Duan Jin told Tang Mingjie: “There are new people in the mansion. An old one, and a young one. The young one is about your age.”
There were no children in the mansion close to Tang Mingjie's age and status. There was only Twelfth Sister, but she was a girl.
The newly arrived He Lian Feiyu was fourteen years old, two years younger than Duan Tenth Son, and exactly two years older than Tang Mingjie.
Tang Mingjie didn't need to speak, just looked at Duan Jin with his eyes, as if asking "What kind of people?"
Duan Jin was helpless.
He and Twelfth Sister were too much on the same page about this. He barked: "Use your mouth to speak!"
Tang Mingjie asked: "What kind of people?"
"An uncle and nephew pair." As for those complicated relationships, Duan Jin skipped over them, no need to tell the child, he only said, "The uncle is a soft-boned shrimp. I heard from Qiu Sheng that the nephew is decent." He continued, "We'll have you cross hands with him later, just right to let us see."
Duan Tenth Son had been on the battlefield before, he deeply felt that he was an adult, looking down on He Lian Feiyu through his nostrils, seeing him as a child.
Of course adults could not bully children. They could only let children play with other children.
Of course everyone wanted to try out the new person's skills.
It was just that the older one was sick, so of course they had to try the younger one.
When Duan Jin suggested Tang Mingjie cross hands with He Lian Feiyu, Ye Suijin had already anticipated the outcome. But with a new person joining them, this point was unavoidable.
She pulled He Lian Feiyu aside and told him, "This is my adopted son, he has a rough life story, and was only rescued at the end of last year."
She told him about Tang Mingjie's circumstances, and also said, "He had no martial arts foundation before, and only started learning martial arts last year."
She didn't say it outright, but He Lian Feiyu understood.
"That's so miserable," he scratched his cheek, "I see."
He would go easy on him.
Tang Mingjie had been extremely diligent this past year. His body had also grown a lot taller. Although he was lean from growing too fast, it was all muscle without an ounce of extra fat.
It was just that he had started martial arts late, and his foundation was thin.
At present, he could barely beat Twelfth Sister.
Twelfth Sister was neither literary nor martial, that was compared to someone who was both literary and martial. In reality, Twelfth Sister had also trained in martial arts since she was little, she could take down two or three idlers by herself easily.
Tang Mingjie was much more diligent at martial arts than her. The time Twelfth Sister spent on studying, he spent it all on practicing martial arts. The two had different focuses.
Also after his body's growth spurt,
he also had the advantage in strength and height, so he could beat Twelfth Sister.
When faced with He Lian Feiyu, he was directly beaten down.
Tang Mingjie didn't make a sound, just climbed back up to fight again.
And was beaten down again.
He climbed back up again, and went back down again.
Finally He Lian Feiyu had no choice but to hold down his shoulders to keep him from getting up.
Ye Suijin called for them to stop.
He Lian Feiyu released Tang Mingjie and praised him, "I heard you've only been learning martial arts for a year, very impressive."
He consoled Tang Mingjie, "I started horse stance at three years old, there's no way you can compare with me. But you're not cowardly, that's great. Just keep at it like this, practice a few more years, you can get there. You're still younger than me."
Tang Mingjie didn't speak, just nodded slightly.
Secretly sized up He Lian Feiyu's physique.
Although He Lian Feiyu wasn't as tall as Duan Jin, his body was clearly much sturdier.
Just now being held down, Tang Mingjie couldn't get back up at all. This was the advantage of physique.
Indeed he still had to eat more.
Tang Mingjie secretly made up his mind to properly build up his body.
Duan Jin said, "Little buddy, let's try."
Duan Jin hadn't originally planned to spar himself.
But the gap between Tang Mingjie and He Lian Feiyu's skills was too big, couldn't test He Lian Feiyu's true level. Also, He Lian Feiyu's demonstrated skill level made him curious.
Tenth Son put his hands on his hips standing: "If you lose, from now on call me big brother."
Duan Jin said: "In the next life."
Tenth Son: "Tsk."
Facing Duan Jin, He Lian Feiyu finally felt a little excited. Just now with Tang Mingjie, at most it counted as warm up.
