After Yang Fu finished talking to me, he returned to the main hall of the prefect's manor. Uncle still had to continue handling the business in Ji City. Ji City had just been conquered, and there were still a lot of things to deal with. The city walls had to be repaired, the prisoners had to be screened, and the people had to be appeased. His uncle was born to fight. He was excited when he was on the battlefield, and he was a little reluctant to deal with daily government affairs. Uncle Ma Dai and Uncle Pang De were pure generals, so they could not help him at all. The tribal leaders could manage a ranch, but managing a city was a dream. When he was with Han Sui, Yang Qiu and the others under Han Sui had already done many things in an orderly manner, so his uncle did not worry much. Now, he had to do all these rotten things himself, causing his uncle to often lament that no one would share these things with him. Sometimes, he would become anxious and even angry when he saw these things. This was also the reason why Wei Kang was especially happy that Yang Fu and the others, who were already working under him to handle political affairs, had surrendered. Uncle immediately arranged work for these people. For example, although Yang Fu had just surrendered, he was immediately appointed as a lieutenant and military counselor. Naturally, a considerable part of the reason was because there was no one available. Although his uncle liked Yang Fu as a hero, he was not stupid. He knew that Yang Fu had just surrendered and he did not know if he could be relied on. However, he had no one to rely on.
Yan Wen, who I left outside the city, came to find me. He was originally in the 2nd Battalion of Taihu, with the wounded soldiers. To be honest, I didn't restrict his freedom after the bet. The ancients valued promises and believed that a promise was worth a thousand gold. Yanwen saw that after I entered the city, I didn't have time to pay attention to him, let alone the bet. Yan Wen was really uncomfortable, so he asked a few men from the Tai Hu Second Battalion to bring him to me. Of course, he emphasized the word " captive " because he was still my captive in name. No matter how I didn't restrict his freedom, he was still very conscious when he took action. He would definitely have a few soldiers accompany him. He would call it a good name to say that he was being held captive. This meant that he hadn't surrendered yet, but he had never seen such a free captive. This time, he finally found me. As soon as he saw me, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to me three times.
"Greetings, Master. Wen admits that the bet failed. From then on, Huan Wen was willing to serve as the master's general all his life, loyal to the master, never abandoned. If you violate this oath, the heavens will punish you."
I reached out to help Yan Wen up. Of course I felt happy in my heart. I finally had a follower that I took in. However, I still said to Yan Wen,
"Yan Wen, although you lost the bet and you are now my private servant, I still respect your character and will never let you do anything that goes against your dignity. Moreover, I will pay you according to your contribution. Also, don't always call me master. Just call me young master.”
"Yes, thank you…Young Master."
"My subordinates all have special weapons. I think your close combat skills are not bad. I'll give you this three-edged thorn. This three-edged thorn of mine is called the Demon Slaying Thorn. It can be said to be able to break stones and break gold. It's two feet long and has three blades. In terms of defense, even Cao Cao's Heaven Cracking Sword couldn't hurt him at all. In terms of offense, ordinary armor could not block his stab at all. If it stabbed a person's body, it would leave a triangular wound that was very difficult to heal. To put it bluntly, this was one of the best melee weapons in the world. I hope you can use this dagger to punish evil and help me protect the Great Han Dynasty.”
I took off the triple-edged dagger and its sheath from my leg and handed it to Yan Wen. Yan Wen could not accept my flattery towards this dagger. However, since I had said it, he could not object and took the triple-edged dagger without much care. After all, he was Wei Kang's subordinate in the past, a high-ranking official who was worth 2000 koku. What kind of weapon had he not seen before? Just treat it as me bragging. When I saw him, I knew that he didn't believe that this triangular thorn was so powerful. I reached out and took the tri-edged thorn back. I pressed the spring and pulled the tri-edged thorn out of the fish skin sheath. I've specially processed this tri-edged dagger. Only the blade glows with a cold light, and the rest of the blade is black. I placed the three-edged Demon Slaying Spike on a stone slab by the roadside and took out a saber from the soldiers of the Tai Hu Battalion. These sabers were all standard sabers of the Western Liang army and were of decent quality. I raised the knife high above my head and slashed down at the trident. With a loud crack, the knife I was holding had a deep and large dent, but the Three-edged Thorn Dog was completely fine. I asked another soldier to tie a set of iron armor to a tree by the roadside. I dashed over and held the tri-edged spike in my hand. I stabbed it fiercely. Puchi, puchi. The Demon Slaying Spike had already pierced through the iron armor and stabbed into the tree by more than half a foot. After the performance, I put the Demon Slaying Spike back into its sheath and returned it to Yan Wen.
