Chapter 125 The Army Sets Off
Upon arriving at the tavern, Lin Changning and Qi Rong entered the warm room, took off their cloaks, and found seats. Old Ma was now sober, and his gaze was no longer as dazed as before.
"command."
Qi Rong sighed as he sat down: "I was demoted a long time ago, just call me by my name."
The group exchanged glances without speaking. Even if they were demoted, they still had the title of heir apparent, which made them different from people like them. Lin Changning, with a keen eye, poured Qi Rong a cup of hot wine: "Old Ma, I already told the heir apparent when we came. The heir apparent does indeed have a way."
Old Ma looked up at Qi Rong with excitement in his eyes: "Your Highness?"
Qi Rong took a sip of wine and nodded: "This matter is not difficult. Third Sister still needs to be sent away. As for your eldest and second sons, I will transfer them to my side tomorrow and write to the Ministry of War to have them added to my personal guard. That way, there will be no worries. However, Old Ma, there is something I need to remind you. Your children may be fine, but you may not be. By transferring them to my personal guard, you have completely offended that Zhang fellow. We are now under his command, and our lives will not be easy."
Old Ma knelt down with a thud and kowtowed several times: "Thank you, Your Highness. You went to the trouble of transferring my son to the Imperial Guard, so how could I be afraid of offending that Zhang fellow? Your Highness's great kindness will be remembered forever. I will swear to serve Your Highness to the death, even if it means dying a thousand deaths!"
The others didn't help Old Ma up. Hearing Old Ma's words of loyalty, Qi Rong put down his wine cup and helped him up: "Get up. If any of you have sons or nephews in the army, you can all join my personal guard. The salary is quite good, but following me is a bit dangerous, so be prepared."
Old Ma and his men, having followed Qi Rong for four or five years, naturally knew about this. Of the thirty personal guards Qi Rong had brought with him in the past few years, less than half remained; most of them had died on the battlefield.
After thinking it over, Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang each named several of their nephews and nieces to form a team. Lin Changning, standing to the side, rubbed his nose and said helplessly, "Can I name myself, Second Brother?"
Qi Rong laughed: "Sixth Brother's immense strength is beneath him to be my personal guard. Sixth Brother has the bearing of Xiang Yu. You dare to report me, but I dare not accept you, hahaha."
Lin Changning said with a grin, "I am willing to go through fire and water for my second brother, even to die on the battlefield."
Qi Rong chuckled and pointed at Lin Changning, saying, "Little Six is so good at flattering people with that mouth of his, always saying nice things."
Lin Changning raised his head: "Of course, like attracts like. The soldiers my second brother leads naturally follow in his footsteps."
Two days later—
Three thousand soldiers had assembled early on. Zhang Bo sat on his horse, exuding an air of high spirits. Lin Changning, Qi Rong, and the other three stood at the city gate, watching Zhang Bo and the army depart.
Outside the city gate, the cavalry led the way, their armor gleaming silver-gray in the sunlight, their warhorses tall and strong, and their military flags fluttering in the wind.
The war drums of the central army resounded, and the infantry formations were tightly linked. Shields and longswords reflected a golden light in the sunlight. A thousand cavalrymen led the vanguard, and two thousand infantrymen formed the battle formation. Their steps were unified, their slogans were neat, and their voices converged like thunder.
Behind them were the army's supplies. Daxing only had half a month's worth of provisions left, but they gritted their teeth and squeezed out more than half of them for Zhang Bo to take with him.
Supplies are the lifeblood of an army and the guarantee for conquering a city. Qi Rong had arranged escorts well in advance, and the grain and fodder were of paramount importance and could not be lost.
As the troops set off, the few men standing on the city wall prepared to go down to their garrison. With so many fewer people, they naturally had to patrol the city's defenses. If the Tartars came down now, the city would be in danger with its defenses exposed.
Lin Changning gazed at the departing army and muttered to himself, "I wonder how many days it will take to take Yongning."
Qi Rong, who was walking ahead, turned around and said, "We can take it in four days at the fastest. Our supplies are not plentiful, and the longer it drags on, the worse it will be for us. If we march fast, we can reach Yongning tonight. It will take about a day to take Yongning and about a day to take the supply route."
Lin Changning sighed: "Ambassador Cang said that the granary doesn't have much food left, enough to last for seven days at most. If it lasts any longer, we're afraid we'll starve to death."
Old Zhou gazed at the army from afar: "I hope nothing goes wrong."
Old Zhang spat a few times, ignoring Old Zhou's attempts to dodge, and kept slapping Old Zhou's mouth: "Pah, pah, pah, what are you saying? The army has just set off, we must avoid prophecy, avoid prophecy! Don't say unlucky things."
Old Zhou pushed Old Zhang away: "Hey, Old Zhang, your hands smell sweaty."
At the entrance of the garrison—
"My mouth is so bland lately, and the porridge on the fire is getting thinner and thinner. I should never have come to Daxing. It's cold and tough, nothing like the capital."
"Exactly, exactly. It's not as good as being in the capital. There's plenty of food and drink, and when we're bored, we can even visit brothels together. Tsk, that's the kind of experience we had."
Two guards came out of the garrison and were about to buy something to eat. It was still the end of the year, and there were always many stalls on both sides of the street. Because of the shortage of food, a group of soldiers in the army had been frequently going hungry recently and had to come out for extra meals every day.
"Hey, look, isn't that little kid from the Duke of Qi's mansion? Which way is he going?"
One of the carefree guards saw Qi An'an pointing at someone and said, "It looks like him. Let's go, follow him and see. His brother doesn't get along with our commander."
The two of them followed Qi An'an towards the military camp. Qi An'an was completely unaware that two people were following him. He had heard that Zhi and Qi Ming had gone on patrol today, and there was no one at the Thousand Household Office, so he secretly slipped out to find Shi Lang.
My older brother and sixth brother have been busy lately, and he's been feeling really stifled at the Qianhu Office.
Qi An'an skipped and hopped towards Lin Changning's house with light steps, carrying the mutton and steamed buns she had recently saved in her arms. From afar, Qi An'an could hear the big yellow dog in Lin Changning's yard barking.
"Big Yellow~ It's me~ I've brought you some delicious food!"
Hearing Qi An'an's voice, the big yellow dog in the yard whimpered happily. It pressed its head against the crack of the wooden door, straining to push outwards, and its tail was practically wagging like a propeller.
"Waaaaah~"
Qi An'an peeked at the lock on the door and said, "Da Huang, Shi Lang has gone to gather herbs, right? The door is locked."
Hearing Qi An'an speak, the big yellow dog inside the door tried even harder to squeeze out, its head darting in and out of the crack in the door, attempting to get out.
"Don't worry, I brought you some good food." As she spoke, Qi An'an sat down at the door of Lin Changning's house, took out a paper package from her bosom, and opened it. Inside were mutton and steamed buns that she had saved up over the past two days. She hadn't eaten them herself and had saved them for Da Huang. She had secretly hidden them under the bed so that her older brother wouldn't find them.
Qi An'an smiled adorably, picked up a piece of mutton, broke a steamed bun in half, placed it in her palm, and held it through the crack in the door: "Eat up, Big Yellow~"
Big Yellow poked its mouth out from the crack in the door, whimpering as it rolled its tongue to scoop up food into its mouth.
Two guards not far behind Qi An'an watched this scene. The one with the shifty eyes sneered, "We can't even get enough to eat, and this brat is feeding the dogs steamed buns and meat?"
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