"Nephew, your uncle is going to Yun Prefecture. The Northern Military Camp of Yan Prefecture is now yours!"
Lu Yi said, assigning the task to Liang Xiao with anticipation, patting his shoulder, though a hint of disappointment flickered across his face.
He truly wished to witness the Heavenly General's prowess on the battlefield once more. However, with enemies attacking on three fronts simultaneously, vigilance was paramount, and someone needed to remain at the center.
Liang Xiao nodded solemnly. "The barbarians won't stand idle. They will eventually march on Yan Prefecture. But once they find it difficult to breach, they might feign a diversion to tie down the Yan Prefecture garrison and concentrate their forces to break through Yun Prefecture. We must dispatch ample scouts to maintain vigilance day and night. The soldiers of Yan Prefecture must remain on standby to reinforce Yun Prefecture and engage the barbarians in a decisive battle!"
Lu Yi rejoiced. "Then we can observe the results of the Great Qian Iron Guards and the Qingtian Guards!"
Lu Yi and Zhuo Wulue were also practicing the Que Yue formation.
However, due to the limited armaments from the Ministry of Military Equipment, the Que Yue formations they assembled could only serve as reserves. The true Que Yue formation would depend on Liang Xiao's own contingent.
Moreover, the Que Yue formation had numerous restrictions and was not something anyone could wield.
On the battlefield, cavalry often held the initiative.
After leaving a list of trusted generals, Lu Yi, along with his household guards and a detachment, set off for Yun Prefecture.
Liang Xiao, accompanied by Nie Yuan, arrived at the Northern Military Camp. Luo Changfeng, Nan Jiyun, Mu Hong, and others had long been waiting to welcome Liang Xiao to the main seat.
The generals on the list were all retained by Liang Xiao, while He Anping and others were dispatched for routine patrols.
"Deputy Marshal, is there a possibility the enemy could infiltrate Great Qian through the Great Wall in the east?" a general asked worriedly.
Liang Xiao replied, "Our forces have deployed scouts and signal fires across various regions. The barbarian cavalry wouldn't be foolish enough to attempt such a move. Even if they were, reinforcements from various areas would arrive in time to cut them down the middle."
The generals then relaxed.
The Great Wall was protected by signal fires and a certain number of border guards, and its location amidst numerous mountains and treacherous terrains would only put the barbarians at a disadvantage.
If the main force of the barbarian cavalry chose to break through near Yan Prefecture, the Yan Prefecture garrison could intercept the disorganized barbarian forces, making it a futile effort.
If they chose to break through away from Yan Prefecture, the barbarian cavalry would face a three-sided encirclement by the Yan Prefecture garrison and other defending forces.
This was precisely why the barbarians were so fixated on Yan Prefecture.
Unless Great Qian disintegrated and the various regions were too preoccupied to guard the Great Wall, breaking through it would be the most impractical idea. The sheer speed of information relayed by the signal fires alone could put the barbarians at a disadvantage.
One day, Liang Xiao presided over the Northern Military Camp, personally arranging and overseeing training.
The workshops Liang Xiao had secretly established southeast of the Yan Prefecture military camp were also not idle, continuously forging steel.
The number of Great Qian soldiers tasked with guarding the steel mill area had reached five thousand!
In a hidden chamber within a residential house in Yan Prefecture, Zuo Jing finally removed her human-skin mask, revealing her flawless jade-like face, her gaze filled with unspoken resentment.
The Yan Prefecture garrison's scrutiny of those entering and leaving the city had become increasingly stringent. They had gone to great lengths to infiltrate.
"It's all that scoundrel's fault that I'm enduring such hardship!" Zuo Jing grumbled, picking up a small booklet she had prepared. She drew a stroke, completing the second character of a tally.
The eight Yun Tian Guards present were stunned into silence.
Now, any minor hardship she endured was blamed on Liang Xiao, and she would mark it down. Each hardship would be a tally, forming a character, and then she would start the next.
The Qing-rank Yun Tian Guard could no longer bear it and said, "Miss..."
