The Great Banner on the city wall changes.
The forr Hu Family’s fluttering flag is nowhere to be seen; instead, the "Mountain" character flag dances in the wind, stained with traces of bright red blood, making it particularly conspicuous.
The bloody sll at the city gate is thick and unrelenting; the ground is soaked with blood, dyed black and red, making one nauseous.
As fresh recruits, the Qingshan Army armored soldiers are experiencing the cruelty of war for the first ti.
Lu Qingshan’s gaze sweeps across the surroundings, moving over those blood-stained, dark faces.
Suddenly, he bursts into laughter and asks, "Youngsters, who among you personally killed soone in this battle? How many did you kill?"
"I... killed!"
"I killed one!"
"I also killed one!"
"What’s one? I killed two!"
"You’re proud of two? I killed two and a half!"
Lu Qingshan pulls out the armored soldier who claid to have killed two and a half, "You little rascal, being dishonest, who ntions killing half a person?"
The armored soldier he pulled out is very young, but his eyes reveal a cunning and cleverness.
Lu Qingshan rembers him; he was the first to take action, throwing a stone at the Hu steward at the start.
"Exactly, Xiao Haizi, how dare you boast before the General!" The others join in good-natured laughter.
The young armored soldier, referred to as Xiao Haizi, turns red in the face, pointing at the soldier next to him, raising his head, "I wasn’t boasting. If my sword had struck down, that guy’s head would definitely have been severed. It’s he who insisted on assisting , stabbing that guy from the side and directly killing him, stealing my kill!"
"On the battlefield, there’s no such thing as stealing a kill; naturally, the kill belongs to whoever made it." The other armored soldier is not convinced either.
"Boys, no need to argue. Indeed, on the battlefield, blades have no eyes, and whoever kills is credited for the Battle rits. But don’t be upset; today, I’ll credit you with half a kill for now." Lu Qingshan laughs heartily.
"Next ti in battle, rember to be swift in your strikes; don’t let others get ahead of you," pausing, Lu Qingshan asks, "Little rascal, how old are you this year, what’s your na?"
That young armored soldier’s face flushes red, but this ti out of excitent rather than embarrassnt.
"Reporting to the General, I’m fourteen this year, and my na is just Xiao Haizi."
He was previously a slave, and slaves are not entitled to surnas.
"Xiao Haizi won’t work, sounds like a eunuch’s na. When you announce your na in the future, it loses respect," Lu Qingshan thinks for a mont, then gestures, "Since you have no surna, you shall take mine; from now on, call yourself Lu Hai."
"Thank you, General, for bestowing the surna!" Lu Hai, unable to hide his inner excitent, kneels on one knee and speaks loudly.
Surrounding Qingshan Army soldiers gaze enviously.
This counts as the bestowal of a family surna, indicating regard for Lu Hai.
Lu Qingshan waves his hand, saying, "Let’s clean up the battlefield first, don’t let down your guard, this is just the beginning; the road to revolution is long."
.....
The Qingshan Army follows orders, quickly dispersing to clean the battlefield and assess the losses.
In this battle, even though Lu Qingshan is so courageous, the Qingshan Army, after only twenty days of training, still faces many issues, leading to significant losses.
Of course, the gains are equally significant; besides capturing Anling City, the battle honed the remaining Qingshan Army, no longer new recruits, but of higher quality.
Lu Qingshan led the army to capture the Inner City, naly the Hu Family’s mansion—their defensive forces were exhausted in the previous siege, so the final cleanup was exceedingly smooth.
Towards the Hu Family, Lu Qingshan showed extre ruthlessness, not leaving a single survivor.
"Treat your comrades with warmth like spring, and enemies with ruthless severity like the harsh winter." Lu Qingshan said this to his soldiers.
They have witnessed Lu Qingshan’s ruthless severity.
And they soon saw Lu Qingshan’s spring-like warmth.
For the civilians within the city, after entering Anling City, Lu Qingshan made three rules with the people: murderers die, those who harm or steal will be penalized.
As he put it, the Qingshan Army is the people’s army, and what they do is for liberation, absolutely forbidding plundering and killing.
Moreover, Lu Qingshan directly redistributed the farmland, previously owned by the city’s ruling class, to the city’s citizens.
Returning land to the people.
This move brought tears of gratitude from everyone.
For the slaves, Lu Qingshan incorporated them into the Qingshan Army, strengthening it further.
According to Lu Qingshan’s words, these are all comrades, excellent comrades indeed.
——And after completing the initial cleanup, Lu Qingshan also held a celebratory banquet, rewarding the entire army, distributing gold and silver lavishly, further solidifying the army’s cohesion.
After capturing Anling City and acquiring the assets gathered over many years of exploitation by the city’s upper class, these rewards were manageable for Lu Qingshan, allowing him the resources to sustain a larger army.
Raising an army requires a lot of Silver Tael.
Before having any industries, it can only be sustained by waging wars.
...
Inside the forr Hu Family’s main hall, now with a new master.
