Chapter 117: Mutual Appreciation

Datong South Gate, Arrow Tower.

Wang Pu, who had already been awake for two nights, was drifting into a light nap when a melodious, delicate voice suddenly sounded in his ear: "By the command of the Mistress, this humble servant has come to the front lines to attend to the General."

Hearing the voice, Wang Pu turned back and saw Nenniang standing gracefully before him.

Because she had practiced martial arts since childhood, the young girl had matured early. Though she had just turned fifteen, she was already quite tall. The white military uniform she wore looked as if it had been tailored specifically for her, highlighting her spirited and heroic bearing. However, the prominent curves at her chest had vanished; it seemed the girl had bound them tightly with cloth.

Seeing Wang Pu staring fixedly at her chest, Nenniang’s fair, pretty face flushed with embarrassment. She whispered a rebuke: "General..."

Wang Pu snapped out of his daze, quickly averted his gaze, and fumbled for words: "Ah, Nenniang, you look quite striking in that uniform. Who made it for you?"

"I made it myself. Do I really look good?" Upon hearing Wang Pu's praise, a trace of joy instantly appeared on Nenniang’s small face. She swayed her waist, turned nimbly before him, then moved behind him and stood tall, happily asking, "General, do I look like one of your personal guards now?"

"Mm, very much so," Wang Pu nodded. "However, you are now in the guise of a man; you can no longer refer to yourself as a 'humble servant,' and the name Nenniang must also be changed."

Nenniang stuck out her cute little tongue and asked in a sweet voice, "Then, General, would you please bestow a name upon me?"

Wang Pu thought for a moment and said, "Your light-body martial arts are excellent, Nenniang; you are as light as a swallow, as if you could fly. How about you be called 'Feiyan' (Flying Swallow)?"

Nenniang furrowed her willow-leaf brows slightly. "But doesn't 'Feiyan' still sound like a girl's name?"

Wang Pu smiled faintly. "Then let's reverse it. How about 'Yanfei'?"

"Yanfei?" Nenniang asked joyfully. "Hee hee, that sounds nice. I shall be called Yanfei from now on."

"General, something is wrong." No sooner had Nenniang finished speaking than Lü Liu hurried in. He froze upon seeing Nenniang in uniform, instinctively reaching for the blade at his waist. But he quickly recognized her and exclaimed, "Nenniang? It's you? What is this little girl doing here?"

Nenniang wrinkled her cute nose and said coquettishly, "Brother Liu, starting today, I am the General's personal guard. And don't call me Nenniang anymore; I am now called Yanfei, a name the General just bestowed upon me."

"Yanfei?" Lü Liu shook his head and turned to Wang Pu. "General, there is trouble."

Wang Pu asked, "What happened?"

Lü Liu replied, "The West Gate just reported that several tens of thousands of refugees suddenly appeared outside the city this morning. They are all kneeling outside, crying and begging to enter the city to escape the disaster."

Wang Pu’s heart tightened immediately. "Tens of thousands of refugees? Where did they come from?"

"I don't know," Lü Liu shook his head. "But most of these people fled from the northwest. I suspect the garrison troops of the various forts and garrisons there have been wreaking havoc! The rebel forces have only just arrived at Datong; they haven't had time to ravage the counties in the northwest."

The defense system of the Datong Garrison was designed to counter the Mongols from the northwest. All the forts and outposts were distributed in the narrow area along the Great Wall in that direction. Therefore, it was obvious: the ones robbing the commoners could only be the border troops, not the rebels.

"Those beasts!" Wang Pu slammed the table and stood up in anger. "I will not spare them!"

At this moment, Zhao Xin, Scarface, and Big Beard also arrived after hearing the news.

Before Scarface even entered the room, he shouted, "General, should we save these tens of thousands of people or not?"

"Of course we must save them," Big Beard added from the side. "In this world, how can one see people dying and not help?"