"What did you just call me?" Zuo Jing shot a stern glare at Qing.
Qing was immediately rendered speechless.
Zuo Jing seemed to be talking to herself. "No more calling me that from now on..."
"Yes! Leader!" Qing wiped the sweat from his brow and suggested, "If you hand over those two prisoners and the intelligence to Liang Xiao, perhaps Miss could return to his side..."
Zuo Jing paused, then flew into a rage. "Return to his side! I was merely carrying out a mission back then. When did I ever stay by his side? I must teach him a lesson before returning to Great Liang with a flourish!"
The others murmured in assent, their eyes filled with a strange mixture of emotions.
They had heard their leader weeping at Liang Xiao's hands, crying with a level of grievance they had never witnessed. Before they left, they had discreetly inquired about the situation from Hong Jie, and were shocked.
Being spanked...
The shamelessness of the Marquis of Anguo of Great Qian caused even the Yun Tian Guards, who had always suppressed their emotions, to exclaim in disbelief.
The Yun Tian Guards were not truly devoid of feelings; they too had families.
Suppressed emotions often burned even more fiercely.
The Yun Tian Guards were dispatched on their tasks by Zuo Jing. Zuo Jing remained alone in the secret chamber, touching her cheek and gazing dreamily into the candlelight.
When her father, Zuo Wuji, had slapped her then, her first thought had been of that impudent fellow.
"Why couldn't he, like in my dreams, shield me from that blow..."
Alone, Zuo Jing no longer referred to herself as "this old woman" but spoke softly to herself.
In a daze, the candlelight transformed into that shamelessly grinning face, saying to her, "Lin'er, you're amazing!"
Zuo Jing smiled faintly, then suddenly jolted awake, recalling the warning her father, Zuo Wuji, had given her before his departure. She sighed wistfully.
"After this mission, I must return. I will never set foot in Great Liang again. This time, I will strike back from where I was, to leave you with a memory you'll never forget, and then we shall part ways and forget each other in the martial world..."
As she spoke, Zuo Jing couldn't help but pout her lips and fall into silence.
The last time, she had asked Hong Jie to tell Liang Xiao that they would forget each other in the martial world.
This time, she was forced to carry out her father's mission, even to abduct his female companions...
In the capital, outside the royal granary guarded by the Shadow Guards.
Xiao Qing and the three assistant ministers held their breath, watching as cartloads of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn cobs were unloaded into sorting warehouses, fearing that the goods would vanish in the blink of an eye.
"Your Majesty, are the yields of potatoes and sweet potatoes truly around two thousand catties per mu..." Wang Canghai's voice trembled slightly.
He had been summoned by Xiao Qing and had rushed to witness this.
Xiao Qing's hand, holding the list, trembled slightly as he handed it to Wang Canghai. "Indeed. With the current fertilizer support, fifty thousand catties each of potatoes and sweet potatoes were harvested from twenty-three mu of land. As for the thirty thousand catties of corn, it used fifty mu, all of which were secretly planted here in the capital. It is said that if the fertilizer is improved, the yield per mu might increase slightly in the future..."
Wang Canghai let out a gasp, nearly unable to catch his breath.
These two crops truly yielded two thousand catties per mu. Liang Xiao had not lied!
The potatoes planted in the capital had been sown relatively late and were only now being harvested.
"Compared to that, the six hundred catties of corn are nothing!" Ding Wuyi sighed.
"Then, those two to three hundred catties of grain are insignificant, aren't they..." Wang Canghai was speechless.
Ding Wuyi chuckled and explained, "My apologies, seeing two thousand catties has inadvertently broadened my horizons!"
The three, sovereign and ministers, had no time to ponder why Duke Ding occasionally became less serious. They immediately arranged for inventory and continued to promote the cultivation to the southern farmlands.
Xiao Qing also specifically instructed the imperial chefs to prepare dishes according to Liang Xiao's recipes for a taste.
As Liang Xiao familiarized himself with the army at the Northern Military Camp, the barbarian cavalry finally marched south, reaching the halfway point!