(15)
There was a lot of traffic in front of the granary, with more than 20 grain trucks of various sizes parked, all lining up in an orderly manner.
The carts carried all kinds of wine, meat and dry food. The food delivery person led the inventory of the goods, and then ordered the soldiers to deliver the military rations to the warehouse one by one.
After moving the goods, the food delivery person submitted the list of items in the food truck to the quartermaster to calculate how much tax can be offset this year. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that showing courtesy to the children's family on these important days would exempt them from certain taxes, how could those philistine business owners agree to do this kind of business?
After delivering military rations, you will gain both benefits and fame, the best of both worlds. Thinking about it, it is indeed a good job.
Under the leadership of the sergeant, Bai Feng and his party of four directly bypassed the granary and hid in the kitchen camp. In order to hide from others, they avoided all their fellow travelers. After Murong Yan and Zi Chai took off the things they had hidden on their bodies, they were ordered to temporarily act as cooks in the back kitchen.
Su Qing and Bai Feng transformed into cargo-moving boys, first unloading the cart of goods they brought, and then helping to prepare the ingredients for tonight's banquet.
The kitchen camp is very close to the main camp, only about a hundred steps away, but there are many dangers in the middle. There are lightly armed patrols with guns often wandering around, and there are four heavily armed warriors with swords and shields guarding the commander's camp. Whoever plans to approach Tong Yao must first fight these battle-experienced warriors. Face to face.
How many of these powerful soldiers are Tong Yao's cronies? The sergeant who led the way did not elaborate, but simply told the four newcomers what to do, and then left here and returned to his post.
The implication is that Bai Feng and others should stay put and do odd jobs in the kitchen camp. Anyway, there is an urgent need for manpower here today, so it is not unusual to have a few more helpers suddenly.
Bai Feng and the others understood this, and they have been working there with their heads down ever since.
There are three tents in the kitchen, one is for people to rest, and the other is for storing firewood and ingredients. The remaining tent is naturally the place where the cooking genius is displayed.
Work here often starts early in the morning and then takes a break until noon, when people are eating. The stench of food that had been caught during cooking had not had time to dissipate, and another afternoon of hard work followed. Finally, it was not until night fell that we could enjoy a short and peaceful time.
Managing the food and drink of hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of people has never been an easy task.
Not long after the work began, war drums suddenly beat in the camp, and hundreds of soldiers suddenly emerged from several surrounding barracks.
When Bai Feng saw them running out in a panic, not even fully dressed, Bai Feng guessed that these were the recruits who were going to be inspected today.
"Oh, I used to only hear Master talk about how to deploy troops and generals. Now, I really want to see how General Tong accomplishes these things." Bai Feng moved a palm-like dustpan with slices of meat on it. A full pile, thinking to himself, standing blankly at the door of the big tent, looking at the recruits.
When an old woman who was in charge of the spoon saw that the new boy was not attentive to his work, he suddenly walked up to Bai Feng and gave him a hard knock on the back of the head. He said angrily: "What are you looking at? Bring the meat quickly! It is the duty of these soldiers. We are out there defending our country, and our duty is to prevent them from going to the battlefield hungry! No matter how many you look at, they will not let a handyman kill the enemy."
Bai Feng touched the back of his head and said with a smile: "I know, old mother, I'll bring it right away..."
This old woman is similar in height to Murong Yan, but has a stocky figure, and the fat on her belly can crush a fly to death if she shakes it a little. She has long hair, which is tied into a whip on top of her head. She wears an apron all day long and looks quite majestic.
Above her head, Murong Yan was helping to cut the meat. Seeing that the young swordsman was being ridiculed like this, she couldn't help but follow the old woman's lead in suppressing Bai Feng's arrogance and said, "Yes! What are you capable of now? Why don't you give it a try?" If you do your job well, you won’t get scolded again.”
After hearing this, the young swordsman was too shy to say a word. He was full of resentment, glanced at Murong Yan, then put the meat on the dustpan into the old woman's iron pot and walked out.
Su Qing and Zichai couldn't help but sneer. The big thief followed, intending to continue carrying food and firewood with the young swordsman. He quietly explained to the other party: "Ms. Murong is just angry at you for showing off for a moment. I don’t care about her feelings at all, don’t take it to heart.”
"Of course I understand! But if it weren't for Madam Wu Xia's hairpin, I would still have to go to the military camp alone." Bai Feng adjusted his attitude after a while and smiled calmly.
Su Qing sighed helplessly: "Oh, the Holy Lady is right, you are really a complete 'fool'. Now, I can understand what Chu Chu is thinking about in her daily life."
In this way, they ran back and forth between the kitchen tents and worked with the cooks for most of the day.
It was late in the evening when a sergeant came to summon him. He didn't recognize any of the four people from Bai Feng, he only recognized Madam Xia's hairpin, so he called Murong Yan aside and asked, "Girl, are you the new cook today?"
"Yes, general." Murong Yan bowed and said in respect, "I wonder what the general's orders are?"
"Come with me and try the fine wine that just arrived today." After saying that, Murong Yan followed the sergeant in front of her and walked out.
Bai Feng asked others what was going on. The old lady in charge saw his strange expression and already knew that he admired the girl, so she advised him not to meddle in other people's business and just do his work with peace of mind. He explained: "This is what we have here." According to the rules, just because they are afraid of spies sneaking in, every new cook must be tested for the 'poisonous wine'. In my old and ignorant memory, no one is really going to be poisoned to death. On the contrary, There are indeed many spies caught."
