Chapter 290: News
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling poked Qi Haoran’s waist and asked, “What exactly are you angry about?”
Qi Haoran opened his mouth. He didn’t know why he was angry, but he was indeed angry.
He knew that Mu Yangling had gone to Xingyuan Prefecture to sell sheep. Because of the sudden heavy snow, he had been anxious for a while. He had originally brought people out to look for her, but who knew that Mu Yangling and the others would take a detour and come back? He had missed her group because of this, causing him to worry for nothing for half a day.
Mu Yangling didn’t know about these things, so he couldn’t blame her. However, after having been back for seven to eight days, she had no intention of visiting him at all upon returning. When had he not informed her immediately when he returned from Hanzhong Prefecture?
Qi Haoran felt his heart ache, but he could not say it out loud.
If Mu Yangling found out that he was angry about this, it would make him seem petty.
After sulking for a while, Qi Haoran asked, “Why are you looking for me?”
Although he was a little angry, Mu Yangling only thought that he was simply at a rebellious stage. Smiling nonchalantly, she said, “I came to ask you something.”
“Hanzhong Prefecture was fine. Why is there martial law again?”
Qi Haoran thought that she had found out from the soldier and did not hide it from her. “My big brother is now in Hanzhong Prefecture. Seven days ago, someone attempted to assassinate him.”
“Is Big Brother Qi alright?”
“He’s fine. How dare those small fries show off in front of an expert? I captured two of them alive, but the others are all dead.”
“But going by that logic, Jingzhao Prefecture and Hanzhong Prefecture should be the ones placed under martial law. Why is there martial law here in Xingzhou Prefecture?”
Qi Haoran’s eyes darkened. “Because the assassin came from Xingzhou Prefecture.”
Mu Yangling also reacted. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Is there a mistake? Big Brother Qi is only a third-grade general. He’s not hindering anyone in the Imperial Court.”
Qi Haoran never suppressed his temper in front of Mu Yangling. When he heard this, he said angrily, “If they had such awareness, Great Zhou wouldn’t have lost so much. Previously, they targeted General Yuan because they were afraid that he would gain military power and suppress the ruler with his contributions. And now, my Big Brother has only just taken back Hanzhong Prefecture, and things have already gotten to this step.”
However, Mu Yangling felt that something was wrong. The Emperor of Great Zhou was a little crazy, but he was not stupid. Whether from the perspective of the country or from a personal perspective, nurturing Qi Xiuyuan was more beneficial to him.
Putting everything else aside, the duo effects of calming down the complaints of the citizens and suppressing General Yuan were worth the Great Zhou Emperor placing Qi Xiuyuan in an important position.
However, seeing that Qi Haoran was so angry, Mu Yangling said with a little lack of confidence, “It can also be a misunderstanding. Big Brother Qi only has 50,000 to 60,000 men under him. He can’t compare to those generals who easily have hundreds of thousands of mercenaries. Even if the Emperor wants to attack generals, his target shouldn’t be Big Brother Qi.”
Qi Haoran widened his eyes in surprise.
“Did I say something wrong?” Mu Yangling felt even less confident when she saw Qi Haoran looking at her like that.
Qi Haoran lowered his head and smiled. “Who told you that we suspect that the Emperor did it?” Retracting his smile, he said, “If the Emperor wants to claim Big Brother’s life, he can easily do that. With an imperial edict, Big Brother has to return to the capital even if he doesn’t want to.”
“Who else could it be but the Emperor?”
“There are many people in the court who try to figure out the Emperor’s intentions. Moreover, Big Brother’s taking back of the Hanzhong Prefecture has worsened the relationship between the Jin Kingdom and the Great Zhou. The conflict at the border has intensified, and the wrangling in the court has worsened. This has harmed the interests of many people. Besides, our goal is not only the Hanzhong Prefecture.”
In other words, this was a political battle. It had not reached the point where the Emperor and ministers were suspicious of each other.
“Do you think it’s General Yuan? Now that the Emperor’s placing Big Brother Qi in an important position, General Yuan’s position is threatened.” It wasn’t that Mu Yangling was petty, but she felt that it was impossible for a person without any foundation to climb from a soldier to a first-rank general in just ten-odd years without some scheming.
