Chapter 58 What a fine prospect for a personal guard!

The battle flag with lion and tiger stripes fluttered in the wind.

The victorious soldiers tirelessly reinforced the trenches, moved broken logs and stones, cleared away post-battle debris, and collected scattered weapons and halberds, arranging them neatly in one place.

Wounded soldiers were continuously carried back to the wounded soldiers' camp on stretchers.

Chen Liangyu dismounted outside the rear camp and looked around, but did not see any female soldiers training.

New recruits are led and trained by instructors to learn basic combat skills, tactics, and formations before being sent to the front lines to fight the enemy. When the battle is deadlocked, they also serve as laborers and stretcher bearers. She glanced towards the wounded soldiers' camp and saw female soldiers busy treating the wounded.

Bu Ping'er emerged from the wounded soldiers' camp and strode towards her. "General, how is the battle going?"

Chen Liangyu said, "We made a pot of dumplings and didn't use many troops. The entire vanguard of Prince Qi was captured."

The prisoners were tied up by the wrists behind their backs with ropes, one after another, and driven to a makeshift camp made of branches and thatch.

"How are the soldiers you're leading? Are they afraid?"

Bu Ping'er said, "Anyone who sees a scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere for the first time is terrified."

Bu Ping'er served as the female soldiers' instructor.

Chen Liangyu valued female soldiers highly. If the first batch of women could not be trained, the plan for the Women's Army would be largely ruined. Therefore, she personally taught them when she was in the rear camp, and Bu Ping'er took over when she was not there.

This team didn't come easily.

That day, at the stall recruiting female soldiers, Chen Liangyu set a goal for Bu Ping'er: first form a platoon, then a squad.

Ten men might not be difficult to manage, but there are always a few bold ones who come for the pay and meals. A team of fifty men would be a bit more challenging.

First came a few boisterous older women, dressed as ordinary peasant women, their hands calloused from hard work, their voices loud and strong, who asked a few questions:

"Women can fight in wars now?"

"Are you going to pay me?"

Does it include meals?

"Am I capable?"

...

Bu Ping'er answered them one by one: "Yes," "Send," "Manage," "Works"!

The older women immediately expressed their desire to enlist. It took some effort to register their names, as the common people were illiterate, let alone able to write. Bu Ping'er could only register them one by one according to the pronunciation of their surnames and given names.

Although some people came to inquire afterward, no one reported it again.

After waiting for most of the day, she suddenly realized that waiting passively for something to happen was not a good idea.

So they took a different approach.

He took a few older women with him and went from street to street, knocking on doors to recruit soldiers in a begging manner, and that's how he managed to gather nearly fifty people.

The remaining vacancies will need to be filled by recruiting again when time permits.

Chen Liangyu walked towards the wounded soldiers' camp.

Bu Ping'er followed, "Two of Instructor Jiang's soldiers were so scared they cried, and one went limp. Instructor Jiang punished them both with two military whips each. Look over there."

Chen Liangyu glanced in the direction Bu Ping'er indicated. At the front of the neat formation of new recruits, several young boys were standing at attention and being scolded. Next to them was a boy who was crying and spitting, his legs too weak to stand up.

The instructor's angry shouts drew people from other barracks out one after another, who stood at a distance, watching from the sidelines.

"What kind of people are you! You're all cowards! Going to the battlefield is just sending you to your deaths!"

The pointer swung past his eyes, and with a crack, it smashed a furrow in the ground.

The roar filled my ears again.

"Go over there and kowtow to your ancestors for eight generations! You've completely disgraced them!"

Watching this scene, Bu Ping'er couldn't help but shake her head. "Although they all come from poor families, poverty is not all the same. The girls are hardworking from a young age, doing all kinds of chores, farm work, and trivial tasks. If they can't afford to raise their children, they abandon the baby girls first. If they have food or clothing, they always give it to the boys in the family first. After being mistreated for years, the girls have become even more resilient. When they saw those severed limbs and bloody bodies, even the youngest girl was so frightened that she fell to the ground and collapsed. Instructor Jiang couldn't even lift her up."

Chen Liangyu lifted the tent flap of the wounded soldiers' camp. Zhu Ying, wrapped in black cloth, stood out as a mysterious figure amidst the busy wounded soldiers and medics. After the female soldiers' drills, Zhu Ying had been seconded to the wounded soldiers' camp to treat them, and was currently bandaging and stopping the bleeding of an injured soldier.

