Insufficient balance

  Bai Doushu led a group of guards rushing out of the city. Yang Ling understood the meaning of Bai Doushu's words and realized that he had already sent someone to the post office to seize grain, so he couldn't care about his sore waist and hurriedly mounted his horse, galloping towards the post office.

  The small official who had just pulled his sleeve was riding a horse beside him, and hastily said: "Sir, you shouldn't have agreed to give him military rations. What can be done now?"

  Yang Lingdi was as stiff as a wooden puppet, but he still couldn't help but shout: "What's wrong with that? Do you want the soldiers to fight on empty stomachs? Withholding military rations is a capital offense in any dynasty!"

  The small official smiled bitterly and said: "Sir, how could we low-ranking officials dare to arbitrarily deduct military rations? It's that they themselves didn't bring enough grain allowance, who can be blamed?"

  Yang Ling angrily said: "Nonsense! There are clearly two warehouses of military rations, enough for ten days' use. How dare you deceive me to my face?"

  The little official said: "How dare I, the granary has surplus grain, but it belongs to the household and the main army. They only brought those grains for backup, what does it have to do with us? Sir, even Sun's army's grain is allocated from the main army's grain, which accounts for 30% of ours."

  Yang Ling asked: "Slow down, slow down, say it slowly, what's going on?"

  The little official then hurried to the side of the road and told Yang Ling in detail, originally under He Can's command, five battalions of soldiers were stationed in the east, west, south, and three cities, they were his trusted followers, the main force from Huaihe area, that is, the permanent garrison troops in this place.

  Among the two battalions of soldiers and horses that rushed out of the city earlier, Sun Dazhong's army was called a guest army, or troops from outside provinces. Although they had been permanently stationed in this locality due to garrison needs, their grain supply, personnel replenishment, and even horse and weapon supplies were still handled by their home province of Henan.

  Bi Chun's troops were called reserve soldiers, who were temporarily transferred from the Zhejiang Garrison. They only stayed for a few months each year when the Mongols were most likely to invade the border, and then they had to return.

  This time the Tartars simultaneously attacked more than a dozen postal stations in adjacent counties, and the beacons reached the capital. The commander-in-chief of Xuanfu sent three deputy generals to rush to Zhuolu, Huailai, and Chixian for relief, and two mobile brigadier generals were dispatched to fight. The army marched very urgently. The logistics camp was a direct unit under the command of Yongning, so it naturally gave priority to transporting grain and fodder for its own troops, and Sun Dazhong and Bi Chun's troops did not even bring enough military rations.

  Sun Dazhong's troops, although they were guest armies, had been stationed there permanently, so temporarily borrowing some supplies from the main army was not a big deal. They could just report back to the provincial government and deduct it from the funds transported from Zhejiang. However, the reserve troops were temporarily deployed and would return to their original garrison after spring arrived. At that time, transportation was inconvenient, local officials were inefficient, and it was common for them to shirk responsibility, delay payment of military salaries, and owe debts. If they didn't clear their debts before being transferred back to their hometown, who would be responsible for the deficit?

  Yang Ling listened to the small official's explanation and felt a bit incredulous. Such an important department as the military couldn't even manage to unify their financial and logistical systems, and this rigid and unrealistic system of military supplies was truly unbelievable - who was the idiot who came up with it? No wonder he had just walked all over the city and seen that the uniforms and equipment of the soldiers in each camp were all different sizes and qualities.

  He also knew that he had promised too much at this time, but if the soldiers couldn't even eat their fill, how could their morale be guaranteed? Moreover, Bi Chun's supplies were just not in time to arrive, as long as they adjusted the accounts of each army in the provincial capital in a timely manner, it shouldn't be a big problem. Thinking of this, Yang Ling's heart gradually calmed down.

  The sun has set, the yamen is covered in a thick layer of snow, bathed in the cold sunlight. On the mountain path below the east wall, every twenty steps or so, a lantern hangs, its color faded and unclear, swaying gently in the wind.

  Five horse-drawn carriages stopped one after another on the gentle slope of the post road, with a hubbub of voices in front, all speaking in southern accents, holding knives and guns, exuding an air of murder. There were more than 40 people. More than ten postmen stood at the entrance of the relay station, led by a minor official, holding whips and confronting them like fighting cocks.

  Yang Ling saw this situation and hurried over, shouting loudly: "All of you stop, whatever it is, tell me!"

  Bai Dus's personal soldier, Zheng Dapeng, stood beside a general with rolled-up sleeves and a ring-handled sabre slung over his shoulder. The man had a murderous aura about him, looking like a butcher. Zheng Dapeng whispered something in his ear, and he glanced at Yang Ling sideways, waving his hand. The soldiers immediately fell silent.

  The little official guarding the gate saw Yang Ling and hastily jumped up, shouting loudly: "Magistrate Yang has arrived! Sir, these soldiers want to seize military rations! Ha ha, I just crawled out of a pile of dead bodies, what are you big-headed soldiers afraid of?"

  Those soldiers, upon hearing this, immediately began to murmur again. Yang Ling hastily raised his hands and shouted: "Quiet down! This Mr. Qiu must have already conveyed the military order from Commander Bi Du. All of you officers, please refrain from making a racket. Which one of you has the highest military rank? Please step forward to settle the account for the grain usage with me, sign your name, and then you can receive it."

