Chapter 26, the Twenty-Sixth Foolish Man

As soon as Lu Huantang stepped outside, he was startled by Qi Lingjun, who stood at the door like a ghost. Qi Lingjun was exhausted from running around entertaining the guests from Wanxiang Restaurant. After finally catching his breath, he looked normal and asked, "Did you apply the medicine?"

"Yes, she's already asleep." Lu Huantang automatically stepped aside, but Qi Lingjun didn't go in. He calmly scrutinized Lu Huantang and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

The relationship between the two was truly delicate: one was Jiang Linzhi's most trusted male concubine, and the other was someone who had once wanted to become Jiang Linzhi's male concubine. Men have a unique intuition in this regard; no matter how nonchalant they appear on the surface, the hostility in their eyes cannot be concealed.

Lu Huantang chose to be the weaker party in this relationship for two reasons: firstly, openly competing would make him seem too scheming; secondly, now that he has an official position, he no longer cares about competing, and getting any closer would only make Jiang Linzhi resentful.

Qi Lingjun said calmly, "I've kept you waiting for too long. It's time for you to take up your post."

Looking at the shrewd and resourceful man before him, Lu Huantang suddenly became wary. Why was Jiang Linzhi pushing him onto the path of officialdom while keeping Qi Lingjun by his side?

No matter how clever Qi Lingjun was, he couldn't guess what Lu Huantang was thinking at this moment. He said softly, "If one day she blocks your way, remember that she is afraid of pain."

Whether to give her a quick death or let her go, Qi Lingjun didn't say.

Lu Huantang still wore a mask of loyalty: "I will not betray Miss."

Qi Lingjun simply said "Take care" and quietly pushed the door open to enter.

The situation at the border was a hundred times more difficult than Lu Huantang had imagined. Establishing authority, patrolling, and training troops were manageable, but the miscellaneous tasks and social interactions in the army gradually wore down all his enthusiasm. However, he hadn't come because of enthusiasm, so as long as his ambition remained, that was enough.

However, there are always some dim-witted soldiers in the army, and judging from their foolish expressions, they are definitely not on the Regent's side. Lu Huantang looked speechlessly at the captain who proposed a truce and farmland cultivation. The man's name was Zhang Wanchun, the son of a disgraced official, but someone in his family had risen through the ranks. As a result, Zhang Zhe's life had become much easier. He was young and spoke passionately, saying that so many soldiers were not needed now, so it would be better to lay down arms and return to farmland, and come back to defend after the spring planting.

General Li, who was on the Regent's side, was pale and clearly didn't want to talk.

Deputy General Qi Er gave Lu Huantang a wink, signaling him to keep quiet. People with powerful connections, even if not high-ranking officials, are best avoided. Besides, while the idea sounded good, given that they relied almost entirely on imports from Wu, it was not only costly in terms of manpower and resources, but also risked the enemy waiting for them to finish spring planting before launching their attack.

General Li didn't want to provoke them, so he directly pointed to Lu Huantang and asked, "What does Lieutenant Lu think?"

Lu Huantang decided to play dumb and said, "It sounds reasonable, but I am completely ignorant of technology and agriculture, so I don't know how it would be implemented."

These words pushed this huge idea back, thwarting General Li's "good idea" of having him participate in something that clearly had no chance of success.

Sure enough, after a brief discussion, the strategist offered a conciliatory suggestion: "We can first clear out a small plot of land to test it out, find a dozen or so wounded soldiers who are almost fully recovered, and if the results are good, then we can expand the scale."

Zhang Wanchun looked excited, as if he had just passed the imperial examination. He immediately knelt on one knee, clasped his hands in a fist, and promised, "This humble officer will certainly not fail in his mission!"

After the meeting, Lu Huantang made his usual rounds. The spring chill, mixed with fine snow, stung his face, making him instinctively circulate his inner energy to keep warm. Turning his head, he saw that Zhang Wanchun had already marked out about five acres of land on the gravelly ground. There were plenty of such plots in spring; with their stony surfaces and frozen soil, nothing could grow there.

Lu Huantang glanced at it and then continued his patrol.

Perhaps it was the cold weather; the people of Wu, located in the south, were not resistant to the cold, and their attacks had noticeably decreased in the past few months. But when it was Lu Huantang's turn to patrol, he dared not relax at all. He carefully wiped his sword and put on thick reindeer hide gloves to prevent his hands from freezing before fighting the enemy.

The gloves were sent by Jiang Linzhi, along with some food. Lu Huantang still wasn't particularly interested in food, but it was a hot commodity among the generals stationed there year-round. After Lu Huantang distributed the food, even General Li became much more amiable towards him. This made Lu Huantang admire Jiang Linzhi; she probably didn't send these things for him to eat, but rather focused her attention on how to socialize.

Just then, Lu Huantang suddenly heard a faint sound in the distance. He looked out of the city with his binoculars and saw no unusual activity in the distant Wu city. Moreover, the sound seemed to come from inside the city. He walked to the other side of the city and looked down. He saw Zhang Wanchun sifting sand and gravel from the soil with a hoe and sieve.

Although speechless, it was also expected. Lu Huantang walked down from the city wall, handed him a water bag and said, "Go back and rest first. We still have to work tomorrow. You won't have any energy tomorrow if you keep going like this."

