Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"What about now?" Jumong said with a smile, "With us, isn't the strength enough?"

Heba Yun turned around, carefully looked at Zhu Meng, and whispered: "What do you want to do?"

"Do your thing again!" Jumong laughed, "Isn't this why father asked us to come here?"

"Jumong!" Heba Yun patiently explained, "I attacked Linyi because they secretly interfered in Jiaozhou's rebellion. This was a punishment. But if I attack again now, what reason should I give? If I attack without a reason, I'm afraid it will cause unexpected things, right?"

"Unexpected things, you mean?" Jumong asked.

"Other countries will unite to deal with us!" Heba Yun said: "This is very disadvantageous to us!"

"Is that why?" Jumong laughed. "Are you afraid of this? The denser the grass, the easier it is to cut!"

"I'm not afraid!" Heba Yun's face showed some anger. "This is just the duty of a general: to attack scattered and isolated enemies, and not to force them to form an alliance. You should have learned this, right?"

"Okay, I was wrong!" Jumong smiled and said, "You mean there must be a reason, right?"

"What I mean is that you must obey Yuanbao's orders. After all, he is the governor of Jiaozhou! The king also appointed him as the leader of the expansion to the south!" Heba Yun said, "Jumong, my father committed an unforgivable crime. I should have been executed or at least exiled, but the king married his daughter to me and treated me like other children of meritorious officials. This is a favor that cannot be repaid even if I die. I don't want to care about the internal disputes between you brothers, and I don't want to be involved. Do you understand what I mean?"

Jumong fell silent for a few minutes, and after a few minutes he whispered, "I understand what you mean, and I'm glad you told me this!"

"Yes!" Heba Yun nodded: "Jumong, I am willing to do something for you, but I can't disrupt the king's deployment, that's it!" Having said that, he stretched out his hand, patted Jumong on the shoulder, turned and left.

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At noon the next day, Yuanbao ordered all his brothers to gather together. He issued a brief order, asking them to move into the prefectures and counties respectively to prepare for the subsequent inventory of land and population.

"I hope you will understand this as a military review!" Yuan Bao said in a deep voice: "The reviewers are the locals of Jiaozhou and spies from neighboring countries. They will evaluate our strength in Jiaozhou and then decide their next actions based on this. You understand what I mean!"

"Yuanbao, do you want to show our military strength to prevent anyone from resisting the upcoming inspection of land and population?" Jumong asked.

"That's right!" Yuan Bao nodded: "That's what I mean. Also, although you and I are brothers, when discussing official matters, you should address me by my official title, or Lang Jun, instead of calling me by my name! Do you understand?"

The atmosphere in the room suddenly cooled down. Someone stood up and was about to vent his anger, but Jumong held out his hand to stop him: "What the governor said is right. Jumong will remember it!"

"That's good!" Yuan Bao smiled and said, "You all go back and prepare!"

"Yuanbao, why are you doing this?" As soon as everyone left, Suta smiled bitterly and said, "In front of so many people, just find a chance to mention it privately. Jumong is not an ignorant person!"

"I just want to discourage that guy in front of his brothers!" Yuan Bao sneered, "So what if we are brothers? This is a government-owned place, there must be a distinction between superiors and subordinates!"

"What about me? Do I also have to have a distinction between superior and inferior?" Suta asked back.

"Xudao, you are naturally different!" Yuanbao laughed. He put his arm around Xutuo's shoulders and said affectionately, "Generally speaking, you and I are both leaders of a region assigned by our father. In ancient times, we were called Fangbo. In private, we are brothers from the same mother, and you helped me quell the rebellion in Jiaozhou. How can those little bastards be qualified to compare with you? They were born just a few days ago, and their hair hasn't even fallen off yet, but they look like adults in front of us. When we followed our father to fight the remnants of Goguryeo and the Mohe people in Haidong, they were still breastfeeding on the island!"

"You are exaggerating. What's with the milk and the hair of the baby?" Suta said with a smile, "Jumong is only four years younger than us, right? His qualifications are inferior to ours, but he is not as shabby as you say. We are all here to expand the border, so why do you have to make the relationship so awkward?"

