We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

The next day, at dawn, flags were flying in the Ninggu military camp.

After the training, the soldiers lined up neatly outside the camp and waited for orders.

Li Che was wearing a suit of black iron scale armor, standing under the king's flag with a stern look in his eyes.

Beside him, piles of copper coins were tied together with ropes, sparkling in the morning light.

"Li Erdan, a spearman from Team Wu of the Ninggu Army, beheaded three enemies in yesterday's fierce battle. He is rewarded with twenty taels of silver and a minor merit!"

Qiu Bai shouted, and a soldier stepped out and took the reward from the official.

He then bowed to Li Che, with a hint of enthusiasm in his eyes: "Thank you for the reward, Your Highness!"

Li Che nodded slightly in response.

When killing enemies on the battlefield, rewards and punishments should be clearly defined, which is the way it should be.

Moreover, Li Che himself must be present when the award is given.

The most important thing is to let every soldier know who pays them.

After all the rewards were distributed, Li Che looked around at the high-spirited soldiers in front of him and said loudly:

"From today on, you are no longer the criminal army, but the regular army of Daqing, and the Ninggu soldiers of Li Che!"

When everyone heard this, they cheered in unison, their voices shaking the sky.

"A soldier should act like a soldier. Pass the order down. All soldiers will be issued a new set of clothes, a new pair of shoes, and a set of leather armor."

Previously, only a small number of the criminal army were able to wear armor, and their clothes were tattered, which really affected the appearance.

Now that Li Che has sufficient supplies, he can buy equipment for his soldiers and win their hearts, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

The crowd cheered again.

Li Che looked at the people in the front row and said in a deep voice:

"Wang Sanchun and He Conglong, for your outstanding achievements in raiding the enemy camp yesterday and capturing the enemy chief, I hereby promote you to deputy generals of the Ninggu Army!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Sanchun and He Conglong hurried forward to express their gratitude, overjoyed.

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

The captain is just a low-level military officer.

As for the deputy general, he has one foot in the door of becoming a general.

If someone calls them "General" again in the future, they will be able to accept it calmly.

"Hu Qiang and Qiu Bai, for their meritorious service in protecting the enemy. Hu Qiang will be appointed Chief of the Imperial Guard Battalion, and Qiu Bai will be appointed Deputy Chief."

Hu Qiang was confused and was pulled out by Qiu Bai to express his gratitude.

The Ninggu Army is the direct line, and the Royal Guard Battalion is the direct line among the direct lines, and is connected with Li Che's life.

Li Che glanced at the silly Hu Qiang, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and continued:

"Wang Hu is the commander of the cavalry battalion, Hua Ying is the commander of the archery battalion, and Yan San is the commander of the scout battalion."

Wang Hu is an old man in the criminal army. He is from Xiliang. He made a living by selling horses in his early years and has outstanding riding skills.

Hua Ying had served as a crossbowman in the army of the previous dynasty and was an excellent archer.

Yan San is a famous thief with excellent martial arts skills and is good at reconnaissance.

The three men each had their own special abilities and had made contributions in previous battles.

Li Che promoted them individually and allowed them to give full play to their strengths in their respective areas of expertise.

Compared with Wang Sanchun, Qiu Bai and others, these three seemed more excited.

"Thank you, Your Highness! We will fight tooth and nail to the bitter end and live up to Your Highness' high expectations!"

The positions of the rest of the people did not change, except that the thirteen teams of the former criminal army were reorganized into ten battalions.

Each camp still has a captain, equipped with one hundred old criminals and two hundred new recruits.

New recruits were selected from slaves, laborers, and prisoners. Each veteran was responsible for leading two new recruits. If any problems occurred with the new recruits, the veterans would be held accountable as well.

In this way, the Ninggu Army expanded directly from 1,300 people to nearly 4,000 people.

Together with more than 2,000 civilian laborers, the total number reached more than 6,000.

It’s a pity that there are not enough horses, especially military horses that can be equipped as cavalry.

Including those looted from the mountain stronghold, there were only more than 200 horses, barely enough to meet the needs of the cavalry camp.

Even so, Li Che still felt that his troops were insufficient.

These people are enough to wipe out the bandits in Daqing, but if they go out of the border and fight the barbarians... the number must be at least ten times higher to make them feel at ease.

After the reward was distributed, the army set off again loaded with spoils.

On the trees by the roadside, laborers pulled ropes and hung up the bodies one by one.

At the front, Fan Chong's rootless body was hung the highest, with a wooden sign around his neck inscribed with the six large characters "Fan Chong, the Bandit Chief of Mangdang Mountain".

Li Che rode his horse past the corpse without looking around, and galloped straight towards the rising sun.

An hour later, passing merchants discovered the corpses hanging on both sides of the mountain road. When local officials and troops came to investigate, they found that all the strongholds in Mangdang Mountain had been burned down.

The news that Prince Ninggu had swept through the bandits in Mangdang Mountain spread far and wide.

. . . . . .

There have been undercurrents in the imperial capital recently, and people are in panic.

Emperor Qing was displeased and reprimanded the crown prince for his poor governance for several days, causing panic among the crown prince's party in the court.

The news from the north almost made the ministers drop their jaws.

The Prince of Ninggu, who had always been unknown, did another big thing after the action in Yecheng.

The banditry in Mangdang Mountain, which had never been eradicated since the founding of Daqing, was wiped out by the Prince of Ninggu in one fell swoop!

Everyone in the court sighed that they had made a mistake.

Who would have thought that this seemingly weak prince was actually well versed in the art of war.

Prince's East Palace.

From behind the curtain came the delicate voice of the evil-repelling demon begging for mercy:

"Your Highness, please be gentler. I can't bear it anymore..."

"Shut up!" The prince was furious. "Why isn't he dead yet?! Fan Chong is such a loser! Such a loser!"

After a burst of heavy breathing, the prince opened the curtain with his upper body naked, and Bixie stood up to serve him despite the pain.

"Your Highness." The maid's voice sounded outside the door.

"What's the matter?" Bixie asked in a low voice.

"Someone wants to see me, saying he's from Mount Mangdang."

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince's eyes flashed with a cold light: "Tell him to wait in the side hall, I will be there soon!"

Bixie quickly increased the speed of his hands.

After a while, the prince straightened his crown and tied his belt, and went to the side hall with the evil-repelling talisman.

In the hall, a man was kneeling on the ground, holding a wooden box.

The prince took a look and said: "I recognize you. You were one of the guards sent to Mangdang Mountain."

Hearing this, the man lowered his head even deeper: "Your Highness, I will die..."

The prince looked indifferent. After sitting down, he asked, "Where is Fan Chong?"

"I don't know." The man's face was filled with fear. "After Prince Ninggu broke through the mountain stronghold, he killed all of our people, sparing only my life. He ordered me to give you something."

"Why didn't Li Che kill you?"

The man hesitated and said, "Because... I am a eunuch..."

The prince frowned and looked at him.

What is this mess?

Too lazy to bother with such a small figure, he turned to look at the box in the man's arms and asked, "What is this?"

"I don't know either. Prince Ninggu ordered me not to open it."

Seeing this, Bixie stepped forward, took the wooden box from the man's arms, and with the prince's tacit approval, slowly opened it...

"what!!!"

Bixie screamed and the box in his hand fell to the ground.

A bloody object rolled out and landed at the prince's feet.

The prince looked down...