"Yanwen, this young master really doesn't need to lie to you. This Demon Slaying Spike was originally this young master's beloved self defense item. Because I cherish your talent and you're my first family general, I gave it to you.”
Yan Wen saw my performance and was stunned. Only then did he know that I really gave him a sharp weapon, and it was a rare sharp weapon in the world. On the way, he heard about my victory over the famous warrior of Western Liang, Ya Dan. He didn't believe it at first, but now he felt that it might be true. In addition to the fact that he had broken through Ji City with a wave of his hand, he felt that I was really unfathomable. He immediately knelt on the ground in fear and trepidation.
"I hope Young Master can forgive Wen for being disrespectful to you. Wen will naturally listen to Young Master."
"Yanwen, I know you have great talent and I don't want to bury him. So I don't want you to blindly follow me. I hope that you are still an independent person with your own independent thoughts and opinions. If you have any disagreements with me, you must bring them up and we can discuss them together. Only then can you really help me solve the problem. I don't like a submissive slave.”
"Wen Yiyi, Young Master's matter is Wen's matter, Wen will definitely do his best.”
"Alright, you lead the way. We'll go around Ji City together.”
"Yes, Young Master."
The people beside us led the warhorses for us. Yan Wen is also considered my man, and the status of a captive is gone, so naturally there is no need to pretend to be escorted. Yan Wen rode on my right side, giving me pointers on the things in Ji City as we walked. As the other driver of Wei Kang, the governor of Liang Province, Yan Wen knew everything about the Cao army in Xi Liang. The Han and Qiang people of Western Liang lived together. The land was barren and the people were poor. Bandits ran amok, and wars broke out continuously. In many places, the prestige of the Han Dynasty's imperial court did not work at all. Most of the ordinary people were dependent on the local tyrants. Otherwise, when the war broke out, their families would definitely be destroyed. Even so, it could not guarantee absolute safety. It could only reduce some possible losses. Other than the tribal leaders in Western Liang, the Han people were led by Ma, Yang, Zhao, Liang, Jiang, Han, and Yan. Most of these families intermarried and watched over each other. The Ma family is the branch of my grandfather, Ma Teng. They are the most powerful, but after the disaster in Xuchang, the Ma family's population has decreased greatly. Now, it can be said that only my uncle and brother are left. The Yang family was represented by the Yang Fu family. Yang Fu had seven cousins, all of whom were skilled in archery and riding, with Yang Fu being the most skilled. His uncle had lived in Western Liang for a long time, so he naturally had the intention of subduing Yang Fu's family this time. The Zhao family is led by Zhao Ang and Zhao Qu. Of course, the Zhao family here has nothing to do with our Chang Shan Zhao family. The Liang surname was headed by Liang Kuan. The Jiang family had made their fortune in Ji City. However, the current head of the family was Jiang Xu, who currently lived in Li City and was Yan Wen's cousin. Han Sui was Han Sui, but with his death, the Han family had fallen apart. Yan Xing was Han Sui's son-in-law. Yan Xing was from Jin City and later changed his name to Yan Yan, but most people still called him Yan Xing. Yan Xing's martial arts skills were extremely high. Once, he had a conflict with his uncle. If it wasn't for the broken spear, he would have almost killed his uncle. However, the two of them appreciated each other and became good friends. Yan Xing was not willing to become Han Sui's son-in-law. History had recorded that " Sui forced himself to marry a young girl." Even after becoming Han Sui's son-in-law, Yan Xing did not have any feelings for Han Sui. Therefore, when his uncle and Han Sui had a conflict, Yan Xing did not participate at all. Legend has it that Yan Xing went to Cao Cao's side, and Yan Wen told me that Yan Xing had already returned to Western Liang. I found it strange that Yan Wen knew so much about Yan Xing, so I asked,
"Yan Wen, how do you know so much about Yan Xing? Are you from the same family?"
