Chapter 65: This is a Stratagem to Conquer the Heart

The moment he received the tiger tally for mobilizing troops, the look in Yang Chuan’s eyes as he gazed upon the generals completely changed.

Favored by the grace of the Empress, everything that he might have carelessly overlooked in his daily routine had already been anticipated by Her Majesty. This was truly the supreme glory for a subject.

Realizing that Yang Chuan had indeed been temporarily appointed by the Empress as the Governor-General of the Three Armies, the rest of the generals knelt and paid their respects, with the sole exception of Ma Wen, who stood to the side glaring at him with unconcealed hostility.

Damnable! Absolutely damnable!

To think that after all these years of meticulous scheming, he was on the verge of completely seizing control of all military affairs in the New City, only for...

This Yang Chuan had simply been sent here straight from the Imperial City to torment him!

Yet, reflecting on the fact that the Prime Minister still backed him from behind the scenes, there was no need to put on a pleasant face for this newcomer just yet.

With a cold snort, Ma Wen turned and left the Governor-General’s Manor, secretly vowing that no matter how Yang Chuan commanded the troops, he would never obey.

...

A day later, hearing that the military forces of the Wei State were once again harassing the commoners near the New City, Yang Chuan and Kou Wei came up to the city wall together.

Looking out into the distance, they saw that five miles beyond the city, Wei cavalrymen were galloping back and forth, kicking up clouds of dust from the nearby woods.

On the plains just behind the forest, peasants who had gone out to farm were being hunted and driven in all directions by the Wei soldiers.

Those whose pace lagged even slightly were mercilessly cut down on the spot by the Wei troops.

"Hmph! If they truly wished to make an enemy of Great Qi, they should lead three thousand men here to fight a decisive battle. What kind of prowess is it to always ambush us and bully helpless civilians?"

Observing the scene before him, Kou Wei felt a sharp pang of anguish, yet he was utterly helpless.

After all, as the sole primary commander of the New City, he desperately longed to ride out and fight the Wei army to the death.

Unfortunately, the Wei forces had somehow managed to breed a batch of exceptionally robust warhorses.

Relying on mounts that far outpaced those of the Great Qi soldiers, this unit of light cavalry had repeatedly played tricks on Kou Wei in the outskirts, frustrating every single sortie he attempted.

As soon as Kou Wei retreated back into the city, the Wei commander would lead his men right back to harass the surrounding villagers, plunging the interior of the New City into days of relentless grievance and bitter complaints.

Some peasants even went so far as to claim that the Wei State had promised them that if they were willing to abandon their ancestral homes in the New City and follow Wei, their lives would be guaranteed to be far better than they were now.

"This is psychological warfare."

Having heard Kou Wei's explanation, Yang Chuan instantly grasped the intention behind this detachment of Wei cavalry.

However, while their psychological warfare tactic seemed sound in theory, once they resorted to violence against the commoners, how many people would genuinely be willing to surrender to the Wei State?

Gazing at the wretched villagers beneath the city wall, Yang Chuan immediately issued an order, "General Kou, take a thousand cavalrymen at once to harass the Wei forces outside the city, but do not pursue them deeply. Simply wait until the commoners have safely returned within the city walls, and then fall back."

"Understood!"

Having heard tales of Yang Chuan's legendary exploits, Kou Wei harbored no objections whatsoever to the commands given. He simply obeyed completely, which only made Yang Chuan appreciate his working style all the more.

Once Kou Wei had led his troops out of the city, Yang Chuan personally led a hundred infantrymen down to the gates to welcome the civilians inside himself.

During this time, he specifically instructed the soldiers to raise a continuous chant as the peasants re-entered the city.

They were to proclaim solely that the newly appointed Grand Governor of the New City, Yang Chuan, understood the sufferings of the people, and had come personally to safeguard them so they would never again suffer harassment from the Wei army.

Since the Wei forces wanted to play the psychological warfare card, Yang Chuan would naturally outplay them on a much higher level.

Sure enough, as the villagers fled back into the city under the cover of the cavalry, passing through the city gates to the sound of the soldiers' resounding cheers, they cast looks of profound admiration toward Yang Chuan.

