Chapter 280

This is not difficult for Jiang Jinshi; he already has two of the six Beijiang commanderies in his hands: Guangwu Jun and the frontline Anbei Jun.

Although the people of Anbei Jun have left and become refugees due to the war, once the news that the Xiongnu have been thoroughly defeated spreads, they will certainly return to settle down!

In this way, the problem of resettling the refugees will be properly handled, and Anbei Jun will regain its vitality sooner or later.

Half a month ago, the Governor of Beiting Jun reported the situation within the commandery to Jiang Jinshi, acting as if he were reporting to the Prince of Zhenbei.

This obvious act of choosing a side made Jiang Jinshi understand the other party's intentions, but at the time, the Xiongnu had not yet been defeated, and Jiang Jinshi had no time to inspect the place in person.

If everything goes smoothly, he will be able to bring Beiting Jun under his command without a single drop of blood, which would mean he already occupies half of Beijiang.

As for the remaining three commanderies, Jiang Jinshi does not intend to use force; they won't last long in this slow-boiling process, especially since the hearts of the people in Beijiang are still with the Ming Army.

The next day, Jiang Jinshi left the main army to clean up the battlefield—there were so many corpses and warhorses to deal with that it was no easy task—while he took Luo Feng back to Lin City and spread the news of the victory.

"Big Brother, how should we deal with the remaining Xiongnu cavalry?" Luo Feng looked at the empty snowfield outside Lin City. These cavalrymen were not stupid; they had sent scouts, received news of the defeat, and fled in a hurry, abandoning their positions.

Jiang Jinshi looked up at the flag with the character "Ming" and smiled: "Use them to train our troops!"

"Train troops?"

"That's right!" Jiang Jinshi withdrew his gaze. "The Xiongnu's advantage lies in their cavalry. If we can use them to train a formidable cavalry force, we will have no rivals in the future!"

This remark made Luo Feng think deeply. Their Ming Army was not formed just to fight the Xiongnu; this was only the beginning, and there were many more hard battles to fight ahead.

Cavalry can play a greater role in battles in the Central Plains. As long as he can train a cavalry force that rivals or even surpasses the Xiongnu, how could the Imperial Court's cavalry compete with them!!

Luo Feng even secretly wondered in his heart, which is stronger, the frontier army or the Imperial Guard?

Perhaps this question can only be answered when the two sides meet in person!

"I'll give you twenty thousand cavalry; the task of training them is yours!" Jiang Jinshi patted Luo Feng on the shoulder.

"Understood!"

Of course, Jiang Jinshi was not in a hurry to return to Guangwu Jun; there were still many things he needed to arrange.

The three cities still needed troops to garrison them for the time being. Since Luo Feng also needed to train troops, the responsibility of guarding the cities was handed to him, with Han Xiao assisting from the side.

Jiang Ze and Xiexiezi were to return to Guangwu City with Jiang Jinshi. As for the army, Jiang Jinshi planned to take half of it. It was still unclear what the intentions of those three commanderies were, and since he had the idea of unifying Beijiang, taking the army back was a form of deterrence in itself!

It might not be necessary to take action, but the display and momentum had to be established first; winning without a fight would naturally be the best outcome.

Jiang Jinshi had also thought carefully about whether taking half the troops would leave the frontline empty, but he finally felt at ease after remembering that the Xiongnu had less than twenty thousand men left.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. Under Jiang Jinshi's arrangements, the news that the Ming Army had completely defeated the Xiongnu spread like wildfire to all parts of Beijiang.

"Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong!!" A servant ran while beating a gong and drum, his face extremely happy. "Major news! Major news!"

Seeing that everyone on the street had their eyes on him, the servant shouted with all his might, "The Ming Army has defeated the Xiongnu! They wiped out sixty thousand Xiongnu outside Yin City in Anbei Jun, and the Xiongnu Chanyu was beheaded by Commander Jiang of the Ming Army!"

"What?" Everyone even suspected they had misheard and immediately confirmed it again.

"You all heard correctly! The Ming Army has defeated the Xiongnu! They wiped out sixty thousand Xiongnu outside Yin City in Anbei Jun, and the Xiongnu Chanyu was beheaded by Commander Jiang of the Ming Army!" The servant repeated it again.

"This, this, this..." An old man stepped forward, trembling. "Is it true?"

It wasn't that they didn't believe the Ming Army, but Beijiang had waited for this victory for more than ten years; they were afraid, afraid that this was just a joke!

The servant smiled, but his eyes turned red. "It's true! We won!"

Having received confirmation again, the people burst into cheers collectively.

"Hahahaha! We won!"

"I'm going back immediately to erect a longevity monument for the Ming Army commander!"

"Great! Great! We can finally go home!"

"Father! You can rest in peace now!"

These cheers gradually spread, and city after city began to boil with excitement. The refugees, in particular, had red eyes.

"We have a home again. We are not refugees; we are going home!"

"Right! Going home!"

"Anbei Jun is our home! We are not refugees!"

After the great joy of victory, many people had red eyes; their relatives were either former Zhenbei Army soldiers or had fallen on the road while fleeing.

There was too much hardship in this; many people fell without even seeing the future of Beijiang. They left with regret and unwillingness, only hoping that the joy of today's victory could penetrate the boundary between the living and the dead to reach them, allowing them to close their eyes in peace!

In Shuo Fang Jun, Liu Heng was pacing back and forth anxiously after receiving the news. "It's over! Why did they win at this juncture? I was clearly about to succeed!"

According to the news fed back by Qi Sansheng, the so-called chamber of commerce within the Ming Army was about to collapse. He had not only bet his savings of many years but even borrowed a lot of money to invest in it.

If it had only been a little later, once the Ming Army ran out of food, he could have joined forces with Qi Sansheng to start selling grain at high prices and earn several times the silver.

But just at this juncture, the news that the Ming Army had completely defeated the Xiongnu spread. How was he supposed to handle this?

The private secretary was also at a loss and could only advise him with a mournful face: "My lord, let's go! While the Ming Army hasn't come to deal with us yet!"

"Go? Where can I go?" Liu Heng grabbed the private secretary by the collar. "I have nothing left! Everything is gone! Where else can I go?"

If he had finished this job, it wouldn't have mattered if Liu Heng ran away; with the silver, he could go anywhere in the world, and even if he wasn't an official, he could live as a wealthy man.

But now he had nothing left, only warehouses piled high with grain. It was absolutely impossible for him to give that up!

"Quick! Call Qi Sansheng here! We must hurry to sell the goods, sell all this grain, quick!" Liu Heng looked like a madman. He loved money more than his life and would never allow the silver in his hands to be lost for no reason.

The private secretary wanted to persuade him further, but seeing Liu Heng's bloodshot eyes, he understood that Liu Heng would never take his advice.

Qi Sansheng naturally also received the news about the Ming Army, but he felt no fear, and was even somewhat smug.

"Unexpectedly, the Ming Army really defeated the Xiongnu. But next, the Imperial Court should be taking action, and I can earn quite a bit of silver from it!"