Zhao Jingwen thought about it for a long time, and still believed that he could not return to Ye Family Fortress now.
If people were detained, what to do? If soldiers were detained, what to do?
Just saying "a couple should not be separated for too long" could easily take away his military power, and trap him in the Ye manor.
That would not do.
In this world, nothing is more agonizing than gaining something and then losing it.
After tasting being in charge alone, and having troops in his hands, how could he go back to just being a pillow companion.
But how could he not go back?
Even if he said he would garrison the River Mouth Town as an enclave, it did not necessarily require all three of them to stay, nor did it require all the troops to stay.
No matter how he reasoned, it seemed forced.
However, what Zhao Jingwen did not expect was that, in his previous life, he had Ye Suijin's support. In this life, he still had Ye Suijin's support.
Ye Suijin's messenger arrived in time, delivering her handwritten letter to him.
After Zhao Jingwen read it, he almost could not help showing joy on his face.
He called Xiang Da and Ye Mancang over, and generously let them read Ye Suijin's letter: "My wife asked us to stabilize this place and wait for her to free up her hands to connect Deng Prefecture and this side. By then, this place and Ruan County will be linked together, expanding Deng Prefecture's territory."
He said, "This is our joint achievement. You two, do not worry about the future."
In fact, Ye Suijin's letter did not mention Xiang Da and Ye Mancang at all. Her letter was simple and clear.
But Zhao Jingwen was able to interpret it completely differently: "My wife does support me working outside."
He smiled at the corners of his mouth, his eyes shone, standing tall and graceful like a jade tree, heroic and extraordinary.
Xiang Da and Ye Mancang both ignored the clear and simple information in the letter, choosing to believe Zhao Jingwen's interpretation.
The two of them laughed and said, "The mistress must miss the young master."
They also asked the messenger about the situation at home: "...The people who came back last time seemed to say she went to Tang Prefecture?"
Now at home, she had taken Tang Prefecture, doubling the territory, with Ye Suijin alone controlling two prefectures. Her prestige in the two prefectures had reached an unprecedented level.
But the messenger had received special instructions.
He did not need to know why, just follow his master's orders.
He replied deferentially, "Yes, the master has been leading the young masters to suppress bandits and train troops."
As for how much they had achieved in suppressing bandits and training troops, he did not mention at all.
Suppressing bandits and training troops, the emphasis they heard was on "training troops", after all Ye Family Fortress had only started recruiting troops in July. It had only been a few months now.
Xiang Da even laughed and said, "With the mistress's ability, she must have trained the new recruits very well."
The three of them naturally could not imagine that in the short few months they were away from Ye Family Fortress, changes at home had been earth-shattering.
Since they could not imagine it, looking at the present, Zhao Jingwen had a total of about five hundred men here. Just in terms of numbers, it was quite intimidating.
Xiang Da and Ye Mancang felt that "what we have accomplished here following Young Master Zhao, bringing it back would all be thunderous achievements."
The two men even vaguely harbored the thought "we don't have to go back."
Because the corrosive power of power on people really exceeds imagination.
Here, the two of them were Zhao Jingwen's trusted aides. Let alone Ye Mancang who was merely a steward, even when Xiang Da was in the Xuanhua Army, he had never commanded so many men.
That feeling of having it in your grasp was really different.
It was only when they thought of Ye Suijin's position as "Deng Prefecture Governor" that they became sober.
Although there were five hundred men here now, and all the scattered soldiers and able-bodied young men in the vicinity had been recruited, those who could really enforce orders were still the original hundred men from Ye Family Fortress.
The motley troops of miscellaneous generals really did not amount to much. In Xiang Da's eyes, they still needed to be retrained from the ground up.
Seeing that the two had settled down, Zhao Jingwen's heart settled down as well. He put away Ye Suijin's letter, and said kindly to the messenger, "Rest well, have a hot meal. Tomorrow when you return, tell my wife about the situation here."
Xiang Da and Ye Mancang also looked expectant.
If they must, inevitably, go back, they still hoped these military exploits could help them get promoted.
The messenger naturally responded "Yes", and took out a stack of letters from his pack, laughing, "Everyone has been away from home for so long, their families all asked me to bring letters."
He took out one letter, "Steward Ye, this is from your wife."
Ye Mancang tutted, "Foolish woman, I can't read, why waste the money."
His wife was also illiterate. The letter must have been written by a scribe she found in town. He would still need someone to read it to him, surely just some nagging trifles.
The messenger laughed, "Your wife also wanted me to bring you a padded jacket. But everyone wanted to send things, I alone could not carry so much. The master did not allow me to hinder my speed, saying Young Master Zhao could handle it."
"That's right," Zhao Jingwen nodded, "I have already arranged for it locally."
As they were speaking, someone suddenly came in, "Young master, trouble!"
Everyone stopped talking abruptly and looked over. The man said, "The townspeople have brought in a young lady, already dead. They said it was our men who harmed her."
Zhao Jingwen's expression was very ugly. He hurried out.