Yan Wen smiled and nodded.
"Young Master, you guessed right. Yan Xing is my cousin. Not only is he the most skilled in martial arts in our Yan Family, but he is also quite intelligent. Otherwise, would Han Sui marry her daughter to him?”
"Where is Yan Xing now?"
"Young Master, I don't know where he is now, but before General Ma besieged the city, I saw him in Ji City, but I haven't seen him since. However, he had a disciple in Ji City. His disciple should know where he was. But I still don't know his disciple's name.”
I slapped my thigh hard.
"Sigh, what a pity."
In many places of Ji City, especially in the southwest corner, I saw a deep ditch dug along the city wall. It was as deep as a person and there were many tiles in the ditch. I pointed at the ditch and tiles and asked Yan Wen,
"Yanwen, what's going on?"
Yan Wen smiled bitterly and said,
"Young Master, it's all because of you.”
"Because of me?"
I pointed at my nose and asked curiously.
"Yeah, we knew you were digging a tunnel. Yang Fu and I thought that you might want to dig all the way to the city, so we dug these trenches and placed big urns to listen to where you came from. In the end, you didn't even think of digging in, making us work in vain. Your thunder shattered all these jars into pieces. However, Wen presumptuously speculated that Young Master's heavenly lightning didn't seem to have come from the sky. I looked carefully at it at that time and found that it came from underground.”
I looked at Yan Wen.
"Yanwen, this place is not worth mentioning. Follow me well, you will understand in the future. I still have something that will surprise you.”
Yan Wen nodded and didn't ask anymore.
Ji City wasn't big, so we quickly walked around it. Ji City had been besieged for more than six months, and the food had basically been eaten up long ago. The only thing missing was the cannibalism of Yi Zi. Many people were sitting in the corner listlessly, doing nothing. There were refugees and beggars everywhere. There were also a few young beggars who were probably starving. They did not care that we had weapons on us and stretched out their hands to beg us for some food. My heart softened. I didn't bring any rations, so I gave them all the copper coins I had in my pocket. I even borrowed the money from the soldiers of the Tai Tiger Battalion who came with me and gave it to them. However, just as the young beggars happily left with the money, some adults rushed out and kicked the young beggars, snatching all the money back. Those little beggars were knocked to the ground and could not get up for a while. I'm on fire.
"Brothers, catch those people and beat them up. Let's see if they still dare to snatch!”
The Tai Tiger Battalion did not say anything else. They went up and beat up the guys who robbed the money. Then, they tied them up with ropes and prepared to lock them up in prison. The money was naturally returned to the children.
Seeing me like this, Yan Wen whispered to me,
"Young Master, Western Liang is a barren land, and the people have very few ways to survive. The strong prey on the weak, and it's useless to rely on you to kill these people.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes and said to Yan Wen,
"If we rise, the people will suffer. If we die, the people will suffer. No matter what, the people were still suffering. I wonder when I, Zhao Tong, will be able to let the people live a life without suffering. Yan Wen, I want to set up a workshop in Western Liang. I want to recruit the local people and give them a way to live. I want to solve some of their living problems first. You're familiar with Western Liang. Can you help me find a suitable place?”
When Yan Wen heard what I said, he thought about what I said: " Prosperity, the people suffer. Death, the people suffer." After a long time, a determined look appeared in his eyes.
"Young Master is truly a merciful person. Wen had no choice but to follow Young Master because of the bet. Hearing Young Master's words, Wen now sincerely followed Young Master to benefit the people.”
Yan Wen jumped off his horse and kowtowed three times.
After Yan Wen stood up, he confidently said to me,
"Wen Sheng is born in this land and will definitely benefit the people. Wen was familiar with every part of Western Liang. If Young Master wanted to find a place, just say it. Wen would definitely find it.”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。