Do you know: I have a different surname: Wang, uncle Minglan.

Chapter 336: If You Treat Me Sincerely, I Will Entrust You With My Life
After discussion between Qin Zhen and the veteran nobles, it was decided to give the positions of commanders of the central, eastern and garrison armies to the three dukes of Cao, Han and Cheng.

The Qin family does not take up a quota because in the future the old nobles will support Qin Zhen to take the position of the commander-in-chief of the Palace Front.

Qin Zhen quickly told Wei Yuan the results of the discussion.

To be honest, he was quite surprised.

"Duke Cao has a very high prestige in the army. It is most appropriate for him to guard the capital camp."

"Even though South Korea's public affairs are a mess, he is at least someone who knows about military affairs."

"Only Duke Chengguo. Brother Qin, why do you want Duke Chengguo to be the commander of the garrison troops?"

There is no need to say much about Duke Cao. He followed Zhang Fu in his battles in his early years. Later, due to injury, he no longer went out to fight, so it was completely sufficient for him to lead the troops and train them.

The son of Duke Hanguo, Pan Shu, had participated in the Weiguo Campaign and was a general. The Duke Hanguo family should have a seat at the table.

As for Duke Cheng, to be honest, only his family tradition is worthy of praise. The rest is extremely mediocre. Although he is from a duke's family, he has been away from the political center of the court for many years.

Thinking of this, Wei Yuan suddenly realized something.

The founding heroes were by no means united.

Most of them are selfish.

Ever since Zhang Fu stepped down and the new nobles came to the center of politics, the founding heroes no longer treated Wei Yuan as well as before.

Because they felt that Wei Yuan was a difficult person to control and could not bring any benefits to the founding nobles faction.

Although Duke Chengguo is mediocre, he has one thing that makes people feel comfortable, and that is that he is obedient!

No matter what the leading dukes said, Duke Cheng would do as he was told without hesitation.

They ate meat, and Duke Cheng was contented with just drinking the soup.

Putting Duke Cheng in power was probably the result of a compromise among several dukes, who believed that he was easy to control and that everyone could benefit.

Qin Zhen asked, "Brother Wei, do you think there is something wrong with Duke Cheng?"

Wei Yuan shook his head and gave him a meaningful look. "Let's do it this way. When the five major camps are established, I will hand over the list of commanders of each camp to Your Majesty."
-
In mid-August of the first year of Kaiwu, Li Yuanhao died of illness and passed the throne to Li Liangzuo.

On the day Li Liangzuo ascended the throne, he imprisoned his elder brother Li Ninglingge, and also became sworn brothers with Yeli Yuqi, and regarded Yeli Yuqi as the national teacher.

Now, all countries have just signed an armistice agreement. Logically, the Zhou Dynasty should express condolences after the death of Li Yuanhao of Western Xia.

But Li Yuanhao was a traitor in the eyes of the Great Zhou. If he was condoled, it would be tantamount to acknowledging the legitimacy of Western Xia.

If we don't express our condolences, it doesn't seem like it's something a state should do.

Since Wei Yuan often dealt with Western Xia, people from the Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites came to ask for his opinion.

Wei Yuan thought that etiquette or not was just to maintain a superficial relationship at best, and the decisive factor was always the substance.

Therefore, he adopted an attitude of not asking or caring about the death of Li Yuanhao and the ascension of Li Liangzuo.

However, the fact that Yeli Yuqi became the national teacher is something that can be written about.

Just consider it as disgusting to Xixia.

Therefore, Wei Yuan, on his own behalf, congratulated Yeli Yuqi on becoming the imperial teacher.

Why is it a personal name?
Yeli Yuqi was the imperial teacher. If he was congratulated on behalf of the imperial court, it would actually be an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of Western Xia.

This was a trap set by Li Liangzuo for the Great Zhou, and Wei Yuan would not fall for it.

Today, the military reduction has reached a critical stage.

Daizhou and the south are all OK, but Yanbian
According to the news sent by Zhong Yan, some old soldiers who had been guarding Yanbian for many years were very unwilling to leave the barracks and had started to make trouble.

Wei Yuan felt that he needed to go to Yanbian to resolve some conflicts and avoid a mutiny in the army.

At the end of August in the first year of Kaiwu, Wei Yuan left the capital to inspect Yanbian.

The first stop was Yan'an Prefecture, Zhong Yan's base camp.

Today, Zhong Yan has been conferred the title of "Bao'an Bo" by the government, and the title is hereditary.

It can be said that today’s seed farmers are an indispensable member of the new elite group.

Before Wei Yuan arrived at Yan'an Prefecture, Zhong Yan had already gone out of the city a hundred miles to greet him.

