Chapter 80

It took several trips for the group to transport all the fish back to the village. The excitement among the people did not subside until late into the night. They had caught over thirty thousand pounds of fish in one net, something that would have been unimaginable if not seen with their own eyes.

The next morning, Jiang Xingchen waved his hand, and each household received over a hundred pounds of fish. This made the villagers even more elated, and the little girl Nier happily hugged Jiang Xingchen's neck and kissed him several times.

The remaining fish, Jiang Xingchen arranged for Du Roshan to load onto a cart and deliver to the two major restaurants in Hongyuan City. He also wrote a letter to Mo Hongxian, explaining the method of making fish soup and home-cooked dishes. However, since their messenger bird had not returned, Du Roshan had to deliver the letter for him.

Originally, the old man had a messenger bird, but since that bird was trained to fly to the First Legion and did not recognize any other routes, Jiang Xingchen did not ask for it.

What he did not know was that even if he had asked, it would have been useless. The old man had already written a letter the night before and sent it to Tang Chuxue. In the harsh winter, catching over thirty thousand pounds of fish in one net was such a spectacular event that he felt uncomfortable if he did not boast about it to Chuxue.

For the next two days, the old man was in a very good mood, and every time he thought of Chuxue's surprised expression, he could not help but smile.

In fact, his guess was not entirely accurate. When Tang Chuxue received the letter, her first reaction was to think it was a joke. Catching thirty thousand pounds of fish in one net? That was ridiculous. Especially when she saw the boastful tone in the old man's letter, she found it even less credible.

However, when she finally saw that the method was thought up by Jiang Xingchen and that the entire village had witnessed it, she began to take it seriously.

"Old man, just to boast, you wrote about the scene first, afraid I would laugh at you for being unreliable, and then mentioned Jiang Xingchen at the end... You wanted me to be surprised, but you were wrong..."

Suddenly, Tang Chuxue seemed to think of something, and her voice paused. An uncontrollable thought popped into her mind.

"Someone! Bring me the map of the border between Dongxuan Kingdom and the Lan Yin Grand Duchy!" Tang Chuxue shouted.

"Yes!" The guard responded and left.

Every legion commander had a map of the empire's borders. In no time, the guard returned with a large roll of animal skin map.

The map was unfolded, and Tang Chuxue carefully examined it for a moment. She pointed her slender finger at a location and smiled. "There is a lake here, less than forty miles from Pingjun City... Wu Tianfeng, you are in luck!"

After a brief thought, Tang Chuxue immediately began writing letters. One was sent directly to the imperial military department, another to the Dingbei Marquis's residence in Hongyuan City, and the third was a reply to the old man.

All three letters were sent by swift eagles. The third letter to the old man, since the swift eagle did not recognize Qingcun Village, could not be delivered directly to him. She sent it along with the second letter to the Dingbei Marquis's residence...

The next day, in the capital's military department, the marshal read Tang Chuxue's letter and stood up, somewhat excited. "Such a thing! It's that Jiang Xingchen again, this kid is really..."

After a brief pause, the marshal immediately gave orders. "Send a letter to Wu Tianfeng quickly, telling him not to fight to the death, just continue to wear down Pingjun City's fighting strength. Their supplies will be delivered soon!"

Watching his subordinate run out to send the letter, the marshal could not hide his joy and burst out laughing...

At the Dingbei Marquis's residence in Hongyuan City, the marquis listened to his daughter Wanrou explain Jiang Xingchen's plan to Mo Hongxian, and his gloomy expression finally eased.

"Give the secret recipe to the nobles who hoard grain in exchange for selling it at a fair price! Why didn't I think of this before!" The marquis shook his head.

"You've been too busy these past few days, so you didn't have time to think about it!" Wanrou laughed and said, "Even Hongxian didn't think of it! Giving away the benefits in hand, I guess only Jiang Xingchen could do that!"

"Ha ha ha... That's right! This kid doesn't care about the secret recipes in his head, but he doesn't realize that these recipes are worth a lot of money!" The marquis laughed.

"Who says he doesn't know! Jiang Xingchen is very shrewd... He's doing his best to help you!" Wanrou was somewhat dissatisfied with her father's attitude.

"Alright, alright, I said the wrong thing! Don't be angry, daughter... I know this kid is helping me, I just treat him like family!"

Realizing he had said the wrong thing, the marquis quickly patted his forehead and apologized to his daughter, then changed the subject. "How's your preparation for the New Year performance? You've been promoted to a noble rank, and if you get recognized at the New Year performance, I'll immediately promote you to a third-class baron!"

