The Prodigal Son

Xue Chengdao did not linger in Pangzhou Prefecture for long.

Early the next morning, Xue Chengdao led Xue Lie's troops away from Pangzhou Prefecture.

After seeing Xue Chengdao off, Qin Yu immediately got busy.

Lu Si, Yuan Dingguo, Liang Hongqiao, Zhu Songlan, Du Fan and others were all summoned by Qin Yu.

Qin Yu did not recognize several of Liang Hongqiao's thousand-man generals.

Liang Hongqiao gave Qin Yu a brief introduction, and Qin Yu got straight to the point.

"You all know the task that Commander Xue gave me, so I won't go into details."

"Currently, even including the wounded, we only have a little over 20,000 men!"

"We need to select at least 35,000 men from those Yan army prisoners..."

Time is tight and tasks are heavy.

Everyone has to get busy.

"You've miscalculated, haven't you?"

Lu Si reminded Qin Yu, "About 26,000 people should be enough."

This bastard, how could you get this wrong?

"That's right, 35,000 people!"

Qin Yu gently shook his head, "We need to eliminate some people, leaving us with 26,000 to 30,000!"

"Commander Qin wants those prisoners to cherish the opportunity more, right?"

Zhu Songlan understood.

"right!"

Qin Yu nodded slightly, "We need to let those prisoners know that we're not begging them to risk their lives for us, but rather that they must strive to earn their chance..."

He had already thought about this last night.

Those who were eliminated were typical examples of those who were disobedient or had ulterior motives!

On the one hand, they wanted to ensure that the prisoners who sincerely surrendered were well-fed and clothed, so that they could see hope and thus win their hearts.

As for those prisoners who were eliminated or not selected, they were only required to keep from starving to death!

This will give them a point of comparison, make the prisoners fear being eliminated, and make those who weren't selected and those who were eliminated regret it.

Zhu Songlan nodded in agreement. "I suggest that we give priority to soldiers whose hometowns are in Pangzhou, Yanzhou, and Luzhou, preferably those who still have parents, wives, and children at home."

"right!"

Qin Yu nodded, his gaze falling on Zhu Songlan. "You will be in charge of selecting prisoners! Qin Xiong, Liu Shizhao, and Yang Qiao will assist you! The selection must be completed within three days!"

"yes!"

The four men received the order, and the pressure on them increased sharply.

At present, there are nearly 50,000 Yan soldiers captured in Pangzhou Prefecture.

Selecting 35,000 people from 50,000 within three days is an enormous task.

"Deng Zhong and Pang Dashan, you two are responsible for selecting 5,000 skilled horsemen from our 14,000 men to supplement the Wudang Flying Army! Complete this within three days!"

"yes!"

"Yuan Dingguo, Qiao Ye, within one day, give me a list of personnel from each unit who have made significant contributions and are proposed for promotion to the ranks of centurions and thousandth-rank generals! Also, be responsible for all subsequent affairs related to the Wudang Flying Army!"

"yes!"

"Han Chong, I order you to select two thousand elite soldiers from the Wudang Flying Army, and another thousand from other units and prisoners of war, to form a separate army! I haven't decided on a name yet, but these three thousand men must be the cream of the crop!"

"yes!"

"Zhao Wu, Yue Hanshan, and Du Fan, the three of you are in charge of all preparations and training for the infantry..."

"yes!"

"..."

Qin Yu quickly assigned various tasks.

Anyway, almost everyone present was assigned a task.

"And me?"

When Qin Yu finally gave him a task, Lü Si became restless.

"Don't worry, we'll be there soon!"

A wicked smile appeared on Qin Yu's face.

Seeing Qin Yu's smile, Lü Si immediately sensed something was wrong.

Got it!

That bastard tricked me!

This bastard is probably just waiting for me to ask!

However, it was too late for Lü Si to regret it now.

"Your task is quite demanding!"

Qin Yu looked at Lü Si with a smile, "You must organize and supervise the craftsmen to repair the armor, and convert the armor captured from the Yan army into our own! Anyway, I need 30,000 sets of armor! No matter what method you use, it must be completed within twelve days!"

"I……"

Lu Si suddenly stood up, almost cursing Qin Yu's ancestors for eighteen generations on the spot.

This is armor!

Twelve days, 30,000 sets of armor?

This is more than just a heavy task!

This is absolutely deadly!

Even if a god came, I couldn't do it!

He might as well just drag himself out and chop himself up!

If he hadn't already become friends with Qin Yu, he would have suspected that Qin Yu wanted to kill him.

At this moment, everyone cast sympathetic glances at Lü Si.

They originally thought their task was already very heavy.

As a result, compared to Lü Siyi, they suddenly felt that their own situation was relatively easy.

After all, there is still hope that their mission can be completed.

But they really didn't know how to complete Lü Si's task.

"Look, you're in a hurry for a task, but when we assign you one, you're not happy about it."

Qin Yu looked at Lü Si with a smile.

"Is it a matter of whether you're willing or not?"

Lu Si glared at Qin Yu like a fighting rooster, "Twelve days, thirty thousand sets of armor! Tell me, who can complete that?"

I'll talk to you about this later!

Qin Yu suppressed a laugh, slowly stood up, and looked around at everyone.

"You all know how important the task Commander Xue has given us!"

"Right now, no one should worry about their position; just focus on doing their own job well!"

"I know exactly who is to be appointed to each command!"

Some things are better said sooner rather than later.

Hearing Qin Yu's words, everyone agreed in unison.

After arranging all the affairs, Qin Yu dismissed everyone except Lü Si.

"You really think highly of me."

Lu Si looked at Qin Yu with a bitter expression, feeling extremely frustrated.

"Are you fucking stupid?"

Qin Yu glanced at Lü Si with amusement. "Besides protecting soldiers, armor is also used to distinguish friend from foe. Can't we just change the color of those intact suits of armor?"

"Just change the color?"

Lu Si stared wide-eyed at Qin Yu.

Qin Yu shrugged. "I would like to convert all the captured Yan army armor into our standard armor, but is it possible to do so in such a short time?"

There's nothing we can do about it.

Xue Chengdao gave him half a month.

Let's just make do for now!

As long as you can distinguish between friend and foe, that's fine.

"That's true."

Lu Si thought for a moment, then asked, "What color do you think would be better?"

"Black, please!"

Qin Yu replied, "In addition, I need another 60,000 white cloaks!"

"I……"

Lu Si's face twitched violently. "This doesn't need to have any special style, does it?"

"Need not."

Qin Yu shook his head and said, "White is fine!"

"That's no problem."

Lu Si readily agreed, "The military supplies department has plenty of white cloth. We can recruit more women skilled in needlework and set a standard for how much grain they can provide for each piece made!"

What we have in abundance right now is people!

In a prefecture like Pangzhou, it would be easy to find three to five thousand women skilled in needlework.

Moreover, they received news that, due to the information Qin Yu had previously released, a large number of Yan people begging for survival were gathering in Pangzhou Prefecture.

There must be many women there who are skilled in needlework.

They directly provided work relief, which allowed them to acquire a large labor force.

"Wow! Your mind's working pretty fast these days!"

Qin Yu joked.

"Nonsense! Do you think I've been studying for nothing all this time?"

Lu Si proudly raised his head. "Alright, alright, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. I have to get back to work!"

With that, Lü Si waved and left.

Watching Lü Si's retreating figure, Qin Yu couldn't help but smile knowingly.

Hmm, not bad!

Lü Si also stood up.

That's good!