Keqing, it’s just cultivating immortality, is it that difficult?

"It is true as you said, but wouldn't it be better if they didn't find out that it was me who came?"

Keqing tapped the armrest lightly with her fingers, her calves swaying unconsciously, and her young face revealed a calmness that was not in line with her age. Her demeanor as a little adult even moved Geng Hu a little.

A little cute, want to rua...

Come to think of it, if I hadn't missed it back then, the child would probably be this big now, and might be as cute and smart as the little princess.

Thinking of that pretty figure, Geng Hu felt melancholy.

"General Geng? General Geng, are you listening?"

The princess's call suddenly brought Geng Hu back from his memories.

"Ahem, what do you think, Princess?"

Geng Hu coughed lightly and couldn't help but ask.

"If the food is as plentiful as you say, then the target must be very large. The convoys and horses needed for the food will not be easily dealt with."

Geng Hu frowned slightly.

No matter how you look at it, it seems impossible that there was no movement. The fairies would not watch a large amount of goods suspected to be grain leave the city, and the refugees would not see the grain and not be interested.

If we don't open the city gates and block them outside like refugees, there is a greater possibility that we will need to send more troops. In any case, we need to send more troops.

With so many people, how could they not be discovered?

Seeing that Geng Hu had misunderstood her meaning, Keqing blinked.

"General Geng, you misunderstood. There is no way that a large amount of food can be transported without being discovered. When I say undetected, I mean that we...our identities will not be discovered."

Keqing's tone was gentle, like the gurgling of running water.

"General Geng, do you still remember the bandits who robbed us? Now that natural disasters have hit Tongzhou Prefecture, refugees are rioting, and bandits are everywhere, isn't it normal for a bandit like this to suddenly appear and rob the grain hidden by the wealthy?"

After Keqing's guidance, Geng Hu immediately understood.

"Great! Your Majesty's words make sense. The world is so chaotic right now, it's not surprising that such a group of brutal bandits appear."

When the time comes, open the city gate and pretend to be robbers. This way, people will only think that they are robbers from nowhere, and how can they be discovered to be the princess? Now that Zhang Sheng is dead and the situation in Hengshan County is unknown to the outside world, who can know that the princess, who is thousands of miles away, is the mastermind behind this group of bandits!

Chapter 568 Recruiting Soldiers and Looking for Minerals (5000)

Geng Hu was amazed in his heart and became even more convinced of the little princess. She was worthy of being a princess.

Before, he had thought that if he had a child, maybe he would be as smart as the princess. But now he felt that he was overthinking. If he had a son, he would probably be as blind as himself. He would be satisfied if he could have one-tenth of the princess' intelligence.

Seeing that General Geng agreed, Keqing breathed a sigh of relief, but there was some curiosity in her eyes.

"I thought General Geng would have some objections. I had thought of some words to persuade him, but now I can't say them."

"Why would I object?" Geng Hu asked in surprise, and then suddenly realized, "Princess, you don't think that I hate evil so much that I think it's inappropriate to disguise myself as a bandit, do you?"

He shook his head slightly.

"I still know the priorities. The escort is a disguise and not a real robbery. Why should I object?"

It's not like I'm really a robber and I'm going to harm the people.

"No, I mean the conflict that's about to happen, the one that's going to kill someone."

Keqing shook her head slightly.

Bandits are just an identity; the guards are indeed not bandits, and the food they took was the food they had hidden themselves.

But there will inevitably be casualties in this process. Not all people will run away in fear when they see bandits, and not all refugees will be so afraid of bandits that they dare not rob. Under the crisis of survival and the belief in loyalty, conflict and death are inevitable.

This is what Keqing said...

"Princess, I will do my best to restrain them from causing casualties to innocent people, but if their lives are in danger, they will focus on self-protection and will not hold back."

"Don't worry, I know what's important and what's not, and I won't blame myself for it. Haven't I killed many refugees along the way? Don't I know they are also pitiful people?"

Geng Hu laughed, thinking that the little princess was really considerate and had already prepared words of comfort for him.

He is not a young boy, and he has killed countless people. Whether to show kindness to innocent people or not depends on the positions of both parties.

If

It was those people who stopped him from taking food. Because they were bandits and they misunderstood that he would massacre the city, he could still show mercy. If they had any improper thoughts about the food, then it would be a matter of stance, and he would be an enemy regardless of whether they were innocent or not.

Geng Hu knew that the little princess was reminding him not to blame himself for this, and also to not make trouble for himself because the other party was innocent, so he felt relieved.

Keqing breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that General Geng understood her a little.

"My people will give you a signal when the time comes, and then you'll see someone who can respond to your signal..."

"I understand, my lord..."

