As a married couple, it was sometimes hard to avoid what the other was doing.
Ordinary couples still had distinctions between inner and outer spheres, their own time and space. Ye Suijin and Zhao Jingwen had no such distinction at all.
When Duan Jinlai invited Ye Suijin, Zhao Jingwen didn't make a sound but followed closely.
He seemed intent on following all the way to the study.
Ye Suijin just glanced at Zhao Jingwen, the corner of her mouth twitching.
As expected of you, Zhao Jingwen.
Clearly, among the people the master had instructed her to meet yesterday, there was no one surnamed Zhao.
Duan Jin's lips moved, but he held it in.
If Ye Suijin didn't want him to go, she would stop him herself. It wasn't Duan Jin's place to decide whether or not Zhao Jingwen was qualified to listen in.
Since Ye Suijin hadn't spoken up, he had no right to speak up either.
He endured all the way to the study.
Ye Suijin strode right in, then suddenly said, "Ah Jin, come in and serve me."
Zhao Jingwen's footsteps faltered.
But Duan Jin's eyes lit up, and he eagerly followed with the buoyant steps he had just stopped.
"A few things," Ye Suijin said, taking a seat with everyone in the study. "First, previous plans remain unchanged. The notices to the counties should be sent out. Let's sit down together and talk it all through openly. We'll draw the line - submit or resist. We'll speak with our fists."
These were things Ye Suijin had basically finalized before inspecting Deng Prefecture. They just needed confirmation now.
She took out the results of her hard work the previous night and handed them over. "Take a look at this."
Fourth Uncle Ye and Mr. Yang looked them over, passing them back and forth. Third Son Ye crowded in next to Fourth Uncle to read together.
When they finished, even Fourth Uncle Ye sighed, "What our ancestors left behind has finally not gone to waste."
The Ye family's ancestors had been a military family back in the dynasty before last—here skimming over the false Liang and the newly established Jin whose duration was still uncertain, taking the Wei as the dynasty before last. Later, when dynasties changed and Wei arose, their ancestors retired to their hometowns. There was a teaching that ordered their descendants not to serve Wei with official titles.
Thus they gradually declined into rural gentry.
Some distant branches even abandoned the martial for the literary, only the main line of the Ye Fortress passing down martial skills and military strategy from generation to generation.
Martial skills were easy to verify, but military strategy gradually became nothing but armchair speculation.
Thus, emphasizing martial prowess while neglecting military strategy became an unstoppable trend.
Ye Suijin had always been the most outstanding of her generation, and that referred not just to her martial skills, but also her inheritance of the family's teachings.
Fourth Uncle still remembered her commanding her siblings in playing war games as a child, with two armies arrayed and each bringing their pages. She already had quite the bearing.
His second brother had laughed and praised her then. But Fourth Uncle felt regret on Second Brother's behalf, lamenting that Ye Suijin wasn't born a boy. He also worried she was too outstanding, and no one would dare marry her in the future.
Fourth Uncle was exceedingly moved. Mr. Yang's normally murky eyes shone bright.
Ye Suijin loved to see the eyes of those around her light up like this. Especially from Mr. Yang, whose gaze she couldn't recall ever holding such brightness when looking at her.
He was always wearing a dazed, listless look. She couldn't remember him ever being so spirited in her presence before.
"We can start work now," Mr. Yang was already planning. "Have those people you escorted back do it. Hurry and get it done this summer, and we'll be able to safely pass the winter."
"Your design is also cost-effective, saving us a good amount compared to my original idea."
As he spoke, he calculated in his heart, growing more spirited the more he calculated.
"Then leave this matter to Uncle Yang," Ye Suijin relinquished control. "Uncle Yang will be troubled."
Mr. Yang glanced at her. "It's just my duty," he replied readily.
But in his heart he thought, this year, Ye Suijin really was different than before.
He didn't know this Ye Suijin had long passed the stage of needing to oversee everything personally to feel at ease. She had long grown used to commanding from on high, coordinating strategies.