"It shouldn't be a problem. Although the big drum has already spread in the capital, no music surpasses 'Men Should Be Strong.' My鼓舞 (鼓舞 means 'drum performance' or 'inspirational performance') is something no one can imitate!" Wanrou said proudly.

"Don't be too confident. With the big drum spreading, many dance troupes will adapt their performances. I've heard that many troupes have started recruiting men!" The marquis warned.

"Don't worry! I'll go talk to Jiang Xingchen again!" Wanrou said, then asked her father, "With the grain from those nobles, should we have enough now?"

At the mention of this, the marquis's expression, which had just eased, turned gloomy again. He said in a low voice, "The grain hoarded by the nobles can alleviate the food shortage, but to completely calm the panic among the common people and stabilize the grain prices, we need a large amount of grain!"

"Those external forces are the ones who bought the grain, and they are raising the prices in other territories. Don't they fear you reporting them to the capital?" Wanrou frowned and said.

"Those forces include some of the noble children who bought the secret recipes earlier. But the main one is very mysterious, buying in dozens of small batches, making it hard to trace... As for reporting, of course, we will report! But I need to stabilize Hongyuan City first. With everything in chaos here, I don't have the time to argue with them!"

Wanrou did not fully understand her father's meaning and was about to ask more.

But before she could speak, a servant ran in and loudly reported, "Marquis, an urgent letter from the First Legion commander!"

"Hmm?" The marquis was taken aback, puzzled. "Why is Tang Chuxue writing to me?"

Taking the letter, the marquis found it was two letters, one for him and the other to be delivered to the old man in Qingcun Village.

Opening his letter, the marquis read a few lines and his expression changed abruptly. He stood up and exclaimed, "This kid, Jiang Xingchen, has caused such a big stir again!"

"What is it?" Wanrou took the letter from her shocked father and read it, exclaiming, "Heaven, he actually caught over thirty thousand pounds of fish in one net! Is this... real?"

Although she was a close friend of Jiang Xingchen and trusted him, such a thing was too unbelievable.

After a long while, the marquis exhaled deeply and said, "It seems to be true. The old man must have written the letter to Tang Chuxue himself! She is informing me that she wants to borrow Jiang Xingchen... probably for the Seventh Legion's attack on Pingjun City!"

"What!" Wanrou was taken aback, lowered her head, and read the letter again, confirming that Tang Chuxue indeed wanted to borrow Jiang Xingchen.

"Sending Jiang Xingchen to the front lines, he is..." Wanrou clearly did not like the idea.

"What front lines? It's only forty miles away, no danger at all!" The marquis explained. "He must go! This is a matter of great importance to the empire, and it will benefit him if it succeeds... He has always wanted to expand his territory, and this time I can speak up for him!"

"Oh!" Wanrou nodded, relieved.

"Alright! Go find Hongxian and have her deliver this letter to Qingcun Village as soon as possible..." The marquis's words suddenly stopped, as if he had thought of something, and he stood there in a daze.

"Father, father, what are you thinking?" Wanrou shook the marquis's arm.

"Ha ha ha..." The marquis, shaken by Wanrou, burst into a hearty laugh. "I've always said that Jiang Xingchen is my blessing, and it's true!"

After that, the marquis did not explain to the confused Wanrou, urging her to quickly find Mo Hongxian and deliver the letter as soon as possible.

After Wanrou left in a daze, the marquis excitedly called for someone and asked, "Did the grain and supplies for the Seventh Legion from the capital pass through here yesterday?"

"Yes!" The subordinate bowed and replied, "They did not stop in the city and left in a hurry!"

"Prepare the horse, quickly! We can still catch up!" The marquis ordered, picked up a pen, and quickly wrote another letter to the imperial military department...

In the Zijing Mercenary Group, Mo Hongxian, her second brother, her fourth brother, Sun Sanqiang, and Zhao Danqing listened to Wanrou's account, dumbfounded, as if they had heard the most unbelievable story in the world.

"Is it real? Catching thirty thousand pounds of fish in one net? The Xuan Yuan Heavenly Sect surrendering to the empire is more believable! Is the letter trying to fool us?" The second brother spoke first.

However, as soon as he spoke, Mo Hongxian slapped him. "Do you think the First Legion commander, known as the best young man in the world, Tang Chuxue, would say something irresponsible?"

The second brother grimaced and缩了缩脑袋,最终没敢争辩 (shrunk his head and did not dare to argue).

"So, this is real... This is..." Zhao Danqing searched for words but could not find any suitable ones to express his thoughts.

"Alright, no more talk. This is very urgent, and we need to send it out quickly!" Mo Hongxian called for a messenger bird and tied the letter to it, then released it with a wave of her hand.

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