Chapter 48 Entrusted by Others
Wang An nodded and agreed: "Don't worry, old man, I will take care of your young lady's affairs!"

Upon hearing this, the old man was still thinking about whether he should take out all of Gao Jia's assets so that he could beg Wang An for help.

I really didn't expect Wang An to agree so readily. I was stunned for a moment.

The reason why Wang An agreed so readily was not because of some heroic plot to save the beauty.

But even though he and the Qingzhou governor Fang Shan had never even met each other, they had already had many conflicts.

First, Lu Guancheng from Jizhou, relying on his brother-in-law Fangshan, dared to take advantage of the urgent need for food and made an exorbitant request to blackmail others.

After that, when it was time to enter the city, not only was he not greeted according to the etiquette of the Daliang Dynasty, but he was even so arrogant as to send only a few minor officials to greet him in an almost humiliating manner.

Now he was about to invite Gao Ruyue to build a city wall for him, but his son Fang Yukun came running into him. It was simply destined that he, Wang An, would have to take care of Fangshan.

In this case, God’s will cannot be violated.

When Laozi reacted, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Wang An to thank him: "Thank you for saving my life, Your Majesty. I would like to thank you on behalf of my young lady first!"

Wang An quickly reached out his hand to help the old man up, and said to him, "Old man, there is no need to do this. As a descendant of the royal family, if I see injustice and do not uphold justice, how can I be worthy of my great ancestor?"

The old man was so excited that he couldn't speak. Wang An continued, "But as you said, the Gao family has no other relatives in Qingzhou to help. Even if I help you rescue the young lady, I'm afraid you will still kill me again after I leave."

"This..." I was suddenly at a loss, not knowing what to do.

Wang An took the opportunity to say, "I do have an idea, but I don't know if the old man can make the decision for your young lady."

The old man seemed to have grasped the last straw, and hurriedly nodded and said, "I have served the Gao family for my entire life, and I also raised the young lady. As long as it can eliminate the trouble forever, no matter whether the young lady agrees or not, I have no choice but to do it."

"Very good," Wang An nodded, "In that case, you should immediately sell all the Gao family's property, pack your bags and prepare to follow me to Jizhou!"

"Ah!" The old man opened his mouth wide, thinking that he could accept any desperate strategy.

However, he did not expect that Wang An would ask him to sell his ancestral property and even leave Gao's ancestral home and go to the notoriously dangerous Jizhou.

Wang An saw this and acted calmly, "This prince is just giving you some advice. If you have any concerns, then forget it."

"As for your young lady, after I leave, she will be snatched away by Fang Yukun anyway, so why bother letting me be the bad guy again?"

When the old man heard that Wang An was planning to back out, he immediately came to his senses.

Selling off ancestral property and leaving home, compared to the young lady's life being ruined, what does it matter?
Wanting to understand the cause and effect, the old man quickly agreed: "Please calm down, Your Majesty. I will sell my property immediately and go to Jizhou with Your Majesty as soon as the young lady is rescued."

Wang An laughed and said, "What are you talking about, old man? I am not angry, so how can I calm down? This is your family affair, and it is your young lady's life that is ruined. I am just helping those who are injustice when I see it!"

"This is all your own choice. Good or bad has nothing to do with me. Why should I be angry about it?"

“Yes, yes, yes!” The old man nodded desperately, “Everything is my decision, and has nothing to do with others! I would also like to thank the prince for his help on behalf of my young lady.”

"Well, do it right away!" Wang An said, "This time I came to Qingzhou, in addition to looking for your master Gao Yuanwai, I also have some matters to deal with."

"Once everything is done, go and rescue your young lady immediately. Once your young lady is rescued, we will leave Qingzhou immediately." "I will obey your orders, Your Majesty!"

...............

After leaving Gao's house, Xu Huang immediately came up and asked, "Your Majesty, do we really want to get involved in this matter?"

"Idle matter?" Wang An chuckled and said, "Xu Huang, this is not a trivial matter!"

"There are less than three months left until the autumn harvest. As a Jizhou native, you should know what will happen after the autumn harvest. Now there is no imperial army guarding Jizhou. If we don't repair the city walls and strengthen our military, what do you think will happen when the foreigners come?"

Xu Huang broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this. All his family members lived in Baicheng. Once the city was broken, it was almost unimaginable what would happen given the brutal habits of the foreigners.

Seeing that Xu Huang had understood, Wang An lowered his voice and said soothingly: "But you don't have to worry too much. You have to have some confidence in me!"

"However, after returning from Qingzhou, you must immediately recruit soldiers. In addition to a solid city wall, we also need a large number of well-trained soldiers to resist invasion!"

Xu Huang nodded solemnly and said firmly, "As you command!"

Wang An reached out and gently patted Xu Huang on the shoulder, saying, "From now on, you don't need to call yourself "little one" in front of me. You need to call yourself "minor general", okay?"

Xu Huang scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "I am just a small flag officer, not even a centurion. How can I call myself a general..."

Wang An waved his hand and said, "From now on, you will be a centurion of Jizhou Guards, with a monthly salary of eight taels!"

"Ah! I bow to thank you, Your Majesty!"

For a moment, Xu Huang felt as if he was hit by a huge surprise. He was originally just a small flag officer. Although the title of small flag officer also has the word "official" in it, he was actually similar to the squad leader in later generations.

He had eleven or twelve men under his command, and was always at the forefront of battles. He was not an official at all.

But it is different for a centurion, he is a dignified seventh-rank military officer, and he can be in charge of one or two hundred people.

The monthly salary also saw a qualitative leap. Xiao Qiguan only received five cents of silver more than an ordinary soldier, or one tael and five cents.

Even if you only go to the general flag, it is only two taels of silver.

But this is already the limit of what ordinary soldiers can achieve.

However, just one step further and becoming a centurion, the monthly salary soared to eight taels, a full four times.

From then on, anyone who saw him had to call him "Master". How majestic!

When the others heard that Juhua had just gone from a small flag officer to a real centurion, their eyes turned red with envy and jealousy.

Wang An did not look back, but he seemed to be able to see what everyone was thinking, and he said without turning his head: "Brothers, as long as you fight bravely and do your job effectively, I still have a lot of centurions waiting to be appointed."

(End of this chapter)