Jiang Jin nodded. "That will take at least a few days. By then, the tracks from our grain transport will be mostly gone, and it is uncertain whether they will even be able to find Cangcui Forest."
It was the season of lush growth, and the crushed grass would essentially recover in just a few days.
The mountain woods were already full of tracks left by wild beasts. Coupled with the intentional concealment by their Jinyang Army, finding Cangcui Forest again would indeed be quite difficult.
Jiang Jin's voice carried a hint of pride. "Besides, Cangcui Forest is our home turf. Even if ten thousand of them come, we can still find a way to wipe them out."
"Aside from ambushing them in Cangcui Forest, we can also lure them into the tunnels and use the terrain and traps there to annihilate them."
Everyone realized she was right. They kept forgetting about the tunnels, which were a devastating weapon.
Jiang Jin then looked at Xia Chanyi. "As for the traps in Cangcui Forest, restore the ones you can. Clear out any that are completely destroyed and find suitable terrain to set up new ones."
Xia Chanyi nodded. "Understood."
Yao Ji asked, "My Lord, should we dispatch some Dragon Shadow Guards to the Gesi Mountains tomorrow?"
Jiang Jin pondered for a moment before nodding. "Yes, we can do that."
Xie Nanxiao could not help but volunteer, "My Lord, I request to go into battle."
He had been doing nothing but defending the city and training troops. Since Qu Bai had not launched an attack, he had no chance to fight even if he wanted to.
Yun Yu chimed in, "My Lord, I also request to go into battle."
Zhou Sui sighed inwardly. Although Gefeng did not have a large army right now, they had many formidable generals, which could barely count as having strong soldiers and sturdy horses.
Jiang Jin smiled. "Alright, then let us rotate."
Everyone laughed along with her, the atmosphere thoroughly relaxed.
Jiang Jin looked around and said, "Today, Lin Yang brought back the commoners of an entire village. This is exactly the time when disaster-stricken people are fleeing. I suggest we expand our scouting routes."
During winter, even if there were disaster victims, it was difficult for them to travel and seek help in a snow-covered environment without proper winter clothing. They would freeze to death before getting very far.
Under such circumstances, the commoners would either seek help from relatives in nearby villages or hole up in a cave like the people of Zhujia Village.
They had to wait until the snow melted and spring warmed up before coming out to find a way to survive.
Jiang Jin knew very well that with a force of just over two thousand and less than three thousand, she could only remain trapped in Gefeng. If she wanted to expand outward, she needed more soldiers.
As long as the outer city was built and crops were planted, she would be able to feed tens of thousands of people.
Then she could recruit soldiers and buy horses, while simultaneously saving more commoners—the best of both worlds.
That was why she had the scouts keep an eye out for refugees and bring as many Han commoners back to Gefeng as possible.
By expanding the scouting lines, the chances of encountering fleeing commoners would be higher, and they could save more refugees.
Yun Ci thought for a moment and asked, "My Lord, do you want to expand the range to the south or the north?"
Jiang Jin looked at the map. "Expand in both directions, especially to the south. Keep an eye out for He Li's merchant caravan and make sure he does not get captured by the Quzhao people."
She was not sure when He Li would set out for Gefeng, but if the situation in Daqing Commandery was poor, he would probably come over very soon.
Zhou Sui raised an eyebrow slightly. "My Lord intends to use him?"
Jiang Jin smiled faintly. "If he can be used, naturally we should use him. A merchant's identity and connections are often more convenient and useful than ours."
Saying this, she let out a heavy sigh. "It is just a pity about the Mei family. It would be even better if they could come to our Gefeng too."
The night was silent, and pale moonlight shone into the room. Zhu Liu sat on the heated brick bed, feeling as if he were in a dream.
Just yesterday, they had nowhere to go, but now they were living in such a nice house, taken in by a city.
He pinched the arm of his son, Zhu Xiaoliu, who was still sleeping next to him.
"Hiss, ah." Zhu Xiaoliu woke up from the pain. Seeing his father's sitting silhouette in his daze, he could not help but ask, "Dad, why aren't you sleeping?"
Zhu Liu asked, "Does it hurt?"
Zhu Xiaoliu sat up. "Of course it hurts. Dad, why did you pinch me?"
