Qi Nuan's letter had been delivered to the prefectural government, but it failed to reach Jiang Yu.
"What are you doing?" A stern, cold voice rang out. The two looked up and saw a middle-aged man staring at them with displeasure. The doorman was terrified.
He quickly bowed to the prefect and explained what had happened.
"Reporting to the Prefect, this messenger, whose origins are unknown, is here to deliver a letter to the young master. I have already informed him that the young master is not in the residence, but this person is relentless and insists that I deliver the letter to the young master. Your Excellency, you know that the young master is currently..."
The doorman resigned himself to his bad luck. The prefect was known for his strictness, and seeing him arguing with this person, he didn't know how he would be punished.
The middle-aged man looked at the two men and said, "Bring the letter here."
The doorman hurriedly presented the letter.
The prefect unfolded the letter, and as his gaze slowly descended, his expression grew even more somber. He frowned deeply, and after finishing reading the letter, he turned his attention to the sender.
"Who asked you to deliver the letter?"
In response to his questioning, the young man who delivered the letter stepped forward tremblingly and said, "I don't know. I only know that the messenger told me to personally deliver the letter to the young master of the prefecture. I don't know anything else."
The middle-aged man squinted, looking him up and down. Seeing that he didn't seem to be lying, he said, "I will give the letter to the young master. You may leave."
"Yes, sir, I'll be right there."
The young man walked along complaining, thinking it was a good job, but it was really bad luck that there was no reward.
After he left, the middle-aged man turned around and went back into the prefectural government office.
A while later.
Seeing him turn back, Song Jingning was somewhat surprised: "What brings you here, Prefect?"
The Prefect of Wu presented the letter.
"My lord, this is a letter delivered by the doorman."
Song Jingning took the letter from the prefectural magistrate; it did not indicate who wrote it.
He unfolded the letter.
It was a letter from Qi Nuan. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that she was still alive. However, the letter only reported that she was safe and sound, without mentioning her current location.
However, when he saw the mention of an internal traitor in the letter, his expression became quite serious.
He already knew about Ahua's situation.
He looked at the prefectural magistrate and said, "Go and summon Lord Fu."
After the person left, Song Jingning carefully examined the letter.
“Prefectures and counties”.
Song Jingning handed the letter to Lord Fu, "What is your opinion on this matter?"
...
"Leaving aside other matters for now, let's deliver the letter to the young master first."
Upon hearing Lord Fu's words, Prefect Wu, who had remained silent, spoke up to stop him:
"That's probably not a good idea. The young master is leading troops on a journey, and it's not advisable to be distracted at this time."
After listening, Song Jingning pondered for a moment, "Send it over. I think this letter is something that can put your mind at ease, not something that will distract you."
Furthermore, if even such a small matter can throw him off balance, then Shangjun cannot be entrusted to him so easily.
Seeing that Song Jingning was determined to do so, the prefectural magistrate said nothing more.
After leaving the prefectural government office, he told people, "Find the messenger and send someone to follow him."
His eyes were filled with gloom; indeed, women were unreliable when it came to getting things done.
At this time, Jiang Yu had already led his men to Taiyuan.
The governor of Taiyuan Prefecture received Jiang Yu and said, “My prefecture will send 30,000 troops to accompany you to Luoyang to provide support. They will obey your command. Please do your best to save their lives.”
"Since they are obeying my orders, I will naturally protect their lives. However, the battlefield is unpredictable, and Shangjun is located on the border. For many years, it has not received military pay from the court, and the army is short of supplies. I hope the prefect can provide some assistance."
"To be honest, young master, Taiyuan has suffered from years of famine and has not harvested a single grain. But if you need it, I will save every penny to raise the military pay for these 30,000 soldiers."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yu remained silent, simply staring at him.
Zhang Liao, listening from the side, was also amazed by the shamelessness of the Taiyuan prefect.
This person not only didn't want to contribute manpower, but also didn't want to contribute material resources, yet gained fame. Where in the world is there such a good thing?
"If that's the case, I won't trouble the prefect. I'm afraid we'll have to set off tomorrow. After all, the army isn't getting enough to eat, so we'll have to find something to eat as soon as possible."
The prefect of Taiyuan knew he had gone a bit too far, but given the current situation, he could only try to save money. Seeing that Jiang Yu was not someone to be easily fooled, he did not insist any further.
He said earnestly, "Please stay here tonight, young master. I will discuss with the others in the county how much military pay we can raise, and we will give you an answer first thing tomorrow morning. How does that sound?"
Jiang Yu nodded in agreement.
When the group returned to their lodgings, Zhang Liao stepped forward and said, "I'm afraid Taiyuan won't give us much military pay."
Fu Changlin spoke up.
"What's there to be afraid of? Didn't he send out 30,000 people? Once those people are in our hands, there's no reason to return them."
Fu Changfeng glanced at his brother and said, "I'm afraid the people he gave us are just a rabble, not worth much."
Fu Changfeng didn't need to say that. Everyone present knew these people were useless, but people always have to die on the battlefield.
It's naturally painful to see one's own people die, but it's not so painful to see someone else die. Besides, you'll get used to seeing blood a few more times.
The governor of Taiyuan Prefecture wanted to preserve his strength, fearing that the Zhou emperor would seek revenge if he remained unharmed. He would certainly not give up on them easily.
The 30,000 scattered soldiers he sent out were only recently recruited, so they were not a loss to him.
We can still ask him to contribute a little more military rations.
Just as he thought, he would save where he could and earn where he could.
They were merely going through the motions this time; they weren't going to fight to the death.
It was merely an opportunity to lessen others' suspicions about Upper County and to train new recruits.
They did not want to be the kind of people who could control the emperor and command the feudal lords; to them, having a foolish emperor was just a hindrance.
"We'll see tomorrow. In any case, this matter can only benefit us."
Everyone nodded.
They discussed their travel route and plans for the future before parting ways.
Zhang Liao was left behind. He looked at Jiang Yu's face and saw that he was neither happy nor unhappy. His voice was very calm.
Since Ah Nuan disappeared, Zhang Liao hadn't seen any emotional fluctuations on his face.
No one expected that Ahua was a Rouran.
He sighed, suppressing his emotions; he hadn't thought about Ahua for a long time.
However, in his view, matters concerning children are only temporary, and he did not want Qi Nuan to have too much influence on Jiang Yu.
They have more important things to do right now.
Inside the Taiyuan Prefecture, Prefect Wang Shouyi looked at the others and asked, "What do you all think is appropriate for giving them tomorrow?"
"We can give more money, but we should avoid giving grain and warhorses if possible."
"I'm afraid they're not so easy to deal with..."
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