New and dark light years

Chapter 188 Willing to Die

Hearing Li Lin's speech, Xu Xingchang knew... he had no chance.

An officer who can ensure his soldiers have enough to eat may not be popular, but at least no one will oppose him.

He was even less likely to kill Li Lin.

This is impossible... Li Lin was brought up by Prefect Huang. Among the three thousand people present, many are biased towards the Huang family; otherwise, Huang Yan would not have appointed Li Lin as the supervisor.

Looking at the soldiers below who were gradually becoming excited, Li Lin was quite satisfied.

He then looked at Xu Xingchang beside him and said, "There are many mistakes in the ledger. You should fix them yourselves and make sure you don't make the same mistakes again."

The commanders breathed a sigh of relief and then nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Xu Xingchang looked at these commanders and smiled helplessly.

"Disband."

After Li Lin shouted, he got down from the commander's seat.

He said to Xu Xingchang, "Tomorrow I will dispatch a battalion (five hundred men) to Beiliu County. You will be in charge of the affairs of the barracks for the time being."

Although Li Lin currently commands three thousand soldiers, he cannot possibly take all of them with him.

After the fall of Fumin Military Town, Yulin County and its surrounding areas also became a strategic pass. He had to leave most of his soldiers behind to guard the entire county area.

This is also why Huang Yan distributed a whole garrison of soldiers.

Xu Xingchang nodded, cupped his hands and bowed: "This humble official will certainly manage this place properly."

Li Lin patted the other person on the shoulder and then left.

Xu Xingchang and several commanders saw Li Lin off from the military camp, watching him leave with five hundred local militiamen.

One of the commanders asked, "Do you think what this new military commander said is true?"

"that aspect?"

"Don't deduct our wages."

"Maybe……"

Are there really officials who are neither corrupt nor embezzle funds?

“I think what Commander Li said is true,” a commander suddenly said earnestly.

Everyone else was looking at him.

Xu Xingchang asked, "How can you be so sure?"

“I don’t know anything about Commander Li, but I just saw outside that the five hundred local militiamen looked better than us local soldiers. They were obviously eating and drinking well.”

Xu Xingchang sighed deeply.

He felt... that he had no hope again.

He was already forty years old, yet he was still the deputy commander.

The older he gets, the less hope he has of being promoted.

Perhaps, he will remain in this official position forever.

Compared to Xu Xingchang, the other commanders were noticeably happier.

Most of them weren't thinking about getting promoted; they were only thinking about making money and getting rich.

If Li Lin can distribute all the soldiers' pay without withholding any, then they will be willing to follow this County Lieutenant Li.

…………

Time comes the next day.

Li Lin led five hundred local militiamen back to the military camp.

Then he pointed to the youngest commander and asked, "May I ask your surname?"

"Todd."

Li Lin glanced at the man's face subconsciously and smiled, "Not a bad name."

"Thank you for the compliment, Commander."

Li Lin said, "Take your men and come with me. I'll wait for you outside."

"As ordered."

Li Lin arrived outside the barracks and waited for the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn before Tao De led his five hundred soldiers out.

The other fifty cavalrymen were also exchanged.

They were rangers, not heavily armored cavalry.

The Great Qi did have heavy cavalry, but... their numbers were very small, mainly because most of the horse-breeding lands had been occupied by the Northern Di.

Tao De approached Li Lin and said, "Everyone is here. Please inspect them, Supervisor."

Li Lin glanced around casually and said, "It's good that everyone's here. You order the cavalry to patrol around Beiliu County first and see what's going on. The rest of the infantry will follow behind us."

"As ordered."

Fifty rangers set off immediately, raising a cloud of dust before disappearing into the distance.

Li Lin led nearly a thousand soldiers on foot to Beiliu County.

After traveling for about two hours, it was nearly noon when the cavalry scout team returned. The cavalry captain dismounted, jogged to Li Lin, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Commander, Beiliu County is deserted."

Li Lin stood up, sighed, and, having already anticipated this situation, asked, "You really didn't see anyone?"

"The city gates of Beiliu County were wide open. After we went inside, we found no living people."

Are they all bones?

