Chapter 135: Buying Safety

Kou Guo sat inside the military tent. This had once been his office, but now he could only sit here like a guest, waiting for his former subordinate to issue commands.

He still retained some prestige within the garrison, so his comrades dared not mock him to his face, only whispering behind his back that he simply did not know how to play the official game.

"Indeed! I truly don't know how to play the official game!" Kou Guo thought with a bitter smile. If he hadn't been so stubbornly obsessed with capturing that good-for-nothing "Spider Hero," how could he have suffered such a heavy loss? If he had known how to smooth things over, how to deceive those above and conceal things from those below, how could he have become the tallest nail that gets hammered down, now battered to pieces?

His former subordinate, the current garrison commander, paced back and forth inside the tent, muttering to himself as beads of sweat gradually formed on his forehead.

Kou Guo sighed. Back when they worked together, he had always felt this subordinate lacked a sense of responsibility, and now that he was a garrison commander, he was still the exact same way.

"What on earth is wrong with you?" Kou Guo asked aloud.

"I told them to touch it up, to embellish it a bit, so how on earth did it turn out like this?..." The current commander slapped his palm with the back of his hand and said to Kou Guo, "Doesn't this amount to falsely reporting military intelligence?"

Kou Guo said, "What's done is done, so don't dwell on regrets."

Yesterday, the garrison commanders had assembled eight hundred soldiers to go out and suppress bandits, only to return empty-handed. Discussing it among themselves, they felt it would be too disgraceful to report the truth—and who knew, if Major Wu grew angry, none of them would have an easy time—so they reported that "the enemy fled in panic."

To everyone's surprise, upon hearing this, Major Wu was overjoyed. Not only did he host a celebratory banquet for the garrison commanders, but he also rewarded everyone. Only then did the garrison commanders realize the mess they had created. Should that "Spider Hero" appear and wreak havoc again, there was no telling what Major Wu might do to them.

Kou Guo sat leisurely at the table, taking a sip of tea. Having lost his official post, he actually felt much more relaxed. "If I were you..."

"What?" the current commander asked eagerly.

"I wouldn't regret it," Kou Guo said.

The commander was deeply disappointed. At that moment, someone walked in from outside the tent and said, "Brother, trust you have been well since we last met? Oh, Brother Kou is here too."

The newcomer was Hao Fei, the commander of the neighboring garrison. This man had always been unconcerned with minor details and had maintained a good relationship with Kou Guo in the past. Before formal greetings could even be exchanged, Hao Fei had already dropped into a seat, picked up a teacup, and gulped down the tea.

"What are you here for?" the commander frowned and asked. It was this very Hao Fei who had originally proposed "embellishing" the report.

"The Spider Hero has appeared again," Hao Fei said in a low voice.

"What!" The commander slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Where is he?"

Hao Fei smiled and asked, "Why? Do you still want to go capture him?"

The commander said, "Until I catch this fellow, my mind won't be at ease."

Hao Fei hit the nail on the head: "I'm afraid it's not your peace of mind you're worried about, but rather whether that official cap on your head will remain secure, isn't it?"

The commander blushed, and Hao Fei continued, "He raided one of my supply outposts, carted away all the grain stored there, and took the pay funds that were supposed to be distributed to my garrison."

The commander clutched his head: "It's over! It's all over!"

Hao Fei put down his teacup: "How is it over?"

"The pay funds for all our garrison districts are kept with you! Since your funds are gone, how are we going to explain this to the Major? For all we know, General Yu might fly into a rage!"

Military pay in the State of Cai was not distributed directly to the end recipient; to prevent corruption and bribery, it was disbursed through layers of channels. For example, the frontline military pay went through the military region's pipeline, first arriving at the general's grand tent, and then distributed downward level by level. The garrison troops were paid by the city: funds were first sent to the city, and then the city commander distributed them downward according to the different units under the garrison's jurisdiction. Under General Yu Dingyuan served three majors—one in charge of the city interior, one in charge of the city gates, and one in charge of the garrison districts. Major Wu was in charge of the garrison districts, so the pay funds were first concentrated in his hands. However, Major Wu found dealing with such tedious details utterly tiresome, and thus handed full authority over to Hao Fei. Just as it was time for auditing, all the payroll funds were still in his hands when Xu Wenshan wiped them out in one fell swoop!

