Chapter 6: The Enemy's Thousand Boats on the Yalu River (Part 2)

  Everyone burst out laughing when they heard Xiao Shouren's joke.

  "The life of the little cow was saved by Big Brother Xiao, without Big Brother Xiao there would be no Little Cow. This lifetime, Little Cow will do its best to repay Big Brother Xiao's kindness in saving his life." Xiaobu heard Shao Shouren ask about his name and suddenly couldn't hold back, his nose turned sour, and he burst into tears.

  "Don't cry, don't cry, you're such a big person now, you're a little man already, why are you still crying? Others will laugh at us if they see this, hurry up and stop crying, don't lose face for all of us." Xiao Shouren hastily coaxed and intimidated Little Cow to stop crying.

  The calf heard Xiao Shouren say not to lose face in front of everyone, and he was a little man now. He thought it made sense, so he quickly wiped away the tears on his face, sniffled twice and stopped crying, looking at Xiao Shouren with red eyes, waiting for an answer.

  Xiao Niu didn't know that Xiao Shouren understood his meaning. To put it bluntly, he wanted to follow Xiao Shouren from now on.

  Xiao Shouren's heart was uneasy at this moment, he had just arrived not long ago and didn't understand the situation of this era, or even this world. He wasn't sure if he could make a name for himself, let alone now that they were in battle, who knows when he would be killed and wrapped in a horse hide, how could he possibly take care of someone else?

  "Little cow, it's not that Big Brother Xiao doesn't want to, but Big Brother Xiao is just a soldier, who knows when he'll be called away to play chess with General Xue. Following me won't amount to much either, I think you're still young, why don't you find an opportunity to fake your own death and escape from the battlefield? This is better than anything else." Anyway, there are no outsiders in this house, just brothers who have been through life and death together, so Xiao Shouren doesn't need to beat around the bush when speaking.

  "Xiao Da Ge, it's because my family is poor and can't eat enough, that's why I joined the army. To have a full stomach and warm clothes, in this chaotic world, people are not as good as livestock, whether they die early or late, it's all the same. Anyway, I'm following Xiao Da Ge to the death." Xiao Niu replied without hesitation.

  Seeing Xiao Shouren still hesitating, everyone also followed to persuade Xiao Shouren.

  "Xiao Da Ge, now that you've captured the Prime Minister of Goguryeo and achieved great merit, you've given His Majesty a lot of face in front of all the officials and foreign envoys. Although we've won many battles recently, the one from the other day made His Majesty extremely angry, I reckon many people will be punished this time. His Majesty will definitely appoint you to a high position." Mu Yi said with a smile.

  "Yes, Xiao Da Ge, it's not certain that we can't even keep the title of General, at that time, we will all be your soldiers, you must take care of us." Mu Yu also joined in the teasing.

  "That's right, not just Xiao Niu, from now on we'll all follow Xiao Da Ge" Ah Cheng also nodded in agreement.

  Everyone says so, Xiao Shouren is also straightforward.

  "Gentlemen, it's rare for you all to look up to Xiao. If I were to become rich and noble, I would certainly not forget about all of you brothers. If I really were to receive the emperor's reward, I would definitely not forget about all of your kindness." Seeing everyone saying this, if Xiao Shouren were to decline their good intentions again, it would make him appear petty and ungrateful.

  "Oh, right, Elder Xiao has just been injured, let's let him rest and recover his spirits for a few days. I'm sure the Emperor will summon him again soon." Ah Cheng was indeed clever, hearing everyone chattering nonstop like they were causing trouble, he quickly had everyone return to their own rooms.

  After a while, everyone dispersed, and Xiao Shouren was indeed tired and sleepy, so he fell asleep as soon as he lay down. He slept for the whole night and woke up the next day to find on the table steamed buns, two small dishes, and a small jug of wine. It seemed that this was his breakfast, but he didn't know who had sent it over.

  After eating breakfast, stretched his body, feeling refreshed and energized, went out to the small courtyard to practice a set of Xingyiquan, and felt even more invigorated, then came back to his current residence.

  This is a small courtyard with three rooms and a small yard, two sides are earth walls, about two meters high. The gate of the small yard is a bit old and it's unknown where it came from, but it was forcibly installed. The three small rooms look new, seemingly newly built, the brick color is still new, and the tile color is also fresh.

