lively atmosphere at the dinner table was a rare comfort to him.

With A Luo's help, half an hour later, the food was served, and its aroma filled the air.

Zhang Hu couldn't wait any longer and quickly shoveled down a few bites. Suddenly remembering something, he stopped eating and looked at Lin Xuan: "By the way, Brother Lin, what were you doing at Wu Baihu's duty room today?"

Lin Xuan didn't hide anything and said, "It's a gift."

"what!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu dropped his chopsticks on the table with a clatter. His eyes widened as he stared at Lin Xuan in disbelief. "Give...give a gift? You gave a gift to that guy surnamed Wu?"

Chen Bao also looked at Lin Xuan with surprise; this didn't seem like something Lin Xuan would do.

Lin Xuan swallowed the food in his mouth, his tone still calm, and explained, "We will eventually have to work for the Jingbian Division. Right now, Commander Wu is all-powerful in the Jingbian Division. It won't do us any harm to ease our relationship with him."

The astonishment on Zhang Hu's face slowly faded, replaced by a complex expression.

He looked at Lin Xuan, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end it only turned into a sigh.

At this moment, A'Luo, who had been eating quietly, put down her chopsticks. She looked at Lin Xuan, then at Zhang Hu, and said softly, "Brother Zhang, I think Brother Lin did the right thing. Rank matters. If we don't cultivate a good relationship with the centurion, what if he sends you on another dangerous mission next time..."

Zhang Hu sighed and said nothing more.

Some time ago, he and Chen Bao were tormented to death by Wu Baihu.

If it weren't for Lin Xuan, they probably would have resigned long ago.

He could understand Lin Xuan's change.

After all, the last time he was sent to mediate the dispute between the two villages, he was truly risking his life.

After hesitating for a moment, he looked at Lin Xuan and asked, "Do you think Chen Bao and I should also send something to Commander Wu?"

Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "No need. In Commander Wu's eyes, the three of us are together. If I send a gift, it's the same as you sending one too..."

With Zhang Hu and Chen Bao's meager salaries, they couldn't afford to give expensive gifts, and gifts that were too insignificant were meaningless.

Moreover, Wu Baihu has stopped targeting them in the past few days.

They were not like Lin Xuan; they didn't have any aggressive Nanzhao spies behind them, nor did they need to gather classified information. They could simply be their lowly flag officers and live a peaceful life.

The next morning, Lin Xuan had just arrived at Jingbian Division when he was summoned by Commander Wu.

Lin Xuan saw a person at the door of Wu Baihu's duty room.

This man was short and stocky, and the imposing uniform of the Manchu officer looked somewhat out of place on him.

Upon seeing Lin Xuan, the man smirked, snorted coldly, and turned his head away.

Lin Xuan quickly retrieved memories related to this person.

Huang Yue was once a Jingbian Guard under Lin Xuan. He was punished by Lin Xuan for forcibly collecting protection money from small merchants and was later transferred away from Lin Xuan's command by Wu Baihu.

A few days ago, Huang Yue successfully broke through the second level of Zhenyue Gong and advanced to the eighth rank.

Unexpectedly, he was promoted to banner officer so quickly.

In Jingbian Division, an eighth-rank martial artist only qualifies as a banner officer.

To officially become a banner officer, one had to accumulate merits and build up seniority.

Within the Jingbian Division, there are at least eight or ten people who possess the strength of an eighth-rank official but are still ordinary Jingbian guards.

It seems the rumors are true; Huang Yue's rapid promotion must have been due to giving Wu Baihu a considerable benefit.

After an unknown amount of time, Wu Baihu's voice came from inside the duty room: "Come in."

The two men entered the duty room and bowed simultaneously, saying, "Greetings, Commander."

Wu Baihu sat upright behind the table, a warm smile on his face. His gaze swept over the two men, and he said, "You're both here, please sit down."

Lin Xuan and Huang Yue sat down on the chairs on either side as instructed. Wu Baihu took a sip of tea and said, "I called you over so early because I have a task for you two to handle."

Huang Yue stood up impatiently, bowed, and said, "I will obey your orders, Commander!"

Lin Xuan glanced at him but made no move.

Wu Baihu put down his teacup and said, "Longchangji Trading Company has a batch of medicinal herbs that needs to be transported to Dingzhou. Although the journey is not too far, the border has been unstable recently, with frequent robberies by mountain bandits. The manager of the trading company has come to me, hoping that the Jingbian Division can send capable men to escort the herbs along the way to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

He looked at the two men and said, "This trip is on the official road. The caravan guards are quite capable. The Jingbian Division's men are mainly there to deter others. Ordinary bandits will not dare to act rashly when they see the Jingbian Division's banner. Lin Xuan, you are steady in your work. Huang Yue is also a newly promoted banner officer who needs experience. This mission will be entrusted to the two of you."

Huang Yue's face lit up with joy.

This is hardly "training," it's clearly a lucrative post that Wu Baihu has given him!

Escorting caravans, especially those traveling along official roads and with their own strong security forces, carries extremely low risk and offers extremely high rewards.

According to the unwritten rules of the Jingbian Commandery, it was an open secret that caravans would give the escorting banner officers a "hardship fee," and the amount was quite substantial.

In the past, such lucrative positions were only given to Wu Baihu's trusted confidants.

