After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 736 - 726 Zu Ti

Zhao Shi was bound and escorted into the nearest county town. As he entered the city, he glanced up at the two large characters on the city gate: "Quzhou".

Retracting his gaze, Zhao Shi tried hard to match the location on Fu Tinghan’s map. The envoy should have bypassed Quzhou, but he wasn’t sure where they were now.

These people clearly had a military background. Would they believe him if he said he was a deserter from the Zhao Family Army?

Probably not. Third Sister was known for treating civilians and soldiers well. How could there be deserters under her command?

Gou Xi and Gou Chun were harsh with their subordinates, so escaping from them was possible. That’s right, they ran away from the Yan State’s Gou Family Army.

With this thought, as soon as he saw people, he immediately revealed his identity, "I am Zhou Shi of the Yan State Gou Family Army, and we have escaped to seek refuge with the General."

His fellow comrades, equally bound, were stunned, all looking at him in shock.

Without a change in expression, Zhao Shi glanced at them and introduced, "These are my subordinates who were willing to escape with me."

Zuo Min, who had nearly exhausted himself chasing them, looked at them unfriendly and said to the person in charge, "General, this man is not trustworthy. If he honestly came to seek refuge with us, why flee? Moreover, those routed soldiers said that there was a convoy with them at the time, possibly carrying a lot of treasures, yet we could not find any trace of the convoy."

The General ignored Zuo Min’s outcry and instead sized up Zhao Shi, then turned to look at the weapons the soldier had collected.

The soldier immediately presented Zhao Shi’s long spear.

The General gently flicked the spearhead, which emitted a crisp sound, and he couldn’t help but smile as he looked again at Zhao Shi. "You’re from the Zhao Family Army, aren’t you?"

With a serious face, Zhao Shi denied, "We of the Gou Family Army have an irreconcilable enmity with the Zhao Family Army. General, do not insult me!"

The General said, "As far as I know, there are many deserters and refugees from Yan State, but they wouldn’t come to Jizhou. Most would go to Yu State, and the one with a problem with Zhao Hanzhang is Gou Daojiang. What does that have to do with you ordinary soldiers?"

"Moreover, this spearhead, only the Zhao Family Army has it," the General remarked while stroking the spearhead, "I had heard that the Zhao Family Army has special smelting techniques that can turn iron into something harder and sharper called steel. I didn’t really believe it before, but now I see it, it turns out I was ill-informed."

Zhao Shi’s face slightly changed, but he still maintained, "I am from the Yan State Army."

The General then put away the spear and ordered them to be untied, saying, "I am Zu Ti, and I am looking to join your Lord. Does the Little General wish to make an introduction?"

Zhao Shi was dumbfounded, staring at him with wide eyes. After a long moment, he hesitantly asked, "But, this is territory occupied by the Xiongnu. How can Military Advisor Zu be here?"

Zu Ti had been recruited by Prince East Sea to serve as a Military Advisor, but he had declined, citing mourning.

Zhao Shi had heard Zu Ti’s name more than once from Third Sister, because Mr. Ji praised Liu Kun, and Third Sister said that Zu Ti had virtues and talents surpassing Liu Kun.

He knew that Third Sister always wanted to recruit Zu Ti as a general, but she couldn’t find him, and she was not in a position to recruit throughout the land on behalf of the court, so she had to regret it privately.

Zhao Shi swallowed, his eyes shining as he looked at Zu Ti, "Are you really Military Advisor Zu?"

Zu Ti smiled and nodded, "Indeed, I have taken Quzhou County. I know Lord Zhao’s army is strong, and he has already retaken most of Si Province. If so, why not take Guangping County as well? Then Shangdang and Pingyang would be isolated, severing their communications. When the court wants to conquer the north and reclaim lost territories in the future, it will be much easier."

Zhao Shi asked, "How many troops would that require?"

Their forces were currently concentrated at the border to guard against Shi Le and Liu Cong, and in the rear, they had to be wary of Gou Xi’s surprise attacks. They couldn’t spare any troops.

Zu Ti replied, "The troop strength need not worry. I can recruit them locally, but I lack sufficient weapons and provisions."

