Chapter 1253 - 309: Drills_2

Chapter 1253: Chapter 309: Drills_2

As for the regret Zeng Shulang mentioned, it was probably that back then Tian Wujing and Li Liangting, after ten days of campaigning over a thousand li, directly smashed those two elite forces, and along with them shattered the hearts of half the Jin land’s populace. Once the bulk of the Jin people’s main strength had been wiped out in the field, the cities were basically taken just by sending out proclamations.

So the devices that Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion had crafted for those two houses actually never got much use.

"Relax, this time you’ll have plenty to play with."

"Thank you, my lord."

Zheng Fan came down off the city wall. On the southern side of the city, Liang Cheng was drilling the troops in assaulting walls, while over to the east, the Blind Man was organizing a mobilization rally.

Most of the attendees were laborers. These laborers weren’t counted as proper households in Snow Sea Pass, but on the battlefield they were an indispensable presence, at any moment liable to be turned into replacement soldiers and thrown into the fighting.

And they were basically all the young men from each family, sharp-eyed and sharp-eared. Once you propagandize them, then have them go back to their own homes and neighborhoods to pass the word on, the effect comes out very quickly.

The rally opened with a piece of community theater that the common folk of Snow Sea Pass loved best.

The main plot was a group of actors dressed in wild people’s fur clothing and Chu armor charging in, hacking down Jin civilians, smashing infants to death, and violating women;

during this, the infants’ dubbing had to be piercingly shrill, and the women’s screams had to be wretched;

after doing all this,

these actors would stride to the edge of the stage, look down at the audience, and laugh wildly in an extremely arrogant manner.

The acting

was indeed over the top;

but the audience below, even though they’d seen it who knew how many times, still ground their teeth in hatred.

It was simply that the Jin people here had blood-deep enmity with the wild people and the Chu people, most of them.

At the same time, some audience members got too immersed in the play, leading to several professional "villain" actors being clubbed from behind in the street and carried to the medical hall for treatment;

and once that anger had been properly stoked up,

"Lord Zheng" made his entrance.

The actor playing Lord Zheng had been carefully selected, very handsome.

Before fleeing to Snow Sea Pass, he’d been a well-known young lead in the local opera troupe.

Once "Lord Zheng" came on stage, he led a few barbarian actors and Jin soldier actors,

first roaring:

"Where do you think you’re going!"

Then

he charged in to cut them down.

The fight scenes were quite a spectacle; though they were swinging fake spears, there was actually some real skill in there.

After defeating the enemies,

"Lord Zheng" walked to the center of the stage again and started loudly declaiming some lines about "loving the people like one’s own children", then the curtain fell.

Immediately,

the audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

Last year, when this community theater had just started being staged, in order to heighten the atmosphere, at the end of each performance they would deliberately pick two disabled wild people slaves from those doing hard labor and, right there on the stage, behead them for public display.

Man,

that scene, that mood—no need to even describe it.

It was only starting this year that things calmed down and the stage was left to be just a stage again.

After the performance ended,

the Blind Man first led everyone in recalling whose food they were eating, who it was that let them now eat their fill and dress warmly, not freeze in winter, and get medicine when they fell sick.

Then the audience below, who had heard this many times and knew how to cooperate, would all raise their fists and shout in unison:

"Lord Pingye!"

"Lord Pingye!"

"Lord Pingye!"

The first time he’d seen this scene, watching from the back, Zheng Fan had really wanted to raise his hand and, swept up in the moment, shout:

"Rock will never die!"

But the masses’ eyes are in fact bright; they can tell clearly who truly treats them well.

Next, the Blind Man began explaining to them the significance of the coming great battle for everyone. The theme was just one: victory only, no defeat allowed; Town South Pass must be taken.

Zheng Fan didn’t go disturb the Blind Man in his busyness, and instead went to the ice cellar.

The weather was actually starting to turn warm; at Snow Sea Pass, the season when people could even feel heat was in fact very short.

Zheng Fan poured himself a cup of wine, personally chipped two chunks of ice in the cellar and dropped them in, then, drinking as he went, walked to a coffin.

He reached out

and knocked on it.

Very soon,

the coffin lid was pushed open,

revealing A Ming lying inside.

A Ming’s gaze fell on the wine cup in Zheng Fan’s hand,

and he said:

"My lord, that’s the finest batch of wine."

The unspoken meaning: if you just want to drink grape juice, my lord, don’t waste the good stuff.

"Stingy."

Zheng Fan sat down by the coffin.

Back when he’d taken the princess and left Snow Sea Pass, A Ming had already been lying in the ice cellar, with Liang Cheng pouring blood on him morning and evening.

By the time he himself got back, A Ming had actually recovered for the most part.

"You need to hurry up and fully recover," Zheng Fan said with concern.

A Ming didn’t find this concern particularly moving, because he knew it meant they were going to war.

"My lord, if you agree not to drink my wine anymore, I’ll probably be able to be fully recovered before the battle starts."

"So pragmatic?"

"Because if my mood improves, my wounds might just heal faster."

"Very reasonable."

"Mm."

"Then if I say that unless you’re completely recovered by tomorrow, I’ll distribute all your wine to the soldiers the day after, will the effect be even more pronounced?"

"..." A Ming.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Next time just press me some orange juice or something, I’m really not used to grape juice."

Helping A Ming slide the coffin lid back into place, Zheng Fan lifted his wine cup and walked out of the ice cellar.

By rights, he ought to be very busy right now, but in fact he really didn’t have much to busy himself with.

Supplies and stockpiles were handled by Siniang; morale in the city was handled by the Blind Man; the training of the troops was handled by A Cheng.

Everything he ought to be doing already had someone doing it, and doing it only ever better than he could himself;