The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 105 Turning Against Each Other

After leaving the military commander's residence, Sun Shaozu returned home and immediately locked himself in his study.

The servants noticed Sun Shaozu's gloomy face and were too frightened to utter a sound.

Finally, I informed the housekeeper.

The butler pushed open the door to the study.

"Master, is something not going well?" the butler asked in a low voice.

At this moment, he was the only one in the Sun family who dared to come over.

"That Liu Tianwang is really asking for an exorbitant amount." Sun Shaozu took a few deep breaths to calm his anger. "He's asking for 100,000 taels right off the bat. Does he think the Sun family's money comes from thin air?"

Even if smuggling to the border regions is highly profitable, it comes at the cost of lives and heads.

One hundred thousand taels of silver was a huge fortune for the Sun family.

"Master, could you tell the old man what happened?" the butler asked.

Sun Shaozu glanced at him, a thought struck him, and then recounted in detail his conversation with Liu Tianwang.

It is true that the Sun family secretly supported Beifeng Village, but he has already contacted Beifeng Village and confirmed that Wei Ya's murder had nothing to do with them.

As for the Beifengzhai saddle and other items left at the scene, these were all fakes created to frame someone.

News also came from Beifeng Village that they had recently lost nearly half of their men.

They were supposed to go out and loot, but there's been no news since.

People guessed that they might have been attacked by the northern barbarians, and that the situation was likely dire.

That saddle might have been dropped by one of these people.

Sun Shaozu is no longer concerned about the extent of the losses suffered by Beifeng Village.

The most troublesome thing right now is the wanted and extermination order issued by Datong Town against Beifeng Village. If this order remains in effect, the Sun family will be in a very passive position.

Although no one has reported the Sun family yet, given enough time, it's hard to guarantee that someone won't come out and cause them trouble.

Sun Shaozu believed that they could not produce any conclusive evidence to prove that his side was related to Beifeng Village, but if the government really wanted to deal with his Sun family, they could make up some evidence even without it.

This matter is extremely detrimental to the Sun family.

Therefore, he must suppress this matter as soon as possible and extricate the Sun family from this vortex.

Then he could only go to Liu Tianwang.

Then Liu Tianwang made a request for 100,000 taels of silver.

Sun Shaozu didn't want to directly fall out with Liu Tianwang, so he neither immediately agreed nor refused, only saying that his family couldn't raise that much silver at the moment and that he would need some more time.

After listening to Sun Shaozu's description, the steward pondered for a moment and said, "Master, the old man doesn't think Liu Tianwang necessarily wants 100,000 taels of silver."

"What do you mean? He doesn't want the money?" Sun Shaozu asked.

"It's not that we don't want money, it's just that we can't possibly ask for this much," the butler sighed. "He's asking for an exorbitant price, trying to extort money from our Sun family while we're in trouble."

"That's right, it's extortion, how despicable!" Sun Shaozu said angrily.

He had never suffered such humiliation before.

"We can provide the silver; we believe we can discuss it further later. It can't be 100,000 taels," the steward said. "I think our Sun family is still helpful to Liu Tianwang. He can't really cut off our livelihood. Our Sun family isn't so easily manipulated either; otherwise, it would be a lose-lose situation for everyone."

"You mean?" Sun Shaozu's expression shifted. "Liu Tianwang wants to win us over?"

"Master, think about it, the garrison commanders of Zhenqiang Fort and Juqiang Fort shouldn't be Liu Tianwang's men, right?" the steward said with a smile. "In this personnel appointment, Liu Tianwang, the deputy commander of the Northeast Route, has suffered a complete defeat, utterly manipulated by Chen Tai. It's one thing that Ye Fandong was originally Chen Tai's man, but Jia Chen, who should have been Liu Tianwang's, has now switched sides to Chen Tai. Do you think Liu Tianwang needs more support if he wants to establish himself in the Northeast Route?"

"That's right, that's right." Sun Shaozu nodded repeatedly.

Hearing the butler's analysis, he felt much more at ease.

Liu Tianwang was trying to intimidate him, wanting the Sun family to submit.

Submission is impossible; at most, the two sides can cooperate.

Of course, in the matter of Wei Ya, the Sun family could spend money to avoid disaster, but it was not the 100,000 taels that Liu Tianwang proposed.

If it were tens of thousands of taels, say twenty or thirty thousand taels, the Sun family could still afford it.

If this matter can be dropped, the money can be given.

"Master, you can go see Liu Tianwang again in a few days and perhaps confront him directly," the butler suggested.

"I understand." Sun Shaozu knew what to do.

To be honest, it would be a good thing to have some connection with Liu Tianwang.

This guy has connections in the capital, so the Sun family should take him seriously.

As for Chen Tai, Sun Shaozu doesn't have any particular thoughts on the matter.

Chen Tai had a prejudice against powerful and wealthy families like the Sun family.

He probably harbors resentment because they didn't value him in the past.

Therefore, Chen Tai becoming a general was not a good thing for them.

However, they were not afraid of Chen Tai, as most of his officers and garrison commanders were related to these powerful clans.

Then Liu Tianwang, this outsider, is no exception; he must also be brought in to strengthen our side's forces.

Even though Chen Tai is a general, he can't do whatever he wants in Datong Town; he still has to consider the feelings of his men.

Liu Tianwang and Sun Shaozu were in a bad mood, but things were bustling at Qianshan Fort.

The news of Jia Chen's promotion to garrison commander of the Fortress has been issued, and everyone knows it.

They never expected Jia Chen to improve so much.

