Chapter 122

Going is definitely going to happen, but you cannot be without caution against people. You've been away for so long; if Sun Zhongquan makes a move, this Wang Liu may not necessarily listen to you.

I have Qiao Yinxiang accompany you on a trip; he is now a second-level Grandmaster, and as long as he is with you, I guarantee you will face no danger—even tens of thousands of troops can be escorted to break through.

Yang Hongyue felt warm inside, but she didn't want Qiao Yinxiang to escort her, after all, he is a Grandmaster.

Qiao Yinxiang is now a Grandmaster, he is your strongest backup; don't have him handle everything, after all, a Grandmaster has his own dignity.

Even if he listens to you on everything, you must show him sufficient respect; otherwise, one day if he refuses to listen to you, he could become your greatest enemy.

Shen Tianxing almost died laughing from Yang Hongyue's words; Qiao Yinxiang is a system-summoned being with loyalty 100%, and unless Shen Tianxing wants to kill him, nothing can shake his loyalty.

If you think that way, you're mistaken; Qiao Yinxiang treats me like his own son or nephew, and since you are my wife, he will naturally treat you as his daughter-in-law.

Protecting your safety is a perfectly normal thing for him, and even if you don't let me, I would still have him protect you; you going alone like that makes me uneasy.

Yang Hongyue gave Shen Tianxing another white look, but her heart felt even warmer; she had always been absolutely dominant, but now that Shen Tianxing cares for and concerns himself with her, she deeply feels love, and her affection value for Shen Tianxing instantly surged to 80%.

Alright then, I'll listen to you.

Then it's happily decided.

Having said that, the two exchanged a smile and naturally formed a tacit understanding.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed, and Shen Tianxing's group finally entered Beizhou's territory; they only needed one more day to reach Lecheng.

At the same time, Lecheng Prefect Xu Wenbin also received the news, knowing that an army of 80,000 had marched from Leizhou, which frightened him greatly, especially since they were coming from this direction, prompting him to hurriedly deploy troops to defend.

But Lecheng at this moment was in complete chaos; too many things had happened recently, as the ruffians inside the city joined forces with the lowly outsiders, turning Lecheng into a foul mess, forcing Xu Wenbin to use most of the garrison to suppress the internal unrest.

After troops were sent to guard the city walls, the internal chaos resumed, and even many people took the lead shouting to overthrow this prefect and welcome Shen Tianxing's army into the city.

Prefect, the Leizhou Army and Yue Family Army will at most reach our Lecheng in another day; the interior is now too chaotic, and there are still many lowly outsiders outside.

Originally we thought killing a few would deter them, but after killing people they became even more frenzied; now both inside and outside are chaotic, and even if we wanted to hold out it would be impossible—otherwise we could simply surrender and let the Leizhou Army suppress these riotous ruffians and lowly outsiders.

The speaker was Lecheng's commanding general Xiao Kai, a martial artist who had reached the sixth rank, sixth level, yet he was an extremely timid person.

Are you crazy? Just a month ago we received the imperial edict, chose to follow the Regent King, and sent part of our families to the Jingcheng; now you want to surrender without even fighting—do you want your son and my son to die together?

Xiao Kai then calmed down, recalling that earlier they had both sent most of their families to the Jingcheng to show loyalty, leaving only a few concubines and two or three young children.

Sir, what else can we do if we don't surrender? By now we definitely cannot win; not to mention our garrison is only 20,000, most of them Worthless Soldiers, and even if they were all Elite Soldiers they couldn't withstand the Yue Family Army and the Leizhou Army.

Xu Wenbin knows this as well: holding out is definitely impossible, fighting is definitely impossible, and surrendering would get their families killed, so the only option now is to flee and seek help from other cities.

Now we can only run, and we must bring the garrison with us; we'll go to Taicheng, and joining forces with the several ten thousand garrison there should allow us to hold out.

Xiao Kai nodded instinctively; it seems this is the only way now—taking the garrison and fleeing is a stratagem, surrendering the city merely to paralyze the enemy.

This matter cannot be delayed; I will immediately gather the garrison from the prefecture, sir, you also need to prepare. We must leave before the Leizhou Army and Yue Family Army arrive.

Xu Wenbin nodded, Xiao Kai quickly left, and Xu Wenbin also gathered the servants of the prefect's office, began packing, mainly money and valuables, and also had to bring a few children and two concubines.

Shen Tianxing didn't realize his first stop had already fallen without a fight; at this moment he received a flying pigeon letter from Leizhou, learning of Leizhou's current situation.

Before Shen Tianxing's departure, he allocated 5 million taels of silver, left 300,000 dan of grain and fodder, and had Zhou Yu and Xun Yu conscript large numbers of laborers to begin renovating the five major cities of Leizhou.

You should know that building cities can increase prosperity for this land, at the same time increase the city's defense, and boost the people's morale.

The key is that it can also improve the physical fitness of all residents within Leizhou, since providing food and shelter with ample physical labor can greatly enhance one's physique.

This also includes having the garrison soldiers participate in city construction, plus reclaiming wasteland and dredging rivers; in short, all policies that could make Leizhou prosperous were issued by Shen Tianxing.

You should know that Shen Tianxing's territory has now been changed from Leiming City to Leizhou, its prosperity has reached 5000, yet the total defense of Leizhou adds up to only 100,000.

Furthermore, the population under his jurisdiction is only 5 million, meaning many villages, towns, and small cities are not yet fully incorporated; otherwise a prefecture should have at least ten million people.

Moreover, only when prosperity is raised to 10,000 will new drifters appear, flooding into all of Leizhou, after which they will be distributed among the various cities.

Besides building cities, Shen Tianxing also planned to repair roads so that human-powered tricycles could move unimpeded in Leizhou; for this he consumed over a million Killing Value, exchanging in the System Mall for a large amount of construction materials.

Fortunately these construction materials are quite cheap; the construction materials obtained by exchanging over a million Killing Value are enough to turn the entire Leizhou into the most advanced prefecture within the Great Zhou.

As for this flying pigeon letter, it was a thousand-mile messenger pigeon that Shen Tianxing deliberately exchanged Killing Value for in the System; it can precisely locate his position and deliver the letter to him at the fastest speed—over a thousand li it arrives in about three or four hours.

There are over a hundred such pigeons, kept in special pigeon cages; besides locating Shen Tianxing, they can also locate anyone else who left traces in the cage, enabling long-distance communication.

What are you looking at? Could it be a letter from Mingyue? You're laughing like that.

Why are you jealous of everything? Look yourself, this is a letter from Xun Yu.

Yang Hongyue rolled her eyes, took it, glanced at it, and then looked rather puzzled.

If you keep doing this, are you planning to build Leizhou into a new Jingcheng? Those houses comparable to your villa shouldn't wait until you seize the Jingcheng to renovate; shouldn't they be renovated in the Jingcheng first?