Chapter 93: The Northern Lands Have No Heroes, So a Upstart Becomes Famous!

"Those who fraternize with the Hu are bandits!"

"The high-ranking families of Jiangzuo who shelter the Hu are all bandits."

"Prince of Wei?"

Lin Dao glanced at the Jiangzuo envoy from the corner of his eye. "Defeated subordinates are made commandery dukes; what use is this Prince of Wei?"

"Even the Yi and Di can be granted the rank of Grand Commander with equal ceremonial status to the Three Excellencies."

"This Prince of Wei—I do not accept him."

Inside Xianyang Hall, the Jiangzuo envoy stood there helplessly.

He very much wanted to say plainly: this is a royal title, and moreover it is Prince of Wei.

Don't you understand the meaning of the Jiangzuo lords?

Presumably this beggar-army commander is not from some high-ranking family, and actually doesn't even understand this.

The aristocratic clans of Jiangzuo all keep libraries in their homes and know the old affairs of the Three Kingdoms from a hundred years ago.

The present situation is very similar to that of back then.

Given the beggar army's powerful performance, Cheng Han in Shu Di will fall into the hands of the beggar army within two or three years.

On the Liangzhou side, after some bargaining, they will inevitably also submit to the beggar army.

By then, the beggar army that has unified the Northern Regions—ten years of nurturing life, ten years of teaching lessons; twenty years hence, what can Wu be but a marsh?

After twenty years of recuperation and multiplication, Jiangzuo will inevitably be unable to hold out, just like Eastern Wu back then.

Compared with Wei and Jin of old, the beggar army lacks only the Son of Heaven in its hands.

The Jiangzuo lords making the beggar-army commander Prince of Wei means it is very clear: they are saying you can be Cao Wei, accept the abdication and replace them.

Now is the stage of contact and negotiation; satisfy the conditions of the Jiangzuo lords, and the matters behind will naturally become simple.

What the envoy did not expect was that this beggar-army commander would actually haggle over such a trivial matter as the Hu, truly lacking great vision.

"Grand Commander."

The envoy looked around, hoping someone capable in the beggar army would step forward to persuade.

Unfortunately there was none.

He had no choice but to bow with clasped hands. "The matter of the Qiang is of no importance."

"Since the Former Han, the Yi and Di who come to submit to the Central Plains have all been granted high ranks; this is convention."

"How could these Yi and Di be compared with the Grand Commander?"

Granting high offices to the Hu existed in Han times, similar to spending a thousand gold to buy a horse's bone.

In the eyes of the powerful nobles, this doesn't count as a matter at all.

A beggar-army commander of low birth haggling over this—how utterly uninteresting.

Lin Dao narrowed his eyes. "Need not say more!"

"Hand over all those Qiang."

"Before that, I don't want to discuss anything."

He waved his hand. "Envoy, please return."

The envoy cursed in his heart: "These low-born ones are truly not fit for the stage."

"The Northern Lands have no heroes, so a upstart becomes famous!"

After the envoy left, the civil and military officials of the beggar army naturally spoke in support of the commander, denouncing the Jiangzuo petty court.

Lin Dao glanced at Wang Meng and ordered everyone to leave separately.

The women in the Imperial Palace did not know of the changes in the outside world.

They spent all day dressed up and gorgeous, vying for beauty, trying every means to attract the commander's attention.

Only Xie Daoyun could sense a trace of strangeness.

Because writing with a brush was not attractive, Lin Dao had many of his documents written by Xie Daoyun as a ghostwriter.

From these documents, she sensed that the beggar army was gathering its elite and training them strictly.

Even from between the lines, such as strengthening swimming training by rivers and lakes, distributing medicine to prevent and treat some local diseases of Jiangzuo, collecting materials on the mountains, rivers, watermarks, and local customs of Jiangzuo, she sensed many clues.

Regarding this, Xie Daoyun said nothing more.

When it was time to ghostwrite, she continued ghostwriting; when it was time to attend the bed, she attended the bed.

She was not like a transmigrated woman, impatient to show herself off, nor did she leak anything to the outside.

Just as she had once said to her father.

Since she belonged to another family, she naturally should take her husband's family as the master.

Not to mention Jiangzuo; even if the Xie family had matters, she would not say a word more.

If she did not understand these things, she would surely not have a good ending.

Until one day, Lin Dao suddenly announced seclusion, and all military and state affairs were handed over to Wang Meng to handle.

Xie Daoyun had a bold guess in her heart.

Lin Dao was not in seclusion; he had gone to war.

As for the target, naturally it would not be Liangzhou or Shu Di, which have no great rivers.

Lin Dao led the selected elite, lightly equipped and marching forward day and night, heading straight for the bank of the Huai River.

Actually, except for the army commanders, the ordinary soldiers did not know where they were going.

When setting out from the camp, they only said it was long-distance march training.

Without the burden of military supplies, a full-force rapid march of all elites was truly extremely fast.

Relying on leg wraps and cloth shoes, and supported by a large amount of high-calorie food, they marched over a hundred li every day.

It seemed very fast, but compared with Sima Yi of old, who marched twelve hundred li in eight days to crush Meng Da, it was still lacking somewhat.

The vast Northern Lands had endured years of cruel slaughter.

Now only a few million remained; it could be said to be extremely empty.

"Travel a hundred li, and you find but one settlement."

"Three hundred li, and you find but one city."

What Lin Dao saw and heard along the way weighed increasingly heavy on his heart.

On the road south, it was hardly different from the north.

Everywhere lay desolate wilderness; traces of human activity were being swiftly swallowed by nature.

Forests once felled grew back anew.

