Chapter 474

Zhu Ti, holding the king's military token, went to see Zhang Tu; now the one fit to lead troops to the battlefield is him, Zhao Chuan has been sent out by the king.

Zhang Tu left ten thousand troops to guard Youzhou City and sent twenty thousand cavalry south to meet the enemy. Twenty thousand is not a small number; even moving a little baggage creates noticeable commotion.

Dong Fu also quickly received the news; the king assigned him to be responsible for guarding Youzhou City.

Many warhorses are rotated and kept at the pasture; before dawn, all is silent, any slight movement is heard clearly. Outside, a large batch of armored cavalry was transferred from the old royal palace to the northern pasture to fetch warhorses; this commotion woke half of New City.

Xie Tu was awakened by his servant and thought he had overslept today, but the old servant's first words were astonishing: "Sir, get up quickly and have a look; outside seems to be a mutiny, what a huge commotion!"

Xie Yuan jumped in fright; a mutiny?

No way, the king has the Northern Border Army firmly in his grip; even the troops he personally funds could mutiny?

Upon further inquiry, the gatekeeper said he had heard a commotion on the street, with a large number of armored soldiers heading toward Donghua Gate.

Xie Yuan thought a mutiny was impossible; perhaps there was some emergency. He couldn't help recalling the intelligence that Chief Steward Zhu had shown him yesterday—Nanyang had fallen, and the Prince of Jiangxia had officially raised troops.

Soon, not only him, but the entire household woke up. Seeing that Xie Yuan didn't know what was happening, Xie Tu followed him to the prince's mansion.

As soon as they stepped outside, they saw the streets brightly lit, and they hurried all the way to the prince's mansion, which was bustling. When they found the chief steward busy allocating military provisions and asked him, they learned that some unknown force from the south had attacked Youzhou!

Xie Yuan found it hard to believe—while Chang'an was in danger and everyone should have been rushing to seize the throne in the Chengzhang Palace, they were instead taking the opportunity to march north!

The townspeople inside the city had all awakened. He and the chancellor discussed and decided to simply announce the news, to avoid rampant speculation, so that people could stay at home and temporarily refrain from heading south.

Soon, a few horsemen galloped out of Donghua Gate, beating gongs to warn the streets: "Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Anyone with no business, do not leave the city!"

"Rebel forces from the south have entered our territory; citizens, please do not leave the city!"

To be honest, after hearing that someone was coming to attack, the people were no longer as frightened as before. When the sky began to lighten and the cavalry had mustered and set out from Donghua Gate, the townspeople came out in an orderly fashion to see them off.

The divine doctor and the Daoist also squeezed into the crowd of townspeople. Qingxu carefully observed the expressions of the surrounding townspeople, remarking, "The people don't seem to be too frightened."

The divine doctor, too, was experiencing an enemy attack for the first time, "... perhaps those living in border towns have grown accustomed to it."

After the mighty cavalry had passed, they noticed that the city walls were different today—usually only the Youzhou Garrison kept a routine watch, but now martial law had begun.

Many more armored soldiers were now patrolling the walls, and even the number of sentries had surged, giving a wartime tension. Yet the townspeople remained calm; Qingxu personally heard a group of townspeople voluntarily go up to ask whether they should prepare stones and fire oil, offering to help defend the city.

"The people of Youzhou and the Northern Border King are of one mind; I estimate they would rather not use their own fire oil at home, yet they voluntarily propose to hand it over to the authorities." Qingxu looked on, feeling deeply moved.

Divine Doctor Zhang smiled, "It's the people's will—how good!"

Qingxu nodded, standing at the city gate and watching for a long time until the escort party of the Dongdu Marquis arrived.

"Under the order of the Dongdu Marquis's senior general, we are escorting the tribute of the two Xianbei tribes to be delivered to the state treasury." The border troops who arrived looked at today's gate situation, bewildered, wondering if they had known we would come today.

The commanding officer lifted his head and saw someone wearing an owl mask leaning against a pillar on the second floor of the gate tower, looking down.

Alright, the dream is over.

He instantly straightened his posture—could these silver and sheep really not be that impressive?!

The next second, someone answered his doubt: "Rebel forces from the south have slipped in under cover of night along the border, entering the northern territories; now the city is under martial law, allowing exit but not entry. We brothers must also conduct indiscriminate strict checks—each person's identity must be verified, and every crate opened for inspection."

Hearing this, the border troops' officer became anxious: "Should we notify the commanding general to send reinforcements? We've just withdrawn from the Xianbei border!"

The gate officer couldn't make such a decision: "His Highness has his own arrangements; for now, you brothers just need to cooperate and verify identities."

Qingxu watched with great interest, realizing these border troops were also intriguing—they were originally the border forces of the Great Jin, but now, regardless of who is attacking, they have wholeheartedly devoted themselves to the Northern Border King. There's a good chance they are former loyalists of the old Chang'an regime.

Moreover, it was rare for him to see, in his lifetime, the Great Jin extracting so much from the Xianbei.

One dares to demand, the other truly dares not refuse.

That's quite interesting.

Qingxu, savoring the crafty words of Divine Doctor Zhang, imagined a dragon diving into the Northern Border King's study… Is this the will of the people?

It's probably not just that.

When the horse-drawn crates were opened, they were filled with gleaming silver, and behind them stretched endless herds of sheep tied in strings—had they swept the plains clean of sheep? Yet it was a gain without loss.

The old Daoist stood there a while longer, then sighed deeply: "To be at peace with the times and proceed smoothly—ah!"

He didn't realize that the king, burdened with many matters, had not failed to think of him.

"There are still twenty days until the March deadline; it seems the Daoist construction crew won't be able to fleece this wool after all—the old Daoist, immovable as a mountain, is really hard to deceive!"

Bai Ze: ……

"I've come out this trip and gained quite a bit, also delayed showing face before him—how could he not notice? Ah… huh?" The sighing king suddenly changed his tone.

That fellow kept his big mouth shut for a long while; he glanced left and right, mysteriously grabbing Bai Ze, insisting he lower his head to hear his whisper. Bai Ze, speechless, lowered his head to listen for any astonishing words, and the king whispered in a soft tone: "I seem to have awakened the power of word spirits!"

Bai Ze: "…Read less fiction, study more."

The king: ……