Don’t Tell Me This Is the True History of the Three Kingdoms! - Vol 10 Chapter 37
Chapter 37
VOLUME 10 CHAPTER 37: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS RETURNING TO XINYE (4)
Liu Bei POV
“Umm, Xuan De, I’ll be bringing Mi Zhen to the private tutor in the city.”
“Ah, alright, it’s not good to fall behind on one’s education after all. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come and welcome me.”
“Haha, I’m not that busy.” Gan Qing smiled and held Mi Zhen and Liu Feng’s hands as they left. Gan Qing definitely looks more reliable than I am.
“… But…” “Compared to my little sister’s education, my lord’s education is more worrying.” “That’s right~ Don’t think you can slack off~”
Xiao Yong is the one who slacks off more, or so I would have retorted but there’s no way for me to win when it’s 1 vs 3. Moreover, Zi Long is waiting behind to join in the moment I say anything so it’s the best to accept defeat here.
“Alright, alright, I got it.” I said and turned to Hua Tuo and Liao Hua, “Umm, Hua Tuo, the wounded–”
“Un, there are no problems in that regard.” Hua Tuo said as she ambled over to Zi Long. I looked at Zi Long and was going to tell Hua Tuo about her mistake but Zi Long put her index finger on her lips as she looked at me. What does she mean?
“All those with light injuries have fully recovered and those with fatal wounds are in stable conditions. There are some– Un? Lord Liu Bei? Why do you seem different from usual? It feels like… You’ve become fatter.” Hua Tuo said and then reached out to touch Zi Long.
I blushed when I saw what happened and wanted to speak up but did not know what I ought to say and looked at Zi Long, who was trying to stifle her laughter, with an admonishing gaze.
“Alright, alright, I got it.”
“Eh? This voice is… Lord Zhao Yun? Not Lord Liu Bei!!”
I do not know if it’s thanks to my gaze or she felt satisfied with this or if she began to feel embarra.s.sed but Zi Long spoke up. When Hua Tuo heard her voice, she immediately recognised who it was and hurriedly removed her hands from the 2 lumps of fat she was groping.
“Of course not,” I said as I smiled stiffly at a panicking Hua Tuo, “There’s no need to come over now. I understand what the situation is now. Many thanks to you and your medical team for your hard work.”
“Ah, no… This is what I should be doing.” Hua Tuo said as she bowed towards me, her cheeks still red.
“… Haa~” Yi De yawned from behind. This reminds me, we have been travelling for the whole day now.
“Ah yes.” I said and nodded, “Umm, Zi Long, Chen Dao and Yi De, please go ahead and have a rest. It’s been a long day after all.”
“Yes~ It was~” Zi Long said as she yawned.
“No, I’m not tired yet!” Chen Dao protested.
“No, Chen Dao, you should go and rest even if you’re not tired.”
“Not tired, is it? Alright, go to the encampment now and do a strength count before picking out the troops that we’ll be sending to Fan city in 2 days.”
Oi oi! Zi Long, you really are…
“Ah, I’ll go too.” Chen Gong perked up when she heard this and chimed in as well, “I’ll have to pick out those that aren’t as elite to go and keep the best of the best here for Xinye city construction work.”
She’s really hardworking when it comes to things like this huh? But from the looks of it, she’s not just being petty and it really does seem like they have a lot more to do with Xin
ye city.
“Ah, don’t forget you have a guest waiting, my lord.” Chen Gong reminded before she left. Of course, there is no way I will forget about that.
“Ah, I got it.” I nodded and turned to Liao Hua who should be aware of this, “Where is Lord Sima Hui?”
Liao Hua came over and looked at her bamboo scroll which she had been writing in fervently, “He is currently waiting in the second courtyard in the mansion– Please don’t peep, my lord.”
“Ah, sorry.” I apologised when I realised that I let my curiosity take over. But it always seems like Liao Hua is writing in her bamboo scrolls. Does she keep a detailed diary?
