Chapter 105

The imperial edict reached Upper Valley Pass; the eunuchs sent by the East Capital Marquis to proclaim it left, and finally their faces fell.

His confidant, Colonel Ge Zhong, kicked the nearby table, 'Damn it! The border troops of Upper Valley Pass number only fifty thousand; we have to guard against the Xianbei and watch the Southern Xiongnu, the frontier line is so long, even this number of troops is on their minds! What they say sounds nice, but moving the border troops east still guards the border; they've all been moved to the Prince You's Personal Guard Battalion, from now on they'll be the Prince You's private troops—what does that have to do with Upper Valley Pass?!'

Another Colonel, Wu Jian, reached out to steady the table, 'General, who do you think did this? Prince You?'

Liang Jin snorted coldly, 'Prince You is only seven; he doesn't understand things, and neither should the people around him. As a neighbor, offending the border troops brings him no benefit at all.'

Ge Zhong still suspected the beneficiaries, 'He's out of favor; who sensible person could be around him? Anyone with a bit of connections and brains initially all followed Prince Yu south.'

Liang Jin picked up the edict, glanced at it again, then threw it back, 'You think the Marquis of Weiting is dead? He wouldn't toss Prince You into the northern borders.' That old fox certainly has trusted people following Prince You.

'Then… who came up with this foolish move? Who else have we offended?' Ge Zhong said bluntly; he really couldn't imagine.

'Wasn't it just that we offended the wise and martial Prince Yu? Isn't Prince Yu wanting Ah Hui as a concubine? Perhaps it's this general who doesn't know how to accept favors causing trouble?'

'His… his principal wife is the daughter of Wu Liqn, and now he actually wants the general's eldest daughter to be his concubine?' Really, he's not hiding it at all.

'Does Prince Yu want to gather all those who hold troops in his hands?'

Wu Jian indeed overestimated the Great King; the Great King wasn't unable to think of giving favors to those around his father emperor, he had thought of it. But his way of giving favors was just to send his father emperor a string of beads, and meanwhile give two personal attendants two small night lamps. It's not that he doesn't know everyone likes silver; isn't it just that his strength doesn't allow it?

So when the Great King learned that his father emperor had requisitioned three thousand people from Upper Valley Pass for him, he needed two people to support his chin.

The Great King stared dumbfounded; after a long while he said to his cousin across from him, 'Quickly help support my chin…'

Wei Shen took the opportunity to rush over and pinch his belly fat, but the Great King disliked it and shoved him away, 'Zhao Bao, Zhao Bao, come support my chin—it might be dislocated…'

Zhao Bao: '…It's true, Your Highness, the three thousand soldiers have already arrived outside You Prefecture.'

Following Ge Zhong's idea, they would just scrape together some old and weak soldiers to send off, but last year's drought made grain supplies especially scarce; at year's end they had painfully cut back a bit of the old and weak, and now they see they've raised them until spring, yet they're supposed to give away three thousand people for free.

But sending such poor-quality people would also look bad, after all it had been clearly said they were to fill the Prince You's Personal Guard Battalion, so they couldn't all be misfits. The East Capital Marquis was also a respectable person; in the end he had each commandant pick a relatively weak unit to send, making up a presentable three thousand.

The Great King brought Zhang Tu to take over this 'New Personal Guard Battalion'; upon seeing Ge Zhong personally come to behold the Prince You's bearing, he showed an expression as if wanting to cry but holding back—a look of wanting to cry but struggling not to.

After exchanging greetings, the Great King showed a look of grievance, 'Colonel doesn't know, it's been over a month since I wrote to my father emperor, I truly didn't expect him to really transfer troops from elsewhere to me. My original intention was just to try mentioning it, mainly wanting some consolation money for fallen soldiers; you know last year's You Prefecture drought, the finances are a bit tight. To be frank, I'm very afraid the Xianbei will return for revenge; I've already recruited some people in You Prefecture for training! Now what can I do? The imperial edict has already been issued, and another three thousand—can I afford to support them? Colonel, do your border troops eat a lot?'

