The soldiers failed to find anyone in the private courtyard and left after merely half an hour.
Jiang Jin waited for another fifteen minutes. Only when she was certain it was safe did she jump down from the roof and head toward the kitchen.
Just as she arrived at the kitchen, she saw Zhou Sui coming up from the cellar. He breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her. "My lady, are you alright?"
Jiang Jin smiled faintly. "I am fine. Come, let us go down to the cellar."
Once in the cellar, the group began to discuss their operation for the night.
Yao Ji drew the layout of Liang City on the ground and pointed to a spot. "This is Liang City's granary. There are twenty silos in total, each capable of storing eight hundred dan of grain, though they are usually not filled to capacity."
Jiang Jin nodded. "How many guards are typically stationed there? And how many troops are garrisoned in the city?"
Yao Ji replied, "In the past, about thirty men guarded the granary. I am not entirely sure now, but it should be roughly the same."
"There are about five thousand Jiao tribe soldiers, and the Han soldiers who surrendered in Liang City number around five or six hundred."
"The city guards are not very numerous, likely just a few hundred. The greatest threat is the military camp outside the city, where most of the five thousand Jiao soldiers train."
Remembering something, he continued, "However, it is almost harvest season. Most of Jiao Liang's troops have likely been dispatched to various counties to escort and collect grain, so the camp probably isn't heavily manned right now."
Double-cropping rice already existed in this era, but it was mostly cultivated in the southern regions. The north still relied on single-cropping, with the harvest season typically falling in September.
Despite the chaos of war, many areas had not been turned into battlefields, so their crops naturally remained unaffected.
Whether the commoners had fled or not, they could not take the crops they had planted with them. It was merely a question of how much could be harvested.
Now, all of this had become food for the Jiao tribe.
Yao Ji then provided a detailed analysis of the governor's manor and the soldiers guarding the city gates.
He was intimately familiar with Liang City, from its troop deployments to its geographical terrain.
Jiang Jin nodded frequently as she listened. Although this information might have changed slightly, the general situation remained the same.
Admiration shone in her eyes. "Excellent. We will tentatively plan to leave the city at the end of the Hour of Xu. Make sure you are prepared."
Chen Xi hesitated for a moment. "Princess, I wish to participate in the operation. My younger sister is still in the governor's manor, and I want to take her with us."
Yao Ji gritted his teeth. "I also want to join the operation. I want to kill Jiao Liang and Jiao Zhu with my own hands."
Xie Nanxiao spoke with equal, intense hatred. "Princess, let us fight. I want to kill the Jiao people; every single one counts."
Jiang Jin glanced at the three of them and asked, "Are your bodies up to it? If you drag us down, not only will we fail to kill Jiao Liang, but we will likely be killed ourselves."
Enduring the agonizing pain radiating from his pierced collarbones, Yao Ji stood up, his expression solemn.
"Princess, I swear on my life that I will not be a burden. Even if I must die, I will ensure that the Princess makes it out of the city safely!"
Chen Xi and Xie Nanxiao also stood up. "We will absolutely not hold you back!"
Jiang Jin surveyed the three men. Seeing the fierce hatred and determination in their eyes, she fell silent for a moment before saying, "Granted. But you must follow my arrangements."
She looked at Yao Ji. "I can leave Jiao Zhu to you, but Jiao Liang is mine. He is of great use."
Yao Ji bowed and complied, "Understood."
Satisfied with their attitude, Jiang Jin laid out her plan.
Although the men felt it seemed a bit far-fetched, seeing her confident demeanor and considering everything she had accomplished thus far, they voiced no objections.
Instead, they merely helped refine her plan to make it more foolproof.
Once they were certain there were no flaws, the cellar fell quiet again.
Jiang Jin looked at them and asked, "What are your plans for the future?"
Yao Ji and the others remained silent. What plans could they possibly have? Their country was gone; where could former military generals like them go?
Pursing his lips, Yao Ji asked, "May I ask, Princess, what is your next step?"
Jiang Jin thought for a moment before answering, "I plan to head north. If nothing unexpected happens, I want to go to Gefeng in Feng Province."
The four men in the cellar were all stunned. Xie Nanxiao even cried out in surprise, "Gefeng?"
Jiang Jin nodded. Although the original owner of her body had not understood state affairs, even she knew that Gefeng was the northernmost, bitterly cold wasteland of the Yan Kingdom.
It was also a border region, right next to the Jiao tribe and Quzhao, serving as one of the key strongholds for the barbarian tribes to enter the Yan Kingdom.
However, with the fall of vast swaths of Yan Kingdom territory, the barbarians now had many options for invasion, rendering a remote place like Gefeng largely irrelevant.
Today, most of Feng Province had been occupied by Quzhao, and Gefeng had similarly become their territory.
Because Gefeng was a small county with an originally sparse population that had been further decimated by constant warfare, the number of Quzhao soldiers stationed there was bound to be small.
For Jiang Jin, who currently had virtually no manpower at her disposal, seizing Gefeng was actually a feasible endeavor.
To others, it was a barren, bitterly cold wasteland; but to her, it was a vast land rich in resources. She had an abundance of crop seeds in her spatial dimension, and there would surely be some suitable for Gefeng's climate.
At the very least, there were the barbarians' cattle and sheep. You steal the lands of my Yan Kingdom, so I steal your livestock—that's fair play, isn't it?
As long as she could capture Gefeng, she had ways to defend it and expand outward. Eventually, she would conquer all the eastern coastal counties as well.
Then she would have her own maritime territory. With the sea came salt, and the ability to develop maritime trade and a navy.
Only then would she truly have her own domain, a foundation upon which to establish herself in this world.
Facing their astonishment, Jiang Jin explained in detail: "Currently, aside from Si Province, which is still under the First Prince's control, the rest of the Yan Kingdom is lost. But do you really think he can hold it?"
Si Province was located in the south and rich in resources, making it a highly contested prize for the various barbarian tribes. Surrounded by such a pack of wolves, it likely wouldn't hold out for long.
The men remained silent. They knew very well that it could not be held!
Jiang Jin continued, "Furthermore, even if we went to Si Province, and even if it could be defended, would the First Prince truly shelter me?"
The imperial family was the most ruthless of all. Let alone the First Prince, even when Emperor Yan was alive, if the benefits were great enough, Princess Jinyang would inevitably be abandoned and sacrificed.
"Therefore, I have not considered going to Si Province!"
"As for the other four provinces, they have either fallen into the hands of the barbarians or been claimed by various Yan Kingdom generals and officials who have crowned themselves kings. No matter where I go, I will not meet a good end."
A wave of sorrow washed over the men. Was Princess Jinyang's predicament not exactly the same as theirs?
The barbarians wanted nothing more than to see them dead.
As for those Han factions that had set up their own independent regimes during the nation's crisis, setting aside whether they would genuinely accept them, even if they sincerely invited them to join, these men disdained to associate with them.
Moreover, in their eyes, these Han factions would never amount to anything; it was only a matter of time before they were swallowed up by the barbarians.
Zhou Sui understood the First Prince, Jiang Chun, even better, knowing that he was not a broad-minded man.
As a military general who had once been loyal only to Emperor Yan and had rejected the prince's attempts to recruit him, Zhou Sui knew he would likely meet a grim fate under his command.
Jiang Jin looked around at them. "Neighboring nations like the Nanwu Kingdom and the Jiayu Kingdom have also had more than half of their territories occupied by the barbarian tribes. As a princess of a nation on the brink of annihilation, it is impossible for me to receive their protection."
"Therefore, the only person I can rely on right now is myself. I cannot depend on anyone else."
