Inside the tent, the flames in the charcoal brazier crackled, casting flickering light on half of Ling Xian's face.
He stared at the map spread out on the table. Qingzhou was circled again and again with cinnabar ink, the ink had already blurred and become somewhat unclear.
“Brother Jiang, the general insists on going to Qingzhou. What do you think of Qingzhou?” Ling Xian’s fingertips unconsciously rubbed the edge of the teacup, the cracks on the rough pottery rim hurting his fingertips.
The strategist always had a beast-like intuition; he felt that place was probably another den of dragons and tigers.
However, it was he who first suggested that the general seize Qingzhou, the provincial capital, and even sent the Jiang brothers as spies, but it was unsuccessful.
If Ling Xian were to overturn his previous suggestion, in the eyes of this inherently suspicious and powerful general, it would be tantamount to simply going against the general, and his life would be in danger!
Now, what should we do?
Jiang Dashan was wiping the chipped machete when he heard this, so he looked up and grinned.
“The strategist is overthinking things.” Jiang Dashan slammed his machete into the ground, the tip sinking three inches into the soil. “Qingzhou is warmer; I’ve heard even the snow melts there earlier than in Liangzhou. Our Mighty Army will surely achieve great things there! Why stay in this godforsaken Liangzhou?”
Liangzhou has been a desolate place since ancient times, and even its grain harvest is less than that of other states. In addition, the imperial court constantly levies exorbitant taxes, leaving the people with no way to survive. Therefore, this place was the first to fall into chaos.
Ling Xian frowned, tapping his fingers incessantly on the wooden table in front of him, deep in thought.
The bitter smell of wounded soldiers boiling herbs wafted in from outside the window, mixed with the musty odor of damp leather armor, making his temples throb. This inexplicable sense of crisis suddenly intensified.
So much so that even the strategist felt something was off when he saw Jiang Dashan's smiling face!
As the oil lamp flickered, he noticed some dark red clay stuck to the top of Jiang Dashan's boots.
The strategist's heart skipped a beat. He recognized that this soil did not belong to Liangzhou, yet the Jiang brothers in front of him had never left the camp today!
He vaguely recalled that a few days ago, when he was investigating the missing recruits, he seemed to have seen the figures of the Jiang brothers in the heavy snow.
At this moment, the dim candlelight cast a long shadow of Jiang Dashan into the tent behind him, making him look like a monstrous creature with bared fangs and claws, secretly watching the mortals of the world, planning to find an opportunity to devour them all!
Jiang Dashan paused, wiping his machete. The bloodstains on the blade were particularly glaring in the firelight. "Strategist," he slowly raised his head, a strange smile returning to his face. "Some things are better left unknown. What do you think?"
military adviser:"!!!!"
Damn it, all he wants is to rebel! Why is he caught between a rock and a hard place? Is this any way to live?
"What is Brother Jiang saying? I don't understand." The strategist coughed and tried his best to give hints.
Stop guessing, I really don't know!
Suddenly, heavy footsteps came from outside the tent, the sound of leather boots crushing the snow growing closer.
"Strategist! Strategist!" A guard burst through the tent flap, bringing in a cloud of snow. "The general is awake again, demanding to see you!"
Ling Xian felt his vision go black, as if he were being swept away by fate. When would these miserable days ever end?
…
The official road of Liangzhou.
The imperial grain carts rolled over the remaining snow on the official road, leaving two deep tracks in the mud.
Lord Wang, who was in charge, tightened the collar of his fox fur coat and frowned as he looked at the village with wisps of smoke rising from its chimneys in the distance.
"Sir, Qing Shi Village is just ahead." The constable pointed to the crooked locust tree at the village entrance, the red ribbon tied to its trunk fluttering in the wind. "I've heard this village is very haunted; the Mighty Army lost over a hundred men here a few days ago..."
The commotion that day naturally reached the ears of the imperial court. They had assumed that the civilians who were supposed to be the Weiwu Army would be a group of strong men, and they even planned to conscript them!
It turned out to be a group of elderly, weak, women and children, with only a few young people who were still innocent teenagers.
This puzzled the officials of Liangzhou. Fearing that the Mighty Army would attack again, they didn't dare to stay any longer and quickly fled.
Now that they had come here again, the officials from Liangzhou hurriedly explained to the officials in the capital.
Lord Wang snorted, and the fish pouch at his waist swayed gently with his steps.
He touched the official documents in his sleeve and sighed inwardly. The several high-quality seeds he brought this time were sweet potatoes and potatoes. He had heard that these high-yield seeds could produce dozens of bushels per mu, which was almost ten times that of rice and wheat!
Lord Wang was actually quite skeptical, since the imperial court hadn't reacted much and had only issued this task.
If the output were truly that high, the imperial court would have gone mad long ago. How could things be so uneventful? And why was he sent only as an ordinary official? This matter is extremely strange!
But all these seeds are related to the mystical Mountain Goddess, who is said to have given them to the people of the world out of compassion for their suffering.
Lord Wang couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped caring! As long as it's grain, it will definitely benefit the people, and as long as the people can live well, that's all that matters!
Unfortunately, these unruly people of Liangzhou can't even grow millet properly, so the mountain god's efforts will be in vain.
Before coming here, Lord Wang had heard his colleagues complain that the people in this kind of place were difficult to deal with and stubborn!
Colleagues from other states have also mentioned that ordinary farmers had no idea what high-yield, high-quality seeds were, and they actually boiled and ate all the potato chunks that the imperial court had distributed, leaving none behind!
That almost made that colleague furious!
Today is his first time arriving in Liangzhou and the first time he has met these people. He needs to think carefully about what to do.
At the village entrance, in the threshing ground, several children were scratching something on the snow with sticks.
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