Chapter 21 Business is business
"Can a man like you, Zhao Yi, beat my people just by saying so?" Wang An's eyes were cold as if he was looking at a dead person.

Zhao Yi tried to pull his hand away, but felt as if his wrist was clamped tightly by a pair of pliers. He could not pull it out no matter what. An expression of uncontrollable horror appeared on his face.

"You...you are hiding your abilities!"

Wang An snorted with disdain, "It's just some boxing skills, is it necessary for me to hide my skills? I'm just not like you, who likes to show off just because he has some connections."

Although Wang An was indeed hiding his abilities, his momentum must be there at this moment.

Zhao Yi was immediately furious, "So what if you hide your incompetence? Everyone in the world knows that in His Majesty's heart, you are already a dying man!"

"You think learning some Kung Fu can save your life? How naive! You won't be able to jump around for much longer!"

Wang An's face was icy, and he said coldly: "Okay, I want to see who can't jump for long first!"

As he said that, he slapped him in the face. Zhao Yi was caught off guard and was slapped hard on the face. Several of his back teeth flew out with blood foam.

"Asshole! You dare to hit me? Believe it or not, I will lead my troops to destroy your Jizhou government office and chop off your head to bring credit to the Emperor and His Royal Highness the eldest prince!"

Zhao Yi covered his face, and his speech was limping because he was missing several teeth.

Wang An sneered, and there was a hint of pity in his eyes.

"In my life, I have never seen anyone as stupid as you. I don't know how you became a third-rank guerrilla general."

"If you have the guts to lead your troops to destroy my Jizhou government office, I will call you a hero! But I will wait and see whether your eldest prince will kill you or reward you!"

"I have never seen someone like you who is willing to be used as a tool by others, and who takes the blame for nothing, and even wants to sacrifice the lives of all your clansmen to make me bear the brunt. I'm afraid your parents must be regretting giving birth to someone like you."

Zhao Yi was able to become a guerrilla general, so naturally he was not a fool. What he said just now was just brainless talk in anger. Now that he calmed down, he realized that what he said was stupid.

If he really dared to lead troops to kill Wang An, he was not sure whether Wang Hongyuan and Wang Qianqiu would be happy, but the lives of his nine clans would definitely be in danger.

No matter how Wang Hongyuan views Wang An, it cannot change the fact that Wang An is the Prince of Daliang and is also Wang Hongyuan's nephew.

Killing the other person is tantamount to rebellion!

No one can protect himself.

Even if Wang An knocked out a few of his teeth, he could not fight back, otherwise he would be charged with a crime if he attacked the prince.

At least, we cannot attack Wang An openly.

Wang An shook off Zhao Yi's wrist, no longer harboring any illusions about keeping him.

"Go ahead if you want to, but since you keep talking about the court's laws, let's handle this matter impartially."

Zhao Yi was stunned, then he stared at Wang An with resentful eyes and asked: "This army can withdraw just like this, what else can we do?"

Wang An sneered and said, "Although I can't control you, the imperial garrison troops' food, wages, and weapons are all supplied by the local areas. If there is any surplus, it should be returned to the local areas, and the weapons should naturally be returned to me!"

"Shouldn't this inventory and handover be handled impartially?"

Wang An sneered again, and said to Chen He: "Bring the account books of these years. Since General Zhao wants to talk about the court's legal system, let's talk about it."

"By the way, inform Chen Huaian to bring the Black Armor Guards with him."

Chen He still had some lingering fears at this time, but Zhao Yi's behavior of beating him up as he pleased still made him quite angry. At this time, he was filled with anger. So, he agreed very straightforwardly.

"Please come in, General Zhao!" Wang An sneered and took the lead to stride out of the government office.

After a while, Chen Huaian led more than a hundred fully armed black-armored guards and rushed out of the Jizhou government office.

The Black Armor Guards are the result of Cao Meng's meticulous training, and each of them is an elite in the army.

Both their personal qualities and equipment are several times better than those of ordinary recruits.

At this time, he stood in front of Zhao Yi with a menacing look, and Zhao Yi was so frightened that he took a step back unconsciously.

Chen He had informed Chen Huaian about the dispute between Wang An and Zhao Yi, so Chen Huaian's attitude towards Zhao Yi was very bad.

Chen Huaian first glared at Zhao Yi fiercely, then he bowed to Wang An and said, "Your Highness, we can set off now."

Immediately, a soldier brought a war horse to Wang An. Wang An climbed on the horse and ignored Zhao Yi, letting Chen He lead the way.

Shuangfeng Pass is not far from Baicheng, and it only takes half a day to get there by horse.

As soon as they entered the city, Wang An immediately winked at Chen He and Chen Huaian, and the two immediately understood.

Since Chen He often transported food and fodder to Shuangfeng Pass, he was quite familiar with Zhao Yi's camp, so he went straight there with seven or eight clerks.

Chen Huaian also sent more than 20 black-armored guards to follow and protect him, while the rest remained by Wang An's side.

At this time, the generals in Zhao Yi's army had also rushed over after hearing the news, looking blankly at the group of black-armored guards who suddenly appeared before them.

A general stepped forward and asked Zhao Yi in a low voice: "General, didn't you go to Baicheng to say goodbye? These people..."

Zhao Yi's face turned pale as he told the general about Wang An's reconciliation of accounts. The general's expression immediately changed slightly.

The salaries of officials in the Daliang Dynasty were not high. Civil officials were slightly better, but the salaries of military officials were even more outrageous.

Civil officials can also use their power to embezzle and accept bribes, but military officers have fewer ways to make money.

This also led to generals tampering with military supplies, fodder, and soldiers' wages.

The same was true for Zhao Yi. Withholding soldiers' wages, selling off the army's food and even weapons and armor were all routine operations.

Zhao Yi was not afraid that Wang An would find out that he had withheld soldiers' wages. This was not within the authority of a vassal king like Wang An. The most he could do was to write a letter to the court to impeach himself.

However, the supply of food and fodder to the army is the responsibility of the local authorities, which naturally have the right of jurisdiction and supervision.

However, local governments generally do not make too demanding demands, and officials have long been accustomed to the phenomenon of generals selling food and fodder.

Some local officials would even deliberately send more food and fodder so that the stationed generals could secretly sell them for some silver, in order to build friendships and improve the relationship between the generals and local officials.

This is already a common practice in the local area. When the garrison troops withdraw, local officials generally do not take this matter too seriously.

However, the convention of food and fodder is a convention, and it is also a convention that the imperial garrison will not withdraw immediately after the vassal prince takes office.

After all, it was Zhao Yi who broke the rules first. Now Wang An was trying to stop him from getting food and fodder, and he couldn't say anything wrong about Wang An.

(End of this chapter)