Chapter 40: A Piece of Meat Is Mandatory

Looking at the sincere expression on Chen Kan’s face, Li Jinglong felt inexplicably moved.

He grabbed Chen Kan’s hand and said, "Good brother, say no more. Tomorrow at the Yihong Pavilion, dinner is on me."

"And what of Fang Xu’s matter?"

"I’ll transfer him to you, and I’ll move that Centurion under your command as well, so he can take your orders."

"Oh, and there is also a brocade-clad guard by the name of Huang Gou'er."

"Take him, take them all!"

Li Jinglong was extraordinarily generous. As soon as Chen Kan spoke, he immediately reassigned another Centurion to him. One could see that Li Jinglong was in a magnificent mood.

Chen Kan cupped his hands and said, "Many thanks, Lord Duke."

"We are brothers, why stand on ceremony?"

Seeing that his goal was achieved, Chen Kan rose and said, "Then this subordinate shall take his leave."

"Yes, yes, of course." Li Jinglong agreed readily.

As Chen Kan reached for the door of the secret chamber, Li Jinglong called out, "Brother."

Chen Kan turned back. "Does the Lord Duke have any further instructions?"

Li Jinglong replied, "This matter stays between us. It exits through your hand and enters only my eyes."

"This subordinate understands."

Chen Kan nodded. By the time he stepped out of the secret chamber, his face had returned to a mask of indifference. *Zhu Ji-xi, I wonder if you will like this opponent, Li Jinglong?*

Likewise, after Chen Kan left the chamber, a sneer immediately appeared on Li Jinglong’s face. He stood up and kicked the ashes of the memorial, scattering them everywhere.

"To think he dared to use me as a pawn—does he really take me for a fool? Very well, since you managed to come up with something useful, I won't hold it against you. But since I’ve taken the fall for such a massive blunder, I alone shall claim the credit. You just go back and focus on your books."

Muttering to himself, Li Jinglong walked out of the secret chamber with his hands behind his back and led his minions toward the imperial palace.

Watching Li Jinglong depart, Chen Kan acted as if nothing had happened. He strolled toward his office. Did Li Jinglong not know that he was being used as a pawn? He knew! Would Li Jinglong be willing to take the blame? No!

Chen Kan knew this, and Li Jinglong knew it too. Therefore, from the very beginning, Chen Kan never intended to claim this credit. After all, Li Jinglong was no fool; if you want him to act like a dog, you must offer him a piece of meat.

For now, merit was the most useless thing for Chen Kan. What he urgently needed was to constantly prove his capabilities to Zhu Di. Only by making his value clear to the Emperor would he have a steady stream of opportunities to distinguish himself. And only by becoming an indispensable part of the Great Ming Dynasty would there be infinite possibilities for him and the bright-eyed girl he adored. Otherwise, why would Zhu Di marry Zhu Yuelan to a nobody like him?

From start to finish, Chen Kan remained clear-headed. Coming to the Brocade Guards to manage the policy of weakening the feudal lords was merely a stepping stone. The path Chen Kan truly intended to walk had already been clearly laid out for him by Fang Xiaoru.

Upon arriving at the door of his office, a wooden-faced man wearing a silver-white flying fish robe rose quickly to greet him.

"This subordinate, Stone Wen, a Thousand-Man Commander of the Northern Guard, greets you, my lord."

"Stone Wen?"

"At ease."

Chen Kan looked him over. This must be the subordinate Li Jinglong had assigned to him. The man lived up to his name—he looked like the type who was humorless and rock-steady.

Stone Wen was also observing Chen Kan, first surprised by his youth, and then the same thought as Fang Xu occurred to him: *Which aristocratic family's playboy is this? If he had the ability to sway the Emperor into letting him gain experience in the Brocade Guards, why is there no record of him in our files?*

Chen Kan sat down behind the desk and pointed to a stool nearby. "Sit."

"Yes."

Seeing Stone Wen sit, Chen Kan said indifferently, "The Commander of the Guard has also transferred Centurion Xing Fang and the guard Huang Gou'er to my command. You will take some men and receive them tomorrow."

As soon as Chen Kan said this, Stone Wen’s earlier suspicion was confirmed. He was definitely a playboy, and a high-ranking one at that. Otherwise, how could he have gotten the Commander to reassign an additional Centurion on top of a Thousand-Man Commander? Did the other guard commanders have no pride?

Stone Wen felt a chill and said respectfully, "Yes, my lord. Rest assured, I will handle this properly."

Chen Kan was satisfied with Stone Wen’s tact. He had been parachuted into this position, yet they hadn't tried to intimidate him—the professionalism of the Ming people was truly high.

Unfortunately, Chen Kan did not realize that Stone Wen had already imagined him to be a playboy with an astonishing background. If he had known, he would have spat in disgust—he was a dignified scholar, not a playboy!

"Oh, right. Have the brothers under your command all returned to the office?"

Stone Wen stood and bowed. "Reporting to you, my lord, everyone has returned except for two Centurions who are handling official business outside the city."

Chen Kan said, "Good. Then gather them. Let them get to know me, and I shall get to know them. We don't know how long we will be working together, and it’s not good to be too distant."

"Yes, I shall go and assemble them at the training grounds."

"Go."

After Stone Wen bowed and left, he hurried toward the training grounds. He needed to warn the other Centurions: this man must not be provoked. A Guard Commander was typically assigned one Thousand-Man garrison; the fact that the Commander had broken protocol to assign an extra Centurion for him meant he was someone they could not afford to trifle with.

Chen Kan thought the Brocade Guards were highly professional, but this was actually a misconception. Intimidation tactics were certainly common in the Brocade Guards, but the guards were not idiots. They were selective. Given Chen Kan’s ambiguous background, his youth, and the fact that he had been directly appointed by the Emperor, they knew he was someone they could not touch.

In truth, Stone Wen had no way of knowing that the reason there was no file on Chen Kan was simply because, until now, Chen Kan had been a nobody.

And so, a beautiful misunderstanding was born.

Chen Kan sat in his room, bored, counting to himself. It took time for the Brocade Guards to assemble. As their superior, he certainly couldn't arrive early. Chen Kan detested these ridiculous workplace rules, but he had to follow them.

After counting to a thousand, Chen Kan stepped out and headed toward the training grounds. The Brocade Guards were professional soldiers; according to the military laws of the Great Ming, those who did not arrive by the third drum roll were to be executed. And three drum rolls took roughly fifteen minutes. To leave them enough time, Chen Kan had even made sure to count slowly.

In the end, although Stone Wen hadn't tried to intimidate him, Chen Kan still needed an opportunity to establish his authority. The work he had to do was too dangerous; he had to ensure his men were as obedient as his own limbs. Only then could he hope to survive the backlash from the feudal lords.