Chapter Eighteen: Heart-Stopping

  "General Li, now the Dingzhou army is short of men, so your Victorious Camp can't be reinforced for the time being. Even General Lv's several camps under his command still have vacancies, you should understand the difficulties I'm facing, haha!"

  "Oh, General Li said it's no problem, okay, I knew General Li is young but knows what's important and considers the bigger picture. What, you want grain? Ah, this is a bit of a problem... Alright, I'll grit my teeth and allocate three months' worth of rations for your troops, enough for a thousand people for three months. I can still afford to be a bit thrifty here."

  "What's more, Deputy General Lyu also promised to provide support for a month to General Li, that's great, Deputy General Lyu is really helping the younger generation."

  "Arms and ammunition, no problem, a thousand men or so, won't need much. After the military council, according to the current organization of your Victorious Brigade, go take them."

  "Li Canjun, Chongzhou is a good place, you don't have to fight the barbarians head-on, it's very safe! I'm giving you Chong County because of Shouning Hou's repeated requests, that place may be a bit dilapidated now, but the mountains and rivers are beautiful, it's a great place!"

  "Not bad, not bad, it's really a good place. I chose the vanguard originally to go there, but the commander scolded me severely, saying that the ever-victorious camp now has only about 1,000 people. If we were to put them in those distant places, wouldn't we be putting General Li in danger? How can we face Prince An and the other princes? It's really shameful!"

  Li Qing smiled and thanked General Dai and the other generals for their kindness, saying that he would definitely remember this favor in his heart and would certainly repay it in the future. The Changsheng Camp would be loyal to General Dai until death, and would not hesitate to go through fire and water for him. Although he was now in Chong County, far from Dingzhou, as long as General Dai called, he would rush to his side on horseback.

  The crowd sighed in admiration, bidding each other farewell, and one by one they bowed their heads to take leave. Li Qing also mounted his horse under the crowd's concerned gaze, with a heroic air, as if he were a brave warrior who would not return once he left, and bid farewell to Xiao Yuan Shan before departing.

  As Li Qing's receding back disappeared from view, Xiao Yuanshan's smile gradually faded. Fang Wenshan, who was seated in the military council, looked thoughtful and said, "General, if this Li Qing is not a fool, then he has a very deep mind and should not be underestimated!"

  Xiao Yuanshan hummed: "Fang brother, does he look like a fool to you? He knows that going to Chong County is an inevitable thing. As soon as he turned around, he handed over the civil and military power of Chong County to us, grasping both in one hand, and sought the most favorable conditions for himself from unfavorable circumstances. Such cunning, how clever."

  Fang Wenshan sighed: "Xiao Shuai, we won't be raising a tiger as a threat, will we?"

  Xiao Yuanshan chuckled: "Fang brother, you're underestimating me too much. Let's not mention that Chong County is now a mess, even if he has absolute power in his hands, it's hard to turn the tide. Even if he can stand firm, you and I can still make him fall from heaven. A mere thousand or so people, when necessary, can be eliminated with just a flip of the hand."

  The two of them exchanged a smile.

  Li Qing returned to the camp, slamming his helmet to the ground and shouting, "Damn it, I'm suffocating! These sons of turtles, killing people with a smile on their faces!"

  No need to ask more, everyone just looked at his face and knew whether the result was beyond Shang Haibo's expectations. "General, I'm sure you opened your eyes wide today and saw the official scene!" Shang Haibo laughed and asked.

  Li Qing nodded repeatedly, "Not bad, not bad. Mingming and the others all want to tear me apart and eat me up. Their smiles, their tone of voice, make it seem like I'm a precious treasure that they're holding in their hands, afraid of dropping it, and savoring it in their mouths, afraid of it melting away. It's really making my skin crawl."

  "Isn't the general the same?" Shang Haibo continued, Li Qing was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing, "That's right, they're all a bunch of bastards."

  Bang, he sat down, "As expected by Mr. Shang, Chong County is ours. Qiyuan, take people to the military headquarters, lead one thousand sets of military equipment, remember, one thousand long guns, one thousand long knives, one thousand bows, one thousand quivers of arrows, three months' worth of rations, damn it, since you want me to leave early, just get everything ready."

  "Jiang Kui, go to the Zhong Xie and find Lü Dàlín. This son of a bitch promised me a month's worth of food, even a small mosquito is meat, you go get it for me."

  "Feng Guo, organize the remaining people and prepare to break camp. Once everything is ready, I won't be a thorn in their side anymore. Let's go to Chong County early, once we're there, I'll be the boss, no need to look at others' faces."

  "Mr. Shang will follow me, Mr. Lu, you are familiar with the local situation and have a wide network. This time we go to Chong County, the biggest challenge is food supply. Currently, it's unknown how many people are left in Chong County, but the more food we have, the better. Please go to Fuzhou and Yizhou, buy or borrow as much grain as possible and bring it back. Whether we can get through this winter depends on you."

  He gave orders one after another, and the crowd responded loudly, going their separate ways to attend to matters. Li Qing looked at the suddenly empty camp, and a wry smile spread across his face - being the leader wasn't easy! No money, no food, he was worried sick! The 100,000 taels of silver given by Lord Shou Ning had been halved and given to Lu Yi Meng in the blink of an eye. And yet, there was still no sign of Chong County in sight!

