Chapter 150: Pay A Visit
Quanzhou County and Changping County are adjacent; a fast horse can get there in most of a day. If Quanzhou County suddenly faces a large army attack, with Gu Lian leading people to defend the city gate, Pei Qinghe can quickly lead troops to provide aid.
After receiving Pei Qinghe’s personal promise, County Magistrate Ji’s heart was truly at ease.
At noon that day, County Magistrate Ji hosted a banquet to welcome Pei Qinghe. Those qualified to attend, besides the county deputy and chief clerk, included the two magnates with the most abundant family businesses in Quanzhou County. One surnamed Pu, who started with making sauce and has sauce shops in counties throughout Yan Prefecture. The other surnamed Yu, whose family has two carriage and horse businesses.
Shopkeeper Pu took the initiative to stand and offer a toast, and stated that he would send one thousand catties of sauce to the Pei Family Army each year. Sauce has a strong flavor and is an indispensable seasoning for cooks when preparing meals.
Pei Qinghe smiled and drank a cup: “Shopkeeper Pu, your sense of justice is admirable.”
Shopkeeper Yu was somewhat troubled here. The carriage and horse business deals in transport services; if the large livestock pulling the carts were sent out, the carriage and horse business would only have carts left. But with Sixth Sister Pei personally coming to Quanzhou County, as one of the county’s only two magnates, the Yu Clan had to show something.
Shopkeeper Yu then spoke up, offering to send the Pei Family Army twenty thousand catties of fodder. This number sounds astonishing, but actually a cow or mule or donkey eats several catties of fodder each day, and warhorses are precious, requiring bean cakes in addition to fodder. Twenty thousand catties of fodder is barely enough to support for a month.
Pei Qinghe smiled and said: “Shopkeeper Yu’s kind intention, I will accept.”
Even a mosquito’s meat is still meat; take it first and talk later.
As for errands like handing over the goods, with Steward Shi present, there was no need for Sixth Sister Pei to worry.
County Magistrate Ji coughed once and gave an eye signal to his dazed son. Ji Junze then stood up and respectfully offered a toast to Pei Qinghe.
Pei Qinghe however said: “Drinking too much leads to mistakes. My drinking capacity is shallow; I normally never drink. Today I have already made an exception for three cups, and should not drink more. Steward Shi, please drink a cup with Young Master Ji on my behalf.”
Shi Yan smilingly agreed, raised his cup and clinked it with Ji Junze, and said warmly: “Last time you came to Pei Family Village, I accompanied you. This time I have come to Quanzhou County, you must take me around the county town.”
Ji Junze grinned and said: “Of course.”
County Magistrate Ji and Secretary Shang exchanged a glance, each sighing in their hearts. Forget it! Those little thoughts could be completely dropped.
Pei Qinghe toured Quanzhou County inside and out, drawing maps of the terrain and city defenses. She was also fairly satisfied with Gu Lian’s training results after over half a month: “Training troops is not something that can be accomplished in one or two days. You have been here less than a month, and achieving this is already quite good.”
“Once the formations are drilled neatly and the common people can understand simple commands, then issue them wooden spears and wooden sabers, and teach them some simple moves.”
The Pei Family Army did not have abundant weapons either, only enough to equip the elite soldiers. The rest could only be divided wooden spears and wooden sabers.
Gu Lian could not help muttering: “If only we could get another batch of weapons or warhorses from somewhere.”
Unfortunately, all the mountain bandits’ strongholds had been looted clean.
Pei Qinghe’s eyes flashed slightly, and she said meaningfully: “Perhaps, such an opportunity will come soon.”
Gu Lian’s mind raced: “Does Sixth Sister mean that we within Youzhou will soon go to war?”
“It’s too early to say now.” Pei Qinghe said indifferently: “As long as our Pei Family Army has territory to stand on, we will not proactively attack. However, if someone dares to have designs on us and delivers themselves to our door, I will have no choice but to gladly accept.”
Lightly stated, yet revealing confident boldness.
Gu Lian’s blood boiled, wishing the enemy would come immediately for a great battle.
