New and dark light years

Chapter 349 What kind of lowly wretch are you?
Outside the military town, brief shouts of battle and screams could be heard.

Not long after, Su Bei returned with the five people.

The five men all looked dejected, kneeling before Li Lin without daring to lift their heads.

"They didn't resist?" Li Lin asked.

“No,” Su Bei replied, “none of the five of them moved.”

"Then take him back to Yulin County, lock him up for two years, and then release him."

Generally speaking, in that situation, those who do not resist are mostly not An Feng's true loyalists.

Li Lin was not a bloodthirsty person; he would avoid killing if he could.

But fearing that these people wouldn't know what's good for them, they were locked up for a while to temper their temperament before being released. They would be much more obedient then.

To prevent these people from having a mental breakdown after a while and trying to cause trouble again.

Li Lin thought for a moment and then said, "Take the man away first, and at the same time, call Lieutenant Gui over for me."

Su Bei withdrew, and not long after, a middle-aged man came down from the platform, clasped his hands and said, "This humble general, Gui Yalei, greets the Chief Commander."

Li Lin nodded, then stood up and walked towards the steps not far away, waving to Gui Yalei at the same time.

Gui Yalei obediently followed Li Lin, walking side by side but still keeping half a body behind.

"Captain Gui, how many years have you been in the army?"

"I joined the army at sixteen, and now I'm forty-two, so it's been twenty-six years."

Have you ever been to school?

"I had never read before, but after I became a captain, I hired a tutor to teach me to read and answer my questions. Now I can barely write some doggerel."

Li Lin laughed and said, "That's better than me. I can't even write a doggerel."

"This humble general dares not compare himself to you, sir."

Li Lin waved his hand: "The truth is the truth, no need to be modest."

As they spoke, the two climbed the steps to the top of the city wall.

Standing beside the battlement, Li Lin looked at the endless green mountains to the south and asked, "Captain Gui, I have a question for you."

"Please, sir, provide a topic."

"If you were the military town that controlled this pass, and one day the Tang family army led tens of thousands of troops to ask you to open the gate, what would you do?"

Gui Yalei was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with joy. He knelt down without hesitation, clasped his hands and said, "I will absolutely not open the gate. I swear to live and die with this city."

"What's the reason?"

"The Tang family army is a border army, responsible for guarding the southern border. If the Tang family army dares to turn back, it means they have already betrayed us."

Li Lin laughed and said, "That makes sense. It seems you are suitable to be the military commander of this pass."

"Thank you for the reward, sir."

Gui Yalei slammed his head against the ground with a loud thud.

But he didn't feel any pain; he was filled with joy and excitement.

Li Lin said, "I will leave a hundred soldiers here for you to command. With these hundred men, you must subdue the remaining soldiers in the military town within ten days. They are not from the Tang family army, so this should not be difficult."

"It won't take ten days. I dare to guarantee that this military town will be completely under the control of the Grand Commander within five days."

"There's no need to put so much pressure on yourself," Li Lin said with a smile. "I'll be returning to Yulin County soon, and your official appointment will be issued in a few days. In the meantime, you can serve as the acting military commander."

"Yes!"

Gui Yalei agreed without hesitation.

He thought he would be a captain for life, but he never expected to become a garrison commander.

Although there aren't many people in charge of the military town, it's still a position with real power, and he'll be the one to call the shots here from now on.

This is completely the difference between being the head of a chicken and the tail of a phoenix.

Li Lin walked to the side and looked into the military town. He saw that Zhao Hao and Bai Liwei had come out, and the two of them waved to him.

At this moment, Li Lin said, "Go and choose the people, we have to go now."

After saying that, he walked down the city wall and came to the gate of the military town.

Su Bei had already assembled a large army and said, "My lord, all of those more than one hundred southern barbarians have been killed. I counted them, and there were one hundred and eight heads, not one missing."

"That's fine then." Li Lin glanced at Bobai Military Town and clicked his tongue: "Last time we killed a group of Southern Barbarians here, and now they're back again. Is this place destined to be infested with Southern Barbarians?!"

No one around dared to speak.

After Li Lin and his army formed ranks, they mounted their horses and said, "Let's set off."

With the command flags waving, the army set off.

"This humble general respectfully sees off the esteemed Commander-in-Chief," Gui Yalei shouted from behind.

Soon Zhao Hao and Bai Liwei also returned to the army, and the two came to Li Lin's side.

Zhao Hao smiled and said, "Inspector Li, we have taken care of the matter. We will deliver the items to your residence in a while."

"What about the portion from northern Jiangsu?"

"Of course there are."

Su Bei, standing nearby, listened with her eyes shining.

Who doesn't like money?

Time flew by, and Li Lin returned to Yulin County. After only one day of rest and spending some time with his wives, he rushed off to Tianjin.

Thanks to Liu Shen's constant efforts to drive away the strange creatures, the official road leading from Yulin County to Jincheng is now very safe. Even the number of travelers has noticeably increased.

Li Lin led his army back to the government military camp, handed over his duties, and then rushed to the government office.

He recounted the events at Bobai Military Town to Huang Yan.