"I have something to tell you when I come to Yanbian this time. It won't be long before Duke Kangguo Han Jiang will be transferred to the capital. By then, you will be the undisputed leader of Yanbian."

"After the military reform, the court will establish five major camps, and you will be the commander of the Western Camp."

On the way, Wei Yuan told Zhong Yan some things.

Zhong Yan was overjoyed and bowed to Wei Yuan repeatedly, "Thank you, General Wei, for your cultivation."

Wei Yuan waved his hand and said, "What do you mean by cultivation or not? If you are to be the commander of the West Camp, you must manage the Qinfeng and Yongxing routes as solid as a rock."

Zhong Yan clasped his fists and said, "Please rest assured, General Wei."

Wei Yuan looked at Zhong Yi standing beside him and asked with a smile, "After this matter is settled, are you willing to follow me back to the capital?"

Zhong Yi was stunned.

Zhong Yan quickly gave him a look.

Zhong Yi immediately said, "I am grateful to be valued by the Marquis of Wei."

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Yanbian is only a small corner of the country after all. If you want your family to prosper, you can't just rely on plotting here."

Zhong Yan nodded, "General Wei is right."

Baoanzhai was the base camp of the Baoan Army and is now the location of the Yanbian Second Army.

The news of Wei Yuan's arrival had already been known to all the troops in Yanbian.

He personally met with several old soldiers and asked about their requests.

Most of the time it’s because there is no place to make trouble.

To be honest, if farming can support a family, who would want to be a soldier?

However, there are some special exceptions.

There was a man named Old Man Ge in the army. He had been serving in the army in Yongxing Road when Fan Zhongyan was the governor of Yanbian.

Now, I have been a soldier for twenty-three years.

Previously, he lost an arm in a battle with Western Xia.

This old man Ge has no wife or children, and his parents have passed away long ago. For him, having land to farm or money to spend doesn't really matter.

He just wanted to have a stable home in his later years, and he wanted to stay in the army.

Wei Yuan went to see old man Ge as a small soldier.

At this time, Old Man Ge was standing outside the martial arts field, watching the soldiers training with a look of envy in his eyes.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan, who was sitting next to him, made a gesture to silence old man Ge.

Old Man Ge glared at him and said, "You are quite courageous, kid. Others are training, but you don't want to go? Are you lazy here?"

Wei Yuan took out two chicken legs from his arms and said with a grin:

"Old man, I just bought it. Don't tell anyone. Let's have one each." When Old Man Ge saw the chicken drumstick, his eyes lit up immediately. He picked one up and said with a smile, "You are a sensible boy."

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Didn't you go to practice too?"

Old Man Ge gave him a scornful look and said, "You don't even have an arm anymore, what are you still training for?"

Wei Yuan immediately gave him a thumbs up and said, "You are always a hero."

Old Man Ge shook his head. "What kind of hero are you talking about, kid? Judging from your eyes, you must have been on the battlefield and killed people, right?"

"On the battlefield, if you don't fight hard, you will be killed by others. I fought hard and lost an arm, but I survived, which is a good thing."

Wei Yuan nodded, "Old man, if one day the court asks you to fight for your life again, will you still go?"

Old man Ge bit off a piece of chicken fiercely, chewed it, and felt that the aftertaste was endless.

"Of course I have to fight. To be honest, I have been in the army for so many years, and these few years are the most enjoyable."

"Even though I have a broken arm, I can still fight and kill the enemy!"

Wei Yuan was puzzled and asked, "Why has being a soldier been the most enjoyable in the past two years?"

Old Man Ge asked in return, "Need I say that? Ever since our emperor ascended the throne, he has used loyal ministers like Marquis Guanjun and made Xixia cry for their parents. How could he not be happy?"

Wei Yuan was stunned, then smiled and said, "I know Wei Yuan. Actually, he doesn't have much ability. Whether we can win the battle depends on us soldiers."

Old man Ge frowned, "You are talking nonsense, young man! What kind of person is Wei Hou? How dare you say anything about him?"

After a pause, he continued, "It is said that if one soldier is cowardly, the whole army will be cowardly. If it weren't for Marquis Wei, could we have defeated the Liao tribe? Could we have defeated Xixia?"

Wei Yuan said: "Old man, you misunderstood my meaning. I meant that the Marquis of Wei was able to win the battle because we soldiers supported him."

"If we hadn't sacrificed our lives and shed our blood to fight the alien race, how could Wei Hou have achieved anything?"

Old man Ge snorted, and even felt like he didn't want to eat the chicken feet in his hand anymore, and threw them directly to Wei Yuan.

"You young man, you actually have twisted ideas. Go and practice quickly and don't disturb me while I'm resting."

Wei Yuan was not angry, and said earnestly: "You have a broken arm. Even if the court asks you to fight to the death in the future, can you still kill an enemy soldier?"

