vrcanaries Chapter 204 Year Chapter
Chapter 204 Year Chapter
Heavy snow blocked the mountain roads, making it difficult to march, and the army did not have enough firewood and charcoal. After counting the supplies, Zong Yanli decided to send some people to the mountains to collect firewood.
The Northern Army in Liangcheng was also in such a predicament, so the two sides fought twice while collecting firewood. Since they only went in small teams and the main army did not move, it looked more like a fight between two groups of people fighting for supplies.
If you steal my things today, I will steal yours tomorrow.
It's an indescribable tacit understanding...
"General!" Long Feiguang and Meng Qi came into the tent a few days ago. There was a layer of white snow on the military armor. They stood in front of the tent and shook off the snow particles on their bodies before entering.
"It's snowing outside again?" Zong Yanli's eyes were blurry from reading military affairs. He received imperial edicts from the capital one after another. The gist of them was about the changes in Daqian's system during the year, and the rewards and punishments for some officials in the court over the past year.
As those matters became more and more detailed, it seemed that Zong Yanli's identity was extraordinary.
There was one thing that concerned Zong Yanli more than others. Nanyu Min clan had a highly respected leader who retired from the court and lived in seclusion in Nanyu due to the Wu Kingdom Rebellion. Now that Daqian was just established, Empress Dowager Gao was recruiting talented people to serve the new monarch in establishing the country.
I heard that Mr. Min Gong Yan was a great scholar, so I went to invite him in person.
Duke Min was nearly fifty-three years old and had no intention of returning to the world to join the government.
It was after Empress Dowager Gao repeatedly pleaded with him that he was invited to serve in the government. Now he is appointed as the Grand Tutor in Daqian, and is also responsible for assisting the new emperor.
Zong Yanli had a shallow impression of this man. He only learned about his great talent and strategy from his father. When the State of Wu was founded, this man was the governor. He lobbied for various countries several times and later persuaded the State of Yan to withdraw its troops on his own.
When talking about this man in detail, even Gongsun Pu looked up to him and said that Duke Min's ability was what he and others had been seeking all their lives.
Now that Empress Dowager Gao has been able to persuade him to enter Daqian to lead the way for the new emperor, it is also a great achievement.
"Recently, patrol spies reported that the number of enemy troops leaving the city has dropped sharply, and they don't even come to fight for firewood." Long Feiguang sat down beside him, and a little white air came out of his mouth while he spoke. He stretched out his hand to tear off the cloth that was shielding him from the wind and snow and said, "I wonder if the enemy has made any secret moves."
"General, I went to inspect the streams today and found that they were all frozen. We are running out of water." Monk's nose was frozen red, and now as he breathed in the hot air in the tent, he couldn't help sniffing.
"This winter is tough, and all the troops need to be careful." Zong Yanli couldn't help but frown when he heard this, and after thinking for a while, he said, "At this time, the army should not be lazy, and you need to be alert at all times."
"Tell Bai Xiujun to dispatch some men to walk through the snow around Liangcheng to patrol and investigate, and observe the enemy's movements." Zong Yanli paused for a moment and then said, "The ghost camp's Yin soldiers are more secretive, so they can only scout the enemy's situation and not act rashly."
"Yes." Long Feiguang responded quickly.
Zong Yanli turned his head slightly to look at Monk and said, "Send someone to the stream to find a deep place and break the ice to get water."
She pondered and said, "Don't go too far from the main camp, so as not to be attacked by the enemy when you are fetching water. In winter, except for cooking, each tent should use as little water as possible."
Meng Qi immediately agreed. Zong Yanli continued, "The firewood we cut these days is enough to get through the winter. From today on, we can go out less often and strengthen the defenses around the camp to prevent the enemy from attacking at night."
The two men bowed their heads in agreement. Zong Yanli waved his hand to signal them to go down and prepare. He looked up and saw Sha Haoqian and Zhou Cang coming in.
