Xie Yan had been a strategist for years. He used to work at the military, but because of several reasons, his former master, namely some General, did not like his style so he got fired. That was why he ended up working for Zhou Huailing instead.
Back at the military training, he had learned a great deal, like gathering forces.
Despite his position right now, Lord Huai was the King’s son and had the biggest possibility of taking the throne. So he needed to gather forces too, before he was able to get the throne.
And since he took responsibility for the refugees, it would be the best channel for him to gather forces among the civilians.
Lord Ling was arrogant, and he was not willing to lower his own dignity to help those people. Xie Yan was aware of that point, so he stopped trying to persuade him, but…
The situation was that the refugees were all forces gathered by Lord Huai and Gu Chaoyan… that made him have to mention something.
When Xie Yan said those words, Zhou Huailing threw a very displeased look at him. “Xie Yan, you are truly falling behind me. One more word, I will have to fire you. Those refugees are not at all useful, why do I need them as my forces? They are not even good at planting crops! You think they can be handy? Just dream about that! Eighth Brother and his team are so willing to do these stupid things so they can just do that! Why are you caring about that at all? You are getting so out of fashion! If I treat them well, I am wasting energy and offending the other civilians who are not refugees!”
Then he turned away in anger. He had intended to mock the Eighth Brother here, but when he heard Xie Yan’s words, he lost the mood and returned to the mansion. He was going to have a chat with the Ministry of Etiquette about the organization of the New Year. That was a more promising matter for him to do right now.
Xie Yan sighed. He looked at the resettlement yard and then at Lord Ling who had hurried off. He felt a bit helpless, Lord Ling knew nothing about the forces of civilians! Those refugees, though being in trouble right now, would return to their own villages after winter. And some of them were going southwards too! Their words would be passed around, and that was how the forces of civilians were gathered!
And all Lord Ling needed to do was to say a few words, but he was not willing to accept the suggestion. Well, there was nothing he could do.
When he came to Lord Ling, he was very ambitious and believed that he and Lord Ling could do something together. However, Lord Ling was getting more and more dominating and stubborn since the Phoenix Girl thing appeared.
He shook his head. He remembered how Lord Ling told him to leave if he offered advice one more time. He was going to think about what he could do when he left the Lord.
Xie Yan followed, but Lord Ling’s wagon was already gone. He did not wait for him.
It seemed that Lord was really pissed this time.
Xie Yan sighed and started to walk back himself.
***
Back in the resettlement room.
Gu Chaoyan had gotten everything well sorted, so she decided to go out of the city.
She avoided Zhou Huaijin subconsciously and when she was about to leave, she said with eyes staring forward rather than looking at Zhou Huaijin. “I need to find Xiao Jin to get some business done. You must be busy too, you can get back to your own business now.”
Then she left.
Qing and Sword One threw an embarrassed look at Zhou Huaijin, and followed her.
They walked all the way out of the city, but Gu Chaoyan did not turn around.
Xiao Jin got so excited at the sight of Gu Chaoyan. “Elder Miss, you have business for me?”
Gu Chaoyan nodded.
