“What?!” Su Zhe let out a sharp cry. “On what grounds?!”

Su Zhe was furious.

The edict from the capital had arrived — and it was splitting the command.

Su Zhe had come north on a surge of passionate conviction. She was her mother’s only heir, a child raised and educated at her grandfather’s side! Taking a comfortable sinecure at Minister Liu’s residence, she had also accepted that — Minister Liu was an interesting person, and grandfather had worked hard for her sake.

But this!

“On what grounds?!” Su Zhe demanded sharply. “How has grandfather failed them in any way? From as far back as I can remember, grandfather has been working to govern the south for this court. All right — never mind the past, just look at now! Grandfather has worked so hard, and they have the nerve to split the command?! Marquis Zheng was already going to hand the north over to grandfather — what right does the Emperor have to split the command?”

This was something Su Zhe simply could not understand.

Zhuo Jue and the others were also seething with anger.

Senior Clerk Bao said, “Could it be that treacherous ministers are in power at court? If Chief Minister Wang were governing, it would never have come to this!”

Lin Feng and Zhù Qingjun worked hard to pull Su Zhe back. Lin Feng said, “Can you stop going off like this first?! Wait for foster father to speak — since when do you make decisions for our principal?”

Zhù Qingjun said soothingly, “Little Sister, calm down for a moment — see what my lord has to say.”

“What else is there to say?” Su Zhe raged. “Ever since my mother brought me home, I have never been made to swallow such humiliation!”

Lin Feng was at something of a loss — he was a little afraid of Su Zhe — and kept throwing frantic glances at Zhù Qingjun.

Zhù Qingjun leaned close and murmured into Su Zhe’s ear, “Get even angrier — cause an even bigger scene. That way we have grounds to petition my lord on her behalf.”

Su Zhe caught on in a flash, then began to make an even bigger clamor. Lin Feng, standing nearby, played along with Xiang An and the others: “The north has been this peaceful — it is entirely because of my lord’s tireless vigilance day and night!”

“Exactly! My lord has labored here for over a year, and Marquis Zheng has entrusted everything to her care — why is the court stirring up trouble again?”

Everyone was speaking up for Zhù Ying.

Su Zhe and the others had no concern whatsoever for what “protection” might mean.

Zhù Wen was staring with bloodshot eyes and said to Zhuo Jue, “Regardless of the reason — without my lord, would the north look like this today?”

Zhuo Jue himself was already seething inwardly, and was still trying to calm the others: “The court is thinking of the larger picture, of course!”

Had Su Zhe and the others not kicked things off, he would have already burst out himself. As most unfortunate timing would have it, the court’s edict had arrived at the field headquarters and he — as a properly educated official — had to be the one to calm Su Zhe and the rest.

After some time of trying to soothe the situation, Zhuo Jue also reached his limit: “What is the Emperor trying to do?! All right — let us go and speak to my lord directly and make things clear! This is simply too much!”

Zhuo Jue had his private reasons — for the sake of his own Zhuo clan’s people, for the sake of his southern-scholar friends. It was one thing to have been passed over at the start; he and all the others had worked hard alongside Marquis Zheng and been on the verge of celebrating — and now the court had sent General Leng to come and split the command. What was this — giving with one hand and taking back with the other?

The only person still calm was Zhù Ying.

Zhù Ying was watching Lin Feng and Zhù Qingjun join forces to drag Su Zhe backward, and the corner of her mouth tilted upward faintly.

Su Zhe caught the expression and grew even more furious: “Grandfather! What are you smiling about?! You are still able to smile?!”

Zhù Ying waved a hand and said quietly, “I know what you mean.”

Lin Feng and Zhù Qingjun cautiously relaxed their grip a little. When Su Zhe showed no sign of launching forward, they carefully stepped back half a step.

Zhù Ying surveyed the people in the room — all her own. Then she said, “Keep your composure.”

Su Zhe muttered under her breath, “I am already being perfectly measured and calm.”

Zhù Ying said, “I understand your feelings. But whatever happens, we cannot discuss anything else until the northern tribesmen have been driven back. As for what the capital is thinking — I have a rough sense of it. Little Sister, ask yourself — is General Leng a difficult person to get along with?”

Su Zhe was not in the least bit confused by Zhù Ying’s attempt to redirect her. She said plainly, “That is a completely different situation — a General Leng in comfortable retirement in the capital is a different person entirely from a General Leng taking supreme command at the frontier!”

Su Zhe grew more indignant as she spoke: “On what grounds?! You and General Leng are split into two commands — yet you still have to ‘adjust’ his supply allocations from your own resources? Why not simply hand the entire campaign against the northern tribesmen to you? What — did all the people in the Ministry of Revenue die out completely? How can they pile this on top of you again!”

