At first, Yan Rou merely watched as Cecilia selected soldiers.
After she picked ten, Yan Rou thought, Does the governor want to train a few personal guards? Fair enough.
After she picked thirty, Yan Rou thought, That's rather a lot of guards. Still, it's fine.
After she picked fifty, Yan Rou thought, Fifty. She can't take any more. They're all promising veterans. I can't stand this!
Cecilia did not stop. She chose more than seventy men from the first three ranks, then moved on to the fourth.
Yan Rou took a deep breath. I'll endure it.
When Cecilia reached a hundred soldiers, Yan Rou finally could not hold back.
"Governor, what is the meaning of this?"
Bai Xiaowen smiled. "When I returned from Jizhou, my third brother passed along my father's orders. I'm to select soldiers from the Youzhou Army and train them rigorously into an elite force to support the fighting at Guandu. General Yan, surely you have no objection to my father's military orders?"
Yan Rou immediately backed down. "I wouldn't dare."
He was not one of Yuan Shao's confidants, so he would not complain to Yuan Shao, either.
Bai Xiaowen's assumed identity was Yuan Shao's own son. Though his father's civil and military officers constrained him, he could still accomplish a great deal if he was willing to be shameless about it.
As an Awakener, Bai Xiaowen had a much lower threshold for shamelessness than Yuan Shao's second son had possessed—and a much thicker skin!
Cecilia picked up the pace, ultimately selecting six hundred men from the force of five thousand.
Yan Rou said with a pained look, "Governor, the five thousand men under my command are on the official rolls. With six hundred gone, I'll have trouble accounting for them at the next inspection."
"Don't worry,