“Well then, lead me back to the mansion, Liao Hua. I would like to discuss the administration of the city with you on the way back.” I said as I turned to leave, “What about you 3.”
“… The magistrate’s office.” “There’s always more work to be done everyday, especially with the plan to invite more outsiders into the city.” “Housing, food… It’s really troublesome.”
Un, that cannot be helped.
“Thank you all for your hard work.” I thanked them sincerely and turned to leave but was stopped after just 1 step.
“… My lord, there’s someone missing.” Gong You said. Perhaps they have already detected this long ago but only just found the chance to say it.
“May I ask where Lord Xu Shu is?” “Could it be that she stayed behind in Fan city to oversee the work there?”
That is indeed a possibility if not for what actually happened. But I have no intention of hiding the truth. At the same time though, I really do not have the heart to explain things again as I feel very depressed every time this topic comes up.
“Un… You can ask Lord Huang Zu about this.” I said, deciding to shirk my responsibility and throw this to Huang Zu.
“Me?”
“Un.”
Huang Zu seemed stunned at first but she soon looked up and nodded at me as she clutched her gourd.
“I’ll be counting on you.” I said and turned to leave. I could hear a grunt from Huang Zu in response before she began to explain things to the rest. Not wanting to hear it, I hastened my pace and left.
Liao Hua followed closely behind me without saying a word, as though she was not interested in the question that Gong You and the rest asked.
Yuan Zhi probably has not really interacted with Liao Hua much. In fact, I do not think the rest have interacted much with Liao Hua, including myself. It’s not like she is cold and aloof after all as there are a few who are worse than her.
“Ah, Liao Hua, tell me about the recent developments in the city. If I’m not wrong, you should be in charge of the recruitment work with respect to inviting villages into Xinye city right? Is everything going smoothly?”
“Not at all.” Liao Hua expressed a negative view blandly, “Xinye city is far too small and it’s difficult to accommodate all of the surrounding villages. Some of the bigger villages are unwilling to join us as well so there’s some work to be done there.”
“What’s the progress like thus far?”
“The current status is,” Liao Hua said as she took out her bamboo scroll which she had kept and looked at it as she continued, “As of yesterday, we have successfully integrated 5 villages which is roughly 7-800 households.”
“7-800 households huh… That means we can draft 1,000 troops at the most.”
“That is the best case scenario.” Liao Hua nodded, “But these villages have already been subject to a draft by Liu Biao of Jing state before so it will difficult to extract the maximum number of troops. The most we can hope for is to fill in the ranks of militia when it comes to a siege battle.”
That will not do, I thought as I rubbed my chin.
“So what do we do now?”
“Eh?” I was stunned when Liao Hua suddenly asked me.
“I’m referring to the recruitment of the surrounding villages. What do we do?” She repeated.
I nodded in response, but it’s not like I did not hear her question the first time around. The problem here is that I cannot give her any meaningful suggestions as I am not the architect behind this plan after all. It’s a little embarra.s.sing but I am not knowledgeable on how to deal with the details of such operations.
“I think it’s better if you do what you think is the best.” I smiled stiffly as I waved my hands dismissively, “Or you could discuss this with the Xu state 3 since you will be cooperating with them on this after all.”
“Un, I got it.” Liao Hua nodded.
At this time, we were already in the mansion. The conversation got a little difficult midway through but we are now in the mansion and I managed to learn about whatever I wanted to so it’s time to part ways with Liao Hua before she starts asking me some questions I am unable to answer.
“Well then, Liao Hua, which room is Lord Sima Hui waiting in?”
Liao Hua pointed at the main hall, “Lord Sima Hui is waiting there and has been waiting for a rather long time now.”
Oh, then I really should hurry.
“Well then, I’ll be–”
“My lord.” She called out to me just as I was about to leave and hesitated before she finally asked, “May I ask why Lord Xu Shu didn’t…”
Looks like she asked that in the end huh?
Go and ask Huang Zu, or so I wanted tos ay but because she was right in front of me, I felt like I could not escape this and decided to just be straight with her.
