Time slipped slowly by amid Yang Zhengshan's impatience, and three days later, Zhou Lan sent someone to deliver his official robe and seal.
The seventh day of the eighth month.
Yang Zhengshan left Linguan Fortress with Yang Mingwu, Yang Chengxu, Yang Minghao, and the others, along with fifty soldiers.
The soldiers of Linguan Fortress had all been trained by him; they were the confidence behind the authority he had built for himself.
More than fifty men in all—Yang Zhengshan and the others rode warhorses, while the soldiers, fully armed, escorted grain carts in a grand procession out of Linguan Fortress.
The military households inside Linguan Fortress came out one after another to see them off, watching Yang Zhengshan leave with gazes full of admiration and joy.
Yinghe Fortress stood on the bank of the Ying River. This Ying River was much wider than the Nameless Stream beneath the mountain at Linguan Fortress, though by now it too had dried up until only a few small puddles remained.
Yinghe Fortress as a whole was also much larger than Linguan Fortress. It stretched more than four hundred meters from east to west and was two hundred meters wide from north to south, with walls about ten meters high. Its outer walls were faced with bluestone. As the station of the Defense Officer, Yinghe Fortress was far larger in scale than the other farming fortresses, and its sturdiness surpassed them as well.
When Yang Zhengshan led his party to the eastern gate of Yinghe Fortress, the entrance was already packed with officials and clerks who had come to welcome him.
Among them were several who had met Yang Zhengshan once before.
Vice Thousand-Man Commander Xu Zhen, Qianshu Qian Wanshu, and the others had all previously gone to Linguan Fortress.
At this moment, Xu