Jiang Jin planned to launch an attack on the Ji Army at the beginning of next spring, so she had nothing to fear from minor border clashes. If an opportunity arose, killing one more enemy would be one more enemy dead.
Yao Ji’s face lit up with excitement. “Yes, my lord!”
Jiang Jin smiled with satisfaction. “Train the new recruits well. Small-scale battles along the border are exactly what they need for practice.”
Most of the people in Chongzhou were spirited by nature—or perhaps they had simply been oppressed for too long—and they responded enthusiastically to the Jinyang Army’s recruitment drive.
In the two commanderies of Punan and Shangjing, Jiang Jin had recruited nearly twenty thousand people, bringing her land forces to around one hundred and twenty thousand.
It was now early September. With six or seven full months of training, along with the Ji Army at the border to hone them in battle, these new recruits would become seasoned soldiers by March or April of the following year.
After all, many of those Jiang Jin had recruited had once been bandits themselves. They already possessed a certain amount of combat ability and experience killing enemies.
Jiang Jin then looked toward Qiu Liao. “We must speed up construction in these two commanderies. The weather will soon turn cold.”
Qiu Liao’s expression grew solemn. “Rest assured, my lord. However, it would be best to send another capable civil official to Shangjing Commandery. I’m finding it difficult to handle everything alone.”
He had once been nothing more than an ordinary military strategist. It was only after joining Jiang Jin’s forces that he had begun learning how to manage cities and handle civil affairs.
It was not that he could not manage two commanderies at once. The main problem was that Punan and Shangjing were both complicated places. They also bordered the Ji Army and the Jiao Army, meaning they could face fierce battles at any moment.
Jiang Jin understood what he meant. Communications in this era were limited.
Even by carrier pigeon, a message from Punan Commandery to Shangjing Commandery would take at least half a day. In a critical situation, half a day could be fatal.
With Qiu Liao in Punan Commandery, it was difficult for him to oversee Shangjing as well and respond quickly when necessary.
That was why he wanted Jiang Jin to send an experienced civil official to Shangjing Commandery. That way, if war broke out, they could respond and make changes more flexibly.
Jiang Jin sighed. She wanted to send an experienced civil official there too, but although she had no shortage of military commanders, civil officials were truly scarce—especially seasoned ones.
She said helplessly, “All right. I’ll think about it.”
Only then did Qiu Liao relax. “Thank you for your consideration, my lord.”
Jiang Jin waved at the others. “All right, you may go.”
With that, she mounted her horse and led her men away.
Watching the people and horses gradually disappear into the distance, Yao Ji sighed with emotion. “In just three short years, our lord has gone from having nothing to commanding an army of one hundred and forty thousand, with more than a million people under her rule. It’s truly remarkable.”
Sometimes, when he thought about it, it all seemed like a dream. One moment, he had been a dying man with his pipa bones pierced; the next, he had met his lord.
Together with her, he had fought across the land, reclaiming inch by inch the Han territories trampled by the barbarian tribes and allowing the people who had suffered so terribly to live in peace and security.
Qiu Liao smiled. “Her army will soon number more than one hundred and forty thousand, and the people under her rule will increase as well.”
Yao Ji also thought of the disaster relief efforts in Sizhou and could not help smiling. “That’s right. There were millions of refugees there. I wonder how many survived, and how many of them will be willing to follow our lord?”
Qiu Liao stroked his beard. “I don’t know how many survived, but most of those who did probably will follow her.”
He sighed. “Speaking of which, I’m ashamed. I’ve followed our lord for so long, yet I feel as though I’ve never had a chance to make use of my abilities.”
He had originally been a military strategist, but Jiang Jin’s strategic ability far surpassed his own, whether in leading troops in battle or managing civil affairs.
Yao Ji could not help laughing loudly. “Who says you’ve never had a chance to be useful? Didn’t you manage Lin County quite well before?”
Qiu Liao laughed with him. “I wonder how many soldiers our lord will recruit from the disaster-stricken areas of Sizhou this time.”
Yao Ji shook his head. “Who knows?”
