"Excellent!"
Han Mo nodded in satisfaction after the last squad of soldiers finished firing their arrows.
"Perhaps you find my military orders cruel, but have you considered that your fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, and children are all in Mingzhou City? If Mingzhou City falls, what will become of them?"
He asked again, slowly, looking at the soldiers whose expressions were complex.
...
Only silence answered him.
After all, the army had always been a weapon of slaughter, and burning, killing, and looting were things that were hard to avoid, not just among the rebel army, but even within the Song army.
The soldiers of the rebel army were mostly composed of oppressed commoners and brainwashed Manichaeans.
These people were filled with malice, and after the city fell, they would show no mercy to the families of these defending soldiers.
"Tomorrow morning, I will have a stone tablet erected here. All soldiers who participated in this defense will have their names inscribed upon it. Even if you fall in battle, the people of this city will never forget your sacrifice!"
Seeing the somber mood at the scene, Han Mo said loudly again.
"Long live the Great Song!"
As soon as Han Mo finished speaking, Du San immediately took the lead in shouting.
"Long live the Great Song!"
"Long live the Great Song!"
Following him, the soldiers present also joined in.
The morale, which had been somewhat low, was immediately boosted again.
"Han Shizhong, Li Bao, where are you?"
Han Mo nodded with satisfaction, looking at them all with high spirits.
"Your subordinate is here!"
"Your subordinate is here!"
"From this moment on, the task of training the troops falls to you two."
"Understood!"
Both Han Shizhong and Li Bao were now full of confidence in their ability to complete this task.
After all, these men had all participated in the slaughter just now, and with the stone tablet that Han Mo was about to erect.
Once Mingzhou City fell, the first to be dealt with by the rebel army would be these people on the stone tablet.
Even if they did not consider themselves, they had to consider their families.
After all, regardless of the reason, the rebel army would not let them go just because they were forced.
In this cold weapon era, while the individual quality of soldiers was important, the morale and spirit of the soldiers often determined the victory of a war.
One side was a mob, while the other was united.
Although they did not have the advantage in numbers, they did have the advantage of defending the city.
The art of war states: attack those who are surrounded by five times their number, attack those who are surrounded by ten times their number, divide those who are twice their number, fight those who are equal, flee from those who are fewer, and avoid those who are inferior.
Although the rebel army had more numbers, if these men fought with their lives, it was not impossible to hold out for three days.
...
By the time Han Mo left the training ground, the sounds of soldiers training could already be heard from afar.
"My lord, where do we go next?"
Jiang Yan asked after the carriage had driven a considerable distance from the grand training ground.
"Let's go and see the Qian family. I believe the elders of the Qian family should have arrived in Mingzhou City by now!"
Han Mo wanted to be on equal footing with the Qian family. The cotton yarn technology alone was far from enough. However, coupled with his recent actions in Mingzhou City, he was not far from it.
The Qian family itself was a prominent clan. Over the years, through relationships such as marriage, classmates, and disciples, they naturally had their own channels within the imperial court.
Han Mo's memorials had been submitted for quite some time, and it was about time for the Qian family to show their stance.
"Yes!"
Hearing Han Mo's words, Jiang Yan stopped talking and led Han Mo back to the main gate of the Qian mansion.
However, just as Han Mo was about to get out of the carriage, an invisible storm began to stir once more in Bianliang City, thousands of miles away.
"Is this news reliable?"
After carefully reading the letter in his hand three times, Wang Fu still found it hard to believe.
"Replying to Your Excellency, this news is absolutely reliable. It is said that Xu Churen's memorial impeaching the five of them is already on its way. It will arrive at the Tongzheng Division either today or tomorrow!"
Wang Chaoan was incredibly excited about this hard-won piece of news.
"Very good. No matter what that old man intends to do, he has helped me immensely this time!"
After greedily reading the contents of the letter again, a sinister expression appeared on Wang Fu's face.
"My lord, these people were all recommended by Li Bangyan. Now that Xu Churen has caught them red-handed, if their guilt is confirmed, even that old fellow Li Bangyan will have to face the consequences! What do you think, should we take this opportunity to ......"
"It's too early to talk about such things. For now, do not let any wind leak out. By the way, where are Zhang Bangchang and Huang Qianshan now?"
After hesitating for a moment, Wang Fu still directly rejected this tempting idea.
The five prefectural positions were indeed a piece of fat meat for him, but the problem was that this meat was currently in Xu Churen's bowl.
If he rashly reached out to grab a dish now, and if he angered that old man, it might backfire.
Besides, the first priority before him was to ensure that he could ascend to the position of Grand Minister of the Great Song. Everything else would have to wait.
He did not want to confront Xu Churen directly over such a trivial matter at this time.
After all, while Xu Churen alone was nothing, with Prince Xin Zhao Zhen added, the situation would be different.
"Both of your excellencies have received the transfer documents and are currently rushing to the capital. According to their pace, they should be able to arrive before the next grand court session!"
"Send our people to hurry them along the way and ensure they arrive in the capital before the grand court session!"
Despite receiving this good news in advance, Wang Fu still felt a bit uneasy when he considered his available strength.
After all, his foundation was too shallow. Before, with Liang Shicheng supporting him from behind, this weakness was not particularly obvious.
But ever since he parted ways with Liang Shicheng, this weakness had become increasingly apparent.
To compensate for this shortcoming, he had been secretly developing his influence, but such things could not be accomplished overnight. Even though he had been busy for more than half a year, he only had a handful of usable subordinates now.
The only good news was that through a series of interest exchanges, he had finally managed to transfer Zhang Bangchang and Huang Qianshan back to Bianliang City.