Chapter 97: Defecting to the First Prince

Qian Jiangjun pondered this, and it was indeed the truth, but he dared not truly become a rebel.

His entire family was in the Capital.

Qian Jiangjun said with dissatisfaction, "Prince, I never imagined that you would actually defect to the First Prince. How can you justify the Emperor's trust?"

The Prince of Nanyang sneered, "That muddled monarch—whoever wants to follow him can go follow him."

But Qian Jiangjun stopped responding.

He felt truly miserable.

He did not want to revolt, but the Prince of Nanyang's words pierced his heart, and looking at the treatment of the soldiers on the opposite side, where everyone could wear armor...

No wonder Wu Jiangjun wanted to defect to their side.

Seeing that he did not respond, Xiao Chengtian said to Yan Ze, "Where is the barbecue grill? How about we have a barbecue for lunch?"

Yan Ning also said, "Dad, let's have a barbecue!"

The aroma of the barbecue was rich, and the scent was blown across to the opposite bank by the wind in an instant.

Qian Jiangjun:...

They were definitely doing this on purpose!

They dared not advance nor retreat, and all they had to eat were dry rations.

When they were marching or fighting, they also ate dry rations.

But there was a wave of meaty fragrance from the opposite side, and Yan Ze had even slaughtered a few sheep so that those soldiers could also eat barbecue.

With the comparison, looking at the dry, bland rations again, they were truly hard to swallow.

While eating the dry rations, her father leaned over, "Ningning, our blacksmiths have run away."

Yan Ning was stunned, still chewing on a skewer, "They left?"

"Did I not pay them enough?"

Yan Ze said, "They were probably afraid of trouble, but it doesn't matter much. Blacksmiths can be found again; if it really comes to it, we can just ask them to help make things and we will pay to buy them."

Yan Ning thought for a moment, took a handful of skewers, and went to find Er Gouzi, who was helping with work in the fields.

Yan Ning handed him a handful of skewers and said to him, "There is another matter I need your help with recently."

Er Gouzi patted his chest, looking confident, "Miss, just say the word, I will definitely do my best to help."

Yan Ning said with a smile, "I might need you to help find a few blacksmiths; the more the better, price is no object."

Er Gouzi was in a bit of a dilemma for a moment.

It wasn't that he wouldn't help, but there were simply no blacksmiths in the nearby villages.

To get a blacksmith, one had to go to the city to find one, but that was too far, and people living comfortably in the city certainly wouldn't want to run over here.

Not to mention that there was a pile of soldiers on the other side of the river; it wasn't like they had lives to spare.

Of course, these words could not be said in front of Yan Ning.

Er Gouzi hesitated for a moment and said, "I will go try, but I can't guarantee I can bring any back."

Yan Ning said, "Then just try first."

Er Gouzi quickly agreed and immediately took a small boat to Shawan County.

Yan Ning watched his retreating back; he must bring them back.

Otherwise, she would have no choice but to go and snatch people.

Snatching people directly was indeed not very good, but without blacksmiths, they would be at a disadvantage in war.

Thinking of this, Yan Ning called out to Er Gouzi on the boat, "Wait a moment."

Er Gouzi stopped immediately and asked, "Does Miss have any other instructions?"

Yan Ning thought for a moment, "Talk to them properly. You go negotiate the reward with them; there is no upper limit, as long as you can bring the people back."

Er Gouzi was stunned, then nodded.

If it weren't absolutely necessary, Yan Ning didn't really want to go and kidnap people to work.

Yan Ning trusted Er Gouzi very much, and besides, by throwing silver at them directly, she didn't believe no one would be tempted.

When Yan Ning returned, Qian Jiangjun and Wu Jiangjun were cursing at each other.

The cause was Wu Jiangjun shouting at Qian Jiangjun, "It's delicious, do you want to eat? Defect to us; the First Prince is not a stingy person, he will definitely make sure you eat well."

Qian Jiangjun was absolutely furious, "You traitorous dog! The Prince of Nanyang's son has a marriage contract with the Prince's daughter, that's why he defected. You shameless dog, why are you defecting!"

Wu Jiangjun was righteous and confident, "If we don't defect to His Highness, should we follow that muddled monarch? If you had also gone to wipe out the pirates, you would know why we chose the First Prince."

"The First Prince never treats soldiers as meat shields; he is always at the forefront where there is danger, and he even brought out precious anti-inflammatory medicine."

"When we went, there were two thousand six hundred soldiers, and when we returned, there were still two thousand six hundred."

Qian Jiangjun on the opposite side stopped talking.

He truly had no way to refute this.

Two thousand troops against twenty thousand pirates, and they actually didn't have a single casualty.

Besides treating these soldiers like human beings, there must be other trump cards.

From the attitude of the First Prince's family toward these soldiers over the past few days, it could be seen that the First Prince was benevolent.

Otherwise, these soldiers of theirs would have long since been blown to bits.

Thinking of this, Qian Jiangjun's mood was somewhat complicated.

Qian Jiangjun didn't speak, but Wu Jiangjun shouted even more vigorously, "Why don't you reconsider? Your eldest young lady is very generous; she gives out money every few days. Yesterday, we each got five taels of silver—over two thousand people, and not one was left out."

If they could endure the gourmet food attack before, now they were handing out money from time to time, and it was five taels of silver; for these two thousand-plus people, that would be over ten thousand taels given away.

Is the First Prince that rich?

The army behind Qian Jiangjun also began to stir.

"If we could also..."

"Are they telling lies?"

"Of course not. My second uncle's aunt's granddaughter is under Wu Jiangjun, and a while ago her mother said the First Prince's family is generous, they even brought back over a hundred taels."

"Then should we..."

Several people looked at Qian Jiangjun with burning eyes, unsure if they wanted to tie him up to defect, or if they were hoping he would lead them to join the First Prince.

Qian Jiangjun was also damnably tempted, but he quickly suppressed those thoughts.

Qian Jiangjun said: "Stop thinking about it, can you be bought for five taels of silver?"

As he spoke, he raised his volume: "If you can bow for five taels of silver today, you will be lured away by someone else's ten taels of silver in the future!"

Yan Ning felt these words were aimed at her, intended to sow discord.

Yan Ning smiled as she looked at the people on the other side of the river and said loudly: "Then take a look, who can be richer than my family?"

"Those who want to come, hurry over; once you miss this village, you won't find this shop."

As a result, some people actually stood up, preparing to come to Yan Ning's side.

Qian Jiangjun was stunned.

There were at least a thousand people who had defected to the First Prince!

Just when he thought it was over, someone shouted:

"The Emperor doesn't treat our lives as lives; the First Prince could clearly have blown us to death but held his troops back!"

"I swear to follow the First Prince to the death!"

Then, there were shouts that grew louder one after another:

"Swear to follow the First Prince to the death!"

"Swear to follow the First Prince to the death!"

"..."

Yan Ning also didn't expect it to be this effective; the forest suddenly emptied by more than half.

Qian Jiangjun simply couldn't believe it.

His subordinates, did they really just leave like that?

Some of the remaining people felt uncomfortable, but they stayed firmly behind.

Qian Jiangjun's face was full of astonishment.

Yan Ning also didn't expect that with just one shout, the people on the other side would come over.

She said to Qian Jiangjun: "How about you come over too?"