Chapter 1 Fresh from Handling Official Duties

Ye Tao had just finished the paperwork for the return of the Xueqi Army's (Blood Kirin Army) new recruit camp and was leisurely dozing in his carriage.

His group was traveling at about half the usual marching speed, slowly heading from Su Feng Town to the land and water transportation hub to the south. The hub wasn't a complicated project, and Ye Tao was mainly inspecting it because he was bored. Once the Canal Governor's Office was running smoothly, there wasn't much to trouble him.

Just a while ago, Tan Weixin finally stayed in Ninghe Town for a full month. After confirming that the new Shengsan (Vitality Powder) formula worked well and was indeed effective in helping her body recover, she couldn't resist the nearly daily urging letters from the ruler, Tan Xiaopei, and returned to Danyang. Tan Weixin certainly wouldn't take on the task of establishing a professional intelligence agency, but she was a little interested in the establishment of the Central Archives Bureau.

"Lord..." The carriage stopped, and Zhou Zhi opened the door, entered the carriage, and gently woke Ye Tao. He said with some surprise, "Lord, there are people blocking the road ahead..."

"Who is it?" Ye Tao asked groggily. "It's not someone blocking the road to appeal for injustice, is it? What trouble have those young masters gotten into now?"

"This... it's not." Zhou Zhi raised his eyebrows and said, "It's... a lot of bandits."

"Bandits?" Ye Tao was even more confused. Although he hadn't brought Dai Qiuyan and Sophie with him on this inspection tour to the south, and had only brought a few clerks from the Governor's Office, ever since his assassination attempt, the five hundred guards and the newly added twenty-four personal guards had never dared to stray far. Even his friend Guan Huan was following him, temporarily acting as his bodyguard. With this lineup, how could bandits dare to block the road in the rather peaceful territory of Dongping?

Their carriages didn't seem to be in a hurry, and a servant even brought a basin of clean water for Ye Tao to wash his face and freshen up. Ye Tao got out of the carriage and looked ahead at the wide road. Wow, these bandits had quite a setup.

About three hundred "bandits" wearing light blue-gray coarse cloth outfits and white cloths over their faces had set up two rows of chevaux de frise on the road. Behind them were four ballistae without stone projectiles or drawn strings. Behind them stood a bright yellow flag with three bold characters, "Tian Wang Zhai (Heavenly King Fort)", and the three hundred "bandits" were holding broadswords, standing neatly in six rows. From any direction, they were in a straight line, and their military appearance would put many regular soldiers to shame.

Suddenly, a masked man wearing a lake-blue top walked out from behind the flag and waved a small flag gently...

*Whoosh—* A rustling sound came from the woods on both sides of the road. A large number of people emerged from behind the trees and from piles of stacked straw, quickly occupying favorable terrain and surrounding the Governor's Office's group. It looked like there were no fewer than two thousand people in total.

"This tree was planted by me, this road was opened by me. If you want to pass, leave your money behind!" The two thousand people shouted in unison, deafeningly.

No wonder Bi Xiaoqing wasn't in a hurry to come over to protect him, but just had Zhou Zhi wake him up. No wonder everyone didn't look nervous at all. How could these be "bandits"? It was obvious that someone from an army was playing a joke on them. But to prepare costumes and props like flags for playing bandits was really too... too dedicated.

"Go ask who's playing a joke on us," Ye Tao said, pointing to Zhou Zhi in annoyance.

"No need to ask... looking at that appearance, it must be Zhuo Xianchen's unit. Besides them, which unit can have two thousand people standing perfectly straight and shouting slogans in the same tone?" Bi Xiaoqing came to the side and said with a grin.

"Zhuo Xianchen, what are you playing at?" Ye Tao walked to the front of the group and shouted.

Zhuo Xianchen didn't seem embarrassed at all. He walked to the front of the formation and bowed deeply to Ye Tao from a distance of about twenty zhang (丈, a traditional Chinese unit of length), saying, "His Highness the Crown Prince ordered us to get you to Yunzhou by any means possible. Originally, we were supposed to have a joint anti-banditry exercise with Zou Shuangwen these days, but this was just a convenient opportunity. Playing the role of bandits was just bad luck. We were to take you away, demand a ransom, and then, under the pursuit of the Xueqi Army's new recruit camp, we would be forced to head north and accidentally enter the Xueqi Army's front-line camp, where we would be moved to surrender. End of exercise... something like that."

