Chapter 526

Luoyang changed hands in a day; the Great King seized the government's high officials and placed them under temporary military control, and the garrison was directly replaced by personnel from Luo River Pass.

That night the Great King notified Zhuti of the news of capturing Luoyang, which was much faster than the intelligence office; he sent a messenger ordering the Chancellor to dispatch two officials to Luoyang, and having experience taking over Liang and Bing Prefectures, the Northern Border now also counts as experienced.

The Great King also had no time to waste; he incorporated the Luoyang garrison into his forces, sent people to send Feng Xiang's family back to Youzhou, and then hurriedly rushed to the next city.

These people from Luoyang could only be used to hold the line; the Great King didn't expect them to fight, avoiding combat meant he only needed to spend a little grain and fodder to keep them, which he found quite satisfactory.

He brought Feng Xiang and his deputy general Qian Yi to his side, deciding to let the new oxen and horses experience the warmth of the new unit up close.

The next major commandery to the west is Hongnong; the latest report says it has already been taken by the newly enthroned Bai Li Jun. Hongnong still has ties to the Great King—it was his maternal grandmother's natal family. He felt pleased, thinking Hongnong belonged to the Yang clan, perhaps even easier than taking Luoyang, but who knew it had already changed hands so swiftly?

Getting back to the Great King, his army hadn't gone far from Luoyang when they discovered that Bai Li Jun's propaganda was no worse than his own.

Even rural villagers know the Ningde emperor and his son lack virtue, and Heaven has sent punishment. The northern drought lasting three years, with corpses strewn everywhere, is proof. Now the new emperor has ascended the throne to restore order, and next year's harvest will surely be good.

Commoners don't care which member of the Bai family sits in Jianzhang Palace; they only care about what they want to care about, and only believe what benefits them, such as a good harvest next year.

Wei Shen objected, "Bai Li Jun really dares to boast—what if next year's harvest isn't good? They've only just started sowing this year; why doesn't he talk about this year?"

The Great King chewed a stalk of grass, squatted behind him to eavesdrop on the villagers' chat, "He's surely thinking his throne will be secure next year; even if it doesn't rain, what can the people do to him? He's just saying the heavenly mandate hasn't faded yet."

"…Do you Bai family still have any decent people?"

Upon hearing that, the Great King was displeased—this sweeping accusation was too broad! He gave a glance to his new enforcer Xiao Jin; Xiao Jin obeyed the command, rushed forward and butted Wei Shen out of the bushes…

Wei Shen: ．．．

The chatting old man suddenly stalled, "Who?"

"An outsider?"

"Someone sneaking around hiding in the grass is definitely no good person!"

Wei Shen: "…Haha, I'm a good person! I want to go to Hongnong; I ran into refugees and got separated from my family, lost my way. I hope you elders can point me the right path."

The old man, half‑believing, half‑doubting, pointed him a direction; Wei Shen immediately abandoned the Great King's trail and ran off without looking back.

The cavalry marched on, chewing dry rations at noon and only cooking dinner at night; that day the Great King, with Xiao Jin, squatted by the fire waiting for the meal to be ready, when the Marquis of the Eastern Capital and Feng Xiang came over.

The Marquis of the Eastern Capital sat down directly beside the Great King without ceremony, and after a moment Feng Xiang also squatted nearby, saying, "Your Highness, do you know Hongnong is already under the control of the Rebel King of Jiangxia?"

The Great King laughed, "Oh, they've all declared themselves emperors, yet you still use the old titles—does that still work?"

Feng Xiang: "…Is that the point?"

"It seems Your Highness knows. The garrison commander is Zhang Tong, who took Nanyang and Suyang."

"If this battle can't be avoided, we'll just fight it—what's Zhang Tong or Wang Tong? I still have Uncle Liang and Uncle Feng. It's time to move out; we're heading south for a proper battle we haven't fought yet!" The Great King stayed calm; there's no such thing as a free lunch in the world.

Seeing that the Great King and the Marquis of the Eastern Capital weren't in a hurry, Feng Xiang also sat down. Well, let's also take a look at the world‑shocking Xuanjia Cavalry.

He followed the gaze of the Great King and that strange golden‑haired little beast, and also looked toward the cooks busy ahead.