"We are marching and fighting, not sitting in a row and eating fruit!" Yuan Bao sneered, "It doesn't matter whether the relationship is good or not, what matters is that you obey my orders honestly. If I don't give these bastards a warning, they won't know who is in charge here! This is fatal!"

"Okay!" Suda knew that what Yuanbao said made sense. It was common to take someone's head to establish authority during a battle. Yuanbao's words of admonition were already very good: "I hope Jumong understands what you mean!"

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After walking out the door, Jumong went straight to the stable without saying a word.

"Jumong, Yuanbao was just too much!" Yasha rushed forward and said, "We are all our father's sons. He is only a few years older than us, but he acts like he is superior to us!"

"Yes!" Chang Nian said, "He has not accomplished anything since he came to Jiaozhou. If he had accomplished anything, wouldn't he have put his feet up to the sky?"

"Yes, I don't care if he puts on airs in front of others, but I won't let him do that in front of us brothers!" Yaksha waved his right arm violently, his face full of determination.

"Why didn't you say anything in front of him just now? Why are you standing up now?" Jumong finally spoke, and everyone was silent. Before anyone could answer, he said, "Walls have ears. Go back to your residence and tell us what you have to say!"

The group went to the stable to mount their horses, returned to their residence, and went up to the hall. Jumong ordered his confidants to guard the hall and ordered all the outsiders to leave, leaving only his own brothers behind.

"If you have anything to say, you can say it now!" Jumong said coldly.

Everyone exchanged glances, but no one spoke. Jumong sneered, "Just now everyone was eager to speak on someone else's land, why are you all silent now?"

"Jumong!" Pharmacist said, "I just thought about it. Yuanbao asked us to go to the lower counties respectively. Could it be that he meant to divide and rule?" "Divide and rule? What do you mean, Pharmacist?" Jumong asked.

"There are nine of us brothers, each with his own subordinates. Although we nominally obey Yuan Bao, our combined strength is not much less than his! Even if he wants to deal with us, he has many concerns and cannot act arbitrarily. But if we follow his instructions and go to the counties below, we will be scattered, and divided strength means weakness. No matter who he attacks, we will not be able to do anything to him!"

"Yes, that's right. The pharmacist is really smart. He saw through Yuan Bao's trick right away!"

"Yes, we all huddled together and Yuanbao couldn't do anything, so he found an excuse to separate us!"

"Yuanbao is such a vicious guy that he actually came up with such a trick to frame us!"

Jumong stretched out his right hand to suppress the anger of the crowd: "Medical Master, regardless of whether what you said is true or false, what Yuanbao said about measuring the land and the people is indeed important. We can't win this lawsuit in front of father! As he is the governor, we have to obey him. Tell me what countermeasures you have!"

"This..." The pharmacist hesitated for a moment: "Then we can only be careful and not give others a handle. Keep in touch and take care of each other!"

"Yes!" Jumong nodded: "Do you have any other ideas?"

"In my opinion, Jumong, you should go visit Suta!" Changnian said.

"Suda? Why are you visiting him?" Yaksha asked, "He and Yuanbao are brothers from the same mother, so they are like brothers, right?"

"It's true that Suta and Yuanbao are brothers from the same mother, but they act differently!" Chang Nian said, "Besides, according to my father's arrangement, Suta is in charge of the New World, and Yuanbao is in charge of the South China Sea. They are different. It's unusual for Suta to stay in Jiaozhou. If you go to see him, you will definitely gain something!"

"Yes!" Jumong nodded: "Chang Nian, you are right. I will go there tonight!" At this point, he stood up and said to everyone: "You all go back and prepare. Don't give others an opportunity to cause trouble at this time!"

Jumong sent everyone away, packed up a little, and after dark, he took two followers, lighted a lantern and went to Sudada's residence, and asked his followers to knock on the door to ask for an audience. The person who opened the door was surprised to see Jumong, and hurriedly bowed and said, "It turns out to be you, my lord. Please wait a moment, and I will pass the message!"

"No problem!" Jumong said amiably, "I'll wait here!"

But a moment later, Jumong saw Suta coming hurriedly, and he stood up quickly, bowed and said, "I apologize for my sudden visit, brother!"

