Chapter 15 Unifying Five Counties

The siege of Tianshui County lasted for a day and two nights.

The people in the city were terrified when they received news of the government's defeat. All the officials and soldiers of the imperial court were taken into custody, and the people who attacked the city officially took over Tianshui County.

The people were even more terrified, fearing that the bandits would burn, kill, and loot after entering the city.

They waited and waited until the enemy's soldiers knocked on the door, telling them to gather in the largest open space in the city and listen to their "goddess" speak.

Despite their fear, the people still walked towards the open space in twos and threes.

In the south of the city, there was a family surnamed Feng. The male head of the household told his wife to take his mother, children, younger brother and sister to hide in an abandoned well, while he mustered up his courage and left the house.

The woman's heart was pounding in her chest, but the old and the young were all there. Her elderly mother was deathly pale, her younger brother and sister were too frightened to even cry, and her little daughter in her arms had an innocent little face. She forced herself to calm down and comforted her family, "It's alright. Those bandits are either after money or conscripting men. They wouldn't gather everyone together just to kill them."

"Don't be afraid, everything will be alright, he'll come back!"

The family of five hid in the abandoned well, spending half an hour in tension, anxiety, and panic.

Then, the familiar voice of the male homeowner came from above, "Xiugu, it's alright, can you come out now?"

The woman was taken aback.

Her brother-in-law exclaimed excitedly, "My brother's back!"

The woman quickly reached out and covered the little boy's mouth, making a shushing gesture.

The man of the house was startled when he didn't hear a reply. "What's wrong? Are you alright? Xiu-gu? Mother?"

The woman breathed a sigh of relief and raised her voice, "We're fine."

The family of five climbed out of the abandoned well again.

The man of the house looked at his family and asked mysteriously, "Do you know what those soldiers who were attacking the city wanted us to do?"

Seeing the bewildered expressions on his family's faces, he happily answered himself, "They're giving us food!"

The woman opened her mouth wide in surprise, "..."

His elderly mother looked at him as if he were an idiot.

The younger siblings, around ten years old, also had complicated expressions. One said, "Big brother, don't be fooled. Which bandit army doesn't say that if you follow them, you'll have food to eat?" The other said, "Brother, we can't live without you. Don't be fooled by them. They're not good people!"

The little girl, only three years old, blinked her clear, big eyes.

The male homeowner beamed, "I knew you wouldn't believe me, and I wouldn't believe it either, but!"

He pulled a bag of steamed buns out of his pocket!

Five large, fluffy, white steamed buns were packed in a small, transparent bag, emitting an enticing aroma.

"this!"

The family could hardly believe their eyes.

The male head of the household distributed the large steamed buns to his family, saying, "Do you remember what some people said about a goddess distributing porridge in Yunhe County?"

The woman of the house held a still-warm steamed bun, pinched off a piece of dough and fed it to her youngest daughter. She hesitated and said, "Could this be what we're eating?"

The male homeowner immediately affirmed, "That's right, this was bestowed by that goddess!"

The younger brother took a bite and found chopped scallions and pork. His eyes widened. "There's meat!"

The younger sister, who had been taking small bites of her steamed bun, took a big bite after hearing this and bit into the rich meat filling! She was so moved she almost cried, “There really is meat! Mom, sister-in-law, there’s no bad meat! It’s good meat!”

The elderly mother stammered, "Could there really be goddesses in this world?"

The male head of the household said with certainty, "That's right, there really was a goddess! She gave steamed buns to everyone present and told us to bring our families over, saying she would give us rice noodles and noodles!"

The woman gasped for breath.

The hostess asked, "Did you see the goddess?"

The man shook his head. "She didn't come in person; she brought us food from Yunhe County!"

The family: "!!!"

Such scenes occur in many families in the county town.

Although it was unbelievable, and I didn't know how that so-called goddess managed to do it, I did get to eat meat buns.

So many people followed the others with some skepticism to the siege soldiers and received a bowl of steaming hot beef noodles from the goddess.

