Chapter 3
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Translator: volt
Chapter Title: Victorious Return to Jinyang
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After subjugating the bandits who appeared in Maoyi County of Anwen Commandery and cleaning up the surrounding area...
The moment we returned to Jinyang Fortress in Bing Province, we were met with roaring cheers.
"Lü Fengxian! Lü Fengxian! Lü Fengxian!"
Triumphant generals always receive cheers like this.
Unless the general in question is some monumental piece of trash, anyone popular with the people will drop whatever they're doing to come out and shout their praise.
This time was no different.
People of all ages and both sexes had flooded the streets, rejoicing in our victory.
They'd already heard the news of our triumph via messenger.
-Lü Fengxian led a thousand troops into battle, and thousands of bandits fell in an instant!
The number of bandits we'd exterminated was roughly three thousand.
I couldn't help wondering where the hell these bandit hordes kept coming from.
'They're not even hiding anywhere.'
Every time I killed two thousand bandits only for three thousand more to pop up, it really drove home that this was ancient China.
There were just too many bandits.
More than that, there were just too damn many people.
'Truly the scale of the continent.'
The population was overflowing to the point where it wasn't an exaggeration at all.
'I wonder if more than half of them are bandits.'
There were more bandits than soldiers.
No matter how suspicious the times or how chaotic the era had become, the bandits showed no signs of thinning out.
This land of Bing Province was especially bad.
The best outcome would be if we never had to march out to battle again...
"Th-there! Look!"
A group of kids burst out from the crowd.
"Eek!"
"Ah, goodness!"
"Sang-gu! What the hell are you doing?!"
The surrounding adults tried to stop them all at once, but the snot-nosed brats rushed up to me with sparkling eyes, holding something out.
"General! A gift for you!"
"......"
The kids had made a mistake.
Blocking the path of a general marching back from battle was definitely a problem.
The wooden trinket they offered as a "gift" was probably a toy warhorse they'd carved themselves.
The child meant well with pure intentions, but right now, they'd obstructed the advance of the regular army.
"General."
Song Xian caught up from behind, urging me on.
"Shall I handle it?"
His brief glance carried a multitude of meanings.
"Kids."
Without dismounting, I raised a hand to the adults frantically trying to yank the child back.
"Is that all you've got?"
"Y-Yes...?"
The kid's face stiffened.
"I asked if that's all you've got."
"Th-that..."
The adults' faces hardened too, turning pale, and only then did the kids seem to sense they'd done something wrong.
"I didn't fight alone, so how could I alone accept your gift?"
"Ah...!"
"Look."
I pointed behind me.
"All those who fought alongside me deserve your gift too. If I accept it just because I'm the commander, won't they feel slighted?"
Standing silently there were the thousand troops who'd halted in sync with me.
"If you're going to prepare a gift, you need a thousand warhorses. Isn't that right, Lieutenant Song?"
"You're doing it again. Sigh."
Song Xian let out an obvious sigh, glancing somewhere off to the side.
"......Someone who hates good people is watching. General."
Up on the palace hall, overlooking us clearly from the inner citadel's walls.
"For now—"
"We'll talk about that later."
I nodded at Song Xian's meaningful look, then lightly raised both hands toward the child.
"If you insist on giving a gift, why not give one of these to every soldier who fought with me?"
Clap.
"Loud enough for Heaven itself to hear."
"......"
"Applaud."
Clap, clap-clap.
The moment the child clutched the toy horse and clapped—
The cheers swelled, and the sound of applause echoed down the main avenue like war drums.
"You've stirred them up again."
"That's why Governor Ding keeps getting the wrong idea... Ugh."
Wei Xu and Hou Cheng grumbled from behind, but I gave the child a light nod and turned my gaze forward.
"I'll just take the sentiment. Just the sentiment."
Clatter.
Once we'd moved far enough that the child couldn't hear...
"But we can't exactly punish them under military law, can we?"
Anyone who blocks the army's path gets disciplined by military law.
"We can't flog them harshly either."
"You needed to show some discipline. Even if you'd just let me handle it."
Song Xian stuck close behind me, speaking in a low voice.
"When you show mercy like that, the people praise you even more..."
"I know. I'm already more popular than Governor Ding. Actions like this will only sour our relationship further."
I wonder if that kid realizes.
That my consideration toward him has gotten me in political hot water again.
"You know that and still do it?"
"How could I abandon my principles for that?"
Even if it causes political problems for my position.
"How could I harshly punish a child under military law just because some twisted soul interprets a kid's goodwill through a political lens?"
Atop the inner citadel of Jinyang Fortress, above the gate to the central government offices.