Old Man Ge was stunned, hesitating for a moment, and said nothing, simply remaining silent.

Wei Yuan asked again: "The court asked you to retire, why don't you retire? If you go to the battlefield again in the future, will you still be able to fight?"

Old Man Ge took a deep breath and said, "I don't understand what you said? I am just here, this is my home. Without a home, where else can I go?"

Wei Yuan was silent, not knowing what to say.

After a long while, he slowly stood up and said, "Old man, stay in the army. When you have nothing to do, tell the new recruits about your glorious deeds of killing the enemy. The army will support you, so you don't have to worry about being homeless."

Old man Ge was at a loss for words. After a moment, he smiled disdainfully.

who do you think You Are?

A great general?

If you say you can let me stay in the military camp, can I stay?
Thinking of this, Old Man Ge sighed and wanted to say something, but saw that Wei Yuan had already walked away.

He shook his head to himself, "Strange boy."

Just when he was about to close his eyes and rest, he saw Zhong Yi coming. He shuddered and stood up quickly, "General Zhong!"

Zhong Yi smiled at him, looked at the chicken leg wrapped in oil paper that Wei Yuan placed on the ground, and said, "It would be a waste if we don't eat such a fat chicken leg."

Old Man Ge scratched the back of his head and said, "General, this is not mine, yes yes."

Zhong Yi smiled and asked, "Is it from that soldier just now?"

Old Man Ge nodded and said, "Maybe that kid hasn't had meat for a long time, and he doesn't mean he doesn't want to practice."

Zhong Yi said, "From now on, you should stay in the army. The army will take care of you, and let the new soldiers take care of you in your old age. How do you think?"

After hearing this, Old Man Ge was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes were filled with tears. The tears seemed to swirl in his eye sockets, and after a while, they couldn't stop flowing down.

At this moment, Old Man Ge knelt down and said, "Thank you, General!"

Old soldiers in the army never get sentimental.

It is quite rare to say thank you.

Zhong Yi helped him up and said, "If you want to thank someone, thank the one who gave you the chicken leg."

For a moment, Old Man Ge was stunned. He subconsciously asked:

“That one is.”

Zhong Yi said solemnly: "He is the Champion Marquis, Wei Yuan."

After Zhong Yi left.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but Old Man Ge was still staring at the chicken leg on the ground in a daze.

No matter what, he couldn't believe that the great champion marquis was just chatting with him.
-
Wei Yuan didn't stay in Yanbian for long.

The main reason was that Xu Changzhi's wedding was approaching and he needed to rush back immediately.

Gu Tingye had come here long before he came to Yanbian. He wanted to see Wei Yuan again, but was rejected by Wei Yuan.

Even when Wei Yuan left Yanbian, Gu Tingye didn't dare to show up to see him off.

The purpose of this visit to Yanbian is to once again determine Yanbian’s future development strategy.

He still followed Fan Zhongyan's plan to nibble away at Western Xia.

On the way back to the capital, Wei Yuan told Zhong Yi some things.
"There are probably many old soldiers like Old Man Ge in the army. We need to make proper arrangements and give them something to rely on."

"I heard that something happened on Yongxing Road. After an old soldier returned home, his daughter-in-law was bullied by a powerful local man. They gave the old soldier some money and the matter was settled."

"Although the old soldier is greedy for money, I'm afraid he doesn't dare to seek justice for his daughter-in-law. This kind of thing may have happened before, but it can't happen now."

Zhong Yi asked, "Does the Marquis of Wei mean to kill one person as a warning to the rest?"

Wei Yuan said: "After I return to the court, I will introduce a set of policies that are beneficial to the retired veterans, especially those who have made great contributions to the country."

"Those soldiers are willing to sacrifice their lives for the court and for His Majesty. We must support them."

Zhong Yi clasped his fists and said, "I understand. I will write a letter to my brother and ask him to seek justice for the old soldier."

Wei Yuan nodded. "Before, the people said that we were dead soldiers, inferior people who risked our lives to make money. We have to tell them that if we hadn't risked our lives, there would be no fireworks in this world."

To be honest, he hasn't been to the grassroots level for a long time since the end of the war.

In this era of strict class divisions, it is impossible for him to ensure that every soldier has their life and property protected.

But he wanted to do one thing as much as possible, that is, the soldiers who did not die under the enemy's blade would never be allowed to die under the oppression of the powerful, or in other words, they would not be allowed to die in vain.

Perhaps even Wei Yuan did not expect that he just wanted to improve the prestige of the soldiers among the people, but unexpectedly, he gained the gratitude and loyalty of soldiers across the country.

That's exactly what he said.

If you treat me with sincerity, I will entrust my life to you.

(End of this chapter)