Zhao Xin, who entered last, said in a deep voice, "But who can guarantee there are no rebel spies among these people? If we let spies slip into the city and cause chaos, wouldn't that cause even more suffering for the people? General, I believe that if one cannot endure small grievances, one will spoil great plans. We must absolutely not open the city gates at this time."

Zhao Xin's words were not without reason. If rebel spies were to mix into the city and open the gates during the chaos, it would be disastrous. Even if the government troops eventually defeated the rebels, they would suffer heavy losses. After all, there were over a hundred thousand rebels outside; even if they traded ten lives for one, they would be enough to wipe out the government forces in the city. Wang Pu pondered for a moment and asked, "Where is Wei Daben?"

Lü Liu replied, "Lord Wei has already rushed to the West Gate."

Wang Pu turned to Zhao Xin and the others. "Let us go to the West Gate as well."

At the Datong West Gate.

Wei Daben was standing on the city gate tower, shouting to the people outside: "Elderly folks and fellow villagers, go back! You must go back! The rebels are coming to slaughter; you will lose your lives..."

However, the wailing masses outside could not hear his voice at all. They remained kneeling, kowtowing incessantly, begging the guards on the tower to open the gates and let them in. It was truly a case of "rather be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos." The scene was truly unbearable to watch.

"My Lord," a Magistrate said dejectedly, "they simply cannot hear your words."

Wei Daben sighed, "What is to be done? What is to be done?"

"My Lord, look!" another official suddenly shouted. "It seems to be the rebels! The rebels are attacking!"

"Ah! The rebels are attacking?"

Wei Daben was shocked. He looked up hurriedly and indeed saw a large group of people rushing over from the south. The crowd huddled outside the West Gate immediately fell into a panic and began to scatter. However, the chaos subsided quickly because the group did not draw weapons to pursue them.

Unexpectedly, that group of people set up dozens of large cooking pots outside the West Gate, added rice and water, and lit fires to boil porridge. In less than a quarter of an hour, the scent of porridge began to drift through the air. The fleeing people were drawn back by the aroma one after another.

On the city tower, the Magistrate stammered, "M-My Lord, what... what is happening?"

Another official also said in disbelief, "My Lord, the rebels seem to be distributing porridge. My eyes... they aren't deceiving me, are they?"

Wei Daben also widened his eyes in shock, his face full of disbelief. For a long time, in the eyes of officials like them, the rebels were like monstrous floods and wild beasts, known only for burning, killing, and looting. Yet now, they were distributing porridge to refugees outside the city?

Strange things happen every year, but never more than this year. Distributing porridge to refugees should be the duty of the government; how had the rebels started doing it? The government troops didn't look like government troops, and the rebels didn't look like rebels—wasn't everything in complete disarray?

At this time, Wang Pu arrived with Big Beard and the others.

Wei Daben hurriedly led the officials of Datong Prefecture to greet them. Wang Pu stopped them from bowing and said loudly, "Lord Wei, well done! Beautifully done! I didn't expect you to handle things so efficiently, setting up porridge stalls outside the city and starting to feed the refugees so quickly. Ha ha!"

"Marquis," a look of embarrassment flashed across Wei Daben's face as he stammered, "The porridge stalls outside were not set up by my people."

"Oh?" Wang Pu asked in surprise. "They weren't set up by you, Lord Wei? Then who set them up?"

Wei Daben lowered his head and said weakly, "It seems... it seems they were set up by the rebels."

"What! The rebels set up the porridge stalls?" Wang Pu was startled at first, but then a look of realization crossed his face. He whispered to himself, "Li Yan. You truly are Li Yan!"

"Marquis," Wei Daben said in a low voice, "What should we do now?"

Wang Pu thought for a moment and said, "Since the rebels have already set up the porridge stalls outside, we don't need to join in on that. However, these people outside are, after all, the people of Datong Prefecture, the people of the Great Ming Dynasty. Lord Wei, as the Prefect of Datong, you are their parent official—how can you ignore their lives?"

Wei Daben asked, "Does the Marquis mean..."