Zhu Liu finally let out a sigh of relief. "As long as it hurts, ha, ha, as long as it isn't a dream."
Zhu Xiaoliu was speechless. Then what was the point of pinching him? Was he even his biological son?
A sigh sounded; it was Zhu Liu's wife.
She patted Zhu Liu. "Go to sleep quickly. We still have to work at dawn. The Lord has been so good to us; we must work hard to repay her."
They were all poor commoners with hardly any copper coins on them, so they had rented a single room where their family of three lived together.
Once, her family had seven people, but during the snowstorm, her eldest son's family was crushed under a collapsed house. Now, only the three of them were left.
"So it really isn't a dream. This is wonderful. We really entered the city and even get to live in such a nice house," Zhu Liu lay down carefully and muttered in a low voice.
Yesterday, after following that person through countless twists and turns until they were almost dizzy, they finally arrived at a patch of vines, behind which was actually a passageway.
In short, everything that happened yesterday was incredibly magical for him, or rather, for the villagers of Zhujia Village.
After entering the city, they learned that this place was Gefeng.
They went to the county office to register their household, exchanged for new household registrations, received grain booklets, and moved into bright and clean houses.
More importantly, the Lord here actually allowed them to buy on credit and even let them receive advance wages!
To think there was such a good Lord in this world!
Zhu Liu felt this kind of heated bed called a kang; it was warm, warming him right to his heart, giving him the urge to cry.
Naturally, they were reluctant to buy charcoal. How could poor commoners like them afford something as precious as charcoal?
Their neighbor was very kind and lent him half a small bundle of firewood. At the same time, he also learned a lot about Gefeng.
Gradually, he realized that perhaps, in the future, he would be able to afford charcoal too, as long as they followed the rules here and worked hard.
Not long after he lay down, the sky brightened. When Zhu Liu got up, his wife was already using a clay pot to boil coarse grain porridge.
The coarse grains were distributed to them by the county office yesterday, one catty per person.
Later, after they started work, they could also get advance wages from the construction site.
After breakfast, Zhu Liu, his son, and the villagers who were able to work were led by their neighbor to the construction site for the military barracks.
Chen Xi quickly arranged them into various construction teams. Since construction was ongoing outside the city, the housing construction team inside the city was currently short of hands.
These commoners who had just fled from disaster were very physically weak, meaning they could not run fast.
And there might be sudden emergencies outside the city; after all, the Quzhao army was still besieging them.
Therefore, the newly arrived refugee commoners were uniformly arranged to work inside the city first, so they could nurse their health back to a better state.
Just as Jiang Jin had expected, Qu Bai did not send anyone else to Cangcui Forest.
But he did not send anyone to the Gesi Mountains either.
Jiang Jin could not help but ponder. She called Zhou Sui and a few others over to discuss. "I suspect he has other moves planned. What do you think?"
In any case, she did not believe that Qu Bai would obediently and honestly besiege the city without trying something else.
Yun Ci thought for a moment and said, "Could they be planning a night raid? Or perhaps a tunneling attack?"
Zhou Sui frowned. "Even if they launch a night raid, it is impossible for them to take our city."
To avoid becoming targets, no torches were lit on the Gefeng city gate towers, city walls, or arrow towers at night.
Although the night was dark, in most cases it was not completely pitch-black. After adapting to the darkness, one could still make out some shadows.
Besides, they had the moat for protection. Any movement in the water would immediately make a sound.
The number of soldiers on the night watch had been multiplied several times over; if the Quzhao army approached, they would undoubtedly be spotted.
Yao Ji shook his head. "What if they launch a night raid on our outer city?"
Xia Chanyi was puzzled. "We are only digging the foundations for the outer city right now. What could they possibly do during a night raid?"
"What else? They'd just shovel the dirt we dug up right back in," Xie Nanxiao sneered.
Xia Chanyi was dumbfounded. "No way... would they really?"
Were they actually that petty?
Xie Nanxiao spoke with the tone of someone who knew from experience, "What is so impossible about it? Whatever we try to accomplish, the Quzhao army will try to destroy. As long as they sabotage us, they consider it a victory."
Jiang Jin: "..." She actually thought that made perfect sense.
