On a cold autumn night, outside the vast Great Wall, among the golden horses surrounded by the smell of blood, Zhou Xu hid a snow-colored pearl in the brocade quilt.
Although there was no light, Zhou Xu still saw the wet tears in his wife's starry eyes, which looked pitiful.
What a pitiful madam, she was met by someone like him. Zhou Xu kissed the tears from the corner of his madam's eyes and felt a twisted sense of pleasure.
Xiao Luolan finally got a chance to breathe, her eyebrows furrowed, and she vaguely found the reason for the man's abnormality this time.
"Ma'am, do you want to go home?"
Xiao Luolan was frightened and turned her head. The man's rough hand touched her face, and then there was a low laughter in her ears: "Madam kept saying the word "go home" in her dream.
At some point, the sky was getting slightly brighter.
Xiao Luolan looked at Sect Master Zhou and shrank back, feeling weak and weak all over.
Zhou Xu narrowed his narrow eyes, held his wife's hand and asked her to return to him. He stroked his wife's reddish jade face with tear stains with his hand, and said warmly: "When this war is over, I will find time to talk to you." Madam, let’s go back to Qinghe together and let you go home, okay?”
This person knew that her current home was fake, so why did he say this? Was he telling her that she could only have one home? Xiao Luolan couldn't guess what Sect Master Zhou was thinking and was a little uneasy. She looked along his hand and felt that the current scene was not much better than the last one in the dream, and even made her palpitate more.
Seeing the way Master Zhou looked at her belly obsessively, Xiao Luolan was ashamed and scared, her face flushed with shame. She took away Master Zhou's hand on her clothes, but she didn't expect that it would be easy for him to let go this time.
Zhou Xu hugged his wife and said, "It's still early. Madam continues to sleep. There is no need to rush to march today."
Xiao Luolan's face burned even more after hearing this. This man could really make her hate him until he was not a good person.
The water in the copper basin in the house was cold, and Zhou Xu wanted someone to bring some hot water.
Xiao Luolan held him back: "I'll do it myself, don't ask anyone to send it away." Xiao Luolan always felt a little embarrassed and ashamed when letting others know about this kind of thing.
Zhou Xu looked around and felt that his tent was a little simpler. He had wronged his wife. He held the copper basin and asked her to sit down: "I'll ask Dongxue to bring a stove later. If you have anything else you need, feel free to ask." Talk to Dongxue."
Xiao Luolan looked at Sect Leader Zhou who was doing this very seriously, and her eyelashes trembled slightly.
After waiting, Zhou Xu kissed his wife's hand.
Xiao Luolan looked down at him.
The man sat on the footrest, narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Madam is so beautiful."
After Sect Leader Zhou left, Xiao Luolan realized that her hands were tightly clenching the blanket on the bed, and the tips of her ears felt a little warm.
She looked at the only bronze mirror in the tent.
The woman in the mirror still retains her charm, her eyebrows exude a mature color, her eyes are full of spring color, and her cheeks are as flushed as flowers.
One look and you'll be addicted.
Chapter 69
As the sun gradually rose, the cooks in Xuanjia camp began to make pots of rice.
One cow can feed fifty people. They, together with the Tuoba Tiele tribe and the Xuanjia battalion cavalry plus the logistics personnel, have a total of about five thousand, which means that at least one hundred cows must be slaughtered for one meal. Livestock, blood and water are flowing into rivers. The firemen put firewood on the big pot, and the water in the pot is simmering. After washing the meat, put it directly into the pot to cook, and then tear the dry cakes. I carefully took some coarse salt and put it into the large pot, then threw some vinegar cloth in and continued to cook the meat soup.
Smelling the aroma of the meat, all the cavalrymen around looked at the cauldron, their eyes shining brightly. When they were moving at high speed a few days ago, they all drank mare's and goat's milk and ate the hard dried meat or dry biscuits they carried with them. Yesterday, they all A small branch of the Pugu tribe was captured, and they were treated to a warm meal.
