Chapter 216 Gongshu? Carpenter?
The capital city—the Imperial Study
Without looking up, the emperor, who was reviewing memorials, asked, "Are you saying that the Prince of Qin's men and the Qi Rong people are fighting?"
The man at the bottom knelt on the ground, cupped his hands, and replied, "Your Majesty, yes, I heard that the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Qi had a quarrel as soon as the Prince of Qin arrived in Datong. Later, after leaving the camp, the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Qi's men started fighting."
The emperor stopped reviewing the memorials: "This is interesting. Who won in the end?"
The kneeling scout hesitated for a moment: "The Prince of Qi's men won, and they also embarrassed the Prince of Qin in public."
The emperor chuckled: "When my spies reported that the Prince of Qin's heir was at odds with the Qi Rong, I thought they were just putting on an act. I never imagined it was true. These two are indeed sworn enemies."
The scout, unsure how to respond, stammered, "The Prince of Qin was humiliated today, so the two must not have a good relationship."
The emperor waved his hand in a good mood: "Alright, I understand. You may leave now. If anything happens at the border, report it to me immediately."
The scout accepted the order and quickly withdrew.
The emperor reviewed the memorials for a while, then shook his head and sighed, "It would be better if the princes were not on good terms."
In other words, now is the time when we need manpower, so we can't just move them without permission. Once the war is over and the domestic situation is better, we'll have to figure out how to take back all the military power and keep these vassal kings under our noses.
None of his uncles and elders are easy to deal with.
Datong —
A group of young children, each carrying a wooden basin, washed and dried the bedding and clothes inside the tents, following the arrangement of the tents.
It's already May, spring is just beginning to warm up, and the midday sun is so nice that clothes can dry completely in just one day.
The younger children carried wooden basins, collecting clothes from tent to tent, while the older boys carried buckets of water from the well in the camp, and the slightly younger girls, a year or two younger, washed clothes in wooden basins.
They would use wooden mallets to pound the clothes until they were clean, then they would wash them with water. After washing, two or three girls would work together, each pulling on one end and wringing the clothes dry with all their might.
After wringing, the clothes are handed over to the boys to wring again so they can dry faster.
Most of the men in the military camp were rough and uncultured. It was common for their bedding to go for months without being aired during marches, and they would only wash their own clothes once a month or two.
The group of people washed for only a morning and produced basin after basin of black water.
When Lin Changning returned to his tent in the evening, a group of eager young boys were waiting outside.
Lin Changning asked with some surprise, "It's already evening, aren't you going to eat? What are you all doing standing outside my tent?"
Gongshu Chunsheng, who was in charge, put down the wooden basin in his hand and, imitating the soldiers in the camp, cupped his hands to Lin Changning: "Sir, do you have any clothes? We'll wash them for you."
Lin Changning smiled and waved her hand: "I don't have any clothes that need you to wash. My clothes are washed every night."
Gongshu Chunsheng was somewhat surprised, and lowered his head, not knowing for a moment what he could do for Lin Changning.
They worked all day and were a bit tired, but because of Lin Changning's orders, no one in the military camp bullied them. In fact, many men would lend a helping hand.
Tonight at dinner, the 18 of them had a total of 50 cornbread buns, and the cook even served them some vegetables. This was the first full meal they had since Datong City was captured.
Yesterday he suspected that the adults had ulterior motives. Today at mealtime, the cook told him that what they were eating today was the rations for two commanders. Commander Lin was worried that they wouldn't have enough to eat, so he specially ordered someone to give them extra dishes.
They weren't ungrateful people. Ever since our parents were killed by the Tartars, we had been hiding in the city. Because we were young, our food was always stolen, and several of us little kids almost starved to death.
Although the officers and soldiers had explicitly forbidden looting food, the children had no family to protect them and were afraid of the officers and soldiers, so they dared not report it to the authorities.
A group of teenagers gathered all the children in the alley together. Although their food was stolen two out of three days, there were always a few who managed to protect their food and avoid having it taken.
By putting everyone's belongings together, even if it wasn't enough to fill our stomachs, we could at least survive.
Yesterday, they were really driven to desperation. That scoundrel surnamed Liu has been blocking the entrance of the alley every day, snatching the cornbread they received.
Yesterday, the younger siblings were starving, and Chunsheng had no other choice. So he took a few boys and snatched the steamed buns back in broad daylight. During the fight, they even bit off Liu Laizi's ear.
More and more people gathered around after seeing the blood. They didn't know what to say, or perhaps they were frightened by the blood near Liu Laizi's ear. Liu Laizi said they were so hungry that they insisted on taking his cornbread.
More and more people gathered around, verbally attacking these children who looked like beggars, and not a single person in the crowd spoke up for them.
More and more people gathered around, finally alerting the government troops, who prepared to arrest them without even asking any questions.
Taking them away would only mean they'd be forced into manual labor, but the whole thing is incredibly frustrating for them.
Later, a patrolling soldier, Han Qianhu, passed by and looked at their small stature, puzzled.
A bunch of babies—you can't kill them, and you can't do much hard labor with them.
After walking for a while, when they came back, they brought Commander Lin with them.
He had previously thought that all officials were in cahoots, but he didn't expect that Commander Lin could deduce the general outline of the matter after only listening to the account of what happened.
They immediately detained Liu Laizi as a laborer.
He admitted that he had some prejudice against Lord Lin and his group yesterday, but after having a good meal, he roughly understood that Lord Lin wanted to save them.
Father had said that one should repay kindness with kindness, so after they finished their work that evening, they went to the entrance of Lin Changning's tent on their own.
Whether it's helping someone tidy up their house or doing laundry, anything that helps Lin Qianhu is good.
Gongshu Chunsheng raised his head and mustered his courage to say, "If you have any clothes that need washing, sir, you can give them to us. I promise to wash your clothes very clean. I, I, I also know carpentry and how to tidy up the house. I know a lot of things, so please don't look down on us."
Lin Changning looked up at Gongshu Chunsheng, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Do you know carpentry?"
The young boy paused for a moment, then nodded: "My father's name is Gongshu Tuguan. He is a carpenter who also makes some ingenious mechanisms and wood carvings. I have learned some of his skills."
Lin Changning carefully examined the young boy in front of him: "Gongshu? A carpenter?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
