Chaos of Ming 1628

The Vice Minister of War couldn't help but interject, "Lord Wang, the city walls of Hejian Prefecture have been raised, the moat widened, and the guards are training day and night. You said there are five thousand men..."

Wang Zaijin glanced at him sideways and interrupted unhurriedly: "I know what I'm talking about."

"No matter how strong Hejian Prefecture is, can it be stronger than Ningyuan?"

"What kind of cities haven't I seen in Liaodong back then? Sun Qing and his ilk are nothing but guard dogs, only daring to cower behind the walls. When I arrived, they didn't even dare to open the city gates."

He turned around, cupped his hands in greeting to Emperor Chongzhen, and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will escort Sun Qing back to the capital to report within ten days."

Emperor Chongzhen's lips curled slightly: "Very well. I grant your permission."

"Wang Zaijin is hereby ordered to lead 5,000 troops to Hejian Prefecture immediately, capture the traitor Sun Qing, and bring him to the capital for questioning."

He paused, then added, "If he dares to resist, kill him without mercy."

Hejian Mansion.

One after another, homing pigeons flew from the capital to Hejian Prefecture.

Sun Chengzong was an old acquaintance and kept sending messages to Hejian Prefecture.

Song Xian didn't dare touch the ground with his bottom. He put away the carrier pigeon, his face full of anxiety.

The reason was simple: this time, he had truly enraged Emperor Chongzhen. He had just managed to have a full meal, and now he was being labeled a traitor.

"Alas!" Song Xian sighed repeatedly, "Now that we've finally had a full meal, how have we been labeled as traitors and rebels?"

"Peasant uprisings are everywhere, and there's chaos everywhere that needs to be quelled. Why target the most stable Hejian Prefecture of all places?"

Song Xian understood, but he was unwilling to think about it too thoroughly.

Who could not understand what was in Chongzhen's heart?

But I'm still willing to say it that way.

After all, no one wants to admit that His Majesty is a suspicious and distrustful person. Those who are too capable will eventually become his enemies.

"Lord Sun, are we truly left with no way out?" Song Xian asked.

Sun Qing, who was drawing with her head down, looked up at Song Xian and smiled, "Do you really think he's given us a way out?"

Song Xian dared not utter a sound.

Sun Qing then asked, "Lord Song, I know you are a loyal and patriotic man. But you have seen the situation. His Majesty intends to treat me as a traitor and have me brought to the capital by Wang Zaijin. I suppose it would be a blessing if my head were to roll."

"I do not wish to be a lamb to the slaughter. I only wish to ask Lord Song one question: are you still willing to follow me?"

Sun Qing knew that Song Xian was only loyal to Sun Chengzong. Crucially, he also knew that Sun Qing's identity was not that of a member of the Gaoyang Sun clan.

"I will follow you." Song Xian answered without hesitation.

Sun Qing smiled slightly: "Lord Song, how many refugees are gathered outside the city now?"

"No less than 30,000!" Song Xian asked in bewilderment.

During this period, refugees would arrive every day. Sun Qing would not open the city gates, but he would still provide assistance to those outside the city.

Although they are only given a bowl of barely emptied porridge each day, it is enough for the people outside to barely survive.

It was precisely because of the daily alms that the refugees settled around the city gate, making the area around the gate very secure.

Only one official road remained, allowing entry into the city.

Sun Qing still sends people to stand at the city gate every day to recruit workers.

They were all refugees who had come from elsewhere. Where else could they find food besides Hejian Prefecture? The people had no complaints, only regretting that they were not capable enough.

Thirty thousand!

Sun Qing frowned slightly: "If they are all placed in the city, can Hejian Prefecture still accommodate them?"

Song Xian shook his head repeatedly: "Although many people died in the snow disaster, there is still a lot of open space. But if we let them in, I'm afraid it will disrupt the original balance."

"After moving to the city, how to resettle them, and whether it will affect the original residents are all headaches."

"If we are not careful, we will break the balance and the people in the city will no longer be united."

Having been by Sun Qing's side every day, Song Xian's tone of voice has also changed a lot. He has even been able to use quite a few new words.

Sun Qing nodded: "That's right."

After taking a sip of tea, Sun Qing put down the blueprints in his hand: "Approximately how many more days until Wang Zaijin arrives?"

"If it's just a matter of traveling, it can be reached in one or two days. But if it's about annihilation, it will take at least three days."

"Alright!" Sun Qing nodded. "Follow me to the city gate."

Outside the four city gates of Hejian Prefecture, a dense crowd of people stretched as far as the eye could see, covering the official roads and fields.

The largest crowd was outside the North Gate, numbering around ten thousand.

The South Gate and West Gate were next, each with seven or eight thousand.

The area outside the East Gate was open and spacious, and five or six thousand people had gathered there.

With all four city gates combined, there were at least 30,000 people, with their families in tow, using mats as makeshift shelters.