In the distance, the rotating cavalry were inspecting the camp, and the rest were resting in place. However, none of the resting cavalry took off their armor. They were divided into camps and were not allowed to move around without special reasons.
When it was time to eat, there were ten people per pot, and the meat soup in the pot exuded a wonderful flavor due to the addition of salt. The cavalry had a large appetite, there was less meat in the pot, and the dry biscuits had a lot of soaked batter, but even so, The oily, salty and meaty meat soup still made the cavalry snort and eat like crazy.
One of the cavalrymen wiped the broth in the bowl with soaked dry biscuits. He was not willing to waste any of it. He was as strong as a bear and he ate the most ferociously. While eating, the Youzhou knife was always placed on his right hand. , occasionally looking up and looking around like other people. This is the basic vigilance of a keen cavalry in the grassland.
"Eat slowly, you don't have to worry about your stomach being full." A cavalry captain who was selected from Youzhou after many rounds of selection looked at the man's eating appearance and patted his stomach with the back of his knife: "I'll ride on horseback later. It will be enough for you to feel comfortable."
The man wiped his mouth and felt that his stomach was half full of food. The urgency disappeared a little. After hearing the officer's words, he stuffed the last bite of food into his mouth and grinned. The scar on his face twisted like a centipede. Look. The words are quite frightening: "It's better to be exhausted than to be a starving ghost. Besides, I haven't eaten enough yet."
The cavalry captain recalled the new cavalryman in the team and called out his name: "Hu Dali."
When the man heard his name, he nodded and said, "It's me."
After Hu Dali waited for the captain to leave, he felt that it was really uncomfortable to have nothing in his mouth, so he pulled a piece of grass from the ground and ate it. He had a big appetite when he was a child, but there were too many children in the family and his parents could not feed him, so they threw him away. Then he mingled with a group of beggars and refugees, and often had nothing to eat. He was really frightened of hunger. He didn’t even have a good meal before entering Xuanjia Camp. After arriving at Xuanjia Camp, his maximum daily A person’s wish is to be full, or mostly full, and he can do anything for that. People who have never been hungry don’t know the kind of hunger that scratches the heart and lungs and wants to eat everything. It can make a person become A beast without humanity.
"Hu Dali, come here."
When he heard the officer calling him, Hu Dali walked over with the Youzhou Sword and found that it was where the prisoners of the Pugu tribe were being held. He scratched his head: "Captain, are you going to behead them?" He was best at beheading.
"No." The cavalry captain asked the fireman to bring two bowls of meat soup: "Can you still eat it?"
Hu Dali looked at the food, his eyes lit up instantly, and he nodded hurriedly: "You can eat it, you can eat it, but I'm not full yet."
"Just eat here."
"Thank you, captain." Hu Dali replied loudly and gruffly. He wished that the captain who gave him this task could be treated like his own parents. Anyone who can make him eat well is a good person!
Hu Dali sat cross-legged on the ground, opposite the Pugu prisoner, and began to eat with a sigh of relief. The food was extremely delicious.
The aroma of the cook cooking rice has long reached the noses of these Pugu people. Now looking at the majestic black bear-like cavalry eating in front of them, the Pugu people swallowed crazily. Because of their escape, they calculated carefully. When they came down, they had not eaten well all night and day. Their eyes were almost green when they watched the cavalryman eating.
There is salt in the meat soup. Youzhou has very strict control over salt and iron, especially for foreigners. When they go to Guchang City to exchange salt, they often pay three or four times more than the people in Youzhou. It is not necessarily available for purchase, which also makes the salt on the grassland more precious and scarcer than that in the Central Plains.
The old leader Mao Ying looked at the agitated tribesmen and did not dare to scold him. There was a long whip mark on his face, and the lower half of his face was covered with blood. Not long ago, when these Youzhou cavalry were setting up a pot to make rice. , he was whipped by the Tiele people who were guarding them, just because he asked the tribesmen to be quiet and not to mess up.
