Qingming puffed out his chest. “We’ve been using iron cooking pots for two or three years now. In Fengzhou, anyone with money and the proper ration coupons can buy one. Almost every household has an iron pot.”
Shangguan Zhan was utterly stunned. Everything he had seen and heard today was worlds apart from what he knew.
“You’re… you’re really this wealthy?” he couldn’t help asking, glancing once more toward the cave, where several thousand jin of grain were stored.
Qingming smiled faintly. “Our lord has high-yield crop varieties and places great importance on irrigation, farming, and sericulture. So, under our lord’s rule, as long as people aren’t lazy, they can eat their fill. That applies to ordinary civilians as well.”
“Actually eat their fill,” he added.
“Actually eat their fill?” Shangguan Zhan murmured, his eyes clouded with confusion.
He couldn’t imagine what a world in which the common people could eat their fill might look like.
As for himself, he had not eaten his fill in a very long time. He had almost forgotten what it felt like.
Jiang Jin received the letter the next day. She frowned slightly. “Wenlong County?”
She knew of Wenlong County, but only that it was being defended by Han Chinese. As for the situation inside, she knew nothing.
She turned to Qiu Liao. “How much do you know about Wenlong County?”
Qiu Liao shook his head. “We were struggling to survive back then, so we didn’t know much about their situation. But I doubt it’s very good.”
Jiang Jin handed him the note. “Take a look. The defending officer is Shangguan Mao. Do you know him?”
Qiu Liao accepted it and read through it. “Not particularly.”
The Qi Empire had one or two hundred counties in total. There was no way he could know the magistrate of every single one.
After reading the note, he couldn’t help feeling a trace of respect. “I never imagined they could accomplish something like this.”
He knew that Wenlong County was defended by Han Chinese, but he had assumed that its commander would either proclaim himself king, like King of Anwu, or resort to consuming his own people to survive while defending the city, like Luo Lan.
He had never expected Shangguan Mao to choose an entirely different path.
As for the South Wu Kingdom, which seemed to have offered assistance, the note mentioned only a few brief words, but Qiu Liao could easily guess at South Wu’s intentions.
Qiu Liao looked up at Jiang Jin. “What does our lord intend to do?”
Jiang Jin studied the map. “Winter will be here soon. Once the fighting stops for the season, it’ll be next year at the earliest before we can take Xigan Commandery.”
Wenlong was too far from Punan Commandery. She had grain, but transporting it there would be difficult.
Her relationship with the Ji Army was poor at present, making it hard to move grain through their territory.
However, a city so easy to defend and difficult to attack would be easy to abandon now, but nearly impossible to take back later.
Besides, the city was home to a group of loyal commanders and soldiers. She felt it would be difficult to betray such loyalty and perseverance.
Bailu suggested, “Perhaps we could have people carry the grain on their backs and take the mountain trails the entire way.”
Chongzhou was a mountainous region. This was no idle suggestion.
Even if there were a few stretches without mountain paths, they could travel at night. As long as they kept each operation small, it would not be easy for the Ji people to detect them.
Dongzhi began calculating. “If each person carries fifty jin of grain, they won’t move quickly along the mountain paths with such a heavy load. From Wenxia City to Wenlong County, it would take at least ten days. The round trip would take twenty.”
“Deducting the twenty jin of food each soldier would consume during those twenty days, they’d have only thirty jin left by the time they reached Wenlong County.”
“A hundred-man team could transport only about three thousand jin of grain per trip. That would be rather troublesome.”
Qiu Liao shook his head. “My lord, if you intend to take Wenlong City, you’ll be sending troops there, won’t you?”
Jiang Jin nodded. “Yes. Wenlong City is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are already more than eight hundred soldiers inside. We only need to send another three hundred.”
“Transporting grain is indeed a problem, but we can have them plant high-yield crops that mature quickly, such as white radishes and napa cabbages, to ease their food shortage.”
Qiu Liao stared at her in astonishment. “My lord, Wenlong City is built on rocky mountains. There’s no farmland there.”
Jiang Jin smiled. “You can farm anywhere there’s soil. I’m not asking them to live entirely on what they grow themselves—only to ease the food shortage. Transporting grain there is inconvenient, so it’s worth trying.”
“As for the grain shipments, our people can move supplies to designated contact points. The people of Wenlong City can collect them whenever they have time.”
She had no way to leave at the moment. There was simply too much to handle here.
“Send for Yao Ji,” she ordered.
Yao Ji arrived quickly. Jiang Jin briefly explained the situation in Wenlong City.
Yao Ji was surprised. “My lord intends to send people there?”
Jiang Jin nodded. “That’s right. I plan to send three hundred men to help defend the city. Who do you think would be best suited to go?”
Yao Ji lowered his head in thought. After a moment, he said, “What about Lu Ping? He’s a veteran general, steady and reliable. With repeating crossbows to support him, defending Wenlong City shouldn’t be a problem.”
Jiang Jin considered this. “Agreed. The troops already in Wenlong City and ours will make up a full regiment. If they train properly, they’ll be a formidable force.”
By the time she attacked Xigan Commandery, Wenlong City might well prove to be a significant source of support.
Qiu Liao hesitated, as though he wanted to say something.
Jiang Jin looked at him. “Speak freely.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Qiu Liao said, “Our people will be taking command as soon as they arrive. Do you think Shangguan Mao might resent that?”
Yao Ji laughed. “Why would you think that? From this moment onward, they are our lord’s soldiers as well, and they will follow our lord’s orders.”
“Besides, Lu Ping is going there to train the troops. He’ll only be stationed in Wenlong City temporarily, preparing for the battles to come.”
Qiu Liao smiled bitterly. “I was being narrow-minded. Shangguan Mao and the others have defended Wenlong City for three years. I imagine they’ve been hoping to hand the city back to our lord.”
Yao Ji smiled. “If you put yourself in their place, that does make sense.”
The homing pigeon set out before Lu Ping did. By dusk, Qingming had received the pigeon Jiang Jin had dispatched.
Shangguan Zhan was overjoyed. “You mean the princess is going to send us grain?”
Qingming nodded. “Not only grain. She’s sending soldiers as well.”
Shangguan Zhan slapped his hands together excitedly. “That’s wonderful! How many soldiers will the princess send?”
Seeing that he felt no resentment at all toward the troops his lord was sending—only wholehearted excitement—Qingming felt a surge of approval. This truly was an honest and pure-hearted man.
It was no wonder. A man who was not pure of heart could never have held out for three years in an empty city.
With Shangguan Mao’s abilities, if he had taken several thousand soldiers and hidden in some remote mountain range, he would certainly have lived far better than he did now.
Qingming handed the note to Shangguan Zhan, then silently took it back. The writing was in simplified Chinese characters, after all.
Shangguan Zhan had just reached out to look at the piece of paper that had brought them such good news, only for it to be snatched away again.
He stared at Qingming in bewilderment. “What is it?”
Qingming explained, “We use simplified characters. You can’t read them. Once Lu Ping arrives in Wenlong County, he’ll probably teach you all to read as well.”
Shangguan Zhan was still baffled, but before he could say anything, Qingming continued.
“Our lord will send you three hundred soldiers. Besides grain, she’ll provide salt, medicine, warm clothing, weapons, and other supplies.”
He pointed toward the repeating crossbows in the hands of the soldiers nearby. “Our lord will certainly prepare plenty of these repeating crossbows for Wenlong City as well.”
“From now on, our lord will take care of everything behind you. You are soldiers. All you need to do is train hard and kill the enemy. Leave everything else to our lord!”
