Chapter 128: Joint Action
Soon, more than a dozen people arrived. Xu Qingying said, "I've figured out a way to attack the city, but our thousand-plus men aren't enough. We need the help of the remaining three or four thousand refugees. We've all been here for two days now. Tell us what the other side's situation is."
Xu Degui was already accustomed to following Xu Qingying's orders, so he didn't ask any further questions. He simply shared the intelligence he'd stumbled upon over the past two days: "The leader is a man in his early thirties. I heard they all call him Brother Liao. It's said he used to be a police official with some martial arts skills. He has a dozen or so brothers under him, all of them brave farmers. But the one with the horse face and thin eyebrows is his younger brother."
"If he's a clerk, why would he associate with refugees? Can't the Great Zhou Dynasty even afford to support clerks?"
"I don't know."
Fang Xun said, "The situation in Jinzhou might be even worse than we imagined. Maybe they fled after the city was occupied, just like in Ye County."
Xu Qingying's heart sank. "Let's go meet him first."
The refugees at the city gate were divided into three groups: one led by her, one led by Old Liao, and the other a group of scattered people. They each occupied their own territory, formed a group, and did not interfere with each other.
When Xu Qingying brought a dozen people to the door, everyone was a little surprised, fearing that the two groups would fight. Lao Liao was also on guard, and as soon as Xu Qingying approached, everyone picked up their weapons.
The refugees' weapons were similar. The stronger ones had sickles, hoes, kitchen knives, and other offensive weapons. The rest could only use sharpened branches for self-defense.
As soon as Xu Qingying saw Lao Liao, she asked directly, "Brother Liao, do you want to go into the city?"
Old Liao was tall and even though he was fleeing, he did not look haggard, but rather looked strong and powerful.
He had previously wondered why the enemy team of more than a thousand people was led by a quiet little girl. It was not until that day when he saw her use a dagger to cut off the right palm of someone who was snatching food that he realized how capable this little girl was.
In addition, she has Jiang Yongkang and Dazhuang by her side. These two people have strange movements and superb martial arts. They are definitely not ordinary farmers. Therefore, even though they have many more refugees under their command than Xu Qingying, Lao Liao still dare not look down on her.
He comforted the refugees under his command, repeatedly ordering them not to cause trouble, not to have any conflict with Xu Qingying's people, and to try to live in peace and wait for the porridge to be distributed.
But the amount of porridge did not increase, but the number of people increased. Naturally, his subordinates were dissatisfied with these beggars who came later. Several people even encouraged him to negotiate with Xu Qingying and ask her to leave with her people.
But Old Liao didn't move, but Xu Qingying came over first.
This girl is quite courageous.
"Of course I want to enter the city." Old Liao knew the other party's intentions and didn't want to be vague. "But there are too many refugees. Lan County can't absorb so many refugees, so they will never open the city gates."
Old Liao's men were not kind, pointing at Xu Qingying and cursing, "If it weren't for you, the city gates might have been opened long ago!"
Xu Qingying, however, was not annoyed. She just stared at Old Liao and said, "Brother Liao knows better than me whether the city gate will open or not. Without me, the city gate won't open. With me, the city gate will open even if it doesn't want to!"
"Oh, you little brat, you're so arrogant. It's you. You came with so many people, not only did you steal our food, but you also made the people in this city more afraid of us, and they won't open the door to us! If I were to say, it's all your fault. Take your people and get out of here right away—"
The man came forward with a knife, but Xu Qingying remained motionless. Jiang Yongkang, who was beside her, drew his long knife and hit the wrist of the man opposite with the back of the knife. The man screamed and fell to the ground with the knife in his hand.
Xu Qingying looked at Old Liao coldly, "Brother Liao, I came here sincerely to cooperate, but you allowed your men to provoke you like this? Do you want to continue to be left out in the cold outside the city gate?"
Old Liao then smiled and pushed the brother away, pretending to scold him, "Alright, get off, let me talk to this little girl."
After saying that, he looked at Xu Qingying again, "Why, do you have an idea?"
"I have a plan, but I need your cooperation."
"How are you going to proceed?"
"I can't tell you how to proceed right now. But I can assure you that within three days, Lan County will open its gates to us, and the Lan County Magistrate will personally come out of the city to greet us!"
"What a big tone." Old Liao also stared at Xu Qingying. "You don't tell me what your plan is, but you want me to contribute manpower and manpower. Are you planning to get something for nothing?"
