Chapter 155: Unexpected News

Yancheng.

On a wide stretch of land east of the North Gate, thatched sheds were built all over.

The thatched sheds were filled with shabbily dressed, filthy commoners.

These commoners were the ones Mo Yu had rescued from the hands of the Northern Di.

Ever since they arrived in Yancheng, the government had settled them here.

Every day, porridge was served here to keep them alive.

During this period, some people had been allotted fields, but the majority were still waiting.

Just when everyone thought this would be another boring day.

They suddenly saw a green-robed official walking toward them, followed by several yamen runners.

"Come over, all of you, come over." The yamen runners called all the commoners over.

In a short while, the area around the official was crowded with people.

Seeing that most of the people had arrived, Zou Rong said: "You have caught up with good times. His Highness Yan Wang is benevolent and cannot bear to force you into corvée labor. He has now decided to provide work as a form of relief, giving you an opportunity to earn Silver. Anyone who is willing, sign your name or make your mark here, and wait for orders to depart."

After Yan Wang finalized the matter of building the Lengbao, he had discussed it with his subordinate officials at the Government Office for several days and set a preliminary plan.

After gathering the manpower, five officials would each lead 16,000 people to build one Lengbao respectively.

Today, they officially began recruiting able-bodied men.

"Where are we going?" a commoner asked.

"Wuan County. Three meals a day are provided, and there is one tael of Silver to be earned," Zou Rong said.

The term "provide work as a form of relief" was taught to him by Yan Wang.

It meant that instead of letting these commoners eat the provided porridge every day, it was better to let them work and earn money.

"Meals provided, and one tael of Silver given." The commoners in front immediately felt their hearts grow warm.

"Is it true or false? You wouldn't be tricking us into doing hard labor, would you?" a middle-aged man said.

He had been tricked by officials before and dared not believe in such a good thing.

Zou Rong glanced at him and smiled, "This is Yan Commandery. Yan Wang's words are as solid as nails. If you don't believe it, don't regret it if you lose such a good opportunity."

"That's right, this is Yan Commandery. Everyone here says Yan Wang keeps his word. Fine, I'll be the first."

"What is this Lengbao for?" someone else asked curiously.

"It is to defend against the Northern Di," Zou Rong said.

This was a secret that could not be kept; after all, such a large project would be obvious at a glance.

"As long as it's to fight the Northern Di, I'll go even without Silver," someone immediately said excitedly.

"That's right, I'll go."

"In Yanzhou, only Yan Wang is wholeheartedly defending against the Northern Di. If we don't go, who will?"

"..."

The commoners began to clamor one after another.

They had not forgotten the humiliation of being captured by the Northern Di.

Nor had they forgotten the sorrow when their wives, children, and elders were killed by the Northern Di.

Before Zou Rong could react, he was instantly engulfed by the rushing commoners.

At the same time.

Yamen runners posted notices at the city gates.

Cavalry were even sent to take the notices to other counties to recruit commoners who wanted to go.

Zhu County.

As soon as the notice was posted, it immediately attracted a large number of commoners.

After a scholar read the content of the notice aloud, the commoners immediately became excited.

"His Highness Yan Wang is truly good. If this were in the past, once an administrative order came down, we would have to go perform corvée labor, but His Highness is actually giving one tael of Silver every month," one person said.

"It's truly a virtuous king you couldn't find even with a lantern," another person said.

"The seeds have been sown; we're idle anyway, it would be a pity not to earn this Silver."

A few people chatted for a while and turned back to sign up, only to see other commoners running faster than rabbits.

The direction was exactly toward the registration point at the entrance.

They were anxious and immediately rushed into the crowd; the entrance became a mess.

Some even got into a scuffle over who would go first.

In less than five days, the Ministry of Works had gathered the people they needed.

When the news was fed back to the Yancheng Ministry of Works, a stone in Zou Rong's heart finally fell to the ground.

Giving Silver and not giving Silver really made a difference.

Arriving at the Government Office, he reported the matter to Yan Wang.

"Your Highness, the people have been gathered, and we are preparing to depart in these two days, but this subordinate is worried that the Northern Di Cavalry will come to cause trouble," Zou Rong said. This was the last problem he was worried about.

"For every Lengbao, this King will give you 1,000 soldiers to guard it," Zhao Xu said.

Zou Rong was still very cautious; this was a problem.

Although the Northern Di had been defeated, before the heavy snow blocked the mountains, the Northern Di would still send scouts to investigate from time to time.

The lives of these commoners building the Lengbao needed to be protected.