My five hundred taels of silver weren't given away for nothing!
However, what he didn't expect was that he was promoted by Wu Baihu himself. What kind of status did Lin Xuan have to get such a lucrative position?
Suppressing his doubts, he immediately clasped his hands and said, "Your subordinate obeys!"

Lin Xuan also stood up and clasped his hands in a fist salute: "Your subordinate obeys the order." Wu Baihu nodded in satisfaction and said: "The caravan will meet at the East Gate at noon today and depart. Go and contact the manager of Longchangji now. The manager will discuss the specific details with you."

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "Go and do your job well."

"Yes!"

The two responded in unison, bowed, and left the duty room.

After leaving the duty room, Huang Yue glanced at Lin Xuan, snorted coldly, and walked straight outside.

Lin Xuan ignored Huang Yue. The fact that Wu Baihu was willing to entrust him with such a task meant that his gift yesterday had not been in vain.

Escorting caravans was not within the purview of the Jingbian Division.

Wu Baihu's actions constituted the misuse of public resources for private purposes.

It's likely that the escorting caravan would have given him some benefits.

But no one investigates these things closely. Strictly speaking, maintaining the business environment in Sizhou is also a matter of local stability maintenance, and the higher authorities can't find anything wrong with it, thus tacitly condoning the existence of such gray transactions.

In the Jingbian Division, this was a coveted and highly desirable position that everyone envied.

Zhang Hu and Chen Bao were so envious their eyes turned red.

They were also escorting goods, but after traversing mountains and valleys and working themselves to the bone for several days, they didn't receive a single penny of extra pay.

Lin Xuan's task was ridiculously easy; he traveled the official road, and the reward for one trip was equivalent to three months' salary for them. It's truly infuriating to compare oneself to others...

……

The task of escorting the caravan was indeed easier than expected.

Lin Xuan departed yesterday at noon and returned to Jingbian Division before noon today.

All he had to do along the way was wear the uniform of a flag officer, sit in front of the carriage, eat melon seeds, and read martial arts classics. He didn't have to do anything else.

In the southwest, the powerful chieftains probably didn't take the Jingbian Commandery seriously.

But for those mountain bandits and outlaws, even a minor officer was someone they couldn't afford to mess with.

After the mission was over, the caravan manager not only treated them to a sumptuous meal, but also forcibly stuffed a silver ingot into their pockets.

The banner officer's salary was three taels per month, and that ingot of silver was a full ten taels.

Compared to his previous mission to mediate the conflict between the two villages, Lin Xuan deeply understood what a "lucrative job" truly meant.

However, Lin Xuan knew very well what was going on.

This lucrative assignment was merely a small return gift from Commander Wu.

The Jingbian Division had ten banner officers, all of whom have now submitted to Wu, the centurion.

To stand out from these people, become his absolute confidant, and gain access to the core secrets of the Jingbian Division, these alone are not enough.

Inside the office of Wu, a centurion, at the Jingbian Division.

Commander Wu patted the two men on the shoulders and said, "You did a good job on the mission. You've worked hard."

Huang Yue said solicitously, "Thank you for your guidance, Commander!"

Wu Baihu nodded and said, "You've had a long journey. I'll give you half a day off so you can go back and rest."

Huang Yue, overjoyed with the heavy ten taels of silver in his pocket, bowed and said, "This subordinate takes his leave!"

After Huang Yue left, Wu Baihu saw Lin Xuan still standing there and couldn't help but ask, "Lin Xiaoqi, is there anything else?"

Lin Xuan took out the ten taels of silver from his pocket, placed it on the table, clasped his hands and said, "Reporting to my lord, this is the reward given by the manager of Longchangji for this mission. Without your patronage and favor, such a good job would never have fallen into my hands. I have not made any contribution and feel ashamed to accept it. I ask my lord to decide how to distribute this silver."

Wu Baihu's gaze did not immediately fall on the silver ingot.

Those seemingly gentle but actually sharp eyes locked onto Lin Xuan like a hawk, a strange light shining within them.

In that radiance, there was surprise, amusement, and even more so, a burning passion as if a rough gem had been discovered.

While few of his banner officers were as clueless as Huang Yue, who pocketed the silver and left, none were as sensible as Lin Xuan.

In the past, they would give him half of their earnings from their jobs, and at least 20% of it. This was an unspoken rule among them.

Lin Xuan was the first to hand over all his earnings and let himself distribute them.

He stroked his short beard, his gaze towards Lin Xuan growing increasingly satisfied.

After Chen Feng left, Lin Xuan not only became enlightened, but he became so enlightened that he was more pragmatic and knew how to behave than he had expected.

He felt that 50% of the money was too little as a filial offering.

But even with his closest confidants, he couldn't be too blunt about these things, otherwise he would lose face.

Lin Xuan's sensible nature pleased him greatly.

After a moment's thought, Commander Wu looked at Lin Xuan meaningfully and said calmly, "You did a good job this time. In a few days, I'll be assigning you a few more escort missions for merchant caravans..."

Lin Xuan clasped his hands and said, "It is my duty to share your burdens, sir. However, I am not up to the task and fear that I may delay your mission. Zhang Hu and Chen Bao, the two flag officers, are my close friends, and they also wish to assist you..."

Commander Wu nodded and casually said, "I trust you to handle things. These assignments are now in your hands; you can decide how to allocate the manpower..."

(End of this chapter)