Zhù Ying said, “You have simply not been in the north long enough. Stay and observe a little longer, and you will understand.”

A child who is cherished always carries an extra measure of boldness. Su Zhe was exactly such a child, and she asked Zhù Ying with complete directness: “What more is there to observe? Look at Qingjun — she performed real service, and not a word of commendation was given. On what grounds? Is she not worth a captain’s rank?”

Zhù Qingjun said, “Let us focus on what is in front of us first.”

Su Zhe said, “I am talking about what is in front of us! After all this effort — all the dirty work and hard labor has been you leading us through it!”

The young men and women from the north had been watching Su Zhe and the others make their scene; gradually the playful spirit drained out of them. Under Senior Clerk Bao’s lead, they filed up one by one before Zhù Ying’s desk and knelt in row upon row: “My lord — how can you bear to abandon us? We still answer to you, and to you alone!”

Zhù Ying slapped the table once. Everyone went quiet. Zhù Ying said, “What is this? You think you are new brides sitting around waiting to be wronged? Get back to work — all of you!”

Like grass bending before the wind, Su Zhe — no matter how discontented she was — was pressed back down by Lin Feng and Zhù Qingjun.

What had made Su Zhe — ordinarily sharp-minded and composed — so furious was precisely the court’s edict.

So the command was being split, just like that? The north being in the state it was in today was entirely due to Zhù Ying’s labor! Even if it had been General Leng who came, everyone would have been unhappy.

The southerners were unhappy; the northerners were also unhappy.

What had been a straightforward thing — earn merit through ability, trade your accomplishments to Zhù Ying for benefits — had now been complicated by General Leng’s arrival. They would have to deal with yet another set of people.

What made Su Zhe particularly aggrieved was that Zhù Ying still had to keep her northern posts — all of the farmland administration, the adjudication of cases, the transport and supply all piled onto Zhù Ying’s shoulders.

This was simply outrageous treatment.

Su Zhe raged, “Bad enough to manage your own supplies — but she has to ‘adjust’ General Leng’s supplies too? Grandfather, why are you being so obliging?! What is there to ‘adjust’? Just look after your own responsibilities first! What — did all the people at the Ministry of Revenue drop dead? Why pile it on you again!”

Zhù Ying was not surprised. The court — it simply did not want anyone outside the capital to hold too much power. She understood the reasoning behind this edict. She had never commanded troops; General Leng was a veteran general — that much was perfectly understandable. And splitting the command was, at bottom, probably about “checks and balances.”

The justifications were all readily available: Marquis Zheng’s original plan had also divided the forces — including the main camp, he had actually split them into three. Now it was only being reduced to two parts, which was hardly baseless interference.

“Quite tiresome,” Zhù Ying murmured to herself.

Beside her, Hu Shijie asked, “My lord — what is it?”

Zhù Ying said, “Nothing. Rise earlier tomorrow — we need to see Marquis Zheng off.”

There had just been a great victory, yet Marquis Zheng was seriously ill. An edict from the capital had come, summoning Marquis Zheng to return to the capital to “report on his work” and “receive his commendations.” However reluctant anyone was, however much she felt that having a unified command at the front would be better — Marquis Zheng still had to go.

The next morning, Zhù Ying rose early and saw Marquis Zheng off — riding alongside his convoy for a full twenty li before Marquis Zheng said, “Go back. Things having come to this point, blending quietly into the crowd is better. Do not draw too much attention.”

Zhù Ying watched his convoy grow smaller and smaller, until it finally vanished at the far end of the official road.

The court was being somewhat foolish. If a new commander had no kind of “heaven-sent authority” about him, neither changing commanders in the middle of a campaign nor altering the deployment would be better than leaving things unchanged. Now the Emperor had recalled Marquis Zheng to the capital. The edict described it as consideration for the Marquis’s health; what the Emperor truly thought no longer mattered.

It was in this atmosphere that General Leng arrived at the main camp.

He and Marquis Zheng crossed paths on the road and exchanged some intelligence, then Marquis Zheng turned back toward the capital while General Leng pressed north. General Leng had brought along with him an inconvenience — Luo Sheng.

General Leng inwardly felt that bringing Luo Sheng along was dragging a dead weight — but the Emperor felt that Luo Sheng should be sent north. As the former Chief of the Court of State Ceremonial, he understood the northern peoples, and could take on some of the affairs involving dealings with them.

There was nothing to be done about it; General Leng could only bring Luo Sheng along.

