The Prodigal Son

Two days later at noon, Qin Yu and his group arrived at Qixia Pass.

The current garrison commander of Qixia Pass is Tang Chunping, the younger brother of Tang Chunlai.

Originally, Qin Yu and the others planned to go directly to Yuyang, but Tang Chunping insisted on having a couple of drinks with Qin Yu.

Qin Yu couldn't refuse his kind offer, so he agreed and took the opportunity to learn more about the situation here.

After a few drinks, Tang Chunping also told Qin Yu about the current situation of Qixia Pass.

The current Qixia Pass has 12,000 troops, half of whom are Ning soldiers and the other half are surrendered soldiers from the Min Kingdom.

His main task now is to reorganize and train the surrendered soldiers of the Min Kingdom.

In addition, Fang Junji also dispatched 5,000 elite troops to Miaozhou to quell the rebellion, and the chaos in Miaozhou has now basically ended.

However, Miaozhou was the state most severely damaged by Qin Yu and his group. Later, it was also ravaged by various forces, large and small, from the Min Kingdom for nearly a month. The entire Miaozhou was severely damaged, and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.

It will likely take a long time and require a significant amount of resources to truly stabilize Miaozhou.

However, the place that was most severely damaged was Yuyang.

That fire burned down almost half of Yuyang.

Furthermore, defeated soldiers and local gentry looted and plundered in Yuyang, causing further damage to the city.

Countless people lost their lives in the disaster.

It took Fang Junji a full eight days just to deal with the corpses in Yuyang City!

The former capital of the Min Kingdom is now a scene of devastation.

It was fortunate that when Huang Dengxing retreated from Yiling, Fang Junji ordered the reserve army to escort a large amount of grain over; otherwise, who knows how many more people would have starved to death.

Speaking of these things, Tang Chunping sighed again.

Although they won this battle, and won it brilliantly, the mess in Mindi is really hard to clean up.

For Minjiang to truly settle down, it will have to wait until at least next autumn.

Once the autumn harvest is ready, the people will no longer go hungry, and the situation should improve significantly.

The period from now until next autumn is the most difficult time for them.

After listening to Tang Chunping's concerns, Qin Yu couldn't help but shake his head and smile, "You don't need to worry about that. Chu will be sending grain over soon! In addition to the three million shi given to Yan, there will be a full six million shi!"

"How much...?"

Tang Chunping's hand trembled, spilling most of the wine in his glass, and he stared at Qin Yu in disbelief.

"Six million koku!"

Qin Yu repeated, "However, I estimate that six million shi of grain is still not enough to support the entire seven prefectures of Min."

Six million shi of grain sounds like a lot, but it's clearly not enough to supply such a large area.

To help Min region overcome the famine, Da Ning would need to transport several million more shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain.

"Whether it's enough or not is another matter; as long as it solves our immediate problem, that's fine!" Tang Chunping excitedly put down his wine glass, looking at Qin Yu with anticipation: "Have we reached a complete agreement with the Chu Kingdom?"

Qin Yu nodded and smiled, "Of course! Otherwise, why would I have come all the way to Yuyang?"

"Very good!"

Tang Chunping exclaimed excitedly, then let out a long breath, "General Qin has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands, even millions of people this time!"

"Shouldn't we thank the State of Chu for this?"

Qin Yu laughed heartily.

At this moment, Xu Wan suddenly spoke up again, "By the way, General Tang, with so many surrendered soldiers from the Min Kingdom under your command, have you heard the rumor that Yu Wu sent people to hide thirty cartloads of treasure?"

"Is that so?"

Tang Chunping was surprised, "I've never heard anyone mention this before!"

Never heard of it?

Xu Wan was secretly puzzled.

That's thirty cartloads of treasure!

Did they really just disappear without anyone noticing?

Zeng Guan has been leading people to investigate for so many days, but there is still no news.

Based on past experience, if you can't find clues at the beginning, it will be even harder to find them later on.

The thought of thirty cartloads of treasure disappearing without a trace filled Xu Wan with a pang of heartache.

While Xu Wan was deep in thought, Tang Chunping suddenly remembered something, glanced at Nan Que'er and Xu Wan, and said, "General Qin, let's talk in private!"

