Chapter 778: Recruiting People

A great general who commanded troops like him had always held military power firmly in his hands; but once he fell, Xunzhou was leaderless, and his subordinates immediately split into factions and seized power! Because they were evenly matched, this power struggle had not yet ended.

Judging from the traditions of the Beijia Nation, it usually wouldn't intervene; it would just wait for these surrendered generals to fight each other, and the final winner would then bow to Lingxu City and request to succeed as the Governor of the Province.

Therefore, both the Yuan Court and the outside world judged that the Xunzhou army would not attack Xiazhou again for the time being.

Nian Zanli was finished, and even if there were successors, they probably wouldn't have such a deep obsession with attacking Xiazhou as he did.

And taking advantage of the internal chaos of the Xunzhou army, Xiazhou Governor He Chunhua decisively sent troops to retake Haozhou, which had been occupied by Nian Zanli!

The Yuan Nation bordered Beijia; originally Xunzhou was the frontier, but later Nian Zanli rebelled and defected to Beijia, and the front line suddenly pressed south to Haozhou.

Haozhou didn't last long before it was swallowed by Nian Zanli, and then the flames of war burned into the territory of Xiazhou.

This time He Chunhua's recovery of Haozhou made the Yuan Court breathe a sigh of relief, and the merit was no less than the last time he defeated Nian Zanli's army on the banks of the Hanhe River.

It was only then that He Lingchuan learned a piece of news and was surprised:

"Ha? You said the Xiazhou Governor was just transferred back to the Yuan Capital?"

Elder Qian nodded: "This is news received just two days ago, but I don't think there should be any mistake."

The Other Rongshan Sect itself bordered the Yuan Nation and had disciples serving as officials in the Yuan Court, so it was easy to get first-hand news.

He Lingchuan naturally couldn't help but ask: "Why?"

He Chunhua had only been the Xiazhou Governor for a year; why did the Yuan Court transfer him back?

Elder Dao's eyes flashed a few times.

This Young Master He, seemed to have the same surname as the Xiazhou Governor?

Was it a coincidence?

"This Xiazhou Governor was rewarded by the Wang Ting for his merits, titled Marquis of Wu Wei, and General of Changning. Calculating the time, he should be returning to the capital to receive his title." Elder Dao stroked his beard, "This promotion seems a bit urgent. In our sect's view, the Yuan King might intend to let him go south to suppress the rebellion."

He Chunhua was transferred from the Black Water City County Magistrate to the Xiazhou Governor, during which he defeated the Woling Pass rebels, intercepted Xunzhou cavalry, and even exchanged a few moves with the famous Beijia general Hong Cheng-lue, attacking and defending back and forth.

For the current Yuan Nation, such talent was too rare; shouldn't good steel be used on the blade?

Since the northern border was peaceful, the Yuan Nation felt pain even if He Chunhua stayed in Xiazhou for one more day of idleness; they had to rush him south to eliminate the country's troubles.

This is called making the best use of talent.

Three days later, the entire Other Rongshan territory declared zero, and the insect plague was completely eradicated from this land.

Amidst the cheers of the Other Rongshan people, Qiu Hu left silently, returned to the ruins of White Village, and offered incense and burned paper money in front of the graves of his foster parents and all the villagers.

His village was massacred during the first wave of the strange cicada invasion.

Qiu Hu came here today, both to fulfill his vow and to say goodbye.

He also brought a bucket of paint to carefully trace the tombstone.

"Hu is going far away and cannot return to visit often; please forgive me, fellow villagers."

Just as he finished kowtowing respectfully and climbed up, He Lingchuan was already standing behind him.

He saw Qiu Hu set up a long banquet for the whole village, with fish, meat, fruit, and cakes, at least forty-eight bowls lined up.

Qiu Hu knelt on one knee toward He Lingchuan, his fists pressed against the ground: "I said what I would do; from now on, I am at your command, my lord."

He Lingchuan waited for him to finish the ceremony before supporting his arm and saying sternly: "Excellent, from today on, I entrust my back to you."

Qiu Hu nodded: "Don't worry, my lord!"

He had people under his command again, and He Lingchuan was sincerely happy. Although he had only known Qiu Hu for a short time and was currently here to repay a favor, it was not yet a matter of loyalty.

But this didn't matter; he was always good at winning people's hearts.

The next day, He Lingchuan bid farewell to the Other Rongshan Sect and set off for the Yuan Nation with Dong Rui, Zhu Xiuer, and fifteen Other Rongshan disciples including Qiu Hu. Also accompanying them were three "managing deputy envoys" sent to him by Elder Qian; the leader was called Hu Qin, who was good at managing money and calculating, and was actually the Other Rongshan Sect's negotiation representative and investigation specialist.

He Lingchuan talked to Hu Qin and realized that the Other Rongshan Sect had long since sent people to investigate the assets the Yuan Nation used as collateral on the spot, and had picked out all the problems one by one. It could be seen that Elder Dao hadn't told the truth before; the Other Rongshan Sect wasn't uninterested in the Yuan Nation's assets, just not very satisfied with the chips.

Cunning and old-fashioned, there wasn't a single lamp that was easy to save.

But they had finished the preliminary research, which saved He Lingchuan a lot of effort for his subsequent actions.

Otherwise, with just these dozen Other Rongshan disciples, how could they have run through all the collateral assets in a short time?

￥￥￥￥￥

Panlong World.

More than four months had passed since the rebel army's large-scale attack on Yuheng City, and the Longchuan trade route was once again busy with guests, with traffic recovering to about 60% of its peak.

The Green Wolf Post Station was originally destroyed by water bandits, but later the Yuheng City authorities rebuilt it, doubling its area and making its facilities more complete, capable of accommodating more guests.

This post station was like a microcosm of the entire Longchuan trade route.

A few months ago, banditry was rampant on the trade route, and merchant caravans were decreasing. However, batches of new soldiers from Yuheng City were trained and deployed to patrol the trade route.

The Longchuan water bandits were not to be outdone, repeatedly ambushing the official patrols, each time with more than a hundred people, whistling back and forth, very arrogant.

Facing the ambushes of the water bandits, the Yuheng City army did not give an inch. Surrounding this southern trade route, a series of Mobile Corps Commander wars, annihilation battles, and encounter battles broke out between the officials and bandits.

Head-on collisions, both sides paid a bloody price.

In just over a month, the Yuheng City army lost more than 160 people and 350 were injured; the water bandits on the opposite side suffered fewer losses, with only 67 dead and 80-something injured.

He Lingchuan was not surprised by this number.

The patrols wandered the trade route in the open; the water bandits lurked and ambushed in the dark. In ambush battles, the patrols always suffered a bit.

And since they were called the Yuheng "New Army," the team was mainly composed of new recruits who had only trained for three months, and their blades had only chopped at dummies. Even if some had seen blood, it was because they were beating a drowning dog after the water bandits' failed ambush on Yuheng City, not an evenly matched battle.

Lack of experience caused the high casualty ratio of the Yuheng New Army.

But this ratio was within the range He Lingchuan could accept.

Compassion does not command troops; how can people not die in war?

The patrol teams were led by veterans, not only with more people than before but also with an optimized sentry system, so there was no repeat of the tragedy where Miao Mingming's entire team was wiped out.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 779 =====