Zhang Wanchun took off his dirty gloves, revealing that his palms were raw and bleeding. He seemed oblivious to the cold, waving his hand sheepishly and saying, "Thank you, Lieutenant Lu. My hands are dirty, I'll drink some when we get back."

"You're the only one doing it, what about the others?" Lu Huantang handed the water bag to Zhang Wanchun's mouth and fed him water. Zhang Wanchun didn't stand on ceremony and drank the whole bag in one gulp before saying with a silly grin, "They're wounded soldiers, so they can do less. Besides, I was the one who suggested it, so I should set an example."

He's probably not setting a good example, but rather his subordinates are complaining and unwilling to work hard. He's trying to win people over with virtue.

Although Lu Huantang scoffed inwardly, he still pretended to be warm and said, "If you collapse from exhaustion, they'll be even less willing to work. Quickly, I'll order you to go back and rest as your superior. I'll bring you some medicine later, so those who don't want to work can see how much you've accomplished."

Zhang Wanchun waved his hands repeatedly, sincerely declining the offer.

But Lu Huantang was genuinely putting on an act. Judging from General Li's reaction today, he probably couldn't do anything about Zhang Wanchun either. He figured it was better to befriend such a simple-minded person; who knows, he might need him as a shield someday.

Zhang Wanchun, of course, had no idea what Lu Huantang was thinking. He accepted Lu Huantang's kindness with gratitude and said confidently to Lu Huantang before parting, "Lieutenant Lu, everyone says that everything is difficult at the beginning, but with the help of people like you, the beginning has become much simpler."

Lu Huantang was taken aback by Zhang Wanchun's starry eyes and didn't immediately grasp the emotional words. After regaining his senses, he quickly laughed a few times in agreement and returned to his own tent.

Having probably not encountered such a naive fool in a long time, Lu Huantang tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Finally, he put on his robe, lit a lamp, and recounted Zhang Wanchun's story in full to Jiang Linzhi in his monthly letter home.

With someone to confide in, Lu Huantang suddenly felt that his ulterior motives were justified, and he put down his pen and peacefully drifted off to sleep.

The land was gradually cleared away thanks to Zhang Wanchun's enthusiasm. The wounded soldiers initially complained, but with their leader working so hard, they wouldn't openly feign reluctance. Everyone got along well, and things were manageable.

Before long, the border soldiers received their monthly letters and supplies from home.

Jiang Linzhi's package was always the most exquisite. Qi Er and several adjutants looked at the package embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns and joked, "Look, Brother Lu's family is so thoughtful. Look at my coarse linen package, tsk, it's different."

"Brother Qi's eyesight isn't as sharp as it used to be. This pattern must have been a gift from a young lady. Brother Lu didn't tell us brothers, did he? He's being too polite." Another chimed in.

In a few words, Lu Huantang was fawned over by a group of soldiers who needed a little something in return. He hurriedly explained, "This was sent by my previous master. Don't talk nonsense."

"Nonsense? You dare say you don't have that intention?" Qi Er leaned closer and hooked his arm around his shoulder. "If you don't have that intention, then introduce the girl to us. We brothers are getting old and haven't settled down yet, we're in a hurry."

After being bombarded with words, Lu Huantang was overwhelmed and quickly divided up the tobacco in his bag. Only then did everyone let him off the hook.

Besides the letter, the bag contained only things needed for early spring. Lu Huantang, somewhat impatient, grabbed the letter and started walking back. But he hadn't taken two steps when he was called back.

"Lieutenant Lu!" A young man came running from afar, panting heavily, like a little stray dog ​​running towards the village entrance.

Lu Huantang shouted, "Slow down, I won't run away."

Having finally made it here, Zhang Wanchun stretched out a long string of cured meat, as long as his arm, in front of Lu Huantang, panting heavily as he leaned on his knees: "This is horse sausage. If you're hungry tonight, have some for a midnight snack."

Although grain was cheap in the country and meat was plentiful, horses were a scarce commodity due to their role in trade, transportation, and warfare, and horse meat was an especially prized delicacy. Zhang Wanchun made no mention of the horse meat's value and simply stuffed the food into his hands.

The letter in his hand suddenly felt hot, and Lu Huantang felt ashamed, like he had been caught talking behind someone's back. Without making a sound, he stuffed the letter into his bundle, took out a box of fine hand oil, and said, "Knowing you don't smoke tobacco, I left you a box of hand oil."

Zhang Wanchun's hands were often cracked from labor. The soldiers were mostly rough men; they would just smear some lard from candle wax on the cracks and make do. But the pain was real, especially in winter when the hands were bent and flexed, causing the newly healed cuts to reopen. So this hand ointment was more precious than gold to someone as sensitive as Zhang Wanchun.

The box was inlaid with jade, clearly very valuable. Zhang Wanchun immediately felt his horse intestines weren't good enough and wished he could give everything in his bundle to Lu Huantang. But the rest were just things he used himself, hardly presentable.

Lu Huantang pressed down on Zhang Wanchun's hand as he rummaged through the things, and laughed, "We're brothers, why bother with such a small thing?" As he spoke, he cut off two strings of horse sausage and stuffed them back into Zhang Wanchun's hand, explaining to his bewildered son, "You can't eat alone in the army. I can't eat that much myself. You can take these and share them with the brothers who are following you."

Zhang Wanchun left with profuse thanks. Watching him leave, Lu Huantang thought to himself: I've got him.