Huang Yan sighed, "The Tang family army has been loyal for generations, but it seems that in this generation... they are bound to develop disloyal intentions."

Li Lin said, "Isn't this normal? With an army of 200,000, and crops in the southern border region yielding three harvests a year, we have soldiers and grain as we need. It's already quite remarkable that we can support several generations of people who dream of conquering the Central Plains."

Huang Yan looked at Li Lin with a strange expression and said, "You seem... never mind."

Huang Yan understands that some words, once spoken, can hurt others.

Li Lin knew what Huang Yan wanted to say, but he pretended not to understand.

He smiled and said, "Qing'er asked me to inquire with my father-in-law whether Ling's marriage has been arranged?"

"A few days later, someone sent a letter saying that the matter was settled and everything went smoothly."

Li Lin smiled and said, "With the Fang family's help, the Huang family will find it easier to do things in the capital in the future."

"I hope so," Huang Yan sighed. "Sometimes, a powerful alliance doesn't necessarily bring good things."

Li Lin did not respond to that.

Huang Yan then said, "My dear son-in-law, tell me the truth, do you not have much of a sense of identification with the Great Qi?"

"It's alright, neither good nor bad."

Huang Yan shook his head helplessly: "To receive such a compliment from you is already quite good. After all, the imperial court back then..."

He only said half of what he was going to say before stopping.

Li Lin didn't press the matter, and the atmosphere between the two immediately calmed down, even becoming somewhat stagnant.

Huang Yan thought for a while and said, "No matter what, some roads are not easy to walk. If you really want to walk one, you must be extremely cautious."

"Taishan, you think too highly of me." Li Lin smiled. "I don't have that kind of ambition."

Huang Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Then Li Lin said, "After An Feng is executed, I will appoint Captain Gui Yalei as the new military commander. I will need to trouble you, Taishan, to use your status as the prefect to stamp the official document, and then send it to the Secretariat along with my seal for review by the officials there."

“This is easy to handle. As the garrison commander, you are in charge of the military officers.”

"Thank you for your understanding, Taishan."

Huang Yan then laughed and said, "Just with this memorial sent to the emperor, plus An Feng's matter, given the wisdom of the officials in the court, they will probably understand that the Tang family is about to rebel."

Li Lin laughed and said, "It would be strange if you couldn't see that."

"I just find it strange. The Tang family army was doing fine before, so why did they suddenly want to rebel? It's too sudden."

Li Lin pondered for a moment and said, "Could it be related to the flesh of the White Elephant God?"

"Very likely!" Huang Yan also realized: "I heard that the white elephant was as tall as a small mountain, and its body did not decay after death. And then it just so happened to die on the territory of the Tang family army. If this is not an auspicious omen, then what is?"

Li Lin also laughed and said, "In the past, Emperor Taizong of the Great Qi Dynasty started a rebellion by beheading a white dragon. Now, Tang Qi slaughters a white elephant and ascends to a high place. It makes perfect sense."

Huang Yan shook his head helplessly and sighed, "No matter what, it's the common people who suffer."

After saying that, Huang Yan lost all interest in talking.

Li Lin took his leave and returned to Yulin County from Jin County. On the way, he came to Liu Shen's temple, which was still under construction.

However, because Chiang Chi-li was supervising the project, an additional fee was paid, which made the construction process particularly fast.

At this point, the temple was already beginning to exude a grand and majestic aura.

Jiang Jili had something to do today and didn't come to supervise the work, while Li Lin watched from a distance.

At this moment, Liu Shen floated down from the sky.

"What are you doing here?"

"Let's see how your future house is going!"

"That's great, of course." Liu Shen put her hands on her hips and laughed happily. "Such a big house, even bigger than my eldest sister's, hehe, I'm so happy."

Although this temple is large, it is definitely not as popular as the Temple of the Tree Fairy.

After all, one is in the city and the other is in the wilderness.

Liu Shen continued happily, "Moreover, someone has already burned incense for me, but unfortunately my altar is still at the camp and hasn't been moved here, so I can't receive any incense offerings."

"Should we send someone to bring him over right now?" Li Lin said with a smile.

"Really?" Liu Shen was very happy: "Then what about your main camp?"

Li Lin waved his hand and said, "It's alright. There are more than 10,000 people there, and their blood energy can intimidate almost all the strange creatures. If you didn't have the altar, even you wouldn't be able to enter the camp."

Liu Shen nodded: "That's true... Then let's move here, I'm starving. I told my older sister yesterday that I wanted to eat some of your blood and qi, and she almost hit me again."

Li Lin chuckled; this Liu Shen was quite adorable.

Liu Shen said with dissatisfaction, "You're still laughing... I'm clearly her sister, and we've been together for so long, so why does she dote on you more?"

"Because she is my wife."

"Pah, shameless." Liu Shen pretended to spit, but nothing actually came out. She teased, "You really think I can't smell it? I've never been with a man before, you know, what you humans call... virgin... what was it again?"

Upon hearing this, Li Lin was immediately delighted. He even extended his left hand, saying, "Well, you said some nice things just now, so I'll give you some blood energy to drink."

Liu Shen was stunned: "I'm cursing you, and you're happy about it? What kind of despicable person are you?"

(End of this chapter)