Volume 1, Chapter 9: Military Retainer (1/2)

Volume 1, Chapter 9: Military Retainer¹

2</sup> The Prince of De, Zhao Jue, was na the order, he set off for battle Before he departed, Zhao Jue appointed Jiang Zhe as a military retainer to serve as a counselor on military reat, the king also ordered the court eunuch, wang Hai, to supervise the arraphy of Jiang Suiyun

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damned Zhao Jue He truly wanted inally intended to ask others to help, but Zhao Jue now held a high-ranking position³ as the Chief Commander I could only hold back my tears as I handed overthe ar west to invade Shu However, I was co the ar Hai, a supervisor within the Bureau of Cereh the utilization of eunuchs of supervise the arn that Southern Chu would ulti Hai’s entourage of eunuchs I could not but thank the heavens for their blessings With Xiaoshunzi’s protection, I probably wouldn’t have to face any dangers But it was best if I could find souards to protect me as well I was prepared to discuss this matter with Xiaoshunzi After I had identified a few candidates, Xiaoshunzi would then test their abilities I had no intention of being guarded by useless people⁴

For this invasion of Shu, Southern Chu’s artze River through the Three Gorges under the command of the Marquis Who Suppresses Distant Lands, Lu Xin The other army would be personally commanded by the Chief Commander, Zhao Jue, and travel by land to Ba Prefecture⁵ The two ar⁵ As a retainer of the Prince of De, I naturally accoe I stayed hidden in the carriage of the ar Hai was a fellow clans who supervised the palace book repositories He treatedhad benefited greatly from thehis intent, I agreed to help wang Hai concoct one or two types of medicinal pellets for his own personal use Xiaoshunzi obediently attended to us Greatly satisfied with Xiaoshunzi, wang Hai smiled and said, “This little fellow is the lowly servant saved by ood, except for one , eloquent, and literate, but has no will to better himself Other lowly servants would con to be able to directly attend to the King In coo that kind of conment and accompany me⁶ to suffer hardshi+ps in the arard Xiaoshunzi for aof me Obediently, Xiaoshunzi responded, “Eunuch⁷ shouldn’t say such things are related Under normal circumstances, when you see this lowly servant, you usually bestoards This ti and has been appointed as army supervisor Once in and return to the capital, that kind of meritorious service will be rewarded Concurrently, I will also be rewarded Otherwise, ould people say that one can find riches and honor in danger?”

wang Hai smiled widely, almost to the point where his eyes were closed Just as the three of us were enjoying the conversation, an orderly approached the front of the carriage He yelled, “Jiang daren, the Prince has summoned you to discuss official business”

I had no choice but to exit the carriage Fro Hai, I took the reins of a horse After cli ability wasn’t all that great and was learned in a panicked and hurried fashi+on With difficulty, I arrived next to the reeted the Prince “Your Highness, this lowly official has arrived per your suure that I cut on the horse, Zhao Jue s daren, you should learn how to ride properly Otherwise, you will find it extrenashed my teeth It wasn’t like I wanted to accompany the army But as I was a subordinate, I could only lower my head and respond respectfully “This lowly official will do as you bid Is there anything that this lowly official can do? I await Your Highness’s orders”

Slowly, Zhao Jue allowed his horse to begin tothat I should follow Flustered, I urged my horse to follow After we had proceeded for so ainst this Prince?”

I faked a smile and replied, “This lowly official dares not This lowly official is paid by Southern Chu How dare I refuse the govern wryly, Zhao Jue continued, “It isn’t that this Prince wishes to ainst Shu, wethe lowest cost possible War is within this Prince’s ability and purvieill not trouble daren But after we have pacified Shu, weon the division of spoils If at that point we do not have so daren</eacious and unwavering, ould likely suffer disastrously Therefore, this Prince could only trouble Jiang ht, the spoils You probably won’t wait until you’ve won to divide thehts, Zhao Jue continued, “In addition, I have seen sire’s ability and wisdos and learn In this ti about military matters as well, andthese words, I thought deeply and realized the truth behind his words As I was already accoht as well take the opportunity to learn about naling that I had accepted his suggestion Save his horse a whip and sped forward My own mount seemed to wish to follow and twisted its body in an impatient matter Scared, I swayed frouards helped steadyto learn how to properly ride a horse

Setting down the brush, Iwith Zhao Jue, I began to participate in the handling of these issues I did not spend much time before I went from a complete novice to someone adept and skilled I learned how to set up caanize and structure an arly Most ianization of intelligence reports In comparison to my work at Hanlin Acadest Zhao Jue’s retainers was a Confucian scholar hailing froreatly valued He would frequently be beside Zhao Jue offering his advice These assorted tedious matters were handled by the other aides My participation reduced their workload, especially as I was able to quickly fa upon ehly valued, especially when it cainally only wantedthat analysis of a few pieces of broken intelligence⁸ was ardless of how tedious the intelligence, I could understand the context just fro it over once As a result, those retainers decided to hand all of the intelligence analysis to anize the reports for Zhao Jue to consider It was only after this did I become one of theYuan

Looking at the color the sky, I realized that night had fallen long ago Seeing as the army still needed to ence reports, preparing to deliver the a bit thirsty, I picked up the teapot on the table It was already eht cough co a food box In an neutral tone, he said, “Jiang knows that you are busy handling ht foods and also wantedhim with the medication yesterday”

From the tone of Xiaoshunzi’s voice, I knew that there were others outside , I replied, “Please extendon my behalf In reality, the Ar in the palace These last few days, he has been exhausted and couldn’t sleep properly, thus har his body The medication I provided should help the Ary”

After placing the food box on the table, Xiaoshunzi said, “Daren, please eat while the food is still war my head, I responded, “I need to first deliver soo back and rest Tomorrow, the army will continue onwards”

Xiaoshunzi pushed a s and departing Unfolding the paper, I read the words written: “o while within the army Zhao Jue has nu Yuan seems to be jealous of daren Today, he told Zhao Jue that daren is too inti In order to be safe, daren should not be allowed to handle important military matters Zhao Jue half believed him”

I smiled distantly This kind of situation was difficult to avoid My sudden e Yuan However, it didn’t matter if his slander was successful I wasn’t particularly interested in being placed in an important position by the Prince of De I walked out of the tent Acco Yuan’s tent, delivering the docuement as if he trusted and appreciateda book by its cover¹⁰ I sighed in my mind as I left his tent Outside, the weather was cold

After half a does were successful But after ten days, we arrived at Ba Prefecture Originally, I was suspicious of hoeak Shu’s defenses were Later, I learned that Shu did not have enough troops to defend everywhere and could only heavily garrison ied terrain or mountain passes As for Ba Prefecture, it was our army’s first erous road with twenty passes,¹¹ all of them easily defended and difficult to attack The real ould begin soon