Chapter 479: One Who Doesn’t Enter the Great Wall Is Not a True Hero

Every three years, soldiers received a set of cotton-padded jackets and a pair of thick-soled cotton shoes; twice a year, they got two sets of single-layer clothes and a pair of thick-soled cloth shoes. These were the clothing rations allocated to them in addition to their regular pay and grain. In ordinary garrison posts, such provisions might be meager, but they were at least sufficient. However, for a fortress like Xinghe Fort, isolated outside the Great Wall, even if all their clothes were worn at once, they couldn’t withstand the extreme cold during cold snaps. Thus, despite having a large forest in front of Xinghe Fort, the soldiers had secretly cut down trees for warmth over the years, gradually thinning out the dense forest.

At that moment, Zheng Pingyuan stood with Wang Huan and Zhang Yue on the high watchtower, feeling quite uneasy. When he first arrived here, he had strictly forbidden tree cutting, but one night, a soldier on duty died of freezing. After feeling remorse, he realized his mistake, buried the man himself, and from then on turned a blind eye, never intervening again. Sure enough, after standing there for a short while, he saw Wang Huan turn to glare at him fiercely.

“How can you be a thousand-household commander? This forest is Xinghe Fort’s greatest barrier—how could it become so sparse! Were it your soldiers who cut down the trees to keep warm?”

Zheng Pingyuan gritted his teeth and decided to take responsibility himself. “General Wang, it’s all my negligence. I admit my fault.”

Having spent several nights in the wild, he had deeply experienced the harsh cold here. At that moment, seeing Zheng Pingyuan’s personal soldiers express anger, Zhang Yue understood the situation all too well. The soldiers of Xinghe Fort were stationed there permanently and could never leave this border fortress. Most merchants passed through Kaiping, making this place the least profitable and least supplied. Farming or production was impossible here; the only thing that could be done was to prepare for defense.

Seeing Wang Huan snort in anger and ready to explode, Zhang Yue stepped in to advise, “General Wang, it’s pointless to pursue this matter now. The trees that were cut down can’t be brought back. Xinghe Fort has earthen walls, and its gates are in disrepair. With an insufficient number of soldiers inside, I’m afraid even the five hundred men you brought are not enough.”

Wang Huan had a temperamental disposition. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but snort coldly and glared fiercely at Zheng Pingyuan, then said thoughtfully, “Although Xinghe and Kaiping are located outside the second line of defense, there are dozens of forts and strongholds within Xuanfu. Every place is crucial. Even the Marquis of Xing’an cannot keep sending troops out—after all, if too many troops are dispatched, Xuanfu will be left defenseless. Though Xinghe is just an earthen fort, it has three lines of defense from the inside out. As long as the beacon fires are lit and defenses are tightened, it should be able to hold out for a day or two at least.”

Zheng Pingyuan nodded in agreement, but his mind was on something else. He was used to a 20% loss in grain shipments, so the fact that there was no shortage this time really surprised him. He wondered why those in charge of grain and supply transport at the eunuch’s residence had changed their ways. Not only that, but there seemed to be no issues with the military weapons either—the six hundred swords were brand new, still glistening with oil. Because of this, he was particularly worried about the accounts in his area.

Since no one had ever inspected the grain stores in Xinghe Fort, and it was impossible to find skilled accountants in such a remote and harsh place, the actual stock of grain never matched the records—there were old deficits left by predecessors, as well as new ones created during his tenure. Fortunately, the people in Xuanfu kept exploiting the situation, so they wouldn’t make things difficult for him. As long as he reported a shortage, grain carts would arrive. Over time, the deficit grew so large that he, as a thousand-household commander, simply couldn’t cover it.

Who would have thought that just because Arutai attacked Xinghe a month ago, the emperor would attach such importance to it? But he had been sent to Xinghe against his will, and he was unwilling to bear such blame anymore—it wasn’t as if he had embezzled anything!

After watching from the watchtower for a while, Wang Huan and Zhang Yue climbed down one after another. Although one was older and the other a civil official, both were still agile—Wang Huan remained vigorous in his old age, and Zhang Yue wasn’t a weak scholar either. Once back on the ground, Wang Huan said to Zhang Yue with a smile, “I was able to come out despite my age thanks to your words, Lord Zhang. But though you came under imperial orders, you’re a civil official. After the inspection, leave quickly—don’t stay in this dangerous place any longer.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Lord Wang. But as you said, it’s an imperial order. I can’t just give a cursory glance. Otherwise, how can I answer the emperor if he asks? Besides, I still need to catalog the old military weapons and take them back, which will likely take a couple of days.”

“Stubborn fool, even if we take this old weapon back, it will just end up as scrap metal to be melted down—no one will care. There’s no need to be so serious… Enough, I understand your difficulties. You’re young, with so many eyes on you, unlike an old man like me who can afford to be more lenient. Anyway, this place isn’t safe. You’d better leave as soon as possible… Back then, when I served under the late Duke of Rongguo as a hundred-household officer, I watched helplessly as he fell into the hands of the Southern Army. I don’t want his descendants to suffer the same fate this time.”

There were two Dukes of Rongguo in the Ming Dynasty who were posthumously honored, both of whom were key allies of Zhu Di during his rebellion to seize the throne. One was the monk Yao Guangxiao, and the other was Zhang Yu, the father of Zhang Fu, the Duke of Yingguo. Undoubtedly, Wang Huan was referring to the latter. Even Zheng Pingyuan, who was usually well-informed, now realized where this Minister of War came from, and his anxiety grew even more.

