Chapter 189: Willing to Offer Death

Hearing Li Lin's words, Xu Xingchang knew... he had no chance.

An officer who ensures his soldiers eat their fill may not be said to be deeply beloved, but at the very least, no one would oppose him.

He could not possibly kill Li Lin.

This was impossible... Li Lin was a man placed by Prefect Huang. Among the three thousand present, many leaned toward the Huang family; otherwise, Huang Yan would not have appointed Li Lin as the Military Adjutant.

Watching the soldiers below gradually grow excited, Li Lin felt quite satisfied within.

He then looked at Xu Xingchang beside him: "The account books contain many errors. Fix them yourselves, and do not make such mistakes again in the future."

Several Commanders instinctively breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Xu Xingchang looked at these Commanders and smiled helplessly.

"Disperse."

After Li Lin shouted this, he descended from the commander's seat.

He said to Xu Xingchang: "Tomorrow I will dispatch a company (five hundred men) to Beiliu County. The affairs of the military camp will temporarily be under your charge as well."

Although Li Lin now commanded three thousand prefectural soldiers above him, he could not take all the forces with him.

After the Fumian Army Garrison fell, Yulin County and its surroundings had effectively become a strategic pass; he must leave the majority of the soldiers behind to guard the entire county area.

This was also the reason Huang Yan had distributed a route of prefectural soldiers down.

Xu Xingchang nodded, clasped his hands, and bowed: "This humble official will certainly manage this place properly."

Li Lin patted the other man's shoulder, then left.

Xu Xingchang and several Commanders escorted Li Lin out of the military camp, watching Li Lin lead five hundred militia soldiers away.

One Commander asked: "What do you think? Is what this new Military Adjutant said true?"

"Which part?"

"That he will not deduct our pay."

"Probably..."

"Are there truly superiors who are not greedy and do not deduct pay?"

"I think the Military Adjutant Li's words should be true." Suddenly, one Commander said seriously.

Everyone else looked at him.

Xu Xingchang asked: "How can you be so sure?"

"I indeed do not know how the Military Adjutant Li conducts himself, but just now I looked outside; the complexion of those five hundred militia soldiers looks better than ours prefectural soldiers, clearly eating and drinking well."

Xu Xingchang sighed deeply.

He felt... he had no hope this time again.

He was already nearly forty, yet he remained a Deputy Military Adjutant.

The older he grew, the smaller his hope of promotion became.

Perhaps his future would be forever stuck in this official post.

Compared to Xu Xingchang, the other several Commanders were obviously much happier.

Most of them did not think of promotion; they only thought of making money and getting rich.

If Li Lin could distribute all the military pay without deducting any, then they would be willing to follow this County Vice Magistrate Li.

Time arrived at the second day.

Li Lin led the five hundred militia soldiers to the military camp here once again.

Then he pointed to the youngest of those Commanders and said: "May I ask your surname?"

"Tao De."

Li Lin instinctively looked at this man's facial features and smiled: "A fine name."

"Thank you, Military Adjutant, for your praise."

Li Lin said: "Lead your subordinates and depart with me. I will wait for you outside."

"As ordered."

Li Lin arrived outside the military camp and waited for another two incense sticks' worth of time, then Tao De came out leading his five hundred soldiers.

Additionally, fifty cavalrymen were exchanged.

Of course, they were light cavalry, not armored heavy cavalry.

The Great Qi did have heavy cavalry, but... the numbers were very small, mainly because most of the horse-breeding lands had been occupied by the Northern Di.

Tao De arrived before Li Lin and said: "The men have all assembled; please, Military Adjutant, inspect them."

Li Lin glanced casually and said: "As long as they are all here, that is fine. Order the cavalry to go first and circle around Beiliu County to see what the situation is; the other infantry will follow behind us."

"As ordered."

The fifty light cavalrymen immediately set out, kicking up a cloud of dust before disappearing into the distance.

Li Lin then led nearly a thousand soldiers, walking toward Beiliu County.

After walking for about two hours, it was nearly noon, and the cavalry scout squad returned.

The cavalry captain flipped down, ran over to Li Lin, clasped his fist, and said: "Military Adjutant, Beiliu County has no human presence."

Li Lin stood up, sighed; he had already guessed such a situation, and asked: "Did you truly see no people?"

"The city gates of Beiliu County were wide open. After we entered, we found no living people."