"Since that is the case, this subordinate is relieved. We will depart in these two days," Zou Rong said with joy.

Zhao Xu nodded and said sternly: "This matter is of great importance and must not be handled with any carelessness."

"Yes, Your Highness." Zou Rong felt a tightening in his heart and secretly resolved that he would do his best to complete this task even if it cost him his life.

Otherwise, Yan Wang truly would not spare him.

Zou Rong left.

Zhao Xu gazed at the paper before him; this was a drawing made with a goose feather dipped in ink.

On the drawing was a massive warship; the warship had three masts, hung full with sails.

The warship was seventy meters long and twenty-four meters wide.

It had three levels in total, with a small window on the outer perimeter of each level.

What would be placed inside these small windows in the future would all be Artillery.

For him.

Now was the time to build his own warship.

After all, Artillery would soon be mass-produced, so building his own Sailing Warship was not a problem.

But although there were no problems with the technology, what gave him a headache was the problem regarding talent.

Since ancient times, the North Territory has not been skilled in naval warfare, so shipbuilding technology has not been very good either.

Yan Commandery was the same; he had asked Liu Fu.

Liu Fu also could not find any craftsmen capable of building large ships.

This matter caused him considerable distress.

He was just worrying when, suddenly, Feng'er knocked on the door and entered.

"Your Highness, General Chang and General Mo have arrived."

Zhao Xu was just about to look for them to discuss transferring troops for Zou Rong, so he said, "Let them in."

"Your Highness." Upon entering the study, Chang Wei and Mo Yu bowed in salute.

Without waiting for Zhao Xu to speak, Chang Wei began to complain: "Your Highness, the subordinate and Vice General Mo were just planning to recruit new soldiers these past two days; why did the people from the Works Bureau take everyone away? Isn't this snatching the source of soldiers from the subordinate?"

Mo Yu gave a wry smile; he had not wanted to come, after all, he was a newcomer.

But Chang Wei insisted on dragging him along to air his grievances, saying it would carry more weight.

Because these people were ones Mo Yu had saved.

Zhao Xu glanced at Chang Wei; he had been wondering why these two came together.

So he said, "These people were never meant to be your source of soldiers; go to Shanggu Commandery to recruit people. You cannot pull everyone from Yan Commandery; if the able-bodied men are all gone, how can the people's livelihood be restored? Shearing a sheep—have you ever seen someone grab one sheep and shear it relentlessly?"

Chang Wei scratched his head; he had thought those officials in the Government Office were deliberately snatching people from him.

After all, the civil and military officials had never seen eye to eye.

If Liu Fu were here, he would have gone straight to cause trouble for Liu Fu.

He had not expected this to be Yan Wang's intention.

He chuckled twice and said, "Your Highness, why does the Works Bureau need so many people?"

So Zhao Xu explained the matter of building the Lengbao and told him to dispatch soldiers to protect the commoners participating in the construction during the building period.

"Your Highness truly has the courage to act." Mo Yu looked at the five points on the map of Yan Commandery, his eyes full of admiration. "If the Imperial Court had such boldness, how could it have come to this?"

Then he asked in confusion, "Your Highness, what is Artillery?"

"You will know about this very soon." Zhao Xu deliberately remained mysterious.

Looking at Mo Yu, he suddenly remembered that Mo Yu was a person from Jingshi and was often in the army, so perhaps he knew someone with experience in building large ships, and thus said, "Does General Mo know of anyone in Great Song who can build giant ships?"

"Giant ships? Does Your Highness want to build a Navy?" Mo Yu asked.

Zhao Xu nodded. "I have this idea, but I am troubled by the lack of such capable people."

Mo Yu smiled. "Actually, there is such a capable person right here in Yan Commandery, but..."

"But what?" Zhao Xu was surprised in his heart.

"This person once specialized in supervising the construction of warships for the Navy of the Ningjin Army at Ningjin Dusi. Later, when Ningjin Dusi was occupied by the Northern Di, the Imperial Court retreated to defend Yanguan and had no further intention of retaking Ningjin, so he became disheartened and went into seclusion in Yunhai County of Yan Commandery. My father visited him several times to recommend him to go to the South to supervise the construction of warships, but he refused every time, implying that he would never serve the Imperial Court again," Mo Yu said.

"This is truly a turn of events." Zhao Xu was overjoyed upon hearing this. "Take this King to see him."

"Ah?" Mo Yu was dumbfounded, thinking to himself, did Yan Wang not understand his meaning?