Weapons wrapped in hemp cloth, collisions making muffled thuds.
Exchanged over a hundred moves, Duan Jin had a clear advantage.
He Lian Feiyu had started horse stance at three years old, he wasn't lacking either, and he was two years older.
In the end, He Lian Feiyu lost completely convinced.
But Duan Jin asked him, "Your uncle taught you martial arts?"
He also asked, "How is your uncle's martial arts? Compared to Yan Lingzhi, how is it?"
He Lian Feiyu said proudly, "Yan Lingzhi has to bow his head and call my uncle big brother when he sees him."
Among military men, they understand this the most. Between acquaintances, the one with the harder fist is big brother.
Duan Jin looked stern, this soft-boned shrimp is that powerful?
In groups with a lot of men, be it an army or prison, they have this sense of ritual.
After fighting this match,
it counted as joining them.
Especially He Lian Feiyu's personality, he could integrate anywhere very quickly. He could get along with Tenth Son in no time.
The two of them were very happy together.
He Lian Feiyu said to He Lian Xiang Yun, "Tenth Son is much more interesting than Dingxi. Mingjie is decent too, he doesn't speak, so he won't annoy people to death with words."
You can't reason with Pei Dingxi, you will certainly not beat him in "blah blah blah".
He Lian Xiang Yun asked, "How is the Ye family army?"
He Lian Feiyu said, "Still decent. Just a bit too proper."
Compared to the Pei family army, it lacked a bit of roguish air.
In fact in the eyes of local people of Fangzhou, the Pei family army was just a bunch of bandits.
Pei Ze had drifted to Fangzhou to begin with, wasn't that a bandit? It was just that this bunch of bandits was capable, grew powerful, so the bandits became officials.
But the roguish air within the army was still a characteristic of the Pei family army.
In comparison, the Ye family army was a proper official conscription, with proper military drills.
Once trained well enough, qualified, then they would be sent out to fight wars.
By the book.
The styles were indeed different. This was why back in Junzhou Ye Suijin had the Ye family sons go learn under Pei Ze.
She was also willing to assist Pei Ze in taking Fangzhou. In the process of combining their forces, the Ye family army obtained training on the drill grounds that they couldn't get in the barracks.
Veteran soldiers brought out. Once new recruits were trained, dispersed and assigned, veterans lead new recruits, numbers growing steadily.
Solid foundation.
Of course the premise of all this was that Ye Suijin could support these troops.
So she couldn't only focus on military affairs, she also had to focus on people's livelihood and business.
Her cooperation with Ruiyun Company had reached a stage where they had started to mutually trust each other.
Actually it should be said, Ruiyun Company started trusting her.
This kind of trust was reflected in the amount of trade.
A win-win situation was this kind of circumstance - Ye Suijin obtained guaranteed food supply, Ruiyun Company found an outlet in the north when squeezed out by major southern grain merchants.
Not only could Ye Suijin sell surplus grain to ally Pei Ze, now even General Guan asked her if she could procure some grain for him.
"Not the too rotten kind," he sent word.
Third and Fourth Sons were astonished, "The Emperor doesn't give him provisions?"
"Gives them, the provisions given are too rotten," Fifth Ye Uncle said.
It was normal for the military to eat old grain. Even the Ye family army wouldn't give the soldiers brand new fresh grain. Just not as old.
"Not as old" in the Pei family people's eyes, was already considered fresh grain.
Extravagance.
Rice could generally be stored for five years, corn for nine years. But if it exceeded this time, it basically became inedible.
The provisions General Guan received over there weren't just very old, there was also too much sand mixed in.
The officers and soldiers complained a great deal.
On one hand General Guan quarreled and tore at the imperial court, on the other hand he privately sent people to urgently find Ye Suijin to raise grain, to quell resentment in the army first.
Fourth Son asked incredulously, "Isn't he the Emperor's relative?"
Fifth Ye Uncle explained to him, "The one handling this matter is closer to the Emperor than his blood ties."
Then there was no solution...
Also heard more chaotic news about the capital from General Guan.