Zhao Shi understood. He wanted to join Third Sister, but he needed Third Sister to provide food and weapons to help him seize Jizhou.

Under normal circumstances, anyone else would have immediately refused Zu Ti. This was too risky.

But Zhao Shi was a young man, at an age where he didn’t understand his own limits. Third Sister had said, there’s nothing impossible in this world. As long as they dared to think and dared to act, there was hope for success.

He immediately said, "Let me write a letter for you to our Lord."

Zu Ti laughed heartily and asked loudly, "Does the Little General no longer say that he is from the Yan State Army?"

Zhao Shi spat, "I am not one of those Generals from Yan State who can only dominate their own people."

Zu Ti’s smile faded slightly as he sighed, "They are not all like that. The soldiers that followed Gou Daojiang then were truly ambitious."

What a pity.

Zu Ti asked, "May I know the Little General’s name?"

Zhao Shi then replied, "I am Zhao Shi from Xiping."

Zu Ti then knew that he came from the same clan as Zhao Hanzhang. But how did the Zhao Family Army end up in Jizhou?

"How many of you are there?" Zu Ti asked, "I can send soldiers to retrieve them. Are you here in Jizhou on official business?"

Zhao Shi smiled embarrassedly and did not mention Zhao Xin and others, instead vaguely saying, "General need not concern yourself with them. For now, capturing Guangping County is of utmost importance. I’ll write a letter back to Luoyang, and I ask General Zu to send two people to accompany my guards back to Luoyang."

The mission to Zhongshan County was still a secret. Even if Zu Ti had good character, Zhao Shi couldn’t disclose it now.

Zu Ti saw him not speaking further and didn’t press on, inviting him to go down and rest.

Once he left, Zuo Min protested unsatisfied, "General, he clearly doesn’t trust us. Why should we still cooperate with them?"

Zu Ti said, "They are obviously on a mission. Let alone the fact that we are still outsiders now, even if we were insiders, secret missions cannot be spoken about publicly. Treat them with courtesy; we will have to work together in the future, and it’s not good to make relations too tense." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Zuo Min pursed his lips and asked, "Do we have to rely on the Zhao Family Army? With the General’s current power, we could easily capture the entire Guangping County in one go."

Zuo Min was a mountain bandit picked up by Zu Ti along the way, actually a minor fortress lord.

Because Shi Le was too brutal, attacking castles everywhere, he had to lead his villagers to build a Wu Castle and gathered some people to hold their ground. The local county government labeled them as mountain bandits.

He occasionally led people out to raid supplies because he was housing too many, and food was insufficient, becoming real bandits.

Zu Ti, on his way west, somehow learned that Gou Xi was looking to join Zhao Hanzhang, and sent people along the way to find him.

He tried to avoid Gou Xi’s people, taking detours until he ended up in this area, where he was robbed by Zuo Min. He retaliated and captured Zuo Min.

Zuo Min, being sensible, immediately recognized Zu Ti as his leader and let him command the entire Wu Castle.

Zu Ti felt that it wouldn’t look good going to Zhao Hanzhang empty-handed, plus there were still obstructions from Gou Xi, so he decided to lead the Wu Castle people to fight all the bandit dens nearby.

Originally, he intended to gather two to three thousand people and then take them to join Zhao Hanzhang. But as he fought, he ended up capturing Quzhou County.

The County Magistrate of Quzhou County insisted on provoking him, sending troops to wipe him out, so he had to take down Quzhou County.

Zuo Min’s hometown was here. He didn’t want to leave this place and had no interest in Zhao Hanzhang. He thought that if Zu Ti could remain here to hold the territory, being second-in-command wouldn’t be bad.

But Zu Ti’s ambition was not to be the dominant bandit leader. He wanted the unification of the land, so he pursued the person he believed could lead him to unify the world.

Zu Ti insisted on contacting Zhao Hanzhang. Zhao Shi wrote one letter, and he also wrote one letter, both handed over to a centurion, who led people to send the letters back to Luoyang.

Zhao Shi stayed there to wait.

As for Zhao Xin and his group, Zhao Shi kept quiet, figuring they should have already gone far by now, right?