Chapter 104: Wujun Six Counties, Salt and Iron Finally Obtained
Sheng Kuang? Revenge?
When the two were put together, Jin Mao had no idea what they meant.

Sheng Xian continued to cry, "Xu Gong sent someone to kill my son Sheng Kuang. The day Xu Gong fled was my happiest day."

"Unfortunately, the bandit Xu was defeated and did not enter the city. He fled to Wu County in the east with his cavalry."

"I can only capture Xu Gong's minions and clip their wings, but..."

Sheng Xian burst into tears: "But now, I am just a prisoner. Please help me get revenge, Governor Jin!"

These words moved everyone present and they all expressed their support for Sheng Xian.

Jin Mao has been watching from the sidelines, and Sheng Xian's repeated behavior has aroused his vigilance.

At the beginning, he helped Xu Gong fight Jinmao. Now that Xu Gong was defeated, he turned around and joined Jinmao to fight Xu Gong?

What a good calculation! If Jin Mao had not taken the imperial court and the other party's title of celebrity into consideration, he would have killed such a person long ago.

The celebrities of this era are like the bad media in later generations. If you cut one of them, a group of people will be angry and throw dirty water on you.

"You are joking, Governor Sheng." Jin Mao declined. "No matter how evil Commandant Xu is, someone will come to punish him. I am just a small acting governor. How can I have such great power?"

You are the only one who has double standards. I do the same!

Later, no matter what Sheng Xian said, Jin Mao just said: I can’t do anything about it, figure it out yourself.

Facing the stubborn Jin Mao, Sheng Xian was almost gritting his teeth. He didn't expect that Jin Mao, who was so young, would be so hard to fool.

Helpless, Sheng Xian used his ultimate move.

"In this case, the people of Wucheng and Yuhang counties are in the care of Governor Jin."

Sheng Xian said in a false voice: "I still need to keep a useful body to kill the traitor Xu Gong."

"What are you talking about, Governor Sheng?" Jin Mao said, uncharacteristically, "I think the four counties of Yangxian, Piling, Qu'a, and Dantu are not peaceful either."

"Now that Wujun is short of troops, I will reluctantly take charge of these six counties."

How shameless! Sheng Xian wanted to curse him in person.

The other counties are not a big deal, but Qu'a County is the main iron producing area in Wu County. If it is taken away by Jinmao, Sheng Xian will no longer have any bargaining chips.

Gao Dai seemed to understand Sheng Xian's difficulties and stood up to refute him: "Since the governor of Yuzhang did not accept my county's request for surrender, why do you want to take charge of half of my county now?"

"Who are you?" Jin Mao slammed the table and shouted angrily, "When is it your turn to interrupt when I'm talking to Governor Sheng?"

Dong Xi and Bai Shi immediately drew their swords, and when Jin Mao gave the order, they attacked the other party directly.

Gao Dai raised his head and said, "Here is my head! Yuzhang Taishou, take it!"

Jin Mao suddenly turned his head and looked at Sheng Xian and asked, "I thought you were a man of high moral character, but I didn't expect that the person you promoted would be such a traitor."

"It seems that I overestimated you, a great celebrity. You are just a person seeking fame and reputation!"

Sheng Xian's face was blue and red. He never expected that Jin Mao was so sharp-tongued.

"Bang!" Sheng Xian slammed the table and stood up, pretending to be angry and said, "Kong Wen (Gao Dai's courtesy name), why don't you apologize to Governor Jin!"

Sheng Xian promoted and valued Gao Dai all the way, and the latter was very grateful. Even though he was reluctant, he admitted his mistake.

"Then I will forgive you." Jin Mao brought up the past again: "However, it is better for me to take charge of these six counties."

Seeing that there was no way around it, Sheng Xian could only agree with a pinch of his nose.

"Hahaha, okay!"

Jin Mao was very happy: "Let's drink together!"

The next day.

Sheng Xian left Wucheng County with all the officials of Wu County and 800 county soldiers.

When leaving, Jin Mao very "generously" gave away 1,000 shi of grain and 500 shi of grain and 500 shi of grass.

When there were no outsiders around, Jin Mao began to summarize his gains and intelligence.

During the trip to Wucheng County, a total of 23,000 shi of food and fodder were harvested, including 10,000 shi of grain.

In addition to the more than 700 sets of iron armor sent by Sheng Xian, Ling Cao and Dong Xi confiscated more than 400 sets of full armor.

There were over 200 intact bows and over 100 crossbows; there were also nearly 200 broken bows and crossbows, as well as countless long and short weapons.

If the broken armor and crossbows were repaired, Jin Mao's men would be able to equip nearly 4,000 men with full armor!

There are thousands of archers and crossbowmen!

Add to that the quality of the soldiers and this strength, and they are able to dominate Yangzhou. Who else can compete with them?
There were more than a thousand captives, all young and strong men from Wu County.

Jin Mao did not intend to send these captives home, but instead asked them to widen and build the stream from Yuhang to Wucheng County.

Moreover, Jinmao did not select these counties randomly. Qu'a County is a must, and the other three counties have water networks that can be connected into a line!

War horses need to rest during a charge, but ships don’t need to!
As long as there is enough manpower, we can reach Wucheng County from Yuhang by water within two days at the fastest speed.

Even if we start from Wushang County and transport food and fodder by water, it will take less than half a month to reach Wucheng County.

The straight-line distance between the two places is nearly 500 miles. If it is transported by land, it is doubtful whether it can arrive in a month.

