The Glory After Rebirth

523 - 525

C523 Rest and Reorganization

Having grappled with enemies for a day and night, many soldiers directly lay down on the ground as the great battle ended, utterly unable to summon the energy to raise their sabers again. Exhausted, sleepy and desensitized, some of them even closed their eyes and fell asleep shortly after lying down. Not only the soldiers, even Ling Zhang felt somewhat numb. The smell of blood lingering on the tip of his nose seemed as though it would never disappear, as though he were breathing strong scent of blood instead of air. He was radiating an almost palpable aura of bloodthirstiness as if he and this battlefield had become one.

Yuwen Tong detailed some soldiers who still had enough strength to walk to patrol the area between the mountain pass and Jifang City lest their fatigued, sleeping comrades-in-arms fell victim to possible surviving enemies. At the same time, He Xiao and Yuwen Jin, each leading some men, went up to the heights flanking the valley to make regular patrols in case there were any sneak attacks.

The army badly needed regroupment, with which Yuwen Tong was so occupied he couldn't find any time to talk with Ling Zhang in private.

Ling Zhang did not disturb them. He and Mr Mu led some men into the city, took over it and forbade the soldiers from disturbing local residents.

Local residents had been fleeing hurry scurry since the soldiers had gained entry into the city, but gradually, finding that the soldiers of the Great Wen were not slaughtering civilians, they calmed down, and the confusion and chaos that had been reigning the city from the very beginning abated. Ling Zhang washed, took off his armor, changed into light clothes and went up to a high platform to pacify the residents.

He stated his identity as the Empress of the Great Wen. And, since he was not wearing armor, and there was no blood on his clothes, he looked courtly and dignified. In addition, he was emanating a progressively detectable, inexplicable air of something similar to sacredness, so his efforts to placate the residents were quite fruitful. Though it was impossible for the residents to immediately accept the fact that they had turned from subjects of the Wan Kingdom into those of the Great Wen, or to let go of their hate, as long as these residents stopped panicking and regained their composure, the army did not have to spare time and energy to deal with these residents.

A lot of people, mostly newly appointed officers, and some others in the army too, were greatly surprised to see that Ling Zhang was doing such a good job pacifying local residents.

Previously they had merely heard some rumors about Ling Zhang, but recently they had fought shoulder to shoulder with him, and they had come to know that he was capable of deploying miraculous formations and placating residents. Their knowledge of what kind of person Ling Zhang was no longer limited to the information they had got from hearsay. They now had a more vivid image of him.

Ling Zhang, after cooling the residents off, temporarily took charge of important civic affairs. Of course, there were still many things he was unable to handle at the moment. Currently, the first priority was to restore order and prevent soldiers from disturbing residents with strict bans. Meanwhile, he organized some army patrols and had them patrol the streets lest any local ruffians take advantage of the situation and loot civilians' houses.

After doing these, he did not get involved in any other matters and just waited for Yuwen Tong to assign his men to take over the city.

The areas south of the Wan River had gradually been taken over by a team of civil officials brought by Chu Liangyan. Some of those officials were experienced, and some others were newly promoted ones. All of them had been screened by Yuwen Tong and some courtiers before being selected. Every time a city was taken, some officials, along with their respective assistants, were assigned to stay in it until all the local residents came to heel; the soldiers and military officers staying in the cities mostly played an auxiliary role, and it was the civil officials who were doing most of the placatory work. Everything was being dealt with according to the rules of the Great Wen. The decrees issued were the ones that Yuwen Tong had long since finalized after consulting with his courtiers, and some adjustments had been made before their promulgation. Presently the situation in areas south of the Wan River was fairly stable.