You have truly caused me great suffering!

They traveled south from Xiping Prefecture to Bole City, where Chen Shao and his men finally landed.

The canal wasn't very long, but Chen Shao felt much more energetic after getting off the boat.

He said with a smile, "I still prefer riding horses, and I'll try to travel by boat less often in the future."

At this point, he laughed and said, "But we should still dig more canals. Look, what used to be a three- to five-day journey can be completed in a day."

Xu Jin, however, was in high spirits and laughed, "This is only because the commander is on the ship and everyone has lowered the sails. If we were transporting goods and supplies, it would be even faster. Moreover, only three to five people are needed to row the ship down, saving countless manpower."

Originally, the main route of the canal was to Yinzhou, but Chen Shao did not want to take a boat anymore.

He proposed to take a trip along the Hengshan defense line.

Theoretically speaking, as long as there is no war with the Song Dynasty, the Hengshan defense line is no longer needed.

In the Yinxia area, we need to be wary of the Jurchens attacking.

However, one should always be wary of others, and Chen Shao still wanted to take a look.

All three Zhu sisters could ride horses, but considering there were also maids and servants, Chen Shao let them ride in a carriage.

At noon, the Lingwu guards began to light fires and cook, and smoke rose from the chimneys.

Like most armies at the time, the Lingwu Army did not have a cooking squad. They brought their own food and cooked their own meals, with ten people eating together in a group.

Almost all military units have a unit called "fire." For example, in the Lingwu Army, a squad of ten people was called a "fire," and the name probably comes from the fact that they cooked together by making fire.

The Lingwu army used iron mess kits for meals, which were large mess boxes that could hold a lot of food. Each soldier would grab an iron mess kit and slurp down his food.

Previously, Chen Shao always ate and slept with his soldiers, and even used this kind of food when fighting. Han Shizhong, who had just become an official, was initially unhappy about it. However, seeing that even the commander Chen Shao did this, Han Shizhong, who was just a lowly captain, had no choice but to follow suit and eat from this large lunchbox.

Later, when Chen Shaoguan rose to power, he no longer needed to win people's hearts in this way. Sometimes, it's not about simply suffering alongside everyone to win their hearts.

Instead, the goal is to show subordinates the enjoyment that comes with hard work and promotion, giving them something to strive for.

The people at the bottom of society in this era suffered greatly. They could not imagine the lives of those in high positions. If the commander-in-chief ate with everyone else, then other officials probably did the same. The allure of military merit was much less.

In the past, this was simply because conditions were bad. Now that Dingnanjun is the richest man in the world, there is no need to suffer hardship without hardship.

When you truly provide upward mobility for those in lower classes, you must let them see the beauty of those in higher classes; conversely, when social stratification is rigid and those in higher classes have almost completely blocked upward mobility, you must keep it tightly under wraps to prevent discontent from growing.

Chen Shao was open and honest. Most of his subordinates had risen through the ranks based on their merits, so he generously let them know that he was doing very well, with no shortage of beautiful women, delicious food, and fine wine. If they wanted to work for him, they should work hard!

He arrived at the makeshift tent, where the three sisters were waiting for him, with some food and wine laid out on the table.

Chen Shao held Jin Le'er in his arms, feeling the little girl's increased softness and plumpness. Jin Mo'er and Jin Ye'er stood on either side of him to serve him. They ate only after Chen Shao finished eating.

After they finished eating, the maids and servants were allowed to eat.

Before even touching his chopsticks, Chen Shao noticed a plate of golden-brown roasted lamb legs and asked, "Has Da Hu eaten?"

None of them knew, and they all shook their heads.

Chen Shao said, "Send a few to Da Hu first."

Everyone knows that wherever Chen Shao goes, that fat man follows him everywhere; he's a true confidant who's never left his side.

A servant woman quickly stepped forward, wrapped three lamb legs in oiled paper, and handed them to Da Hu, who was squatting on the ground eating from an iron food bowl.

Big Tiger didn't stand on ceremony, picked it up and started gnawing on it.