  The officer standing next to Zheng Dapeng stepped forward, puffed out his chest and said: "You're lucky you know what's good for you. We're fighting and dying up front, but the grain is stored here and we're left with empty stomachs. Do you think we're easy to bully?"

  "The low-ranking official in charge of the granary hesitantly said: 'Sir, we can't just give them this grain, they are...'"

  Yang Ling interrupted him and said, "I know they are reserve troops, guest troops, and their supplies have not yet arrived!" He swept his gaze over the crowd and said loudly, "At the same time, I also know that they are brave warriors, the saviors of this county. When Jiming Post was in danger, they charged to the front line, drove away the Tartars, and protected the lives of all the people in the city."

  He asked the soldiers: "If I'm not mistaken, that rifle squad is your battalion's troops, isn't it?"

  "Not bad!", the officer said with a proud smile, looking around complacently and loudly saying: "There are too few firearms in the Northern Army, only our Southern Army has a specialized firearms team!"

  Yang Ling nodded and said, "Yes, now that the enemy has retreated, everyone in this county, including the parents, wives and children of all you brothers, can finally have a good meal and a good night's sleep. What is it based on? It's based on these brave soldiers who are guarding us at the city gate, so the Tartars dare not come to harass us again!"

  "He said loudly: 'You say, what's the reason for having grain in the warehouse but not paying it out? Are we going to let these brave soldiers who are fighting and sacrificing for us go hungry while guarding outside the city? Heroes are bleeding for us, we can't let heroes bleed and cry!' "

  This remark is too provocative, in that era who cared about what these small soldiers thought? Who really cared about their role? It was an era where a hundred battles were not as good as one elegant article.

  The soldiers who had been holding up their knives and guns quietly put them down, the fierce look on their faces was swept away, they were both proud and moved, their eyes were a little moist, the butcher-like officer's face was twitching with rage.

  Yang Ling's tone changed again, and he said: "Besides... what do we have to worry about? They come from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which are the land of fish and rice. Seven or eight out of ten years' taxes in the country come from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei. Such a rich place is still afraid of not returning borrowed grain?"

  "Not bad, I'll take responsibility for the English item on my head, wait until our military rations arrive, and I will definitely return to the treasury first, not a single grain owed!" Yang Ling praised him again and again, and that officer also felt like a national hero, patting his chest loudly, responding loudly.

  Yang Ling let out a breath, gave the warehouse attendant a look, and shouted: "Don't open the granary yet?" He then turned to Guan Shouying with a smile: "General Guan, I'm afraid we've delayed our brothers' meal, it's really sorry. But since this is a critical location, please take care of everyone and wait for my men to pass the scales before moving the grain, don't disrupt the rules."

  Guan Shouying was called a general by him, one by one, and he couldn't help but smile. He hastily replied: "Alright, alright, no need for Lord Yingtong to instruct." He glared at his soldiers and shouted loudly: "Brothers, all of you behave yourselves and don't lose face for us Zhejiang soldiers!"

  A crowd of officers and soldiers responded in a flurry, Guan Shouying patted Yang Ling's shoulder heavily and smiled: "Brother is the captain of Bi Daxia's personal guard team, Yang Yi, this friend I entrust to you".

  The bodyguard was only responsible for the leader's personal safety, and at the same time served as a supervisor of the war team. Although this team leader was not a big official, he was indeed Bi Chun's confidant. Yang Ling naturally also catered to him with courtesy, and casually took out a few people's sons' words, making Guan Shouying feel like an old friend, twice as close.

  It wasn't until he had finally gotten rid of that group of thugs and walked back to his own front door that Yang Ling suddenly felt a wave of fatigue wash over him, his entire body aching as if his bones were all loose. He stumbled into the house and collapsed onto the kang, letting out a long sigh.

  Han Youniang saw the fatigue on his face, and quickly helped him take off his boots, lifted his legs onto the kang, sat beside him and gently massaged his legs, softly saying: "Master, are you tired? Let's rest for a while before eating again."

  The kang was warm and cozy, Han Youniang's hands were so gentle, Yang Ling felt comfortable and a wave of drowsiness washed over him, he couldn't even be bothered to open his eyes. He leaned back against the bedding, murmuring: "Youniang, I'm so tired, my whole body aches."

  Han Youniang changed her grip from pounding to pinching, starting from his calf and gently kneading his sore muscles. She smiled slightly and said: "Youniang will massage you, if there's some medicinal wine it would be even better, guaranteed that tomorrow you'll wake up without any soreness".

  A comfortable, slightly itchy feeling spread from her calf to the top of her leg. Yang Ling let out a comfortable hum and relaxed his body, enjoying her tenderness. After a while, he suddenly remembered something and hastily opened his eyes, saying: "This body of mine is really too weak, I need to exercise more in the future. By the way, the staff technique you used on the city wall today was incredibly fierce, it was amazing! What's that staff technique called?"

  Han Youniang's face turned red, and she awkwardly massaged his legs, murmuring: "These are all country bumpkin methods, Master, why ask about this?"