Chapter 144: Heaven Collapses
News of the fall of the Capital City quickly spread throughout the north.
The Crown Prince was granted poisoned wine and died, Emperor Jianwen passed away, and Prince Wei ascended to the throne but had not even sat warmly on the Dragon Throne for over a year before he was burned to death. Great Jing’s sky had collapsed!
The Jiangnan Rebel Army occupied the Capital City. King Qiao could not wait to change into the Dragon Robe and sit on the Dragon Throne, announcing the establishment of a brand-new dynasty and issuing an edict to proclaim to the world: no corvée labor would be levied, and no additional taxes imposed. This won a great wave of popular support.
General Situ led the defeated Imperial Guard out of the Capital City. Emperor Jianning Xie Li was in Jizhou, so fleeing north was no longer an option. The south was King Qiao’s old lair, which was even less possible. General Situ fled all the way southwest and barely settled in Qinzhou. Along the way, they burned, killed, looted, forcibly seized military rations, and grabbed able-bodied men to bolster their ranks, leaving countless common people with families ruined and nations destroyed.
Emperor Jianning personally wrote the proclamation, passionately denouncing the rebel King Qiao and declaring that the imperial court’s orthodoxy lay in Jizhou. This proclamation also contained a call to loyal officials and good generals, and pity for the millions of common people.
It must be said that this proclamation was written just right. Whether the common people living in constant hardship understood it or not was unimportant. In any case, many military generals and magnates with money and grain from various places rushed to heed the call upon hearing it.
Youzhou borders Jizhou, and they are too close. Needless to say, the Beiping Army is Emperor Jianning’s most loyal force. General Yang of the Guangning Army sent his nephew to Jizhou to pay respects to the Son of Heaven, expressing loyalty.
General Lu of the Fanyang Army is a fence-sitter. Before, he had stood on the side of the imperial court and sneered at Jizhou’s petty court. Now that King Qiao’s power was rising with abundant troops, General Lu had already sent men to the Capital City to express his intent to surrender to King Qiao.
General Li of the Liaoxi Army, with the largest troop strength, neither went to Jizhou nor bowed to King Qiao. He directly occupied Liaoxi Commandery, slaughtered the Prefectural Governor’s Mansion, raised his own banner to declare independence, and proclaimed himself King of Liaoxi.
Within Youzhou, the three armies held different stances, and the atmosphere immediately grew tense.
County Magistrate Wang arrived at Pei Family Village in fear and trepidation: “Things are in chaos outside right now. What does Sixth Sister plan to do?”
Pei Qinghe had been intensifying troop training every day lately and truly had no spare time to deal with County Magistrate Wang, so she casually said, “No particular plans.”
County Magistrate Wang was practically ready to kneel to Sixth Sister Pei: “The Fanyang Army has already sided with King Qiao, the Guangning Army has chosen Jizhou, and General Li of the Liaoxi Army has become King of Liaoxi. Sixth Sister must have some plan in mind.”
Chaos reigned outside Youzhou, no need to mention it. Even just the three armies in Youzhou represented three paths. This was no good thing for the common people of Youzhou. Different stances and choices meant the three armies would vie for territory and grab money and grain, and warfare would soon erupt.
Pei Qinghe tugged at the corner of her mouth and reassured County Magistrate Wang: “No need to worry. I will ensure Changping County remains safe and sound.”
County Magistrate Wang first breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat beads from his forehead with his sleeve: “This official, on behalf of all the common people of Changping, thanks Sixth Sister for her justice.”
“In the future, for Changping County’s taxes, money, and grain, this official will collect them all and hand them over to Sixth Sister.”
Pei Qinghe did not stand on ceremony and nodded: “For the matter of handing over taxes, money, and grain, go discuss it with Steward Shi.”
Shi Yan leaving the Shi Family to seek refuge in Pei Family Village was also big news in Youzhou territory. Over the past half year or so, Shi Yan had frequently dealt with the Changping County Office.
