The weather was wet and cold. On a platform at the northern foot of Mount Tai, Zhu Chuo held his backpack and walked to Wang Xianzhi's side by the fire. He first carefully took out a few very small eggs from the bag and handed them to the other party.
Wang Xianzhi was extremely surprised. "The North Are there also bird eggs in winter?"
"I don't know, but they found it in Pine Forest when they were logging. I guess there are very few of them. I spent twenty new coins to change it." Zhu Chuo said simply, then turned and left. After a while, he brought another squirrel over, and sat there to peel it with a knife.
Wang Guannu stopped talking. He first took a jar of water and carefully cleaned the stains on the few small eggs. After cleaning, he carefully put them into the iron cauldron. Then, seeing that Zhu A Ming had begun to clean the internal organs, he turned around and took a clean Rice Straw from his backpack, carefully stuffed it under the iron cauldron, and then quickly pressed the two pieces of wood that were leaning against the fire.
At this time, Zhu Xu came from outside. Seeing this scene, he did not forget to remind loudly, "Be sure to boil it! Wash your hands with blood! To prevent the entrance of the epidemic!"
Wang Xianzhi and Zhu Chuo didn't even raise their heads, they just responded.
Zhu Xu rode his horse until he reached a temple-like place, and just got off his horse. Fu Jian clearly heard his voice inside, so he went out to catch him, and together they walked inside arm in arm.
The two of them are both transferred from Huan Wen’s Staff, and they are naturally connected in work and have a very good relationship.
"Di Jiantou and Zhu Dasheng look down on us and always feel that we are not yet Coming-of-Age Hair-Binding." Zhu Chuo cut the squirrel into pieces and put it in the pot. He turned his head and looked at this scene, no I feel sour in my heart. "You don't even give us any serious jobs. Fortunately, you can still write a document. I can only patrol the mountain pass in the direction of Jinan every day and catch squirrels... I can't even dig out the bird's nests in winter."
"It's good." Wang Guannu tried his best not to look at the iron cauldron that was foaming with blood, and simply turned around to comfort him. "Just bear with it, bear with it until the New Year... As long as the New Year is over, we can all be serious Coming-of-Age Hair-Binding. They can't stop them even if they want to, and they don't have to suffer here anymore."
Zhu A Ming shook his head and looked around. "If you come here in the summer, this place is the best place to camp. It has water, firewood, valleys, and mesas. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is only a dozen miles away from the northwest highway. Unfortunately, the mountains on the Jinan side are high and the roads are impassable. Otherwise, we can go directly to Licheng (Jinan Commandery County)."
"It's a pity that we came in winter and it rained." Wang Guannu replied quietly. "I only hope for one thing now. It won't rain again before the year!"
Zhu Chuo Hearing this, he has always been fearless, but he even shuddered inexplicably.
Without him, this winter rain is too painful.
It had been four or five days since the rain, and the sun was still shining in two Three Dayss. As a result, everything was still damp. In such a large valley and terrace, there were only more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians stationed there, and the choking smell of smoke could still be smelled every day.
But the more I heard about it, the more I had to endure it, because the commander Liu Cheng had issued a death order to ensure that there was enough fuel. The soldiers and civilians' daily life here was to chop wood, and they kept chopping wood to ensure that everything in the entrance would be boiled in case it rained again.
In fact, what Attendant Secretariat Supervisor cavalry does the most and says the most these days is what Zhu Xu shouted just now - "It must be boiled!"
However, even if we take away the choking smell that the whole camp cannot avoid, the cold and sticky bedding at night, the inevitable colds, the frustration of realizing that there is no fight because the enemy retreats, and of course the fear of the next winter rain, the entire expeditionary army still fell into a distinctly depressed atmosphere.
"Say it again."
Just when Zhu Chuo and Wang Xianzhi were extremely frustrated, Liu Cheng, who was behind Lord of Mount Tai Shrine, heard even worse news. "What happened to Shanchi?"