After finishing their meal, the army continued their march. Although the fighting in Yan was fierce, Chen Shao was unable to offer any assistance.

His own territory was very peaceful. The only fighting was probably between the grain escort teams in Hexi fighting the Tibetans and the merchant escort teams fighting the Hu people. There were no major battles to fight.

There's nothing you can do about the Tibetans; it's purely a trick of fate. The power that the climate gave them for their rise was ultimately taken back by the climate. Fate is indeed unfair; it bestowed too much upon them at once, and then, after the Tibetan population exploded, it suddenly brought them back to square one.

They dared not challenge the grain protection team in Hexi. Trying to seize the city would be asking for trouble. It was wiser for them to grab a piece of the loot and run.

Once the grain protection team caught them, they would beat them to death. Sometimes, if they caught some, they would be incorporated into the local landlords' households who had been robbed, and become serfs to work and lose money.

Even so, they were still happy with it; they were truly played too cruelly by fate.

On land that can only support a few hundred thousand people, a million people have multiplied, which means that most of them will be eliminated by nature.
How tragic!

While marching along Hengshan, the vanguard suddenly heard a cry for help. Following the sound, they saw a small hill in the distance with a local earth god temple at its foot. The cry seemed to be coming from the temple.

Zhao He ordered, "Don't stop, I'll take a few brothers over to check the situation."

The deputy commander of the vanguard responded from horseback with "Understood!" and Zhao He led several dozen riders to surround the small temple.

Among those cavalrymen, two soldiers had three small flags stuck on their backs, representing the command coordinates of the battalion. Each battalion of the Lingwu Army had several such messengers.

Another person had a small flag stuck on his back; he was a messenger for that squad. The flag wasn't stuck on the front of his back. Generals didn't have any obvious decorations on their bodies; otherwise, they would have been the primary targets of sharpshooters on the battlefield.

Zhao He is now the commander of the Imperial Guard, a very dangerous position. It requires nepotism, and ability is secondary; absolute loyalty is the key.

Just then, it seemed that the people inside the temple also heard the sound of horses' hooves, and suddenly several disheveled men rushed out of the door. When they saw the army lined up in long rows on the road in the distance, they were terrified and ran as fast as they could up the mountain.

But men can't outrun horses. The cavalry of the Imperial Guard surrounded the land temple from both sides and quickly encircled the place. The men had nowhere to go, but they still showed no sign of stopping and continued to run around.

A cavalryman had already drawn his bow and shouted, "Halt!" When the man did not listen, he released the bowstring and shot an arrow. A shirtless man fell to the ground.

The others then became obedient and knelt on the ground, not daring to move.

Just then, a woman with a bare, white body ran out of the temple. She was carrying a few tattered pieces of cloth in her arms and her hair was disheveled as she tried to run away.

Another knight drew his bow and aimed an arrow at the running woman, but Zhao He quickly stopped him, and the knight then moved the arrow to the ground.

After a while, three men and a woman were brought up by Zhao He and his men, and a corpse was left outside the temple.

Zhao He took off his black cloak and wrapped it around the woman's body.

Hearing the commotion, Chen Shao and Da Hu rode over and asked, "What's going on?"

Having already inquired about the matter, Zhao He, his face contorted with anger, said, "This woman is a villager from the village behind the mountain; the other few are Uyghurs who migrated eastward. Taking advantage of the fact that the men in the village had gone to join the grain protection team, they robbed the village and then abducted this woman to the local temple for their debauchery."

At this moment, the woman, clutching her cloak, knelt on the ground and cried out, "These beasts have harmed my parents-in-law! General, please avenge me..."

“This is our Dingnan Army Commander!” Zhao He quickly said.

"We beg the commander to do us justice."

Chen Shao's face darkened upon hearing this, and Xu Jin quickly shouted, "Men, behead these beasts!"

"Wait a minute," Chen Shao interrupted, "We can't let this go so easily."

Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs were forced to leave the Western Regions, and it was difficult for them to settle down immediately after arriving here.