Long Feiguang and Monk Qi nodded politely to the two of them, then left the tent.
Sha Haoqian entered and bowed, "General."
Zong Yanli raised his hand and motioned Sha Haoqian to take a seat. He called him here to make a general change in the distribution of military pay and supplies. Since Zong Yanli was seeking help to recruit these soldiers, he would naturally have to bear the cost of their military rations and supplies.
The complicated military affairs must be balanced with each other. If there is any suspicion of bias, the soldiers under the command will feel resentful or even dissatisfied.
Zong Yanli called them one by one, explained the interests involved, made sure that no one had any objection, and showed that he cared about the soldiers, only then was he able to appease the military morale.
Sha Haoqian was a little surprised when he was called, perhaps he had never thought that Zong Yanli would personally tell him about such a small matter. Then how to distribute military pay and rations could just be a matter of a word from him, so why did he need to explain it to him in such detail?
"I have no objection." As long as the food and wages were enough to eat, he had no objection.
"General Sha has come from afar, so I should treat him sincerely." Zong Yanli said this very seriously, treating Sha Haoqian exactly the same as his own personal soldiers.
"Thank you, General." Sha Haoqian sighed with great gratitude and bowed quickly.
Except Sha Haoqian, Lei Jiliang and everyone else were summoned by Zong Yanli.
Zhou Cangguan was also amazed in his heart that Zong Yanli could be so meticulous in such small matters. How could he blame the many soldiers and generals under his command for being loyal to him?
He was meticulous in managing the overall situation and strict in governing his subordinates without any omissions. Now he even did the aftermath perfectly. He couldn't think of anyone else in the world who could be so talented.
When Zong Yanhongjing was ill, he often heard Gong Yushu coming to talk to him about military affairs, and eight out of ten sentences were praising Zong Yanli.
Zong Yanhong Jing was originally worried that Zong Yanli might not be able to do a good job for the time being, so he secretly asked Gong Yushu to help him and gave Wang Ming to work for him. However, he did not expect that Zong Yanli was much more capable than he thought. After taking over the military camp, not only did he not make any mistakes, but he even managed it better.
Under such orderly management, everything in the army was normal as the year was gradually coming to an end.
"General! General! The pigs are here!" Zong Yanli called Sang Caijie to go to the city early to buy five or six pigs, waiting for the New Year.
"Oh wow, the general is really generous this year!" The many soldiers who came out after hearing the noise, saw the white pork, and their eyes lit up.
"Take him away and let him starve for two days before killing him." Zong Yanli looked at him and said with a smile.
Those who sell pigs feed the pigs well so that they can gain two kilograms.
If we slaughter it now, it will have a belly full of shit, which will be difficult to clean. It is better to lock it up and let it starve for two days, and then slaughter it after it has cleared its shit.
The crowd shouted and locked up the pigs. They stretched their necks and stared at the pigs, thinking about how to eat them.
I can’t even remember that this was the first year they spent together, but just looking at the brothers’ happy smiling faces, I felt at ease.
On New Year's Day, a bonfire was lit in the tent.
Zong Yanli sat in the main seat with a bowl of wine in her hand, drinking with the soldiers. However, at this moment which should have been a warm reunion, she suddenly saw the rockets lighting up in the sky and the flaming arrows falling from the sky.
boom--! ! !
A huge roar followed, and the wine bowl in her hand fell to the ground. She had not yet had time to taste the freshly boiled pork soup.
Then one could see the huge rocks hurled by the catapults, carrying oil and burning with intense flames, smashing heavily into the military tents. The soldiers who had just been celebrating the New Year were smashed into the scorched earth by the rocks.
"Enemy attack——!"
"The general's rear camp was attacked--!"
"Enemy troops attack the camp!!!"
The military tent suddenly changed. Within a few breaths, all the soldiers in the tent drew their swords almost at the same time. Zong Yanli kicked over the table in front of him, raised his hand to his lips and blew a loud whistle. The neighing of war horses could be heard in the distance.
