Dream of the Red Chamber: After being exiled, I went on a killing spree in Liaodong.

The butler stumbled in, his steps unsteady, his hat askew, but his face beamed with a smile.

"Insolence!" Zhao Lu frowned and scolded, "What's all this commotion about!"

"Great news! A tremendous victory!" The steward, panting heavily, presented a blood-stained battle report with both hands. "Zhen'an Fortress! A centurion named Jia Yi has killed one White-Armored Soldier, annihilated over three hundred enemy soldiers, captured over one hundred, and even brought back the enemy general's head!"

"What?!"

Zhao Lu suddenly opened his eyes, jumped up, snatched the battle report, and his fingertips were trembling.

Master Sun rushed forward and took a look; his pupils suddenly contracted.

After a long silence, he said in a trembling voice, "This...this isn't fake, is it?"

"Absolutely true!" The steward slapped his thigh excitedly. "The captain who delivered the message is waiting outside! He brought the white-armored soldier's head, queue, and armor! Not a single word is false!"

Zhao Lu slowly released his grip, leaned back in his chair, and a long-lost light rekindled in his eyes.

Like a drowning person finally grabbing onto a piece of driftwood.

"Hahaha... Heaven hasn't forsaken me, Zhao!"

He threw his head back and laughed loudly, the sound causing the dust accumulated on the beams to fall in a flurry.

"Prepare the horses immediately! I intend to personally travel to the capital to report my victory!"

This battle is more than just about saving lives.

This is a turnaround!

Zhao Lu's years of painstaking cultivation of his inner strength completely collapsed in that instant.

"Sir, immediately send someone to verify its authenticity!"

Master Sun chuckled inwardly, but kept a straight face.

If they really win the battle? Then their master's official position is secure.

What if it's fake? No problem—he has plenty of ways to turn a fake into a real one!

"No need to investigate further."

The steward, with his head bowed and eyes lowered, handed over an urgent report sealed with wax: "Zhen'an Fort has brought all the heads and prisoners of the Later Jin here. This is their military report."

Zhao Lu ripped open the seal, pulled out the letter, and scanned the words with a sharp gaze.

The more he looked, the more interesting his expression became.

His eyebrows twitched and his lips twitched, as if he had swallowed a lively toad.

Master Sun glanced sideways at the corner of the letter, his heart skipped a beat, and he almost burst out laughing.

"What a Jia Yi!"

Zhao Lu slammed his hand on the table, the sound so loud it shook the roof beams.

"With a single stroke, he cleaved the white-armored cavalryman in two, man and horse cut in two! This isn't a centurion; this is a god of war descended to earth!"

His eyes gleamed, eager to summon this ruthless man surnamed Jia immediately and see for himself what kind of demon he was.

"Who...is this person?"

Master Sun stroked his beard and said slowly, "Three years ago, the Rongguo Mansion sent a young master to Liaodong to join the army. His name... I think it was Jia Yi."

Zhao Lu was stunned, then suddenly realized what was going on.

"No wonder! Born into a Duke's family, he has a murderous aura in his bones!"

He couldn't help but laugh, but halfway through, he frowned.

Back in the capital, when the Jia family was mentioned, which official in the court didn't scoff at it?

"Two officials from one family, and neither of them is a man!"

Now, out of nowhere, Jia Yi appears, brandishing a knife and slashing people, leaving everyone slapped in the face.

"It seems..." Zhao Lu narrowed his eyes and said softly, "This Jia Yi is the true leader of the Jia family."

He tapped his fingertips on the edge of the table, his mind racing: Should he take this opportunity to lend a hand? Offering help in a time of need would create a debt of gratitude later.

How can I give it in a way that is both appropriate and shows closeness without losing face?

If Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia heard this, they would probably lead a group to tear down the Zhao family's house and berate Zhao Lu.

"The future head of our family is Baoyu!"

Master Sun had followed Zhao Lu for over a decade, and he could tell what Zhao Lu was plotting just by looking at his eyes.

He immediately coughed lightly and said in a low voice, "My lord, such a great victory, how can we not report it to the court?"

A single sentence can awaken someone from a dream.

Zhao Lu's pupils contracted, and he immediately understood the crux of the matter—

The report should include a few more lines praising "Commander Jia's bravery and decisiveness," and also add a note praising "Your humble servant's skillful planning"...

Why not gain both fame and fortune?

"Let's go!" He abruptly stood up, flicking his sleeves. "Let's check the prisoners first!"

He moved with the speed of the wind, heading straight for the training ground.

Although Li Baihu had never met the governor in person, he still recognized the peacock-embroidered robe worn by a second-rank official.

He immediately knelt on one knee, clasped his hands in greeting, and shouted, "Greetings, Your Excellency the Governor!"

"Um."

