Chapter 347: Ripples

"Many thanks to the General for coming in person. When he was sent to the Prince's Personal Army, I, this old man, knew that this day might come." In the courtyard, a fifty-year-old man wiped away his tears. "Now I only want to know, on the battlefield, did he behave bravely?"

"Brave, very brave. When attacking Shi Pass, he was among the first batch of soldiers to climb the city wall," Qin Shan said.

The old man nodded, looking at his two sons who were still crying, and said to Qin Shan, "General, do not worry. I, this old man, can hold up. Other people's sons can sacrifice themselves, and my son can too. Come to think of it, if not for His Highness, our whole family would likely have died at the hands of the Zhang Family by now. Now that he could die on the battlefield, it can be considered fulfilling his wish."

When the Zhang Family was running rampant in Yancheng, his family was targeted because a member of the Zhang Family took a fancy to a painting they owned and demanded it.

After they refused, his entire family was thrown into prison, slandered for stealing the Zhang Family's painting.

It was only after Yan Wang took charge of Yan Commandery that he ordered officials to clear their names.

Only then were they able to return home.

Therefore, when the Prince's Personal Army was recruiting soldiers, his eldest son went, saying he wanted to repay Yan Wang.

Qin Shan felt a surge of emotion. "Uncle, you are truly a person of great righteousness."

The old man said, "Although I am just an ordinary commoner, I have a scale in my heart. Who is good to us, who is bad to us—if His Highness Yan Wang wants to fight a war, it must be for the sake of Yanzhou. In the end, it is still for every commoner in Yanzhou."

He paused, pointed at his two sons, and said, "If the army is still short of soldiers, General, you can take these two sons of mine at any time."

Qin Shan looked toward the two boys, who were fourteen or fifteen years old.

Meeting his gaze, the boys revealed a resolute expression.

Qin Shan felt a surge of emotion; this was the reason why he stayed in Yanzhou with such unwavering loyalty.

In other parts of the Great Song, no one was willing to voluntarily send their sons to the battlefield.

Admittedly, the generous military pay of the Prince's Personal Army was a temptation.

But after interacting with many soldiers in daily life, he knew that, in fact, most people did not come for the pay.

"Good, good." Qin Shan's hands trembled slightly. "However, they are still young, so stay with Uncle for a few more years."

After saying this, he ordered the soldiers to hand the silver to the old man.

Then, he cupped his fists heavily toward the old man. "Uncle, please accept this. His Highness also said that this must be given to every soldier who dies in battle. The soldiers do not fail him, and he will not fail every soldier. We cannot let their families fall into distress."

Upon hearing this, the old man tremblingly accepted the silver from Qin Shan's hands.

At this moment, he finally could not help but sob in a low voice.

Qin Shan's expression was moved; he was afraid that he, too, would be unable to hold back his tears.

He cupped his fists heavily toward the old man once more and led the soldiers away.

The Prince's Mansion.

Candlelight shone in the study, and Zhao Xu was still drawing the Mineral Map of Yanzhou.

Night fell, and Yancheng became extremely quiet.

In the gentle breeze, a faint, barely audible sound of crying drifted over.

The brush in Zhao Xu's hand stopped.

Such crying was not in just one place; he knew this was the families of the fallen soldiers weeping.

When he was at the North Camp, Chang Wei had already spoken to him about this.

He had ordered the generals to personally go and offer condolences to the soldiers under their command, rather than just handing the silver to the soldiers' relatives.

As for places further away, a specific general was also to be designated to be responsible for this matter.

"Sigh." With a low sigh, Zhao Xu left the desk and came to the door of the study, looking at the stars filling the sky.

Because there was not a trace of pollution, the ancient sky was as clear as if it had been washed.

In the sky, the Milky Way lay across the dome like a shimmering jade belt.

Just by fighting against an army like the Xiliang, which was still entirely stuck in the cold weapon era, the Prince's Personal Army had already sacrificed so many soldiers.

If the Beidi were truly equipped with Artillery, under their iron cavalry and Artillery, his soldiers would suffer even more casualties.

And this was something he was unwilling to see.

After all, he did not have an infinite supply of troops.

Maintaining an army of 210,000 was already the limit for Yanzhou.

Even if Zhao Heng agreed to let him expand the army further, he had no way to do so.

The reason was simple: the number of able-bodied young men in the population was fixed.

In the Battle of Changping between the contemporary Qin and Zhao Kingdoms, Bai Qi buried alive over 400,000 Zhao troops.

From then on, the Zhao Kingdom fell into decline and was never again able to contend with the Qin Kingdom.

These 450,000 were all the able-bodied young men of the Zhao Kingdom.

With the young men gone, the Zhao Kingdom was left with only orphans and widows.

Agricultural production and various aspects of handicrafts were severely affected, and it naturally never recovered.

The Qin conquest of Zhao was therefore a matter of course.

It is evident that able-bodied young men are an extremely precious resource and must never be lightly squandered.

It was just that the Beidi were currently making frequent unusual movements.

He worried that a war far more cruel than the one in Jinzhou was likely unavoidable.

Although Zhao Heng would not sit idly by when the time came and would send the Imperial Guards to assist.

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But he truly could not bring himself to trust those pampered soldiers.

The only one he could believe in was himself.

Therefore, he had to plan ahead.

While fully equipping the army with Flintlock, he decided to further improve the Artillery and its ammunition to maintain the advanced advantage of his Artillery.

Thinking of this, he had several plans in his mind.

Next, he would carry them out one by one.

After all, Yanzhou is now stable and secure, and he has ample time to promote the advancement of technology in Yanzhou while lecturing.

After pondering for a while, he returned to the study.

Over the next few days, he drew the Mineral Map on one hand, and drew several process flowcharts on the other, preparing to hand them over.

……

In Xiliang, after several days of trekking, Li Xin returned to Wuwei.

In the main hall of the Imperial Palace, after he stated the conditions of the Northern Di, it caused a clamor.

"These Northern Di are too arrogant; do they really think we in Xiliang are afraid of them? At worst, we will just fight a war," a general said loudly.

"It is simply too rude; are they treating our Xiliang as slaves?"

"They want to take this opportunity to humiliate the Emperor."

"……"

On the Dragon Throne, Tuoba Hao rested his head on his hand, his brows tightly furrowed.

He ignored the indignant words of the generals.

The Northern Di daring to act this way is actually because they have them figured out.

Ten years ago, the relationship between Xiliang and Great Song was not always so hostile.

In order to deal with the Northern Di, they would sometimes even form a temporary alliance.

It can be said that the triangular relationship between the Northern Di, Xiliang, and Great Song could turn into allies or enemies at any time.

However, after Xiliang took Tongguan and reached for Jinzhou ten years ago, the relationship between Great Song and Xiliang deteriorated.

Now that a great war has just ended, neither Xiliang nor Great Song can possibly form an alliance again to oppose the Northern Di.

After all, the Northern Di have already taken the first step and sued for peace with Great Song.

Great Song will not easily worsen its relationship with the Northern Di.

So now, Xiliang can only face the Northern Di alone.

How can Xiliang, having just lost 150,000 troops and exhausted a massive amount of resources, face the Northern Di army?

Furthermore, even if the Northern Di cannot destroy Xiliang.

After a war, Xiliang will also be unable to recover from this point on.

At that time, how could Great Song let his Xiliang go?

Therefore, for him, no matter what, there can be no more fighting.

So he said, "There is no need to argue; as long as Xiliang can form an alliance with the Northern Di, I will go to meet Mule Hongzhen."