"That's not the kind of thing I want to do."
Ding Yuan was looking down at us from the inner citadel walls.
A short while later.
"Well done. As expected of Bing Province's Undefeated War God."
"I merely exterminated some bandits."
The moment I gave my report in the government offices, Ding Yuan started sniping.
"Merely bandits, you say. And yet, undefeated still?"
Sometimes words are meant to be taken well, but you can feel the sarcasm dripping off them.
Was it like that now?
Or was I just annoyed with Ding Yuan?
"Undefeated, yes, but no war god. And someday, defeat may come."
Don't let it get to me.
"Not in the last ten years, though?"
"The world of men is vast—"
Ahem.
"The Central Plains are vast, and a single kingdom has more than just me as a warrior."
My master, before dying, called me the strongest warrior in all Bing Province.
A court official—or so I presumed—had dubbed me 'Bing Province's Best'.
'But not yet the best under Heaven.'
To be the best under Heaven, my name would need to echo across the entire Central Plains.
It was well-known in Bing Province, but who knew about other places.
"Still, if the title of undefeated warrior boosts the troops' morale, I'll keep upholding it until defeat comes."
"Ahem."
He clicked his tongue, clearly displeased.
"Enough. I'll record your achievements properly and report them to the court. That you exterminated the Yellow Turban Rebels."
"......"
I wonder if it'll go up as my achievements, or as 'Ding Yuan dispatched a thousand troops to exterminate the Yellow Turbans'.
Not that they were Yellow Turbans to begin with.
'Padding his accomplishments.'
Should I call him out on it?
No.
This is just me being petty.
No matter how irreparably strained my relationship with Ding Yuan might be, I can't go around badmouthing my superior like some narrow-minded fool.
Obey orders from above.
If a son following his father is filial piety, then a subordinate following his superior is the filial piety of officialdom.
Well.
If the father is wicked enough to report to the authorities, then that's—
"General Lü."
"Yes."
"I heard you personally rescued that woman. Got your eye on her or something?"
"Of course not."
He suddenly jabbed at my biggest weakness.
"Is that so? I was starting to think you had a taste for married women, the kind who belong to other men."
"......"
What the hell does he think I am.
I wanted to snap that, but right now, I was at a severe disadvantage.
"You're saying you didn't rescue her personally to make her your wife?"
"That's correct."
"Just because she was some commoner?"
"I received orders from the Governor of Bing Province to exterminate the bandits and protect the county's people. I merely fulfilled those orders loyally."
"I see. You're truly a model soldier for this age."
Clap-clap-clap.
Ding Yuan applauded.
For some reason, the sound grated on me.
"But the more exemplary you are, the more you must set an example for others."
"......"
"Didn't your favorite Master Kong say something?"
Master Kong.
Confucius.
"Cultivate the self, regulate the family, govern the state, pacify the world."
"......"
"You practice cultivating the self daily by honing your martial prowess, and by loyally serving the state and seeking the world's peace, you follow 'govern the state, pacify the world'."
"......"
"But what of your family?"
Currently, I was 29 years old.
"How long do you plan to stay a bachelor?"
By the standards of the Central Plains, it was the age where people whispered, 'That guy's gotta have something wrong with him.'
"You're not planning to live out your days in lonely solitude without even a wife, are you?"
"Of course not."
I would get married.
Someday.
"Or do you have some unspeakable secret about your body?"
"Nothing of the sort. As for that—"
"Then why refuse marriage with the daughter of Master Yan? There's nothing wrong with her."
"......Governor. This doesn't seem like a conversation for such an open space."
"Exactly! That's the problem!"
Ding Yuan slammed the armrest of his chair with his palm.
"A man who's perfectly equipped and can bed women without issue—why won't you start a family?!"
"......"
"I lose face every time I see Master Yan! I personally suggested you take his daughter as your wife, but you just bed her without even holding the wedding!"
"......I've never even shared a bed with her, so I wouldn't call it 'bedding'."
I'd never slept with the woman from the Yan family.
"Then why won't you start a family?!"
"......Well."
If I had to make excuses, it was always the same one.
"Someday, when Heaven sends me my fated partner, I'll take her as my wife and live out a happy century together."
Whether Ding Yuan exploded in rage or not, there were lines I wouldn't cross.
A short while later, in the Bing Province garrison barracks.
"He brought up that line again? 'Fated partner'?"
"How else was I supposed to dodge it?"
The moment I returned to my office in the barracks, Song Xian snickered as he took my helmet.
"Poor daughter of the Yan family. How'd she fall for a blockhead like you?"
"......"
