Liu Bei POV
“Oh~ The Fan city troops have put on heavy plate armour as well huh?”
“Yes, the enemy left a lot of sets of armour behind so we decided to appropriate it for our use.”
“That means we are a lot stronger now and we have 10,000 heavy infantry troops.” Chen Dao said excitedly.
“But defending 2 cities with just 10,000 troops is a little…” Yuan Zhi, putting our numbers in perspective. When I turned back, I saw that she was deep in thought, “Lord Guan Yu, how is the drafting going in Fan city? There should be at least 20-30,000 healthy bodies for us to recruit.”
20-30,000? That many? I looked at Fan city in the distance and saw that its walls were twice the height of Xinye city’s. That alone is enough to tell me that Fan city’s population is a multiple of Xinye city’s.
“Ah, about that… We haven’t actually drafted anyone yet.”
“Un? No one at all?” Zi Long asked in surprise.
“We’ve been busy with work in the city and Lord Guan Yu does not want to startle the commoners so soon.” Feng Xian said as she looked at Yun Chang who smiled stiffly at Feng Xian.
“Alright, that makes sense.” Zi Long said. For me, there is no need to draft troops so soon as we still have some time.
“Lord Guan Yu.” Just then, Yuan Zhi called out to Yun Chang again.
“Un?”
“Did… Something happen in the city?”
“As expected of Lord Xu Shu, we got found out huh?”
Eh?! There was something?
“Yun Chang, what happened?”
“Un… To be honest, we have a lot of issues to deal with in Fan city.”
“Eh?”
“To put it simply,” Feng Xian took over and explained, “The bandits attacked before any of Cao Ren, Li Dian and all the other commanders made it to Fan city.”
“And what is the status now?” Yi De asked. I was initially surprised but then soon remembered that Yi De was still an administrative official.
“Now… All I can say is that it’s under control.” Yun Chang replied with an interesting choice of words.
“Not at all, I would say.”
“Lord Lu Bu~”
“If we weren’t in a dire state, we wouldn’t need to think about asking for help.”
“Wu…” Yun Chang groaned when Feng Xian revealed the truth.
As expected, Yun Chang was planning on shouldering everything by herself initially. If things did not get as dire as they were, she would not have asked us to come. It’s not like there will not be any celebratory banquet but there was a real need for help as well.
“Yun Chang, you should have said this sooner.”
“No, it’s always better to try to solve your own problems yourself. I just felt that it would have been weird if we still hadn’t invited big brother and the rest over.”
That is true. She had been exchanging letters with us but had not came back once ever since she went over. And the reason was because she was bogged down by work here huh?
“Un….” I spat out a sigh as I pondered about it. What could be more difficult than the battles we just fought? We have been through many trials and tribulations now and it’s not like this is the first time we are taking over a city. At the very least, it should be easier than what we have just been through.
“In any case, let’s enter the city and have a look first.” I said as I went ahead of everyone. My mood was not really affected by the prior discussion. In fact, I was even happy at the thought of having something to deal with that was not related to battles. And when I saw the state of the city as I went in, I was able to heave a sigh of relief
“The city… Seems fine.” Zi Long said as her frown went away.
As we went further in, we saw that the city was in relatively good condition. Some of the ceilings seemed to be broken but the streets and buildings were otherwise intact and in good shape. And compared to the refugees who flooded into Xu state city, the faces of the commoners here did not seem to be as despairing.
“The city is fine.” Yuan Zhi said as she nodded.
“It wasn’t as good as this when we first entered the city but it wasn’t that worse off either.” Yun Chang explained, “I believe the enemy went to great lengths to repair the city infrastructure and bolster its finances.”
“I had a look through the administration documents and found that Shen Pei was in charge of most of these.” Wen Yuan added in, “Shen Pei basically served as a temporary magistrate of the city and oversaw everything.”
“How was it?”
“To be honest, she was very effective and detailed.” Yun Chang answered and nodded, “I looked at the documents as well and saw that she even caught spies that the bandits sent into the city.”
Was Shen Pei such an impressive person? The only impression I have of her was being Feng Ji’s tag-along.
“My lord ought to see how Shen Pei is like when she’s all cold and cool. She’s really terrifying.” Wen Yuan said with a stiff smile as she looked at me, further igniting my curiosity.
“So Fan city suffered a setback before Cao Ren and the rest came back and they were working on restoring the city while fighting with us until we took the city.”
“Yes.” Yun Chang said as Feng Xian nodded, “There are even makeshift shelters for those who still don’t have homes so they are fine for the time being.”
“Then doesn’t that mean there are basically no issues at all? It doesn’t seem like there are any big problems anymore.” I said but it seems like I was too simple-minded as everyone’s frown did not loosen up.