After all, when they killed Wei Ya, everyone was only thinking about replacing the garrison commander of Zhenqiang Fort; they didn't think much about anything else.

After all, he's only a garrison commander, while Jia Chen is only a commander of a thousand men—something no one had ever dared to imagine before.

"What's all the fuss about? With the merits you've made, shouldn't you be promoted to the position of garrison commander of Juqiang Fort? Those so-called garrison commanders and lieutenant generals, which one of them can compare to you? In my opinion, you should be the lieutenant general." Huang Xiuer glanced at everyone and sneered.

Wang Baisheng and the others were stunned when they heard this; they realized that Huang Xiuer was looking down on them.

They looked somewhat embarrassed.

"That's right, that's right, aren't those guys just benefiting from the adults' influence?" Liu Daniu shouted.

"Indeed, if they hadn't shared in your credit, you would probably have been granted a noble title," Zhao Zheng nodded.

People were discussing it animatedly.

"Alright, let's not talk about these things anymore," Jia Chen said.

This is getting more and more outrageous.

Everyone knew that the credit had been distributed, and the imperial court couldn't possibly be unaware of it.

The results from Qianshanbao are considered acceptable.

He finally became the garrison commander of the fortress, and a weight was lifted from his heart.

While waiting for news, his heart was far from calm.

Although I asked Ye Fandong and Hu Youcai for help, who knows what the outcome will be until the very end?

Being only a commander of a thousand households is indeed a huge disadvantage.

Fortunately, the result was good.

The rewards for everyone's merits from last time have also been distributed.

The rewards and promotions should have been issued much earlier, before the new year, but due to the Chahar tribe's southward march to Xuanfu and the guarded Datong town, it was delayed until after the new year.

Besides Jia Chen, Liu Cheng, Zhao Zheng, Wang Baisheng, Ding Heihu, and Wu Jiangsheng were promoted to centurions, and everyone else received some kind of promotion.

The situation of Huang Xiuer and her sisters is somewhat special. There is no precedent in the Great Hong Dynasty for women to serve in the army, let alone be granted official positions.

Therefore, the imperial court did not grant him a position, but only gave him a silver reward as encouragement.

Although the imperial court did not recognize it, Jia Chen still granted Huang Xiuer the treatment of a general.

Of course, this flag is only valid under Jia Chen's jurisdiction; it won't be recognized elsewhere.

Although everyone felt indignant on behalf of Huang Xiuer and her sisters, Huang Xiuer and her sisters themselves did not seem to care too much about it.

They weren't after promotions or wealth; they just wanted to kill the northern barbarians and avenge themselves, not only for their own sake but also for the sake of the people and their families who had been harmed in Datong Town.

As long as they could kill the Northern barbarians, they had nothing to be unwilling about.

Seeing everyone so happy, Jia Chen was also pleased.

But soon, he became conflicted.

Being assigned to guard the fortress is definitely a good thing.

The problem is how many people to take to the fortified position, and which people to take.

There are nearly five hundred men capable of fighting at Qianshan Fort. Jia Chen can't bear to abandon any of them.

But it's impossible for me to take all five hundred people with me.

Although the imperial court had a system of household servants, who could accompany officials to take up positions in other places.

But what about me, a mere commander of a thousand households, leading only five hundred servants?

Even a lieutenant general like Liu Tianwang, and some generals, don't have this many personal guards.

It doesn't seem very realistic.

Although he now has some financial resources thanks to the goods from the Sun family's caravan, supporting these 500 people shouldn't be a problem, at least not for a while.

However, he cannot explain the source of the funds, which may cause many problems later.

After all, my current strength is not strong enough, so I need to keep a low profile.

Although the household servants also received rations and pay from the imperial court, their existence meant that their treatment was several times better than that of ordinary soldiers.

Therefore, the provisions and pay provided by the imperial court were far from sufficient, and generals often had to make up the shortfall themselves.

That is why high-ranking generals did not have many personal guards.

Unless it's like Liaodong, where the general's personal guards might exceed a thousand, facing immense pressure from the Later Jin.

Even the generals of Datong and Xuanfu garrisons usually had fewer than a thousand retainers.

Not everyone can afford to support such elite troops, and the enormous cost is painful for the general.

Despite his inner conflict, Jia Chen decided to try to take as many people as possible with him when the time came.

This is not only to get everyone to follow him, but also to strengthen the defensive capabilities of the Fortress.

As for how many people to take away, Jia Chen felt he needed to find time to meet with Ye Fandong and discuss it with him.

After all, Qianshan Fort is a fortified city under the jurisdiction of Zhenqiang Fort. As long as Ye Fandong secretly approves, he can secretly take more people away.

But such a thing is probably not easy.

Even though he had a good relationship with Ye Fandong, the soldiers of Qianshan Fort were much better than those of other fortresses.

Will Ye Fandong release the person?

Perhaps out of consideration for the two individuals, some people might be spared, but I doubt it will be too many.

Just as Jia Chen was preparing to take up his post at Juqiangbao, Ye Fandong unexpectedly arrived at Qianshanbao first.

Jia Chen was somewhat surprised. Had Ye Fandong arrived at Zhenqiang Fort to take up his post so soon?

But thinking about it, it's understandable. Ye Fandong has long coveted the defense of Zhenqiang Fort.

"Brother, I've come here today to talk about the matter of Qianshan Fortress," Ye Fandong said.

Only Jia Chen and Ye Fandong were in the room.

Upon hearing Ye Fandong's words, Jia Chen's expression changed slightly.

Upon arrival, the fortified town of Qianshan still attracted a great deal of attention.

If not handled properly, he might even fall out with Ye Fandong because of it.