She really was different from the Ye Suijin who was wary of clan kin at every turn, needing to intervene personally in everything before she felt assured.
When there were no external conflicts, people often sank into inner turmoil, vainly expending their energy in a way that benefited neither affairs nor people.
"Another matter," Ye Suijin said. "The Ma surname in Nanyang County has great ambitions. From what I know, he's gotten involved with the hoodlums in Fangcheng."
Everyone's expressions grew solemn. Fourth Uncle Ye asked, "What's he trying to do?"
Ye Suijin smiled. "Probably the same thing we're trying to do."
Fourth Uncle Ye scoffed. "He thinks he's capable of that?"
Ye Suijin's brows quirked. "Uncle doesn't like him?"
Fourth Uncle said, "Of the three county magistrates in Deng Prefecture, he's the hardest to get along with. And he previously wanted to..." He cut himself off. "Nevermind!"
Ye Suijin understood. "Wanted me as a concubine, right?"
Fourth Uncle was shocked. "How did you know? Did Second Brother tell you?"
Since Ye Suijin already knew, he didn't hide it. He slapped his thigh. "That shameless old codger! You were only fourteen then, not even of marriageable age. He really had some nerve, acting like he was giving the Ye Fortress face. I wanted to punch that little punk back then. Second Brother didn't let me, politely refusing him and seeing him off courteously."
The situation had changed then, but official authority still held sway. The Ye Fortress also hadn't yet adapted to the new change in status. In short, back then, everyone was still adjusting their posture.
If it was now, if some other shameless old man had the gall to come asking for the young daughter of the main descendant line of the Ye family, Fourth Uncle would break his nose!
"Mr. Ma is quite clever," Ye Suijin was unexpectedly unbothered, even praising Ma Jinhui. "Back then, he was already thinking of grasping military power in his hands."
"He had decent foresight to approach the Ye Fortress back then."
For private troops to reach a certain level of numbers, to possess a certain level of might, to receive a certain level of training before they could transform from "private troops" to "soldiers," this wasn't something every rural elite household was capable of.
Northern strongholds flourished, and the Ye Fortress wasn't the only stronghold in Deng Prefecture. But after comparing them, Ma Jinhui only saw promise in the Ye Fortress.
Wanting to control the Ye Fortress in his palm, marriage was definitely the optimal method. But the talks fell through.
In recent years he had also courted other households with strongholds. But as the times grew more chaotic, these families only drew their wings in tighter, preserving their strength, thinking only of minding their own business behind closed doors when trouble came.
Back then, only the Ye Fortress, out of a sense of public justice, had assisted Deng Prefecture in quelling chaos and maintained stability.
Heaven's way held natural justice. Because of this, the Ye Fortress rapidly expanded in strength, becoming Deng Prefecture's greatest power after the disbanding of the Xuanhua Army.
"According to my information, Ma Jinhui and Du Jingzhong of Fangcheng want to become in-laws." This was something Ye Suijin vaguely remembered, but wasn't certain whether it had happened yet or not, so she added, "I don't know what stage they're at now."
Fourth Uncle was shocked. "He's not keeping up scholarly appearances anymore?"
If Du Jingzhong was still with the Xuanhua Army, this marriage wouldn't be out of the question. But after going rogue, he was utterly lawless and cruel, no different than a beast.
Although he was wary of the Ye Fortress and had never overstepped boundaries, people of the Ye Fortress had heard of his reputation.
Forming in-law ties with someone like him, let alone that Ma Jinhui was originally an upright scholar of the imperial examinations—this truly was shameless!
Fangcheng bordered Nanyang County, but it didn't belong to Deng Prefecture, rather it was part of Tang Prefecture. Back then, Du Jingzhong didn't dare directly clash with the Ye Fortress, which was why he took his gang to Fangcheng.
The Ye family's power wasn't that great then. They felt it was sufficient to protect the three counties of Deng Prefecture. Later, everyone minded their own territory, not interfering with each other.
