Zhou Ziru was overjoyed when he saw a caravan full of grain and grass being pulled into the city: "Is it really grain and grass? Did it come from the capital?"
"Back to Prime Minister, no. This is the food and grass for the Xigui Army. When we left the city, we saw a group of soldiers escorting the food and grass. We stepped forward to snatch it and shot most of them to death. The rest fled. In the dark, the general did not dare to pursue. , and escorted the grain and grass back!" Liang Ying replied.
Zhou Ziru frowned when he heard this: "Who? The food and grass for the Xigui Army?"
"Exactly...yes." Liang Ying saw Zhou Ziru frowning and realized something was wrong.
"How could the Xigui Army's food and grass appear in Rongcheng? King Xigui is currently in Bincheng, south of Rongcheng, and the Xigui Domain is even south of Bincheng. How could there be Xigui Army's food and grass in Rongcheng?" Zhou Ziru ask a question.
"This..." Liang Ying originally sensed that something was wrong with the situation, but she never figured out what went wrong. Now that Zhou Ziru said it, Liang Ying also reacted.
While the two were talking, the quartermaster had already rushed over with his people: "Prime Minister Zhou, I heard that the food and grass have arrived, and I'm here to get it!"
Zhou Ziru stretched out his hand to stop him: "No, we can't take this food!"
"Ah?" Everyone was surprised.
"Why can't we take this good food?"
"I haven't eaten all day. Doesn't Prime Minister Zhou want to use it himself first?"
"Keep your voice down, don't be heard!"
The surrounding soldiers were talking a lot. Although they lowered their voices, Zhou Ziru still heard it.
The quartermaster hesitated for a while, then took a few steps forward, leaned closer and said softly: "President Zhou, the most important thing is food and grass when marching and fighting. Besides, our army has been without food for a day. What if..."
"I said it can't be used, it means it can't be used!" Zhou Ziru raised his voice, and the quartermaster did not dare to speak anymore and silently stepped aside.
"Seal up the food and grass! Those who act rashly will be dealt with according to the military law! General Liang, take your troops out of the city again and check the corpses to see if they are from the Xigui Army. It is best to bring two more corpses back." Zhou Ziru turned and left, throwing He said a word.
The quartermaster looked at the grain and grass eagerly, and then asked Liang Ying: "General Liang, what's going on?"
Liang Ying replied: "Prime Minister Zhou is afraid that there is a problem with the grain and grass. Since Prime Minister Zhou said that it cannot be used, brothers, please hold on for a few more days." After saying that, he led his soldiers and horses to transport the grain and grass to an empty warehouse and sealed it up. , arrange for someone to guard it. Afterwards, he led his people out of the city again, went to the place where they robbed food and grass, and collected the corpses.
Everyone was overjoyed, but everyone was immediately discouraged and had to go back to camp.
Early the next morning, Zhou Ziru woke up early and heard the noise outside the government office.
"What happened? Someone come!"
The guard outside the door came in in response: "What do you want from Prime Minister Zhou?"
"It's so noisy and you don't want to inquire? What happened?" Zhou Ziru asked, pointing to the outside of the government office.
The guard looked troubled and stood by the door without moving.
Zhou Ziru stared at him and asked, "Tell me, what happened!?"
Seeing Zhou Ziru pressuring him, the guard did not dare to hide anything anymore, so he could only reply: "Go back to Prime Minister Zhou, outside the house... there are some brothers from the Yulin Army who want to see Prime Minister Zhou."
After Zhou Ziru got dressed, he saw the table was empty and knew that the food and grass were indeed running out. He suddenly understood in his heart: "I'll go take a look."
As soon as Zhou Ziru arrived outside the government office, someone had already seen him: "Stop making noises, Prime Minister Zhou is coming out!" The noise suddenly subsided. It seemed that the Yulin army was still in awe of Zhou Ziru.
"What? Are you here for food and grass matters?" Zhou Ziru asked the crowd loudly.
Everyone was pushing and shoving, and finally a brave man was pushed out. Seeing Prime Minister Zhou asking, this man was indeed brave and replied: "Prime Minister Zhou, I heard last night that the food and grass had been escorted. Why haven't you been here until today?" Not distributed? We didn’t come to serve as soldiers to starve!"
Well-founded and confident.
Zhou Ziru said: "The origin of this batch of grain and grass is unknown! If something goes wrong, who will be responsible?"
Everyone didn't know what Zhou Ziru's "unknown origin" meant. Zhou Ziru didn't bother to explain to them, and shouted loudly: "Where is General Liang? Call him to see me quickly!"
After a while, Liang Ying jogged all the way to the government office: "Prime Minister Zhou."
Zhou Ziru nodded and asked: "Well, General Liang, I ordered you to go out of the city to check for corpses last night. How was the situation? Did you bring back some corpses?"
Liang Ying replied: "Prime Minister Zhou, the general is about to report this matter to you. Last night, the general left the city for the second time and rushed to the place to rob food and grass, but all the corpses in that place were missing! The general sent people to look around. None have been found!”
"Were they taken back by the Xigui Army?" Zhou Ziru asked.
Liang Ying shook his head: "The number of escapees is not large, and it is impossible to collect so many corpses in such a short period of time. Maybe there is an ambush hidden in the dark, or the Xigui Army sends people to respond again."
"Prime Minister Zhou! It's empty talk. We have been hungry all day. If this food and grass are not given to us, how will we fight when the Xigui army comes?" The bold Yulin army shouted loudly.
"Yes, yes!"
"Yes, Prime Minister Zhou, if I'm hungry for two more days, I won't even be able to lift a knife!"
"Prime Minister Zhou, please have mercy on us!"