They came in all shapes and sizes, some tall, some short, some fat, and some thin, withered little radish.

Chen Liangyu glanced at the "young general" with his sparse, yellowish hair tied in two straw buns, and took a breath. "How old is this child?"

Bu Ping'er said, "Her parents said she is already fourteen." She had just brought the child with her, and Chen Liangyu hadn't seen her yet.

"Nonsense!"

Looking at the child, Chen Liangyu inexplicably recalled the time when she brought Xie Wenjun out of that abandoned house.

This dried radish is even smaller than Xie Wenjun when we first met. How could she be fourteen years old?

Xie Wenjun must have been only twelve years old at that time, right? She was petite and not much younger than Chen Liangyu. Yet, walking together, they inexplicably seemed like they were from different generations.

Despite being terrified and cowering, he still put on a serious face and acted like an adult.

Chen Liangyu suddenly felt as if he had been punched in the chest.

She was so slender that just opening her arms would be enough to encircle her entire body.

Why didn't you bend that leg back then?

You could clearly see her fear and unease, so why didn't you kneel down, hug her, and gently tell her that she didn't need to be afraid?

Those past indifferences and alienation, like a hailstorm after a spring chill, pelted her and froze into icicles, stinging her deeply.

Chen Liangyu asked the dried radish, "How old are you?"

Radish held up five fingers and said, "Eleven years old."

You can't even count!

According to folk custom, one should be born two years older than the legal age limit, so even if you count all the time, Radish Dried is only a little over nine years old.

Chen Liangyu turned to look at Bu Ping'er, "You brought her to the army camp? To be used as rations?"

Bu Ping'er pulled the dried radish up to her and said, "That's not what you said before. You said you were fourteen."

Radish Dried said hesitantly, "My parents told me to say this."

Tsk!

This is outrageous!

"How about we raise him?" Bu Ping'er said, "He'll grow up quickly if we raise him. Children grow very fast."

Who will raise it?

Bu Ping'er choked for a moment, then said, "What excellent potential soldiers! I raised them myself, so I can trust them to serve in the future."

"I'll raise it?" Chen Liangyu pointed to himself.

Chen Liangyu tossed a broadsword, its scabbard pressing down on the dried radish. "Catch."

He barely managed to catch the dried radish, then staggered back a few steps while holding the broadsword, before collapsing to the ground.

Bu Ping'er: "..."

I gave you a chance, but you failed!

Chen Liangyu: "What time is it now? Where is this place? Raising a child? How could you even think of that? She's so small, one day a stray arrow could pierce her through!"

Bu Ping'er said, "Before her parents sent her here, they were haggling with the slave trader. They couldn't reach an agreement, so they sent her here. It's obvious that they have too many children to raise and want to sell her... Sending her back might mean she'd die even faster than going to the battlefield."

Since we're already here!

Chen Liangyu pondered for a moment, "What's your name?"

Bu Ping'er: "She doesn't have a name. Her family name is Hu. She's a girl, so we call her Hu Nu."

"Can you write?" Chen Liangyu asked Radish Dried.

The dried radish nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

She scrambled to her feet and, as if showing off, quickly drew the two crooked characters "Hu Nu" on the ground with her finger.

Bu Ping'er had just taught her.

The kinship has ended.

From then on, they would neither support their parents in life nor attend their funerals, and their surnames could be abandoned.

Swan Girl.

"Born in a field of weeds, my body is as insignificant as a speck of dust. I should have the ambition of a swan, and not be a sparrow."

Chen Liangyu stood up and clapped his hands.

"From now on, you will be called Hu Nu."

The young woman nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

"Come back to the Prince's Mansion with me first. If you want to join the army and fight, wait until you're a few years older."

Hu Nu glanced at Bu Ping'er's expression, and seeing Bu Ping'er nod at her, she walked towards Chen Liangyu with peace of mind.

"Are you leaving today? When will you return?" Bu Ping'er asked.

“In three to five days, 100,000 troops from the southern border will be transferred here. We will immediately march north and attack Yongdu.” Chen Liangyu led the swan girl away, saying, “Before we reach Yongdu, you will expand the female soldiers into a troupe. I will remember you for a great service.”

One song, five hundred people.

Feeling awkward?

Bu Ping'er: "This humble general will do his utmost."

