After Tao Feng had eaten and drunk his fill, he officially ordered the withdrawal from Jianming Prefecture.
However, before withdrawing, he did the same thing as Tang Tianxiang: he looted the area under his jurisdiction before leading his troops to retreat.
Zhao Peng's men, having learned of the commotion, gave chase.
Tang Tianxiang ordered his men to cover the rear and ambush the enemy along the way, which allowed him to escape with his main force.
So when the people sent by Shenxi arrived, they were surprised to find that Jianming Prefecture had already come under Zhao Peng's control.
Upon receiving the news, Shen Xi was naturally delighted. Tao Feng had simply led her men away, saving her a lot of trouble.
Shenxi moved directly into the city of Jianming Prefecture.
The remaining task was to recapture each county one by one.
When some county towns learned that Prefect Wu Aimin had died and Tao Feng had fled, they were at a loss.
Some county magistrates resigned and fled, some surrendered with their people, and some held their ground, waiting for reinforcements from the imperial court.
The only one who directly opposed Shenxi was Wu Aidao from Yuhe County.
Wu Aidao ambushed Tao Feng in front of him, but was later attacked from both sides by King Wen, which allowed Tao Feng to escape from his territory.
Then they organized people to fight against Chenxi's team.
At the same time, Mo Ke, the prefect of Zhonggui Prefecture, dispatched troops to support Wu Aidao.
Mo Ke had a good relationship with the Wu family; one of his concubines was even a member of the Wu family.
Mo Yuhua disagreed with her elder brother sending people to aid Wu Aidao. Mo Yuhua said, "We are already in a precarious situation here. If we send people to aid Wu Aidao, it will be even more difficult for us to hold on."
Mo Ke ignored him, saying, "Isn't there you, my sister? When Father was alive, he said you had the talent of a general, and now we rely on you to guard this place."
Mo Yuhua was furious. She had expended so much effort to drive Ma Zhigang of Beijiang away.
How come it sounds so easy to say to my older brother?
Now, sending out two thousand soldiers to support Wu Aidao will require a lot of food and supplies for both men and horses.
Sixty percent of the people in Zhonggui Prefecture have already died, leaving only forty percent.
The population has shrunk dramatically, and there is a severe shortage of soldiers.
With each death and injury, there are fewer and fewer soldiers available to replace them.
If this continues, it's likely that young and middle-aged women will be forcibly conscripted into the military.
Mo Yuhua knew that there were female soldiers in Shenxi, but they were volunteers. It was really too difficult for her to recruit some female soldiers from Zhonggui Mansion.
The key issue is that the military pay wasn't paid on time. Mo Ke only provided so much money, and it was almost all used up just for feeding and drinking the soldiers.
Where would we get so much money to pay military salaries?
In the end, Mo Yuhua tried to recruit female soldiers for many days, but only managed to recruit a dozen or so.
They were all from families that simply couldn't survive, struggling to make ends meet, or they were lonely girls without any relatives.
However, these women faced very serious problems after arriving at the military base.
Within half a month of their arrival, three female soldiers had been violated by male soldiers.
Despite strict military discipline, which mandates that anyone who assaults a female soldier be killed without exception, this incident still occurred.
This made recruiting female soldiers even more difficult in the future.
In the end, Mo Yuhua had no choice but to transfer more than a dozen female soldiers to his side.
If the manpower shortage continues, women will definitely be conscripted. Who knows what other changes might occur then?
Under such circumstances, how could she not be angry that her elder brother still sent people to support Wu Aidao?
She was capable of leading troops, but even the most skilled cook cannot cook without rice. With insufficient manpower, inadequate food supplies, and unpaid wages, who wouldn't risk their life?
Now we have to guard against both Ma Zhigang in the northern frontier and King Wen.
Finally, Mo Yuhua said firmly, "If you don't bring back two thousand troops, I really can't be the commander!"
Mo Ke was also angered.
When his father was alive, he would compare him to his sister, saying that if he hadn't been a boy, this position would have belonged to Mo Yuhua.
In the end, if his mother hadn't stopped him on his deathbed, he might have actually handed over military power directly to Mo Yuhua.
After his father died, he married Mo Yuhua to Marquis Xie.
A few months ago, if it weren't for the threat Ma Zhigang had taken over the Zhonggui Prefecture, he would never have wanted Mo Yuhua to lead the troops.
Now that she's in command of the troops, she's even putting orders over him.
"If it's too difficult for you, then don't do it."
Now that Ma Zhigang is internally divided and constantly fighting among himself, he has no time to attend to Ma Zhigang. It seems that King Wen is also making reforms. This is a good time to replace Mo Yuhua and cultivate his own people to lead the troops.
Mo Yuhua angrily threw the token to Mo Ke, "Fine, big brother, you'd better watch yourself. I happen to have some free time now, I'm going to go look for my poor son again."
Mo Ke sent people to look for him, but there was no news for several months.
Mo Yuhua was already disheartened, guessing that her son might be dead.
But in the end, no body was found, leaving behind a lingering hope.
What if... what if he didn't die?
She would go to find it as long as there was hope.
Mo Yuhua stormed off.
With her bodyguards and a dozen or so female soldiers who were willing to be her protectors, she once again embarked on the journey to find her son.
Mo Ke did not regret taking back military power at all, and immediately had his cousin Mo Yuliang take over the duties of general.
Shen Xi heard the news and felt a little regretful.
She thought that if Mo Yuhua gained control of the military, there might be a possibility of cooperation in the future.
Now that Mo Yuhua has relinquished his military power, he will need a significant opportunity to regain it.
Otherwise, it will be difficult to regain military power.
However, now that they know Mo Yuhua is looking for her son, it is a good time to befriend her.
Xie Zhaolun was only seven years old, and he was indeed very scared when he first arrived in an unfamiliar place.
But I gradually got used to it, and it was fine.
Despite being only seven years old, the child is quite cunning and has refused to reveal his identity. If Chen Xi and the others hadn't known who he was, they wouldn't have known who he was.
He is currently studying in Bian'ai County. Because he comes from a prominent family, he is quite knowledgeable and is very popular with his teachers.
Xie Zhaolun had also thought about how to return to his mother's side, but he dared not inquire too much, so he did not know that Mo Yuhua had already led troops into battle.
So after thinking it over and over, I still couldn't come up with a specific method.
Later, thinking that his mother would definitely look for him, he settled down and lived in Bian'ai County.
Several months passed in the blink of an eye. On this day, Qi Xiuwen sent someone to pick him up, saying that someone wanted to see him.
Xie Zhaolun wondered who it could be.
When he finally saw the person, he was overjoyed and, disregarding the etiquette of a noble family, threw himself into the person's arms.
"Mother, you've finally arrived."
Mo Yuhua was also in tears. She was overjoyed to see her son, whom she thought was dead, appear before her alive and well.
Qi Xiuwen went to the outer room to let the mother and son have a good talk.
Mo Yuhua then carefully inquired about the events that had occurred in the past few months.
Mo Yuhua then dispelled her suspicions about Shenxi.
It turns out that these people didn't know the son's origins...
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