Chapter 314
Great King received the reward and immediately set out for Bingzhou; by convention, he left a few cavalrymen at Shuofang Pass as instructors.
His spur-of-the-moment journey left Wei Shen most bewildered, "Aren't we waiting for supplies? I haven't seen any provisions arrive."
The Great King's reason was utterly simple: he didn't wait because he missed his bear!
That reason was fine.
The next day, the Great King led his 20,000 cavalry on the march back to Youzhou.
Along the march, everyone noticed a young armored fighter at his side—who was this person? Where did he come from?
The answer was that he was a talent promoted beyond the usual ranks.
The Wei brothers thought he had come from the Anbei General; he looked unfamiliar, not one of their Youzhou cavalry.
After that, the young man named Changli stayed by the Great King's side, almost becoming a Left and Right Protector alongside Ling Yin. The Great King always had a clear mind on important matters, and Wei Ke didn't think much of it—until the Great King, upon returning, directly appointed him a Colonel.
This post outranks a Captain; it is usually granted to trusted aides and imperial relatives. Changli's starting point was a Colonel, and the Great King's expectations of the veteran general were far from ordinary.
Without the baggage, the cavalry's marching speed was great; they paused briefly in Bingzhou, and the Great King arranged for the iron mine to be taken care of, whereupon the Marquis of the Eastern Capital breathed a sigh of relief.
The Great King had previously left over ten thousand Xiongnu captives in Bingzhou, and later sent another forty thousand Li River garrison troops. Now the farming season in the north had long passed, so there was little work to assign them; they were merely building walls and houses, and without funds to pave roads, there was almost nothing left to repair—so the Marquis of the Eastern Capital had them making earth bricks.
Upon hearing that Bingzhou had discovered an iron mine, the Marquis of the Eastern Capital rejoiced, "The Xiongnu now have a place to go; once it's built, let them all work the mine."
As the Great King traveled, he found Bingzhou no better than Liangzhou; he had never thought much of Bai Li Jin, hadn't planned to build a pass in Bingzhou, but now he thought, forget it, just leave one.
He figured he was sending Bingzhou a bit of welfare, and the pass would be sufficient for now.
Thus, in the Marquis of the Eastern Capital's astonished gaze, he placed a pass across the mandatory route from Chang'an to Bingzhou—on the map, it looked as if it were blocking the very gate of Chang'an…
The Marquis of the Eastern Capital felt nothing concrete upon seeing the
The pass lay right beside the Luo River, so the Great King simply named it the Luoshui Pass for convenience.
"Uncle Liang, once the Luoshui Pass is finished, we'll move Bingzhou's garrison there—this pass comes with a barracks."
The Marquis of the Eastern Capital sighed in admiration at the pass, which could be called luxurious.
The two then consulted and decided to utterly scatter Chen Feng's 40,000 troops, lest they remain together—for while one might not fear ten thousand, one fears the myriad possibilities. After all, the Marquis of the Eastern Capital's own forces numbered only ten thousand, and the Li River Army, which had brought four times as many captives, was constantly worried about mishaps.
The Marquis of the Eastern Capital's caution was not without reason, and the Great King readily agreed.
Finally, the Luoshui Pass retained ten thousand of the Li River Army, while the Great King took the remaining thirty thousand on his way. He gave ten thousand to Ge Zhong, who guarded Yizhou, and brought the other twenty thousand back to be incorporated into the Shanggu Pass—just as the Shanggu Pass had suffered losses in its battle with the Xianbei, this made up the shortfall perfectly.
Leaving Bingzhou, the Great King still had two passes in hand; upon reaching Yizhou he gave one to Ge Zhong, and the last was for the Shanggu Pass. For this reason, before returning to Youzhou, the Great King made a special trip to the Shanggu Pass to personally escort the twenty thousand Li River troops there.
The Great King personally oversaw the construction plans for the new Shanggu Pass, ordering it torn down and rebuilt on the same spot!
Wu Jian performed far better than Ge Zhong in the Great King's presence, but after the Great King left he kept nervously kneading his own arm…
As Liang Da Jing passed by, he heard him muttering over and over, "I've struck it rich, good times have come~ I've struck it rich~"
The Great King had scattered all five passes, and the task board refreshed entirely. The main quest remained two, while the side quests became eight… nine?
While the Great King rested, he glanced over everything from top to bottom: construction tasks for the five passes, an academy, a clinic, an iron mine—huh, there was indeed a new one.
【Side Quest Nine: Congratulations, my lord, you have achieved the accomplishment of unifying the Northern Border; please promptly complete the upgrade and renovation task for the You Prince's Manor. Renovation items: plaques, decorations bearing the words "You Prince's Manor," etc. (All items available in the mall)】
Time limit: seven days
Reward: none
Penalty: 1000 jade per day】
The Great King almost burst out crying with a "wang!"—"The tiles of the You Prince's Manor cost a mere three taels each, three taels! How expensive everything is in the mall—how much would I have to exchange? Mengmeng even blocked the king's road; if it were a one‑time penalty, I'd let him have it once, but it keeps charging per day!"
Bai Ze calmly said, "You don't say it's true love for me? I now acknowledge this is real—it really understands you."
Great King: …
He hurriedly opened the mall, and as soon as it refreshed, a stream of new products appeared—all luxury goods aimed at cutting him like leeks.
A great plaque bearing the words
"Mengmeng must have stopped loving me—who in the world sells a plaque for thirty thousand taels?"
After that, there were still some fragments bearing the words 'Northern Border', none of which had a price that wasn't shocking; even the lanterns need updating—can you believe it!?
The more the king thought, the colder his heart became: "My older brother Bai, my older brother Qiao, wait for me—we'll meet again at the market soon!" Is setting up a street stall really his destiny? The king's face was all scrunched up, extremely worried.
Wei Shen saw him turn back especially to ask him: "What's wrong? Are you still homesick?" The teasing in his eyes was completely undisguised. It's been half a year since they came out; that bear must be going crazy by now, Wei Shen thinks the whole winter will have something lively to watch.
The king certainly wouldn't go along with his wishes; he immediately raised his neck: "Just you watch—see which day I'll go to Chang'an, brave or not!"
Wei Shen: ……
End of Chapter