At that moment, the disaster-stricken region of Sizhou that they were discussing was bustling with activity. Anyone unfamiliar with the situation might have thought they had arrived at some enormous marketplace. There was no sign that this was a disaster area at all.
“Workers wanted! Workers wanted! Applicants must be between sixteen and forty-five years old. Both men and women are welcome. The wage is one hundred and eighty copper coins a month. Anyone working for the Jinyang Army can use grain tickets to purchase food from us. Rice costs around two hundred and forty copper coins per shi. We also have various kinds of coarse and fine grain at different prices!”
The refugees erupted in excitement. They had been worrying about what they would do once the Jinyang Army stopped distributing porridge. Now that they heard the army was hiring workers, how could they not be tempted? They all began asking questions at once.
“What kind of tickets?”
“Rice is only two hundred and forty copper coins per shi?”
“What kind of work is it? Where do we go?”
“I want to go! I want to go! Can women apply? I’m strong—I’m no weaker than any man!”
“Can we bring our families with us?”
A soldier holding a loudhailer answered their questions. “We’ll issue grain tickets to the workers. You can use those tickets to purchase grain.”
“The main jobs are building bridges and roads, constructing houses, and clearing land. Men and women are both welcome, and the pay is the same. You can bring your families. The work will be on an island, and we’ll send people to transport you there and back.”
“I’m going! Sign me up!” Ye Cang shouted, his neck flushed with excitement.
He no longer looked half-dead as he had before. His entire body was filled with energy.
He was young and strong. After being selected for the guard unit, he had received two jin of grain every day.
The Jinyang Army was still providing disaster relief, so he and his family had been eating grain supplied in the disaster area. As a result, he had been able to save all the grain he received.
The sense of security that came from earning grain through work every day was something he had never known in his entire life.
Recently, however, they had been worried. They feared that once the Jinyang Army saw that the refugees had recovered somewhat, it would leave. Then they would fall back into the desperate situation they had been in before.
If that really happened, they would have no power to change it. They could only wait to die.
The Jinyang Army had traveled a thousand li to provide disaster relief. It had already done everything anyone could reasonably ask. They could not expect the army to keep saving them forever.
But now things had changed. The Jinyang Army was hiring workers, offering one hundred and eighty copper coins a month. His family met the requirements, and that included his elder brother, sister-in-law, and younger sister. Together, the four of them could earn seven hundred and twenty copper coins a month.
At the prices announced by the Jinyang Army, that would be enough to buy three hundred and sixty jin of rice every month.
That was fine grain—rice so refined that even in a year of abundant harvests, his family had rarely been able to eat it. If they bought coarse grain instead, they could get four or five hundred jin.
And this was already milled grain. By that calculation, in three months they could earn enough food to last the entire year—enough to eat their fill.
A life this good was something they would never even have dared dream of before. Anyone who refused to go now would be a fool.
The soldier noticed the red cloth tied around Ye Cang’s head. “You’re already serving as a guard. You can continue doing that when the time comes. The wage will be two hundred copper coins a month.”
Ye Cang and his family were so excited that they could hardly contain themselves.
His elder brother and sister-in-law hurriedly shouted along with him, “We—we’ll sign up too!”
They had two children to support. Although Ye Cang had managed to save some grain for them over the past few days, there were seven people in the family altogether. How could that little bit of grain possibly be enough?
Besides, there was no telling when the Jinyang Army might leave. Once that happened, Ye Cang would lose his guard’s work, and with it, his supply of grain.
How were people who had lost both their farmland and their homes supposed to survive?
But now the Jinyang Army was actually hiring them. No matter what, they had to give it a try.
“And me!” the Ye family’s younger sister shouted eagerly.
The soldier pointed toward the tables and stools that had already been set up nearby. “Anyone who wants to work should go over there to register. Remember to line up. One line per table.”
The crowd surged toward the registration area all at once, afraid that, as before, the available positions would fill up and no one else would be accepted.
Only one thing remained fixed in their minds: one hundred and eighty copper coins a month could buy ninety jin of fine grain from the Jinyang Army.
Before long, all the lines at the hiring site—more than a dozen of them—stretched for three li.