Xiang Da followed him out.
Ye Mancang called someone over, pointing at the messenger, "Take him for a meal."
After giving the instructions, he hurried out as well.
With the stewards gone, the assigned soldier darted over, "Are there any letters for me, quick, let me see!"
They all knew each other.
The messenger covered them laughingly, "Go get me a bowl of hot soup first!"
The two walked off arm in arm to eat.
Hearing he was sent from home, many of Ye Family Fortress's soldiers crowded around. They had been out for months, and missed home too.
Some were worrying about wives at home, some were concerned no one was working the fields with them away.
The messenger spoke indistinctly with a pancake in his mouth, handing out the family letters, "Ermao's, you with the beard, Old Xu Seven, which one's Old Xu Seven, oh it's you..."
They naturally asked about things at home. The messenger only said, "All's well, same as before."
"Don't worry, the fields have arrangements at the fortress. Though you're not there, there's still all those newly recruited soldiers."
"Letter? No letter for you. Words? Your wife didn't ask me to bring words. I see your head's going green hahaha."
As the messenger chatted and laughed, he also probed about things here.
How many men, how were they stationed, what was the situation, and so on.
He saw everyone was wearing winter clothes, although mixed and matched, some with cloth padded jackets, some with sheepskin jackets. Fortunately Ye Family's blue robes were worn on top, so it did not look too messy, still rather neat.
They all hurriedly pulled open their collars to show him.
The messenger asked with a smile, "I was worried you'd be freezing. When did you prepare the winter coats?"
Someone answered, "Young Master Zhao started arranging them in September."
From here to Deng Prefecture, just a few days' travel to reach Ruan County.
Young Master Zhao began preparing winter clothes in September. Did that mean he already knew back then they would be staying here through the winter?
How did he know they did not need to return to Ye Family Fortress?
The messenger's expression did not change. He raised his hand to call someone over, "Er Bao, your ma told me to bring you a message, I'll tell you after I eat. Choking to death, is there any soup?"
Er Bao brought him soup, smiling, "You sleep with me tonight."
The messenger accepted the soup bowl, agreeing.
He had just gulped down two mouthfuls when someone came in shouting, "Young Master Zhao is holding a military trial!"
Everyone asked together, "What happened?"
The man said, "That fool Si Gui, went with some outsiders to harm a big young lady from a family, and she died!"
After listening, everyone showed anger on their faces.
"Bastard! Told him long ago not to mix with those people. They're no good!"
"Let's go see!"
A big group of people rushed off.
The messenger and Er Bao exchanged a look, the messenger stuffed the remaining half pancake into his mouth and swallowed it in two bites. He gulped down some more soup, and the two followed along.
Zhao Jingwen's expression was icy.
The town's esteemed elders and grieving family members and neighbors had carried the deceased young lady over on a door plank, wailing.
An old man came forward, tearfully saluting, "General! When you wanted grain, we gave grain. When you wanted housing, we vacated residences. When you wanted winter clothes and bedding, we did our utmost. But General cannot let your soldiers harm commoners' families!"
The girl's body was covered with a quilt, her hand slipping out. On her bare arm were bruises of purple and blue. The bruises around her wrist where she had been grasped were particularly noticeable.
The girl lived in a small courtyard with her parents, and had her own room with a kang fireplace right under the window.
In the middle of the night several men jumped over the wall and climbed through the window. They covered her mouth and held down her hands and feet, violating her the entire night.
When the family discovered her in the morning, she was already at death's door. There was no saving her, and she breathed her last breath.
Without thinking, it was clear this had been done by the garrison troops stationed in the town.
With so many men gathered together, it was inevitable that incidents like this would happen. Usually the people endured petty thievery, extortion and such, but this was a matter of life and death!
Of course, the common folk dared to bring the corpse to cry and wail, because they acknowledged these were "soldiers" not bandits stationed in the town.
After all, soldiers and bandits were ultimately not the same.
Though they didn't know which unit these troops along the way belonged to, that general looked dignified in appearance and spoke politely, seemingly an upright person.
The Ye family army had military law, with an incident like this they would surely investigate.
In fact it would be very easy to investigate. Because at night other than those on sentry duty, no one should be outside the barracks.
Those groping around in the dark must be up to no good.
Zhao Jingwen immediately offered a reward, and someone immediately stood out: "Si Gui from our barracks wasn't there last night. I got up to pee and felt his bedding next to me was empty."
Catch one and you can catch two, three, four.
There were a total of four perpetrators.
But what really made Zhao Jingwen's face turn ashen wasn't the case itself. Rather, of the four suspects, the one called Si Gui was a soldier he had brought from Ye Family Fort.
If the four were all later recruits, he wouldn't have been so shocked and furious. But for there to be a soldier from Ye Family Fort involved, cooperating with three outsiders to commit the crime, what did that mean?
It meant that under the influence of these people, the discipline of the hundred Ye family troops had begun to collapse!
Zhao Jingwen broke out in a cold sweat.
