Gao Wu Da Ming: Starting as a military household and ascending to the rank of Martial Saint

Baode Prefecture is a vast area. The Qianhu (a military unit) is located in the northeast. If you walk from Yaomaodun, it will take at least five or six hours.

To save time, Yu Shaowu paid to take a donkey cart to the prefectural city, and arrived at the Thousand Household Office in two hours.

The Qianhu Office of Baode Prefecture was a garrison Qianhu Office established in the seventh year of the Xuande reign. It was directly under the command of the Shanxi Military Command, but is now actually under the jurisdiction of the Kelan Military Circuit.

Initially, the Baode Thousand-Household Garrison had a full complement of one thousand soldiers. However, in the forty-second year of the Jiajing reign (1553), the Oirat Mongols invaded, plundering Baode Prefecture and leaving it virtually uninhabited. The then-captain, Sun Mao, was killed in battle, and the garrison lost more than half of its soldiers.

Since then, the garrison has never been at full strength. In addition, with the constant desertion of military households, the entire garrison now has only about three hundred soldiers.

The imperial court did not pay attention to it, and the Thousand-Household Office had been in a state of disarray. The current Thousand-Household Commander, Li Zhencai, had hardly ever handled the affairs of the various fortresses.

Therefore, after more than a year, Yu Shaowu had never met this commander, nor had he ever visited the commander's office.

Upon arriving at the garrison, Yu Shaowu discovered that the guards and regulations here were not much different from those at Yaomaodun, where he himself was located.

Donkey carts loaded with goods frequently came and went, making it resemble a bustling market.

Yu Shaowu then realized that Li Zhencai was actually a businessman.

The soldier standing guard at the gate was a boy, about half a year old, with snot running down his face. He glanced at Yu Shaowu once and then ignored him.

Yu Shaowu took the initiative to introduce himself, and only then did the guard lead him to see Commander Li Zhencai.

The two walked inside one after the other. Yu Shaowu saw that the armory had been turned into a weapons trading market, where a martial artist and a town governor were haggling over prices.

The training ground was filled with all sorts of goods, some loaded on carts and others wrapped in tarpaulins, placed on the arena.

After entering the camp, he went all the way to the reception room of the commander. There were people doing accounting and picking up goods. It was bustling and lively, which reminded Yu Shaowu of the farmers' market hall in his previous life.

However, as you go further in, the situation changes. There are more soldiers on guard, and their figures gradually become more imposing, giving it the appearance of a military camp.

After announcing his name, Yu Shaowu was led to a small office and silently waited for Li Zhencai to summon him.

The room was very dark, almost completely dark. The fact that he was placed here clearly showed that Li Zhencai's visit was definitely not for anything good.

Yu Shaowu sat in the darkness, silently contemplating the worst possible outcome and how to deal with it.

After an unknown amount of time, a flag bearer finally came to deliver the order: "Yu Shaowu, the commander orders you to go over there."

Yu Shaowu stood up and followed the small flag through the courtyard and corridor to the back hall.

Upon entering the flower hall, I saw a middle-aged man wearing a t-shirt drinking and eating meat.

Yu Shaowu was somewhat puzzled. The person behaving this way in the flower hall must be Commander Li Zhencai. But he was bare-armed, his skin fair and delicate, looking more like a pampered merchant than a martial artist.

The flag bearer bowed and said, "Commander, I have brought Yu Shaowu with me."

Yu Shaowu was surprised to find that the businessman-looking man was indeed Li Zhencai. He bowed and said, "This humble man, Yu Shaowu, greets Commander Qianhu."

Li Zhencai waved to Xiao Qi, signaling him to leave, then beckoned to Yu Shaowu, saying, "Come here, sit opposite me."

Yu Shaowu sensed that this Commander seemed to be a very casual person, but he still humbly declined, saying, "How could I possibly drink with Commander?"

Li Zhencai said, "I'm not asking you to drink, I'm asking you to sit down."

