Heavenly Jewel Change Volume 7 (Chapter 157-Chapter 207)

After taking care of all the defending troops, Zhou Weiqing immediately issued a series of fresh commands. “Close all the city gates, and I want fifty men each stationed on all four walls. Do not let anyone leave the city at all. Lei Zi, lead a squad of brothers to the Governor’s Abode. Bring all the officials of the Crescent City to see me. All of you, when you are acting on these orders, shout out this slogan as you do so. As loud as you can. ‘Princess Difuya has returned, along with the Heavenly Bow Empire’s Peerless Regiment to revive our homeland! Heavenly Bow has returned!’”

Previously, even when he had first set up the Peerless Battalion, Zhou Weiqing had already started to prepare for the future, of possible avenues of attacks for reviving the Heavenly Bow Empire. Indeed, though the Heavenly Bow Empire was considered small, they still had quite a number of cities. This Crescent City had been specially chosen by Zhou Weiqing to be his first target. Of course, the caveat for that was that he needed to gain the support of the Fei Li Empire first. In this way, the Crescent City would have the Fei Li Empire to its back, and supply lines ensured, leaving it a good place to be a primary base.

Although the Peerless Regiment was extremely powerful and seemingly glorious all around, they definitely had their own weak points as well. The most glaring one was that they did not have their own logistics and supply team. In the ZhongTian Empire’s Northwest Army camp, that point was an issue as they had the full support of the Northwest Army. However, now that it was a full campaign to revive the Heavenly Bow Empire on their own, it was not possible to hope that the ZhongTian Empire would continue to send them supplies, and they could only depend on themselves. Everything else aside, even having their daily meals would be a problem.

As such, Zhou Weiqing’s first plan was to set up a stable base and foundation for them to take care of any supplies and logistic issues. At the same time, it would serve to begin announcing themselves to the Heavenly Bow Empire borders, to recruit the warriors and fighters of the Heavenly Bow Empire who were scattered throughout. Gradually, as their foundation stabilized and they grew, they could continue with further plans and follow-up actions.

As for the orders he had just issued, it could be said to be rather simple but ingenious. Firstly, not allowing anyone to leave the city would delay the arrival of any enemy troops. As for the slogan he had his men yell out, it was naturally to calm the populace down, and to sow the seeds of his recruitment plans. After all, he currently only had seven hundred men, and if he had to use them to maintain law and order, it was rather insufficient for an entire city. He couldn’t possibly use the Gold Crow and Berserker Tribe members as a policing force either, their size and stature would give most ordinary people a scare. As such, shouting out such a slogan was a relatively effective method. In the first place, the Kalise Empire’s occupation of the Heavenly Bow Empire was not that long yet, and the Heavenly Bow Empire had always treated its citizens well. Zhou Weiqing believed that the overall sentiment of the people would still be slightly inclined towards the Heavenly Bow Empire.

Breaching and occupying a single city could be said to be very simple for the current Peerless Regiment soldiers. However, the continued control and maintenance of said city was a very different matter, especially to use it as a stable base; that was truly not an easy task. However, Zhou Weiqing was not in a rush at all. All he needed to do with his seven hundred men was to fortify their defenses and spread the news that Princess Difuya had returned together with him, leading a strong army to revive the Heavenly Bow Empire. At the same time, he would have to establish supply lines with the Fei Li Empire. Once all of that was arranged, only then could he begin the actual fighting to revive their homeland.

With the city coming under attack so suddenly, citizens would usually learn of such news later. Most of them only realised the Crescent City had been under attack when they heard the shouts of the slogan.

Princess Difuya of the Heavenly Bow Empire had returned with an army? They were looking to revive the Empire? Very quickly, the news spread in a short time over the entire Crescent City.

The effect was even better than Zhou Weiqing had expected. Before long, the entire city had calmed down, and there were no disturbances at all. However, the traffic in the city had almost disappeared, all the houses with closed doors and sealed windows, as if afraid that they might be caught up any fighting or battles.

With Zhou Weiqing’s strict orders in mind, the Peerless Regiment soldiers only guarded the city gates and walls, and did not violate any of the people’s interests. Of course, the exception were the three thousand Kalise Empire soldiers. Besides their arms and weaponry, all of their gold was also seized. Zhou Weiqing did not keep anything, splitting everything between his men.

The Peerless Regiment had after all come from the Ruffian Battalions, and though their loyalty to him was already extremely high, and he no longer needed to use wealth as a binding tool, he did not remove any good treatments to them.

Very soon, the Governor of the Crescent City and the other officials were brought in front of Zhou Weiqing. After some questioning, Zhou Weiqing quickly understood the current status and situation that the Crescent City was in, and he ordered for these officials to be kept under guard for now. At the same time, he got some official notices to be made and posted throughout the city.

The notices were very simple, listing all the officials of the Crescent City. He had men stationed at the notices, allowing the citizens to make reports on how good or bad these officials were. At the end, he could use that information to decide who he could continue using, or if any were traitors or did too many ill deeds, he would kill them. It was as simple as that.

In terms of governing and maintaining a city, Zhou Weiqing did not know anything about doing so. However, many of the current officials in the were not from the Kalise Empire, and many of the middle to lower officials were originally from the Heavenly Bow Empire. As such, he would only need to remove some of the Kalise officers in the upper echelons, as well as weeding out some of the other rotten ones. What Zhou Weiqing needed was for the entire city to resume its usual operations perfectly, and not just a simple occupation. At the same time, he also sent news that under their new command, the taxes in the entire city would be waived for a year.





Chapter 195 Peerless Heavy Cavalry! (1)


From the Crescent City officials, Zhou Weiqing had learned that when the Kalise Empire had occupied the Heavenly Bow Empire, they had greatly increased the tax rates. All the commoners and merchants were extremely angry about it, but under military suppression, they dared not even protest. This was also the reason why the entire city had been relative quiet even after learning about the Heavenly Bow Empire’s counterattack and reoccupation.

As Zhou Weiqing’s orders came into play one after the other, the citizens of the Crescent City slowly calmed down and they finally dared to come out of their houses. Without question, the Peerless Regiment soldiers had given them a very good impression in these past days.

By the time the Kalise Empire received news about the Crescent City, it was already three days since the attack. In this three days, although Zhou Weiqing couldn’t say that he had already gained full control over the city, at least it was tentatively back in working order. Of course, that was still only within the city. For now at least, he still kept the gates sealed, not allowing anyone to leave.

The governor’s mansion had now become Zhou Weiqing’s temporary headquarters. As for Princess Difuya, Zhou Weiqing left Xiao Yan to take care of her. As long as she did not interfere in his matters, he did not need to bother with her.

“Commander, our scouts have spotted an entire Regiment of Kalise Empire forces camped about thirty kilometres from our Crescent City. They might attack us at anytime.” Kou Rui brought in the latest news.

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Roger. Thank you. Kou Rui, bring a few brothers to detour around and scout them carefully. I want you to see the surrounding areas as well. Take care to check if they have really only sent a single Regiment.”