Chapter Thirty-One Mission

  Everything is handled by the government, and the clerks are in charge of handling affairs. As a result, things often get done twice as efficiently, and they can be completed more quickly. By the time Li Qin arrived at the eastern outskirts of the city, he saw that the grain had already been distributed, and the soldiers were carrying it back home.

  The sheepskin was also sold, and the salt was exchanged for the soldiers to share. However, the salt was expensive, so each soldier only got a small amount. But even though it was just a little bit, the soldiers were overjoyed and thanked Li Qīn loudly when they saw him come. They all surrounded him like stars surrounding the moon, wanting to chat with him.

  Li Qin had a smile all over his face, not a bit of pretentiousness, no condescending attitude at all. No matter who greeted him or spoke to him, he responded with kindness and warmth, giving people a very approachable feeling. After the commotion died down, the soldiers finally dispersed, and Li Qin could finally catch his breath.

  After asking Meng Mu, he found out that there was nothing else, and Li Qin was about to take people back to Fu Jiao Village. However, he saw Jing Ming coming out of the city gate, with two yamen runners behind him, each carrying a large package on their backs.

  Jing Ming called out: "Li Lang, the master has asked me to send some things over to you."

  He called Li QIN over and smiled: "Li Lang, this wine and meat you've had isn't for nothing. After the master returned to the county government office, he couldn't stop praising you, and even asked me to send you six sets of leather armor and helmets. These are good things, and the master has never been willing to give them to anyone, but this time he gave you six sets at once. You've really made a fortune this time."

  Li Qin was overjoyed and said, "Is it a suit of armor for each person? That's great! I really didn't expect this. I was worried that I wouldn't have any armor, but sir has thought of me like this. How can I thank you enough?"

  The yamen runners opened the large package, revealing the armor inside. Although it was not new, it was indeed a complete set of armor. In the Fuping Army, only Li QIN had access to such equipment, and he was the only one who could handle matters in this way.

  "Take it, just do a good job serving the adults in the future. Also, the adult has instructed that there's no need to specially thank him, but from now on, if there's anything going on in the county, you must arrive immediately when called, don't disappoint the adult's kind intentions!"

  Li Qindao said, "That's natural, we can't let the adults down." He picked up the helmets and gave one to each soldier. Wu Xiaosan and others were overjoyed, never expecting that in this lifetime they would still have a chance to wear helmets, which was even more impressive than being an officer!

  Meng Mu looked at Yan Xian and said, "Li Lang, you are a man of your word, so the adults also trust you, this reward is rarely seen, even I didn't get to wear armor!"

  Li Qin listened to this and without saying another word, immediately took off his own armor and handed it over, saying: "Meng Shu, if you don't mind, take this armor from me. You are my superior, how can a subordinate wear armor while the superior does not?"

  Meng Mu naturally declined, the helmet was given by Tang Jie to Li Qin. If he accepted it and Tang Jie found out, there would be no good outcome for him. The helmet couldn't be taken arbitrarily, so he firmly refused.

  Li Qin had no choice but to bid farewell to Jing Ming and Meng Mu, returning to Fu Jiao Village.

  Six deputy helmets were put away, and the distributed food was placed on Jing Qi's horse together. Li Qin's black horse was ridden by Shen Yi. Before coming, everyone had agreed that whoever made the greatest contribution would ride the horse back to the village. Shen Yi used his big light head to make a great contribution, so he naturally enjoyed the honor of riding the horse back to the village!

  Back in Fu Jiao Village, Xu Xiao Ni was the first to rush into the village, shouting loudly and telling the villagers that they had obtained the title of First Shi of Fuping Army, as well as helmets and a month's worth of rations! The villagers all came out to welcome them, and when they saw Shen Yi's proud and complacent expression on horseback, they couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Li Qin strode back to his own doorstep and saw Li Tian and He Shi standing at the gate, looking out. He quickened his pace and loudly said: "Father, Mother, your son is back!"

  Li Tian heard Xu Xiaoni's shouting and was delighted in his heart. He nodded and said, "Good, it's good that you're back. You didn't bring shame to the Li family!"

  He dragged Li Qin forward and said: "Quickly go inside and wipe your face, you've had too much wine?"

  Li Qin laughed and said: "Today is a happy day, I sold the sheepskin, bought wine and meat, invited County Master and all officials to have a good meal, and I paid the bill."

  He said in surprise: "You invited him? You asked County Magistrate He and he went, did you?"

  Jing Qi couldn't help but say from behind, "Li Dama, you don't know how glorious we were today. The county magistrate publicly praised us and even gave us six sets of armor to repay our kindness!"

  Several people took down the package, opened it and let Li Tian and He Shi see the armor. Li Tian was even more delighted, touching the leather armor, murmuring: "My son, you finally have armor to wear, our Li family's descendants can finally wear helmets and armor again, galloping on the battlefield!" As he spoke, his eyes involuntarily turned red.

  The villagers came over to congratulate them, and there was a lively scene.

  That night, Li Tian took out the jade box and placed it on the table. He brought Li Qin to kowtow to the jade box as a way of worshiping their ancestors. Then, Li Tian instructed Li Qin earnestly, telling him that from now on he must work even harder to bring glory to the Li family. Li Qin naturally agreed to everything.

  For several days after that, it was quiet and nothing happened. The weather was still cold, the spring plowing season had not yet arrived, there were no farm work in the fields, so Li QIN continued to lead his five men to practice martial arts every day.