"No... there aren't many skeletons,"

Li Lin pondered for a moment, then said to Tao De and Su Bei beside him, "Order everyone to speed up the march and reach Beiliu County within one hour."

The two immediately urged their soldiers to hurry on their way.

An hour later, the army arrived at Beiliu County.

It was completely silent. The city gates were indeed open, but no one was going in or out. There was even a local militia patrolling the city walls.

"Send two or three hundred men in to take a look," Li Lin said to Su Bei.

Su Bei immediately led his men into the city.

Li Lin then said to Tao De, "Set up camp outside the city."

"Yes!"

Everyone busied themselves, while Li Lin found a place to sit down and waited quietly.

About half an hour later, Su Bei returned with his men: "County Commandant, there is indeed no one left in the city, but there are not many skeletons either, so it should not have been captured by the Wild Evils."

Li Lin nodded slightly, then asked, "Has the Zhenjun Temple been investigated?"

"We've checked, and all the altars in the Zhenjun Temple are gone."

Li Lin pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that the enemy soldiers have moved everyone in this county, including the altar and the True Lord."

"Beiliu County has tens of thousands of people, is that possible?" Su Bei asked subconsciously.

Todd sighed: "Nothing is impossible. Sixty years ago... the Di people marched all the way from the north to the Central Plains, and in less than half a year, they captured and relocated nearly 300,000 people to the north. More than 30,000 people died on the way alone. At that time... the number of Northern Di troops was only 20,000."

Everyone fell silent.

What happened sixty years ago is a humiliating event for most people of Qi.

I can't forget it even if I want to.

Li Lin glanced at the sky and said, "Su Bei, have someone take a gong and beat it while shouting that the Yulin County militia has come to rescue people, and that anyone still alive should come out. Maybe some people are hiding in the secret room."

"Anyone actually survived?" Su Bei asked, puzzled. "Even if they did, they should have been eaten by the monsters, right?"

"It's hard to say. Some people might have the ability to protect themselves," Li Lin said in a somber tone.

Su Bei nodded, then led his soldiers into Beiliu County, where they should be able to find the gong.

Li Lin then looked at Tao De: "Have the scouts follow the road toward Fumin. If they really have kidnapped tens of thousands of civilians, their marching speed will definitely be very slow. It has only been a few days, so they should not be able to leave Jin County so quickly. Once they discover the enemy, send a signal immediately."

Tao De stood up: "County Commandant, I will go personally this time."

"Okay," Li Lin agreed.

The cavalry set off again.

By this time, the triumphant camp had been built, and Li Linjing sat on the commander's seat, unmoved as a mountain, exuding an even stronger aura of a general.

In Beiliu County, the faint sounds of gongs and shouts could be heard.

As evening approached, Su Bei emerged, followed by a large group of people.

Besides the local militia, there was a large group of people, a small number dressed in fine silks and brocades, and most of them were poor people. Just by looking at their clothes, you could tell they were servants of noblemen.

These people followed the local militia timidly to the front of the camp.

An elderly man stepped out from the crowd, looked at Li Lin, cupped his hands, and asked, "General, you come from Yulin County... Are you going to take us there to settle down?"

Li Lin nodded slightly.

Those who were rescued immediately breathed a sigh of relief and then burst into tears.

It became quite noisy for a while.

At that moment, a soldier suddenly pointed in the southwest direction: "Commander, the scouts have sent a signal."

Looking over, Li Lin saw a thin wisp of white smoke rising in the distance.

But it disappeared again very quickly.

It looks like they're smoking, but only they know that it's their signal for communication.

Li Lin looked at Su Bei and said, "You will lead two hundred local militia to protect these people and ensure they rest in the camp. After dawn the next day, take them back to Yulin County."

The northern Jiangsu region agrees.

Li Lin stood up and shouted, "Everyone else, follow me to rescue them! Tens of thousands of civilians are in the enemy's hands. If we succeed, promotion and wealth will be a piece of cake. I swear to heaven, I will never take even a single penny of your war merits!"

After a brief silence, hundreds of weapons were raised high, gleaming coldly.

"I am willing to die for the Commander!"

The roar was deafening!

(End of this chapter)