"What are you doing?" Sutada hurriedly helped Jumong up and said, "Brothers are here to visit each other, why should we be so polite?" He then said to the gatekeeper, "From now on, when you come here, you don't need to let us know. Just come in!"

Jumong smiled as he watched Sudatta teach his gatekeeper a lesson, but he said nothing. After Sudatta finished his instructions, he walked side by side with him to his study, sat down as host and guest, and asked someone to boil water while he smiled and said, "I only have some loose tea here, I don't know if you are used to it!"

"It's okay! I can't tell the difference between good tea and bad tea, I just drink it randomly!" Zhu Meng smiled and said, "In fact, I came here today for a reason!"

"Oh, what's the matter?"

"May I ask, how long will you stay in Jiaozhou?"

"How long will I stay? Why do you ask?"

"You heard what Yuanbao said in the hall today!" Jumong said, "On the way back just now, some brothers were worried that he asked us to go to different counties to separate us and then find ways to punish us. Everyone is very worried. Brother, you are a kind person, so everyone wants you to protect us, but they are also afraid that you will be harmed by Yuanbao after you leave!"

"How can you say this!" Suta laughed, "How could Yuanbao do such a thing to you? Not to mention that he is your elder brother, and besides, your father would never allow him to do this!"

"My father is in Fanyang, thousands of miles away from here, and he doesn't know the situation here. Isn't it all up to Yuanbao to tell us? Even if my father punishes him in the future, the victim won't be able to come back to life! What's the point?"

Hearing what Jumong said, Suta was speechless for a moment. After a while, he smiled bitterly and said, "Why do you regard Yuanbao as an enemy? You were originally brothers, and you were going to open up the South China Sea together in the future!"

"We are all sons of the Prince of Hejian, and there is no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children. Yuanbao was born a few years earlier than me and is of the same rank as us, but he wants to suppress us. How can this be justified? In the "Records of the Three Kingdoms", Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty once said: Only virtue and morality can win people's hearts. Sutada, you quelled the rebellion in Jiaozhou and conquered the capital of Linyi. This is virtue; you are humble and caring for your brothers on weekdays. This is virtue. If you are the governor of Jiaozhou, we are all willing to obey you!" At this point, Jumong stood up and was about to bow. Sutada hurriedly stretched out his hand to support him, and said with a wry smile: "Jumong, what nonsense are you talking about? Can you take the position of the governor of Jiaozhou if you want to start a rebellion? At the beginning, my father asked Yuanbao to be the governor of Jiaozhou, and I opened up the new continent. We each have our own duties. If it is as you say, it is disobeying orders!"

"We can jointly write to our father and ask you to replace Yuan Bao as the governor of Jiaozhou!"

"Shut up!" Sutuo shouted angrily, with a cold look on his face for the first time. "My father's order is God's. How can I resist God's order? If you really dare to do this, there is no need for Yuanbao to do anything. I will first capture all of you who defy fate, and then escort you to Fanyang to wait for my father to punish you!"

For the first time, Jumong felt that terrifying aura from his elder brother. He took a deep breath and wanted to explain something, but was interrupted by Sutuo with a wave of his hand: "Jumong, I know that you brothers have some grudges against Yuanbao, which is not surprising. We are all young people, and we have elder brothers like Yanliang and Huliang as role models. We are eager to establish a foundation, and it is understandable that we have some conflicts with each other. But you must know that we are leaves on a tree, all from the same lineage, and we prosper together and suffer together. Whether it is a conflict or competition between us, it must not exceed the point of damaging the overall interests, otherwise!" At this point, Sutuo drew his sword and cut off a corner of the table: "I, Sutuo, only have this sword! Jumong, do you understand?"

"I understand!" After a while, Jumong answered in a low voice. He bowed to Suda, turned and left. When he reached the door, he heard Suda's voice behind him.

"You don't have to worry too much. Yuanbao won't do anything like that. I'll take care of everything!"

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Two days later, Jumong and others followed Yuanbao's order and took their own troops to the agreed prefectures and counties. Standing on the tower, Yuanbao looked at the lines of people coming out of the city gate below him and sneered twice: "Finally, these troublesome guys are driven out, and I can free up my hands and feet to do something big!" (End of this chapter)