"Why not just be honest? Even if you slather yourself in perfume, your natural stench is unbearable, so go scrub yourself raw first."
"Have you lost your mind, Song Xian?"
"Heh-heh-heh, Commander. No, big brother."
Song Xian chuckled lowly and lowered his voice.
"Just us here, so let's speak freely. Big brother, if you're gonna dump her, do it clean and clear. Tell her the truth."
"That I can't bed her because of her smell?"
"It's the only way the Yan family will give up."
"She'd be the one giving up on life, not them. Imagine a woman hearing 'I don't like you because you stink.' She'd drown herself in a pond."
"A pond you dug yourself."
"Revenge. Pure revenge."
I tapped the teacup on my desk.
"Song Xian. Do you know why I go dig irrigation ditches at farms every day off?"
"Obviously for 'hygiene,' right?"
"Exactly."
Song Xian pointed at my head.
"You want to go wash up right now, don't you?"
"Yes."
I'd had to wear the helmet, but my hair was matted with grease.
"No wonder. You've been obsessively clean about bathing since the day we met."
"And thanks to me, you've discovered the joys of washing up, haven't you?"
"You threatened to kill us if we didn't."
"Being clean has its benefits in all sorts of ways. Even your wife thinks so."
"Heh-heh, yeah. Thanks to you, big brother, I learned how alluring a woman who bathes regularly can be. Heh-heh."
Ancient China.
Even in the Three Kingdoms era, there were things I simply couldn't tolerate.
"Hygiene and cleanliness. You're probably the only general in Bing Province who tries to wash his hair with lye water at least once a day."
"I just can't comprehend seeing greasy, unwashed hair as beautiful."
In the past.
When I'd read wuxia novels, the protagonists were always obsessed with weird stuff.
Alkali soap, or soap, or surfactants.
'There was a reason for it.'
It wasn't for selling; they made it because it was truly needed.
So I tried making some?
Failed.
'I remembered something about mixing oil with milk curd and hardening it, but I couldn't recall exactly what to add.'
Too long ago, even counting my past life.
Even so, after researching with whatever I could find, I ended up using powdered dried tree nuts to wash my body.
"Can't you just endure it a little?"
"I'd rather stay single forever."
Ancient China had too many intolerable things for a modern person like me.
"If I ever get my own estate, I'll make the maids wash their hair daily."
"Water's already scarce, and you'd start a riot using it for bathing."
"That's why I'm out digging ditches and building reservoirs every day in this harsh Bing Province."
The last ten years.
"A soldier's duty is national defense."
"Changing the subject to give me work? Not falling for it."
"But outside of training?"
"You never listen. Sigh, yes. Understood. Rest during off-training hours."
Song Xian replied with a resigned expression.
"We're resting every damn day. If you're gonna rest, might as well train your stamina too."
"You call it stamina training, but it's you grabbing a shovel, heading to farms to dig wells, till fields, hunt moles, and whatnot."
"What else am I saving my strength for?"
I slapped my rock-hard muscles.
"Is it faster for three grown men to struggle moving a heavy rock, or for this Lü Fengxian to lift it alone?"
"Hoo. Got it. No intention of changing your mind, as usual, big brother."
"Better they change their minds—Governor Ding and those rotten bastards. Their intentions are impure from the start."
I shook my head firmly.
"Why do you think they're pushing me to start a family? Just pity for a near-thirty-year-old bachelor?"
"That might be part of it."
"Optimistically, sure. But really, it's this."
I mimed a chokehold around my neck.
"I don't see family as a leash. But they will. The Yan girl is just political fodder too."
"And yet she's fine with it if it means being your wife..."
Song Xian shook his head.
"That's just 'normal,' isn't it?"
"......Yeah."
Getting married and starting a family at the right age is only natural.
I'm the abnormal one, the irrational one.
I know that full well.
"But I'm not giving up."
"I know. Just asking."
Song Xian, Wei Xu, Hou Cheng—they'd all given up trying to break my stubbornness after ten years together.
"By the way."
Song Xian picked up several bamboo slips from a corner of the office.
Not just any slips, but fancy ones wrapped in gold thread.
"It's not just Ding Yuan's cronies or Bing Province's wealthy clans sending marriage proposals, big brother."
"......"
"Just like Ding Yuan wants to marry you off and pin you down in Jinyang Fortress, other commandery administrators are introducing 'suitable' brides to win you over."
"......Any more came?"
"Yes."
There were countless others besides Ding Yuan trying to wear down my resolve.
"Where from this time? Not some unheard-of place probing again?"
"A marriage proposal from a collateral branch of the Yuan clan."
"......?"
Yuan...?