Travel through troubled times and escape famine with the system

Wu Quanwen was silent for a long time before he frowned and looked at Wen Chengjie.

"You are a smart person. You should understand that some things cannot be put on the table."

Wen Chengjie rested his hands on his head and looked at the starry sky above his head.

"I'm a smart person, so I know my situation very well."

"If I succeed in defending the city this time, I will be your close minister, and you will never kill me."

"If this city cannot be defended, I will die with the city, so there is no need to worry about my mistakes."

"To be honest, I am actually quite relaxed now."

Wu Quanwen never thought that he would hear such an answer, but after thinking about it, he felt relieved.

"You are an interesting person. So tell me, why didn't you let your subordinates forcibly recruit civilians to defend the city?"

“You know, even though there aren’t many young and strong men in this city, if we can forcibly recruit them, there will be at least 30,000 or 40,000 people who can defend the city. This is a powerful force for defending the city.”

Wen Chengjie chuckled when he heard this, then pointed to the soldiers on the city wall who were busy moving the city defense equipment.

"It is said that those who are rich do not join the army, and those who are wealthy do not join the army."

"Almost all those who can join my city's defense army are children from poor families."

"They eat military rations and receive military pay in order to reduce the burden on their families."

As they were talking about this, a soldier happened to pass by them pushing a cart of kerosene.

"Xu Jundae!"

"Yes!" The soldier pushing the cart quickly agreed and said, "What do you want, Chief Wen?"

"Nothing, let's chat about family matters." Wen Chengjie said with a smile: "How many people are there at home?"

"Dad, Mom, Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, Little Nephew!" Xu Junda answered without thinking: "Don't you know everything, Garrison Commander?"

"Can't you just forget about it?" Wen Chengjie scolded with a smile, "Go to work, set up the kerosene, and be sure to stay away from the torches!"

"Know!"

Xu Jun pushed the cart away with a big smile, while Wen Chengjie turned to look at Wu Quanwen.

"You have been in a high position for a long time, and all you have heard are heroic words, loyalty to your country and family, which are too far away from these people."

Wu Quanwen looked puzzled when he heard this: "What do you mean?"

"That Xu Junda just now, why do you think he was guarding the city?"

"Is it because of the immortality of the martial arts? Or is it because of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism?"

Wu Quanwen looked at the backs of the people carrying kerosene in the distance under the firelight and said, "I understand. They are doing this for their stomachs, for money, and for their families."

"Yes."

Wen Chengjie sighed and said.

"They can't become officials through literature, nor can they become generals through martial arts. They risk their lives just to have three meals a day and the health of their families."

"They are fighting here now. If I order his brother and father to defend the city and kill the enemy, they will be on the line between life and death."

"Do you think he will work harder to kill the enemy, or will he be completely disheartened?"

Wu Quanwen remained silent upon hearing this.

Wen Chengjie knew that this result was obviously not acceptable to the Third Prince, who was used to hearing hymns.

"We must suppress the refugees, because this is not their home. Even if the city is destroyed, they will just run further away."

"Be ruthless to those wealthy families who have the ability to help defend the city but don't want to contribute!"

"They have been oppressing the people for a long time. Killing them will win the hearts and minds of the people and follow their will, and it will allow the people to see that everyone is equal."

"But we must be benevolent to the people, because they are already at the bottom of society and there is no room for exploitation. Only when we see real benefits can we make them love and support us."

"Only then will they connect themselves with this city and sincerely help you defend the city."

"I've learned a lesson." Wu Quanwen sighed and said, "You're right. We are indeed too far away from the people."

"Not far, you're coming?" Wen Chengjie said with a smile, "There will be many people guarding the city, just wait."

Wu Quanwen looked at Wen Chengjie: "What are you waiting for?"

"Wait until the Jin soldiers put out the fire in the granary and all the warriors leave, then get some sleep. You won't be able to close your eyes until the Yanzhou army arrives."

Wen Chengjie's voice became smaller and smaller, and after only a dozen breaths, he actually began to snore lightly.

Wu Quanwen, on the other hand, sat steadily beside them, his eyes like a deep ancient well, without any sign of fluctuation.

…………

Half an hour later, Wu Quanwen, who was sitting in meditation, suddenly looked to the right.

Almost at the same time, an urgent report rang through the night sky.

"Report! Arrows were fired from below the city walls to report that Jin soldiers were spotted stealing grain outside the city."

Wen Chengjie sat up, yawned and looked at the messenger.

"Pass the order down, fire rockets and burn the fields!"

"Yes!" The messenger stood up and ran, shouting, "The garrison has ordered us to fire rockets and burn the fields!!"

Although the sun has not yet risen, the sky is already bright enough to see things.

On the city wall, soldiers drew their bows one after another, lit the arrows that they had prepared in advance, which were wrapped with rags and cotton wool and soaked in kerosene, and shot them towards the fields outside the city.

It was mid-September, harvest time, and although there was still some green in the fields, they were struggling and could not withstand the invasion of large areas of yellow.

The weather was so dry that there was not even a spark to be seen in the fields, let alone such a rain of rockets from the sky.

In just a moment, the fields outside the city were on fire everywhere, and the fire was quickly blown away by the morning breeze.

Wu Quanwen stood on the city wall with a frown on his face.

"You knew they would come to steal the food, so why didn't you burn the fields earlier? Isn't it too late to set fire now?"

Unexpectedly, Wen Chengjie grinned and chuckled as he looked at the Jin soldiers who were snatching food in the distance.

"Because of the fire, they rushed to harvest the rice and had no time to check it."

"What to check?" Wu Quanwen asked again.

"Nothing." Wen Chengjie grinned and said, "Do you remember that I closed the city gates and prohibited people from going out two days ago?"

"remember."

"I didn't just seal off the city during those two days." Wen Chengjie said with a smile, "During those two days, I sent thousands of people out of the city with liquid medicine to quench the grain ears outside the farmland."

"What I fear most this night is that their food camp will not suffer much damage and the Jin people will not come to rob and harvest their food and grass."

"Now I can rest assured!"

Wu Quanwen's eyes widened when he heard this: "Did you poison them?"

"It's not poison." Wen Chengjie said with a smile, "There's not much arsenic in the city, and even if there was enough, we can't use it. After all, it works too quickly. If a few people die, others will realize that there's something wrong with the food and won't eat it."

"I used croton, rhubarb, senna and other diarrhea medicines."

"This kind of medicine takes a long time to come out, so make sure they feel comfortable after taking it before we do anything else!"

Looking at Wen Chengjie's warm smile, Wu Quanwen felt his scalp tingling.

"So, this is why you ordered those warriors to burn the grain fields around the Jin soldiers' camp?"

"Yes." Wen Chengjie said with a smile: "They have no food to eat, so they have no choice but to rush to harvest. As the saying goes, a good man can't stand three spoiled children. By then, the Jin soldiers' camp will definitely be very lively."

At this time, Wu Quanwen could already imagine the scene after the Jin soldiers ate these grains.

He finally had a new understanding of Wen Chengjie in front of him.

"I have studied military books since I was young, and I think I have some experience in marching strategies."

"But... this is the first time I've seen such a sinister plan like yours."

Wen Chengjie slowly put away the smile on his face when he heard this.

"War, to put it bluntly, is the ultimate evil in people's hearts..."