"Reporting to the front army, our army has been defeated!" Zhu Xu repeated it helplessly.
"How did you lose?"
"The specific documents haven't arrived yet, I just heard a general outline at the outpost on the road over there." Zhu Xu managed to answer. "It was said that two Gentleman of the Palace arrived at Shanchi and found that it was a small town on the road, Pingcheng, the soldiers should be less than a thousand, so they prepared to set up forts on all sides to siege the city... As a result, the guard Jia Jian took advantage of the Imperial Army's unpreparedness, opened the four gates, and rushed out from all directions. His troops were quite brave, equipped with bows and crossbows, and many horses. They killed them in a hurry."
"Then what? Did Jia Jian take the opportunity to escape?" Jiang Gan couldn't help but interrupt and asked.
"No, it seems to have withdrawn again, and then the siege should continue..." Zhu Xu shook his head in response.
"Our Gentleman of the Palace Xun has met someone tougher than him this time." Jiang Gan heard this and couldn't help twisting his beard and shaking his head. "That day at Yecheng, I only remember that this guy was famous for his age and shooting skills, and I didn't hear anything else. Is he still capable of this today?"
The rest of the people couldn't help but look at each other.
"Victory and defeat are commonplace in military affairs." Liu Cheng thought for a moment, and could only change the topic. "As for the old soldier who is good at shooting and unknown, isn't there a senior like Huang Zhong? I have thought about it. I will wait for "Popular Romance" wrote that Huang Zhong appeared on the scene, so we added him to the card game "Legends of the Three Kingdoms". Then we gave him the pedigree of Fierce Bow. He can only dodge within the limits of his bow and horse!"
Everyone should have criticized it for being too powerful, but no one responded at the moment. It was obvious that the current scene really did not allow people to raise the interest to maintain the atmosphere.
Liu Cheng hesitated for a moment, and could only sigh, "Zhuge Banner Chief went out to escort, send a batch of firewood to Shanchi City, and then bring back the wounded."
Zhuge Heng quickly handed it over.
"Do you want me to go support you?" Shen Jin couldn't help but remind. "Just knock down the city."
"General Shen, you can really attack the city with your fighting power." Jiang Gan reminded briefly. "It's a slight setback, but it doesn't have any major impact on the war. It just makes the two Gentleman of the Palace lose face. On the contrary, we took away the credit for the only thing that can cover our faces, and that's even worse."
Shen Jin then nodded, but then explained, "I'm not greedy for that little merit. I just wanted to finish the fight and go back. There's no sign of a big war. Our taxi crew just walked this mountain road, and there were hundreds of people who got sick..."
"What did Yan Province say?" Liu Cheng interrupted his wife's uncle and asked Jiang Gan again.
"We haven't contacted him yet." Jiang Gan shook his head and said. "The main reason is that Murong De is in Linqiu, which blocks traffic. Several Administrator who are in contact have to go around Rencheng if they want to communicate. I don't know how long it takes to go back and forth."
"It's really a mess." Liu Cheng shook his head in response.
"What are Mr. Ziliang thinking about?" Fu Jian took the initiative to ask Quan Yi who had been silent.
"I'm still wondering, why on earth didn't Murong Clan send reinforcements?" Quan Yi frowned. "This doesn't make sense! Everyone said Gentleman of the Palace Xun this time It was untimely to send troops, and there was no need to fight this war. But his specific idea of sending troops this time should be right. Murong Clan had been expanding before and took the initiative to counterattack in the first half of the year. It made no sense. It won't move in the second half of the year, right? If Yan Province is a mixed bag, each county is Later Zhao's old department Military Commander. If you are a little cautious, you can understand better, but to the east is Licheng, and behind Licheng is Qing Province that has just been cleared. Why don't Qing Province come to save it?"