Maoying looked at all this gloomily.
Then he used the cover of his son to look at the place where the ancient branch of Gulunwu was imprisoned. He remembered that the tribe of the ancient branch of Gulunwu had about a thousand people, but now he roughly counted it and found that there were only three hundred, and Gulunwu The ancient women and children were all gone... The old leader's heart became heavier and heavier, and he had an ominous premonition.
Hu Dali was eating so well that he knew that the prisoners did not have the guts to snatch his food. Firstly, they were not that hungry. Secondly, the Tiele people were paying close attention. Thirdly, Hu Dali touched his own private parts. Zhou Dao, he is not a vegetarian.
He suddenly remembered something and took out a piece of dry biscuit from his arms. He wanted to tear it into strips and soak it in the meat soup so that he would be fuller. Unexpectedly, he took out an extra piece of dry biscuit hidden in his arms. , fell to the ground, and rolled several times.
Hu Dali looked at where the dry biscuit fell and was about to pick it up when a big hand picked it up.
The visitor patted the grass clippings off the dry biscuit and threw the dry biscuit to him.
It wasn't until the cavalry next to him knelt down that Hu Dali slowly knelt down as well, his face red with excitement.
It’s the general who is crusading against foreigners this time, the Jiedu Envoy of Youzhou!
Zhou Xu looked at the prisoners and saw that they were restless and restless, and looked at the women and children.
Cui Shizi coughed, with no emotion on his face. Zhou Xuan and Zhou Lingzhi stood beside him.
"Separate them." Zhou Xu said.
"Wei!" Hu Dali suddenly jumped up and shouted loudly. After casually drinking the meat soup, he quickly joined the team that dispersed the prisoners. Before long, the women and children were separated from the others.
The tribesmen gathered around the old leader. The old leader Mao Ying saluted the northern overlord in the Central Plains dialect and made a long salute: "Dear Lord Jiedushi, my name is Mao Ying, and I am a branch of the Mao Ri branch of the Pugu tribe. a leader."
Zhou Xu ignored him, and Zhou Lingzhi asked the women to identify who in the crowd was their family member.
About a hundred Pugu people with families were separated.
Zhou Xu returned to a military tent. Inside the tent, the leader of Gulunwugu was tied to a chair. There were several other minor leaders of Gulunwugu beside him, with dirty cloth stuffed in their mouths.
Zhou Xu sat at the head of the military tent, listening to the interrogation of Li Xun who led the Xuanjia Battalion. Zhou Xuan, Zhou Lingzhi and General Shi also participated.
Li Xun was a warrior, so he didn't have so many bells and whistles. He only asked these Pugu people important questions. They had already learned from Gu Lun Wu Gu that many tribes' khans had become brothers of the opposite sex. Now they wanted to confirm whether there were any. Which ones should be compared with the information given by Gu Lunwu Gu and try not to make any mistakes.
"Which tribes do you Pugu have an alliance with? Don't lie, Gulunwugu and they have already told me. Now is the time to give your family a chance to survive. If your answer is the same as what Gulunwugu gave us, then you family can survive.”
Tuoba Agu and Tuoba Amu were also sitting on one side. When they met someone who couldn't speak the original language, they would translate it to General Li Xun. Cui Shizi took a sip of tea. This was already the thirty-second person they were interrogating. Eight of them were dishonest and have been killed.
Hubul entered the tent with trembling legs and heard a general ask this. Then he looked at the captured young leader of Gu Lunwu, who looked struggling and had cold sweat on his forehead.
"You only have one chance." Li Xun said coldly.
"Yes, there are Gu Lun Wu Gu and Hun." Hubul closed his eyes and cried quickly and said quickly: "Si Jie, and Abu Si."
"Where's Ba Yegu?" Li Xun asked.