Looking at it doesn't matter; tonight's meal is really not bad.

The pot's porridge had been opened, the rice aroma wafting out; a closer look showed it was white refined rice. He hadn't never seen this kind of rice—Luoyang City also had it, but it was terribly expensive, and his family rarely saw it. The Northern Border King's troops actually eat this well?

He glanced around and sure enough, the surrounding pots were also boiling white rice, the same fragrance. Word has it that the Northern Border King's army, from officers to soldiers, eats the same rations up and down, which is even more outrageous!

Feng Xiang had no idea this rice was accumulated from soldier quotas during the task of building Luo River Pass. This grain is stored in the Luo River Pass military granary; there's no greedy pocket there, and if kept too long it spoils, so this time the Great King brought it all out and gives the soldiers a bit of fine grain every few days.

Besides eating plain refined‑rice porridge tonight, once the rice was half‑cooked they splashed in two sacks of dried goods. Feng Xiang examined them closely… "Very good, I don't recognize any of them."

If you're not from the coast, it's really hard to recognize them—they're just seasoned, baked‑dried fish meat and various small seafood.

A quick stir, and the thin rice porridge instantly turned opaque and thick.

The Marquis of the Eastern Capital chuckled, "Tonight we're in for a treat—this is seafood porridge!"

Even then the Great King wasn't satisfied; he ordered more scallions added, and the soldiers tossed in a small bag of dehydrated vegetables, using the luxurious snow‑salt for salt!

Feng Xiang silently marveled to himself; if he spoke up, the Great King would have to tell him that finding the yellowish, earthy coarse salt in the Northern Border is really hard. The salt he produces in Liaodong is plenty edible; what's shipped out is pure white top‑grade salt, while the lower grades stay in Liaodong's pickle workshops to make pickled vegetables.

Feng Xiang had never eaten as well in three generations at home as the Great King's field rations; last night's biscuits and dried fish he already thought quite good, let alone the noon dry rations he didn't even recognize. Tonight was even more extravagant—the vegetables in the porridge showed no color before going in, but after a couple of stirs in the pot they turned a vivid green.

White rice, multicolored little squid and scallop meat rehydrated, plus verdant leafy greens—tonight's porridge is of a quality far beyond ordinary.

Who would have thought that when they really started eating, the cooks brought out baskets and handed each person a large pancake? The pancake, fried in oil that sizzled on both sides till golden, Feng Xiang took a bite and found it sweet!

The Great King had both sugar and oil, as well as salt—wasn't he just aiming for everyone to eat a bit less grain? You should know that in the Great Jin the ratio of frontline combat troops to logistics supply units is 1:3; he brought out 100,000 elite troops, so at a 1:3 ratio the supply train would be 300,000?

Really, bringing 400,000 people south will make the king cry from eating!

Feng Xiang, eating while feeling utterly bewildered, said, "Isn't the northern border very poor? Luoyang is truly the poor one!"

He didn't even mention how complicated his feelings were; the 60,000 people Luoyang brought felt these past two days that they hadn't lived in vain—this was far better than what they ate in Luoyang. Originally they were to march west to fight, everyone feeling uncertain, and no one in the world loves the battlefield. But now they think following the Northern Border King isn't a loss; after all, this world surely won't be peaceful, and since war is unavoidable, they might as well follow a wealthy lord and eat a few full meals.

The king, after eating a bowl of porridge, carried Lord Zhetian as he inspected the camp; the Northern Border Army's discipline was strict, nothing unusual, but when they reached the Luoyang garrison at the rear, there was a cacophony of joyous voices and laughter filling the heavens—nothing like marching to battle, more like a festive gathering.

The king grabbed Lord Zhetian and pulled him down, forcibly putting his arm around his neck and shaking him in his embrace, saying, "They surely love following me!" The confident king radiated light.

Lord Zhetian, choked in his hand until his eyes rolled back, just then someone stepped forward to report, saying they had found a fainted grandfather and grandson pair from hunger near the camp; Lord Zhetian seized the chance when the king was off guard and broke free instantly.

Before flying off, this guy didn't forget to grab the king's hair with a claw, Hmph! You've offended Lord Zhetian! Next time if you let Lord Zhetian cooperate in a performance, that'll be a different price.