"That's right." Jiang Gan reacted and became solemn. "I thought Gentleman of the Palace Xun chose the wrong time to send troops at this time, but I realized later that he probably wanted to block Yellow River Ling Xun and make Hebei anxious and not be the first. Hebei troops were scheduled at that time, and there was even vague harassment affecting Jizhou and Qing Province Spring Plowing... But, does Murong Clan really not care about Henan?"
"It really doesn't make sense." Liu Cheng also found it incredible. "We are related people. Naturally, we resisted Gentleman of the Palace Xun's sending troops from the beginning and felt that he was wrong. We were also able to quickly know and detect Gentleman of the Palace Xun's plan. It was also our own role in Mount Tai was caught in the rain, and then he felt disgusted. But it is impossible for the enemy, especially Murong Clan, to figure it out so quickly, let alone know all our plans in advance, and it is impossible to predict the rain of Mount Tai to make such a response strategy."
"What's going on?" Huan Xin tried to join the discussion, and he was indeed confused.
"There must be something wrong inside the Murong Clan." Liu Cheng gave a judgment. "It's not from our side."
"Then what can we do?" Huan Xin continued to ask. "We can't ask the former army to write to that old friend Murong De and ask, right?"
"It's always been possible, but now it's really not possible." Quan Yi said with a bitter smile. "Our original intention here is to ambush him. Even if he doesn't seem to be coming, how can we dare to expose him?"
"You can save firewood." Liu Cheng said. "Drink more hot water! Patrol the troops and strictly prohibit gambling and playing cards!"
Everyone can only agree.
Two days later, the wounded were transferred to the mountain camp, and Liu Cheng also got the exact battle report of that day, or without the battle report, it was known just by looking at the wounded who were brought back - the number of casualties, wounded and trampled injuries in that battle was over a thousand.
Including those who got sick from the rain earlier, there are four to five hundred.
The troops brought by Xun Xian to Shanchi City were only ten thousand soldiers and three thousand civilians.
This battle is really frustrating to the extreme.
But the more frustrating thing is yet to come.
Let's say that the time agreed upon by Xun Xian and Liu Cheng was very simple, just to see if there were any reinforcements during the Lunar New Year, so that they could gather around and call for reinforcements. However, a few days later, and there were still seven or eight days before the Lunar New Year, there was still no movement from the Murong Clan reinforcements. On the contrary, there was more movement in the sky.
Dark clouds are gathering, the weather is gloomy, and another winter rain is about to fall.
The Western Command reserve troops who had already endured one round were already in the valley, feeling as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and their hearts were trembling. They took the time to build sheds there and pass Waterway, who had been attacked before. Northern Command Army, who had been fighting for a while, couldn't hold back at all - they even had to support Western Command from behind to chop firewood, and they were besieging the city in the plains outside the city. This was going to cause a big mess.
Ever since, in addition to the general Zhuge You who stayed behind, there were other generals Northern Command who were in the army at this time, Dai Sui, Xiao Zhong, and Liu Zhuang, including Xun Xian's most trusted confidant Chief Clerk Zheng Xi, all come to see Xun Xian.
At this time, even withdrawing the troops was not on the right track. The only option was to work hard and seize the city to avoid the winter rain.
But this also means that Xun Xian's expedition beyond Qianli's efforts has completely turned into a joke.
But Gentleman of the Palace Xun no longer has the right to choose.
Twelfth Month Twenty Three Days, following the Northern Command master's order, Northern Command Army attacked from all sides, and the entire army scaled the city.
-----I drink more hot water to prevent colds-----
Emperor Taizu marched to Mount Tai and stayed at the Lord of Mount Tai temple. During the winter rain, the soldiers were frightened and hundreds of people were sick. Emperor Taizu then prayed in front of Lord of Mount Tai: "If ten of the sick in my department die, let each other be safe. If ten of them die, I will tear down your temple and make campfires in your beams." Later, there was another heavy winter rain, more than a thousand people were sick, and only thirty-three died.
--"A Sequel to In Search of the Supernatural".Tao Qian of Qi addendum