Ge Zhong: '…I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen your princely mansion.'

If he meant something, he lifted his gaze to a pavilion revealed behind the West Major Camp's princely mansion.

The Great King also wanted to sigh, 'If you had come earlier and said so, I would have gone to the gate of You Prefecture to wait for you.'

Also blame the You Prefecture Guard for not having started work yet; only after all these people came to the outskirts did they report, alas!

Fortunately you came today; if you were two days later the walls would already be under construction, letting you see that the Great King still has money to hire tiny ants to build the walls, and everyone is dressed so neatly—by then his words would be even harder to believe.

But the new princely mansion can't stay hidden either; with so many coming and going, a quick inquiry reveals everything. As for Chang'an, they probably already know by now that his northern frontier new princely mansion is quite good—after all, judging by the time, the Jin family's caravan should have returned as well.

The Great King found out too late, only having time to drive the troops of the West Major Camp out to the East Major Camp, leaving only a few hundred here; otherwise a camp would be two or three thousand, which would be hard to explain.

'All I have left is this princely mansion; I asked overseas experts to help build it, the cost is far less than what the Colonel imagined, but I really have empty hands now. Look at the height of that wall—you'll see I'm shrinking inside, the Xianbei can't do anything to me, and sacrificing so many people is all to protect You Prefecture's populace.' This also has the border troops' fault in it; can you understand? Even two thousand isn't a small scale.

The Great King feared offending that dark-faced, big-bearded man again, so he couldn't speak too plainly, after all he had just taken advantage of them.

Ge Zhong also didn't bother with the villain's petty tricks, 'Other junior officers aren't under my command; only these three thousand soldiers are the border troops' fine lads—Your Highness ought to treat them well.' Anyway, they can't be taken back, saying anything is just idle talk. He credited this to Prince Yu's account, but this Prince You is no simple matter either.

At the very least, he isn't as poor as he claims.

Others don't know how many have died in the Personal Guard Battalion, but the Great King knows: originally there were 2,800 left, after filling it with two thousand plus from the wall garrison reserves, he now personally has five thousand; and now, with another three thousand sent, the Personal Guard Battalion's numbers reach as high as eight thousand.

Seeing Ge Zhong off, the Great King thought of the free three thousand people, just about to crack a smile, he pulled his fingers and couldn't laugh.

Eight thousand people!

How much food will we need to eat this month!

Living arrangements are easy to say; the east-west barracks could hold another eight thousand, but feeding these three thousand people is a big problem.

Bai Yang, in the evening, just waited for a chirp-chirp monster great king to arrive.

"Bai Ge, if you have eight thousand mouths to feed, how are you going to feed them?"

"I'll open a paper-box factory that just requires hands, send them all to work there to be self-sufficient, and let them support themselves."

"What's a paper box? Can I glue it?"

"…We've gone off topic. Where did you get eight thousand people? Weren't you supposed to have five thousand?"

"My father transferred three thousand from the neighboring Shanggu Pass border troops to serve as my personal guard; I didn't ask him for people or money, but who knew he'd actually give …"

"Then you've definitely offended the Shanggu Pass people."

"I, the prince, know this, though I don't know who came up with this bad idea. However, the Duke of Dongdu might not misunderstand, after all, I don't have much say in the court. I've considered buying a horse to give him, to show our friendly neighborly attitude; isn't that too expensive? I'm still feeling the pain."

Bai Yang was speechless; you can't even speak, yet you're so proud? People are coming, but you can't afford to support them.

"You're going to exchange your ingots for some silver and go spend it, right?"

Great King also has it tough, stretches out his chubby paw and starts calculating: "My ingots need to purchase weapons; I originally added another two thousand knives, plus my older cousin's handcrafted sabers; I myself ordered a spear and also ordered a heavy blade; I need to buy feed pellets for Weini; I need to save up to buy horses from the market; I need to ask you to stockpile grain; I need to buy supplies from Myriad Phenomena City…"

Bai Yang hurriedly called a halt; before the Great King's money even warmed up, a bunch of places were already lining up.