"That's not the case. Right now, I'm not ready for you to contribute manpower." Xu Qingying said bluntly, "I will find a way to provide you with food, on the condition that as long as you eat my food for a day, you must obey my command. I don't want you to charge into the enemy's territory, I don't want you to fight for me, and I don't need you to kill people and rob for me. I need you to control your men and help me do some things when necessary. I'll give you one stick of incense to discuss it, and give me a definite answer if it's okay."
Lao Liao and others were a little surprised.
First, they don't have to charge into the enemy's territory; second, they don't have to fight me to death; third, they don't have to kill or rob people. Just be obedient and I'll give them food?
What kind of day is this? Pies are falling from the sky!
If it weren't for the fact that Xu Qingying and her group respected her, Old Liao would have really thought that this little girl was here to tease him.
He confirmed with some disbelief, "You mean, as long as we behave ourselves and follow your orders, we can get food? That's a lot of food, there are more than 3,600 of us here!"
The young man next to Lao Liao hurriedly stopped him: "Brother, don't listen to her. This woman must have some ulterior motive. Don't fall for her tricks!"
"What a joke! Do you think our young master can see any cat or dog? Our young master is very capable. If we didn't need help right now, we wouldn't waste our breath on you. So, you don't believe in pie falling from the sky? Then try it and see if our young master can make it rain pie from the sky. Not to mention pie rain, our young master has even made silver rain with a wave of his hand!"
Feng'er covered her mouth and laughed, retreating to advance, which really shocked the person on the opposite side even more.
"What's this silver rain? Silver is falling from the sky?"
"If this silver hits your head, won't it make a bloody hole?"
"How can silver fall from the sky?"
"That's right, what's the use of silver falling down? It won't let us enter the city. Even if you have money, you can't buy food. It's better to have silver raining than to have food raining down!"
Most of the people behind Lao Liao didn't believe it, but when they saw the people behind Xu Qingying, they all looked very confident, as if they had really seen the silver rain.
Old Liao was a little confused this time.
Xu Huiming then added fuel to the fire: "Why, Brother Liao, you even thought of attacking the city for food. Now my sister is letting you sit back and reap the benefits without taking any risks, and you're still afraid? What? Afraid my sister will attack you? Wake up, look at yourselves. Besides your life, which is worth a little money, do you have anything else valuable on your body? They say the barefoot are not afraid of the ones wearing shoes. Thousands of you are almost starving to death, and you're still cowering, afraid of this and that. No wonder you haven't been able to take Lan County until now! Are you, a grown man, afraid of my sister, a woman?!"
"Boy! Don't provoke me!" Old Liao was furious, but in fact he had a clear mind. Since Xu Qingying dared to speak, why shouldn't he dare to obey? He had so many people under his command. If they really wanted to work for her, Xu Qingying, the worst that could happen was that he could just push a few disobedient ones out.
Old Liao pointed his long knife and said, "Alright, I'll trust you this time. If you can't get food within two days, I'll chop your sister off!"
Xu Qingying stretched out two fingers and easily pushed away Lao Liao's long knife. "It won't take two days. The food will arrive tomorrow."
"Oh, you're so arrogant! There are over two hundred guards in Lan County, seventy or eighty of them are archers, not to mention the young men in the city. I want to see why you can't open the city gate without using even one of my soldiers!"
Old Liao's brother, the horse-faced man, snorted coldly and said, "If you can get us into Lan County unscathed, I will kneel down and call you Grandpa."
Xu Qingying smiled slightly, dimples on her lips, her eyes bright as fire, "Grandson, wait a minute."
Feng Er put her hands on her hips and said, "Huh, you want to be our daughter's grandson, you are so beautiful!"
"You damn girl!"
Lao Liao stopped him, "Don't be impulsive. Let's see what tricks she plays. We have twice as many people as them. If she's not afraid, why should we be afraid?"
"That's right. It's boring for a grown man to be so long-winded when doing things. Xiao Liao, you should think about how to be a good grandson to my daughter!"
Feng'er laughed like a silver bell, and it flashed across the horse-faced man's face like a slap in the ear.
The horse-faced man spat at Feng'er's back and said, "Hmph, if you can make us all stop starving, I'll let you call me grandpa, even my ancestor!"
After seeing Feng'er walk away, Xu Qingying lost her earlier smugness and instead had a worried look on her face. She said, "You were so aggressive against Lao Liao's brother just now, but now you have a frown on your face."
