After being demoted, my 300,000-strong army trampled the imperial city!

For three whole days, under Zhang Liang's leadership, the lives of the people in the prefectural city finally returned to peace. The military discipline of the Northern Frontier Army was far superior to that of the Northern Martial Army. Qin Liangyu and An Jingsi kept their troops stationed outside the city and never disturbed the people, which earned them unanimous praise.

"Your Majesty, news of a defeat has arrived from the front lines. The Northern Wu army was ambushed by the allied forces of the Eastern State City and suffered considerable losses. A noble son of the Northern Wu army has died, enraging the Empress. After breaching the city gates, she killed over a hundred officials."

The Imperial Guard's battle report was placed on Chen Futu's desk.

Qingyi curled her lips and said, "Liu Longyue is indeed decisive in killing, but unfortunately the army has advanced rapidly and can only fight quick battles. Now that Daqian is on guard, I wonder how long she can hold out. If she is defeated, you can take this opportunity to take over the Northern Wu Army."

"It's not that easy. The fact that she dared to venture deep into enemy territory alone means she was well-prepared."

Chen Futu calculated the time; the provisions should have arrived by now.

Sure enough, the provisions were safely delivered in the afternoon. Chen Futu ordered the entire army to rest for one night and set off the next day.

The following day, the army broke camp, and Qin Liangyu led the White-Spear Soldiers as the vanguard, heading straight for Dongchuan.

The sights along the way were too painful to bear. Some refugees were huddled under broken bricks and tiles, and there were even corpses by the roadside. Some people were huddled together with the corpses, their eyes empty and numb.

Chen Futu couldn't help but sigh with regret, so he ordered An Jingsi to gather the people along the way and have them follow the army.

The army doesn't have much food, just enough to fill the stomachs of the people. They hope that once they reach Dongchuan, they can find some food to settle the displaced people.

As they traveled, more and more people gathered, gradually increasing from a few hundred at the beginning to several thousand, and then to tens of thousands.

The common people traveled too slowly, covering at most ten or twenty li a day, while Qin Liangyu's vanguard had already penetrated deep into Dongchuan.

Zhang Liang said with great concern, "Your Majesty, this cannot continue."

"I know, but I can't watch them die."

When Liu Bei fled, hundreds of thousands of people, young and old, followed him, and he couldn't bear to abandon them. Now that the royal army from the north has arrived, it's a chance to preserve the people's strength and gain prestige. So be it if the advance is slow; the army is strong enough that it won't suffer a defeat easily.

"I fear someone might launch a sneak attack. How can General An protect so many people by himself?"

Chen Futu was well aware of Zhang Liang's concerns, and with the Wei Wuzu as his trump card, he was not afraid at all.

Ten days later, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians arrived near Dongchuan. Just as Chen Futu ordered the cooking to begin, a large black dot suddenly appeared from the west.

An Jingsi said, "Brother, it's an army that the Dongchuan family recruited privately, about 15,000 men."

"Break them off, seize their horses, and kill them for food."

"Here!"

An Jingsi waved Yu Wangshuo's banner and led his army to meet them.

Chen Futu asked Zhang Liang, "How is General Qin?"

"A battle report came back this morning. The White-Clad Army is attacking Yong'an County. There is an armory there. If they take it, they can cut off the nearby military supplies. I estimate they have already taken it."

As Zhang Liang was speaking, news of victory arrived.

"Report! General Qin has captured Yong'an County, beheaded three generals, captured more than two thousand soldiers, and obtained a large amount of military equipment."

"Tell her to pacify the local people, issue an edict to recruit local militia, and say that horse meat will be delivered soon."

Chen Futu had no choice. His army was too small. Fortunately, he had the title of Benevolent King, which boosted the strength of ordinary local militias to the level of regular soldiers. The main problem was food. He had to intimidate the powerful families of Dongchuan and force them to hand over grain. If that didn't work, he would have to pretend to be bandits and rob them. After all, the royal court was a benevolent army and would not rob the people of their money and grain. What did the royal court have to do with the bandits' robbery?

A battle broke out in the distance. An Jingsi's strength had now reached the peak of the Grandmaster level. Coupled with his innate divine strength, the Yuwang Sculpture caused chaos and defeat for the enemy. The Jingyue Army was already strong, and with the blessing of the title, their combat power surged again.

This battle was not about killing people, but about seizing horses to fill their stomachs. As a result, many soldiers of the allied aristocratic families were knocked off their horses. Without their steeds, they would have had no chance of survival. However, An Jingsi was only concerned with seizing horses, so they managed to escape a calamity.

The battle ended shortly afterward.

An Jingsi brought back more than 5,000 warhorses. These horses were not as fat as the horses from the Western Regions, nor as fierce as the horses from the grasslands, so he did not feel bad about killing them.

One horse's saddle is enough to feed dozens of people for a day. With more than five thousand horses, if we're careful, it should last us for a while.

Chen Futu immediately ordered that cooking pots be prepared and horses be slaughtered to feed the people.

The people who were originally slumped over by the roadside raised their dirty faces one by one upon hearing this order.

Did they hear wrong?

The king is actually willing to kill his precious warhorse to feed these lowly creatures?

In an era when human life was cheaper than grass, how many lives could a horse have been exchanged for them!

Some people could no longer hold back their tears, knelt down and kowtowed, crying out "Long live the King!" In an instant, the sound of people crying filled the mountains and fields.

The man in green sighed, “He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. You did the right thing. Warhorses and such are nothing compared to the hearts of the people.”

Zhang Liang was also shocked by this scene.

He truly admired the king's decisiveness and magnanimity. No other monarch would have killed so many warhorses to feed the lowly commoners.

People who ate meat had more energy and could travel faster.

Finally, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians arrived in Yong'an County three days later.

Qin Liangyu was already waiting and had even set up soup kitchens for disaster relief.

Chen Futu asked suspiciously, "Where did you get the rice?"

"Of course it was stolen."

Qin Liangyu explained simply that after learning that the king had taken in people along the way, she personally disguised herself as a bandit and raided several nearby mountain strongholds. She obtained a lot of money and food from the bandits' cellars and warehouses, and also rescued many people.

"Good, good, good, as expected of my wife, we're on the same page."

Chen Futu grinned and tried to hold her little hand, but Qin Liangyu snorted, looked away with her clear eyes, and refused to let him hold her hand.

Chen Futu, with his large hands nowhere to go, could only scratch his head, which looked somewhat comical.

"Your Majesty, the Dongchuan family has sent a representative to request an audience."

"I am too lazy to see you, strategist, teacher. You two go and show them what a king's army is, what the wrath of thunder is."

Zhang Liang and Qingyi exchanged a smile and headed straight for the county government office.

Chen Futu's attitude was very clear: negotiation was out of the question. Either he paid grain as protection money, or he would guard his money and grain and wait for the bandits to rob him. He hoped that the noble families would be sensible and not force him to follow Li Zicheng's example of extorting money.

The number of people gathering in Yong'an County is increasing, and resettling so many people is a major problem.

While he hesitated, Zhang Liang returned, slightly annoyed. "Your Majesty, those powerful families are ungrateful. They actually threatened Your Majesty, saying that without their support, you cannot hold onto this vast empire. They are only willing to provide 10,000 shi of grain, and that's all they will offer."