Moreover, if transported by land, most of the goods would be consumed by the laborers along the way, so water transport is economical and convenient anyway.

In the future, Jinmao’s development focus will shift to the development and in-depth exploration of water transportation.

Otherwise, with the current three counties, just sending messages would be a big hassle, not to mention the transportation and exchange of what you need.

This time the harvest was great and the casualties were small, which was much better than the trip to Yuzhang County.

But there are still problems.

"Pan Lin became a bandit on Baihu Mountain?"

Jin Mao already regretted letting Pan Lin run away, and now that he heard the news from Ling Cao and the other two, he immediately became interested.

Baihu Mountain is not far away. It is the mountainous area west of Wucheng County. Compared with the area south of Wushang County, it is really a small place. "Bai Shi, go and make arrangements."

During the last recruitment, many people from Baiyue signed up to join the army but were rejected.

"Go and inform them that anyone who finds a den of thieves near White Tiger Mountain can go directly to the recruit camp."

"Of course, if there are brave people, as long as they get a bandit's head, they will be given the opportunity to join the new recruit camp."

Bai Shi accepted the order and couldn't help but ask for his brothers: "Sir, can the Royal Guards and the main camp participate in this hunt?"

hunting?

Jin Mao laughed: "No!"

Shiraishi was a little disappointed.

"Those of the Imperial Guards and the main battalion who wish to participate can serve as the supervisory team, and each person will be awarded a merit afterwards."

Bai Shi said happily, "Thank you, Lord God."

The military rank system set up by Jinmao becomes increasingly difficult to upgrade as time goes on.

For example, for soldiers at levels one to five, each level only requires one enemy head; at the lieutenant level, five heads are required; at the colonel level, twenty-five heads are required; and at the general level, 125 heads are required.

One merit is equal to one head, and one great merit is equal to five heads.

Although this mission is only worth one merit, there is no need to take risks. All you have to do is supervise everyone to make sure they don't cheat. It's a pretty good benefit.

Bai Shi also gave some explanation to his brothers.

Other important matters had to wait until Xi Zhicai came to Wucheng County before they could be carried out, so Jin Mao settled the credit for this mission.

Ling Cao made four great achievements and became a fourth-level lieutenant, below Bai Shi and above Gong Lei.

As the main person in charge of this operation, Dong Xi tried his best both in supporting and killing the enemy, and was awarded two great merits and promoted to a third-level lieutenant.

Yang Lin made a great contribution and was promoted to the rank of second-class lieutenant.

Among the other soldiers, Ling Cao's subordinates had made at least one great merit, while Dong Xi and Yang Lin's subordinates had more or less merits, which were not as good as Ling Cao's group.

Everyone was happy about the sudden increase in the number of lieutenants under his command, except Jin Mao, who was very sad.

Because a huge salary has to be paid every year!

The title of lieutenant is not for nothing; his welfare benefits are twice as much as those of a private!
"Time waits for us not."

Jinmao once again felt the need to become stronger quickly.

...

White Tiger Mountain.

When Pan Lin set out, he took a thousand people with him, but when he returned, he had less than a hundred people.

Yan Baihu was furious: "I thought you were brave and fearless, so I gave you the position of third in command, and now this is how you repay me?!"

"No wonder Jin Mao abandoned you and Xu Gong used you. I was so blind to choose a good-for-nothing like you!"

Pan Lin was not convinced: "What about Wujun Commander Xu Gong? Two thousand elite soldiers! Didn't he still get beaten to a pulp?"

"Xu Gong?" Yan Baihu said disdainfully, "He is also a piece of trash who is unworthy of his position!"

"It is a shame for two thousand elite soldiers to be in his hands!"

"Victory and defeat are common in the military." Pan Lin said shamelessly, "We'll fight back next time."

"There won't be a next time!" Yan Baihu said, "Go now."

Pan Lin seemed to have expected this day to come, and he clasped his fists and said, "See you later."

However, as soon as he reached the door, he was stopped by Yan Yu.

“People can leave, but things can stay.”

Yan Yu crossed his arms across his chest, his eyes wandering around Pan Lin, while his younger brothers behind him nervously drew their swords.

Pan Lin knew he was no match for his opponent, so he took off his armor, put down his weapons, and asked, "Can I walk?"

Yan Yu nodded and said, "You can only walk on your own two feet."

The war horse was gone again, and Pan Lin had to endure it no longer.

In the end, no matter how Pan Lin came out from Jin Mao's hands, he was still the same after hanging around outside. Yan Yu generously gave the mace to Pan Lin.

"Just wait! One day..."

Pan Lin looked behind him angrily. In the sunlight, the village on the mountain looked like a huge tomb.

Suddenly, Pan Lin pricked up his ears, found a pine or cypress tree with relatively lush branches and leaves, and jumped up like an orangutan in a few seconds.

An hour passed...

Two hours passed...

It was getting dark.

During this period, Pan Lin did not move. A total of three groups of people passed by under the tree where he was.

These people have dark skin and seem to be camouflaged as they hide in the mountains and forests, making them difficult to be spotted by the naked eye. Pan Lin is very familiar with them.

Shanyue from Kuaiji County!
Shanyue from Kuaiji County appeared in Wu County. It was obvious that Jin Mao was going to take action against Yan Baihu.

Pan Lin didn't dare to climb down from the tree until it was completely dark.

He turned around and glanced at the mountain stronghold on the high ground, sneering: "Thank you Yan Baihu for letting me live!"

After saying this, Pan Lin, relying on his many years of experience walking in the mountains, carefully walked out of the forest in the dark.

(End of this chapter)