"If you have to exert all your strength for a few hundred people, what will happen when you have a battalion or an army? Won't that take your life?"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

The temple bells in the distance had just rung three times.

The soldiers guarding Linxia saw a troop of people rapidly moving from the horizon, raising clouds of dust.

The garrison commander recognized the leader and immediately opened the city gates to let them pass.

The sound of horses' hooves thundered across the city gate, the hinges of the gate made a loud, muffled sound, and then the gate slowly closed.

Chen Luan was in the flower hall with several people sorting out the land registers.

Chen Liangyu handed the girl to Chen Luan, saying, "Second brother, find her a place to stay, and later hire a tutor to teach her to read some characters."

Whose child is this?

"Just consider it something I found."

Chen Luan said, "It just so happens that Han Hong Academy has just opened a girls' school. Please come in a few days and let me take her back to the academy."

Chen Liangyu: "My dear girl, would you like to go and study?"

"willing."

Asking is pointless; she has no choice but to accept whatever decisions others make.

"Really?" The girl looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

Although she didn't know what studying was like, she knew that scholars were respected and that having a scholar in the family was the greatest honor for the family.

If you really are willing, that's good.

Chen Liangyu: "Really? When did the Princess leave?"

Chen Luan said, "After finishing the land register the day before yesterday, we set off at Chenshi yesterday."

The land registers he compiled did not only include the land that Xie Wenjun had bestowed, but also the taxes due on all the land belonging to the officials who had received the rewards.

Being an official is good; officials and gentry don't have to pay taxes.

Taking advantage of this grand reward, Xie Wenjun ordered Qiu Renshan to secretly gather evidence, and she roughly knew how much land each family had concealed.

With Rong Jun's excellent example set before him, Chen Luan handled his subsequent tasks with remarkable ease.

Not only the neighboring counties of Chong'an and Cangnan, but even officials in the southeast as far as Yongdu knew that their colleagues in Linxia Prefecture were being promoted and making a fortune one after another.

The eldest princess personally approved and bestowed the title.

Although Chen Luan's journey was arduous, wherever he went to ask for help, the local officials would greet him with smiles and come with him without saying a word.

The officials gathered at the Prince's Mansion, eagerly awaiting tea and rewards, when Xie Wenjun issued an imperial edict exiling Du Peisun to Wuzhou.

Considering the potential clash between the two armies, and fearing he might die en route, they did not allow him to set off immediately.

Of the three northern prefectures, Wuzhou was the poorest.

The area is plagued by disorderly conduct and rampant unruly people.

The prefectures were divided into eight levels: Fu, Fu, Xiong, Wang, Jin, Shang, Zhong, and Xia. The higher the prefecture's status, the higher the rank of its governor. Linxia Prefecture belonged to the "Fu" level, and its governor held the rank of a third-grade official. Wuzhou Prefecture belonged to the "Zhong" or "Xia" level, though it was not yet definitively determined whether it was Zhong or Xia. However, regardless of whether it was Zhong or Xia, the governor held the rank of a fourth-grade official.

It appears that Du Peisun was promoted from a fifth-rank prefect to a fourth-rank governor, but this is actually a demotion in disguise.

It seems that the eldest princess not only wants to reward those who have made contributions, but also wants to settle scores later.

Du Peisun managed to raise only one hundred taels of silver to pay the debt, along with a hundred-tael silver note and a letter, in which he angrily denounced the court for its excessive taxes and levies. At the end, he defiantly concluded: "Not a single extra tael!"

Some gloated, some watched the spectacle, and some secretly cursed his stupidity. Du Peisun was a poor but pragmatic man, worthy of the title of local official; he did not strive for credit or fame, and he did not care about suffering losses, living a simple life in Chong'an.

It's true that I don't have money.

But at least finish the assigned tasks first, and we can deal with the rest later. Once he's transferred, who will protect the people of Chong'an?

Wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?

After dealing with Du Peisun, Xie Wenjun looked distressed, tapping her fingers absently on the table.

The sound of fingernails striking the tabletop sent shivers down one's spine.

"I have a troublesome matter to worry about recently."

"What troubles the Princess?"

"The Heng family in the Southern Territory is unwilling to send troops, which worries me. If the Heng family assists the rebels and my third brother fails to ascend the throne, even if I wish to protect your future and bestow upon you thousands of acres of fertile land, when will I ever be able to fulfill my promise?"

Author's note: Thank you for reading this far!