Pei Qinghe glanced at the restless Gu Lian and warned sternly: “Remember, our Pei Family Army is neither a rebel army nor the Liaoxi Army; we have not raised a flag to declare independence. Everything we do is for self-preservation.”
Gu Lian thought that when pulling out the mountain bandits’ strongholds, Sixth Sister had not said it that way.
Of course, the situation was indeed different now. Annihilating mountain bandits was beneficial to both the Imperial Court and the common people; everyone would praise Sixth Sister Pei’s sense of justice. Waging war to seize territory was another matter. The Pei Family Army would not proactively provoke trouble, nor go out to fight for territory; first consolidate Pei Family Village, Changping County, and Quanzhou County.
Whoever dared to reach out would be directly chopped off. Wait at ease for the exhausted enemy, sit and wait for fat meat to be delivered to the mouth, and still firmly occupy the moral high ground.
As for whether someone would deliver themselves to the door… it would depend on which of the Fanyang Army, Guangning Army, or Liaoxi Army could not restrain themselves first.
Pei Qinghe stayed in Quanzhou County for five or six days, then went to Changping County.
The common people of Changping County Town’s enthusiastic support for Sixth Sister Pei far exceeded that of Quanzhou County. If not for Sixth Sister Pei that day, Changping County Town would have had its city gate trampled by Xiongnu barbarians, and who knows how many people would have died. Since then, the common people of Changping County no longer knew who the Son of Heaven was and only knew Sixth Sister Pei.
County Magistrate Wang’s level of governing the county town was not as good as County Magistrate Ji’s, but his skills in flattery were top-notch, and he smiled attentively: “Not seen for a few months, Sixth Sister is even more sharp and heroic.”
Pei Qinghe smiled in return: “Since County Magistrate has quit drinking, you have also become even more valiant and spirited.”
County Magistrate Wang had originally been a drunkard who could not go a day without wine. Last year when Xiongnu barbarians were outside the city, Pei Qinghe led people in bloody battle to defend the city, and County Magistrate Wang bustled about every day, not drinking a single drop for a full month.
And just like that, he completely quit drinking.
The no-longer-drunk County Magistrate Wang actually had considerable capability and skill as a parental official. With Pei Qinghe’s strong support, Changping County now had excellent public order and peaceful lives for the common people.
With the Imperial Court in chaos and the empire changing hands, all the turmoil was kept outside. Changping County was like a paradise outside the world.
Pei Qinghe also drew maps of the terrain and city defenses for Changping County.
Pei Yun looked at them and smiled softly: “Now we only have Changping County and Quanzhou County. In a few years, all of Yan Prefecture will be ours.”
Pei Qinghe finished the last stroke, examined it carefully, then looked up and said: “Rice must be eaten bite by bite; seizing territory cannot be rushed. First consolidate these two county towns well. Once we fight one or two great victories, naturally county towns will rush to seek refuge with us.”
Pei Yun clearly was not entirely at ease with Gu Lian either, and reminded softly: “Over in Quanzhou County, we need to send some people to keep watch.”
Pei Qinghe nodded slightly: “Don’t worry, I have arrangements in place.”
Gu Lian’s every move could not escape her.
Pei Yun said no more.
Among the Pei Family Army, the true Pei Clan direct descendants were only so many. Gu Lian was one of the earliest to come to Pei Family Village, capable and loyal. If even Gu Lian could not be trusted and used, whom could be trusted and used? This step had to be taken eventually.
On the third day in Changping County, Pei Jia hurriedly came to report: “Sixth Sister, Captain Sun has brought people to seek refuge with us.”
Captain Sun?
Pei Qinghe was also somewhat surprised: “You mean Captain Sun Cheng, who escorted us to Youzhou that day?”
Pei Jia nodded repeatedly: “It’s him. Even if I might misrecognize, Fang Datou could not possibly misrecognize. Captain Sun was previously injured and has a limp in one leg. He also brought more than twenty people.”
Pei Qinghe said: “I will head back to Pei Family Village right away.”