“In times of chaos, harsh measures are necessary. This unhealthy trend must be suppressed with swift and decisive action from the very beginning.”

"Let them get used to obeying the law and fulfilling their duties."

"Otherwise, the problem will continue to persist despite repeated bans."

Xu Jin was about to hurl insults like "those who are not of our race are sure to have different hearts," but then he remembered that Chen Shao had many barbarians under his command, and thought that such words might not be appropriate. So he swallowed his words and asked, "What does the commander mean?"

Chen Shao said, "Send them back, gather the people for a public trial, exterminate their three clans, and behead all those who are related to them, regardless of age or gender."

Upon hearing this, Xu Jin was not shocked at all. Instead, he laughed and said, "Not bad, not bad. In this way, it won't be long before anyone dares to commit a crime, and their own family members will have to kill them first."

At this moment, a Qiang man from the Meicang tribe in the Imperial Guard said, "These barbarians from the Western Regions are really outrageous. In my hometown, there are some who migrated from the Western Regions and submitted to the Central Plains. Eleven or twelve-year-old brats dare to chase after the village girls and forcibly touch their butts!"

Another guard from the Miqin tribe, also looking disgusted, spat and said, "These barbarians need to be properly disciplined!"

Xu Jin remained calm and silent, inwardly thinking that these people truly didn't treat him like an outsider. And although he didn't mention the child's fate, he guessed it wouldn't be much better; the Qiang people were notorious for holding grudges.
Xu Jin came from Shaanxi Province and was a traditional scholar from the Central Plains. He had a past relationship with Wei Li, but was not successful in the Song Dynasty, so he came here to develop his career.

He wasn't very familiar with the local customs and traditions. In fact, the Han and Qiang people within the Western Xia territory had basically been assimilated.

In their eyes, the Hu people of the grasslands, the Tubo people of the plateau, and the Uyghurs of the desert were barbarians.

Zhao He ordered his men to tie the hands of several bearded Gaochang men with ropes and drag them behind the horses, making them follow the horses' rumps.

They were to be escorted to nearby Bole City and dealt with according to Chen Shao's instructions.

These bearded men, perhaps not understanding what the people were saying, didn't seem particularly afraid.

The group had initially left the woman by the roadside and were about to continue on their way when Chen Shao spotted her and sent a maidservant to accompany her, escorted back to the village by several guards.

Although the woman was a villager, she was very fair-skinned and had just been humiliated. Chen Shao had no intention of testing her humanity, and if he sent his personal guards alone, no one knew what might happen.

After setting off again, the guards were still grumbling and cursing. Someone said, "In the future, if we win a battle, let's not relocate those barbarians. Wouldn't it be easier to just kill them all?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Jin reprimanded them, saying, "This is outrageous! You are all the commander-in-chief's personal guards; you must not speak nonsense. If word gets out, people will think it's the commander-in-chief's order. If those people rise up in rebellion, do you know how much money and supplies we'll have to spend, and how much energy we'll have to expend!"

"Moreover, there are nearly a million Uyghurs, and they cannot be killed off completely. If they are not dealt with properly, the troubles will never end."

"The commander-in-chief is right. Subduing them and making them work for me is the right way."

Several guards were clearly dissatisfied, but Chen Shao remained silent, neither opposing nor agreeing.

Xu Jin was right. At his level, he couldn't speak carelessly. If he let slip even the slightest hint, his subordinates might do something outrageous in order to curry favor with him.

After walking a few hundred steps, Chen Shao suddenly said, "Send someone to Xiping Prefecture to tell Wei Li everything that happened today and how I handled it, so that he can use this as a standard to finalize a set of rules and regulations."

"Moreover, this decree must be traced back to the past. Anyone who committed a crime after the relocation will be dealt with according to the new regulations!"

Xu Jin nodded, thinking to himself that the commander-in-chief was about to get serious.

These Uyghurs who migrated inland had better pray that their relatives hadn't committed any crimes recently. (End of Chapter)