Chapter 472 An Unintentional Success
The old man's eyes shone with a light of hope as he watched Lin Changning speak eloquently, his eyes showing pity for the people and respect for the King of Chu.
You can tell what kind of lord someone follows just by looking at the generals under their command. The son of the King of Chu calls the King of Chu "father," so he must be deeply influenced by the King of Chu. If the crown prince cherishes the people so much, the King of Chu must be no different.
The old man cupped his hands in greeting to Lin Changning, saying, "Your Highness and the Prince are truly kind and benevolent."
Lin Changning knew that the old man had misunderstood when he saw the old man calling him "Prince". He laughed and said, "Grandpa has mistaken me for someone else. I am not the Prince of the Royal Palace. The Prince is my elder brother. My wife is the eldest princess of the Chu Royal Palace, so she calls the Prince 'Father'."
The old man suddenly understood: "I see. Well then, sir, I won't bother you any longer. I'll go back and spread the word so that everyone knows what's going on and understands how good the prince is."
The old man hesitated for a moment, then asked again, "I wonder if you are short of soldiers, sir? I have two sons. If you are, I will have them enlist and serve the King of Chu!"
Lin Changning blinked, somewhat taken aback by the old man's sudden change of heart. These days, being a soldier was still very risky, especially if you were to fight against the King of Chu and the imperial court, and you could easily lose your life.
The old man truly has great courage.
"Old man, we are certainly short of manpower, but sending our sons to the battlefield with us is inevitably somewhat dangerous..."
The old man chuckled softly, "The King of Chu gave grain to the people, and we, the people, are not unaware of this. Naturally, we should repay this kindness. However, we are destitute and only have two sons left. We can help the King of Chu by doing our best to fight for our lives..."
Lin Changning lowered his eyelashes, seemingly deep in thought. He nodded after hearing what the old man said.
"Then I will issue a conscription notice tomorrow. Anyone who is willing to follow the prince and is physically strong will be accepted! Their rations and pay will be the same as other soldiers."
The old man bowed deeply with his hands clasped: "Thank you, sir. I will go back and inform everyone of the news."
Lin Changning glanced at the guards beside him and said, "Go, see the old man off."
The guards obeyed the order and quickly led the old man out of the tent.
Lin Changning returned to his seat after chatting with the old man, ordered someone to bring him paper and pen, and wrote two announcements on the paper. One was an announcement that the grain would be distributed to the people after the grain was allocated the next day, and the other was a conscription announcement.
After finishing writing, he looked at Lao Zhou and said, "Lao Zhou, tomorrow you post the conscription notice in the city. If anyone is willing to join the army tomorrow, Lao Zhang, you take them to have their bodies checked and recruit them into your ranks."
After saying that, he looked at Wei Shao and said, "Xiao Wei, today you take your men to finish cleaning up the granary, take out the unburned portion, and tomorrow morning take the grain to the place in the city where notices are posted to distribute the grain. Make sure to coordinate the number of people who come to collect the grain."
Old Zhou and Wei Shao quickly stood up, clasped their hands in greeting, took the notice from Lin Changning, and went out.
After Lin Changning put down the official documents in his hand and looked at the food that his personal guards had just brought, he prepared to have a meal, take a bath, and rest before welcoming the Prince of Chu into the city early the next morning.
Early the next morning, Lin Changning took Wei Shao to the place in the city where the notices were posted. Unexpectedly, when they arrived, there were already many people squatting there. Presumably, after the old man went home last night, these people received the information in advance and came early in the morning to collect their food.
Lin Changning only slept for two hours last night. When he rode down from his horse, he was unsteady on his feet and stumbled a bit before Wei Shao beside him helped him up.
"Be careful, sir."
Lin Changning pulled his arm away from Wei Shao, pressed his temples, and said, "It's alright."
After saying that, he led Wei Shao to the notice board and glanced at Wei Shao: "Prepare to distribute the grain."
After speaking, he stood in front of the notice, under the tent that the soldiers had just set up. Perhaps because they had just arrived, the people who had been waiting for the distribution of food hesitated for a moment, and not one of them dared to step forward.
Lin Changning was too embarrassed to call someone over directly, so he sat quietly at the grain distribution point and watched the people.
Not long after, Lin Changning saw the old man from last night being escorted here by a group of people. When the old man saw him, his eyes lit up slightly, and he shook off the young man who was supporting him and strode towards Lin Changning.
"This humble subject greets Your Excellency."
As the man spoke, he kowtowed repeatedly. Lin Changning stood up and helped the old man up with a smile: "Please get up, sir."
As he spoke, Lin Changning waved to the soldiers behind him: "Bring a bag of grain over here."
Hearing Lin Changning's shout, the soldier behind him grabbed a bag of grain and handed it to Lin Changning. Lin Changning took the bag of grain and stuffed it into the old man's hands: "Here is two jin of grain. Take it home and eat it first. Over there is a conscription notice. If you enlist now, you can also take a jin of grain home."
After taking the grain and saying "Oh" a few times, the old man suddenly stood up and kicked the young man next to him: "Hurry up and thank the sir, then go to the conscription office next door and line up."
The young man, somewhat helpless after being kicked by his father, asked Lin Changning to bow with his hands clasped in thanks before helping his father toward the conscription office.
Many people watched the old man and his son's actions. They saw that after registering at the conscription office, the young man did receive a bag of grain. Many young men first came to the grain collection point, received a bag of grain, and then went to the conscription office to collect more grain.
After receiving the two heavy bags of grain, it felt somewhat unreal. At first, there were only three or five people, but it seemed that the first few had gone back and spread the word, and in less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, a large group of people arrived.
Looking at the crowd of people crammed together, afraid that those who arrived late would miss out on their food, you glanced at Wei Shao and said, "Have someone line up the queue, just in case anything goes wrong."
The more people there are, and the more crowded the area, the easier it is for stampedes to occur.
Wei Shao nodded and quickly led his men to push the frantically pushing people back with the scabbards of their swords.
"Everyone has it, everyone has it. Line up to receive it. Those who don't line up will be disqualified from receiving grain."
The shouts from the front were too loud for some people behind to hear, so they pushed forward frantically. When they saw the fierce-looking soldiers standing next to them, many of them came to their senses and realized that the people distributing food to them were actually rebels.
Once she regained a bit of her senses, she obediently joined the queue with the people in front of her.
Lin Changning watched as a group of people received their rations. Many young men came to the conscription office to collect their food. It was not yet noon. Lin Changning glanced at the roster and asked the soldiers who were registering.
How many people are willing to join the military?
The soldier registering the soldiers glanced at the rosters beside him, looked up and saw Lin Changning with a hint of joy on his face, and said, "Reporting to the Vice Commander, more than 600 physically strong men have passed the registration."
Lin Changning was taken aback for a moment, then a smile appeared on his lips. This was truly an unexpected bonus; the grain had been distributed, and a number of soldiers had even been recruited. Not bad.
In a small city, 600 soldiers can be recruited in just one morning.
If troops are replenished along the way, the number of casualties will likely be much less by the time they reach Luoyang.
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