Guan Huan got out of the carriage behind him and walked to the front. After hearing this, he could only roll his eyes. It was rare that Zhuo Xianchen was so dedicated, and actually got so many props for playing bandits, which didn't seem cheap. What was even rarer was that his expression didn't change at all when he said these words. He spoke so sincerely as if he was reciting a very ordinary military order, which couldn't help but make Guan Huan roll his eyes again.

Ye Tao was both amused and annoyed. He said, "Who gave you this idea? Stop messing around, I'm not going to Yunzhou."

"This... Lord, you see, I'm just playing the role of a bandit, so it's really not appropriate for me to take action against you. Are you really unwilling to cooperate? As for the person who came up with the idea, well, this, I don't dare to say," Zhuo Xianchen said with some embarrassment.

Part of Ye Tao's guard came from the Imperial Guards, and part came from the Xueqi Army. They had long been looking forward to going north to Yunzhou to fight, and they really hoped that Ye Tao would just "submit" to the bandits, and everyone would happily head north together.

"What nonsense is this? I order you to return to camp, and I'll deal with you later," Ye Tao said angrily.

"Then... how about this?" Zhuo Xianchen magically pulled out a roll of yellow silk from his pocket, which was actually an imperial edict. "His Highness the Crown Prince was right, you're not willing to come with us. Fortunately, His Highness had the foresight to obtain an edict from His Majesty. You see, it's really inconvenient for me to read the edict in this attire, so would you please come and receive it yourself?"

It was indeed a bit inappropriate to read an imperial edict while dressed as a bandit. Ye Tao walked forward in annoyance, holding the edict and opening it. The content of the edict was the appointment of Ye Tao as the Marquis of Zhenbei (Pacify the North), controlling the Xueqi Army stationed in Yunzhou, the Imperial Guard Zhuo Xianchen's unit... and assisting Front General Xu Jingtian, cooperating with all sectors of Yunzhou to resist the invasion, with the power to make decisions on the spot. What was more depressing was that the edict finally instructed Zhuo Xianchen's unit to escort Ye Tao north, regardless of whether Ye Tao accepted the appointment.

Zhuo Xianchen said with some helplessness, "Lord, I have received orders from His Highness the Crown Prince, His Majesty the Ruler, and the 'instruction' to have my unit play the role of bandits, all in one day. It's not easy for me. Please be considerate."

Ye Tao sighed and said, "I know you all want to go to the grasslands to make contributions, but why do you have to drag me into it? You go write a document applying for a transfer, and I'll approve it for you right now, okay? As a second-rank governor, I have the right to make decisions on the spot and send troops to assist in the event of war, right?"

"...Lord, this is His Majesty's direct order," Zhuo Xianchen said with a helpless shrug, indicating his inability to do anything.

"Um, very good," Ye Tao said with a curl of his lips. "Then you wait."

Ye Tao turned to Bi Xiaoqing and instructed, "Set up camp."

Bi Xiaoqing and Zhuo Xianchen exchanged glances before giving the order to the guards to set up camp. Although he knew that Ye Tao was in a bad mood and was being stubborn, unwilling to go to Yunzhou, as the ultimate defense around Ye Tao, he had to obey every order from Ye Tao.

Although they were blocked in the middle of the road, Ye Tao's group was actually quite well-equipped. Several specially made four-wheeled carriages had crossbars that could be pulled out from the top, and windproof felt was hung on them, immediately turning them into simple tents. Although the soldiers were a little puzzled and amused, they carried out the orders to the letter, setting up a simple camp with the carriages as the center. The soldiers on guard were almost face-to-face with some of the two thousand Imperial Guards under Zhuo Xianchen, staring at each other.

Zhuo Xianchen might have expected that Ye Tao would be very resistant to this order to suddenly send him to Yunzhou to take on important responsibilities, but he never expected that Ye Tao would actually put on a posture of preparing to resist to the end, even at the cost of armed confrontation. In fact, both Zhuo Xianchen and Ye Tao were merely putting on a show. No matter what, Zhuo Xianchen would never really order an attack on Ye Tao, even if it was just disarming Ye Tao's guards and then taking Ye Tao away. Naturally, Ye Tao's guards, especially the guard composed of martial artists newly recruited by Ye Tao who had not yet undergone further screening, did not even have to obey Bi Xiaoqing's orders, let alone lay down their weapons and let Zhuo Xianchen act as he pleased. Similarly, Ye Tao could not really allow the guards and the Imperial Guards to clash. If the ruler transferred a governor, promoted his rank, gave him military power and greater power to make decisions on the spot, and after the great battle in Yunzhou, if Yunzhou was still in the hands of the Dai family, then during the initial period of transferring Yunzhou's military and political power to Dongping, with the power that Ye Tao was given, he would almost be able to dominate the entire Yunzhou. And this governor not only refused this appointment, but even developed to the point of armed resistance. If such a thing were to spread, it would be too unbelievable, too dramatic, and too sensational.

