usatvline Chapter 4 A Battle in Secret
Chapter 4 A Battle in Secret
Upon entering the Military Affairs Office, Liu Bei pointed to the stack of bamboo slips on the table and spoke calmly.
"In the Military Affairs Department, the main responsibilities include the rotation of garrison soldiers, the registration of able-bodied men, the inspection of beacon towers, and the movement of scouts."
"The situation on the Liaoxi border is urgent, and we cannot slack off on our paperwork for even a moment."
"Since Bo Gui is new here, he can start by copying the registers and verifying the names of able-bodied men."
Gongsun Zan looked at the mountain of documents on the table and frowned almost imperceptibly.
He had thought that once he entered the government office, he would be able to lead troops, train soldiers, and fight on the battlefield to defeat the enemy. However, he did not expect to be doing such tedious and cumbersome clerical work, and he immediately felt a little impatient.
Having just arrived, he couldn't easily express his anger, so he could only reluctantly reply, "Understood."
Liu Bei didn't point it out, but simply pushed a roll of garrison roster in front of him: "This is the garrison roster for recent rotations. You must check it one by one to ensure there are no mistakes. If there is anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me."
After saying this, he turned around and returned to his desk, picked up his brush to grind ink, lowered his head to attend to his affairs, and said no more.
For a moment, only the soft sound of pen tips gliding across bamboo slips filled the Military Affairs Office.
Gongsun Zan sat behind his desk, looking at the dense text, feeling dizzy and lightheaded.
He disliked literature and was impatient; he could only copy a few lines before becoming agitated.
Several times he looked up at Liu Bei, only to see the young man sitting upright at his desk, focused and calm, his strokes neat and clear, as if all the disturbances around him were irrelevant.
That composure, that certainty, inexplicably made Gongsun Zan feel a strange unease.
He refused to believe that he, with his exceptional bravery, was inferior to a mere clerk who could only copy and write.
Liu Bei naturally noticed the other party's gaze, but remained unmoved.
He knew in his heart that from the moment Gongsun Zan stepped into the prefectural government, the invisible contest between the two had already begun.
After all, there can be two categories of people who are recommended for their filial piety and integrity!
But there can only be one daughter of the governor!
Is it shameful for a woman to start a business and rely on her father-in-law's connections?
Of course not!
In the past, Emperor Gaozu rose from Pei and was trapped in Mangdang. If he had not married Lü Zhi and obtained the Lü family's wealth, how could he have slain the white snake and launched a great undertaking!
Looking at Emperor Guangwu, he raised an army in Nanyang and was initially trapped in Hebei. He then took his niece, Lady Guo, as his empress and formed a marriage alliance. He then gained 100,000 elite troops and finally defeated Wang Lang and pacified Hebei.
This has been a tradition in the Liu family for a long time, so why should they be ashamed?
Furthermore, as the sages said: Great virtue does not exceed the bounds, while minor virtue may dabble in and out!
But he wasn't in a hurry.
The ups and downs of a lifetime in my dreams have long since worn away the impetuousness that youth should have.
He only needs to be steady and meticulous, doing every task thoroughly and well, and that will be enough to keep him ahead.
Liu Bei took a deep breath, suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, put down his pen, and continued to work at his desk.
Regardless of the growing autumn wind outside the office, or the swaying shadows of the trees inside the courtyard.
One is calm, the other is restless; one is steady, the other is sharp.
Two teenagers who should have started their careers one after the other are now sharing a room and working together as co-directors.
Time slips away unnoticed!
As dusk settled outside the window, the city of Yangle was enveloped in twilight.
Inside the military headquarters, a single lamp illuminated the figures of two young men.
At dawn, as the first light of day broke, piles of bamboo slips lay in the office, and Liu Bei had already begun his work.
Gongsun Zan, however, has not yet arrived.
In this situation, several days will pass in the blink of an eye!
Military affairs in the border counties of western Liaoning were complex and demanding. There were troop rotations, checks on able-bodied men, inspections of beacon towers, and reports from scouts. Every day, the paperwork piled up like mountains, and no mistakes or omissions were allowed.
Although Wang did not say it outright, he had taken notice of the two men and was secretly comparing them.