  Pushing open the courtyard door, he saw rows of soldiers coming and going, shuttling back and forth on the main street in front of the door. The main street had everything: vegetable vendors, hotels, inns, clothing stores... everything one could think of was there. Xiao Shouren was stunned.

  Xiao Shouren knew that this was originally a desolate land with no human habitation, and not a single person could be seen within a radius of ten miles, but Yang Guang had forcibly built up a commercial city here.

  Because of military needs, Yang Guang ordered the construction of a city here as a supply point and strategic stronghold. He mobilized 300,000 troops to work day and night without stopping, and also forced farmers from the surrounding areas to join in the labor for seven days! In just seven days, this city was built.

  War is not a model of war, so the whole army needs many things, the army needs to eat and wear and drink, more than 100 million troops, what a huge expenditure! And from Yang Guang's attitude, this is clearly a protracted war, soldiers also need to be entertained. Therefore, the court also issued documents encouraging businessmen to trade here, tax-free, and the merchant teams that came and went had military protection, safety was greatly improved. As a result, the merchant teams coming and going were endless.

  A commercial city rose like this, and soon everyone gave the city a name, Miracle City, Business City, because it is a paradise for businessmen.

  Not every soldier can have an independent small courtyard like Xiao Shouren, only those above the rank of Qianhu can have one. Having a three-room small house like Xiao Shouren's is probably something that ordinary Qianhus cannot get. Xiao Shouren also received such special treatment because he made great contributions this time.

  Mu Yi, Mu Yu, A Cheng, Xiao Niu and the other eighteen people all lived in Principal Dong's large camp. With nothing better to do, Xiao Shou Ren strolled slowly, looking around at the bustling market of ancient times. The cries of vendors rose and fell, the crowds coming and going were endless, rubbing shoulders and bumping into each other, it was very crowded.

  After walking for about three tea-drinking times, I finally saw the big flag of the military camp. The yellow sand rolled up the big flag, and the long song rushed to the sky.

  There were still over 300 meters away, Xiao Shouren heard the military trumpet and the rough singing of the soldiers in the army. It was far away, not very clear, but it felt very heroic.

  Xiao Shouren watched from the side for a while, but still couldn't understand what was being sung in that song. The memory of it was also vague and unclear.

  He went straight back to his own tent before he set out, this point he still remembered, due to the high mobility of the battle, so Yang Guang ordered that all large tents be used instead of wooden houses, which were learned from the Turks, because now the Turkic Khatun is the princess of the Great Sui, Yang Jian's sister, Yang Guang's aunt, and Khatun is the wife of Khan.

  At present, this Khatun has a lot of power and has some say in the Turks. She is also always physically in the Turks but mentally in Sui, and her connection with Yang Guang has never been interrupted.

  Looking at the familiar tent, things have changed. In the past, such a large tent was packed with over 40 people, but now? Although it's still crowded, more than half of them are unfamiliar faces, and only 18 faces are familiar to me.

  Life on the battlefield is so fragile, perhaps everyone was chatting and joking while sleeping tonight, but maybe tomorrow when sleeping, there will be fewer of them.

  If he didn't come back, there are only two explanations: either he's dead or he ran away.

  Alone and away from home, without enough food or an accurate map, where can one escape to? Moreover, everyone is registered in the army, if discovered escaping, their families will be implicated. So, unless absolutely necessary, those with families will not escape, even if it means dying wrapped in horsehide.

  At noon, the usual training finally ended. The noise of laughter and chatter outside grew louder and closer. Xiao Shouren knew that Mu Yi and the others must have returned with their lunchtime buns.

  It was indeed them, and everyone was delighted to see Xiao Shouren, gathering around him to chat about the interesting things that had happened in the military camp over the past few days. In fact, what Xiao Shouren heard wasn't particularly interesting - it was just someone getting scolded during training, or someone playing a prank on someone else. However, since everyone was stuck in this closed-off military camp with no entertainment activities to speak of, even these small incidents could bring some joy. But as soon as they had a day off, everything changed - everyone would flock to the commercial district, and especially the red-light district, which was a popular destination.