Liu Kun now had the same feeling. With Fan Ying gone, the affairs she had been responsible for had basically all fallen on Liu Kun’s shoulders.

He became even busier, and working beside Zhao Hanzhang went against his usual leisurely way of handling things. There were too many matters, and they were too miscellaneous. Even when the military medical office was short one batch of Chinese angelica root, they would come to him for money allocation. Why did they need to find him for such trivial matters?

Liu Kun nearly threw down his burden and quit.

It was only at this moment that he felt there was still a little bit of a gap between him and his elder brother.

In the end, it was Fu Tinghan who stepped in to help him sort out many matters, and only then did he reluctantly refrain from running back to Jinyang.

Logistics wasn’t easy to manage, especially since Zhao Hanzhang didn’t only need to be responsible for the logistics of her own army. The weapons, cattle, horses, grain, and fodder for the other Zhao family armies and the Xiliang army all needed to be allocated from here.

So as her deputy, he needed to master a great deal of data. Fan Ying was accustomed to doing this. Over these years, she had seen and knew every increase in troop numbers, from generals down to officers. All the documents for equipment replacements and cattle and horses had passed through her review before being submitted to Zhao Hanzhang for approval and then sent down, so she could respond to all of Zhao Hanzhang’s various questions.

But Liu Kun was new. Although the army had all kinds of data, mastering it all at once was very difficult for him.

Once a person suffers setbacks, their enthusiasm for work is greatly diminished.

Fu Tinghan probably saw his irritation, so during meals and when resting in the carriage, he would come over to help him. Whenever Liu Kun had questions, there was nothing Fu Tinghan couldn’t answer.

Liu Kun stared at him blankly. Fu Tinghan could even remember the names and ages of squad leaders of ten men in the Xiliang army, not to mention the personnel situations of all the Zhao family army units. Everything in the military registers, he had memorized completely.

Not only the military registers of the realm, but also all known warehouses throughout the land, the cattle, horses, and weapons of each commandery and county, even the topography of waterways and land routes, the known forces along the way, the names of officials, the situation of disaster victims—he could recall all of it effortlessly.

Fu Tinghan lowered his eyes and flipped through the documents in his hand, pointing to one spot and saying: “The county magistrate of Puwu County, Zhu Jue, died of illness last month. Currently managing county government affairs is his son Zhu Qing. Although the document uses Zhu Jue’s seal, it’s not him personally. You should remind Hanzhang to appoint a new county magistrate.”

Liu Kun swallowed and crushed his previous worries about Fu Tinghan. He asked Fu Tinghan: “Does Hanzhang take you wherever she goes because of this great talent of yours, this ability to plan strategies?”

Fu Tinghan smiled at him and said: “The one who plans strategies is Hanzhang. I just have a good memory, that’s all.”

Simply put, to Zhao Hanzhang, he was a human storage card, the kind that could both read and write.

“I need to think about fewer things, so I have more mental capacity to remember these things. Unlike Hanzhang—she must consider the overall situation and also go to the front lines. Otherwise, for all these things, she wouldn’t need me; she could completely remember them all herself.”

Liu Kun didn’t say anything, but he did develop a competitive spirit and no longer single-mindedly wanted to go to the battlefield. He began to work hard to memorize these things, so that the next time Zhao Hanzhang asked him something, he finally no longer hesitated and needed to constantly look at Fu Tinghan.

Zhao Hanzhang was very satisfied with this. In private, she said to Fu Tinghan: “See, I told you—brothers from the same family, even if he’s a bit inferior, he won’t be much worse than his elder brother.”

Liu Kun could barely be considered an exceptional person, but his brother Liu Yu was truly exceptional. It was just a pity that he was too addicted to wine and women, which led to his early death.

For Liu Kun, who also liked to drink, Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but advise him: “Wine is something that should be consumed in moderation. One shouldn’t remain drunk for long periods, as it easily damages the liver and spleen.”

Liu Kun didn’t take it seriously. “I’m almost never drunk.”

Once work was on the right track, he began thinking about proving himself on the battlefield again, so he asked: “When we next encounter enemy forces, would the Commander be willing to make me a general?”

Now their route of advance had already diverged from the Tuoba Xianbei, no longer following behind the Tuoba Xianbei picking up cities. They had started occasionally encountering Youzhou forces, and Liu Kun had requested to fight several times, but Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t agreed.

Now that he could adapt to Fan Ying’s work and had capacity to spare, he could go to the battlefield, right?

His persistent demands to go to battle caused the generals under Zhao Hanzhang’s command to frequently glance at him. Lord Liu was now doing Chief Clerk Fan’s work—he didn’t need to go to the battlefield anyway, right?

Seeing that he was still thinking about this, Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but smile. After thinking it over, she said: “Yueshi, why don’t you wait a bit longer.”

“Wait for what?”

Wait to encounter the Xiongnu army.

Shi Lei had already clashed with the Xiongnu. The Youzhou army without a leader wasn’t worth fearing, so not only were they harvesting Youzhou’s territory, Liu Cong was also attacking cities and seizing land.

Of course, while he was grabbing Youzhou’s land, he was also losing Youzhou’s land. There was no helping it—both Beigong Chun and Zhao Ju were attacking him. After several exchanges, he had more losses than wins and had lost quite a few cities.

Aside from the delayed-update map in Zhao Hanzhang’s hands, no one knew how much territory the Xiongnu currently occupied.

So they suddenly ran right into the Xiongnu army.

This siege battle met with different resistance. Fortunately, Zhao Hanzhang had a clear understanding and had made advance deployments, so casualties from the first assault weren’t heavy.

Zhao Xin escorted Liu Yi and a group of Xiongnu generals to see Zhao Hanzhang.

To reassure the surrendered Xiongnu generals, Zhao Hanzhang personally came out of her tent to greet them.

Seeing that Liu Yi had lost a great deal of weight, Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes were full of sympathy. She asked with concern: “Are you ill?”

During this time, Liu Yi had watched his clansmen kill each other, and he couldn’t help but repeatedly question himself in his heart: was what he was doing correct?

Doubt and uncertainty, along with the heavy burden on his shoulders, tormented his heart. Even though his mother had returned to his side, he still couldn’t find peace, which is why he had grown so thin. In less than a month, he had practically wasted away.

But he couldn’t tell Zhao Hanzhang, and he couldn’t even let his clansmen detect his thoughts. Otherwise, the surrendered troops he had brought out would surely fall apart. So he smiled at Zhao Hanzhang and said: “It’s just that the weather doesn’t suit me—I’m not accustomed to the climate.”

Seeing him like this, Zhao Hanzhang truly felt sympathy and sighed: “I’ll have a physician examine you.”

She asked with concern: “Have you been reunited with the Grand Dowager Dan?”

At the mention of his mother, Liu Yi’s expression relaxed, and he couldn’t help but smile. He repeatedly bowed in gratitude: “Thank you, General, for your rescue…”

Zhao Hanzhang quickly reached out to support him: “I only did what I could. You sincerely surrendered to me—how could I let you be heartbroken?”

At these words, the Xiongnu officials and generals behind Liu Yi also relaxed their expressions and gained two parts more recognition of Zhao Hanzhang.

Only then did Zhao Hanzhang step aside and invite them into the tent to talk.

The question the Xiongnu people were most concerned about was: where would they live in the future, what would they do, and would their treatment truly be the same as the Han people, as Liu Yi had said?

Although Zhao Hanzhang had already found them a destination in her heart, she still asked for their opinions, wanting to know what vision they had for the future.

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