October 25th, the first year of Dalong Yongping.
In just five days, Tang Ru, in the name of Liu Mingzhi's family, sent another thirty letters to the imperial court to urge for food and fodder.
Liu Mingzhi, Tang Ru and others hoped that the follow-up grain and grass were already on their way to Northern Xinjiang at this time. The reason why there was no news about the first eighteen letters and no reply was probably because the weather in the Kingdom of Jin was too cold, and the golden eagle, The falcon lost its ability to discern direction.
Although this possibility is extremely rare, it is not without precedent.
However, there was not much time left for Liu Mingzhi and the others.
Although Liu Mingzhi has been trying to hide the shortage of food and grass, he has not continued to attack the city in the past few days. In addition, there are fewer and fewer sacks on the rear army's food and grass carts. Many soldiers have vaguely guessed something. .
On the night of October 25th, a golden eagle screamed and circled down.
Liu Mingzhi and others were overjoyed, thinking it was a reply from the imperial court. However, they were disappointed after receiving the letter.
The letter was not a reply from the court, but a joint letter between Yunyang and Nangong Ye.
The content of the letter was both good and bad. The good news was that each of the two men led a group of soldiers and horses, and they had crossed the Turkic Suluo River and continued northward to launch an encirclement and killing operation against the Turkic enemy troops retreating all the way north.
In five days, several small Turkic tribes that had no time to evacuate had been wiped out. The bad news was almost the same as the situation on Liu Mingzhi's side.
Food and grass are in short supply.
Although several small Turkic tribes were wiped out in five days, the food and grass captured was only enough to increase the consumption of the army for three days.
If the siege continues, once the food and grass cannot be transported in time, let alone chasing the enemy, the Turks will counterattack and kill an army.
The food and grass left in Yunyang and Liu Mingzhi's side was almost the same as Liu Mingzhi's, and could only sustain the needs of withdrawing troops and returning home.
Liu Mingzhi sat blankly on the handsome chair, looking around at the group of generals who had read the letters and looked extremely downcast.
"What do you mean? I want to hear what you mean!"
Song Qing and others looked at each other silently, not knowing what to say for a moment.
The unification of the world is just around the corner. As long as the heavy snow does not block the roads, Dalong can definitely unify the world before the year and create unparalleled achievements.
However, no one thought that there would be a shortage of food and grass in this situation.
"Commander, with the current situation of the national treasury, it can fully support the follow-up food and grass. Now that the food and grass have not arrived, I'm afraid there is something hidden in it."
"Now there are only two ways to go. Either withdraw the troops and return to the country and return the land that was finally captured to the Jin Kingdom in vain, or continue to attack the city north."
"But if we cannot seize enough food and grass from the Jin Kingdom before we run out of food and grass, the morale of the army will definitely be weakened. Once the enemy counterattacks and comes back, we will definitely suffer heavy losses."
"Perhaps God will be merciful and allow us to seize the Jin Kingdom's food and grass before we run out of food and grass, but this chance is rare."
"If the Jin Kingdom dares to burn thirty-five cities, they can burn fifty cities. As long as they interfere a little bit with our offensive, we will fall short and the gains will not be worth the losses."
"This is not the worst case scenario. If it is just a matter of food and fodder, if the situation becomes urgent and we kill the bullocks transporting food and fodder, Lao Ma can still feed our brothers and evacuate the Kingdom of Jin safely."
"What I am most worried about is the weather."
Song Qing exhaled hot breath into his palms with a solemn expression and looked at the gloomy sky outside the door.
"The weather in the Kingdom of Jin is getting colder and colder now, and heavy snow may fall on the earth at any time."
"What if one day the public doesn't open his eyes, the first snow will keep falling, and then the road will be blocked by heavy snow, and the biggest trouble will be for us to be trapped and die in the Kingdom of Jin."
“There is no food and grass in the front to seize, and there is no food and grass in the back to support.”
"It's freezing cold, brothers don't have enough to eat, what will happen to us will be...will be..."
Liu Mingzhi frowned and looked at Song Qing who was hesitant to speak.
"Ten deaths and no life?"
"Song Qing nodded silently."
"The general has just made a rough estimate. If the heavy snow does not come, the court will have to transport at least two more months of food and grass before we can completely restore the entire Jin Kingdom. If the heavy snow comes, it will be impossible to survive without five months of food and grass."
"At the critical moment, we don't know whether it will snow or not, but we know that for now, there is no movement at all in terms of food and grass."