A map is laid out on the table; Lu Qingshan stands in front of it, pondering, while Gu Tianyan and other key leaders of the Qingshan Army surround him.
"General, are we planning to attack Feiyun City next?" Gu Tianyan looks at the map and asks, "It’s the closest city to our Anling City."
To acquire the Hu Family’s territories, it seems logical to capture them city by city.
Unexpectedly, Lu Qingshan shook his head firmly.
"Feiyun City is different from Anling City; it is one of the strongholds within the Hu Family’s domain, with ample defensive forces, majestic city walls, and comprehensive siege equipnt.
Most of the Qingshan Army soldiers had only been on the battlefield once, and there were even many newly absorbed slaves. Taking them to attack Feiyun City was sending them to their deaths."
His fingers slowly slid across the map, "Look, around Feiyun City, aren’t there still many towns and villages?"
"The General wants to start with these little towns and villages?" Gu Tianyan’s eyes widened.
"Why not? In these places, from the town mayor to the village chief, aren’t they all Hu surnas?"
"Those with the Hu surna are our enemies."
"But these are just so small villages. Even if we take them, it seems... isn’t it aningless?" Gu Tianyan hesitated.
That’s common knowledge.
In warfare, you directly attack the opponent’s stronghold. Who attacks small villages?
"Who said it’s aningless?" Lu Qingshan smiled slightly, confidently saying, "Don’t underestimate these small villages and towns."
"As the saying goes, a single spark can start a prairie fire."
"Don’t let your thoughts stay stuck in the old ways. We are now on a revolutionary path."
"The revolutionary path requires adherence to reality, proceeding from facts, and daring to break the shackles of dogma and convention."
"Blind faith in books is inferior to being without books."
"Tianyan, we can’t entirely trust military books either."
"Our current strength is insufficient, but our potential is limitless; we just need to develop it further.
What we need to do now is trigger an ard uprising in Nong Village, where enemy control is weak, expand the Qingshan Army, establish a revolutionary base, combining ard struggle and land reform to establish a base area.
Then, we rely on the base to develop revolutionary strength."
"This is the right revolutionary path that suits our Qingshan Army’s situation."
These words left Gu Tianyan in a fog, bewildered.
However, Lu Qingshan didn’t mind. He waved his hand to determine the overall strategy, "Our Qingshan Army will follow the path of ’encircling the cities from the countryside’!"
The General had spoken, and no one dared to disobey. They quickly responded, "We will obey the military order!"
.......
River Mouth Dock.
Nearly ten thousand Qingshan Army soldiers gathered here.
Almost a hundred ships lined up on the river, a spectacular sight.
Anling City is a transit hub with exceptionally developed transportation. Because it’s used for transporting heavy goods like ores and weapons, the waterway there is particularly advanced, with a major river leading to various places.
The villages and towns that Lu Qingshan targeted were located along both banks of the river.
As the saying goes, a swift army is valuable, and after three days of rest, the Qingshan Army, which had almost doubled compared to when they ca, had gathered in the open space by the dock.
"In this world, power has changed hands many tis," Lu Qingshan stood on the makeshift platform, addressing the entire army, "It has been under the Zhao surna, the Li surna, the Wang surna, yet..."
"Never under the surna of the People."
"But the people ought to be the masters of the world."
"If this world is wrong, soone should set it right."
"In thousands of years of history, this is the closest chance for our vast majority to seize their destiny," Lu Qingshan raised his right hand, then clenched it into a fist. "This is the chance to spread the fire seeds of revolution."
"Your struggle with the reactionaries offers no compromise, and revolution does involve sacrifices. Many of you, just days ago, had never held a weapon. In this journey, so will surely sacrifice."
"You might be afraid, which is normal."
"Yet you must understand, there’s no revolution without bloodshed!"
"Your bloodshed will not be in vain; it will ultimately lead to revolutionary victory."
"For the sacrifices born from great ambition, dare to reshape the heavens and the earth," Lu Qingshan released his high-raised fist, changing it into an open palm, then swung it downward, "Full army, board the ships!"
With those words, Lu Qingshan leaped from the high platform, landing first on the deck of the leading ship of the fleet.
The Qingshan Army followed closely, boarding systematically, and in less than fifteen minutes, everyone was aboard.
"Hoist the sails, set sail!" Lu Qingshan waved his hand.
Ooooooh!
The horn of departure sounded.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The crew unfurled the sails together.
The strong winds flapped the sails with a roaring sound.
Nearly a hundred ships, filled with Qingshan Army soldiers, caught the wind and moved downriver.
The dock was full of people on both sides cheering them off.
Though only three days had passed, the Qingshan Army had already gained the deep trust of the people.
This is not surprising.
Soldiers of the people are inevitably trusted by the people.
On the mast of the lead ship, the banner with the "Shan" character flew, nacing and fierce.
Lu Qingshan stood beneath the mast, his clothes fluttering in the wind, gazing forward.
With great winds arising, the clouds soar high!
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