  Through the Fuping Army assembly event, Wu Xiaosan and his team finally understood the importance of formation. Not to mention anything else, this glory made people hard to give up, everyone naturally practiced hard, even Shen Yi didn't complain anymore. With benefits, practicing became faster, in just a few days, Li Qin could hardly find any mistakes from them again, no need for "whipping" anymore.

  As for the spear array, the soldiers practiced more smoothly, and although there were only five long spears, they could be stabbed out simultaneously, with an astonishing momentum, and a sharp edge had already been formed. Li Qin was extremely satisfied, he estimated that his troops were small in number, but if they were pulled out to engage in small-scale battles, as long as the enemy's charge did not exceed five at a time, then his army would absolutely be able to win.

  Li QIN is fine, but something has happened in the county.

  That afternoon, Tang Jie sat in the main hall, looking at the bamboo slips, tapping his fingers on the table, with a somewhat perplexed expression. He thought to himself: "What's going on? Has Liangzhou become so lawless that bandits are rampant and even government troops dare to harass?"

  The documents on the table were sent from Lintao County, Liangzhou. Every year at this time, the prefecture would send a batch of raw iron to various places for the purpose of making weapons in various counties and counties. This year is no exception.

  The transportation of raw iron was naturally the responsibility of government soldiers. In previous years, there were no accidents, after all, even if bandits were rampant, they didn't dare to rob government soldiers. However, this year an accident happened, and several counties' iron delivery teams were robbed, government soldiers were killed, and the bandits' momentum was very strong, not putting government soldiers in their eyes at all. Since Fuping County's raw iron arrived last, the prefecture sent a document in advance, asking Tang Jie to send someone to welcome it, so as not to let the raw iron be robbed again, which would be a small benefit for the bandits but a great loss of face for the government.

  Tang Jie shook his head and sighed, it seemed that he had to send someone to welcome the iron convoy. Two thousand catties of raw iron was not a lot, but in a poor place like Fuping, it was not a small amount. If this batch of raw iron really disappeared, there would be no way to manufacture new weapons and equipment.

  Summoned Tang Ren, Tang Jie let him see the document and asked: "Xian nephew, who do you think should be sent? This task is not easy, I'm afraid there will be danger, we must send a brave warrior."

  Tang Ren thought: "If there's danger, let Meng Mu and Yao Xiu's people go. Our own Tang family's children can wait until there's a safe task before sending them out."

  Tang Rendao said, "Uncle, in my humble opinion, it would be better to send some soldiers from Mengmutun or even Li Qin. He is one of the most capable and bravest soldiers in our Fuping army, and if we send him out, he will be able to handle any danger that comes his way."

  Tang Jietao said, "I, the Tang clan, control the military, but if there's danger, I send someone else. It doesn't sound right. How about you, my virtuous nephew, lead the troops personally and let Li Qin be your deputy?"

  Tang Ren opened his mouth, no wonder Xian nephew called him affectionately. It turned out that he wanted me to go, but you still have another Xian nephew Tang Biao, even if it's not a close nephew, it's also from the same clan. Suddenly remembering that Tang Biao said he was going to monitor Li Qin's affairs, he said: "Uncle, Tang Biao has just been promoted to the position of Tunzhang, and needs to have achievements to convince the crowd. Why don't you send him to lead two squads, and bring Li Qin's squad together?"

  Tang Jie knew that Tang Biao and Li Qin didn't get along, so he furrowed his brow in thought before saying: "Alright, let's have Tang Biao lead the team with Li Qin as his deputy. If there's any danger, Li Qin can handle it; if not, then this is also an opportunity for them to mend their relationship. You go take care of this."

  Tang Ren responded with a sound and went out to handle the matter. He first found Tang Biao, told him about the task, and Tang Biao was naturally unwilling to go. But when he heard that he could bring Li Qin along, he agreed again, making up his mind to take this opportunity to show off his superior's authority and teach Li Qin a lesson.

  Tang Ren sent someone out of the city to inform Li Qin, asking him to make preparations and lead his troops to gather at the east gate early tomorrow morning, following Tang Biao to welcome the iron delivery team.

  Fugao Village. Li Qin finished a day of training and led his troops back to the village, only to find that there was a small soldier squatting in the courtyard, slurping down a bowl of meat porridge.

  The little soldier saw him return, hurriedly holding the bowl and running over, saying: "Li Shizhang, Tang Xianwei has ordered you to take people to gather in the east city tomorrow, follow Tang Tunzhang to welcome the iron team, it will probably take one or two days to come back, Tang Xianwei has ordered you to make preparations, bring enough dry rations."

  After passing on the order, this little soldier continued to drink porridge in big gulps. After delivering the message, he hurriedly filled his belly, not wanting to make a trip for nothing.

  Li Qin listened to the order, turned his head and looked at his soldiers. Wu Xiaosan and others looked at each other, no one said a word. They had eaten the official military rations, and going out on business was what they should do, there was nothing to say.

  Li Qin asked: "This brother, which Tang Jun are you referring to, is it Tang Biao or Tang Zhong?"

  Xiao Bing swallowed his porridge and said: "It's Tang Biao who is in charge of the camp, he has two companies with him, you have one!"

  Li Qin sighed, waved his hand and said: "Eat your fill, we won't run laps tonight, rest well and get ready for tomorrow's trip." The soldiers sat around the courtyard, eating their porridge.

  Before dawn on the second day, Li Qin got up, called the soldiers, brought dry rations, bid farewell to his parents, and rushed to the East City Gate to join Tang Biao.

  ——

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