Yu Shaowu then cautiously approached and sat down opposite Li Zhencai.

At that moment, Li Zhencai was drinking and eating meat with great relish, not offering Yu Shaowu a single drop of wine. Yu Shaowu, on the other hand, waited calmly, neither humble nor arrogant.

After a long silence, Li Zhencai downed his drink in one gulp, looked at Yu Shaowu, and suddenly asked, "Did you kill Master Zhang of Chang Le Du?"

Before coming here, Yu Shaowu had made various speculations, and the matter concerning Master Zhang was one of the worst speculations he had made.

He was prepared. First, he feigned great shock, then put on a look of fear and astonishment, saying, "Commander, what are you talking about? I am merely an ordinary soldier from Yaomao Village, how could I dare to lay a hand on a wealthy man? Please, Commander, understand!"

Li Zhencai stared intently into Yu Shaowu's eyes, and after a while, said in a deep voice, "Don't pretend. The prefectural government has been investigating you for a long time. That day, Master Zhang was watching a play at home. Did you sneak in and assassinate him? Wasn't that right?"

Yu Shaowu retorted, "Commander, you are wise enough to know that I have no grudge against that Master Zhang. How could I possibly sneak into his house and kill him?"

"No prior grudge?" Li Zhencai said, "Everyone knows that Master Zhang wanted to take your wife as a concubine. You were unwilling, and were repeatedly harassed by his steward, so you decided to kill him. Isn't that right?"

Yu Shaowu spread his hands, looking utterly helpless, and said, "It's true that Master Zhang favors Madam Wan, but it was I who initially proposed this. The reason he refused was simply because we couldn't agree on the price. How could I possibly kill someone indiscriminately? Besides, although I come from a military family, I've only studied since childhood and have never learned a single martial art. I have absolutely no way of breaking into someone's house to commit murder. I beg you, Captain, to seek justice for me."

Li Zhencai said, "If this had happened a few months ago, I might have believed your story. But now that you've already made your move on Tumen Mountain, do you think I can still believe you're just a weak scholar?"

Yu Shaowu explained again, "The killing of the wolf king on Tumen Mountain was aided by my grandfather's spirit in heaven. The hunters on the mountain fought bravely together to wipe out the pack of wolves. All the hunters can testify to this. When I came last year, Commander Yang had already tested my skills. Even if I were exceptionally talented, it's impossible for me to have reached such a level in just one year. Besides, if I truly had some merit on Tumen Mountain, how could the Prefect not reward me?"

Seeing that Yu Shaowu answered each question flawlessly, Li Zhencai's face immediately darkened.

He picked up a knife, shoving it at the meat on the table as he spoke with a cold laugh: "You little rascal, you're quite the smooth talker, but you can't deny this. There are quite a few who have a grudge against Master Zhang, but you're the only one with the guts and the ability to take action. I've summoned you here today in this way only because your grandfather was a model military general. If you don't confess readily, then I'll have no choice but to resort to torture."

Yu Shaowu knew that the government probably had no evidence, and that Li Zhencai was just trying to intimidate and test him.

Even so, he was just a lowly military household member, and a convict at that. Li Zhencai was his superior, and could decide his life or death at will on any pretext.

The key to this matter is to make Li Zhencai wary and prevent him from easily taking action against me. Otherwise, even if the other party has no evidence, a confession obtained through torture is still a confession, and whether there is evidence or not makes no difference.

Moreover, Li Zhencai's special summons to see him alone might be a test. Otherwise, this wasn't his business; wouldn't it have been easier to simply send him to the prefectural prison?

Thinking of this, Yu Shaowu said in a deep voice, "Of course, you can fabricate stories about villains at will. But have you considered the consequences if you really torture me into confessing and frame me for killing Master Zhang? — I mean, what consequences would it have for you, Commander?"