County Magistrate Wang was fairly familiar with Shi Yan and immediately accepted the order. He also thick-facedly begged Sixth Sister to send men to Changping County.
Pei Qinghe called Pei Yun, Pei Yan, and Mao Hongling over: “Changping County is our turf, so we need to station troops there. To prevent anyone from getting ideas about Changping County. Which of you is willing to go?”
This was different from occasionally dispatching troops; it meant long-term garrisoning.
Pei Yan was the first to state her position: “I’m hot-tempered and can’t stay put or endure it. I want to follow you.”
That left only a choice between Pei Yun and Mao Hongling.
Pei Qinghe’s gaze swept back and forth over their faces. Pei Yun took the initiative and said, “I’ll
Mao Hongling gratefully glanced at Pei Yun.
Pei Qinghe also had Pei Yun in mind. She said in a low voice, “I’ll give you five hundred men. After you go, take over the city gate and the county town’s public security defenses. Then select some healthy and sturdy common people from among the populace and train them.”
Training troops is not something achieved overnight. Like King Qiao, who claims to have over a hundred thousand men, in reality, the truly capable elite soldiers number only twenty to thirty thousand. The majority are accompanying refugees who don’t even have proper weapons.
These refugees who follow the army into charges have fought in several real battles and endured life-and-death calamities, making them the best source of soldiers. When troop strength is insufficient, they can be supplemented into the army.
Pei Family Village now has ten thousand people, with two thousand elite soldiers training every day. The rest do half a day of farm work each day, and the other half day they also train. In a crisis, these seven or eight thousand people can barely count as half a soldier each.
Since they were to garrison Changping County Town, training troops was a major task.
In the future, as more territory was occupied, they could not rely entirely on sending soldiers to garrison it. Pei Yun could be considered the vanguard, setting an example for those who came after.
Pei Yun had a clear idea in her mind and nodded in agreement: “Good. After I go, I will recruit common people to train troops.”
Pei Qinghe thought for a moment: “Take Zhao Da and Zheng Xiaoying and the others with you. They were originally people of Changping County. After training for a year now, they can barely fight with a blade in hand. This way, it can also reduce the common people’s fear of conscription and training.”
Pei Yun agreed one by one.
Nowadays, Pei Family Village also had troop rosters. The troop rosters detailed names, origins, identities, backgrounds, preferred weapons, and so on. Each troop roster had two hundred men, with a total of ten. The other seven or eight thousand people were recorded just as meticulously, but not grouped into troop rosters.
Pei Yun flipped through the troop rosters for half a day and selected eighty percent male soldiers and twenty percent female soldiers. Those who were married with children were all excluded.
Pei Qinghe called Shi Yan over. Shi Yan took out his usual golden abacus, and his slender fingers clicked rapidly as he calculated the money and grain for five hundred people for one month. In addition, important supplies such as cotton clothes, oil, salt, medicine, gauze, and so on all needed to be tallied and checked one by one.
Doctor Bian Shulan also received orders and led the people from the kitchen to prepare two days’ dry rations.
All the medicine in Pei Family Village was in Doctor Bao’s medicine hall. Doctor Bao received orders and led his apprentices to prepare medicine packets. Each medicine packet contained ready-made medicine and gauze. The five hundred medicine packets were packed into ten large bundles. In addition, there were three boxes of ointment for treating frostbite.
Doctor Bao personally delivered the medicine to Pei Yun’s hands.
Pei Yun was nineteen this year, with a slender figure and a beautiful face, calm and composed, with a poised demeanor. Apart from Pei Qinghe, she was the second-in-command in Pei Family Village, and everyone respected and feared her.
Doctor Bao felt a bit sour in his heart. In the past, he could at least see Pei Yun every day, but in the future, even seeing her once would not be easy.
However, in the face of such a great momentum, his little unrequited affection was truly negligible.
Pei Yun indeed had no mind for romantic thoughts either. After thanking him, she led the medicine away. Two days later, Pei Yun led five hundred people into Changping County Town.
