Nanming Prefecture:
"Your Excellency, the granaries have tallied all the grain, and the government has purchased all the grain available in the Nanming Prefecture market at the current price. Any merchants who dared to raise prices have been dealt with!"
The provincial governor respectfully reported the situation to the tall and imposing admiral in the government hall.
In theory, in local administration, the Provincial Governor and the Provincial Commander are of the same rank, one in charge of administration and the other in charge of military affairs. However, nowadays, military generals are powerful, and officials who are not from the sorcerer class really have no confidence in front of these warriors.
"Alright!" Admiral Zhou Hanyang, who hadn't even had time to remove his armor, nodded and kept chugging tea into his mouth. Clearly, he was severely dehydrated due to the immense physical exertion he had just endured.
"You don't need to worry," Zhou Hanyang said, taking a sip of water. "No matter what background those grain merchants have, even if they're from the four major trading companies, if they dare to raise prices at this time, confiscate them all, and kill them if they dare to resist!"
"Yes, yes," the provincial governor said with a wry smile, "Those who dare to profit from the national crisis will not be tolerated by this official."
At this moment, the lives of everyone in the city depended on this person, so naturally, whatever he said went.
"General, do you know the origin of the monster outside the city?" the governor asked cautiously.
"How should I know?" Zhou Hanyang rolled his eyes at him, feeling annoyed.
These suddenly appearing zombies are not actually that powerful. Apart from being fearless, they are only slightly stronger than ordinary people. Their movements are stiff, and they don't know how to use weapons. In the face of fully armed elites, they are not much of a threat.
In open terrain, a few hundred elite cavalry, when commanded to break apart and coordinated with archers and spearmen to divide the enemy, can often fight ten enemies at once with minimal casualties.
But there were just too many of these monsters, seemingly endless. At first, only tens of thousands came ashore, but after I led my army to kill them all, another wave came, and each wave was larger and larger. By the time it was almost dawn last night, the last wave had at least 100,000 of them, densely packed and rolling out of the waves like waves of living zombies!
The regular navy stationed in Nanming Prefecture numbered over 50,000, but most of them were just regular soldiers on ships. The truly combat-ready elite force numbered only about 20,000. Yet, in the past two nights, they have probably killed at least 300,000 zombies.
Even slaughtering 300,000 pigs had exhausted many soldiers, inevitably leading to considerable casualties.
Thinking of this, Zhou Hanyang became increasingly agitated. The last wave of zombies yesterday had not actually been completely wiped out. As dawn approached, the zombies seemed to deliberately avoid the sunlight and ran back into the water. Naturally, his soldiers would not rush into the water to kill the enemy.
He knew that if these strange things traveled along the river to the surrounding counties, it would be troublesome!
However, with insufficient manpower already in place, if troops are to be divided to defend county towns or even rural areas, the enemy's numerical advantage will be maximized.
Not to mention that a whole bunch of new ones might emerge from the river tonight.
Just then, several people hurriedly entered the government office. The provincial governor rushed to greet them.
It was Mu Hongqing, the academic official he considered the most reliable.
"I heard from the students below that, General, you did not annihilate all those monsters today, but instead released them back into the water?" Mu Hongqing asked directly without any formalities as soon as he entered.
Hearing this, Zhou Hanyang felt a surge of displeasure, but he didn't lose his temper. After all, the guy in front of him wasn't an ordinary civil official, but a sorcerer of the academic administration level. When facing these strange demons, he had to admit that sorcerers often played a significant role.
So he nodded patiently and said, "There are too many zombies, and they are highly poisonous. If a soldier is scratched or bitten, he will lose his fighting ability the next day. If we go into the water to pursue them, their armor will become a burden. But if they take off their armor and go into the water, the probability of injury is extremely high. Our forces are already insufficient. If we suffer losses like this, I'm afraid the situation will be unfavorable!"
Mu Hongqing nodded upon hearing this. "I understand the general's predicament, but if we allow those zombies to escape from the water, they will inevitably spread to the surrounding counties and rural areas, and ordinary people will be slaughtered!"
"How could I not know?" Zhou Hanyang said irritably, "But what can I, the admiral, do? The fog is strange now, and who knows how many living corpses are inside? Perhaps there will be even more by nightfall. At this point, it's good enough if we can hold Nanming Prefecture, how dare we send troops to other counties?"
"General, should we consider a scorched-earth policy?"
"Scorched earth policy?" Zhou Hanyang looked at the other person. "You mean to drive everyone to Nanming Prefecture?"
Mu Hongqing nodded. "The districts and counties are not capable of protecting themselves. Those monsters don't seem to eat grain, so they shouldn't ruin the crops. Besides, I've observed them carefully. The zombies seem to be very afraid of sunlight. Their daytime activities are extremely limited. They either hide in the river or gather in a layer of black mist that has somehow formed. They are far less dangerous than at night."
"We can take advantage of the daytime to relocate as many people as possible from the surrounding counties to Nanming Prefecture. If we encounter these zombies on the way, they will be easier to deal with during the day when their movements are restricted. What do you think, General?"
"With all the people moving to the city, the food shortage is immense!" Zhou Hanyang said quietly. "Now that river transport is cut off and food is scarce, how can we feed so many people if we drive them all to Nanming Prefecture?"
