Chapter 672: The Coalition Begins to Move

"General Zhong, General Chang."

As the group arrived at the threshing floor, the young and able-bodied men immediately stopped their training.

A man around thirty years old trotted over and saluted Zhong Li and Chang Wei.

Then he glanced at Zhao Xu and cast an inquisitive look at Zhong Li.

"This is the Prince of Yan you have been talking about," Zhong Li said with a smile.

"Your Highness, Prince of Yan!" The man was startled and suddenly at a loss, about to kneel and kowtow to Zhao Xu.

Although the Prince's Personal Army had rescued them from the bullying of the Rich Clans, they knew that this army belonged to the Prince of Yan.

In their hearts, they naturally felt gratitude toward the Prince of Yan, regarding him as a virtuous prince of the current age.

Zhao Xu immediately stopped him and said with a smile, "There is no need for such a grand gesture."

Looking at the man, he signaled for Zhong Li to introduce him.

Zhong Li said, "He is Du Jian, the Village Head of Duling Village."

Zhao Xu nodded and asked, "Have you been training in the Bayonet Technique all this time?"

Du Jian shook his head, "Besides the Bayonet Technique, we have also been training in formations, loading the Flintlock, and shooting."

Zhong Li explained from the side, "I have dispatched one soldier to every village to be responsible for the training of the Village Soldiers, and I have required all villagers between the ages of thirteen and fifty to participate in the training, with each person issued a Flintlock."

After a pause, he continued, "Furthermore, I have the Village Soldiers send people to patrol near the village every day; once they encounter danger, they are to assemble the Village Soldiers to face the enemy."

"If they encounter few soldiers from the Rich Clans, they let the Village Soldiers of one village handle it; if there are many, they have the Village Soldiers lead the commoners to evacuate from the village while contacting nearby villages to assemble Village Soldiers from multiple locations to fight the Rich Clan soldiers."

"Not bad, this is exactly how it should be." Zhao Xu was satisfied, then asked Du Jian to assemble the Village Soldiers to demonstrate the Line Formation Shooting for him.

Du Jian replied in the affirmative, turned and left, and immediately issued orders to the two hundred Village Soldiers.

The Village Soldiers performed the Three-Stage Shooting in front of him, as well as marching in line formation and simple arrays, such as the Hollow Square Formation, horizontal lines, and columns.

Although the movements of the Village Soldiers were much less practiced than those of the Prince's Personal Army, in Zhao Xu's view, they were absolutely sufficient to deal with the Rich Clan soldiers.

Moreover, they had only been training for a few days, so it was quite good to have such results.

Then he and the two others went to the farmland outside the village.

It was already the third month, and the wheat in the fields was a lush green, reaching up to people's knees.

Many commoners were working in the fields, and at this moment, Du Jian shouted a few times at an old man in the fields.

The old man then walked over; he was the Village Head of the village.

Zhao Xu inquired about the situation regarding the distribution of land and so on.

According to the Village Head, the farmland near the village had previously belonged to the Rich Clans, but after the village government office was established, these fields were all distributed to the commoners.

Zhao Xu expressed satisfaction with this situation.

Next, he inspected several more villages, which were basically similar to Duling Village.

Zhong Li had basically established two systems of administration and military in the countryside.

Most importantly, whenever he walked into any village, the faces of the commoners were filled with smiles; they did not feel afraid of them at all, but were instead very enthusiastic.

And they were very supportive of them defeating the Han Family and occupying Qi.

Many commoners even directly expressed to him their willingness to have their sons join the Prince's Personal Army to support their war.

They were afraid that the Rich Clans would take back everything they had gained.

This gave Zhao Xu a sense of relief.

However, this also reflected a situation from another perspective.

Although the powerful clans held sway over their respective territories, the commoners under their rule did not necessarily identify with them.

After all, for the commoners of this era, they had no concept of nation or state, nor did they care who became the Emperor.

Whoever could let them live a good life, they would follow.

The Rich Clans and powerful clans were still in the feudal era and could only rely on levying heavy taxes on the land to maintain their luxurious lives; they could not levy only ten percent of the tax as he did.

Added to that, they did not have the arrogance of the Rich Clan and powerful clan officials, who lorded over the commoners and acted with impunity.

By comparison, the poor commoners at the bottom would naturally choose to support them.

Furthermore, he now represented the orthodoxy of Da Song and had a legitimate reason for his campaign, and he had also defeated the Qi soldiers in one battle.

The commoners saw hope, so they were even more willing to support them.

In the evening, Zhao Xu and the others returned to Dongping City.

After seeing all this today, he had a plan in mind.

As long as this war model was maintained, the problem of grain and fodder would be solved, and grassroots management would also be established.

By then, when the officials from Yanzhou arrived, they would be able to easily take over the occupied territories.

Peng City.

While Zhao Xu was inspecting the countryside, an army was departing from the North Gate of Peng City, heading along the official road toward Lu City.

This was precisely the one hundred thousand troops the Xie Family had stockpiled in Peng City.

Three days ago, the envoy from Qi had arrived in Jinling.

Upon learning that the Yan King Army had suddenly moved south, Xie Duan was panic-stricken.

To him, Qi was the northern barrier for the Xie Family; once the Prince of Yan conquered Qi, the next to suffer would be his Xie Family.

Immediately, he ordered the one hundred thousand-strong army stationed in the city to set out for Lu City.

At the same time, he drew troops from Jinling and Bozhou to head to Lu City to support Qi.

Meanwhile.

The second group of Qi envoys had just arrived in Xiangcheng, also bringing news of the Prince of Yan moving south.

"Does the Prince of Yan really have the confidence to defeat the Anti-Yan Coalition?" In the Imperial Palace of Xiangcheng, Dou Mu faced Dou Wei, his brows locked in a frown.

After the alliance meeting, they all breathed a sigh of relief, believing Yan Wang was nothing but a turtle in a jar, to be captured sooner or later.

But he did not expect Yan Wang to suddenly head south and take the initiative to launch an attack, which made him wonder if Yan Wang held some kind of bargaining chip in his hands.

Dou Wei said, "Regardless of what it is, this battle must be fought. If the Anti-Yan Coalition cannot defeat Yan Wang, how could we possibly win against him on our own? We should immediately gather our troops and head to Lu City."

Dou Mu hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded.

Just as his father said, there was no better way at present than to combine their forces and fight a decisive battle against Yan Wang.

Otherwise, they would surely be defeated one by one.

And now, they at least still had the assistance of the one hundred thousand Cavalry of the Northern Di.

Thinking of this, he drafted an Imperial Edict and handed it to his father, ordering Xiao Cheng to lead the Southern Liang army to Lu City.

At the same time, he sent men to notify the Northern Di Iron Cavalry stationed at Wuguan to set out together with them.

This time, he did not believe Yan Wang could withstand their million-strong army.