Zhao Lu only responded once, his gaze already passing over the crowd and landing on the row of bloody heads and trembling prisoners at the back.

He stepped forward, picked up a severed head, and examined it closely—the braid, the face, the armor—it was undoubtedly from the Later Jin dynasty.

A huge weight was lifted from my heart: it wasn't killing innocent people to claim credit, it was truly killing the enemy and making a contribution!

He immediately rewarded the man with silver and wine, displaying his boundless generosity, and then turned and left.

"Bring me pen and ink!"

Before he finished speaking, the butler had already trotted over to present the writing implements, as attentive as a dog wagging its tail.

Zhao Lu picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write a memorial with flowing, elegant strokes.

While praising Jia Yi as "the bravest in the army, with the force of thunder," he also didn't forget to add a touch of self-praise—

"Strategizing and controlling the battle from afar."

After writing it, he blew on the dried paper, rolled it up in a brocade box, and slammed it to the ground with a resounding thud: "Essential dispatch, 800 li to the capital!"

"The heads and prisoners, escorted together, to the capital, so that His Majesty may witness the ferocity of Liaodong!"

As soon as the letter was sent, Zhao Lu felt refreshed, as if even his breath was carried by a spring breeze.

Several days later, the fast horse broke through the dust and entered the imperial city.

Inside the Imperial Study, Emperor Yuankang was staring at the memorial sent by the Ministry of Revenue, his forehead veins throbbing.

Thousands of words of nonsense can be summed up in one sentence:

The money spent in Liaodong is too extravagant; the national treasury is almost empty.

Five to four million taels of silver are poured in every year, but the situation is getting worse and worse.

He wished he could personally rip Zhao Lu's head off and hang it on the Meridian Gate for all to see!

"Snapped!"

The imperial brush broke in two, and fragments were scattered all over the ground.

The eunuchs and palace maids in the hall knelt down with a thud, their heads pressed against the floor tiles, not daring to breathe loudly.

Even Xia Shouzhong, a close confidant, hunched over and lay on the ground, afraid of becoming a punching bag.

In this moment of deathly silence—

"Your Majesty! A great victory! Fantastic news!"

A young eunuch, carrying a report of victory, rushed into the imperial study, his voice so loud it shook the very ceiling.

Upon seeing the people kneeling on the ground, his legs went weak, and he almost peed himself on the spot.

"You insolent wretch! Who gave you permission to trespass on this forbidden area?"

Emperor Yuankang roared, "Drag him out and beat him to death!"

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

Xia Shouzhong sprang to his feet with a swift movement, crawled to the center of the hall like a dog, and cried out in a trembling voice, "This servant said... he was talking about a great victory!"

Just as Emperor Yuankang was about to grab the memorial at hand and smash it hard against Xia Shouzhong, who was kneeling and trembling, he was suddenly struck by the words "Great Victory"—

His hand froze, and his movements came to an abrupt halt.

"...A great victory?"

He squinted, his voice extremely low, as if afraid to disturb the possibility behind the word "absurd."

"A great victory in Liaodong?"

Of all the places in the entire Great Qian Dynasty still under war, only Liaodong remains. But what about the troops there? They've long been trampled into a pulp by the Later Jin cavalry, utterly routed, barely able to raise their flags. To say they've won a battle? Nobody would believe that!

My first reaction was: Zhao Lu is faking it!

But the emperor ultimately did not retaliate, only uttering through gritted teeth, "Bring it here."

The eunuchs inside the hall were already terrified, lying paralyzed on the ground holding the memorial, too scared to move.

Xia Shouzhong's eye twitched, and he cursed inwardly: What a useless piece of trash!

He struggled to his feet, snatched the memorial, raised it high above his head, and shakily handed it to the emperor's desk.

Emperor Yuankang practically lunged at it and snatched it, tearing open the sealing wax seal. His gaze swept across the paper like a knife, and the more he looked, the smaller his pupils shrank.

Suddenly looking up, he stared at Xia Shouzhong: "Jia She... has a son named Jia Yi?"

His voice had changed tone.

Because the memorial was written in such an outrageous way—that one man broke through the enemy lines with a spear, single-handedly killing hundreds of enemies, his blood staining the yellow sand, and the Later Jin cavalry fled at the mere sight of him!

What the hell? How could such a killing god emerge from that bunch of good-for-nothing playboys in the Jia family who only know how to fight cocks and chase dogs?

"Your Majesty, such a person does exist." Xia Shouzhong nodded, his tone tinged with regret, "However... he has been mentally challenged since childhood, acts rashly, and is ignorant of human relationships."

He paused, then added, "But that strength is truly superhuman. I've heard he can lift a thousand-pound cauldron with his bare hands as easily as carrying a straw basket."

Emperor Yuankang stared at him, remained silent for a moment, and then a smile suddenly appeared on his lips.