Chapter 47
Yao Chunnuan looked at the man, his eyes red as he continued to comfort Xing Xingyue, then at the general's dark complexion, and decided to slip away. She had already finished welcoming the guests, and as for the general's household affairs, she would not get involved.
Everyone saw it with their own eyes. As soon as Yao Chunnuan left, they followed closely.
Almost as soon as everyone left, the general ordered the two men to be taken back to the carriage and immediately arranged for someone to send them back to Zhenjiang Prefecture.
Xing Xingyue struggled and shouted, "Brother, you can't do this." Xing Xingyue was frightened. She didn't expect that her brother would send her back to Zhenjiang Prefecture without saying a word when he saw her for the first time.
Xing Changfeng remained unmoved by Xing Xingyue's struggle.
"I'm going to die. I'm going to die."
"I won't die." From Zhenjiang to the northern border and then to Yichun, it's nearly two thousand kilometers. She is still alive and well. The way back is much easier than before. How could she die?
"Brother, I'm your biological sister, you can't do this to me!"
"Brother, you are so cold-blooded!"
"Brother, I'm pregnant!"
Xing Changfeng remained unmoved until she said her last sentence, his expression cracked and veins on his forehead throbbed.
Steward Wu was also bewildered. He could tell that the Fourth Young Lady was having an affair with this man, but he hadn't expected it to go this far.
The man who had been silent the whole time finally spoke. He lowered his head and said, "The doctor said that Xingyue's body cannot travel too much, otherwise... otherwise..."
Chief Steward Wu whispered, "General, it's getting late. If you want to leave, why not leave tomorrow?"
"You make the arrangements, but you are not allowed to place irrelevant people in the general's mansion!" Xing Changfeng said, without even looking at his sister again, and strode away.
Xing Xingyue looked at Manager Wu and said pitifully, "Uncle Wu——"
Wu, the chief steward, was troubled. Since he couldn't accommodate him in the Grand General's Mansion, he could only find a house in the military dependents' quarters in the South District. Well, perhaps he didn't need to be placed in the South District. Housing there was scarce. The North District, being the labor service area, had more housing. Those houses were a bit shabby, yes. But he was young, and presumably strong, so a little draft shouldn't be a problem.
Unfortunately, all his ideas were extinguished before he could put them into action. This was because his fourth daughter was worried about her lover and insisted on going with him to see how he was settled.
Girls are extroverts, they really are. Manager Wu could only shake his head and give up his original plan.
As luck would have it, Yao Chunnuan went out to the courtyard to get something and saw that Wu Zongguan had arranged for Xing Xingyue's lover to live next door to hers. As expected, he couldn't even enter the General's Mansion.
Yao Chunnuan's gloating didn't last long before her face fell. She could tell at a glance that Xing Xingyue was not someone she could rest easy with. Her husband lived next door to her, so things were going to get busy.
Manager Wu saw her, walked over, and let Xing Xingyue say goodbye to the man.
Chief Steward Wu finished explaining what happened after she left, then whispered, "...The General's method is too simple and crude. If this isn't handled properly, I'm afraid there will be resentment."
Yao Chunnuan curled her lips secretly. It was Xing Xingyue who did something wrong. Did she still need others to pamper her carefully?
These are all trivial matters. Manager Wu mentioned them briefly and then turned the topic to Yu Chen who arrived today.
"Mr. Yu is a very tolerant and capable man. When the general was in the northern border, he almost single-handedly supported the shogunate. I will introduce you two to each other tomorrow."
"Okay, thank you for troubling me, Manager Wu." Manager Wu specifically told her this, which also showed his respect for her.
"The General intends that after Mr. Yu arrives, the two of you will divide your responsibilities according to your respective strengths, each taking charge of a specific area. Besides that, Mr. Yu will continue to be responsible for the overall management of the shogunate as before."
"There's no problem on my side." She had no interest in being the chief of staff. She just wanted to ensure that she was indispensable to the shogunate. Besides, her current physical condition did not make her suitable for the position of chief.
Before Yu Chen arrived, she was undoubtedly the leader of the shogunate—not in name only, but in reality. Yu Chen's arrival had made things a little easier for her. Furthermore, their entire team was still in the process of expanding their business, so she certainly wouldn't initiate infighting. But she also understood Manager Wu's concerns.
Hearing her words, Wu Zongguan breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "You are a good person with a good sense of the overall situation. Please rest assured that the general will not let you suffer any injustice."
"Then, Manager Wu, I'll go in first." After standing for a long time, Yao Chunnuan was so cold that she couldn't help stamping her feet.
"Go back quickly." Manager Wu urged her to go back to the house.
"Okay, I'll go in first. You should come back quickly when you're done. It's too cold today." After saying that, she hurriedly trotted back to the house.
Manager Wu looked at her, then turned back to look at the fourth young lady who was still flirting with the man, and couldn't help shaking his head. Why are other people's children so worry-free?
Yu Chen had also settled down. He didn't care how the general arranged for his sister and the man. He just brought them safely, and that was considered the mission accomplished. He didn't need to worry about what happened next, nor did he want to worry about it.
The house had been prepared by Wu the previous morning, cleaned spotlessly, and all the daily necessities were provided according to his habits. Almost as soon as he arrived, someone would bring hot water, and after he had a comfortable hot bath, he would be served a hot and delicious meal upon returning.
After finishing his meal, he made a cup of tea and drank it slowly. When he had sorted out his thoughts, he got up and went to the general's residence to meet the general.
First, he reported on his work, which didn't take long. Firstly, the situation there was already settled, and secondly, they had been corresponding for some time. He only needed to fill in a few details.
