Ye Yahyeon, who had suddenly been struck on the back of the head, grimaced in pain and rubbed his head furiously.
“You want to keep walking with that scowl on your face and make everyone else uncomfortable?”
“What do you want me to do when I’m in a bad mood?”
“Hm? Are you talking back to me?”
“N-no, that is not what I meant.”
When Jeok Wigang glared, Ye Yahyeon, the strongest Commander in history, immediately smoothed out his expression and lowered his head.
The other Embroidered Uniform Guard and the scribe were horrified when they saw it.
A newly appointed seventh-rank Compiler was treating a third-rank Commander however he pleased, and the Commander was accepting it as if that were only natural.
“Hey, what are you looking at? Lower your heads.”
“Yes!”
When Ye Yahyeon spoke in a low voice with a terrifying look in his eyes, the two men quickly bowed their heads.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard accompanying Ye Yahyeon was not low-ranking either.
He was a junior fourth-rank Martial Inspector.
Ordinarily, a man of his rank would not go on this sort of assignment, but since the person accompanying the party was the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he had come along to assist him.
At first, not knowing who Jeok Wigang was, he had spoken to him too casually. After nearly being killed by Ye Yahyeon for it, he had not dared speak to him at all.
Among the people here, the only one lower in rank than Jeok Wigang was the scribe.
In truth, if they were going on an audit, the proper number of personnel was not this small. At minimum, six people should have gone; if done properly, dozens could be sent.
Only then could a proper audit be carried out.
But when such a small group went, it was usually done as a mere formality.
The military knew that as well, so they did not take great offense.
Even when it was called an inspection, most of the time the officials never actually went out to the battlefield. They stayed inside the tents and returned, complaining that everything was dirty and smelled bad.
On rare occasions, if someone was overflowing with passion and truly tried to conduct an audit, the people who had gone with him would stop him.
Everyone preferred to let things pass with a smile, saying it was better for all sides that way.
After all, once they saw the generals briefly at that time, how many chances would there be to meet them again in life?
So in truth, audits did not have much meaning.
When the Hanlin Academy sent a newcomer like this, the military would usually give him a suitable hazing on its own and send him back.
Most Hanlin Academy scholars returned from that hazing in a daze.
But Jeok Wigang did not seem likely to do that.
This time, it felt as if he would return after conducting an actual audit, not a formality or a hazing.
An ominous feeling crept up, as though he would cause a huge clash with the military.
Praying desperately that they would return safely, they headed toward Dark Dragon Fortress on the very front line.
*****
Black Dragon River, Dark Dragon Fortress.
It was a fortress one had to cross in order to enter the Central Plains.
Because it was such a vital strategic point, enemy attacks never stopped. As a result, the fortress’s durability had dropped sharply, and collapsed sections of wall could be seen all over.
Even when they tried to reinforce the walls, the enemy gave them no time to do so. They could only block the gaps with temporary measures, never repair them properly.
Whenever they tried to reinforce the walls, the enemy would seize that opening and push in, so the repairs were never completed and always had to be postponed.
But even that had reached its limit. Judging that it could go no further, the upper leadership of Dark Dragon Fortress intended to push the front line back and carry out reinforcement work on the walls.
They had thrown everything into driving the enemy back, then set up a wooden palisade at a place called Blackwater Stockade and turned it into the battlefield.
Somehow, they had succeeded in pushing the front line back.
The problem was the budget.
Repairing the fortress walls required funds, but no matter how many requests they sent, no answer came.
And it was not only the walls.
Grain, weapons, clothing, and every other necessary supply were running out, yet they could not replenish them.
That was because the supplies were not being delivered properly.
Cloud-Sea Fortress, where the military governor was stationed in the rear of Dark Dragon Fortress, was supposed to provide supplies on time. Yet it always put matters off with budget as an excuse, and even when supplies did arrive, they were in poor condition.
The military grain smelled awful from how old it was, and the armor and weapons were in terrible condition, as if someone had merely filled the required quantity.
Each time, they sent letters and even went in person to plead, but the answer that came back was always that there was nothing to be done because there was no budget.
In the end, unable to endure it any longer, the Fortress Commander of Dark Dragon Fortress personally went to the Minister of War and explained the situation.
After hearing it, the Minister of War flew into a rage and told him to go back, saying he would resolve it himself. Seeing that, the Military Commissioner thought the situation would now improve and returned with a much lighter heart.
But that was all.
The military governor of Cloud-Sea Fortress took issue with the fact that he had bypassed him and reported directly to the Minister of War, then began abusing his authority.
He sent a letter saying that if the Fortress Commander ignored him one more time and met the Minister directly, he would not let it pass.
Along with that letter, he sent atrocious supplies that were effectively no different from waste.
His heart collapsed.
He had risked his life and defended this fortress to protect the country.
Even now, countless soldiers were giving their lives on the battlefield to protect the border.
But the Fortress Commander of Dark Dragon Fortress steadied himself.
If he collapsed here, this place would surely fall in an instant.
Because there were countless soldiers risking their lives to protect the country, he could not easily let go.
Still, it was hopeless.
Even knowing that they would eventually collapse at this rate, they merely endured each day while desperately looking away from the truth.
Then, amid those painful days, hope came to him.
*****
Dark Dragon Fortress came into view in the far distance before Jeok Wigang’s eyes.
“This is serious.”
The state of the fortress was far worse than he had heard.
Between the collapsed sections of outer wall visible here and there, he could see cracked earthen walls.
The area above the gate was cluttered with wood patched on in layer after layer, the pavilion above it had half its roof blown away, and every roof tile was broken.