Wang Pu said, "Lord Wei, take your bailiffs to the prefecture granary immediately and fetch a hundred piculs of rice. Throw it down from the city walls. As long as those porridge stalls remain, Lord Wei shall throw down a hundred piculs of grain every day. In short, the rebels can set up the stalls and distribute the porridge, but this rice... must be provided by our Ming government!"

"This official understands!" A flush of excitement rose on Wei Daben's face as he couldn't help but give a thumbs up. "Brilliant, truly brilliant! As expected of the Marquis, I admire you, I truly do!"

The several officials behind Wei Daben were bewildered. They could not understand where Wang Pu’s brilliance lay. Throwing away a hundred piculs of grain every day? The grain was provided by the government, yet the people's hearts would be won over by the rebels—this was a losing deal.

"What are you standing there for?" Wei Daben turned and barked, "Why aren't you following me to carry the rice?"

"Yes!"

The officials of Datong Prefecture responded and followed Wei Daben.

Outside Datong City, in Li Yan's camp.

As Jing Maocheng entered the tent, Li Hu and Li Xuan rushed up, asking impatiently: "Old Jing, how did it go?"

Jing Maocheng caught his breath and said to Li Yan, "Commander, the porridge stalls are set up, and all fifty piculs of rice have been boiled into porridge and distributed. It went quite smoothly."

Li Hu asked incredulously, "The government troops in the city didn't take the opportunity to attack?"

"No," Jing Maocheng shook his head. "Not only did they not attack, but they also threw down a hundred piculs of rice from the city walls. I had our brothers boil that into porridge and distribute it to the refugees as well. However, those commoners are quite hateful; they only thanked the government in the city and didn't thank our rebel army at all."

"What?" Li Hu said angrily. "Those ungrateful wretches! They ate our porridge and thanked the government for their grace? It infuriates me! I'll take men to tear down their porridge stalls and let them all drink the north wind! Hmph!"

"No reckless behavior," Li Yan stopped Li Hu, saying calmly, "Our main purpose in setting up the porridge stalls is to save lives; winning hearts is secondary. Although the government has gained a good reputation, regardless, the tens of thousands of people outside finally have something to eat and don't have to starve. That makes me feel better."

Hong Niangzi’s almond eyes widened as she gritted her teeth in anger: "This must be another trick of Wang Pu’s. That corrupt official is truly insidious! We did all the work, but he took all the credit!"

"No, you are wrong, my lady," Li Yan shook his head and said calmly, "Wang Pu may be cunning, but he won't gain anything from this. Through this event, I think I have come to understand him a little. He is different from other Ming officials; he is the second Ming official I have met who truly cares about the people."

"Husband," Hong Niangzi asked in surprise, "You seem to admire him?"

"Yes," Li Yan nodded. "I do admire him now, because any other Ming official would never have done that!"

"Why?" Li Hu asked, puzzled. "Doesn't Wang Pu get a good reputation by doing this?"

"What good reputation?" Li Yan said dismissively. "The reputation belongs to Datong Prefecture, to the imperial court, and to that dog emperor—not to Wang Pu. All that will fall on Wang Pu is the reputation of a traitor worthy of execution! The tens of thousands of people outside may thank him, but the censors and officials in the court will never let him go, because the rice he provided was distributed through our rebel army's stalls. In other words, in this matter of distributing porridge, he is an accomplice to our rebel army!"

"Ah?" Hong Niangzi exclaimed, "That is a capital crime punishable by the extermination of the nine clans."

"Therefore..." Li Yan said, hands behind his back, "I said Wang Pu is different from other Ming officials. He truly holds the people in his heart."

"Then..." Hong Niangzi blinked her beautiful eyes and suddenly asked, "Who was the other good official you mentioned?"

"The other good official was the Governor of Shaanxi and the Three Borders three years ago. He is..." Li Yan paused, his gaze turning toward the outside of the tent, looking into the vast eastern horizon, and said calmly, "Sun Chanting!"