Luo Sheng had once been a straightforward, unassuming person. General Leng decided to leave him for Zhù Ying to deal with — after all, they had gotten along well when they had both been at the Court of State Ceremonial.

Luo Sheng was also near the end of his mourning period. Observing mourning was nominally required of everyone, though in practice there were many ways around it — for example, the Emperor’s “day counted as a month” dispensation, or certain officials being called back in an emergency. General Leng decided to use this as his excuse and hand Luo Sheng over to Zhù Ying to deal with.

Before all that, General Leng needed to go north and meet with Zhù Ying in person.

Luo Sheng had also been given a responsibility — to formally read out the imperial edict.

Since Zhù Ying held numerous special appointments, many of them overlapping and cumbersome, the court decided to give her a unified title: Military Governor. She was also temporarily authorized to establish a headquarters staff office.

This meant that she temporarily had the right to open an official staff — gathering a defined number of personnel for the duration. Once the war was over, the staff office would be dissolved.

The authority was too great, the distance from the capital too far — this edict could not simply be entrusted to a random messenger. The Emperor looked around and settled on Luo Sheng.

And since General Leng felt that, in a theater of war, he needed to coordinate with “friendly forces” — and since “splitting the command” meant drawing off a portion of forces from the main camp — General Leng was required to meet with Zhù Ying in person and formally receive a share of the troops from her.

General Leng arrived at the main camp, Luo Sheng in tow.

Zhù Ying had first seen Marquis Zheng off to the capital. Before departing, Marquis Zheng had given her countless instructions and transferred a number of officers under his command to her, then said, “I am old — no choice but to go. Yet not being able to completely destroy the northern cavalry’s fighting force — that is my greatest regret.”

Zhù Ying did not make a ready promise, but only said, “To cleanse the realm with the Marquis’s strategy and wisdom — that too is well.”

Tang Shan had departed with Marquis Zheng; only Jin Liang stayed behind with concern, remaining in the north alongside Zhù Ying.

Then she received General Leng and Luo Sheng, who arrived together.

General Leng was there to command troops — that was straightforward. Luo Sheng’s presence was a little harder to account for.

If the court wished to dispatch an envoy to supervise a border general, Luo Sheng was not the only candidate; if the court was unconcerned about border threats, Luo Sheng was even less necessary. Yet Luo Sheng had been sent all the same.

Luo Sheng was at something of a loss.

Before setting out from the capital, the Emperor had told him that it was precisely because of his trust in him that he was being given this assignment. Since Luo Sheng had once served as head of the Court of State Ceremonial, should there be any dealings with the northern tribesmen, he was perfectly positioned to handle them.

Luo Sheng had no choice but to steel himself and accompany General Leng to Zhù Ying’s camp.

On the way, the two of them had run into Marquis Zheng and exchanged information, gaining some sense of the state of the front line — Marquis Zheng had inflicted no small damage on the northern tribesmen, but the enemy had not shown any signs of yielding, and the campaign would have to continue grinding away.

Luo Sheng watched Marquis Zheng speak two sentences and then roll his eyes back and collapse with exhaustion — there was no way to ask further questions. He could only arrive at the main camp carrying a head full of strange half-formed intelligence.

Seeing Zhù Ying come out personally to receive them at the camp entrance — showing no arrogance despite the added authority — Luo Sheng felt reassured.

He was not good at handling situations like this. The proud and battle-hardened officers of the north were completely different from the refined nobles of the capital. He fell back on his tried-and-true approach — silence — and worked carefully to take note of both sides’ words.

General Leng said, “Dividing the command was not the wisest decision — but it helps that Marquis Zheng had already established a divided approach while he was here.”

Zhù Ying said, “Since the court has given its orders, I will naturally comply. Not a single grain of the General’s supplies will be shorted.”

General Leng glanced at Su Zhe and the others, who were visibly unhappy, then at Luo Sheng, who seemed not particularly worried, and sighed inwardly. This Prince Consort was less impressive than even Leng Yun.

General Leng quickly agreed: “Excellent, excellent — if supplies are in your hands, I am reassured.”

Zhù Ying asked General Leng who should be his point of contact for grain and provisions. General Leng smiled and said, “On my end, you make the arrangements. How many troops I take — we negotiate that together.”

Zhù Ying said, “I am not well-versed in these matters — please make the arrangements as you see fit.”

The two of them went back and forth for a while. General Leng produced a list. Looking at the list, it was clear that General Leng would take only military troops, leaving civil administration entirely out of his scope — it appeared that his authority was actually a little smaller than what was in Zhù Ying’s hands.

It was a somewhat awkward arrangement. In fact, the cleanest solution would have been to have General Leng replace Marquis Zheng entirely, while Zhù Ying continued in her original posts without touching military affairs.

