‘Recruiting medics from among the soldiers’ mothers?’
‘Such a sly and devious suggestion… and yet this girl actually came up with it.’
Huangfu Song paused to think it over.
‘Could Mengde’s idea really work?’ After just a moment of consideration, he realized it was highly feasible.
After all, what mother wouldn’t worry about her son going off to war? Now, they were being given an opportunity—to follow their sons to the frontlines in a relatively safe capacity, tending to them when injured, while also receiving a monthly wage.
It was a good deal.
Surely, many mothers of soldiers would be eager to sign up.
Moreover, once the medic team composed of soldiers’ mothers was formed and put into action, most of the regular soldiers would likely learn to control themselves around the female medics.
Because these medics would be the mothers of their fellow comrades.
Touching them wouldn’t just be harassment—it would be literally messing with someone’s mom.
And if anyone really dared to do something like that, they’d better watch their back.
Chances were they’d get jumped and beaten to a pulp in some alley at night.
Huangfu Song wouldn’t utter a word in defense of a soldier who couldn’t keep it in his pants and ended up getting beaten to death by his fellow troops.
Now calm, Huangfu Song gave Mengde a nod and said, “Your suggestion is quite good. I’ll definitely take it into consideration when organizing the medic corps.”
“Great,” Mengde replied with a nod. Seeing that the conversation was winding down, she held out the orange Liu Bei had just peeled and asked, “Orange? Want one?”
“No, I still have business to take care of,” Huangfu Song declined politely.
“I’ll go back and discuss the formation of the medic corps with my officers.”
“Then farewell, General.”
***
As Huangfu Song’s figure disappeared around the corner, Mengde turned to Liu Bei and waved him over.
“I finished that one. More oranges, please.”
“Oh.”
Hearing that, Liu Bei quickly began peeling another orange for the girl.
As he worked, Liu Bei couldn’t help but recall what Mengde had just said and muttered, “Miss, that suggestion you gave to General Huangfu… wasn’t it a little too devious?”
“Devious? You call that devious?”
Still munching on her orange, the girl replied with a smug look on her face, “That’s not devious. That’s called understanding human nature.”
Even after hearing her justification, Liu Bei’s expression remained concerned.
“But I still don’t think it’s appropriate. As the saying goes, ‘Executing without teaching is cruelty.’ Sure, you can punish soldiers who make mistakes, but letting them take matters into their own hands—like secretly beating someone with a club behind the barracks? That’s not right. If you want to lead a proper army, the troops must fear you, respect you, and obey you. Allowing private retaliation undermines that.”
“The soldiers whose mothers are harassed—they’ll feel resentful that you didn’t act as their commander and allowed their only recourse to be personal vengeance. And as for the ones who are beaten, if they survive, they’ll just end up resenting your lax discipline. They won’t think they were wrong—they’ll blame you for not doing your job.”
“Uh…”
Mengde blinked in confusion, the orange slipping from her hands to the ground.
It took her a while to process what he said before she finally asked, “Then what do you think I should do?”
“You should codify everything clearly in the military law,” Liu Bei replied earnestly.
“Have a military judge punish the offenders according to that law. For example, make it explicitly clear that anyone who violates a medic is to be executed. That way, if someone is executed, everyone will know exactly why. The punished will die knowing their crime, and the rest of the troops will respect you for being a commander who is just and decisive. They’ll be more willing to follow your orders in battle.”
“Huh… You actually make a lot of sense,” Mengde nodded seriously after thinking it over.
“Then should I still go through with the idea of recruiting soldiers’ mothers as medics?”
“Of course.”
Seeing her accept his logic, Liu Bei smiled.
“Military law isn’t just a cold set of rules carved into bamboo slips. It only works if the majority of the troops accept it. If you recruit twenty-something young women to serve as medics, the soldiers will probably be very resistant to a rule like ‘execution for harassment.’ But if those medics are their own mothers, at least those soldiers will be fully on board with the rule.”
“You’re right!” Mengde nodded in agreement.
“Alright, then. Go and explain all this to General Huangfu!”
“…Huh?”
Liu Bei froze for a second.
“What do you mean, ‘huh’?” Mengde narrowed her eyes mischievously.
“Did you forget? I don’t command the army. That’s General Huangfu’s job.”
She gave Liu Bei a playful wink.
“Now go. If General Huangfu takes my advice and things go sideways, I’ll be the one who takes the fall. And then your precious lady will have no choice but to off herself in disgrace to appease the world. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
“…Fine. I’ll go now.”
“Go on, go on!”
Urged along by Mengde’s mischievous tone, Liu Bei had no choice but to carefully head off in search of General Huangfu.
