Chapter 429 – Rebuilding Xiangyang County (Part 13)
Some siege equipment mentioned above hasn’t even been invented yet in this era, which shows just how backward the entire siege technology is.
If someone else had said this, Meng Hunyun would likely have retorted that such musings could kill ambition, but the one making this comment was Jiang Pengji!
Who doesn’t know that the improved crossbow used by the troops was invented by her?
As the commander-in-chief of the troops, no one understands better than he does how much the improved crossbow boosts the combat effectiveness of the troops.
To be blunt, if it weren’t for the improved crossbow, these three thousand troops would have been wiped out countless times already.
“The Mohist School… I haven’t really heard much about them…”
Meng Hunyun pondered carefully, but unfortunately couldn’t find any useful memories.
Although this is an era of a hundred schools contending, due to the previous dynasty’s favoring Confucianism, Confucianism still reigns supreme, occupying a huge part of the market. Meanwhile, the Mohist School has remained quite low-key among the hundred schools. Perhaps there are many disciples, but most of them keep their identities hidden and possess little renown. Meng Hunyun felt it would be difficult to find some outstanding Mohist scholars in Dongqing.
“Well, it’ll have to wait for another day.”
She wanted to recruit Mohist scholars not to gain anything from them.
When it comes to war machinery, who in this world knows more than her?
She simply wanted to guide them toward scientific advancement, planting the seeds of innovation in this world.
Ignorant and conservative thinking not only hampers the development of the times but can even push progress backward.
Jiang Pengji aims to forge a brand new era, and she can’t do it alone; she needs more “pioneers.”
However, these things felt too distant for her at the moment.
Instead of thinking about that, she might as well focus on the construction of Xiangyang County.
Two flowers bloom, each representing its own branch.
Just as Jiang Pengji trusted, Qi Guanrang didn’t let her down.
With just over a thousand Imperial Guards and over two thousand recruited soldiers, they firmly held the city of Xiangyang. The Green Garment Army, lacking sufficient rations, could only keep up their assault for two or three days and, after suffering over a thousand casualties, had no choice but to retreat.
This was basically a porcupine that you couldn’t even gnaw at!
Qi Guanrang stood atop the wall, regretfully watching the retreating Green Garment Army, his feather fan lightly waving.
He sighed softly, “What a pity.”
If it weren’t for the lack of available men and the ruins inside the city, he really would want to take a risk and swallow that Green Garment Army whole.
Luo Yue, hearing this, thought something was wrong and tried to console him.
“Mr. Qi, holding onto Xiangyang County and making the Green Garment Army leave over a thousand corpses behind is already quite an achievement.”
Qi Guanrang just smiled his usual smile, ordering the cleanup of the battlefield.
That afternoon, as the golden sun began to set.
A soldier on guard at the arrow tower spotted a group of people approaching from a distance, stepping into the fading light.
After days of tension, the soldiers jumped to the thought that this might be another wave of enemy attackers and quickly signaled for alert.
Qi Guanrang, who had been guarding the city almost without sleep for days, perked up when he saw the signal, climbed up the city wall, and squinted his eyes at the distant figures. Unfortunately, the distance was too far to determine the identity of the newcomers in such a short time.
After a while, he finally said, “It’s nothing. Our Lord has returned.”
The Lord has returned?
The soldiers guarding the city nearly jumped for joy upon hearing this.
Qi Guanrang’s bloodshot eyes, filled with red veins, rasped, “Send someone to notify Feng Langjun and the others.”
He wiped his face with his hand; it hadn’t been washed in days, and grease had collected on his skin.
Fortunately, Qi Guanrang didn’t have any issues with cleanliness. If it were Feng Jin, he might go mad.
He had someone bring him water, splashed some on his face, and tidied himself up just a bit, finally looking somewhat rejuvenated.
“Let’s go, welcome the Lord back.”
There was a subtle note of joy in Qi Guanrang’s voice.
He couldn’t be gloomy! Jiang Pengji’s group had at least four thousand people.
After some time to recover, that would mean four thousand laborers!
Qi Guanrang couldn’t help but smile, but a hint of confusion crept into his mind.
Wait…he seemed to have forgotten something important.
After staying up late for too long, his mind wasn’t quite working right. Unconsciously, he pushed aside the thought of what he’d forgotten.
In the distance, Jiang Pengji beheld the devastation of Xiangyang County; the city walls were stained with the blood of countless people.
By the looks of it, while Qi Guanrang had firmly defended Xiangyang County, the pressure was undoubtedly immense.
“Rang greets the Lord!”
Jiang Pengji jumped off her horse, helping the waiting Qi Guanrang up. His eyes were filled with red veins, and the dark circles under his eyes were even more prominent. The audiences in the live stream felt a pang of sympathy, and Jiang Pengji rarely felt soft-hearted as she said, “You’ve worked hard defending the city these days. Leave the remaining matters to me and Huaiyu. You should go back and rest for a while, so you don’t exhaust yourself.”
This time, Qi Guanrang didn’t stubbornly insist that he wasn’t tired.
Not to mention anything else, he felt that even resting his head on a pillow could send him straight to sleep.
Feng Jin and the others quickly received the news and rushed over. When they saw Jiang Pengji return safely, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
The Green Garment Army attacking Xiangyang County wasn’t large and was a disorganized rabble. With the advantage of the city walls and defensive machinery, Jiang Pengji and her team had been in a more dangerous position while going out to rescue others.
Now, seeing her return without a scratch, the heavy stone that had been pressing on Feng Jin and the others’ hearts finally lifted.
Looking left and right, they couldn’t find Qi Guanrang.
“Wenzhen has been exhausted from defending the city, so I let him return to rest first,” Jiang Pengji explained before turning to Feng Jin. “As for the prisoners from the Green Garment Army and the common people from Fengyi County, I’ll leave their arrangements to you and Huaiyu for now. There are many able-bodied young men among them, so I imagine they’ll be useful.”
Feng Jin, realizing that Xiangyang County would soon have a sizable influx of residents, couldn’t help but feel sorry for Qi Guanrang.
After all, this unfortunate brother was in charge of the household registration work.
The more people there were, the greater his workload.
In ancient times, there were no computers or typewriters. Qi Guanrang would have to handwrite every entry in the household registries.
Forget about him; even the few ladies he borrowed from Jiang Pengji during this time had developed dark circles.
Now, all of a sudden adding thousands of common people to Xiangyang County meant an endless cycle of overtime!
On the surface, Qi Guanrang didn’t seem to react, but he was probably gritting his teeth in anger inside.
Feng Jin thought to himself but replied, “I will surely make proper arrangements for them.”
Jiang Pengji then turned to Xu Ke, “With a few more thousand mouths to feed, our grain stores can’t sustain this demand. Start recruiting labor from these common people, allowing them to work in exchange for food. After all, we aren’t running a charity; we can’t afford to supply free meals for long.”
Xu Ke nodded. Although this would add to his workload, he could handle it better than Qi Guanrang could.
People just can’t help but compare.
“As for the troops…” Upon mentioning the troops, Jiang Pengji couldn’t help but think about the painful truth of having lost nearly half of them, which stung her heart. “Meng Hunyun, give the troops a day off. They’ve been running around tirelessly these past few days. The injured brothers should be given appropriate time to recover based on their injuries and should not be involved in the work in Xiangyang County for now. Once they’re healed, we’ll arrange tasks for them.”
Meng Hunyun cupped his fist, “I accept the order.”