A major corruption case broke out during the imperial palace construction, the Grand Princess was implicated, took a fall, but came to no harm.
Some others were beheaded, and also had their families' properties seized.
Of course construction of the imperial palace still had to continue.
Wulong was concerned about other things: “Does General Guan have to pay out of his own pocket?”
Using his own money to feed the emperor’s troops? Are they the emperor’s troops or General Guan’s own troops? Although his parents were selfless, Wulong had married, so he had to plan for his own little family. Fighting wars could earn a lot of money, things like private funds, which his father turned a blind eye to.
But asking him to pay out of his own pocket to spend money on his personal guards, he couldn’t afford that.
Supporting troops was a bottomless pit.
“If he doesn’t appease his officers and men well, if there is a mutiny, the emperor will also behead him,” Ye Suijin said. “Don’t worry, our troops don’t need you to pay to support them.”
Everyone laughed. They even teased Wulong for thinking too much.
Wulong’s face was red with embarrassment.
Only Sanlang was silent, lost in thought.
Since General Guan had made this urgent request, Ye Suijin naturally had to help.
General Guan was extremely grateful, and made more bold promises: “Whatever she wants, as long as I can make it happen, just say it.”
Ye Suijin was no saint to do good deeds for nothing. She wanted armor, and other military supplies besides armor, whatever was available she wanted.
Ye Suijin had long established an arsenal and military workshops.
But compared to the Jin Emperor who started out in Hedong with its advantage in coal and iron, hers were just small workshops.
General Guan had transported goods between north and south several times, and also helped Ye Suijin obtain horses. The huge profits from these allowed him to make a fortune.
With a full money pouch, he became bolder.
Embezzling funds in the military, he “scrapped” a batch of military supplies to pay for the grain Ye Suijin had given him.
The troops were very resentful about the grain issue, but General Guan did this for everyone’s sake, so it went very smoothly.
Ye Suijin didn’t even need to store these new armaments, they could be distributed directly. Because her expansion was so rapid, in her arsenal, the blacksmiths’ hammers were swinging so fast they became a blur, yet still couldn’t keep up with her.
Sanlang said to Ye Suijin, “With General Guan doing things this way, who knows whether the troops belong to the imperial house or the Guan house.”
Ye Suijin said, “That’s why our house can’t do things this way.”
Sanlang nodded.
Sanlang had become different.
Ye Suijin could feel it.
Sanlang now had the mindset of a family patriarch.
In comparison, although Fourth Uncle was nominally Ye Suijin’s deputy, his thinking was that of a small family head.
Sanlang was starting to have the mindset of a great family patriarch.
At this time, in Dengzhou, Twelfth Sister’s face was ashen.
Having grown up in the countryside, she was no stranger to villages fighting each other with weapons over water sources or marriage issues.
But they were sent by Ye Suijin to inspect, bearing the military governor’s orders. Yet these people dared to resist arrest.
Although there were only a few knives, most wielded hoes and shovels, so many people gathered and defiant still angered Twelfth Sister.
What angered Twelfth Sister even more was what these people said—
"Our family has been in-laws with the Ye family for three generations!"
"Let's see who dares touch our family!"
Dare to try? Then try.
Twelfth Sister stepped forward.
"I am Ye Jiabao's Twelfth Daughter."
"My sister is Ye Suijin, military governor of two provinces."
"My father is Ye Jiabao's Ye Feng Tang, my brother is Yama King Ye Sanlang."
Mimicking her siblings, she also gripped the hilt of her sword on her back and stood before the crowd.
"Touch a hair of mine, try it."
"Whoever dares touch me, my brother and sister will slaughter your whole household!"
One face after another, one pair of eyes after another.
Interests and desires, violence and courage.
Standing behind them before, watching her siblings grasp their sword hilts facing forward, shielding her back, she had felt they were so dazzling.
Until she stood in this position herself, then she felt the tremendous pressure from the front.
So this was difficult.
The one standing at the very front, this was so difficult.
Twelfth Sister gritted her teeth, her palm gripping the hilt was drenched in sweat.
