Sun Bu couldn't be bothered to respond—once they entered Gofeng, everything would come out anyway.
Han Zheng did curse under his breath: "Spineless."
The villagers looked up at him, dropping all pretense, their eyes fierce and desperate: "Easy for you to say. How do you know we don't want to be Han people?"
"You live a good life under the protection of the Jinyang Army. How would you know what it's like for us Han folk living under Qu Zhao's slavery?"
With that, he broke down sobbing: "Our families and children are all in Qu Zhao's hands. If we don't do what they say, what choice do we have?"
"Now that we've failed, who knows what Qu Zhao will do to our families... Wuwuwu—if we could live in the open with dignity, who would willingly be a slave to the barbarians..."
Sun Bu remained silent, once again grateful for the choice his village head had made back then—they'd come to Gofeng and now had this life.
Seeing the change in the Jinyang soldiers' eyes, the captured villagers sensed a chance and began to plead.
"We're all Han people. Please, just let us go. Pretend you never saw us today. I've got elderly parents and young children at home—if I don't go back, they'll die horribly. Please, I beg you."
Han Zheng shook his head: "If you truly want to live like decent people, then honestly tell us everything you know about Qu Zhao's situation."
"That way, the Jinyang Army can learn more and one day rescue more Han folks like you."
With that, he nodded to Sun Bu and led his men back to his watchtower.
Gofeng New City, Weapons Research Building.
Jiang Jin was lecturing on the knowledge of gunpowder.
Dozens of "students" sat below.
Yun Ci sat in the front row. Though he only understood half of what he heard, he took notes diligently. He knew very well this was a whole new world.
Next to him sat Yun Ye, whose remaining right hand was also scribbling away.
Despite having only one arm, his handwriting was neat and clear—stroke by stroke, just like his attitude toward learning: devout and reverent.
Jiang Jin spoke slowly: "Remember the rhyme: one part saltpeter, two parts sulfur, three parts charcoal, add a bit of sugar and you get the Big Ivan."
Yun Ci was curious: "What is 'Big Ivan'?"
Jiang Jin: "...That's not important."
Yun Ci didn't understand. Three characters out of a thirteen-character rhyme—why wouldn't it be important?
Yun Ye silently crossed out the words "Big Ivan" he'd just written and noted beside them: "Not important."
Jiang Jin continued: "You all know charcoal and sugar, so I won't go into detail on those."
"Sulfur is the stuff that mostly appears near volcanic eruptions or hot springs."
Yun Ci gasped: "I know this! Isn't it one of the ingredients alchemists use?"
Jiang Jin nodded: "Exactly. But sulfur isn't just for alchemy—it's also used to make fertilizer, and now, the gunpowder we're talking about."
"Now let me move on to saltpeter. It's also used in fertilizer, so Elder Mu has both of these raw materials."
Sulfur and saltpeter weren't particularly rare ores. Over the past year or so, Jiang Jin had sent people to search around Fengzhou, found them, and used them to make various fertilizers.
"Now I'll explain the purification methods..."
The class ran through the entire morning. Yun Ci and the others listened, utterly absorbed, itching to run experiments right away.
When Jiang Jin came out, Dongzhi quickly draped a fox-fur cloak over her shoulders and reported in a low voice: "We caught another batch of Han civilians trying to sneak into the village today."
Jiang Jin furrowed her brows slightly: "Have they been interrogated?"
Dongzhi followed behind her: "Already handed over to the military department."
Whether they were interrogated or not, the result was probably the same—these villagers sent as spies didn't know much intelligence anyway.
Jiang Jin watched the snow begin to fall again outside, thinking to herself that it was time to set up a dedicated department to handle spies and traitors.
Not everything should fall on the military.
When she returned to the county office, Xu Qian handed her a copy of a "newspaper": "Milord, this is Lady Wei's draft for your review."
Jiang Jin hummed in acknowledgment: "Have Luo Qingci and Chen Xi both looked at it?"
Xu Qian nodded: "They've both reviewed it."
Jiang Jin spread out the newspaper and read through it from top to bottom, then nodded in satisfaction.
This issue of the Jinyang Times was well done—it could greatly boost the people's morale and pride, especially their sense of identification with the Jinyang Army. Everything the public needed to know was covered.
She looked at the eye-catching headline at the top and couldn't help but curl her lips. Wei Qingran really knew how to grab people's attention.
"All right, print it as is. Did they provide the production cost?"
Xu Qian handed over another sheet: "Yes, it's all tallied. Take a look."
Since the raw materials were all produced in-house, the cost wasn't too high. Jiang Jin quickly settled on the price and print run.
Two days later, all three counties of Gofeng were buzzing. Bookshops, general stores, and other shops all carried a thing called the "Jinyang Times," priced cheaply at just two copper coins.
He Li excitedly bought two copies and headed home. At first, he thought he'd misread something. He'd originally gone to the bookshop to see if any new books had arrived.
But as soon as he walked in, he spotted a stack of papers on the counter, with the bold words "Jinyang Times" printed on top.
Below that, there was a slightly smaller but equally eye-catching headline:
"TOP-SECRET BATTLE REPORT! Deciphering the Mystery of the Jinyang Army's Breakthrough at Lin County!"
He rubbed his eyes, took a moment to make sure he wasn't seeing things: "This... What is this?"
Wait—if it's top secret, why are they printing it out in the open like this?
The shopkeeper chuckled: "This is the Jinyang Times, a periodical. It'll come out once every ten days. You can buy a copy and take it home."
He Li pointed a trembling finger at the word "TOP-SECRET" and whispered: "This... this top-secret info... is just shown to everyone like this? Won't it leak?"
The shopkeeper barely kept his professional smile: "Of course not. Since the press gave it to us to sell, it's obviously fine."
When he'd first gotten the stack of papers himself and saw the huge "TOP-SECRET" on top, he'd nearly had a heart attack.
It was only after confirming with the press staff several times that he understood: "top-secret" here meant "secret to the enemies."
He Li finally relaxed and bought two copies without hesitation, deciding to give one to his father-in-law—this was a top-secret battle report!
Before leaving, he glanced at the whole stack of "TOP-SECRET" papers again, wishing he could buy them all and keep the "classified intel" in just his own family.
When Guan Bailing got the paper, he was also surprised and quickly began reading.
The text used simplified characters, but he'd been through the literacy program and had scored quite well—reading the paper was no problem at all.
"Hiss." He drew in a sharp breath: "Lin County fell in less than half an hour?"
When the martyrs had been buried in the cemetery, everyone knew Lin County had been taken by the Jinyang Army, but no one knew the specifics.
He read more carefully, growing tenser with each line, more stirred with each sentence—as if he were right there on the battlefield with his lord, blood pumping, spirits soaring, nearly shouting out a resounding "Excellent!"