Zong Yanli turned around with a stern expression and said, "Come back to help immediately!"
Wen Nian came forward holding Zong Yanli's helmet and visor. Zong Yanli snatched it and put it on his head. He jumped on his horse, tightly grasped the long sword in his hand, turned his head and looked at Long Feiguang and said: "Kuang Xingquan! Sha Haoqian! You two follow me to face the enemy head-on!"
"Bai Xiujun! Scout the enemy!" Zong Yanli sat high on his warhorse with a stern look in his eyes and gave orders one after another.
"Monkey! Defend the granary and stop the fire!"
"The rest of you must obey General Long's orders." Without knowing the enemy's situation, they cannot mobilize on all fronts, and there must be generals left behind.
Zong Yanli put on his armor, turned his horse around, rushed out of the tent and headed towards the rear.
At the same time, they heard the military intelligence report sent back from the front. The army that attacked the camp was not the Northern Army led by Yi Tiangan. What was terrifying was that they also had sophisticated chariots and catapults that were not inferior to Daqian's. It was obvious that they were well prepared for the attack on the camp.
"Kill!" The flames that shot up into the sky seemed to illuminate the entire sky, and the sound of fighting was endless.
Zong Yanli rode his horse over the huge rock that smashed into the tent and rushed through a burst of fire, and finally saw the troops attacking the camp.
The huge crowd of soldiers and horses were wrapped in military armor and fur coats that looked like felt. These soldiers and horses...
"Liaodong Lu State." Zong Yanli's eyes were deep as he saw the military flag fluttering in the cold wind. The huge word "Lu" was bright red and eye-catching.
"General! The front camp can't hold on!" The soldier covered in blood hurried over.
"Retreat!" Zong Yanli did not hesitate at all. He turned around and said to Wen Nian, "Follow me! Cover the retreat of the soldiers!"
"General——!" The soldier's heart trembled, and he was dumbfounded to see Zong Yanli actually taking the lead and charging into the enemy army. He had never seen a general covering the soldiers' retreat in his life. This... should they retreat or not?
"Why don't you retreat quickly!?" Zong Yanli's angry roar came from above his head. The soldier was stunned. He saw with his own eyes that Zong Yanli killed a group of enemy soldiers with a wave of his hand. His action of fighting while retreating was so moving that tears filled his eyes.
The front camp was completely destroyed, but the enemy had no intention of stopping, and the chariots and catapults were still advancing.
Once they saw that the catapult had created a gap, the enemy troops would swarm in.
Zong Yanli fought with the enemy at the front, while observing the situation and retreating from the left and right sides with the soldiers in the front camp.
"General! It's bad! Another enemy troop has emerged from Liang City!"
Zong Yanli's face suddenly changed, and even his breathing began to tremble.
Behind her, the horn of charge sounded again in the other half of the sky. She looked back and saw the burning beacon smoke. In her ears, she heard the hurried voices of the scouts. Huge falling rocks came crashing down again. Zong Yanli's pupils shrank, and she suddenly stretched out her hand to pull back the soldier standing in front of her.
boom--!
The deafening sound brought with it a fierce heat wave, and their bodies seemed insignificant in front of the huge rocks wrapped in fire.
"Cough cough..." The soldier choked on the thick smoke and knelt on the ground coughing in a daze. Looking at the messy military tent in front of him, it seemed a little hard to believe that the brothers who were just celebrating the New Year had become a charred corpse in the blink of an eye.
"General, we are being attacked from both sides. The situation is really dangerous now." Kuang Xingquan squeezed to the side of Zong Yanli and said in an urgent voice.
"Abandon the camp! Evacuate towards Taicheng." Zong Yanli swallowed his saliva, turned around again and said with his usual calmness: "Monkey, stay with me to cover your retreat!"
"General, you can't do that!" Kuang Xingquan's pupils shrank, and he quickly spoke up to stop him, "You are the commander-in-chief, how can you stay!"