"..."

Beef, meat, and noodles!

No one questioned the existence of the "goddess" anymore.

"No wonder they were able to bribe the people in the city to act as their inside agents and open the city gates for them!" The registrar of Tianshui County couldn't help but smile bitterly as he looked at the people of his county slurping up noodles.

The other party took out meat buns and beef noodles.

It's made with fresh pork and beef! And it's pasta without any impurities!

With such good food, what ordinary person could refuse it, whether for themselves or for their family?

Moreover, by helping the other side capture Tianshui County, this place will belong to the "Goddess," and the "Goddess" will provide food in the future!

No wonder the people of Yunhe County spontaneously organized themselves to train troops, and no wonder they would cross mountains and valleys to attack Tianshui County for the sake of the "Goddess".

"There really are fairies in Yunhe? I thought it was just a rumor!" the young man said to the person next to him as he finished a bowl of noodles.

After finishing his noodle soup, the middle-aged man said with a hint of pride, "Hey, don't even mention you. I told my neighbor, and he didn't believe me either. He actually ate white flour buns and tea eggs in Yunhe. If he believed me and went to Yunhe with my family, he would have received the goddess's blessing long ago."

The young man was shocked. "You've been to Yunhe before?"

The middle-aged man said smugly, "We've been there. My uncle specifically sent his grandson to Tianshui to call us!"

The people around started talking all at once.

“My aunt also asked my uncle to send us a message, but my grandfather didn’t believe it,” the young woman lamented.

The middle-aged woman sighed, "We've also heard about a goddess bestowing porridge, but this whole thing... it sounds like a wolf luring a sheep into an encirclement."

"How can I believe it? The world is in such chaos." The old man sighed deeply.

The old woman's expression was solemn. "Who would have thought that a goddess would actually take pity on us poor people and descend to earth?"

"Yes, seeing that we didn't believe her, she specially sent someone to tell us and to bless us!" The middle-aged man bowed respectfully towards the direction of Yunhe County.

Before Zhu Youchuan even arrived in Yunhe County, he heard the news that the four surrounding counties had fallen into the hands of the "Goddess".

Of course, the people talked more about the goddess who gave them food.

Some people still can't believe it.

Some people, however, began heading to Yunhe.

Zhu Youchuan rested his chin on his fan, a slight smile appearing on his face.

Page: "...Young master, what mischief are you plotting now?"

“Nonsense,” Zhu Youchuan tapped the pageboy on the head with his fan. “I was clearly thinking about how to help everyone get to Yunhe County quickly and safely.”

Yunhe County.

Ning Huai'an and Fang Qin, along with a group of able-bodied men, escorted the prisoners of war and led the people of Tianshui County (as well as those who followed them along the way) back to Yunhe to meet the Goddess.

Five or six days later, Hu Dazhu and Xiang Yuesheng returned with their victory.

Cheng Hui and other staff members of the Yunhe County "Temporary Office" organized a grand celebration.

People were overjoyed.

He Qinglan attended the celebration and delivered a speech on future developments.

"First, establish an administrative office to be responsible for all affairs, large and small, in the five counties. The first thing to do is to re-register the population and household registration; second, organize people to build roads to connect the five counties; and also do a good job in land reclamation, cultivation, digging wells, canals, and reservoirs..."

"Second, we need to build a regular army, including the vanguard, central army, and rearguard, with infantry, cavalry, and sailors... At the same time, we need to build war chariots, weapons, siege equipment, and defensive equipment."

"Third, we should formulate rules and regulations that everyone must abide by, enforce discipline, and work together to build a civilized county."

"I will provide you with food and help accordingly."

"I hope you can become strong, build a home that satisfies me and yourselves, and protect this home from being destroyed by bad people."

Mo Jingchun took notes of the goddess's speech.

Behind her, Cheng Hui and Gu Lanying were talking quietly.

