Chapter 473 Entering Jingxing
That very night, the King of Chu received a message from Lin Changning. Qi Rong and Li Mingxiu had also returned to Niangziguan. Upon learning that Lin Changning had indeed captured Jingxing within three days, they couldn't help but exclaim, "Little Six is quite adept at warfare now. Capturing Jingxing in three days is truly remarkable."
Li Mingxiu sighed as he watched his father praise Lin Changning.
The King of Chu chuckled: "Xiao Liu is indeed quite good. Now that Jingxing has been captured, we will set off tonight. After arriving at Jingxing, we will rest for two days before attacking Shunde Prefecture. Oh, by the way, Xiao Liu said that they burned the granaries that night, but left some to distribute to the people. This is a very good move. If we take the prefecture city in the future, after we have inventoried the granaries, we will distribute the surplus grain to the people."
The generals below exchanged glances, cupped their hands in agreement, and the prince's meaning was clear: although it was a rebellion, winning the hearts and minds of the people was even more important.
There is no doubt about the importance of food to the army. At this time, it would be appropriate to use the surplus food to gain a good reputation for the prince throughout the land.
Lin Changning spent the first two days in the city distributing grain. After two days, the King of Chu arrived at Jingxing with his men.
Lin Changning and several generals were inspecting the streets in the city and helping the newly recruited soldiers to hold their coronation ceremonies. Despite being just a small town, Jingxing attracted nearly two thousand soldiers.
Their siege and raids had cost them only a hundred or so men, and now they had all been replenished.
Having learned that the King of Chu was less than 20 li from Jingxing, Lin Changning arranged for Lao Zhou and Lao Zhang to stay there, and then led Wei Shao and a dozen or so personal guards to rush out of the city to meet the army.
After running for about half an hour, looking ahead at a place not far from Jingxing, Lin Changning reined in his horse and looked ahead. He saw the army slowly advancing towards Jingxing.
The leading generals were none other than the familiar faces. Lin Changning smiled and quickly approached the army. As he got closer, he saw Qi Rong, Li Mingxiu, and Li Mingde riding up to greet him.
"Little Six!"
"Little Six!"
Lin Changning gently reined in his horse and smiled arrogantly at the three of them: "Big brother, second brother, and eighth brother, how are things on your end?"
As soon as they met, Li Mingxiu punched Lin Changning on the shoulder: "You're not bad, kid! I heard Father said you took Jingxing in just two days?"
Lin Changning felt a sharp pain in his shoulder from the blow. He had injured his shoulder a few days ago and it hadn't fully healed yet. He grimaced and looked at Li Mingxiu, saying, "Big brother, be gentle. I'm still injured."
Li Mingxiu paused for a moment, then remembered the dangers of the battlefield and how every general would suffer some injuries. His smile faded slightly as he looked at Lin Changning with a serious expression and said, "Sorry, Xiao Liu, I got carried away and forgot my form. How are your injuries? Are they serious?"
Qi Rong also looked at Lin Changning, and after looking at Xiao Liu, who was dressed in armor and looked him up and down, he asked, "Yes, should we call Doctor Liu over to take a look at you? Doctor Liu is an expert in treating external injuries."
Lin Changning shook his head vigorously: "It's just a superficial wound, nothing serious. Shilang has already bandaged it up for me, no need to worry."
As they talked, the group slowly rode their horses toward the King of Chu.
Upon approaching, Lin Changning dismounted, knelt on one knee, and clasped his hands in a fist salute to the King of Chu: “Father, I have successfully completed my mission. Jingxing has been captured, with 1,423 prisoners, 360 casualties, and 1,800 newly recruited soldiers. I request that you accompany me into the city.”
The King of Chu looked at Lin Changning and nodded in satisfaction: "Good, my son is very good!"
As they rode towards Jingxing, Lin Changning, who was on his way to work, discussed matters concerning Jingxing, including the distribution of grain, conscription, and the current population of Jingxing.
As for the place to stay, Lin Changning specially ordered the county government office in Jingxing to be cleaned so that the King of Chu could stay there.
Old Qian, who was standing nearby, was so envious when he heard that Lin Changning had added nearly 2,000 soldiers that he was practically drooling. He rode his horse to the right of the King of Chu and stammered as he looked at Lin Changning.
"Your Highness? We suffered heavy losses on our mission to Yanmen Pass. Since Jingxing has recruited new soldiers, could we..."
Old Zhao sneered and pointed at Qian, saying, "You old Qian, you're good at picking fruit, but Changning captured this city gate and recruited soldiers on its own. You're quite good at picking fruit."
As he spoke, Old Zhao gave a light snort and said to the King of Chu, "Your Highness, I am also short of people. If you are going to give them, you can't just give Old Qian."
The King of Chu shook his head helplessly as he watched the two vying for manpower. He looked at Lin Changning with kind eyes and said, "Go and ask Xiao Liu for manpower yourselves. Xiao Liu decides how many people to give you."
After saying that, he looked at the two of them and burst into laughter.
Lin Changning was surprised that the King of Chu had entrusted him with the task of assigning personnel. Although he was now the vanguard, he was still under Qi Rong's command, so Lin Changning followed suit.
"The distribution of people is not up to me, but how many to distribute. Why don't you two commanders ask my second brother how he plans to distribute them? After all, I'm currently working under my second brother, and it wouldn't be appropriate to bypass him and give them away directly, right?"
A sly glint flashed in Old Zhao's eyes. He muttered to himself that the old fox's son-in-law was still a little fox. I also threw the problem to Lin Changning and let him divide it. But that kid Changning actually threw the problem to the second young master. Everyone knows that the second young master is stingy when it comes to military affairs.
Back when he was fighting, he didn't have enough weapons. He asked the second young master for almost half a month before he could produce a few hundred weapons. If it was so difficult to get weapons, it was even more difficult to get people.
The two men, unwilling to give up, stared longingly at Qi Rong. Qi Rong smiled at them with exceptional kindness and amiability: "Uncle Qian, Uncle Zhao, I can give you the person, but there's something I need to ask you two uncles."
The two commanders' eyes lit up, thinking that Qi Rong was about to give in this time: "Please speak, Second Young Master."
Qi Rong looked over with a smile, but his words stung the hearts of the two men.
"Uncle Qian, you borrowed 800 weapons from Daxing last year, saying you would return them this year. Once you do, I'll give them to you."
"And your Uncle Zhao, he borrowed 1,000 dan of grain from Daxing three years ago. How long has it been? Isn't he going to pay it back?"
As soon as the two sentences were uttered, the two commanders immediately fell silent. Last year, when they were busy gathering hay, Commander Qian was issued a batch of crudely made weapons that the soldiers could not use at all. That's why they used Qi Rong, who had paid for the weapons at the time, as an excuse to use them for eight hundred.
He definitely couldn't pay it back, since he never intended to repay it when he borrowed it. It's just that Qi Rong felt a little guilty when he brought it up now.
After coughing a few times, he said, "I'll pay it back when I have it."
Old Zhao chuckled along, "Me too, I pay it back as soon as I get it."
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