Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 14: Capturing
The li was the smallest administrative unit in the Han Empire. A large li had one to two hundred households, while a small li had dozens. A li head was appointed to manage the residents.

In order to prevent thieves, walls would be built around the village, and large villages would also have a trench dug outside the wall.

Before Si Qing and the others stood a nearly two-foot-high earthen wall. Inside the wall stood neatly arranged houses, and outside, a row of sycamore trees. When the wind blew, the leaves swayed like waves, making a gentle rustling sound.

Du Qiu stared at the inner gate. He knew that this was his last chance. If these people escaped, the young master would never let him off easily.

"There's a wealthy family in the village named Sun, who married a daughter of the Fei family. Those people stopped here last night, but I don't know if they're still there."

Du Qiu turned to Si Qing and Chen Gan and introduced them in a low voice. Seeing that they looked unfriendly, he quickly said, "There are my people inside. I'll go in and ask them first."

He stopped talking halfway, staring at the two carriages that were coming out of the inner gate with his eyes wide open without blinking.

Chen Gan glared at him: "What's the matter?"

Du Qiu pointed at the two carriages and said excitedly, "Those thieves are in them!"

It was also unlucky for Zhao Ping and others that they were riding in a chariot without any protection. If they had been riding in a baggage carriage with curtains covering the sides, they would have escaped this time.

Of course, baggage carts were generally ridden by people of a certain status, and not someone like Zhao Ping could afford to ride one.

“The credit is here!”

Chen Gan couldn't wait to jump on his horse and rush out. Ever since he was demoted to the position of village chief, he had been holding back a rage.

"Wait!" Si Qing reached out and grabbed the reins of Chen Gan's warhorse. "If we go out now, we might scare them. If they flee back inside, there are four gates here, and it will be difficult to capture them all. Let them run for a while, and then we can capture them later."

Chen Gan suppressed his inner impatience and nodded, saying, "Zi Yue is very careful, so I'll do as you say."

After the two carriages gradually moved away and drove a few hundred steps, Si Qing waved his hand.

Everyone mounted their horses and galloped out.

The warhorse sped up very quickly, and in an instant it passed the inner gate and chased after the two carriages.

The dense sound of horse hooves broke the surrounding tranquility, and the nearby residents looked at this murderous cavalry team with surprise.

Zhao Ping and others were frightened by the sound of horse hooves, and began to feel uneasy, and frequently whipped the horses in front of the carriage.

How could ordinary horses pulling carriages compare to war horses? In just a few dozen breaths, the two carriages were caught up by the cavalry and surrounded.

"Everyone get off the bus! Anyone who disobeys will be killed!"

Chen Gan rode his horse to the front of the carriage, pulled the reins with his right hand, and raised the horse's hooves high, looking very majestic.

Everyone in the car was in a panic and subconsciously looked at Zhao Ping.

Zhao Ping tried to remain calm, thinking about how to respond. However, when he saw Du Qiu appear next to Chen Gan, his expression changed drastically.

Du Qiu glared at Zhao Ping, wishing he could pounce on him and devour him alive: "You thief, you've come to this day!"

The short and fat man next to Zhao Ping approached the shaft of the cart calmly, suddenly untied the shaft, cut the shaft rope, jumped on the horse, drew his sword, and tried to fight his way out.

"Stop, I'll do it!" Chen Gan showed a sinister smile on his face and spurred his horse to chase. In a moment, he was behind the short and fat man and thrust out with his spear, stabbing him to death.

Zhao Ping and his men were horrified and surrendered one after another. Even Sun Ke from Andingli was tied up and taken to Geqi Pavilion.

When Si Qing and others returned to the pavilion, Fan Yan was discussing the recruitment standards with Yan Yi.

"There are three standards for infantryman's arm strength. The first standard is the ability to lift a 20-jin stone chain 30 times in a row. Such a soldier can serve as a sword and spear soldier. The second standard is the ability to lift a 40-jin stone chain 30 times in a row. Such a soldier can be qualified as an armored soldier. And those who can lift a 60-jin stone chain 30 times in a row can be called a brave general."

"Newly recruited archers must be able to draw a bow weighing at least seven dou. After training, they must be able to draw a bow weighing one dan to qualify. Those who can draw a bow weighing one dan and a half, or even two dan, and hit the target, are considered skilled archers. It is said that Huang Zhong, a General under Liu Biao, could draw a bow weighing three dan, making him a true master of archery."

"If you want to train an elite force, you should strictly recruit, rather than have unqualified personnel. Based on my understanding of the people of Danyang, one in ten should be more than enough."

After talking with Yan Yi for a while, Fan Yan realized that Yan Yi knew nothing about military affairs and could only express his thoughts as simply and directly as possible.

After Chen Gan and Si Qing reported to Yan Yi, they imprisoned Zhao Ping and others in An Prison and interrogated them together by Cao Qiu, Chen Gan and Du Qiu.

Si Qing had nothing to do, so she joined the discussion between Yan Yi and Fan Yan.

"General, do you have any way to quickly train an elite force?" Yan Yi asked.

Fan Yan shook his head. "An army is made through countless trials and tribulations. After recruiting soldiers, it takes a year or so just to train them to master the use of weapons, hone their martial arts skills, and practice formations, drums, and flags. And then, when they go into actual combat on the battlefield, who knows how many lives will be lost. And we need talented generals to lead the troops, and through repeated trials and tribulations, we can bring together an elite force that will endure countless battles."

Seeing the disappointment on Yan Yi's face, he continued, "Young Master, you can select elite troops from among the surrendered soldiers, or recruit troops from the children of the noble families. These people already have the foundation to become excellent soldiers, and with a little training, they can go into battle. In addition, excellent armaments can quickly improve the combat effectiveness of an army."

Si Qing nodded and said, "General Fan is right. I once served as a guard for the Zhou caravan. Zhou's swords were almost all purchased from Shu. Both in length and quality, they were superior to swords produced elsewhere. Furthermore, the armor and crossbows used by the Zhou were also excellent."

Yan Yi couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

In his previous life, he had heard of things like blast furnaces, carbon blending, casting, and quenching, but he only knew the concepts without understanding the underlying reasons. Even if he understood a little, it would be of no use at this point.

All of Yan's weapons were purchased from outside, and they didn't even have the most basic experimental conditions.

"I heard that more and more soldiers in Jiangbei are using halberds."

"Iron armor, leather armor, crossbows, and halberds are all what our army lacks."

Time passed quietly amid the discussion of the three people.

At the hour of Xu, the entire Geqi Pavilion was plunged into darkness. Only the crescent moon and the stars in the night sky brought some light to the world.

With the exception of the wealthy and powerful who could afford lamp oil, ordinary people could only rely on firewood and candles for lighting. In this era of resource scarcity, as night fell like ink, many people went to bed early.

Yan Yi folded his arms, leaned against an elm tree, and looked up at the starry sky.

Memories of past and present lives collide with each other in the mind, interweaving into an extremely unique feeling.

"It's great to be alive." he murmured.

Cao Qiu then walked into the backyard, holding several scrolls of documents, interrupting Yan Yi's tranquility: "Young Master, Zhao Ping and the others have confessed!"

(End of this chapter)