News of Fengcheng's capture sent Shen General's manor and the common folk of Hecheng into a frenzy.
Everyone took to the streets, cheering at the top of their lungs, dancing with joy, or weeping uncontrollably as if driven mad.
The capture of Fengcheng meant the stability of Qinghuang's empire; the fragmented land of over a decade was finally reclaimed.
Following Bai Sheng's instructions, Uncle Ding immediately had everyone pack their belongings. They were all heading to Fengcheng, where they could finally find true stability.
General Shen also asked Aunt Huang to help pack his luggage. He was going to Fengcheng as well.
Over thirty carriages were ready to depart.
Bai Sheng returned just in time to pick them up. Driving the carriages would take several days, and Fengcheng was in urgent need of manpower.
Therefore, Bai Sheng simply drugged everyone, collected them into her spatial realm, and in the blink of an eye, they appeared at their temporary residence in Fengcheng.
Bai Sheng's family members were already accustomed to it. When General Shen opened his eyes, he was astonished. He remembered just preparing to set off, so how could he have arrived in Fengcheng in the blink of an eye?
It was too bizarre!
Third Uncle immediately covered his mouth, pulled him aside, told him about Bai Sheng's illusionary movement abilities, and warned him to keep it a secret.
General Shen was both shocked and excited. His little Snowball was so capable, able to use illusions.
Fengcheng was surrounded by mountains, with the Wanh River and Yudai River converging south of the city. The scenery was lush and picturesque.
As the Minister of Works, Feng Pingyuan immediately began planning the construction of a palace for the princess, the future empress.
Regarding whether to repair the old imperial palace or select a new site and rebuild, Bai Sheng and the National Preceptor were in agreement: a new imperial palace should be built in a location with auspicious Feng Shui.
The imperial palace symbolized the nation's power and was where Qinghuang's highest governing body conducted affairs. The old palace had been bloodied by enemy forces and had led to Qinghuang's near destruction, making it unsuitable for continued use.
Bai Sheng informed Feng Pingyuan that the materials for the palace did not need to be ornate or luxurious, only sturdy. The old palace could be dismantled, and usable materials salvaged.
The moment Feng Pingyuan woke up in Fengcheng, he had already conceived in his mind what kind of palace to build for the empress and began sketching the design.
The selection of the new imperial palace site would be handled by the Feng Shui master, Granny Wu, and the Imperial Censor Gu Canglan, Gu Yushi, with Bai Sheng's preferences also being considered.
Feng Pingyuan and Zhao Dazhuang were busy preparing for the construction of the imperial palace.
General Shen assisted in settling the prisoners and the citizens of Qinghuang.
With labor in high demand, Bai Sheng, Prince Yu, and Third Uncle administered a memory-erasing pill to all the Qinghuang soldiers in the spatial realm.
To mark their identities, Bai Sheng gave them a type of蛊 (gu) that caused a pea-sized red dot to appear on their foreheads. They were also given designations like "Qing 1, Qing 2, Qing 3... Qing 523," with numbers assigned to each.
Prince Yu and Third Uncle reassigned their identities, stating they were Qinghuang's labor corps, specifically tasked with manual labor.
Bai Sheng planned to do the same for the over thirty thousand captured soldiers and civilians of Great Xia, but the memory-erasing pills had been used up and needed to be re-refined. Thus, whenever Bai Sheng had free time, she hid in the spatial realm to refine medicine.
To speed up the refining process and utilize the free labor sooner, she enlisted Mei Qing, her aunt, and Zuo Hua to help.
After Qing 1 through Qing 523 were sent out of the spatial realm, they were temporarily supervised by Third Uncle and Prince Yu. Ma San, Gousheng, Hu Daniu, and others led them in cleaning and tidying the streets. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Yang Minglu Tong was responsible for screening everyone in the city, rooting out spies from Bei Qiang and Great Xia.
Zuo Siming, along with a few others, drove carriages to collect and organize various books. Although it wasn't suitable to open an academy yet, it would be necessary once everything stabilized, so preparations needed to be made early.
Zuo Muchen, Zuo Zhu, and Du Min were responsible for registering households and counting the population.
Uncle Ding and Aunt Ding and others were in charge of arranging temporary accommodations.
Tian Guihua, Liu Shi, Lu Hao, Yang Shi, and other women were busy arranging for people to cook meals, as so many soldiers and prisoners needed to be fed.
Everyone was diligently engaged in their respective tasks, with no one slacking off. Fengcheng presented a vibrant scene of resurgence after hardship.
Currently, they needed to garrison Fengcheng and guard the Great Xia prisoners. Simultaneously, they had to send a portion of their troops westward to reclaim all the occupied territories in Qinghuang by Great Xia and station troops on the western border to guard against surprise attacks from Bei Qiang, resulting in a severe shortage of manpower.
Over the past decade, more than half of Qinghuang's population had perished, leading to insufficient troops and a shortage of civilians. This caused many undertakings to feel like they were struggling to make ends meet.
In their desperation, Zuo Ye had all the prisoners gathered in the old imperial palace square. He used anesthetic drugs to knock them all out again, eliminating the worry of them causing trouble or escaping, requiring only a small contingent of troops to guard them.
Zuo Ye had run out of anesthetic drugs, and Bai Sheng and the others were busy refining memory-erasing pills, so the anesthetic drugs were temporarily put aside.
Dali and Deputy General Xu garrisoned Fengcheng, while Zuo Ye, Shi Sheng, and Lang Ya led the majority of the Qinghuang troops to sweep westward of Fengcheng, eliminating all remaining Great Xia forces.
The four children, Zuo Yun and the others, were thrilled. They were finally going to the battlefield, each holding a weapon and wielding it with great spirit.
Qinghuang's western border rapidly shifted westward. Currently, two-thirds of the territory had been recovered, with only the Bei Qiang occupied areas in the far west remaining.
Upon reaching the western border, Zuo Ye ordered the Qinghuang army to establish camps on the western defense line immediately to strictly guard against Bei Qiang.
Although Bei Qiang was currently coveting Great Xia and competing for control of Great Xia with the Grand Princess and Xia Hongqian, they could not be entirely trusted to not launch a surprise attack on Qinghuang.
Zuo Ye placed a spatial stone given to him by Bai Sheng at the western camp so she could visit anytime. He hadn't seen her for days and missed her terribly whenever he had free time.
Just as he was intensely missing his wife, someone reported that a small detachment of Bei Qiang soldiers had been discovered crossing the western border.
Zuo Ye immediately led a few soldiers on horseback to intercept them.
Seeing this, Zuo Yun and the other children exchanged a look and secretly followed on horseback.
Indeed, over a dozen Bei Qiang soldiers had breached the western border and were stealthily heading towards a nearby watchtower.
The leader was a woman, with all her hair braided into small pigtails, clearly dressed in the fashion of Bei Qiang, and she appeared exceptionally agile.
Zuo Ye and his soldiers dismounted their horses, exchanged glances, and quietly followed.
Upon reaching a dense forest, Zuo Ye shouted, "Halt!"
The dozen or so Bei Qiang soldiers abruptly stopped and swiftly turned around. The woman's expression visibly faltered upon seeing Zuo Ye, and she chuckled flirtatiously, "What a handsome man!"
The soldiers behind Zuo Ye let out muffled laughter.
Without a word, Zuo Ye drew his sword and swung. To his surprise, the woman was no weakling; she slid backward, narrowly evading his strike.