Ask the mountains and rivers

Chapter 144 Heaven Collapse
News of the fall of the capital quickly spread throughout the north.

The Crown Prince was given poisoned wine and died; Emperor Jianwen died; and Prince Wei, who had been on the throne for just over a year, was burned to death before he could even warm his seat. The world had collapsed for the Great Jing!

The rebel army from Jiangnan occupied the capital, and King Qiao, eager to don his dragon robe and sit on the dragon throne, declared the establishment of a new Heavenly Dynasty. He issued an edict to the world, declaring no forced labor and no additional taxes. This won him a great deal of popular support.

General Situ fled the capital with his routed imperial guards. Emperor Jianning, Xie Li, was in Jizhou, so fleeing north was out of the question. The south was Qiao Tianwang's stronghold, which was also unacceptable. General Situ fled southwest, barely managing to find refuge in Qinzhou. Along the way, he engaged in widespread burning, killing, looting, and forcibly requisitioning military provisions and conscripting men to bolster his army, leaving countless families devastated and lives lost.

Emperor Jianning personally wrote a proclamation, passionately denouncing the traitor Qiao Tianwang and declaring that the legitimate dynasty resided in Jizhou. The proclamation also included appeals for loyal ministers and generals, and expressions of pity for the countless common people.

It must be said that this proclamation was perfectly timed. Whether the common people, who had lived in hardship for years, understood it or not was irrelevant; in any case, many military commanders and wealthy households from various regions flocked to the area upon hearing the news.

Youzhou and Jizhou border each other, they are too close. The Beiping army, needless to say, is Emperor Jianning's most loyal army. General Yang of the Guangning army sent his nephew to Jizhou to pay homage to the emperor and express his loyalty.

General Lü of the Fanyang Army is a fence-sitter. He previously sided with the imperial court and looked down on the small court in Jizhou. Now that King Qiao is powerful and has many troops, General Lü has already sent someone to the capital to express his intention to surrender to King Qiao.

General Li of the Liaoxi Army, which had the largest force, neither went to Jizhou nor bowed to King Qiao. Instead, he directly occupied Liaoxi Commandery, massacred the commandery governor, raised his banner, and declared himself King of Liaoxi.

Within Youzhou, the three armies held opposing positions, and the atmosphere immediately became tense.

Magistrate Wang arrived at Pei Family Village in a state of panic: "There's chaos outside right now, what does Sixth Miss plan to do?"

Pei Qinghe had been busy training his troops every day lately and really had no time to deal with Magistrate Wang, so he casually said, "I don't have any plans."

Magistrate Wang practically knelt before Miss Pei: "The Fanyang Army has already pledged allegiance to King Qiao, the Guangning Army has chosen the Jizhou side, and General Li of the Liaoxi Army has become the King of Liaoxi. Miss Pei must have some plans in mind."

The situation outside Youzhou is chaotic, best left unsaid. Just the three armies within Youzhou represent three separate routes. This is certainly not good news for the people of Youzhou. Different stances and choices mean the three armies will fight for territory and resources, and war is imminent.

Pei Qinghe twitched the corners of her mouth and reassured Magistrate Wang, "Don't worry, I will ensure that Changping County is safe and sound."

Magistrate Wang breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve: "On behalf of all the people of Changping, I thank Miss Liu for her great kindness."

"From now on, I will collect all the taxes and grain from Changping County and hand them over to the Sixth Miss."

Pei Qinghe nodded without any hesitation: "Let's discuss the matter of paying taxes and grain with Steward Shi."

Shi Yan's departure from the Shi family to seek refuge in Pei Family Village was also big news in Youzhou. In the past six months, Shi Yan had frequently dealt with the Changping County government.

Magistrate Wang was already quite familiar with Shi Yan, so he immediately accepted the order. He also shamelessly begged the Sixth Miss to send someone to Changping County.

Pei Qinghe summoned Pei Yun, Pei Yan, and Mao Hongling: "Changping County is our territory, and we need to station troops there to prevent anyone from taking it over. Who among you is willing to go?"

This is different from occasional troop deployments; it involves long-term garrisoning.

Pei Yan was the first to speak up: "I'm an impatient person, I can't sit still or stay still. I want to follow you."

That left only Pei Yun and Mao Hongling to choose from. Pei Qinghe's gaze swept back and forth between their faces. Pei Yun took the initiative to speak, "I'll go! Second sister-in-law can stay in the village and see the puppy every night."

Mao Hongling glanced at Pei Yun gratefully.

Pei Qinghe also favored Pei Yun, and whispered, "I'll give you five hundred men. After you go, take charge of the city gates and the county's security and defense. Also, select some healthy and strong men from the populace and train them."

Training troops is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Even someone like King Qiao, who claimed to have over 100,000 men, actually only had 20,000 to 30,000 truly capable soldiers. The majority were just refugees who accompanied him, and they didn't even have proper weapons.

These refugees who joined the army in battle, having fought in several real battles and survived life-or-death ordeals, became the best source of soldiers. When manpower was insufficient, they could be added to the army.

Peijia Village now has 10,000 people, with 2,000 elite soldiers training daily. The rest do half a day of farm work and the other half is spent training. In times of crisis, these 7,000 to 8,000 people can barely be considered half-soldiers.

Since they were to be stationed in Changping County, training troops was a top priority.

As the territory they occupy expands, they can't rely on sending troops to garrison it all. Pei Yun is essentially acting as a scout, setting an example for those who follow.

Pei Yun knew what to do and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll recruit civilians and train soldiers after I get there."

Pei Qinghe pondered for a moment: "Take Zhao Da and Zheng Xiaoying with you. They were originally from Changping County, and after a year of training, they can barely fight with swords. This will reduce the people's fear of conscription and training."

Pei Yun agreed to everything.

Peijia Village now also has a military register. The register records in detail names, hometowns, identities, origins, preferred weapons, and so on. Each register contains two hundred people, and there are ten registers in total. There are also seven or eight thousand other people, whose records are equally detailed, but they are not included in the military register.

Pei Yun spent half a day flipping through the troop register, selecting 80% male soldiers and 20% female soldiers. Those who were married and had children were excluded.

Pei Qinghe called Shi Yan over. Shi Yan took out his usual abacus, and his slender fingers clicked away, calculating the monthly rations for five hundred people. In addition, there were other important supplies such as cotton clothing, oil, salt, medicine, and gauze, all of which needed to be checked and counted one by one.

Bian Shulan also received orders to lead the kitchen staff in preparing two days' worth of dry rations.

All the wound medicine in Peijia Village was kept in Doctor Bao's pharmacy. Doctor Bao received orders and led his apprentices to prepare medicine kits. Each kit contained ready-made wound medicine and gauze. Five hundred kits were packed into ten large parcels. In addition, there were three boxes of ointment for treating frostbite.

Doctor Bao personally delivered the medicine to Pei Yun.

Pei Yun is nineteen years old this year. She is slender, with a beautiful face, calm and composed. Besides Pei Qinghe, she is the second most important person in Pei Family Village, and everyone respects her.

Doctor Bao felt a pang of sadness. In the past, he could at least see Pei Yun every day, but now even seeing her once would be difficult.

However, in the face of such a general trend, his unrequited love was really insignificant.

Pei Yun truly had no interest in romance; she thanked him, took the medicine, and left. Two days later, Pei Yun led five hundred men into Changping County.

(End of this chapter)