Ch46 - Before the Campaign

Assistant Minister Xiao’s selfishness ultimately stirred up all of court, like a bowl of congee, and threw it into a tizzy. However, these disturbances didn’t affect Jing Shao’s army camp; they were going to set out in a few days, and everyone was busy sorting out internal affairs within the camp. 

Since the court had yet to finish investigating the case,  the properties of the officials who had embezzled funds were confiscated first. However, they were just small fry, so it wasn’t enough to fill the gap in the army funds. Emperor Hong Zheng had the Treasury allocate more silver to make up for the lack.

All of a sudden, the army had a lot of money, and someone was needed to quickly take over and organize everything. However, Mu Hanzhang was only the military advisor, and had no authority to manage such things.

Zhao Meng suggested that Jing Shao promote Mu Hanzhang to military advisor general. Mu Hanzhang declined and said that he had just entered the army camp, and couldn’t hold such a position. Finally, they compromised, and he was conferred a title with a lower rank: Military Advisor General of the Household. As Military Advisor General of the Household, he could manage military affairs but not command the military division. There were no other other ministers in the army now, and the power he had in this position was sufficient.

There was no time for the Ministry of Revenue to send new scribes. Mu Hanzhang promoted several literate soldiers to scribes. From his investigation a few days ago, these were the regular people whom most of the soldiers looked for to help write letters for them, since the previous scribes had been arrogant. Mu Hanzhang wrote down the names mentioned one by one. Then, he called them all to the center tent today and gave them some problems to write and answer. Finally, he was left with eight people who were literate and could also calculate the accounts. 

“Do you all understand the accounts you are responsible for?” Mu Hanzhang put away the account books and asked the eight people below the platform. The army accounts were relatively simple. He had chosen a bookkeeping method that was fairly precise and easy to learn. After teaching all of them for a day, they were sure to have learned it all.

“Yes!”  the eight people replied enthusiastically.

“The military advisor teaches so well that those who couldn’t read have even learned to do so,” Wang Er said with a smile. When he first saw the military advisor, he had thought that this man was just someone with an attractive appearance but who was useless in the army. But now, after the last few days, this Gentleman Jun’s reputation in the army had soared. Wang Er had been transferred to become a scribe. Now, he wouldn’t have to do the hard work of carrying food and keeping the fire going. He was one hundred percent willing to be a scribe.

Mu Hanzhang nodded slightly. “At the end of every ten days, hand over the account books for me to check. If you don’t understand anything, ask me on that day. If it’s not an urgent matter or it doesn’t concern anything too important, you don’t have to ask. You can make the decision yourselves.”

Some people were overjoyed when they heard this. Not only could they escape a lot of difficulties now, this small power also brought many benefits.

“However, I’ll say these ugly words to you now: if anyone dares embezzle army funds or cover up something extremely important, they will all be uniformly dealt with by martial law without mercy.” Mu Hanzhang’s face was cold and his voice dropped in pitch.

“Yes!” They quickly saluted. They were reluctant to throw away this good job; naturally, they wouldn’t lose their heads over some small profit.

When those people left, Mu Hanzhang rubbed the place between his eyebrows a little tiredly. The expedition was near at hand and there were many things to deal with in the army. These days, there were also no scribes. It took a lot of effort to reorganize the accounts that had been messed up. He had spent the entire day yesterday straightening them out. 

“Gongzi, are you tired?” Yun Song came in to deliver tea. Seeing how weary Mu Hanzhang was, he couldn’t help worrying.

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“Yes.” Yun Song hesitated for a moment. “But Gongzi told me to go back to the palace to get some things tomorrow.”

“Oh, I see.” Jing Shao thought for a moment. “Then go and get those things, and go to the other residence the day after tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Yun Song replied, secretly thinking that to Wang Ye, the Wang Fei’s affairs were more important than his own. He thus added, “Those newly appointed scribes have gone back, and Gongzi seems rather tired.”

When Jing Shao heard this, he frowned. He lifted the curtain and went in, only to find that his Wang Fei was still busy at the table. 

“How come things still aren’t finished?” Jing Shao went over to hold the man in his arms.

Mu Hanzhang struggled a little. “Wait a minute, let me finish this.” After he said that, he wrote a few more lines in the book before he put down the pen. He rubbed his aching shoulder, looked at the broad chest behind him, and couldn’t help leaning on it.

Jing Shao’s lips curled up. He touched the weary face of the man in his arms and shifted him into a more comfortable position. “Hasn’t the accounting work been split up? Why are you still so busy?”

“The soldiers in the army send out letters every month, but these letters home might be used to deliver information, even unintentionally.” Mu Hanzhang showed him a letter, which said that the camp was in the outskirts of the capital, the food had improved in recent days, and the soldier had eaten beef. “If the enemy reads this content, they’ll know where the army is as well as some of what the soldiers are eating in particular, which is very dangerous. ” 

Jing Shao nodded. Many people were specially assigned to check the military mail before it was sent out,  but some things would inevitably be overlooked, such as the beef, which would have gone unnoticed.

“I’m reviewing the regulations, and I’ve listed all the things that can’t be mentioned in the letters. You can see what else you need to add, and write them down; afterwards, I’ll have it copied out several times, and send them to the scribes.” Mu Hanzhang handed the regulations which he had just written down to Jing Shao.

Jing Shao took the list of regulations but didn’t look at it. He just looked down at the man in his arms.