From far away, it truly looked like an abandoned fortress where no one lived.
Everyone was struck speechless by the wretched sight of it.
“If the state is that bad, do you think the Fortress Commander embezzled the budget?”
“We will know once we go in.”
They moved toward the fortress gate on horseback, and the soldiers keeping watch from the pavilion above shouted,
“Stop!”
When they stopped, another voice rang out.
“Who are you!”
“I am an auditor sent under imperial order to investigate this place! Inform your Fortress Commander and open the gate at once!”
At the word “auditor,” the soldiers on the wall began murmuring among themselves.
“What does that mean? Why are we being audited?”
“I will explain everything to your Fortress Commander, so open the gate at once.”
“We cannot open the gate carelessly, so please wait a moment!
“We will bring the Fortress Commander shortly.”
A short while later.
GRRRRK—
With a heavy sound, the fortress gate opened, and a huge man strode out.
“I am the Fortress Commander of Dark Dragon Fortress.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Jeok Wigang, and I have come under imperial order to audit Dark Dragon Fortress.”
“His Majesty truly ordered you to audit this place?”
“Yes. From now on, I will audit this place according to imperial order.”
“Show [N O V E L I G H T] me the command tally.”
Jeok Wigang nodded and took the command tally from his robes.
On a jade-colored tablet split in half, five dragons were carved as if coiling over the clouds.
When he placed it onto the plate made to fit the size of the command tally, it filled half of it.
When the Fortress Commander placed his own half of the command tally into the other side—
CLACK—
With a sound, the five dragons that had been split in half became whole.
The Fortress Commander lifted it and examined it from various angles.
A command tally crafted with such precision was not supposed to allow even the slightest light to pass through the seam.
After confirming that it fit together perfectly, he said,
“Welcome. You must have had a hard journey coming all this way.”
“Not at all.”
“Please come inside first.”
After entering under the Fortress Commander’s guidance, they found the interior even more miserable.
Buildings had collapsed here and there without proper repairs, and the people inside the fortress had hollow faces and lifeless eyes, as if they had not been eating properly.
“The situation inside the fortress is like this because no budget has been allocated for several months. Still, the Minister of War said he would support us properly this time and told us to wait, so we were waiting with hope. Seeing that His Majesty has sent someone like this, it seems the budget must have been allocated.”
The Fortress Commander said it with a bright smile.
“That is correct. The budget has been allocated. We are only conducting an audit before that.”
“Haha! Is that so? Then please examine whatever you wish.”
A radiant smile spread across the Fortress Commander’s face.
“Now we will be able to buy grain and feed the people and soldiers until they are full, replace the weapons, and repair the walls.”
Even though someone had come to audit him, the Fortress Commander seemed so happy that he kept smiling.
Jeok Wigang had known from the moment he first saw him.
This man was absolutely not someone who would embezzle the budget.
He had no evil qi at all.
And look at him now.
When told that the budget had been allocated, the first things he cared about were grain for the people and military grain for the soldiers.
There did not seem to be any major problem here.
Still, work had to be done properly, so Jeok Wigang intended to investigate thoroughly.
*****
Jeok Wigang finished examining every ledger.
“There is no problem whatsoever.”
Tap.
The officials of Dark Dragon Fortress looked stunned as Jeok Wigang set down the last ledger.
“Y-you mean you have already read all that?”
“Yes.”
“Without looking closely?”
“I looked closely. On page fifty of this book, it says: third lunar month, first day. Two thousand seok of polished rice received. Fifteen hundred seok allocated as military grain. Remaining five hundred seok stored in the relief-grain warehouse.”
The officials started and opened the ledger to check.
It was exact.
They looked at Jeok Wigang as if they had seen a ghost.
This was different from the classics people commonly read.
The classics were read and memorized every day, so one could know where a particular passage was. Ledgers were different.
They were packed with dizzying numbers and unfamiliar terms, and this was his first time opening them.
Yet he had memorized them after seeing them only once.
Perhaps he had only memorized that one part.
Just as that thought occurred to them, Jeok Wigang began rattling off what was written on which page of each book, and they threw that thought far away.
A monster had come.
They were not afraid or anxious.
Because they had nothing to be ashamed of.
Had Jeok Wigang himself not acknowledged it?
There was no problem whatsoever.
“The fact that you endured this long on a budget of this level is astonishing. You must have suffered tremendously all this time.”
At Jeok Wigang’s words, which recognized their hardship, the officials’ eyes reddened.
“You gentlemen were incredible talents.”
“Khup!”
When the person who had come to audit them not only recognized their labor, but called them talented, the grief they had accumulated all this time erupted, and the officials began shedding tears.
“You have suffered as well, Fortress Commander.”
The Fortress Commander of Dark Dragon Fortress also felt something surge in his chest.
“Thank you.”
“The audit here is finished.”
*****
The day after Jeok Wigang arrived at Dark Dragon Fortress.
Ox carts and horse carts loaded with military grain entered in a line.
“Hahaha! How long has it been since we saw this much grain!”
“Now the soldiers will no longer have to go hungry. This is wonderful.”
“Send the military grain to the foremost line this instant.”
“Understood!”
The excited officials were busily moving to divide the military grain and send it to the very front line.
That was when—
“Wait a moment.”
Jeok Wigang suddenly stepped forward.
The Fortress Commander asked with a puzzled expression,
“Is there some problem?”
“There is a smell coming from the grain.”
“What? What smell... Hm?”
He had been so excited that he had not noticed, but when he sniffed, it was exactly as Jeok Wigang said.
“O-open it at once.”