The thick scent of blood was dizzying. Marquis Dingyuan was covered in blood—some his own, but most belonging to others. Hearing this, he also grinned: “Of course it’s me! Besides me, who else would think to come rescue you!”

With that, he sounded the gong to recall his troops. Hu Yingming, Cui Yingyun, and Cui Yingtang all hurried out to greet them. Marquis Dingyuan led Bai Qun, Han Yang, and Han Yu into the city, while leaving reliable generals stationed outside the city.

The Cui family had already prepared hot water. After Marquis Dingyuan, Han Yang, and the others had washed up, they explained how they had first found Han Yu and Han Yang, and how they had obtained this contingent of troops under Bai Guan’s command.

Marquis Dingyuan also told Prince Zhennan about everything that had happened in the capital: “Fortunately, His Majesty’s blessings are boundless.”

Prince Zhennan, besieged in Jinzhong and cut off from news from the capital, had no idea such events had occurred. He listened with trepidation, and only breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that everything was fine. After praising Han Yang, Han Yu, and Bai Qun for a while, he went to the back to retrieve a map, pointing to Yangquan County beside it to show him: “Since you have troops at hand, our next step should be to attack here first. Once we’ve captured this place—” he pointed with his hand toward Suzhou—”we’ll be much closer to Suzhou. According to what you said, Shaoting is now there, also checking on Qingzhou Prefecture? If we take Yangquan, we can help Shaoting.”

This coincided perfectly with Marquis Dingyuan’s thinking: “We thought of the same thing. Right now the key is capturing Ye Zha. Ye Zha is a Tartar Grand Preceptor. Now that the royal court has fallen, he actually has more say than the Tartar King himself. If he and his twenty thousand troops fall together, then Ye Tan and the others won’t amount to much.”

Hu Yingming had lost over thirty catties. His entire person was now nothing but skin and bones, though his spirits still seemed fairly good. Hearing this, he said: “There’s another reason for attacking Yangquan first—the Crown Prince has shown grace and righteousness to Yangquan. If it were Prince Gong, he might not be willing to give even three parts of profit to those common people. Capturing Yangquan would also resolve Jinzhong’s urgent crisis…” His expression darkened somewhat: “After being besieged for a full half year, Jinzhong’s grain stores are nearly exhausted. A few days ago, there was almost a riot—those civilians with eyes red from hunger came to the granary to seize grain…”

War was just this cruel. If they gave food to the civilians, what would the soldiers eat? If the soldiers had nothing to eat, how could they defend the city? Yet the civilians’ actions weren’t wrong either. If they couldn’t survive, what city did the soldiers need to defend? They might as well surrender to Prince Gong sooner.

Han Yang sighed, remembering the deathbed instructions of the Chief Clerk, and couldn’t help but ask: “I wonder if the government granaries are sufficient…”

“How could they be sufficient?” Hu Yingming gave a bitter laugh and shook his head: “Before troops move, provisions must go first. Without grain, how can the soldiers hold on? As for the civilians, the Cui family has already done everything possible. Honestly, if you hadn’t come, even without Wu Qianli attacking in, our city might have erupted in riots first.”

No wonder Wu Qianli just camped out with an unhurried appearance—he’d probably already thoroughly scouted Jinzhong’s true situation and was planning to let them descend into chaos from internal discord, then attack the city amidst the confusion. Meanwhile, they would occasionally come to the city gates to challenge and fight, exhausting both the soldiers and Prince Zhennan physically and mentally.

Han Yu was much more practical: “That’s easy to solve. We brought provisions for over thirteen thousand men, which should at least last for a month or so.”

Unlike Han Yang, he hadn’t fought many battles since childhood and had managed finances in the military. He knew very well what was most important in war. Looking at Hu Yingming, he coughed once: “Rest assured, we have our own methods for our provisions.”

Hu Yingming’s old face reddened somewhat. He hadn’t expected his next words to be seen through so transparently by a young person before he even said them. He quickly waved his hands: “That’s not what I meant… But you truly having your own provisions is quite beyond my expectations…”

Even Prince Zhennan interjected: “He’s right. He’s been flustered by the civilians and truly has no other options. Don’t mind him. But you all are quite bold—not only did you trick people into giving you troops, you even had methods for provisions. On your way here, you must have plundered quite a bit, didn’t you?”

Marquis Dingyuan casually set down his bowl and chopsticks: “Why put it so unpleasantly? What plundering? We openly and legitimately took the court’s provisions and supplies. If we hadn’t been waiting for Prince Gong to have the provisions officer transport grain, we would have started coming half a month ago. Would we have made you wait so long you nearly couldn’t hold on?”

After saying this, he coughed again: “Though we did indeed take some advantage along the way. You don’t know—in Yuannan County, that county magistrate was quite capable. Last year’s autumn harvest didn’t need to be sent to the Ministry of Revenue; they filled over a dozen granaries in their county, which conveniently benefited us.”

Prince Zhennan’s face showed a smile. With his good mood, he naturally had the heart to tease: “I know you well enough—wherever you pass, you won’t rest until you’ve fleeced everything clean.” After finishing the joke, the atmosphere naturally became more lively. Only after everyone had spoken their fill did he say: “However, relying on your provisions alone won’t sustain us all the way to Suzhou. Moreover, though we have good plans for Yangquan, we may not necessarily be able to take it easily. We still need to make thorough preparations. Counting up, we still have over four thousand men in the city, not to mention the civilians. Without more grain, I’m afraid the prefectural yamen and the Cui family will be eaten alive. We need to think of a solution…”

In wartime, provisions were indeed most important. Hu Yingming nodded repeatedly—he was truly heartbroken over provisions now.

But grain wasn’t something that appeared just because you wanted it. The Cui family was a local prominent clan; they’d already mobilized every force they could. But even if all the wealthy families contributed generously, it was still a drop in the bucket. After all, Jinzhong had a full hundred thousand civilians! Both Cui Yingtang and Cui Yingyun had run out of options.

But Han Yu suddenly spoke up: “The main camp we burned today—we burned it with fire arrows. Beichun County, which Wu Qianli has behind him, is part of Jinzhong territory and also the place we came through. We didn’t find much grain there, so where did Wu Qianli put his provisions?”

Prince Zhennan and Marquis Dingyuan’s eyes lit up. The two men exchanged glances and smiled in unison.

How could they have forgotten? Wu Qianli had brought over twenty thousand men, so naturally his provisions and supplies were abundant—benefiting from Emperor Jianzhang’s preferential treatment over all these years, Prince Gong had money when he wanted money and men when he wanted men, lacking nothing. That was why Cui Shaoting had such difficulty in Xibei. And Wu Qianli, as Prince Gong’s direct subordinate, naturally had whatever he wanted as well.

If they didn’t get some grain from Wu Qianli’s hands at this moment, where else could they get it from?