Zhou Sui sighed. "Yes, they were responsible for opening the city gates at the time. However, as you know, by then a large number of Qu Zhao's soldiers had already poured into the city..."
Jiang Jin understood and said solemnly, "Record them for special merit, enter them into the martyrs' cemetery, and for those with families, make sure the pension is distributed without fail. They should also have priority for employment and schooling."
Zhou Sui acknowledged, "Rest assured, Lord, I will keep an eye on it."
Qiu Liao handed Jiang Jin the statistical form. "Lord, the city has a total of 5,164 residents, mostly refugees who fled from various places, with a small number being locals from Lin County."
Jiang Jin took it and looked it over, asking, "Have you inspected the houses they're living in? Can they survive the winter?"
Qiu Liao shook his head. "No. Most of the windows are gone, and a lot of the roof tiles are missing too. The wind gets in everywhere. Once it gets colder, even if they have enough to eat, they might freeze to death."
Jiang Jin said, "After we finish cleaning up the city, we'll help the residents repair their houses."
"Also, lower all prices in Lin County by another twenty percent. Let's get through this winter first," she added after a moment of thought.
Although the residents of Lin County could earn wages by working for her, their foundation was too poor—they had nothing to start with. Most importantly, there wasn't enough time for them to labor in exchange for payment, so special measures had to be taken.
Besides, she had already planned to reduce grain prices again before the New Year anyway, so that the people could have a good holiday.
Dong Si hurriedly responded, "Understood. However, the general store's renovation hasn't been finished yet. What should we do about that?"
"That's simple—just set up the stall right out front. Sell the daily necessities first. If that doesn't work, we'll have no choice but to have them eat from the communal pot."
Nan Wen reported, "Lord, there are too many corpses—over fifty thousand. I asked the residents in the city, and there's no pit nearby that's big enough."
He was referring to the Han Chinese corpses, excluding those of Qu Zhao's army.
Jiang Jin didn't have many hands. Lin County still needed rebuilding, and the weather was cold. Whether they buried the corpses or burned them, it was a massive undertaking.
Xia Chanyi thought for a moment and said, "There's a huge natural sinkhole about ten li from the county. How about we drag the bodies over there first?"
"It's just a bit far, and the roads are covered in snow, so it won't be easy to transport," she added.
Jiang Jin said, "Don't we have horses? Let them carry the loads. We also have the carts we used to transport supplies—we can use horses to pull those."
Since they had borrowed the horses, they might as well use them. They couldn't just feed the horses and get nothing back.
Qiu Liao added, "Transport is solved, but we can't just toss the bodies into the sinkhole. We'll need to cover them with dirt. I'm worried about wild animals dragging the corpses out to eat."
He wasn't so much worried about beasts eating the corpses as he was worried about them not finishing their meal and leaving body parts scattered all over the place.
In winter, that might not matter much. But when the weather warmed up in the spring, with so many corpses, disease would be a real risk. Then, with mosquitoes and rats spreading it around, the mere thought was terrifying.
Jiang Jin also had a headache. That many corpses were truly difficult to deal with, mainly because she didn't have enough manpower.
"Then we bury them," she decided.
"Starting tomorrow, except for the soldiers on guard duty, everyone else splits into three groups. One group transports and buries the dead, one goes outside the city to chop wood and repair houses, and one is responsible for cleaning up the city."
While Lin County was in the midst of its bustling reconstruction efforts, in Daqing Prefecture, Lu You received a letter from Jin Feng.
Staring at the note in his hand, Lu You remained motionless for a long time.
Li Zan was puzzled. "General, what's wrong?"
Lu You let out a sigh. "The Jinyang Army has taken Lin County—and at lightning speed."
He couldn't help but put himself in their shoes. If he had also led three thousand elite troops, racing to catch Qu Zhao off guard, would he be able to take Lin County like the Jinyang Army did?
The answer was no.
Not only could he not do it, but he would also be devoured by Qu Zhao's forces.
No matter how he ran through the scenarios, Qu Shilang's two thousand soldiers on the front line could hold off his cavalry. They could at least delay until the soldiers attacking the city could return for reinforcement. Then his three thousand elites would be completely encircled and crushed.
Speed was of the essence in war, and the Jinyang Army had definitely mastered the essence of "speed." They were too fast!
The soldiers attacking the city didn't even have time to turn back for reinforcement. Before they could react, the Jinyang Army had already broken through Qu Shilang's defense line and stormed into Lin County.
This demonstrated both the Jinyang Army's formidable strength and their impeccable command of timing.
Li Zan was shocked. "Lin County has been taken by the Jinyang Army?"
When Jiang Jin had borrowed horses from them, he had already guessed the Jinyang Army was up to something, and Lin County had crossed his mind. But hearing that they had actually taken it still stunned him.
Lu You nodded and lamented, "The Jinyang Army chose their moment perfectly. When Qu Zhao's forces and Lin County had exhausted each other in mutual destruction, the Jinyang Army struck with lightning speed."
The reason he had agreed to lend horses, besides their current cooperative relationship, was to gauge the Jinyang Army's strength—this would directly determine the level of their cooperation next year.
Now that he had seen it, he wasn't sure whether he should be pleased and envious, or wary and on guard.
Li Zan mused, "Just how strong is the fighting power of the Jinyang Army?"
Zeng Tong also drew a sharp breath. "The Jinyang Army only has three thousand men. How did they even manage it? Qu Shilang is one of Qu Zhao's great generals, a formidable warrior."
Lu You shook his head and sighed. "Jin Feng says the Jinyang Army has a type of extremely powerful repeating crossbow, with a range of up to one hundred fifty zhang, and it's highly accurate."
"One hundred fifty zhang!" Zeng Tong exclaimed.
Lu You's voice turned grave. "That's what the letter says."
Li Zan suddenly understood. "No wonder, no wonder Jiang Jin dared to take Lin County with just three thousand men. With such a divine weapon, once you capture Lin County and use the city walls for defense, it would be extremely difficult for Qu Zhao to retake the city."
Zeng Tong frowned. "But wait—over a winter of several months, just the supplies for three thousand soldiers alone would be a problem. How would they transport them?"
Li Zan shook his head with a wry smile. "Since they dared to take the city, they must have already figured out the supply question."
Although he didn't know how the Jinyang Army handled their military logistics, this was surely something they had planned for.
He sighed. "It's a pity that a weapon like that—they probably won't be willing to trade it. Otherwise..."
Zeng Tong's eyes flickered. "Could we have General Jin sneak one or two back so we can study them?"
Lu You glanced at him but said nothing. Who wouldn't want such a divine weapon?
"That's not proper," Li Zan shook his head. "Such a weapon is bound to be the Jinyang Army's most prized treasure. If we tried that... the Jinyang Army might become our enemy."
"We're already surrounded between Qu Zhao and the Jiao Army. If we add the Jinyang Army as another enemy, that would be absolutely disastrous for us."
"Besides," he continued, "we don't have iron mines. Even if we had the technique, what would we forge it with?"
Zeng Tong still refused to give up. "Then... then what if we trade?"
Li Zan looked at him. "What do we have to trade?"
The chamber fell into silence. Right—they had nothing to bargain with.
Lu You sighed. "Jin Feng also said that the Jinyang Army's blades seem sharper than ours. They must have mastered a more advanced forging technique."
Seeing that no one spoke, his expression grew complicated, and he dropped another bombshell: "The Grand General—the one who was once our nation's Grand General, Zhou Sui—is now serving under the banner of the Jinyang Army."
Zeng Tong gasped, "Gr-General? Then, what identity does the master of the Jinyang Army hold? Why would the General willingly submit to him?"