The Great Zhou was not like the Southern Song in her previous life. In her previous life, when the Southern Song moved south, they had lost control over most of Jiangnan. Yet he could muster an entire army—all loyal, fighting for their nation and people—with a wave of his hand.
Even when Great Zhou was fleeing south, the country’s army still resisted the Jin soldiers in an orderly manner. Although the Imperial Court’s control over the army slowly weakened, it still held their lifeline.
The army’s rations, weapons, horses, and fodder came from the treasury, unlike the Southern Song, where the general practically raised his own soldiers.
General Yuan had relied on the Shen family to raise his army for the past few years. Even so, the Shen family’s resources had to first be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War. They could not be handed over to General Yuan directly. This kind act was called ‘donation’.
Otherwise, if the army was raised by the Shen family and General Yuan, would the army belong to the Imperial Court or the two families?
Qi Haoran said that he wanted to raise horses for the army, but in fact, the horse farm was under his name. In the future, when it was time to enter the battlefield, he had to either report to the Ministry of War and ask for money to buy horses from him, or he could only get Fan Zijin to send a batch of money to the Ministry of War. After the procedures were completed, the Ministry of War would send the money back. That sum of money would be considered money to buy the horses, and only after that could they deploy the horses.
Otherwise, Qi Xiuyuan would be severely censured if such a large fleet of horses were to enter the battlefield without going through the Ministry of War.
Of course, there was no need for Qi Haoran to report it if he was arming his personal guards with those horses.
Therefore, Mu Yangling suspected that General Yuan was the one who did it.
Qi Haoran expressed his anger at Mu Yangling for thinking so highly of his idol. He said, “Don’t treat General Yuan as those ambitious civil officials. General Yuan is bent on taking back our country’s territory. Back then, we were able to successfully take down Hanzhong Prefecture because General Yuan held back more than half of the Jin Kingdom’s troops at the border. Otherwise, if those tens of thousands of people infiltrated Hanzhong Prefecture and attacked from both inside and outside, we wouldn’t be able to defend it after taking down Hanzhong Prefecture.”
“All kinds of situations are possible. I’m just suggesting a possibility, aren’t I? I haven’t even assumed that your father could be behind this. The relationship between the three of you has never been good. It can even be said to have deteriorated. The relationship between you and your stepmother is even more irreconcilable. What if your father sent someone here because he was muddle-headed?”
Qi Haoran opened his mouth and looked at Mu Yangling without saying anything.
Mu Yangling jumped up. “Nah that couldn’t be. I just blurted it out as it came to mind.”
“Of course not. How can a civil servant, whose servants can’t even fight, send someone to assassinate Big Brother?” However, he could not rule out the possibility of him betraying Big Brother’s information.
Qi Haoran’s expression darkened.
Mu Yangling didn’t know what he was thinking. She patted her chest in shock and said, “You scared me to death. By the way, I came to ask if you could help a friend of mine get a document to pass the checkpoint. He wants to go to Hanzhong Prefecture to sell sheep.”
“Who is he?”
“A butcher from Xingyuan Prefecture.”
“Is selling sheep so profitable? Is it worth him taking the risk to go to Hanzhong Prefecture?” It had to be known that Hanzhong Prefecture was under martial law now. The army and the government office were checking back and forth. Their army was fine, because they were disciplined and did not dare to take the property of the commoners. However, those bailiffs had too many methods of extortion, causing there to be fewer merchants coming to Hanzhong Prefecture now.
Unfortunately, the military couldn’t control the place. Qi Haoran couldn’t vent his anger.
“If we eliminate the cost plus expenses of the round trip, they can earn twice as much silver.”
Qi Haoran looked at her strangely and asked, “Then why don’t you do the business yourself?”
Mu Yangling said helplessly, “I want to, but I can’t leave home. Besides, it’s too tiring to run outside. Once a year is enough, when it comes to such business.”
Qi Haoran looked at her as if she was a fool. “Who asked you to bring the sheep to Xingyuan Prefecture? Aren’t they going to sell sheep? You can just go buy the sheep in Hanzhong Prefecture and resell it to them when you return. You can come and go freely in Hanzhong Prefecture. Who dares to extort you?”