The more the commander spoke, the more agitated he became, slamming the table with a flushed face. Hao Fei said, "Calm down, what's with all the panic?"

With that, Hao Fei swirled his teacup, pushed the tea leaves aside, and said slowly, "The Spider Hero is human too; it's not like he's impossible to negotiate with. And the loss isn't all that heavy—I've already gotten half my payroll back."

The flush on the commander's face instantly faded. He sat back down and asked in a low voice, "How did you pull that off?"

Hao Fei raised his eyes to glance at him, then said, "I met with the Spider Hero's people. He's actually quite reasonable; he said as long as I leave him alone, he'll leave me alone and won't 'do business' in my garrison district."

The commander said in astonishment, "What did you say to him?"

Hao Fei replied, "It's very simple. I give him a bit of money every month, and he doesn't cause trouble in my territory, while also ensuring peace in my domain. I also begged him to return the payroll funds, otherwise superiors would hold me accountable, and he readily allocated half of it back to me, saying it was a loan and I could slowly pay it back month by month."

The commander was horrified: "Aren't you essentially doing business with bandits?! You are utterly muddle-headed!"

Hao Fei frowned: "How am I muddle-headed? I can't beat him in a fight. I only have a couple of hundred men under my command, and I can barely manage local affairs as it is—what do I have to deal with him?"

The commander said, "You could have come to us for help..."

"Help? What help? You lot were just waiting to watch me make a fool of yourselves! Who doesn't know that one garrison has to be dissolved after the autumn harvest? Weren't you all just waiting for someone to slip up so you could carve up my little slice of territory?"

The commander pressed his temples and said, "Even so... but now you've only recovered half the payroll. What are you going to do next?"

Hao Fei chuckled softly. A chill instantly crept up the commander's spine from his tailbone. Trembling, he asked, "Are you here to... recruit me into your gang?"

Hao Fei said with a solemn expression, "Brother, how can you suspect your brother like this? I'm here to help you. The Spider Hero told me his next target is your garrison."

The commander stood up indignantly: "Are you helping him threaten me?"

Hao Fei put down his teacup and stood up as well. "This matter concerns not just you and me; every single one of our garrisons must shoulder the responsibility. If we're told to suppress this Spider Hero, where are we supposed to get the money? Where are we to get the grain? Instead, we brothers might as well pool some money, turn a major crisis into a minor one, and make a minor issue vanish altogether. That way, everyone is happy."

The commander's fingers trembled with rage as he pointed at Hao Fei and said, "This is colluding with the enemy! Aren't you afraid I'll report you to the Major?"

Hao Fei gently lowered the commander's finger and said, "What Major desires is also to protect the borders and pacify the citizens, ensuring that no chaos breaks out here. What difference does it make what method is used?"

Just as the commander was at a loss as to what to do, a hurried report came from outside the tent. A scout rushed in and announced, "Garrison Commander! This is terrible! Our Sanlikou outpost has fallen!"

"What!" A wave of dizziness washed over the commander, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. Other outposts were one thing, but Sanlikou was where his garrison district's winter grain was stored! Once that place was gone, his garrison district would have no way to survive the winter!

"How could this be... I clearly... clearly arranged the defenses there to be airtight, with patrols every single second and nearly all my forces deployed there! How could it still..."

Hao Fei patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother, who hasn't been through this? This Spider Hero is no ordinary figure; he's as elusive as a ghost, impossible to defend against. If I had any other choice, would I have resorted to this desperate measure?"

The commander panicked completely, looking toward Kou Guo for help. Kou Guo remained unchanged from the beginning, leisurely taking a sip of tea before saying, "If I were you..."

"What?"

"I'd just pool some money and buy some peace of mind." Having said that, Kou Guo refused to utter another word.

With his heart filled with despair, the commander looked at Hao Fei and nodded.

Hao Fei beamed with delight. If he were the only one who had broken the rules, he would be in trouble later on, but if all the garrison commanders were dragged into the mire, the ones in trouble would be the people at the very top.

Nearby, Kou Guo lowered his head, a silent, venomous expression spreading across his face.