Not until every last elderly person and child from outside had safely crossed the threshold did Yang Chuan order the guards to close the gates, waiting until Kou Wei returned to open them again.

To their surprise, when the soldiers accompanied Yang Chuan back into the city, they discovered that not a single one of the newly rescued peasants had left; every last one of them had remained at the base of the city wall, lined up to welcome them.

The moment they caught sight of Yang Chuan, an elderly man stepped forward to lead the crowd, dropping to his knees before him along with all the surrounding citizens.

"We humble folk kowtow to express our eternal gratitude to the Grand Governor for saving our lives!"

"The arrival of the Grand Governor is truly like timely rain after a long drought for the New City, allowing us lowly folk to finally experience the blessings of being subjects of the realm!"

Seeing this, Yang Chuan smiled faintly, stepped forward to the old man, and raised him up with both hands.

He then addressed the crowd of villagers gathered behind the elder.

"My respected fathers, mothers, and fellow villagers, please, all of you, rise! Protecting your safety is nothing less than the fundamental duty of us military men. Surely, within this New City, there must be many elderly parents whose children have grown to the age of fourteen or fifteen and been sent directly to the military camps to risk their lives for the country?"

Hearing these words, the villagers nodded, their eyes brimming with tears.

Over the years, for the sake of Great Qi's border security, many families sent their children off to the army the moment they reached fifteen or sixteen, sacrificing their flesh and blood in service to the nation.

However, ever since a military officer named Ma Wen had arrived in the city, he had not only subjected the civil officials of the New City to every conceivable form of obstruction, but had also treated the commoners with harsh severity, completely refusing to regard them as citizens of Great Qi.

It was precisely because of this man's emergence that the Emperor of Wei had conceived a plot, dispatching a unit of cavalry to win over hearts and minds around the New City in an attempt to further expand the borders of the Wei State.

Pity that these enemy soldiers had misunderstood the intent of the Wei Emperor, foolishly resorting to brute force while attempting to buy off the populace.

This blunder had only served to shatter the commoners' faith in the Wei State entirely, yet it inadvertently presented Yang Chuan with a golden opportunity to win back their allegiance.

To let the people feel the boundless grace of the imperial court even more deeply, Yang Chuan ordered his troops to take a portion of grain from the New City granaries and distribute it among the masses, soothing the psychological trauma they had suffered amid the war.

Following this, he invited the elder to the Governor-General’s Manor, and once Kou Wei had returned to the city, personally hosted a banquet to discuss the administration of the New City with the two men.

After three rounds of wine, Yang Chuan took the initiative to ask, "General Kou, just now I heard the elder mention that all affairs, great and small, within the city are currently managed by Ma Wen? What, then, is the magistrate of the New City doing? Why would he condone a deputy commander running amok and wreaking havoc in the city?"

In ancient times, civil and military officials had their respective boundaries, and barring emergencies, neither was permitted to interfere in the internal affairs of the other. Ma Wen's arrival had clearly shattered this convention.

Hearing this, Kou Wei let out a long sigh and spoke frankly, "Your Excellency the Governor-General may not know this, but the only reason Ma Wen was able to assume office here in the New City is entirely because he has the Prime Minister backing him from behind the scenes!"

"Furthermore, this man came to the New City clearly not for the sake of the common people, but to fleece the populace and line his own pockets!"

"Our New City sits right on the border of Great Qi, plagued by unceasing wars year after year. The people were already impoverished, and now, being crushed under Ma Wen's arbitrary tyranny, their cries to heaven go unanswered and their pleas to earth fall on deaf ears!"

Hearing this, Yang Chuan nodded in sudden realization, finally understanding what that aged An Xunlu was truly aiming for.

During the three years the Empress was absent, An Xunlu had planted his own people in every corner of Great Qi.

Instead of thinking of ways to share the nation's burdens, he accumulated massive fortunes with reckless abandon; his ultimate goal was undoubtedly to leave behind a colossal vault of wealth for his descendants.

Once he finished dealing with the affairs of the New City, it would be time to turn his focus toward reining in An Xunlu, starting with the son who was poised to inherit his title.