"Oh, that's it." Bai Feng smiled happily: "This is really a wonderful strategy to attack the heart!"
"Hmph! How could our boy general be more short-sighted than a boy like you?" The old lady still dismissed Bai Feng, but there was more admiration in her eyes. She felt that this young man seemed to have read some books. I read a book, learned some about the art of war, and then went back to preparing the dishes for the dinner.
After a while, Murong Yan came back alone with a jar of wine. As soon as she entered the big tent, she immediately said to the old woman: "Old mother, I will be at the banquet for wine later. Do you want to tell me what I should pay attention to? "
"Be careful not to spill the wine!" the old woman blurted out, "Last time, a silly girl accidentally fell to the ground, spilled the wine all over the floor, and ruined the clothes of a nobleman. If General Tong hadn't been there to intercede, that girl would have I’m afraid I’ll have to sell myself to pay off this debt.”
Murong Yan nodded obediently, then filled the wine glasses one by one, put them on the plate and prepared to take them away. Bai Feng was afraid that he would be in a hurry, so he went over to help him. In fact, he only wanted to quietly ask Tong Yao about his plan: "Yan'er, is that general just now Tong Yao's confidant?"
"Brother Feng is really clever. The general wants me to drug Tong Erniang's wine. While she is sleeping soundly, we can break into the tent and seize her!"
When Bai Feng learned of the latest plan, he immediately passed the news to the other two, and then watched Murong Yan walk to the banquet carrying the fine wine.
At this moment, Bai Feng and Su Qingye had secretly left their posts. They sneaked back into the carriage they came in, changed into night clothes, prepared all the tools for kidnapping, and waited for Murong Yan and Zi Chai to return.
The night banquet was just a hundred steps away, with bright lights and loud singing, but inside a carriage parked near the kitchen tent it was pitch black and silent.
They worked hard all day, and finally hid in this small space, waiting for the judgment of fate. Accompanying them is the kindness and friendship in their hearts towards Zhao Xiaomei and Zhao Kuo, and the slight fragrance exuding from their night clothes.
"Can they still come back? It's been so long, won't they be discovered?" Unwilling to be lonely, Su Qing sniffed the night clothes on her body, and started talking in a flurry of words: "This smell, Is it Miss Murong's? The scent on her body is really unique."
Bai Feng replied silently: "Yes, it's the smell of yarrow flowers."
"I'm wearing the clothes worn by the Holy Lady, Brother Bai, you won't hate me, right?"
"What time has it been and you are still saying these things? Why don't I go out and see if they are back?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Feng jumped out of the carriage with the most agile and swift movements. He looked around at a loss. As if suddenly, everyone in the camp a hundred steps away stopped breathing. The surroundings were quiet except for the chef. There was still some movement inside the tent.
"So it's been so long?" Bai Feng thought to himself, "How could an hour in this car pass so quickly?"
He was just thinking, but suddenly, he felt someone sneaking closer to him, and his swordsman's instinct forced him to prepare to draw his sword.
"One step, two steps..." The young swordsman counted silently in his mind, calculated the timing, drew his sword and turned around.
"Ah!" The other party turned out to be none other than the two girls Bai Feng and Su Qing had been waiting for for a long time.
Seeing Bai Feng being so nervous, Murong Yan squealed and said, "Brother Feng, why are you like this? We are really scared!"
"I just want to ask you, why are you hiding next to the car?"
"Anyway, Erniang Tong was just drunk, and she's not asleep yet!" Murong Yan argued, and then said, "I just heard what you said inside...what happened to Miss Murong...what happened to Sister Zichai?" So... I didn’t expect that you would talk about these things in private?"
Zi Chai also responded: "Mr. Bai, we are not doing bad things, why are we so nervous?"
"This, this is a bad thing." Bai Feng was so embarrassed that he immediately urged the two of them to hide in the car and asked Murong Yan to point out the location of Tong Erniang for him and Su Qing.
"Let's wait for another hour! General Tong has made special arrangements tonight, and no one is allowed to disturb her mother-in-law's rest. Brother Feng and Young Master Su, you two can probably go straight in and seize the people. We will rush out of the camp straight away. Go northwest!"
After everyone listened to Murong Yan's words, they all agreed unanimously.
An hour later, Su Qing and Bai Feng both jumped out of the carriage, followed by scattered patrol guards, and went straight to the camp where Tong Erniang was resting. Unexpectedly, everything was as Murong Yan expected. Apart from two oil lamps hanging in the camp, there was not even a single maid.
They tied up Tong Erniang, sealed her eyes and mouth with cloth strips, and wrapped her in a sack. Bai Feng went ahead to explore the way, and Su Qing followed closely with the meat ticket on her back, and soon returned to the carriage to meet Murong Yan and Zi Chai.
They drove the carriage to the northwest of the camp and rampaged all the way. Most of the patrols and guards failed to dodge or turned a blind eye, and left the Western Front military camp without triggering any warning.
This night was supposed to be quiet after a carnival, but unexpectedly, a crazy carriage disrupted everything. After Bai Feng and his four men completely disappeared without a trace, these drunken soldiers suddenly realized that Tong Erniang was missing.
