The person in the darkness seemed to fall into brief contemplation, but soon spoke again, “The Repeating Crossbow has been modified, its power somewhat diminished.”
“Does that mean we can now mass produce them?” Yelü Quangcang asked.
The previous version of the Repeating Crossbow had the major problem of the arrows being scarce and the manufacturing process highly dangerous, with countless fortunes already blown away through accidental explosions over the years.
The man gave a light acknowledgment, and the gloved hand reached out from the darkness again, holding a token carved with an eagle, “The Huntsman is yours. Kill Lu Dingjiang and bring back An Jiu alive. I want her alive – this task cannot be done by the Huntsman.”
“Understood.” Yelü Quangcang knew the Huntsman under his command was only good for killing.
These so-called “Huntsmen” were strange – their martial arts were not exceptional, but they possessed incredibly high spiritual power and archery skills of unparalleled precision. He didn’t know when they came into existence, nor what cruel methods had trained them to such a terrifying degree.
The National Teacher was named Xiao Che. Even before Yelü Quangcang became the Emperor of Liao, this man was already the National Teacher of Liao. He was the youngest National Teacher in Liao’s history, seeming to be especially blessed by heaven – handsome, wise, and powerful. But he was not as mysterious back then as he was now, which was because a great fire had destroyed his appearance, making him so reclusive.
Yelü Quangcang had investigated before – Xiao Che’s first two decades or so were smooth sailing, until a certain night when a fire suddenly broke out in the National Teacher’s study. He had been up late reviewing documents, fallen asleep at the desk, and the oil lamp had tipped over onto the stack of documents, igniting the easily flammable items around. By the time he woke up, he found himself surrounded by raging flames.
There were many suspicious points in this incident, but after investigating thoroughly, Yelü Quangcang found that it was all due to Xiao Che’s misdeeds. He had just taken up the position of National Teacher and was full of vigor, often working until the early hours of the morning and not tolerating any disturbances. On the night of the incident, he had asked his attendant to bring him a calming drink, but even after drinking it, he still couldn’t sleep, so he continued reviewing documents. It was wintertime, so the attendant had gone to the side room to warm himself and had fallen asleep there after being dismissed twice when checking on Xiao Che. It was only when the attendant heard the commotion next door that he woke up in alarm.
Not long after Yelü Quangcang left the secret chamber, the National Teacher sent over a set of blueprints and two supervisors to oversee the manufacturing of the Repeating Crossbow.
To bring back An Jiu alive, the obstacle and potential threat that needed to be eliminated was Lu Dingjiang, that foxy strategist and high-level cultivator. Even with the Huntsman, killing him would not be an easy task.
Yelü Quangcang stared at the Falcon Token, lost in thought.
That night.
At Mosigui’s request, An Jiu led the Mei family’s assassins to capture the poisoned killers.
Starting from the location of yesterday’s attack, they searched a ten-mile radius. Traces were visible everywhere, but they could not find the people, until just before dawn when they discovered the fat man thrown into the bushes.
The fat man’s body was still slightly warm as if he had just died.
An Jiu had the others follow the traces to continue searching, while she first sent the corpse back to Hexi County.
In late spring and early summer, the vegetation was lush and thriving, the perfect time for animal husbandry.
The Liao people were increasingly busy, while the Great Song had become a little more idle after the spring planting. Wu Lingyuan then mobilized all the county’s men to repair the city walls, while the women stayed home to make “drunken fish”.
Drunken fish was an ancestral skill of the Wu family. The fresh fish caught were kept in clean water for a few days, then washed and placed in wine to get “drunk”, and after the fish was sufficiently inebriated, it would be salted and preserved with ginger, garlic, etc. As long as it wasn’t too hot, it could be kept for ten days to half a month without spoiling. With the expert shopkeeper personally trained by Zhu Pianjiang, the sales channels were quickly opened.
This kind of food could only be kept for a few days, but Wu Lingyuan insisted on fast delivery, not purchasing fish from elsewhere, and only making small high-quality batches to sell at a high price.
He later opened a wine house in Hexi County, with this drunken fish as the signature dish, freshly made daily for an even more delicious flavor.
Everyone knew this was the peaceful season for travel, so nearby literati and scholars came flocking, and all they had to do was compose a poem to enjoy a free tasting.
It was also known that Hexi County had opened a free private school, not only free of charge, but with the government office responsible for the children’s safety, sending them home to visit their families every five days, and providing free lodging if their families came to visit. The school was run by the county’s own Exam Flower, and while the students could bypass the civil service exams, they could also seek employment at the county government.
There weren’t many children in the county who needed this private school to begin with, and even if they provided two meals a day, it wouldn’t cost much. But gradually, more and more children were being sent over from the surrounding areas, putting increasing pressure.
Wu Lingyuan’s main task every day was to write memorials bemoaning their poverty – every few days he would personally go to the prefectural governor, crying, “Our county is poor, we have no people, our city walls are collapsing, our government office can’t even afford constables’ uniforms…”
In short, although they hadn’t suffered any natural disasters, they had endured the calamities of war, so the court should provide some subsidies.
As a mere county magistrate, Wu Lingyuan’s memorials couldn’t directly reach the imperial ears, but his nagging of the prefectural governor produced some notable effects.
The court exempted the entire Hejiang Prefecture from taxes for six years, provided funds to rebuild the city defenses, and also allocated some disaster relief grains.
When Wu Lingyuan learned that these resources had entered Hejiang Prefecture, he was the first to rush over to demand the money and grain. As the first county magistrate to cry poverty and one who had also provided the prefectural governor with many good ideas, he naturally received more than the other counties.
With these resources, Hexi County’s dire situation was somewhat alleviated.
Before this, all the funding for the private school and the wine house had been provided by Lu Dingjiang.
Wu Lingyuan assigned tasks to everyone, only keeping Lu Dingjiang, this financial deity, specially catered to, and privately working hard to persuade the Secretariat to appoint An Jiu as the commander of the self-defense troops.
Huarong had become the Vice Censor-in-Chief, and a commander of a two-thousand-strong army carried some weight, plus the Great Song did have precedents of women leading troops, so the appointment was quickly approved.
However, the troop size was limited to only one thousand.
In the Great Song, the Secretariat normally controlled military power, and the commander would only know which troops they would lead after the deployment was decided. But no one wanted to go to a place like Hexi County, and the Great Song was in dire need of manpower, so they didn’t need to specially assign a commander for a thousand-strong county garrison – the prefectural governor was granted full authority to handle the appointment, with only a subsequent report to the court.
Wu Lingyuan obtained the right to handle it from the prefectural governor, so An Jiu could now fully command this self-defense force.
The day she received the appointment, An Jiu was overjoyed, “Lu Dingjiang, I’ve become an imperial official!”