At this point, the apprentice next to Mu Hongqing couldn't help but frown. "This year is a bumper harvest, shouldn't the rural families have surplus grain? They brought their own grain, how could they be short of it?"
Zhou Hanyang glanced coldly at the apprentice but did not respond. The apprentice was puzzled, but Mu Hongqing's face was extremely ugly. He instantly understood the other party's plan!
Nanming Prefecture has a large population, and its daily food supply relies on river transport. The surrounding counties cannot possibly support it. Now, with food supplies scarce in the city and river transport blocked, where will the food come from in the long run?
Judging from their attitude, it was clear that they didn't intend to care about the lives of the people in the district, since these zombies only ate people and not grain.
The zombies ate the surrounding people, so there would be more food, right? Then we could just send the army to the countryside to search for food during the day!
"Your Excellency is truly heartless!" Mu Hongqing said, emphasizing each word.
"A merciful general cannot command an army!" Zhou Hanyang's voice was icy. "If we don't do this, what will my men eat? What will the people of Liuzhou eat? If we care about everything, we'll all die together. In times of crisis, cutting off the tail is the only way to survive. Is it some military man who needs to teach you such a simple principle, Your Excellency?"
The apprentices clearly understood, their faces turning pale instantly, but they didn't utter a word in rebuttal. Obviously, as the beneficiaries, even if they felt uncomfortable, they had to sway their interests when necessary!
Mu Hongqing stared coldly at the other party for a long time, and was about to speak again when suddenly the yamen runners at the gate rushed in.
"What's the matter with such a panic?" The provincial governor, who had been unable to get a word in edgewise, suddenly became angry and rebuked him.
"My lord, he's gone mad! He's gone mad!"
"You're the one who's crazy!" The provincial governor was so angry he nearly fainted.
"No, sir," the constable stammered, "It's those soldiers, those soldiers have gone mad!"
"What did you say?" Zhou Hanyang's eyes widened, and he strode over, lifting the man up like a kitten. "What exactly happened?"
"I... I don't know either!" the constable cried. "Those wounded soldiers suddenly went berserk and started biting people last night. When we went to count the wounded this morning, we saw that many people had been bitten to death, and many doctors had also been bitten to death. It's so tragic!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Hanyang felt a bad premonition and rushed out.
Behind him, Mu Hongqing, watching the other person's figure quickly disappear, was also somewhat stunned. After a long while, he came to his senses and muttered, "Damn it."
Based on his years of experience dealing with demons, he instantly realized that the mad soldiers the constables were talking about were probably the wounded soldiers who had been carried into the city. The admiral had said before that those zombies had sharp teeth and claws that were highly poisonous. Now it seemed that they were probably not just poisonous. These zombies were probably like the insect demons, able to assimilate and infect others, and with extremely fast efficiency!
Thinking of this, he quickly walked out of the mansion gate, feeling a sense of trouble.
If this corpse poison is contagious, this could be a real problem. No one paid any attention to the city last night; the poison has probably already spread!
"Sir, the recruits have been assigned. There are 1,539 new recruits in total, all of whom are willing to go to the countryside to rescue people, but it seems they all want to go to their own hometowns first!"
"No." Chen Qing shook his head. "Going to one's own hometown would easily lead to confusion in command. We must stagger our actions. The task of rescuing relatives should be included in the operation to a limited extent, but the person in charge must not go to rescue them!"
Wei Gongcheng smiled upon hearing this. This Lord Chen, being a scholar, seemed to have considerable experience in leading troops.
"Send out five hundred soldiers who have enlisted and send them into the south gate!"
These words made Wei Gongcheng frown slightly. He agreed with leaving troops to guard the south gate, but only the south gate?
"Sir, should we leave the other doors alone?"
Chen Qing shook his head. " Liuzhou is backed by South Mountain, and its east and north gates lead to the main road. There won't be any problems there for now!"
The East Gate leads to the territory of Nanming Prefecture, and the North Gate leads to the territory of Nanyang. Both are large cities. The seven states of Jiangnan are divided by magic arrays, so those zombies in the early stages would not have crossed the boundary to come over. He did not believe that the zombies yesterday would have taken a detour. Although the zombie leader had some intelligence, it was only a little, far from the level of a normal person.
The most urgent task now is to improve the quality of door gods.
Last night, many people witnessed the power of the gate gods. They believe that the soldiers who become gate guards will soon become loyal believers. According to the rules, only loyal believers can receive the blessings of the gate gods. With a little training, they can become low-rank gate guards. A thousand low-rank gate guards can help the Wind Wolf advance to the Ninth Rank Yellow level and be included in the ranks!
When facing the next wave of zombies, Chen Qing will be much more confident.
Therefore, for this search and rescue operation, we should try to bring in as many people as possible, especially young and middle-aged adults!
While Chen Qing and Wei Gongcheng were discussing the search and rescue route, Shen Lao'er looked north with a hint of worry in his eyes.
Because of the Shen Family's presence, the imperial court didn't station many troops in Nanyang, and the current situation is probably worse than in Liuzhou!
Laoliu has always been wise; now we can only hope he can control this terrible situation.
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