“The problem was just stated by Yun Chang implicitly, Xuan De.” Zi Long sighed as she looked at me disdainfully. I just hope she does not tell on me to Zi Zhong.
“The problem is that there insufficient houses.” Yun Chang explained, “Close to 1,500 households in the city lost their homes and they need a proper house to live in.”
“”Un un.”” The rest behind nodded.
Un… While I was deep in thought, a cold breeze blew and I shivered. Looks like having a house is really important indeed.
“Un… I understand.” I nodded and stopped as I turned back to look at Yun Chang, “What can I do to help?”
When she heard me say this, Yun Chang looked over happily and said, “I was waiting for big brother to say this.”
“Eh? W-why…”
“See,” Wen Yuan said as she came towards me with a serious expression, “To be honest, we have everything we need in Fan city except 1 thing…”
“Ah…” I thought for a moment and realised what Wen Yuan wanted me to guess and smiled, “Manpower?”
“Yes.” Yun Chang said, “As the new de facto ruler of the city, I did not feel good about troubling the other commoners in the city and only used the troops we had.”
“Then why didn’t you ask Huang Zu or Chen Gong directly?”
By the way, all the troops in Xinye are under the command of Huang Zu, Chen Gong and Liao Hua currently. Apart from the usual training and exercises led by Zi Long, they are all helping with the city defence construction works.
“Chen Gong is really stingy and doesn’t have any spare attention. I can already see what it’ll be like if we go and ask her.”
Oh? Was she always so stingy? But Wen Yuan, so were you back when Huang Zu came to borrow troops. Ah, it could be because of this reason.
“Alright, I got it, I’ll speak with them later when I go back.”
“Oh, we’ll be troubling big brother then.” Yun Chang smiled and saluted me.
It’s fine, this is a serious matter after all so let’s have the troops come over. The lives of the commoners are more important than city defences after all.
Of course, we must also be careful of the bandits and there needs to be troops stationed in both cities at all times. After about 1/2 a month, we can start drafting new troops. By then, things would have settled down. We just need to hope that Meng De does not proceed with her southern campaign that soon.
*Gachi* *Gachi*…
Un? Just as I was thinking about the next steps while everyone began chatting with each other, a sudden piercing sound filled my ears. It was also a sound that was rather familiar.
Liu Bei POV
“Oh~ The Fan city troops have put on heavy plate armour as well huh?”
“Yes, the enemy left a lot of sets of armour behind so we decided to appropriate it for our use.”
“That means we are a lot stronger now and we have 10,000 heavy infantry troops.” Chen Dao said excitedly.
“But defending 2 cities with just 10,000 troops is a little…” Yuan Zhi, putting our numbers in perspective. When I turned back, I saw that she was deep in thought, “Lord Guan Yu, how is the drafting going in Fan city? There should be at least 20-30,000 healthy bodies for us to recruit.”
20-30,000? That many? I looked at Fan city in the distance and saw that its walls were twice the height of Xinye city’s. That alone is enough to tell me that Fan city’s population is a multiple of Xinye city’s.
“Ah, about that… We haven’t actually drafted anyone yet.”
“Un? No one at all?” Zi Long asked in surprise.
“We’ve been busy with work in the city and Lord Guan Yu does not want to startle the commoners so soon.” Feng Xian said as she looked at Yun Chang who smiled stiffly at Feng Xian.
“Alright, that makes sense.” Zi Long said. For me, there is no need to draft troops so soon as we still have some time.
“Lord Guan Yu.” Just then, Yuan Zhi called out to Yun Chang again.
“Un?”
“Did… Something happen in the city?”
“As expected of Lord Xu Shu, we got found out huh?”
Eh?! There was something?
“Yun Chang, what happened?”
“Un… To be honest, we have a lot of issues to deal with in Fan city.”
“Eh?”
“To put it simply,” Feng Xian took over and explained, “The bandits attacked before any of Cao Ren, Li Dian and all the other commanders made it to Fan city.”
“And what is the status now?” Yi De asked. I was initially surprised but then soon remembered that Yi De was still an administrative official.
“Now… All I can say is that it’s under control.” Yun Chang replied with an interesting choice of words.
“Not at all, I would say.”
“Lord Lu Bu~”
“If we weren’t in a dire state, we wouldn’t need to think about asking for help.”
“Wu…” Yun Chang groaned when Feng Xian revealed the truth.
As expected, Yun Chang was planning on shouldering everything by herself initially. If things did not get as dire as they were, she would not have asked us to come. It’s not like there will not be any celebratory banquet but there was a real need for help as well.
“Yun Chang, you should have said this sooner.”