Ye Suijin said, "After lording over there without restraint for so long, gathering common folk under him, he gradually became bolder."
"Also, Uncle, we've been too kind all this time," she complained. "The Ye Fortress has done so much for Deng Prefecture, yet we only stand on equal footing with the county offices. No, not even equal footing, we've always bowed our heads lower than them."
Fourth Uncle: "..."
Mr. Yang stroked his beard and smiled.
His former master was a good man, not without ability, he just lacked ambition.
Back then, he had remonstrated that they should seize Dengzhou when the opportunity arose. It was regrettable that Ye Suijin's father had hesitated again and again, still fearing the imperial court's pressure and did not dare.
It is just that good citizens who have been so for too long forget about the prestige of their ancestors.
Fourth Uncle Ye awkwardly said, "No, no, it was just a habit."
He always retained an awe of the imperial court and officials.
"This won't do," Ye Suijin said solemnly, "From now on in Dengzhou, others must only have awe and fear of us. Dengzhou must be firmly grasped in our hands!"
Although Fourth Uncle Ye was advanced in years, he was stirred by his niece's words: "I agree!"
"For this Du Jingzhong, shouldn't we give him a bit of color to look at?" he asked.
"Just giving a bit of color is not enough. Although he has not yet set foot in Dengzhou, the one who sleeps soundly by your side, how can you allow it?" Ye Suijin looked up, "This Du Jingzhong and his gang cannot remain."
Fourth Uncle Ye calculated that with the Yefang Fort's current fighting forces, at most they numbered one thousand two hundred or three, not the false front Du Jingzhong was putting up, but real troops.
If Du Jingzhong was all pretense, it would not be impossible to deal with him.
It was just that after quelling the soldiers’ mutiny back then, the Yefang Fort had not undertaken such a big affair again. To tell the truth, the Yefang Fort was able to expand to its current numbers also because it had absorbed many remnants of Xu Huai's troops at that time.
The Yefang Fort originally governed its fort with the military and sustained its troops by farming.
After these Xu Huai troops joined the Yefang Fort, they quickly adapted, and moreover enabled Ye Suijin's father to have ample manpower. He reorganized the Yefang Fort's dependent villages, enabling some of the most elite young adult males to completely stop farming and become full-time soldiers.
The others farmed to provide supplies.
Fourth Uncle Ye could not help counting on his fingers, figuring how many troops could be sustained with the output of Dengzhou and Fangcheng added to their current four places?
After calculating it, his heart burned with eagerness.
"I agree!" He slapped the table. "If you say to do it, then we'll do it!"
Duan Jin who was attending nearby, and Zhao Jingwen who shamelessly eavesdropped, heard this. Duan Jin's blood was fired up, but Zhao Jingwen became nervous.
He had always been someone who would certainly seize any opportunity, and if there was no opportunity he would create one. Last night when he had asked to duel Ye Suijin, she did not agree.
Now they spoke of battle, he had to fight for a chance for himself.
"Suijin, if we fight, I will lead the charge!" he said.
He made a show of loyalty and passionate ardor.
Mr. Yang looked at him for a moment and chuckled: "What does the fort master plan?"
But Ye Suijin cast her gaze at Third Son Ye: "I want third brother to go investigate first."
"Troops are precious, if we can reduce casualties by even one man then we should. We can't recklessly charge in, we must first scout out the realities."
In the eyes of the battle-tested Ye Suijin this fight was just a scuffle. But the Yefang Fort had not experienced large battles yet, and needed the whetstone of Du Jingzhong.
She spoke her plan: "Third brother will go make contact with Du Jingzhong, and say that you and fourth uncle both disobey me, and want to invite him to assist you in competing with fourth uncle for control of the Yefang Fort."
The room suddenly became quiet.
Even the youth Duan Jin strongly sensed the awkwardness in the air.
Third Son Ye looked up at the ceiling.
Mr. Yang turned his head to stifle laughter.
Fourth Uncle Ye's face turned red then pale, truly a marvelous sight.