"good!"

Qin Yu got up and followed Tang Chunping to the side, secretly wondering about the situation.

Why can't you say these things in front of Nan Que'er and Xu Wan?

The two stepped aside, and Tang Chunping lowered his voice and said, "I just heard Envoy Xu mention the rumors, and something suddenly came to mind."

"What is it?"

Qin Yu pressed for more information.

Tang Chunping said in a low voice, "I've heard some bad rumors lately. I feel like someone has ill intentions, so you might want to be careful."

"Is it a rumor about me?" Qin Yu asked curiously.

"Um."

Tang Chunping looked around before saying with a strange expression, "There are rumors that you are His Majesty's male favorite, and that His Majesty appointed you as a court attendant so that it would be easier for him to seduce you. Some even say that you have some kind of relationship with the Empress Dowager, and that it was because of this that the Empress Dowager and His Majesty reconciled, and that the Duke of Wei was able to regain power..."

Tang Chunping's voice grew softer and softer, and his expression became increasingly strange.

Qin Yu's face, however, grew increasingly green.

I'll fuck his grandma!

Which bastard is spreading rumors?

Now that he's a top celebrity in Ningxia, it's normal for him to have some scandals.

But you're making up rumors about yourself and Zhao Luan, that's one thing!

He even fabricated a scandal involving himself and the Empress Dowager?

That's incredibly disrespectful to yourself and to the elderly!

The Empress Dowager is already sixty!

And they're having an affair with me?

What's wrong with me? Do I think the Empress Dowager is still charming, or is she old but young at heart and has taken advantage of me?

Dry!

If I were to find that bastard, I'd beat him until he vomited shit!

After taking a few deep breaths, Qin Yu asked Tang Chunlai, "When did these rumors start?"

"The rumors about you and His Majesty have been circulating for some time now."

Tang Chunlai replied, "But those rumors about you and the Empress Dowager, I only heard about them yesterday from someone who came back from business in Miaozhou. So far, I haven't heard of any such rumors circulating outside of Miaozhou..."

Miaozhou?

Damn it, Miaozhou is in such a mess, it's really hard to trace the source of the rumors!

Qin Yu frowned slightly, then cupped his hands in thanks to Tang Chunlai, "Thank you for the reminder, General Tang!"

"You're welcome!"

Tang Chunlai patted Qin Yu on the shoulder, "I know these things are definitely fabricated by someone with ulterior motives, but I'm afraid they'll reach His Majesty and the Empress Dowager's ears..."

"I see!"

Qin Yu nodded slightly.

He understood what Tang Chunlai meant.

When these things reach the ears of those two, they will surely be furious.

To avoid suspicion, Zhao Luan will likely be dismissed from his position as Attendant Gentleman.

Even if Zhao Luan didn't do it, the Empress Dowager would force Zhao Luan to do it for the sake of her reputation.

The person who fabricated all this nonsense likely did so to drive himself away from Zhao Luan.

It has to be said that the person who fabricated the story of having an affair with the Empress Dowager is truly wicked!

However, if that's really the case, then I really should thank them!

He never wanted to be a court attendant!

After that, they chatted for a while.

Knowing that Qin Yu had to rush to Yuyang, Tang Chunping did not try to stop him.

Just as Tang Chunping was seeing Qin Yu and the others off, a surrendered general named Wang Yansi came up to them eagerly, "General Tang, half of Yuyang has been burned down, and it's a complete mess. It's not easy for General Qin and his men to find Commander Fang's camp. Why don't I lead the way for them?"

Tang Chunlai knew perfectly well what Wang Yansi's purpose was.

What do you mean it's inconvenient to find Fang Junji!

Yuyang is not without garrison troops. If we just find a junior officer to lead the way, how could we not find Fang Junji's camp?

Isn't he just looking for an opportunity to curry favor with Qin Yu?

Fine!

Give him this chance!

If he can really curry favor with Qin Yu, that's his own skill!

"Alright!"

Tang Chunping nodded slightly, "On the way, you can also tell General Qin and the others about the mountains, rivers, and local customs of Yuyang!"

"yes!"

Wang Yansi gladly accepted the order.