But Wu, the chief steward, spoke at length about the situation in Yichun, and he listened quietly. This was where he would begin his work, and there were certain aspects where the more he knew, the better.
When Manager Yao talked about their development in Yichun during this period, he couldn't help but mention Yao Chunnuan, mainly because the role she played was too important to be ignored.
Yu Chenji listened carefully. Although he had not been in Yichun before, he had been in constant communication with General Wu, so he knew about Yao Chunnuan.
He had nothing but gratitude towards her.
He hadn't come along earlier because he was worried about Yichun. He feared the situation wouldn't improve, that the general would suffer, and that he didn't have anyone around to offer advice. He knew that the shogunate members who came along were capable, but compared to the top aides, they still had a lot of room for improvement. It was Yao Chunnuan who filled this gap.
"What evidence did the general have against Marshal Zhu?" Yu Chen was genuinely curious. Because communications were insecure, confidential information was never passed on unless absolutely necessary. So, he only knew that the general had staged a remarkable comeback, achieving remarkable results, but he didn't know the crucial information.
"Look at this and see if you can figure out what it means." The general pushed a booklet over.
Yu Chen took it and found that some parts of the book were crossed out. He did not look at the crossed out parts, but first quickly read through the book, "Is this the account book of Marshal Zhu's embezzlement of military funds?"
"Um."
Yu Chen flipped through the book again and discovered that Marshal Zhu's early methods of corruption were mainly reflected in the repetitive expenditure of personnel salaries, camp construction, and daily procurement of military supplies. A careful examination of the accounts would reveal clues.
Later on, he only tampered with the army's annual losses of armor, weapons, war horses, etc., in a secretive manner, and his methods improved.
Daliang had commercial settlements, and the value of these settlements was related to grain and salt. As the highest official in charge of the Yichun camp, Marshal Zhu naturally had access to salt and iron. He then used various means to siphon off the salt and iron production he handled, and then sold it privately.
When Yu Chen followed the drawn line and came to this conclusion, he couldn't help but gasp.
He asked, "Was it Chief Secretary Yao who discovered it?"
"Um."
"It's so secretive, how did she find out?" They are so used to doing these jobs and have mastered the skills, so they shouldn't be discovered.
Wu, the chief steward, laughed and said, "Perhaps their smooth sailing has made them arrogant. The salt and iron they lost also need containers. Look here, the number of sacks and bamboo baskets purchased is abnormal."
"That's it?" Yu Chen was speechless. "What was the person in charge of this matter on Marshal Zhu's side thinking? Why did he even take these containers from the army?" Marshal Zhu was caught unjustly. Just because of a few dozen or a hundred taels of money for containers, someone found clues to his embezzlement.
"Look here again—"
"That was an account entry from eight years ago, about the purchase of thirty kilograms of tungsten iron. Looking at another record compiled by Yao Chunnuan, tens of thousands of kilograms of pig iron were lost by Marshal Zhu that year. There's a record from the Yichun military settlement that year of one hundred and eighty young men being transferred to the mountains to quarry stone, then encountering an accident and no one surviving."
Pig iron - tungsten iron - manpower, Yu Chen figured something out.
If you look at these three pieces of information separately, you can't tell anything at all, but once they are combined, the hidden information is too obvious.
"Were there any abandoned outposts nearby during those years?" Yu Chen asked.
Wu Zongguan nodded with a smile, "Yes, that's what Chief Secretary Yao asked at the time."
"Amazing!" Yu Chen exclaimed. Being able to pull out Marshal Zhu's deepest secret from these clues was amazing.
"When the general first speculated on this, he went to the outpost with the idea of giving it a try. Unexpectedly, there was a big surprise inside."
"I heard Marshal Zhu is still investigating the source of the leak?"
"Yeah. He certainly didn't expect that we could get access to his secret vault just through an account book."
"It's all his fault that he fleeced the people too much." Even the materials and manpower used to build the secret library were squeezed out of the Yichun camp and military settlements. Yu Chen shook his head.
Chief Wu said, "Also, Chief Secretary Yao speculated that Marshal Zhu must have more than one secret vault."
Yu Chen nodded, agreeing with her speculation, "Well, this abandoned outpost that he transformed should be his first secret repository."
"But for the rest, we can't guess the specific address." Manager Wu said this with a smile, but there was no regret in his smile, because they had already utilized this information to the fullest extent and got the benefits they wanted.
"That's already impressive. Chief Wu, your eye for talent is still as sharp as ever." Yu Chen complimented her and expressed admiration. He admired his general even more. At the time, Chief Secretary Yao was still a convict, yet he dared to appoint her.
Yu Chen talked with the general for a while, and since it was getting late, he was escorted out by Chief Steward Wu.
"I will introduce you to Chief Clerk Yao tomorrow." Steward Wu said as he walked.
"I couldn't ask for more."
"Master Yao is not difficult to get along with, and you're easy to talk to too. You're both the general's right-hand men, so you should get along well and assist him together. We're outsiders, after all, and while our situation is better now than when we first arrived, we can't let our guard down."
Left arm and right arm, this is a compliment.
Yu Chen didn't respond immediately because he could tell that Wu was about to continue nagging. "Master Yao is young, a woman, and pregnant. If she's not considerate enough in any way, don't take it to heart. But Master Yao is a person who knows her limits. I don't think she'll embarrass you when we get along."
Yu Chen was at a loss for words. He knew Yao Chunnuan well. He listened to her words and observed her actions. Judging from her last words to Lin Hui, she had a good sense of the overall situation. She was not the kind of person who was petty and only cared about the little things in front of her.
"Boss Wu, don't worry. I do have some tolerance. What you're worried about won't happen."
"Ah, I feel relieved when you say that. Maybe it's because I'm getting older, I just have so many worries."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
