Early the next morning.

Ning Chen set out for Mangzhou with two thousand men from the Ning'an Army and the modao army, plus twenty thousand new recruits.

They marched hard the whole way and reached Mangzhou half a month later.

Just as Ning Chen had expected, taking Mangzhou was no more trouble than blowing away ash. It was even easier than he'd predicted.

When the officials of Mangzhou, high and low, heard Ning Chen was coming with an army, they came trotting out of the city to welcome him.

Mangzhou had no garrison. They had no choice but to submit.

Besides, if the hundred thousand and more troops at the northern frontier pass couldn't stop Ning Chen, a garrison in Mangzhou wouldn't have made any difference.

Once he entered the city, the common people lined the streets to welcome him too!

Ning Chen's image as a man who loved the people like his own children was rock-solid. Mention Ning Chen to the common people, and every one of them gave a thumbs-up.

Common people are simple. Whoever treats them well, they treat well in return.

Back when the Left Chancellor rebelled, the whole of Mangzhou City had no way to live, and Ning Chen had saved them.

And since trade with the Wu Kingdom opened, they had been getting richer and richer.

So when Ning Chen entered the city, people brought their whole families out to welcome him!

The first thing Ning Chen did after entering the city was send new recruits to seal off the south gate.

The main point of sealing the gate was to keep Mangzhou's high officials and notables and its great gate-clans from running off.

War takes silver and grain, and for that he needed these people's full support.

Ning Chen didn't touch Mangzhou's officials.

He called a meeting of all the officials of Mangzhou, high and low, so that they could go and talk the city's rich into handing over grain and silver.

His biggest reason for taking Mangzhou was to raise grain and fodder.

Mangzhou's high officials and notables and its great gate-clans…