Chapter 80: The Great Wind Rises

Grand Marshal's Office.

Early in the morning, Heba Duba dragged Li Shen out of his bed.

"What's wrong, so urgent? Have the Liuzhen rebels attacked again?"

Li Shen, just pulled from his golden fur nest, was very displeased, yawned, forced back his sleepiness, and complained.

"Do you, Grand Marshal, know of the recent actions of the General Who Sweeps Bandits?"

"What actions?"

"The General Who Sweeps Bandits has recruited five hundred men each from the Huaishuo and Wu Chuan garrisons, considering them the bravest in the army, to guard his person."

"I know that!"

Looking at Li Shen's innocent gaze, Heba Duba felt a pain in his heart.

"Such major military and political affairs should be planned by the Grand Marshal; if recruiting is to be done, the Grand Marshal should do it. Now, who is truly in charge of Heng and Shuozhou?"

Li Shen was quite indifferent.

"Of course it is me!"

"Then why does the Grand Marshal allow the General Who Sweeps Bandits to act thus?"

"The major military and political affairs of Hengzhou and Shuozhou naturally follow my orders, but I must listen to my sworn brother!"

Heba Duba looked somewhat angry at his lack of struggle.

"Why?"

"Listen to advice and eat your fill!"

"Who said such nonsense?"

"My father!"

Heba Duba almost choked, clutched his chest, stumbled back two or three steps, and only then stopped his decline.

"Does the Grand Marshal not feel there is a problem?"

"What problem is there? Could my father possibly harm me?"

Heba Duba, his eyes red with urgency, prepared to make one last rescue attempt.

"I heard that many of the Grand Marshal's eight hundred private troops are now very close to the General Who Sweeps Bandits; they are all your private soldiers!"

"Them? Isn't that as it should be?"

"What does the Grand Marshal mean?"

"My eight hundred private troops also follow my sworn brother's command; besides protecting my safety, I cannot even mobilize them on ordinary days to take them out of the city to hunt!"

On this day, the sun was fierce, and the wind was fierce too.

He Ba Yue waited at the entrance of the Grand Marshal's Office for Heba Duba, but only saw him walk out as if he had lost his soul, as if he had just fallen into an ice pit.

"Father, what is wrong with you?"

"Go!"

"Where to?"

"Anywhere!"

"What do you mean?"

Heba Duba looked at He Ba Yue, touched his cheek with a cold hand, and revealed a smile.

"Foolish child, run quickly!"

Residence of the General Who Sweeps Bandits.

"General, your six thousand military households under your command are stationed as follows: eight hundred households in Shengle, eight hundred in Baidao, twelve hundred in Yunzhong, eighteen hundred in Ma Yi, two hundred in Woyang, and the rest in Taipingzhuang, Sizhou. Besides this, grazing lands around Shuozhou have been allocated to the Hulü, She Di, Poluhan, and Dugu clans."

In the vast residence, a map of the Northern Frontier was laid out.

Yu Jin placed the military chess pieces one by one onto their corresponding positions on the map.

The six thousand military households under Li Shuang were previously like trees without roots.

With the distribution of large amounts of captured spoils and fields, these six thousand military households have grown into great trees, taking root in the Northern Frontier.

After placing the chess pieces, Yu Jin could be certain that Shuozhou now belonged to Li Shuang, and half of Hengzhou as well.

As a descendant of the Xianbei high families, Yu Jin's feelings at this moment were very complex.

Over these days, Yu Jin has smoothly completed his psychological transformation and has begun to stand on Li Shuang's side.

"However, if someone in the court investigates afterwards, it will be difficult to explain!"

For the entire Northern Frontier, Shuozhou is merely a corner.

For the entire Northern Wei, Shuozhou is even a tiny prefecture, poor and barren, a synonym for trouble.

After the Northern Wei moved its capital, the Liuzhen have gradually become an existence the Luoyang nobles no longer wish to deal with.

Every year, the court must allocate a considerable sum of military funds to the Northern Frontier to feed the ungrateful beggars in their eyes.

If possible, the disappearance of the Liuzhen rebels tomorrow would be what the Luoyang court most hopes to see.

"It matters not; if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up."

After Li Shuang finished speaking, Yu Jin was lost in thought. He knew clearly in his heart that this "tall one" could not possibly be Li Shen, but rather Er Zhu Rong.

What Er Zhu Rong has done in the south surpasses even Li Shuang's actions.

"I heard that recently the Liang Jungong has been extensively inserting his own personnel throughout Bingzhou, and furthermore, the court seems prepared to appoint Yuan Tianmu as the Inspector of Bingzhou!"

Compared to Shuozhou, Bingzhou can be called wealthy; it is the essence of Shanxi.

Let alone tens of thousands of people, even hundreds of thousands could be supported.

Especially the city of Jinyang, which is the greatest city; in comparison, even Take Pingcheng is far inferior.

"Poluhan Baling will be defeated, yet the court can no longer restrain the generals of the Northern Frontier."

Having finished speaking, Li Shuang looked at Yu Jian.

"Sijing, I have heard the court recently intends to promote you to Inspector of Shuozhou; the appointment decree is about to be issued."

Yu Jian felt little ripple in his heart; he simply bowed deeply, affirming the distinction between superior and subordinate.

"This subordinate thanks the General for his grace!"

"There is no need for such between us!"

Li Shuang's gaze fell upon the map, looking at the location of Take Pingcheng.

Take Pingcheng is quite special; it is the old capital of the Beiwei Sect and normally requires a member of the Beiwei Sect's imperial clan to garrison it.

On the entire map of the Northern Border, the two prefectures of Heng and Shuo, only the area around Take Pingcheng lacks military chess pieces, appearing quite abrupt.

Li Shuang cannot intervene yet; even Li Shen, the Grand Marshal, cannot change this.

Noticing the direction of Li Shuang's gaze, Yu Jian reminded him:

"General, Take Pingcheng is special and unsuitable for rash movement; otherwise, you will lose the big for the small."

Li Shuang nodded. Just as he was pondering, Hou Jing walked in.

"My Lord, the day you returned to the city, Yuwen Gong used an excuse of having matters to attend to, took several of his sons, and left the city; whereabouts are now unknown."

"He ran away so quickly?"

Li Shuang was somewhat surprised and asked:

"What about Heba Duba?"

"Yesterday, after he went to the Grand Marshal's office to see the Grand Marshal, he took his family to Li Shuren's place. He refused to come out no matter what, and even urged Li Shuren to return to Tongwan City as soon as possible. They departed today, and the Grand Marshal even went to see them off."

"What kind of people are these!"

Li Shuang sighed helplessly:

"I have just returned, and they are in a rush to leave. If people who do not know the truth hear of this, they will think I intend to do something to them!"

Hou Jing chimed in from the side.

"Indeed, they are entirely judging a gentleman's mind with a petty person's heart. If everyone could be like My Lord, with a bright heart and sincerely serving the state, why should the world not be stable?"

Li Shuang looked at Hou Jing, feeling very gratified.

"In that case, let those assassins disband on the spot!"

"After all, money was spent; just let them go like this?"

"A bunch of show-offs, not much use," Li Shuang remarked. "It is time to cultivate some Cangtou slaves of our own!"

"Then how should we handle the female family members who have not yet left Wu Chuan and the property they left behind?"

"I will keep it safe for them for now. As for those female family members, I will reluctantly take care of them for a while!"

"My Lord is still so kind-hearted!"

Yu Jian, standing aside, watched this scene, opened his mouth, and wanted to say something.

Forget it!

His conscience had hurt so much for so long that he had grown accustomed to it!

Hurting yet happy!