"How can we fight this battle without food and grass?"
"Brothers fighting for the country are just putting their heads in their waistbands. If they can't support themselves with food and grass, then it's not like they are putting their heads in their waistbands, but they are leaving their heads to die."
Liu Mingzhi gently kneaded the teacup in his hand.
"What do you mean?"
Cheng Kai hesitated for a moment: "The general seconded the deputy commander's intention."
"Although the deputy commander just said that continuing the expedition may capture the enemy's food and grass to supplement our own, this hope is too slim."
"If you want to replenish the food and fodder for an army of 500,000, you have to seize 200,000 soldiers and horses for three months. But at the moment, does the Jin Kingdom still have an army of more than 200,000? They have been beaten long ago. It’s all broken.”
"It can be said that the hope of capturing the enemy's food and grass is very slim."
"Although we are unwilling to withdraw our troops, we cannot gamble with the lives of our brothers."
"This is nearly half a million soldiers and horses. Our brothers have put their lives and property in our hands. How can we let down their trust and treat their lives like child's play?"
"If the follow-up food and grass cannot be transported, the brothers will not die on the battlefield, but will be starved to death. Wouldn't it be too cruel and unjust?"
"Finished?"
"That's it. It's just a matter of whether to retreat or attack us or to obey the commander-in-chief. If the commander-in-chief insists on going north, we will have no choice but to press forward and continue the northern expedition."
"Commander, I will boldly agree with the deputy commander's wishes."
"The general... The general also agrees, we can't afford to gamble with our brothers' wealth and lives of half a million yuan!"
"The general also seconded the proposal."
"The last general..."
"Twenty-three generals, big and small, all seconded Song Qing's wishes."
Liu Mingzhi sighed silently, raised his hand to touch a mysterious chess game on the table, gently held the chess board, and poured the chess pieces on the chess board into the burning brazier. among.
Song Qing and others looked at Liu Mingzhi's sad expression, but didn't know what to say.
Liu Mingzhi stood up slowly and walked towards the door with complicated eyes. He looked up at the dim sky with eyes like a torch.
"A thousand-mile embankment was destroyed by an anthill."
"Everyone in this world has selfish motives. It is human nature to fight for power and gain, and to suppress dissidents. Throughout ancient times and modern times, this has happened in all dynasties. It is a common occurrence!"
"However, throughout the past and present, I have never seen anyone who treats domination of the world as child's play in order to fight for power and gain."
"I, the Han people, like to fight among themselves. This is nothing new, but there must be a certain degree of restraint in fighting among ourselves."
"Brothers fight against the wall and fight against foreign humiliation together. Have they all forgotten this sentence?"
"I, a man of millions, went on and on and fought on the battlefield so that the dragon could rule the world, so that the people could live and work in peace and contentment and no longer suffer from the war, but in the end I got this result."
"It's heartbreaking!"
"No matter what the reason is, the supply of food and grass is difficult to sustain, and all the civil and military officials in the court cannot escape their involvement."
"It seems that during the year that I have been away from the temple, the court has become rotten, rotten to the core."
"If this continues, the prosperous mountains and rivers left behind by Emperor Ruizong's hard work for decades will become devastated."
"How will I have the face to meet Ruizhong after a hundred years!"
"Well, it's time to go back and treat Dalong's illness, and it's time to clean up the moths from the court."
Song Qing and others clearly felt the unwillingness and helplessness in Liu Mingzhi's words. They could only sigh silently, not knowing how to persuade him.
Liu Mingzhi gently opened his hand, and a delicate chess piece lay quietly in his hand.
Father, you have a spirit in heaven to see it.
I have lived up to your great trust, but I have tried my best but still cannot fulfill your lifelong wish.
Erchen tried his best! Erchen tried his best!
Liu Mingzhi turned his head and glanced towards the north.
Is it really true that the two countries, Jin and Tunisia, will never die? Could it be that I, Liu Mingzhi, have always been acting against the will and going against the will of heaven?
Is this all God's will?
That's all, Liu Mingzhi has no regrets in his heart, and the fact that his success failed is not because Liu knew his fault.
Liu Mingzhi closed his eyes and squeezed hard, and the chess pieces turned into powder and slowly flowed out of Liu Dashao's palm, and was blown away in the room by the cold breeze outside the door.
"This chess game was started by me, but it was not ended by Liu Mingzhi."
"It's God's will!"
"Master, please return to the court!"