"Sir, that's different. I can't allow others to look down on you. Besides, you play the good cop and I play the bad cop. If the young master adds fuel to the fire, we can specifically provoke him. There's no doubt he'll agree."
Xu Qingying patted Feng'er's shoulder and said, "You did a great job. You said everything I couldn't say. From now on, you'll be more suitable for yelling and cursing in front of the enemy to confuse their minds. This is the military strategy of irritating them with anger and making them arrogant with humility."
Feng Er's face flushed with excitement. "I don't understand military tactics, as long as I can help you, sir."
"That won't do. Military tactics aren't just for combat; they're also useful in business and in life. Learning more will always be beneficial to you."
Feng'er agreed happily.
But I was so excited that I couldn't calm down.
The girl praised her!
She must work harder to better follow the girl.
No one can shake her position as the second person!
Seeing her slowly passing the crowd and gradually approaching the city gate, Xu Huiming couldn't help but ask, "Sister, what are we going to do?"
Xu Degui also said, "Qingying, if you get any closer to the city gate, archers will shoot you."
Xu Huiming immediately corrected him, "Father, you should call my sister Zhenying. Don't let anyone know our true identities!"
Xu Degui scratched his head and smiled apologetically, "I understand. I'll change it after I get used to it."
Xu Qingying stopped and faced the crowd. "You all step back first. Dazhuang, Jiang Yongkang, Feng'er, and Big Brother, accompany me forward. Fang Xun and Fourth Sister, take the people to appease the refugees and keep an eye on Old Liao. We'll go to the city gate and challenge him."
Everyone was stunned, but seeing Xu Qingying's unquestionable expression, they didn't dare to say anything more, so they all retreated.
Xu Degui moved his lips but said nothing.
He was used to Xu Qingying giving orders.
So, Xu Qingying was in front, followed by Xu Huiming and Feng'er.
Da Zhuang and Jiang Yongkang held swords, one was beside Xu Qingying and the other was at the end of the team.
They walked past the crowd and slowly approached the city gate.
The city gate stood majestically, like an untouchable deity, isolating these ragged ants from the outside.
On the snow-white ground, everyone stood up in disbelief, watching those people approaching the city gate.
Old Liao was also keeping an eye on the situation. They never expected that Xu Qingying would act so quickly and rush towards the city gate with only four people.
Old Liao's younger brother, Liao Chun, was also a little anxious. "Is that girl crazy? Is she planning to charge into Lan County alone?"
"This is like trying to hit a rock with an egg!"
"It's over, it's over. I thought she had some plan, but she did something so foolish. If the magistrate of Lan County was so easy to persuade, he would have opened the city gates to welcome us in long ago. She wouldn't have had the chance to show off her power!"
Old Liao did not move, his eyes flashing, "Wait and see what she is going to do. Tell the brothers to get up and take their weapons in hand——"
The winter wind is icy cold.
There was unmelted snow on the ground, which made it a bit slippery to walk on. My shoes were soaked with water, and my feet were as cold as ice.
Xu Qingying looked at the towering city walls and the rows of archers who were facing a formidable enemy, and thought of Li Zhaodi in the city. Suddenly, she seemed to be fearless again.
No matter what monsters are ahead, she has only one way to go, which is to move forward!
"Everyone down there, what are you doing? Leave now! Lan County doesn't accept any refugees. If you don't leave, you will all be shot!"
The voices of the guards on the city wall were full of energy and carried a strong sense of pressure.
Xu Qingying raised her head, exerting all her might to make her voice carry as far as possible. "My name is Xu Zhenying, the leader of the five thousand refugees at the city gates. I have come to negotiate with Lord Sun, the magistrate of Lan County, to seek a solution for their resettlement. I hope Lord Sun will agree to a face-to-face meeting to jointly resolve this crisis. I would be deeply grateful!"
The man upstairs didn't know if he'd heard anything, but seeing Xu Qingying, thin and small, speaking politely and looking quite like a scholar, he didn't order anyone to shoot arrows and drive her away. "The county magistrate is very busy, can you just see him whenever you want? Lord Sun said that the gates of Lan County will not be opened, and the porridge supply will be stopped from today. You'd better go somewhere else quickly. If you stay here, you will only starve to death or freeze to death. Instead of wasting time here with us, you'd better find another way out."
Xu Qingying turned a deaf ear to her. The girl's voice was a little cold, but her tone was slow enough for everyone to hear clearly.
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