Gongsun Zan was born into the Lingzhi Gongsun clan. He had practiced martial arts since childhood and was skilled in archery and horsemanship. He was fierce and could not stand these dry and boring books.
He could manage to control himself for the first two days, but by the third day he couldn't sit still anymore.
When copying the registers, there were often corrections and the entries were chaotic. When there were discrepancies in age, place of origin, or place of exile, he would become impatient and just gloss over them.
Wang Congshi passed by and looked at it several times. He frowned slightly, but he did not reprimand it in public. He only gave a brief reminder.
"Military documents, a single word of which concerns the lives of a hundred people, cannot be treated carelessly."
Gongsun Zan verbally agreed, but inwardly he disagreed.
In his view, a true man should wield a sword to defeat the enemy and ride a horse to break through enemy lines. To bury oneself in writing all day is merely to squander one's ambition and is not a real skill.
In stark contrast to him, Liu Bei remained calm and composed throughout.
Although he had many documents on his desk, they were organized in a clear manner: the garrison register was marked with different colors, making it easy to see who was old, weak, elite, and wounded.
The list of able-bodied men is divided into villages, hamlets, and forts, with those eligible for conscription, those ineligible for conscription, and those who are only sons in their families clearly noted.
During the inspection of beacon towers, details were clearly noted in small print: which tower commander was old, which weapons were missing, and which observation points were inconvenient to look out from.
Every evening, when everyone else had relaxed, Liu Bei would still sit upright at his desk, reviewing the day's documents.
If there was any doubt, he would personally ask Wang Congshi or go to the city defense or garrison to verify, striving to ensure that there was no mistake whatsoever.
Wang Congshi observed this and immediately understood who was superior.
Several days passed in this way!
That afternoon, Prefect Hou personally inspected the Military Affairs Office.
Having governed Liaoxi for many years, he knew that the safety of the border region depended entirely on military affairs, and that even the slightest negligence in the military department could lead to disaster.
Upon seeing the governor enter, Wang, the official in charge, hurriedly stepped forward to pay his respects, and Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei also rose to greet him.
Prefect Hou's gaze swept over the two desks, first landing on Gongsun Zan's desk.
The bamboo slips are scattered, the handwriting is messy, and several corrections are clearly visible. One of the garrison soldiers' replacement registers is not even arranged in order, and it looks chaotic at first glance.
Prefect Hou frowned almost imperceptibly, but said nothing, only turning to Liu Bing and nodding.
Stacks of documents were neatly bound, categorized and arranged, with legible and clear handwriting and well-organized entries.
Picking up a register of able-bodied men at random, I opened it and saw the verification marks of the village head, the elder villager, and the county magistrate.
A small note is attached: Many young men from a certain village have gone to Yuyang to work as laborers, and it may be difficult to recruit enough; many hunters from a certain fort can be used as scouts; the old soldiers from a certain unit are good at managing horses and can be retained to fill the horse administration positions.
Everything, big or small, follows a set method.
Prefect Hou tapped the bamboo slips lightly with his fingertips, his expression unchanged, and looked only at Wang, the Attendant: "Is this how military affairs are always handled?"
Wang, being quite astute, understood the meaning behind the words and bowed, replying, "Reporting to the Prefect, since Liu Bei arrived at the office, he has entered at dawn every day and left at dusk."
"No document he handled was wrong or missing, and he personally verified all the annotations he made, without the slightest negligence."
These words, neither too harsh nor too mild, were clearly a compliment, and made no mention of Gongsun Zan whatsoever.
Gongsun Zan stood to the side, his expression slightly darkening.
He has always been proud and arrogant, and he has never been outdone like this before.
He immediately stepped forward and said loudly, "My lord, this is a trivial matter, not worth mentioning."
"Zan is willing to lead troops in training, patrolling the border and defeating the Hu, and will surely be able to show his might beyond the Great Wall. He dares not seek credit with his pen."
Prefect Hou glanced at him and said calmly, "Martial prowess is certainly important, but without a registered population, able-bodied men, garrison troops, and provisions, how can our warriors fight?"
"How will the soldiers be fed? How will the border regions be defended?"
With just one sentence, Gongsun Zan's arrogance was quelled.
Gongsun Zan was speechless. Although he was unconvinced, he could only bow and say, "Zan knows his mistake!"