Gu Lanying: "From the day the goddess descended, it was destined that we could only move forward."

Cheng Hui: "The hand of fate moves everyone."

Gu Lanying: "I wonder if the goddess has seen our future."

Cheng Hui: "That's not important."

Gu Lanying laughed, "Yes, even if we're shattered to pieces tomorrow, we'll still do it today."

Mo Jingchun did not turn around.

Her eyes were resolute: I want my mother to live. If I want to live, then I have no choice but to fight for it!

This is a new beginning.

The administrative staff of the "temporary office" in Yunhe County have reorganized their team.

The new leadership team includes not only people from Yunhe County, but also capable individuals from the other four counties.

Re-registering the population, tallying supplies in the five counties, reviewing files from the five counties... these tasks were quickly put on the agenda.

Because the work involved tedious paperwork and required a large number of literate people, the administrative team immediately issued a notice to recruit educated people from various counties.

Road construction was also a major undertaking, and because it was proposed by the goddess, the people were very enthusiastic in signing up.

After discussing it, Cheng Hui and others assigned people and road sections to specific individuals to be in charge, and made arrangements for the matter.

The new "Qinglan Academy," which He Qinglan cared about greatly, was also finalized by Li Yan, the person in charge of the wood workshop. He took into account the opinions of the teachers at the temporary academy and relocated the academy to a new site.

Qian Shiwen was busy recruiting eligible students from four other counties with other teachers, and "interviewing" new teachers.

The clinic recruited some new people: those who knew medicine, those who knew a little, and those who didn't know anything but were interested in getting involved.

Dr. Xu has a good attitude: "Whether I'm herding one sheep or a flock, it's all the same. It's always good to train more doctors."

Once these people have learned their skills, whether they go to the battlefield or stay in the rear to treat the people, they will be able to make a difference.

Hu Dazhu and Ning Huai'an were single-mindedly focused on recruiting soldiers, wanting to train a real army according to military books.

The woodworking workshop, the stone workshop, and the newly established iron workshop all actively cooperated with them to manufacture equipment.

The propaganda team was extremely busy, maintaining a unified message, boosting morale, promptly conveying information from the administrative office, and providing timely feedback on the people's opinions.

They must make good use of public opinion, a double-edged sword, to prevent unrest and maintain stability.

He Qinglan herself was not idle either. She obtained information on the land, forests, and rivers of five counties from Cheng Hui and left the county government office with Qiu Tang.

Select barren mountains and hills that will not be cultivated for the time being, and sow seeds of trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses, including fruit trees.

“These are apple tree seeds, peach tree seeds, wild cherry seeds, and so on…” He Qinglan introduced them to Qiu Tang one by one, “When they grow up, you will be able to eat fruit.”

Qiu Tang asked, "Is it enough to just plant it?"

He Qinglan's lips curled slightly, "How can there be such a good thing? You have to take good care of it like you would crops, otherwise the fruit won't taste good."

He Qinglan returned to the Yunhe County government office, where Cheng Hui came to find her, saying that a young man had come to seek refuge and requested to see the goddess.

He Qinglan asked, puzzled, "What's wrong with him?"

Cheng Hui said, "This person comes from the Zhu clan of Lanling. In my opinion, he wants to be the goddess's strategist."

He added, "This man picked up several hundred people on his way from Anling County."

He Qinglan: "Strategist?"

She did some quick calculations.

"Oh, he was looking for a suitable lord, and when he heard about my situation, he came to Yunhe specifically to see him."

He Qinglan frowned. This Zhu Youchuan…

Seeing the goddess frown, Cheng Hui quickly asked, "Is there a problem with him?"

He Qinglan shook her head, "No, it's just..."

She casually pinched him: "Can my butterfly wings fan him into a marriage?"

A note from the author:

----------------------

I never imagined that Guizhou would also experience sandstorms blowing in from Mongolia; the mountains were shrouded in mist when I looked up.

I heard it's also in Guangzhou, oh well then.