Reborn Before My Husband Ascends the Throne Chapter 64

Zhao Jingwen thought about it for a long ti, 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 sothing 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 seed 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 ssenger arrived in ti, 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 achievent. You two, do not worry about the future."

In fact, Ye Suijin's letter did not ntion 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 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 ssenger about the situation at ho: "...The people who ca back last ti seed to say she went to Tang Prefecture?"

Now at ho, 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 ssenger 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 ntion 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 ho had been earth-shattering.

Since they could not imagine it, looking at the present, Zhao Jingwen had a total of about five hundred n 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 achievents."

The two n 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 rely a steward, even when Xiang Da was in the Xuanhua Army, he had never commanded so many n.

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 beca sober.

Although there were five hundred n here now, and all the scattered soldiers and able-bodied young n in the vicinity had been recruited, those who could really enforce orders were still the original hundred n 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 ssenger, "Rest well, have a hot al. 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 ssenger naturally responded "Yes", and took out a stack of letters from his pack, laughing, "Everyone has been away from ho for so long, their families all asked 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 soone to read it to him, surely just so nagging trifles.

The ssenger laughed, "Your wife also wanted to bring you a padded jacket. But everyone wanted to send things, I alone could not carry so much. The master did not allow 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, soone suddenly ca 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 n who hard her."

Zhao Jingwen's expression was very ugly. He hurried out.

Xiang Da followed him out.

Ye Mancang called soone over, pointing at the ssenger, "Take him for a al."

After giving the instructions, he hurried out as well.

With the stewards gone, the assigned soldier darted over, "Are there any letters for , quick, let see!"

They all knew each other.

The ssenger covered them laughingly, "Go get a bowl of hot soup first!"

The two walked off arm in arm to eat.

Hearing he was sent from ho, many of Ye Family Fortress's soldiers crowded around. They had been out for months, and missed ho too.

So were worrying about wives at ho, so were concerned no one was working the fields with them away.

The ssenger 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 ho. The ssenger only said, "All's well, sa as before."

"Don't worry, the fields have arrangents 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 to bring words. I see your head's going green hahaha."

As the ssenger chatted and laughed, he also probed about things here.

How many n, how were they stationed, what was the situation, and so on.

He saw everyone was wearing winter clothes, although mixed and matched, so with cloth padded jackets, so with sheepskin jackets. Fortunately Ye Family's blue robes were worn on top, so it did not look too ssy, still rather neat.

They all hurriedly pulled open their collars to show him.

The ssenger asked with a smile, "I was worried you'd be freezing. When did you prepare the winter coats?"

Soone 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 an 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 ssenger's expression did not change. He raised his hand to call soone over, "Er Bao, your ma told to bring you a ssage, I'll tell you after I eat. Choking to death, is there any soup?"

Er Bao brought him soup, smiling, "You sleep with tonight."

The ssenger accepted the soup bowl, agreeing.

He had just gulped down two mouthfuls when soone ca in shouting, "Young Master Zhao is holding a military trial!"

Everyone asked together, "What happened?"

The man said, "That fool Si Gui, went with so 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 ssenger and Er Bao exchanged a look, the ssenger stuffed the remaining half pancake into his mouth and swallowed it in two bites. He gulped down so more soup, and the two followed along.

Zhao Jingwen's expression was icy.

The town's esteed elders and grieving family mbers and neighbors had carried the deceased young lady over on a door plank, wailing.

An old man ca 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 n 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 n 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 sa.

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 imdiately offered a reward, and soone imdiately stood out: "Si Gui from our barracks wasn't there last night. I got up to pee and felt his bedding next to 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 cri, what did that an?

It ant 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.