After more than a month, Shilong County had recovered some of its vitality, and the streets were no longer empty.
At this moment, several cavalrymen, who had been traveling day and night from afar, were galloping through the streets of the county town.
They loudly shouted "urgent military orders" and scared away the common people on the street with fierce expressions, thus avoiding a tragedy.
Half an hour later, several people gathered in the county government office. Besides Zhang Qingyang, Wu Tieshan and Ji Yuan, who had heard the news, were also present.
As soon as he entered the meeting room of the county government office, he saw the two men frowning and looking at the map on the table with extremely solemn expressions.
His gaze then fell and he saw that several thin lines had already been drawn on the map with charcoal.
"What happened?"
After observing for a moment, Ji Yuan couldn't help but ask.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qingyang and Wu Tieshan exchanged glances and then sighed one after another.
The former pondered for a moment and then said, "The Grand General's military order requires us to muster our troops and capture Hengshan, Mayuan, and Qian'an counties within a month!"
As soon as he said this, Ji Yuan's eyes immediately sank, and he almost thought he had misheard.
The three counties mentioned by Zhang Qingyang were adjacent to Shilong County and Linfu County, and were also occupied by the rebels.
Although the main force of the rebels had already gone to the border connecting Tianhe Prefecture, leaving behind only a motley crew recruited later, and some small sects that were not very strong.
However, with the troop strength of Linfu and the two counties, it was still an impossible task to capture them, let alone within a month!
Currently, Zhang Qingyang and Wu Tieshan had only a little over two thousand soldiers in total, more than half of whom had to guard two county towns!
The actual deployable troops were less than a thousand, and there were no accompanying cultivators in the army.
To have hundreds of soldiers, with the strongest being only early-stage筋骨境 (Jing Gu Jing - Bone and Muscle Realm) martial artists, capture three counties in a month was no exaggeration to call it a pipe dream.
In terms of quality and other aspects, they were indeed the elite of the army, but in terms of strength, they could only be ranked at the bottom among the imperial armies in Feiyun Prefecture.
Otherwise, they would not have been left behind by the main army to garrison Linfu County.
"Fortunately, besides Linfu and Shilong counties, three other counties will also send troops together."
Wu Tieshan sighed and delivered a not-so-bad piece of good news.
This was because the three counties that would send troops together were in a much worse situation than them. The deployable troops were pitifully few, only six to seven hundred in total.
And they were all garrison soldiers!
The armies of the Great Yu Dynasty were divided into two types: one was the locally recruited garrison soldiers, whose elite level depended on the city they were in.
The other was the stationed army, which might be soldiers transferred from other prefectures, with the best strength and equipment, and possessed resources that local armies could not compare with.
The former had uneven strength, but was firm in defense, as behind them was their home, with parents, wives and children, friends, and relatives.
The latter were generally elite and powerful, experienced in combat and all other aspects, and were the true main force of the court, as well as the trump cards of the prefects and governors.
"That is to say, on the surface, five counties are encircling Hengshan, Mayuan, and Qian'an counties, but in reality, there are not many cultivators available?"
Ji Yuan keenly discovered that the three counties mentioned by the other party also did not have many cultivators stationed there.
At most, there were only a scattered few cultivators, and the total number would not even reach twenty.
Moreover, he remained skeptical about the cultivation of these people, with the strongest likely being only at the early to mid-stage of the second realm, and even one or two would be considered a lot.
"Please, Daoist Lingyu, help us!"
The two exchanged glances and then simultaneously cupped their fists and requested.
They were still aware that the person in front of them had a main body and a divine avatar, and their appellations would change accordingly when facing different identities.
Upon hearing this, Ji Yuan raised an eyebrow. The two in front of him had previously spoken of helping them, not cooperating with the imperial action.
This meant that they were asking for his help in their personal capacity.
There were many subtleties involved here.
If they acted as imperial officials and generals, many things would be very simple. If successful, they would be credited with military merits, and if not, they might also be held accountable.
But if it was in their personal capacity, there would be much more room for maneuver. Regardless of success or failure, there would be benefits, and many conditions could be negotiated.
"In addition to the due military merits, at least three Water God temples must be built in each county and surrounding towns to ensure incense offerings and imperial recognition."
Ji Yuan said without thinking, "And all spoils of war can be kept without being handed over."
At the same time, he told the two in front of him that if they wanted the assistance of Xiaoyuanshan and Xuantian Peak, they had to agree to one condition, which was that they would only cooperate and not obey the military orders.
However, these conditions were not a problem for Zhang Qingyang and Wu Tieshan at all.
Without any hesitation, the two readily agreed on the spot and added some extra promises.
There was no other way. The imperial order had been issued, and they had to overcome any difficulties and execute it.
Ji Yuan and his accompanying cultivators were now their only hope.
After the turmoil caused by Wangsheng Lou and the rebels, there were no remaining cultivation sects in the two counties, and not many martial arts forces were left either.
"We have gathered all available strength as much as possible."
Zhang Qingyang sighed, his face showing deep fatigue.
Just to clean up the mess left by the rebels and rectify the chaotic Shilong County, he had not had a good rest for more than a month.
Although his physique was nourished by righteous energy, he was ultimately still a mortal, and he was able to persevere only thanks to the few bottles of pills gifted by Ji Yuan.
Now, his pressure had undoubtedly increased several times with the arrival of the military order.
In the following half a month, Zhang Qingyang did his best to operate Linfu and Shilong counties to their current extreme.
And through his efforts, in addition to several hundred soldiers, he actually managed to assemble two armies.
One army had about three to four hundred people, all gathered from the martial arts gangs of the two counties. Their individual strength was the strongest, but their drawback was their small numbers and disorganization.
Such a force could barely be used for surprise attacks, but could not fulfill higher requirements.
The other army was composed entirely of refugees and able-bodied men from Linfu County, numbering an astonishing two thousand three hundred!
Although they had no martial arts skills and, due to their civilian status, did not know military formations, they had strength and were all very obedient.
They were good choices for maintaining order or boosting morale.