Geng Hu nodded in response. At this moment, Keqing suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, right, if you encounter refugees who can't survive... you can give them some food and bring them over..."

Geng Hu raised his eyes to glance at Keqing, then responded in a loud voice.

"Yes, Princess."

He knew that the little princess was a kind person.

But food is originally used to help disaster victims, so there is nothing wrong with this.

It seems that the small county lord will stay in Hengshan County for the time being and expand slowly...

After receiving the task, Geng Hu quickly selected a group of people from the team to go to other surrounding counties.

First, a group of outstanding soldiers were selected to sneak into the city gate, break it down and gather information. The rest were some of the original guards, one third of them. As for the bandits who surrendered, Geng Hu took them all with him just in case.

When it comes to bandits, who are more skilled than these guys.

He took some coarse cloth and horses, and then replaced the standard weapons with weapons such as axes suitable for bandits. After Geng Hu made some arrangements for Delili's men to garrison, he immediately took his men away from Hengshan County.

The large number of troops leaving immediately attracted everyone's attention. The people in the county were curious about what had happened. Was there going to be a war there?

But before they could gossip, the county government suddenly issued a notice that the county lord was recruiting soldiers, aged between sixteen and thirty, and would provide three meals a day and various other benefits.

As soon as this announcement came out, it immediately attracted everyone's attention, completely ignoring what they had seen before.

"Is the announcement true? Is the princess really going to recruit soldiers?"

"Of course it's true. My second uncle's aunt passed by the gate of the county government and heard those scholars explain word by word that they were recruiting soldiers!"

"Could it be that a war is about to break out? Wouldn't that be very dangerous?"

"Danger? In the current situation, there are bandits and cannibals everywhere. We have no food to eat and they will rob us. Even our wives and children are being targeted as meat. How can it not be dangerous?"

Someone sneered.

"Why not join the military recruitment and become a soldier? At least you can have enough food, clothes and shelter, and you can also provide shelter for your family. Isn't that much better than being a refugee?"

"Yeah! I've never heard of soldiers being given gifts! They can even give me meat to eat. If that's true, I want to be a soldier too!"

Let alone soldiers, even a small jailer or yamen runner was considered a guy they dared not to provoke. Ordinary people like them dared not even to provoke him.

In the past, when they heard about joining the army, I'm afraid no one would want to let their family members go. After all, everyone knows that being a soldier means doing hard work, not having enough food or warm clothes, and it also threatens one's life.

But the soldiers of this young princess are different. They look so majestic, more powerful than those yamen runners. The princess even killed the dog official with one sword. What does this show? It shows that the young princess is more powerful than the county magistrate!

I heard that the entire Tongzhou Prefecture belongs to the little princess, which means that the little princess is more powerful than the prefect.

Soldiers are different from each other. In this case, the little princess's soldiers must be more powerful than the prefect's soldiers. Moreover, the little princess also said that they should eat Guan and abalone three times a day and be given meat every few days.

As a soldier, you get a monthly salary or something like that, which means you get extra food, cloth, and money. This surprised everyone, as they had never heard of soldiers being given food and money.

It's not like they haven't seen conscripts come back with only some insignificant money for broken arms and legs. When they are in the army, apart from two meals, their families are not given anything.

Not to mention food and money, the soldiers in the barracks couldn't even get meat for a few meals. They were even more pitiful than them.

There was not much gossip in Hengshan County as it was in a state of disrepair. People could not even get enough to eat, let alone gossip. Now that the news of Keqing's conscription came out, the emotions of the people were ignited.

The job provides three meals a day, meat every now and then, and grain and cloth are given to the family. It's a good job that you can't find with a lantern!

I was told that I could join the army or sell myself, but unfortunately all the wealthy people had left long ago, so I couldn't sell myself even if I wanted to. What's the point of being so particular at this time?

If someone else said this, they wouldn't believe it, but if Keqing said it, they would trust it very much. Since the little princess issued the announcement, it must be true.

In no time, the recruitment point set up in front of the county government office was crowded with people, and Keqing had to send people to maintain order and queue up in an orderly manner.

"Choose me, choose me, I'm strong, I'll be the one!"

"I, I, even though I'm old, I'm a good fighter. I'll definitely be a leader in the army."

How could the guards have seen such a scene? You know, it is not easy to recruit soldiers even in the capital. Who wants to be a soldier these days? As the saying goes, the poor are good at literature and the rich are good at martial arts.

If common people really want to have a better future, it is more reliable to take the imperial examination than to become a soldier.

With regard to their physical fitness, they have no money to maintain their bodies, and they cannot even get enough food to eat. Such people are destined to die by joining the army. The food in ordinary military camps is just barely enough to fill their stomachs. Only elite armies such as the Tianying Guard and Beizhu Camp have better conditions. However, such armies are extremely strict in recruiting soldiers. How could they choose those skinny people who cannot even get enough food?