Once-fertile fields were overgrown with shrubs and weeds.

Villages and towns once stood, now only ruins remained, covered in green, foxes and rats moving among them.

Without people, nature would reclaim everything.

"Barbarians, aristocratic families."

"What great sins have you committed!"

Shi Hu was cruel, but he was no exception.

Indeed, many high-ranking families matched the barbarians in cruelty.

"Perhaps only humans are so cruel to their own kind."

Lin Dao came to understand ever more clearly how difficult survival was for commoners under the end of the world.

In this world, truly, living one more day was a gain.

A flame seemed to burn in his chest.

The great commander said nothing, only urged them forward, as if he wished to fly at once to Jiankang City.

They did not enter settlements or manors they passed, nor cities or towns.

They advanced at a speed of over a hundred li per day.

After more than ten days of marching, they finally reached the north bank of the Huai River.

Only here did human habitation gradually grow dense.

Even traces of merchants and travelers appeared.

And the soldiers finally learned that this southern march was actually a raid on Jiankang City.

Only Lin Dao, who could produce things from thin air, had the prestige to make the soldiers believe this battle could be won.

Had it been anyone else, the soldiers would surely have mutinied outright.

"Lord."

Liu Hu asked in confusion, "Why do we not see any patrols?"

"On this side of Jiangzuo, most troops are private soldiers," Lin Dao explained patiently. "There are indeed county and provincial soldiers, but their treatment is extremely poor, and most are old and weak."

"Men in their sixties and seventies, children of eleven or twelve—all make up the majority of the army."

"Daily life itself is a problem for them; where would they find the strength to patrol?"

The Jin military system was in great disorder, especially after the Eight Princes' Rebellion.

Able-bodied men were all divided among high-ranking families as private soldiers.

County and provincial soldiers nominally belonging to the court not only had poor quality troops, but almost no treatment to speak of.

Their bellies lacked grain; starving, they had no strength to move—who would still dutifully patrol every mile all day?

Many so-called soldiers might patrol and patrol, then lay down their heads to sleep, never to rise again.

"Rest for one day, build a floating bridge."

"Gather the stragglers, feed them well to restore their strength."

Lin Dao instructed, "Drinking water must be boiled."

He had brought a large quantity of wooden floating-bridge equipment from the Modern World, fixed with iron chains, extending straight to the opposite bank of the Huai River.

This year suffered great drought with little rain; the Huai River was far narrower than the Da Jiang, suitable for building a floating bridge.

The Da Jiang would not do.

Even the Da Jiang in its dry season, building a floating bridge would be an extremely enormous project.

The soldiers who had marched for a long time were very exhausted, but Lin Dao had always motivated them with generous rewards.

"Capture Jiankang City, and the goods within the city shall be divided half and half among the army."

Talking to the soldiers about great righteousness or ideals was actually useless.

Only real, tangible rewards could inspire their morale and will.

After one day of rest, several hundred straggling soldiers were gathered.

As for the many more stragglers behind, there was no time to wait for them.

The great army crossed the Huai River in grand style and marched straight onto Baguashan on the opposite bank.

Shouyang Cheng not far away had already shut its city gates in fear, with countless figures looking out from atop the city wall.

"Just advance, and ignore everything else!"

"Even if someone throws gold on the road, no one may pick it up—keep moving forward!"

"Two days—within two days we must reach Xiao Yaoo Jin!"

"Five days—within five days we must reach Ru Xu Kou!"

The Beggar-Soldiers, with short weapons hung at their waists, raced south along the Ru Xu Shui.

Their marching speed was too fast; the messengers sent by the cities along the way sometimes could not even keep up with them.

When the naval commander of Ru Xu Shui received the warning letter, his first reaction was to toss it back onto the desk.

"Impossible!"

There had been absolutely no news before, and then suddenly it was said that tens of thousands were fast approaching Ruyu Kou.

The Grand Commander naturally did not believe it; could these people have fallen from the sky?

Ancient marching speeds all had established rules; according to common sense, such a thing was impossible.

Not to mention anything else, how could heavy logistics supplies possibly fly up?

The Grand Commander, having calmed his qi, once again picked up the letter to examine it.

"Finished, dispatch someone to investigate tomorrow."

That night, inside Ruyu Kou Water Camp, it was unusually quiet, only the clamor of the river wind stirring the river water came in waves.

Inside the Water Camp, boats large and small were densely arranged together.

Now that the world was at peace, the nearest enemy armies were a thousand miles away; where could there be any vigilance in the military camp?

Even the night-watch sentinels were listless.

"It seems there's some sound in the sky?"

"A buzzing sound like stinging insects (honey bees)~"

The sentinels listened; indeed there was a faint humming sound coming.

Someone doubted, "These stinging insects are too diligent, coming out to gather flowers even late at night?"

"Bang!"

A dull sound came; on the boat near the Water Camp gate, shouts and curses came.

The sentinels went over, only to see that on many boats, sticky things had adhered.

The people on the boats who had been woken were cursing while cleaning.

Not long after, another dull sound came; on several boats not far away, these strange things had also adhered.

The sentinel felt alert in his heart and reported upward.

Report after report along the way finally woke the Grand Commander who was fast asleep.

The Grand Commander with a dark face put on his robe and came out to inspect.

The sky was dark and the wind fierce, vision unclear.

A colonel held a torch forward, approaching to observe what exactly was stuck to the boats.

The next moment, fire light burst.

"Hmm?"

Lin Dao, operating the drone, saw through the surveillance camera that the camp was ablaze.

"I haven't thrown the fire seed yet~"

End of Chapter