“What’s the matter?” Mu Hanzhang looked at him puzzledly. 

“I wonder what good fortune I managed to accumulate in my last life that led you to me.” When Jing Shao looked at him, there was no trace of teasing in his eyes. He was seriously thinking about what he had done in his last life, and how he had never expected the heavens to treat him so magnanimously and let him live again.

Mu Hanzhang looked at his serious eyes, and his lips slowly turned up. “To be able to have a husband like you, it is I who am blessed with great fortune.”

They gazed deeply at each other. The great importance and love they shared was clearly reflected in their eyes, and they couldn’t help but slowly drift closer to gently kiss each other’s lips.

“Military advisor!” Zhao Meng called out loudly before he suddenly drew aside the curtain to enter. 

The two who had just been about to make contact hurriedly sprang apart. Mu Hanzhang sat up straight and looked down at the account books on the table. Jing Shao gnashed his teeth and glared at Zhao Meng.

“Wang Ye is here, too!” General Zhao raised his head to say hello and casually sat down in a chair on the side.

“How can you run so fast, general? You didn’t even wait for me!” The right protectorate general came in noisily, followed by the unperturbed left protectorate general.

“Coming here at this time, what’s the matter?” Mu Hanzhang put down the weasel bristle brush he had been pretending to write with and looked up at the three men. 

Zhao Meng rubbed his beard and gestured at the right protectorate general. “You say it!”

“Ah, we were saying that  since life in the army has suddenly improved, we want to buy some new things… Why are you pulling on me?” The right protectorate general had been talking happily when the left protectorate general suddenly tugged at him.

“Ah, why are you so wordy?” Zhao Meng complained. “Let me tell you, it’s been really inconvenient for the military advisor to stay in the prince’s tent with Wang Ye all this time. Now that we’re well-off, we have to quickly set up a better tent for the military advisor.” General Zhao felt that since the military advisor was now in charge of the accounts, he would definitely be too embarrassed to bring up the subject of spending money on himself, so Zhao Meng had brought the left and right protectorate generals along with him to persuade Mu Hanzhang.

When Jing Shao heard this, loud alarm bells immediately began to go off in his head. He couldn’t even eat nowadays, even when they were in the same tent. Wouldn’t it be worse if they slept separately?! His mood, which had been ruined by the disturbance, suddenly became worse, and he said coldly, “The military advisor can’t fight. If assassins show up, how will he fight back? I think it’s pretty good for him to live in Benwang’s tent.” 

“How can there be assassins in an army camp? Moreover, even if there are assassins, they would target the Wang Ye. What assassin would want to kill the military advisor? To me, living in the prince’s tent is… aiyo, why are you pinching me?!” The right protectorate general had only spoken halfway when the left protectorate general suddenly pinched his back. He couldn’t help but turn around to yell at him.

“The tent should be prepared; since ancient times, there has never been any reason for the military advisor to stay in the prince’s tent.” Mu Hanzhang looked at Jing Shao’s face, which was clearly ashen, and he couldn’t help smiling. “But we’re setting out in three days. Setting up a tent now means that we’ll have to shift the other tents around as well. The gains aren’t worth the effort. We’ll do that once we’re on the march.”

When Jing Shao heard this, his complexion improved. He waved away the three people who had nothing better to do than come up with these stupid ideas.

“Jun Qing, do you really want to set up another tent?” When the others left, Jing Shao embraced his Wang Fei unhappily. 

“I’m your military advisor now, not the Wang Fei. If we don’t want to attract criticism, we still have to do this on the surface.” Mu Hanzhang patted the head on his shoulder.

“Then wouldn’t we have to sleep separately?” Jing Shao protested discontentedly.

“En.” Mu Hanzhang nodded. Looking at Jing Shao’s sad face, he couldn’t help but reach over and pinch his cheeks. “But Wang Ye can come to Chen’s tent at night to discuss the military situation.”

“Right, why didn’t I think of that?!” When Jing Shao heard these words, his eyes couldn’t help but light up, and he pulled Mu Hanzhang up. “Go, let’s go back to the prince’s tent and ‘discuss’ things for a while!” 

The next day, Yun Song went back to the palace and collected all the things that Mu Hanzhang wanted.

There were a lot of things, but they were all small items, so it wasn’t much trouble. Jing Shao curiously went over for a look and saw a jasper xiao.

“Jun Qing, you can play the xiao?” He hadn’t seen Mu Hanzhang use this before. Jing Shao picked up the flute and looked at it curiously. The entire body was dark green and it was smooth.

“I learned when I was a child. The qin is too heavy and would be a hindrance during the march, but I can take the flute with me,” Mu Hanzhang explained. “If we run low on funds on the way, I can still pawn it off.” 

Jing Shao’s hands, which had been playing with the jade flute, stopped. Didn’t all literati and scholars cherish their instruments? Why was his Wang Fei so special…

Before they knew it, it was the day of the expedition. The soldiers were all bursting with vigor and raring to go. They were the elite troops under the Wang Ye. The rest of the main force would one after another to hurry to the southwest from all over the country. Finally, they would meet 300 li away from the southwest fiefdom.

Yun Song said goodbye to Mu Hanzhang and went back to the palace. The latter originally thought that he would have to handle all the daily trivialities himself. However, Jing Shao unexpectedly brought him a maid. This maid wasn’t some random person, but was Ge Ruoyi, who had studied concealed weaponry with the Ghost of Nine Blades for several months!