After making sure the refugees had eaten their fill, Bai Yuan handed out dry rations for the road and pointed them toward Luoyang. There, factories dedicated to assisting displaced people were already prepared to receive them.
The refugees repeatedly bowed in thanks, clutching their provisions tightly as they set off toward Luoyang.
Bai Yuan then led his troops onward, continuing the march toward Luzhou.
Once they had moved beyond Dao Xuan Tianzun's domain, encounters with refugees became increasingly common. Sometimes it was just one or two people scattered along the roadside, kneeling and begging for food. Other times, entire villages had been reduced to desperation, their inhabitants scraping bark from trees and digging roots out of the soil to survive.
Each time the militia encountered such scenes, they never hesitated. They distributed food, pointed out the road to Luoyang, and carefully explained how to seek assistance once they arrived.
Watching this unfold day after day, Gao Jie felt deeply shaken.
People were not born evil.
It was the environment that shaped them. If a person grew up surrounded by cruelty, then cruelty would naturally take root in their heart. But if they were surrounded by kindness, they would unconsciously be guided toward goodness.
This was how regional customs were formed.
If everyone around you lived in a certain way, no matter how strange it might seem, you would naturally grow up following the same habits. It was that simple.
As Gao Jie marched alongside the Gao Family Village militia, he gradually began to reflect on his own past behavior, often without even realizing it.
However, after only a few days, he started to notice a problem.
"Master Bai," Gao Jie said one day, seeking Bai Yuan out directly, "aren't our rations being consumed too quickly? At this rate, you'll run out of supplies before even reaching Luzhou. And with the quality of your food, the prefectures and counties along the way simply cannot afford to resupply you."
When Ming armies marched, local officials were responsible for providing provisions. But those supplies were always crude and limited. They were nothing compared to the generous rations enjoyed by the Gao Family Village militia. Local treasuries could never support such standards.
Gao Jie could not help worrying. Once their food was gone, what would they do? Could they still help the common people as they were doing now? At that point, simply not looting the villages would already be considered mercy.
Bai Yuan smiled calmly. "General Gao, we prepared for this long ago. Just watch."
The next day at noon, while the militia rested and cooked in an abandoned village, a strange sound echoed from the road behind them. It was the distinct chugging roar of a steam engine.
Gao Jie rushed out of his tent and saw a convoy of massive iron vehicles approaching from the rear. Each vehicle carried a large cargo bed.
All of the cargo beds were filled with provisions.
Each vehicle transported several tons of grain, and as the convoy rolled in, it delivered tens of tons in total.
A man in militia uniform jumped down from the lead vehicle and shouted loudly, "Zhuge Wangchan of the logistics unit reporting. Instructor Bai, please inspect the supplies and sign for them."
Bai Yuan accepted the delivery and completed the verification. Zhuge Wangchan saluted, climbed back into the iron vehicle, and led the convoy back toward Luoyang.
Gao Jie stared at the scene, his mouth hanging open. "You… you resupply yourselves like this?"
Bai Yuan laughed. "Did you not notice? Our engineering corps has been repairing and clearing the official roads as we advance. That way, our transport vehicles can follow behind us without obstruction."
Only then did Gao Jie understand.
All along the route, the engineering corps had been leveling roads, cutting through terrain, and reinforcing bridges. It had all been for the sake of logistics.
He could not help exclaiming, "No wonder you dare to treat the common people so well. Your logistics are truly dependable."
Bai Yuan's expression brightened. "Exactly. Dao Xuan Tianzun once said that wanting to be a good person is not enough. You must also have strength. Without strength, you cannot help anyone, and your kindness becomes nothing more than empty words."
Gao Jie silently engraved those words into his heart.
Anqing Prefecture.
Shi Kefa was facing an immense threat.
Chuǎng Wang and the Dashing General were besieging Luzhou. The straight-line distance between Luzhou and Anqing was only two hundred li. For fast-moving bandit forces, that was merely a few days' march.
The rebel army's structure was loose and scattered. While Chuǎng Wang and the Dashing General led the main force at Luzhou, other rebel leaders spread their troops across a radius of over a hundred li. That meant the rebel vanguard was likely already less than a hundred li from Anqing.
Shi Kefa's available forces were painfully limited.
He had only five hundred Gao Family Village militiamen, three thousand local garrison soldiers of poor quality, and another three thousand newly recruited Anqing militia members.
Among them, the strongest were naturally the five hundred Gao Family Village soldiers. But five hundred was far too few.
As for the three thousand garrison troops, everyone knew the truth. On paper they numbered three thousand, but whether there were even fifteen hundred present was doubtful. The Jiangnan garrisons were famously lax. In real combat, they were already inferior to small bandit groups, let alone facing the Dashing General's feared Old Eighth Squad. Against those men, they would be slaughtered.
The three thousand new militia recruits were still undergoing ideological and political education. Until their thinking was properly corrected, they could only be trusted with cold weapons. Allowing them to use Gao Family Village firearms too early would be like raising a vicious dragon.
With such forces, Shi Kefa had no hope of marching to Luzhou to challenge the main rebel army.
He asked his attendant, "Where is Governor-General Lu now?"
The attendant replied, "Lu Xiangheng is leading forces from several circuits, including General Zu Kuan and Colonel Luo Dai, to provide relief. They are on the way and should arrive soon. Reinforcements have also been dispatched from Luoyang, led by Cao Wenzhao and Gao Jie."
"Troops from Luoyang as well?" Shi Kefa was delighted. "Are any of our people with them?"
"Luoyang is too far," the attendant replied. "Our messages have not reached them yet."
As soon as he finished speaking, a voice resonated from the emblem on Shi Kefa's chest. It was Dao Xuan Tianzun.
"Bai Yuan is leading five thousand men. He is traveling together with Gao Jie."
Shi Kefa's face lit up with joy. "Bai Yuan is coming. Excellent."
Confidence surged through him.
He immediately gave the order, "Issue the command. We move out at once and head north to rendezvous with the relief armies. Together, we will confront the main rebel force."
Meanwhile, in Yanling County, Henan Province.
Lao Huihui was leading his elite border cavalry through the county.
Recently, Lao Huihui's situation had become somewhat awkward.
Chuǎng Wang and the Dashing General had marched on Luzhou, ordering all seventy-two rebel factions to converge there for the siege.
Henan had been struck by severe drought, and even the rebel armies were short on food. They needed to seize a large city to secure enough provisions. Because of this, the other rebel factions responded immediately, all rushing toward Luzhou to loot it.
But Lao Huihui did not lack supplies.
Bai Yuan had been secretly providing him with food, helping him survive the crisis.
In return, Lao Huihui strictly kept his promise, ordering his men not to harm a single civilian.
The two sides maintained a delicate and unspoken cooperative relationship.
Lao Huihui did not want to leave Henan. If he left, Bai Yuan would stop supplying him, and his men would be forced to attack imperial cities again. That was something he did not wish to do.
As he pondered his next move, a border scout galloped over, panting heavily. "Report, Chief. Zuo Liangyu's forces are charging toward us."