“No, it’s always better to try to solve your own problems yourself. I just felt that it would have been weird if we still hadn’t invited big brother and the rest over.”
That is true. She had been exchanging letters with us but had not came back once ever since she went over. And the reason was because she was bogged down by work here huh?
“Un….” I spat out a sigh as I pondered about it. What could be more difficult than the battles we just fought? We have been through many trials and tribulations now and it’s not like this is the first time we are taking over a city. At the very least, it should be easier than what we have just been through.
“In any case, let’s enter the city and have a look first.” I said as I went ahead of everyone. My mood was not really affected by the prior discussion. In fact, I was even happy at the thought of having something to deal with that was not related to battles. And when I saw the state of the city as I went in, I was able to heave a sigh of relief
“The city… Seems fine.” Zi Long said as her frown went away.
As we went further in, we saw that the city was in relatively good condition. Some of the ceilings seemed to be broken but the streets and buildings were otherwise intact and in good shape. And compared to the refugees who flooded into Xu state city, the faces of the commoners here did not seem to be as despairing.
“The city is fine.” Yuan Zhi said as she nodded.
“It wasn’t as good as this when we first entered the city but it wasn’t that worse off either.” Yun Chang explained, “I believe the enemy went to great lengths to repair the city infrastructure and bolster its finances.”
“I had a look through the administration documents and found that Shen Pei was in charge of most of these.” Wen Yuan added in, “Shen Pei basically served as a temporary magistrate of the city and oversaw everything.”
“How was it?”
“To be honest, she was very effective and detailed.” Yun Chang answered and nodded, “I looked at the documents as well and saw that she even caught spies that the bandits sent into the city.”
Was Shen Pei such an impressive person? The only impression I have of her was being Feng Ji’s tag-along.
“My lord ought to see how Shen Pei is like when she’s all cold and cool. She’s really terrifying.” Wen Yuan said with a stiff smile as she looked at me, further igniting my curiosity.
“So Fan city suffered a setback before Cao Ren and the rest came back and they were working on restoring the city while fighting with us until we took the city.”
“Yes.” Yun Chang said as Feng Xian nodded, “There are even makeshift shelters for those who still don’t have homes so they are fine for the time being.”
“Then doesn’t that mean there are basically no issues at all? It doesn’t seem like there are any big problems anymore.” I said but it seems like I was too simple-minded as everyone’s frown did not loosen up.
“The problem was just stated by Yun Chang implicitly, Xuan De.” Zi Long sighed as she looked at me disdainfully. I just hope she does not tell on me to Zi Zhong.
“The problem is that there insufficient houses.” Yun Chang explained, “Close to 1,500 households in the city lost their homes and they need a proper house to live in.”
“”Un un.”” The rest behind nodded.
Un… While I was deep in thought, a cold breeze blew and I shivered. Looks like having a house is really important indeed.
“Un… I understand.” I nodded and stopped as I turned back to look at Yun Chang, “What can I do to help?”
When she heard me say this, Yun Chang looked over happily and said, “I was waiting for big brother to say this.”
“Eh? W-why…”
“See,” Wen Yuan said as she came towards me with a serious expression, “To be honest, we have everything we need in Fan city except 1 thing…”
“Ah…” I thought for a moment and realised what Wen Yuan wanted me to guess and smiled, “Manpower?”
“Yes.” Yun Chang said, “As the new de facto ruler of the city, I did not feel good about troubling the other commoners in the city and only used the troops we had.”
“Then why didn’t you ask Huang Zu or Chen Gong directly?”
By the way, all the troops in Xinye are under the command of Huang Zu, Chen Gong and Liao Hua currently. Apart from the usual training and exercises led by Zi Long, they are all helping with the city defence construction works.
“Chen Gong is really stingy and doesn’t have any spare attention. I can already see what it’ll be like if we go and ask her.”
Oh? Was she always so stingy? But Wen Yuan, so were you back when Huang Zu came to borrow troops. Ah, it could be because of this reason.
“Alright, I got it, I’ll speak with them later when I go back.”
“Oh, we’ll be troubling big brother then.” Yun Chang smiled and saluted me.
It’s fine, this is a serious matter after all so let’s have the troops come over. The lives of the commoners are more important than city defences after all.
Of course, we must also be careful of the bandits and there needs to be troops stationed in both cities at all times. After about 1/2 a month, we can start drafting new troops. By then, things would have settled down. We just need to hope that Meng De does not proceed with her southern campaign that soon.
*Gachi* *Gachi*…
Un? Just as I was thinking about the next steps while everyone began chatting with each other, a sudden piercing sound filled my ears. It was also a sound that was rather familiar.