Right now, Liu Bei was still just a commoner.
And until today, he had never met General Huangfu Song alone.
For an ordinary civilian like him to visit someone as high-ranking as a Two-Thousand-Stone official—of course he’d be nervous.
That was only natural.
Mengde watched Liu Bei leave with a gentle smile.
‘Do your best, kid. If Huangfu Song takes a liking to you, it’ll be much easier to earn merit when the Yellow Turban Rebellion breaks out.’
Even though the Cao family alone had enough power to push Liu Bei up to the rank of a Two-Thousand-Stone official, Mengde had no intention of letting him rise solely through connections.
People like that never get far in politics.
In the political world, the most important thing is making friends and building relationships.
One more friend for Liu Bei now means one more path forward in the future.
‘If I help him out occasionally, and someone else helps him out occasionally, doesn’t that look more natural than having the Cao family backing him the whole way?’
Whether Liu Bei could seize this opportunity she created for him… that remained to be seen.
But still, it was a bit of a shame.
He was supposed to be her orange-peeling minion…
Mengde let out a wistful sigh and resigned herself to peeling the oranges on her own.
***
Half an hour later—
Liu Bei returned, looking relaxed and cheerful.
Miss Mengde, still miserably peeling her own orange, saw him come in and immediately shoved the half-peeled fruit into his hands.
At the same time, she curiously asked, “So, what did General Huangfu say?”
“General Huangfu said that the suggestion I brought up had real value, and he’s planning to make some adjustments to your idea.”
“So that means he’s pretty impressed with you?”
“Probably. Oh, and General Huangfu also said that the draft for the medical unit plan should be finished by tonight at the latest. Once it’s ready, he’ll send a copy for you to review.”
“Oh.”
Mengde nodded slightly, though judging by her expression, she didn’t seem to care much about that last part.
After all, Huangfu Song was a Two-Thousand-Stone high official with an entire staff of advisors—if even drafting a medical unit plan was too much for them, that’d make him a total fraud.
When that draft arrived in the evening, Mengde would most likely skim through it and then give her approval.
***
Evening came quickly.
Just as Mengde was preparing to eat dinner, one of the guards brought her a message.
“Miss, there’s a man outside who says he’s an official from the Governor’s Office. He claims General Huangfu entrusted him with the draft of the medical unit plan and asked him to deliver it to you.”
“Oh, really?”
Mengde immediately recalled what Liu Bei had said to her earlier that afternoon.
She turned to the guard and said, “Let him in, then.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The guard left at once.
Two minutes later, just as Mengde was taking her first bite of millet, the scholar arrived in her room.
He was a man in his thirties, with a thin, slightly sallow face, and an air of desolation unique to the land of Liangzhou.
On someone like Huangfu Song or other generals, that aura would’ve come across as bold and heroic.
But on this scholar, it gave off a chilling, snake-like impression instead.
Mengde looked at him and asked, “Would you like to eat with me?”
“No, thank you.”
The scholar shook his head slightly, though a flicker of emotion stirred in his heart.
In real history, there was a famous line from one of Cao Cao’s poems: “Duke of Zhou spat out his food to welcome talents, and all hearts turned to him.”
It meant that the Duke of Zhou was so dedicated that he would interrupt his meals to welcome worthy people—and thus won the loyalty of all under heaven.
At this moment, seeing Mengde continue her meal while personally receiving him—and even offering to share her food—the scholar felt deeply moved.
‘Have I just met the Duke of Zhou…?’
He could hardly believe it.
And the thought he had entertained of pledging his service to her grew even firmer.
What he didn’t know, however, was that the girl’s soul came from two thousand years in the future.
In her time, working during meals was completely normal.
‘Eh? When I put it that way… why does it suddenly feel kind of sad?’
Mengde took the draft from the scholar, glanced through it briefly, and, finding no issues, handed it back.
“General Huangfu did a fine job drafting this. I don’t see any problems. Just pass that along to him. And thank you for coming all this way.”
“It was no trouble at all.”
The scholar replied politely—then suddenly bowed deeply to her.
“Miss, I’ve heard that you’re planning to allocate a large amount of grain to aid the Xiongnu and Xianbei tribes in the northern grasslands after their recent white disaster. That will surely require a large workforce to manage and document the logistics.”
“May I request to remain by your side, as a clerk, to assist with the accounting and administration?”
“Eh?”
Caught off guard by the scholar’s sudden offer of allegiance, Mengde was momentarily stunned.
A second later, she instinctively asked, “May I ask your name?”
“I am Jia Xu, styled Wenhe.”
The scholar answered respectfully.
And with those words, the girl’s heart was instantly shaken.
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