After being subjected to yet another round of Xu Cheng'an's "forced buying and selling," Wei Yuefu headed back, deeply "displeased."
In truth, those supplies should have been issued to begin with, yet he had to spend money to buy them.
Anyone would be unhappy about it, not to mention that he even had to find ways to be "forced" into purchasing them.
Otherwise, buying them openly would have been far too conspicuous and easily drawn attention.
After all, everyone was embezzling and fencing military supplies out the door. You, on the other hand, were actually looking to sharpen your weapons and fatten your horses?
It would easily lead people to suspect rebellion, especially with Hong Qiming's cautionary tale fresh in their minds.
The people of Qingchuan Prefecture were greedy, not stupid.
Wei Yuefu intended to build up a force of eight hundred men through a repeated cycle of amassing wealth, recruiting, and drilling.
Once that was done, whatever remained would be far simpler.
"My Lord, Patrol Envoy Shen of Six Doors has been waiting in your tent for quite some time," reported one of his two platoon leaders the moment he saw Wei Yuefu return.
A platoon leader was a low-level officer commanding one hundred men.
"Understood," Wei Yuefu acknowledged, waving him off to his duties.
He knew why Shen Qianjun had come looking for him; Xu Cheng'an had already tipped him off.
"Congratulations to Patrol Envoy Shen on being restored to your post," Wei Yuefu offered flattering words the moment he entered the tent, before adding, "I wonder what wind has blown Patrol Envoy Shen to my humble camp?"
"I was away on business and failed to offer proper hospitality. Please forgive me, Patrol Envoy Shen."
Seeing Wei Yuefu, Shen Qianjun stood to greet him, after which both men sat down.
"Company Commander Ding, as for why I've come looking for you, you ought to know in your own heart," Shen Qianjun said bluntly, having no intention of beating around the bush with him.
"Then I must say I'm thoroughly confused," Wei Yuefu feigned ignorance. "These days I've been busy recruiting men, buying horses, and preparing military equipment."
"What problem could there possibly be?"
Shen Qianjun was not surprised that Wei Yuefu denied it. He simply produced an account ledger, set it on the table, and slid it in front of Wei Yuefu.
Wei Yuefu, however, did not even glance at it, his expression remaining completely unchanged.
"Patrol Envoy Shen, do you truly think this thing is of any use?" Wei Yuefu poured him a cup of tea and set it before him in the same manner.
"Let's say I accept this thing as evidence." Wei Yuefu unhurriedly lifted his teacup, took a sip, and only then said, "Where do you plan to file your complaint?"
"And just who do you plan to have arrest me?"
"If it is genuine, you've presumably already read the contents."
"The fact that you came to me means nothing more than that you've run out of moves. Otherwise, you would have just arrested me directly."
This sort of thing was just like a dossier of corrupt officials—its weight depended entirely on which way the wind blew up above.
If those above wanted to make an arrest, it served as a royal banner of authority.
Yet in a situation like Wei Yuefu's, everyone's interests were hopelessly tangled together.
Even if he had it, so what?
"You've changed too much," Shen Qianjun gritted out. "You weren't like this before."
Hearing this, Wei Yuefu merely chuckled and replied, "Indeed. And that is why the old Ding Shoucheng is dead."
"It was precisely because I never fought for anything, never contested anything, and yielded at every turn."
"Do you still remember the martial competition against Yuanwei Martial Arts Hall back then?"
"Meng Zhijie got the rewards, and you went to the prefectural capital to further your training."
"Care to guess what benefits Meng Wei gave me?"
Shen Qianjun froze. Before he could ponder it, Wei Yuefu said, "Ten taels of silver and three days off."
"During those few days I was dumped in the woodshed, let alone medicinal decoctions, I didn't even have food to eat."
"They were just waiting for me to take my last breath so they could haul me off and bury me."
At this, Shen Qianjun fell silent.
"Not to mention that, as direct personal disciples, you two had unlimited meat and could drink great medicine every day."
"Not me. I was limited to one meal a day with fixed rations, and I could only drink a single bowl a month."
"I didn't even receive a monthly stipend—it was withheld to cover my hall dues."
"That treatment was barely better than that of an outer disciple."
"I asked Meng Wei to help me find a wife, and he refused."
"I asked him for a slight increase in my stipend, and that was refused too."
"If I hadn't changed, was I supposed to wait around to be a beast of burden for Sifang Martial Arts Hall for the rest of my life, only to die without leaving any descendants?" Wei Yuefu questioned, half in earnest, half in jest.
Shen Qianjun wanted to say something more, but before the words could leave his mouth—
"Such is the world," Wei Yuefu interrupted him and continued. "If you must lay blame, then blame this world."
"It is this world that harmed them, not me."
In the end, Shen Qianjun let out a sigh and said, "There is still a way back for you, isn't there?"
Wei Yuefu, however, was blunt: "What good does turning back do me?"
"Go back to being a beast of burden for the Meng family?"
"The fact that I haven't killed them already shows immense generosity on my part."
"Immense generosity" was an outright lie, of course; he was mainly afraid Shen Qianjun might go berserk and come after him.
Otherwise, given any opportunity at all, he would have made sure they died without a burial place.
Naturally, he still had to consider carefully how to kill them... After all, a pig-headed teammate was far more terrifying than a formidable adversary.
Faced with Wei Yuefu's words, Shen Qianjun found himself unable to refute them for a moment.
"I have said all I have to say. Take care of yourself," Shen Qianjun said. With that, he took back the account ledger, rose, and departed.
He truly could not resolve this himself, but he had Xia Miaozheng backing him.
Coming to find Wei Yuefu this time was meant to give him a chance.
Unfortunately, Wei Yuefu had not cherished it.
Since it could not be resolved from within, he would bring in external forces to conduct a total purge in one stroke.
With his current position, even in tandem with Xia Miaozheng, he could only barely keep Six Doors under control.
He could not even touch the Windwhisper Bureau; after all, it dealt with intelligence, and he knew full well the consequences of shifting its personnel around recklessly.
"It seems Xu Cheng'an is still keeping something from me," Wei Yuefu muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Yet that was only natural. If he knew too much, what if he slipped out of Xu's control?
When it came to intelligence, to say it was useful, you had to be able to exploit it first.
To say it was useless, without it you would be screwed over to death.
Therefore, until he possessed absolute martial might, Wei Yuefu still placed immense value on information asymmetry and intelligence advantages.
"I just wonder whether they'll dare make a move on Xia Miaozheng." From Shen Qianjun's attitude and tone, Wei Yuefu could be certain that the man's external reinforcements were on their way.
It would still take some time for them to arrive, however, so Xu Cheng'an and the others were banking on that time window.
Kill the man before the reinforcements arrived; once he was dead, everything else would be simple to handle.
With the great uprising in the north and continuous revolts breaking out across the south, the imperial court's control over local regions had naturally plummeted.
Soon, though, Wei Yuefu cast those thoughts to the back of his mind.
He didn't have that much time; he needed to hurry and complete his daily martial training routine for today.
Not much time remained until his return.
His sole regret was that he had misjudged the awakening progress of his final dormant talent.
His fear had come true: there truly wasn't enough time left for it to awaken.
The main reason was that cultivating the Mount Sumeru King Immovable Divine Art earlier had absorbed far too much qi and blood, causing a delay.
After sitting in storage for so many years, the potency of the Dragon Marrow Blood-Tempering Pill had inevitably diminished somewhat.
There were ways to avoid this; achieving minor mastery of the Eight Treasures Golden Body would probably suffice.
Yet he was no Shen Qianjun; reaching minor mastery in a short period was simply impossible.
Chapter 48