Chapter 67: The Three Immortalities

Fang Hetong called a few people into the room and ordered them to carry the three boxes of military supplies into the storeroom. He specifically instructed them to meticulously inventory and record all of the items before finally taking his seat beside Wei Yuan once more.

A moment of silence later, the scholar sighed and said, “To be honest with you, it’s my fault we’re currently in this situation. Several months ago, when the Liao barbarians invaded, I chose to cast aside my brush and took up arms in fervent devotion to my country. Yet upon arriving in Quyang County, I discovered that the staff general was embezzling funds from vacant posts with the county magistrate’s blessing. Such corruption might be tolerable during peacetime, but the foreign races are currently threatening our borders, and our garrison is understaffed. In the end, it is the people who would suffer. In a fit of rage, I wrote a letter to the commandery administrator, filing complaints not just against the staff general, but also the county magistrate.

“However, I never received a response for the letter, but the staff general and the county magistrate’s revenge kept coming in droves. That was the moment I realized that the commandery administrator is in cahoots with them. At the time, I had rallied several hundred volunteers to resist the enemy and defend their homes, but the staff general refused to acknowledge their identity as militia. The county hadn’t issued a single coin or grain either, forcing me to supply the provisions myself.

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