"All white bones?"

"No... the number of white bones is not many,"

Li Lin pondered for a moment, then said to Tao De and Su Bei beside him: "Order everyone to increase the marching speed; reach Beiliu County within one hour."

The two immediately urged their subordinates to push hard and hasten the journey.

An hour later, the main army arrived at Beiliu County.

A profound silence reigned here; the city gates were indeed open, yet no living person entered or exited, and not even a single local militia member patrolled the city walls.

"Send two or three hundred men to go in and take a look," Li Lin said to Su Bei.

Su Bei immediately led men into the city.

Li Lin then turned to Tao De and said: "Camp outside the city."

"Yes!"

Everyone sprang into action, while Li Lin himself found a place to sit and waited quietly.

About half an hour later, Su Bei returned with his men: "Commandant, there are indeed no people left in the city, but there are not many white bones either; it should not have been overrun by the Desolate Abominations."

Li Lin nodded lightly, then asked: "Have you checked the Taowu Zhenjun Temple?"

"Checked. The altars inside the Taowu Zhenjun Temple are all gone."

Li Lin pondered for a moment and said: "It seems the enemy army has relocated everyone in this county, including the altars and the Taowu Zhenjun."

"Beiliu County must have tens of thousands of people; is that possible?" Su Bei asked instinctively.

Tao De sighed: "Nothing is impossible. Sixty years ago... the Di people slaughtered their way from the north to the Central Plains, and in less than half a year, they captured and relocated nearly three hundred thousand people to the northern lands. More than thirty thousand died just on the road. At that time... the number of Northern Di troops was merely twenty thousand."

Everyone fell silent.

For most Qi people, the events of sixty years ago were a matter of shame.

Impossible to forget, even if one wanted to.

Li Lin looked at the sky and said: "Su Bei, have your men carry bronze gongs, beat them while shouting that the Yulin County local militia has come to rescue people, and that anyone still alive should come out. Perhaps some are hiding in secret chambers."

"Can anyone really survive?" Su Bei said, puzzled. "Even if there are, they should have been eaten by the Desolate Abominations by now."

"Hard to say; perhaps some possess the ability to protect themselves," Li Lin said in a somber tone.

Su Bei nodded, then led the soldiers back into Beiliu County City; bronze gongs should be findable inside.

Li Lin looked at Tao De again: "Have the scouts follow the road toward Fumian. If they truly kidnapped tens of thousands of commoners, their marching speed must be very slow. It has only been a few days; they should not have left Jin Commandery so quickly. Once the enemy army is spotted, send the signal immediately."

Tao De stood up: "Commandant, this time I will go personally."

"Good." Li Lin agreed.

The cavalry unit set out once more.

By now, the camp had been built; Li Lin sat motionless on the commander's seat, unmoving as a mountain, his demeanor increasingly that of a general.

Within Beiliu County City, the faint sound of gongs could be heard, mixed with shouting.

As evening fell, Su Bei emerged, followed by a large crowd.

Besides the local militia, there was a large group: a small portion dressed in silk brocade, and the majority from poor families; just by looking at their clothes, one could tell they were servants of nobles.

These people followed the local militia timidly, arriving before the camp.

An old man stepped forward from the crowd, looked at Li Lin, clasped his hands, and asked: "General, you are from Yulin County... are you here to take us there for settlement?"

Li Lin nodded lightly.

The rescued people immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then burst into tears.

For a moment, there was some noise and commotion.

At that moment, a soldier suddenly pointed southwest: "Supervisor, the scout team has sent the signal."

Li Lin looked over; indeed, a thin wisp of white smoke was rising in the distance.

But it vanished quickly.

It looked like cooking smoke, but only they knew it was the signal they used for communication.

Li Lin looked at Su Bei and said: "You will command two hundred local militia to protect these people and let them rest in the camp; at dawn the next day, lead them back to Yulin County."

Su Bei acknowledged the order.

Li Lin stood up and shouted: "The rest of you, follow this official to rescue people. Tens of thousands of commoners are in enemy hands; if we accomplish this, promotion and wealth will be trivial matters. I swear to Heaven that I will never keep even a single coin of the war merit money from you!"

After a brief silence, hundreds of weapons were raised high, radiating cold light.

"We are willing to die for the Supervisor!"

The roar shook heaven and earth!

(End of this chapter)