Wang Zaijin's five thousand troops set off from the capital, traveling along the official road from the west, directly facing the west gate of Hejian Prefecture.

The news reached the city before the troops arrived. When Zhao Long went up to the city wall to report the news, Sun Qing was already standing on the west gate tower.

The refugees outside the city gate were either sitting or lying down when someone noticed an extra person on the city wall and took another look.

Someone recognized him first and exclaimed, "It's Lord Sun! Lord Sun has arrived!"

All eyes were drawn to the figure on the city wall.

Then people slowly knelt down, their dark mass covering the open space outside the city gate.

There was no noise; they lay there devoutly, as if in worship.

Sun Qing stood on the city wall, looking down at the people below, and remained silent for a moment.

He took a deep breath and spoke with all his might.

"Fellow villagers outside Hejian Prefecture, I, Sun Qing, am standing here to tell you the truth."

The people below looked up at him intently.

"I am neither a god nor a savior. Hejian Prefecture is only so big, and the land is only so much. I cannot bring all of you in."

"As long as I, Sun Qing, am alive, I will find a way to ensure that you all have enough to eat and wear, and a place to shelter from the wind and rain."

He paused, then raised his voice a few decibels: "But Hejian Prefecture doesn't accept useless people. Every workshop, brick kiln, farmland, and weaving workshop in the city needs manpower."

"As long as you have skills, strength, and ability, you can enter the city."

"Once you start working, you'll have food to eat and a place to live. If you make real contributions in Hejian Prefecture, you'll become part of Hejian Prefecture, and the prefecture will take care of your entire family."

The crowd below buzzed, like water boiling.

A burly man with a loud voice craned his neck and shouted, "Lord Sun, what exactly constitutes a 'major contribution'?"

Sun Qing smiled: "There is no definite answer. As long as the people in the city feel that you have contributed to the city, you are a person of Hejian Prefecture."

The people below were whispering among themselves, discussing what Gong County was.

Looking at the surging crowd below, Sun Qing turned to Zhao Long and said, "Give the order that from today onwards, the porridge should be cooked thicker and with more vegetables."

Zhao Long clasped his hands in response, turned around, and quickly descended the city wall.

The same words and the same events occurred in sequence before they reached the city gate.

After Sun Qing finished comforting her, another day passed.

On the way back to the government office, one could see nervous people everywhere.

"Lord Sun, if the imperial court dares to come, we dare to take action."

"Yes, Lord Sun, my son is ten years old now, and he can handle a knife."

"Lord Sun, as long as we have a breath left, we will not let anyone harm you."

Sun Qing kept hearing these sounds throughout the journey.

Throughout the entire process, he did not respond, nor did he ask the people to do anything.

Everything is entirely voluntary.

Moreover, the current situation is not even at the point where the people should be mobilized.

Time flies.

Wang Zaijin rode on horseback, leading five thousand soldiers in a grand procession along the official road.

With his deputy following beside him, Wang Zaijin's smile widened as he watched the man get closer.

"Just wait and see, Sun Qing is only sixteen or seventeen years old. He's never seen anything like this before."

"They probably knew we were coming, and they're already kneeling on the ground, crying and begging for mercy."

When he could see the city walls of Hejian Prefecture in the distance, he reined in his horse and squinted at them for a while.

The city walls were higher than he had imagined, and the flags on the newly built watchtowers were intact, but none of that caught his eye.

He recalled how Sun Chengzong had once dominated him in Liaodong, but now this city was guarded by Sun Chengzong's grandson, while he, Wang Zaijin, had taken it with five thousand soldiers.

He sneered, as if talking to himself, or perhaps to the adjutant beside him: "Sun Chengzong looked down on me back then, but now the grandson he raised has to kneel before me."

The lieutenant didn't dare to reply, but pointed ahead and said, "Sir, the road ahead is full of refugees."

Wang Zaijin waved his hand: "It's alright. I'm here to act on behalf of Heaven and to seek justice for these refugees."

"I came here to take charge for them." He shook the reins, urging his horse forward, with five thousand soldiers following behind.

But the procession stopped a mile from the city gate.

The refugees sitting densely on both sides of the official road were stunned for a moment when they saw a fully armed army approaching from afar, and then panicked.

I just wanted to get away as quickly as possible, until someone shouted, "Wait! They're coming to attack Hejian Prefecture!"

The previously chaotic crowd suddenly came to a stop.

"Protecting Hejian Prefecture is a meritorious deed!" another voice rang out. "If we shielded Hejian Prefecture from this disaster, wouldn't we be people who made a significant contribution?!"

This sentence spread like wildfire across the entire crowd.

First, a few people stood up and blocked the middle of the official road, then a row of people, then a group of people, and finally a dark wall of people stretched from the city gate all the way to the middle of the official road.

They linked arms and stood shoulder to shoulder, completely blocking the entire official road leading to the city gate.

He stood there, his gaze fixed on the five thousand soldiers, not retreating an inch.