Li Zhencai raised his head, staring at Yu Shaowu with a somewhat surprised expression, without saying a word.

Yu Shaowu continued, "I am a soldier under the command of the centurion. If I were truly the murderer of Master Zhang, what would the Zhang family think? Why was it that when Commander Yang tested me, I had no martial arts skills but was capable of killing Master Zhang? The Zhang family has a third-rank provincial inspector. If my crime is proven, even the centurion might be implicated. I think the centurion certainly wouldn't want to see that outcome, would he?"

Li Zhencai remained silent, but the murderous intent in his eyes had diminished considerably.

Yu Shaowu added, "Moreover, my wife Wan's family has offended Duke Wei. If the story of that Zhang family forcibly taking the daughter of a disgraced official becomes public, it will be bad for everyone's reputation, and the Zhang family might even face disaster. Based on this alone, I doubt the Zhang family would want me to be the murderer."

At this point, Yu Shaowu said in a stern tone, "Therefore, if Commander Qian cannot produce evidence that I murdered Master Zhang, it is best not to act rashly. This is for the best for everyone."

Using such a tone to address one's superior is extremely rude. But this time, Li Zhencai did not get angry.

He had initially looked down on Yu Shaowu and never taken this scion of a prominent family seriously. But Yu Shaowu's performance on Tumen Mountain had truly impressed him.

His intention in summoning Yu Shaowu alone was to trick him into revealing the truth about Yu Shaowu's assassination attempt on Master Zhang. Once he got the truth out of Yu Shaowu, he would have leverage over him and be able to extract more of his secrets.

After all, Yu Dayou was once a peerless master, practically invincible. If he could learn the Yu family's unique skills from this young master, his own strength would undoubtedly reach new heights. That's why he sent someone to urge Yu Shaowu to pay the summer tax a few days ago.

But his encounter with Yu Shaowu revealed that this guy was not so easy to deal with. He hadn't managed to control him; instead, he had been outmaneuvered.

Unfortunately, what he said were exactly what I was worried about, and I couldn't refute him at all.

After thinking it over for a while, Li Zhencai felt relieved. He was just a captain, and his involvement in this matter was only to seek some personal gain.

Since it's not easy to gain anything now, it's best to let this matter go to avoid getting too deeply involved and hurting both yourself and others.

Moreover, through this incident, he discovered that Yu Shaowu, the man before him, was not nearly as weak as he had imagined. He handled the pressure with composure, befitting a scion of a prominent family; it was indeed a good opportunity to forge a positive relationship.

He laughed heartily, his previously gloomy face instantly brightening, and said, "I was merely making a reasonable suspicion. Now it seems you wouldn't do something so heinous."

As he spoke, he picked up a glass, poured himself a glass of wine, and pushed it in front of Yu Shaowu.

Yu Shaowu dared not be negligent. He picked up the wine cup, offered a slight nod of thanks, and then drank it all in one gulp, saying, "Thank you for your trust, Commander. If there's nothing else, then I'll take my leave."

"No rush."

Li Zhencai got up, walked to the bookshelf at the back, took out a box, and handed it to Yu Shaowu, saying, "I heard you've been learning the Yihe Fist recently; it's quite a good style. Please accept these Body Tempering Pills. Consider it my encouragement to you."

Yu Shaowu found that Li Zhencai was a smart man, able to accept and let go without hesitation or doubt. He readily accepted Li Zhencai's gift, bowing and saying, "This humble one thanks you, Commander."

"Go ahead." Li Zhencai waved his hand and continued fiddling with his grilled meat as if nothing had happened.

After Yu Shaowu left, Li Zhencai wiped his hands, called in the flag bearer who had led the way, and said in a deep voice, "Go and inform Yang Baihu to report to the prefectural government and say that the entire Qianhu Office has been thoroughly investigated and there is no murderer who killed Zhang Yuanwai."

"Yes, Commander." The flag officer bowed, accepted the order, and turned to leave.