  Three days later, the various troops gathered in Dingzhou began to depart. Li Qing was the last one to leave. Unlike the enthusiastic scenes of other troops departing, the departure of Changsheng Camp was quiet and deserted. Not a single person from the military or government offices came to see them off, as if they had already considered Li Qing a dead man. However, Huan Xi brought a jug of wine and drank three cups with Li Qing, bidding him farewell.

  "Dingzhou, I will be back." After walking silently for several miles, Li Qing turned his head to look at the distant outline of Dingzhou City, and suddenly opened his throat, shouting loudly.

  Ten days later, this army of over a thousand people entered the borders of Chong County, and the road began to get difficult, becoming increasingly rugged, with the mountain terrain growing steeper by the day. But what weighed even more heavily on Li Qing's mind was that along the way, there were ruins and broken walls everywhere, with burnt-out houses scattered about, and occasionally, they would see some pale and thin villagers, their faces filled with despair, who would silently follow behind the army without a word after catching sight of them.

  "Mr. Shang, after setting up camp, cook some porridge for these villagers!" Li Qing instructed. "The soldiers will also change from two dry rations a day to one dry and one wet ration a day, saving some food, but I'm afraid the more we move forward, the more refugees there will be."

  Li Qing's premonition was accurate, as the team delved deeper into Chong County, the number of refugees following behind the army increased day by day. They followed this army to get porridge to drink, although not full, but enough to sustain life. By the time Li Qing arrived at the county seat of Chong County, nearly 10,000 refugees had followed him, with children and women in tow, supporting the elderly and carrying the young, but all sharing a common characteristic - pale faces and weakness.

  "This is the county town of Chong County?" Li Qing couldn't believe his eyes. Not far away, where the county town should have been, was now a scene of ruins. The originally low city walls had been smashed and were full of gaps everywhere, and not a single intact house could be seen inside. As he looked at the crowd in the distance, suddenly, from the quiet ruins, one person stood up, followed by another, and then another, countless people like groundhogs emerging from the ruins, silently welcoming this army.

  Li Qing was somewhat startled, and Wang Qian and others silently deployed the troops, forming an attacking formation. Looking at these people in front of him, there were nearly tens of thousands of them. These starving people could do anything.

  The other side walked closer and closer, perhaps seeing the army on the opposite side waiting in formation, the crowd on the opposite side stopped, and the two groups of people stared at each other silently. Li Qing's chest felt a bit stuffy, as if a fire was burning fiercely there. The people on the opposite side didn't look like humans anymore, except for their eyeballs still moving, they were like an army of skulls.

  He spurred his horse forward, and Tang Hu, who was closely following him, was startled, reaching out to grab the reins of his horse. "General, be careful!" Shang Haibo's face was also grave, "General, don't be careless, these refugees may rise up in revolt at any moment, seizing military supplies."

  Li Qing's face was gloomy, and he coldly said: "Let go!" Tang Hu shook his head stubbornly, "No, General, you can't go!" With a crack, Li Qing raised his hand and whipped it at Tang Hu's hand. Tang Hu felt pain and involuntarily loosened his grip on the reins. Li Qing spurred his horse forward, and Tang Hu gritted his teeth, quickly following with Yang Yidao. The two men's hands tightly grasped the hilts of their waist knives, their four eyes fixed intently on the crowd in front of them without blinking.

  Shang Haibo was stunned for a moment, shook his head, and suddenly smiled self-deprecatingly, "All those years of reading the classics were in vain!" He then spurred on his horse to follow.

  The army parted a path and Li Qing appeared before the refugees' eyes.

  "I am Li Qing, deputy commander of Dingzhou Army's Changsheng Camp. I have been ordered to station in Chong County. Is there someone in charge here?" Li Qing asked in a deep voice.

  Among the refugees, a man who was thin to the point of only having a skeleton walked out and bowed to Li Qingyi, "Chong County County Lieutenant Xu Yunfeng, has seen General Li." The county lieutenant should be the second-in-command of the county.

  "Where is your county magistrate?"

  "Run!" Xu Yunfeng shouted loudly.

  Li Qing was taken aback, "Then why didn't you run?"

  Xu Yunfeng was taken aback, seemingly not expecting the other party to ask this question. He understood the meaning behind the opposing general's words and became enraged: "As the county lieutenant of this county, I should lead the people of this county in resisting the enemy together; how could I flee?"

  Li Qing whipped his horse and said, "Are these people all yours?"

  Xu Yunfeng nodded loudly and said, "As the deputy captain said, there are no officials left in the county. I have organized some people to maintain order here and was about to start organizing an evacuation."

  Li Qingdao said: "The governor has arrived, you don't need to escape, from now on, you are the county magistrate of this county."

  Xu Yunfeng was stunned again, the general in front of him was a military officer, how could he casually appoint himself as the county magistrate? He didn't have that right! Seeing Xu Yunfeng's expression, Li Qing added: "Given the current situation in Chong County, Commander Xiao and Governor Fang have delegated me full authority to handle Chong County affairs. The positions of county magistrate and other officials will be appointed by me. You're doing well, from now on, you'll be the county magistrate. Tell your people that I, Li Qing, have arrived, and no one in Chong County will starve to death again."

  After finishing speaking, he no longer paid attention to Xu Yunfeng, turned around and loudly commanded: "Set up camp, start a fire, cook porridge, let the people of Chong County eat first."