You have to know that they were selected from these two camps, they were just the leftovers.

However, despite being surprised, they still maintained order and recruited people according to the princess's requirements.

The conditions given by Keqing are not outrageous. The age must be between 16 and 30 years old, and the body must be intact and without any defects.

As for the physical problem, she believed that as long as there was enough food and proper training, this group of refugees would soon be able to become a certain fighting force. Her requirements were not high.

Soon, according to statistics, a total of 432 people were recruited, including 280 men and 152 women.

Although women in this world are weak, they are only in the upper class. Women in the lower class are better at farm work than men. Women who can survive the famine will naturally be stronger in all aspects. Therefore, Keqing treats everyone equally and recruits both men and women to get so many people.

A rough estimate is that there are only about three to four thousand people in Hengshan County, including refugees. After all, not many people have fled, and the remaining people either don't want to leave or are unable to do anything.

In this world, it is very difficult to leave your hometown. Without money and food, it is difficult to maintain enough food and clothing. Escaping famine is a matter of luck. Some people stayed in the county town, some felt that the provincial capital was safer, and some went to other provincial capitals.

So there are not many people in Hengshan County, and it is enough to screen out more than 400 people from 3,000.

It can be said that one-sixth of the people in the county have joined the team. Keqing was not in a hurry to let these 400 people participate in training. Instead, she asked Ji Mian to teach them some simple instructions first, so that they can learn to obey orders first, and then conduct unified training, starting from simple training and gradually increasing the difficulty.

Of course, before that, they must be well fed and well-drinking to nourish their bodies first. If they start exercising without a good body, it will only damage their health and be detrimental to their future development.

In order to allow this group of people to adapt faster and devote themselves to training without any worries, Keqing took the initiative to give them one month's salary in advance and asked them to give it to their families.

The appearance of tangible food and cloth made everyone happy as expected. Food was really being distributed!

Although I knew that food would be distributed, knowing and seeing it with my own eyes are two different things.

"Thirty kilograms of coarse grains and five kilograms of Xiliang. Now I can finally have enough to eat."

"Yes, give me back the cloth. It looks brand new, very strong, and the color is pleasing. It's just right for making a dress for my daughter."

The family members received the salary with great joy.

After fleeing famine for so long, my clothes have become tattered. Now that I have new clothes and food, I feel hopeful about my life.

Her husband was serving as a soldier under the young princess and did not have to worry about three meals a day. The mother and daughter had 30 kilograms of food plus porridge for disaster relief every day, so they finally no longer had to wander around and suffer from hunger.

Not to mention that this is coarse grain, edible food, not the wild vegetables, elm leaves and the like that they had eaten before.

You have to know that after paying taxes, the grain they grow is not enough to eat. Families with large families and insufficient land can only go to the grain store to exchange for rice bran mixed with wild vegetables to eat. Occasionally, being able to eat a few eggs during the New Year or festivals is considered a luxury.

And if they can really have so much food every month, and if God gives them the face to farm in the future, then they will really have hope for the days to come.

What Keqing gave them was not just food, but also a guarantee for the future. Even though a few dozen kilograms of food a month is not much, the accumulation of it day by day is equivalent to a few acres of tax-free land, not to mention the remaining rations for the able-bodied laborers in the family who served in the army.

"But I didn't expect that women could join the army. I thought it wouldn't work out if my son joined, but I didn't expect my daughter-in-law to be selected."

"Yes, yes, if you ask me, the little princess is the kindhearted one. Who would recruit women when recruiting soldiers? The little princess must have sympathy for us women who have lost our husbands and relatives, so she is so kind."

"It's true that the little princess is kind, but what you said is a little wrong. What's wrong with being a woman? A lot of farm work is done by us women, and we are much more useful than men."

"That's right! The girl we chose was a bully in our village before she fled from famine. The hooligans in the village couldn't beat her, and she was better at farm work than that old ox. Don't look down on us women!"

This statement immediately caused a public outcry, and the person who said it apologized repeatedly.

"No, no, I just said it casually."

Seeing this, everyone stopped explaining to him and started talking about it.

The people were visibly happy, and Keqing was also very satisfied. Although half of the food was immediately reduced after it was distributed, there would be a large amount of food again when General Geng returned, so there was no need to worry at all.

Although the refugees he accepted had average physical strength, they were loyal to him. Such soldiers were good for anything. After some rest, their physical strength would return to normal.

"But...the problem of weapons needs to be solved."

Keqing stroked her chin and thought.

We have recruited more than 400 people. Now they don't need to go to the battlefield and only need training, which is fine.

But when the time comes to fight, we can't just let these people go up with knives and sticks.