Luo Sheng said only that both of them had worked hard.

Zhù Ying and General Leng exchanged a glance. Both understood that this Prince Consort was not someone to be relied upon. Zhù Ying turned over the edict in her mind again — it had not assigned Luo Sheng any title of “supervisory commissioner” or “supreme commander.” It only said that Luo Sheng was to remain temporarily at the front.

This Prince Consort was a man who understood absolutely nothing about military affairs.

Zhù Ying and General Leng quickly worked out an agreement.

Zhù Ying got in first: “The great affairs of the nation lie in sacrifice and in war. I must not advance myself recklessly out of a desire for prestige and thereby spoil things. I defer entirely to the General. The General’s grain and supply allocations will be conveyed from the Ministry of Revenue — I will see to the transport and delivery in full.

If there are any additional costs, simply send an official communication and I will do my best to accommodate.”

General Leng understood well that Zhù Ying had no military experience, but she had always shown herself to be capable, and a young person who had risen so quickly and still managed to restrain her own appetite for military authority — General Leng’s attitude toward Zhù Ying became considerably more serious.

General Leng said, “Whether on the front or behind it, we are all serving the nation! I charge forward — you hold the home front. When victory comes, it will be the combined achievement of us both!”

Zhù Ying said, “In that case, I rely entirely on the General.”

Luo Sheng said, “Then it is settled just like this?”

General Leng said, “When Marquis Zheng was here, did he not also divide the forces into two routes? This is simply drawing on that same approach.”

When Marquis Zheng had been present, the forces had been divided into three — left flank, right flank, and the main camp. As it happened, General Leng’s arrival immediately meant he took over the troops from Young General Leng, plus drawing away a portion from the main camp.

Zhù Ying was also generous about it: all imperial army troops — whichever ones General Leng wanted, however many he wanted, he could have.

After the handover between General Leng and Zhù Ying was completed, General Leng headed outward toward Young General Leng’s position.

Luo Sheng, seeing this, had no choice but to ask Zhù Ying: “So… what do we do next?”

Zhù Ying smiled and said, “General Leng is a veteran — he understands priorities. You may settle in at the field headquarters for now. When the northern tribesmen show any intention to open negotiations, that is when we will need you.”

Luo Sheng said, “In the past, you were more familiar with all of this than I was — I truly do not understand why I was sent here.”

Zhù Ying said, “Your character and standing are impeccable — of course it must be you. In the past I only ever handled miscellaneous tasks; for presiding over things, that has always been up to you, and so it remains.”

She herself had some other people to deal with.

Zhù Ying returned to the main camp’s inner quarters. With Marquis Zheng returned to the capital and General Leng departed with his troops, the main tent had naturally come to belong to her.

She picked up an official document and saw a name on it — a person dispatched to the north by the Council of State: Luo Jiaxiu.

Jing Gang, seeing her stare at the document for a long time without moving, asked cautiously, “My lord? Is there something you would like to instruct us to do?”

Zhù Ying let out a soft sigh: “Go to the post station and receive someone for me.”

Jing Gang was somewhat surprised. He asked, “What manner of person is this?”

Zhù Ying had sent people to receive someone only a handful of times before; those had always been imperial envoys. So who was this Luo Jiaxiu?

Zhù Ying seemed to understand what he was thinking, and said as if in explanation, “He was one of the people the Council of State assigned to prefectures and counties at the same time as I was.”

More than a decade ago, Ministers Chen, Shi, and Wang had sent a cohort of around a hundred young men out to serve at the local level. Li Yanqing had been the first to volunteer. Zhù Ying had been the one who requested the most remote assignment. And among those sent out in the same batch, there had been one named Luo Jiaxiu.

This was something Jing Gang could not have known. Not knowing, he could only speculate: exactly what kind of person could this be, to receive such attention from my lord?

Inside the field headquarters, however, there was someone else who did understand.

The court’s decision to split the command was something Chen Fang could follow the reasoning behind — of all the people there, he was among the calmest. At this moment Su Zhe was a little put out, muttering, “And now who is this? What will they do when they get here? Will they be more useful than our own people…?”

Chen Fang said to Su Zhe, “I believe I once heard our grandfather mention it — in those years, some people were sent to the regions to be tempered through experience. Great-uncle was the most outstanding among them; Li Yanqing was remarkable for his resolute spirit. The rest who were chosen by the Council of State — none of them were ordinary.”

Zhù Qingjun poked Su Zhe in the back. Su Zhe’s pouting lips drew together — the corners of her mouth turned up — and the look of displeasure was gone from her face.