The stalemate lasted for two hours before Zou Shuangwen led his two thousand Xueqi Army recruits to "pursue" Zhuo Xianchen's unit according to another order, but unexpectedly discovered that Ye Tao and Zhuo Xianchen had been stuck in the same place for a full two hours.

"Lord, Zou Shuangwen requests an audience," Zhou Zhi reported to Ye Tao, who was sitting leisurely in the carriage, carefully reading the ten-day report on river construction.

"Let him come over," Ye Tao sighed and said helplessly. After all, it wouldn't do to stay stuck like this.

"Lord," Zou Shuangwen seemed very humble and sincere. "Although I don't know why you are unwilling to go to Yunzhou, this is, after all, His Majesty's will."

"There's nothing more headache-inducing than an amateur directing a professional, what do you want me to do in Yunzhou?" Ye Tao said.

Zou Shuangwen was naturally very clear about Ye Tao's refusal to offer opinions and suggestions on the Yunzhou issue, but he felt that the key issue was not whether Ye Tao understood military affairs, but Ye Tao's attitude. Under normal circumstances, no official would refuse such an appointment, and Ye Tao was indeed the kind of guy who couldn't be measured by the mindset of a regular official. After considering it for a while, Zou Shuangwen slowly said, "Lord, no one thinks you don't understand military affairs, and, in the final analysis, no one really cares whether you understand military affairs or not. The Xueqi Army has gone from nothing, from an army of six thousand people that everyone was just playing around with, to its current state. Everyone has seen how much you have done. The Xueqi Army is everyone's hard work, and it's also your hard work, Lord. Now, the Xueqi Army is facing an enemy that we have never imagined. Either we win gloriously and make the Xueqi Army truly the strongest army in the world, or we are beaten back to our original forms, and the young masters who can survive will go back to where they came from... Lord, you are the one who pushed the Xueqi Army to this position with us, you are our friend and comrade-in-arms. Don't you think that at such a moment, you should stand with us? This is not only the court's decree, but also the request of the Xueqi Army as a whole, as your friends. Lord, the Xueqi Army needs you, Yunzhou needs you."

Zou Shuangwen's words moved Ye Tao somewhat. If we're talking about friends, then those lively and flamboyant guys in the Xueqi Army are really a good bunch of friends. The guys who were aroused by their desire to win and constantly encouraged by victory and honor seemed to have changed completely in recent years. The Xueqi Army's probationary officer system and wartime reserve officer system allowed each of them to have ample vacation time to continue their carefree lives of decadence that they were familiar with, but once they returned to the barracks, each of them was a madman willing to risk everything to win. And their efforts to tap their potential made the Xueqi Army have the most vibrant group of legions. After spending a long time with these people, Ye Tao unconsciously compared these people with his friends from his original era. Perhaps everyone had their own ideas, and they all had their own family, family, and other entanglements. The interactions with some people were not so deep and unreserved, but in terms of the distinctiveness and fun of their personalities, in this era, perhaps because everyone didn't have the suffocating work pressure, they were more fun to be with.

Zou Shuangwen is indeed a guy who is good at dealing with different people, Ye Tao had to admit that he was a little moved by the "emotional card" that Zou Shuangwen had played. He glanced at the embarrassed Imperial Guards around him. In order to prevent the things that happened here from being spread out as a joke, some of them had already changed back into their Imperial Guard uniforms and sealed off the surrounding area, while some caravans and travelers who wanted to pass this road were asked to stay in place or detour. In this era where the authority of the country was extremely high and the pace of life was not so fast, it wasn't a big deal to be delayed on the road for an hour or two.

Ye Tao's tone finally softened, and he said, "Bi Xiaoqing, break camp. We've been kidnapped."

In this way, Ye Tao and his party were kidnapped to the Xueqi Army's forward camp set up at Dongjiaji on the border between Yunzhou and Dongping. The Xueqi Army up and down the camp were excited about Ye Tao's arrival. And in the camp, there was another group of people waiting for Ye Tao.