Hubul was shocked. Seeing that the people of Youzhou knew so much about this alliance, they no longer dared to hide it: "Although the great Khan of Beyegu was returning to Yicheng at that time, he did not swore a sworn alliance. The five great khans of the grassland who sworn sworn sworn Those are the five I mentioned above, and I followed the leader and saw them."
Li Xun looked at the information and continued to ask, as others said: "Is there anyone in the Turks who is worshiping?"
Hubul shook his head: "No, but, but King Huiyi's newly married concubine seems to be from that side."
"How many troops have you gathered?"
Hubul shook his head violently, fearing that he would be killed if he didn't answer well: "I really don't know this, General! Please look into it!"
The people in the room looked at Lord Jiedushi.
Zhou Xu turned the black whip and then waved his hand.
Immediately some cavalry dragged Hubul down. Hubul yelled wildly and found that the cavalry pushed him to an open space, where his family and his tribe were scattered, more than thirty people.
Huber knew that as a traitor, he could not return to his tribe. They had no way to survive in the grassland.
"Master Jiedu is kind and gives you a chance to go to Gu Chang." Hu Dali bit the dry biscuit and said vaguely: "You all just wait here."
Hubul didn't dare to face the tribesmen in the distance. The glimmer of hope that Master Jieduzhi said was really just a glimmer of hope. They had no horses and nothing. How difficult it must be to return to the ancient Chang City, but no matter how difficult it is, It's better than being beheaded now.
He was a despicable villain. Hubul sat on the ground and cried bitterly.
After all the Pugu people were interrogated, Zhou Lingzhi merged the people from the two tribes together for easier supervision.
Zhou Xu took a thin page of paper and looked at the information on it. After reading it for a while, he said to Li Xun: "Give them one meal every day."
"When we return to Yicheng, let them be used as human shields and clear the thorns in front of us."
"Wei!" Everyone responded with clasped fists.
Chapter 70
Xiao Luolan sat on the carriage and looked at the prisoners in the distance. The distance was too far and it was a bit unclear. However, he could still see them fighting for food. The Tiele people who were responsible for guarding them stared at the sheep like wolves. The prisoners were not allowed to cross the line at all, and if the noise was too serious, they would be whipped a few times. The other cavalrymen began to pack their things, and it was obvious that they were on their way again.
Xiao Luolan looked at it for a while and then lowered his head. This was a small hospital. The medicine cabinets were nailed to the carriage. Rows of wooden boxes were filled with medicines. Doctor Li was sitting there. Opposite her, she read a medical book. The mulberry white leather thread had been steamed with hot water until it was smooth. Xiao Luolan threaded the mulberry white leather thread into a large curved needle. There was an irregular piece of sheepskin about the size of an arm on the table, which felt smooth to the touch. It was greasy, with the unique fishy smell of livestock and a faint smell of blood, and a large gash was made on the sheepskin with a knife.
Xiao Luolan sewed up the wound with a needle, but the stitches were not very nice. Xiao Luolan felt the slightly crooked sutures, took them out and sewed them up again, then applied Shihuishan or Jinshen medicine to stop the bleeding, and used The gauze bandage is completed.
Li Fan smiled and said, "Madam, your sewing is very good."
Xiao Luolan was a little shy when she heard Doctor Li's compliments and didn't take it seriously. She knew what she was doing. When she got to the battlefield, her hands would still be shaking. Now she was just practicing in advance.
"You are here this morning, do you want to take a rest?" Li Fan said. The mistress came here in the morning and did not go back after lunch. Although she became more and more beautiful, she had a hint of tiredness, so she guessed it. Some.
Xiao Luolan saw that Dr. Li looked calm and unconcerned. Thinking of her identity as a doctor and having been honest with her several times, Xiao Luolan felt a sense of intimacy in her heart. She smiled softly and said, "Then I'll sleep here for a while."
Li Fan also had a smile on his face. The middle-aged female doctor with a high crown held a medical book in her hand. She stood up and took out a soft cushion and two blankets, one thin and one thick, from the carriage.