It seems the Zhang surname’s influence follows us everywhere! Since Wang Huan had said such things, Zhang Yue couldn’t help but express his gratitude. Seeing that he had called Zheng Pingyuan to discuss military matters, Zhang Yue didn’t want to interrupt and headed straight to the Xinghe Grain Depot with his attendants. Seeing the two clerks from the Ministry of Revenue frowning at the yellowed account books, he quickly stepped forward.

“Sir, aren’t we just going through the motions again?”

The two clerks had accompanied Zhang Yue to the south, where they were used as cover to audit the grain depot’s accounts for a long time. Now, facing this old trick, they couldn’t help but recall those past incidents. One of them casually closed the account book and tossed it onto the table with irritation, sighing, “Anyone who can read can see something’s wrong with these accounts. The figures don’t match the actual amount of grain in the depot at all. We saw clearly when the grain carts arrived—they were almost empty, with at most two or three dan of grain. But according to these records, there should be at least five hundred dan. Isn’t this nonsense?”

Seeing Zhang Yue’s darkened expression, the other clerk quickly gave his colleague a disapproving look before whispering, “Although we don’t know the situation here, just by looking at the layout of this earth fortress, it’s clear that all supplies are brought in from the rear. If embezzlement is happening, it’s probably worse in the rear than in the front. Sir, we were also involved in overseeing the grain records during the previous two northern expeditions. Although Xinghe is important, it’s not as significant as Kaiping. The army must store grain in Kaiping when going beyond the Great Wall. As long as it’s passable here, it’s fine…”

“Continue your investigation. We’ll discuss it again once you have results.”

Having been in official circles for a long time, Zhang Yue was no longer the naive youth who used to distinguish between honest and corrupt officials. If an honest official was good for nothing, it was better to have a corrupt one who could do his duty properly. Of course, he knew which was more important, Xinghe or Kaiping. But before leaving, Zhang Fu had specifically asked Peng Shisan to remind him that losing Xinghe would mean danger in the future, so he didn’t want anything to go wrong there either.

After leaving the grain depot, he saw Xiang Long, Liu Bao, Lian Sheng, and Lian Hu coming forward, but he couldn’t find Peng Shisan or Niu Gan. Zhang Yue was puzzled. After asking around, he learned that Peng Shisan had excitedly taken people along with the hunting party from Xinghe Fort to go hunting. Realizing that Peng Shisan must have been anxious during the journey, he simply laughed it off and didn’t take it to heart.

As a fortress located outside the Great Wall, Xinghe Fort had not only military barracks but also blacksmith shops, military clinics, tailors’ shops, grocery stores, and so on. Except for the grocery store, which was stocked with essential items by the laborers who delivered grain each time, the rest were run by the soldiers themselves—the blacksmith shop fixed slightly damaged weapons, the military clinic treated injuries, and the tailor’s shop mended severely damaged military coats.

Taking advantage of the temporary leisure time, Zhang Yue made sure to visit all these places. Since training was over, he encountered many soldiers along the way, most of whom immediately avoided him. He didn’t expect to get along with them right away, as he wasn’t there to fight, so he followed the principle of listening more, observing more, asking less, and speaking less. When he reached the northwest corner, he unexpectedly found a vegetable garden surrounded by a fence.

The fence around the garden was old, standing haphazardly with a dark red color. Dry soil grew various vegetables, all of which looked wilted and lifeless, with one corner already empty. An old soldier was carefully watering each plant with a ladle, as if afraid of wasting a single drop of water. Seeing this, Zhang Yue immediately thought of the tasteless green leaf vegetables he had eaten at lunch and finally understood where they came from.

After finishing watering the garden, the old soldier stood up satisfied. When he saw Zhang Yue, he was shocked. Although he had heard that large amounts of supplies had arrived from Wanquan along with an imperial envoy, he hadn’t gone to see them enter the city. Now, not knowing who this young man in blue robes was, he was at a loss.

“Did you grow all these vegetables?”

“It’s of the minor race,” the old soldier nodded awkwardly, fearing the other might think he wasn’t respectful enough. He quickly added, “I’ve been growing crops here for ten years. Since water and gold are precious, I can only cultivate such a small area—just enough for everyone to enjoy during festivals. This afternoon, I even sent some to the government office.”
Zhang Yue pondered for a moment before asking, “Since water and gold are so valuable, these vegetables must be extremely expensive too, right? I just walked around, and it seems like the entire Xinghe Fort consists of just this one vegetable plot.”
“Of course. We rely on four deep wells from years ago. During droughts, we send soldiers to fetch water from the Haliutu River. Besides hunting, we occasionally look for edible wild plants. After all, we have plenty of meat here, but not much vegetables.”
After chatting a bit more and noticing Zhang Yue’s friendly and unpretentious demeanor, the old soldier gradually let down his guard and spoke more freely. As he spoke, he pointed at the fence and said with a sigh, “Eating vegetables is governed by a set rule—once a month. The fence was originally meant to keep the greedy soldiers in check. But the last time the Tartar army attacked, they came this way. If it weren’t for those young men who fought desperately to protect us, not only would the vegetable plot have been lost, but even the seeds we had saved would have been gone. In the end, the place was saved, but the fence turned this color. After that battle, only over six hundred people remained in Xinghe Fort. Pity those young men—they died thinking about the vegetables they couldn’t eat and wondering when they’d be able to return to the Great Wall again…”
Even those who had never fought in battle, like Xiang Long, Liu Bao, Lian Sheng, and Lian Hu, felt a heavy weight in their hearts upon hearing these words, and Zhang Yue felt even more so. For those who defended this fortress so bravely, wasn’t it true that those who didn’t enter the Great Wall were not true heroes?