This person's stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the rest of the people quickly followed suit. In the distance, there were people who saw the commotion here and rushed here.
The crowd gathered more and more, and moved closer and closer. Zhou Ziru was oppressed and involuntarily took a step back.
“Swish swish swish!”
A group of young men descended from the sky, they were the people of Chen Congwei. Landing on the eaves and among the tree crowns, ten people arrived to surround these Yulin legions. Qingtian and Jiahai stopped in front of Zhou Ziru, and their two iron spears shook the ground, causing everyone to retreat slightly.
Seeing this situation, Zhou Ziru knew that he could no longer restrain himself. He sighed quietly and said: "I also know that you are working hard, and it is not my original intention to do this. In this way, the food and grass can be taken, but they need to be eaten in batches. Morning and afternoon In the evening, the food is divided among the front, middle and rear armies. Firstly, it saves food and grass, and secondly, if there is really a problem with the food and grass, it is also a guarantee."
When everyone heard that Zhou Ziru finally agreed, they couldn't help but be happy: "Thank you, Prime Minister Zhou! Thank you, Prime Minister Zhou!"
"This early morning has passed. Isn't it our turn for the Chinese Army to have dinner? Hahahaha!"
"Why is it that early morning has passed? The sun hasn't risen yet! It's too late to light a fire and make food!"
"Oh, it's a pity that our rear army has to be hungry for another day. I have to have a good meal at night!"
Everyone cheered and left in front of the government office, and hurriedly went to find the Huotou Army in their respective military camps.
Qingtian took a sip and said, "Sigh! What a bunch of ruffians! If Prime Minister Zhou had just ordered me to stab two of them to death, let's see if they still dare to do this!"
Zhou Ziru sighed again and said: "Well, food is the most important thing for the people, so why not for the soldiers? The court food and grass have not arrived yet, so it is not an option to keep delaying it like this. You have been hungry all day, so take turns to go get something to eat. .”
Hearing this, Qingtian burst into laughter: "Hahaha, Prime Minister Zhou, we martial arts practitioners, let alone one day, just ten or eight days without food, so what?"
Jiahai rolled his eyes at him: "You're bragging rather than taking me with you."
In the end, none of Chen Congwei moved. For no other reason than Zhou Ziru refused to eat.
The sun rises slowly and reaches midday.
In the distance, the quartermaster galloped on his horse, galloping all the way to the gate of the government office. Regardless of the guards' obstruction, he ran straight in: "Prime Minister Zhou, it's bad, something happened!"
Zhou Ziru was sitting in the government office drinking tea to satisfy his hunger. When he heard the quartermaster calling, he quickly went out: "What happened? Tell me quickly!"
"Reporting to the Prime Minister, the army officers and soldiers ate those grains and fell to the ground one by one. Many people died immediately and vomited black blood. They were already dead!" The quartermaster was sweating profusely.
"What!" Zhou Ziru was shocked and rushed outside the government office: "Take me to see it quickly!"
Zhou Ziru ran out of the government office. Soldiers had already prepared horses for Zhou Ziru. Zhou Ziru ran a little hastily, coughing violently, and followed the quartermaster to the camp in the city. Ten people from Chen Congwei heard the wind, took up their Qinggong, and followed closely.
Arriving at the camp, as soon as he entered the camp gate, a fishy smell hit his face. Zhou Ziru couldn't help but cover his mouth and nose and stepped forward to check.
I saw countless Habayashi soldiers lying around in the camp, and countless weapons racks, horses, fences, etc. were overturned and knocked down. Some people are still vomiting black blood at the mouth and struggling hard, while some people have stopped breathing, their eyes are wide-eyed, and their faces are in pain.
"Did all these people eat that batch of grain and grass?" Zhou Ziru grabbed the quartermaster and asked.
"Exactly," replied the Quartermaster.
The Chen Congwei arrived shortly after and were shocked when they entered the camp. Even the well-informed Chen Congwei had never seen such a miserable situation several times.
Zhai Xing stepped forward, covered his mouth and nose, took a closer look, and said, "Zhou Xiang is indeed poisoned. The poison is very strong. It should be a poison from Xigui." Everyone knows that there are only poisons in the world. Xigui is the most intense.
Zhou Ziru was horrified when he saw it, and ordered: "Quickly, leave the dead soldiers alone for the time being. For those who are still alive, arrange to induce vomiting and boil herbal medicine as soon as possible to save one by one. Then send someone... Forget it, Zangyun, please trouble you. Take a walk and check the movements of the Xigui Army. If there is anything unusual, don’t act rashly and come back quickly to report!”
"Qingtian Jiahai, you two lead three thousand troops and go out of the city to find out if there is an ambush in the direction of Yucheng! You must check carefully. If necessary, we will abandon the city and leave!"
"The rest of you, organize your troops and horses, and collect the vacant houses and food in the city. Remember, don't plunder!"
After some arrangements were made, everyone split up, but Zhou Ziru still felt uneasy and paced back and forth.
Everyone acted separately, and Shan Shan hesitated and said: "Prime Minister Zhou, do you want to send someone to send an order to Duke Wu Ding and ask him to lead troops to come for reinforcements?" Zhong Chen was in the guard, so Shan Shan was close to Yi Xiaodao, and the others also knew it. The situation was critical at this time, but no one dared to propose it.
Zhou Ziru slowly shook his head: "He will not come, and he will not even go back to the capital. How can the dragon be willing to enter the cage again if it escapes from the trap?"
A person is gliding from the sky, just like the hidden clouds that have gone and come back.
Nafeng was shocked and said: "Zangyun, I knew you were fast, but I didn't expect you to be so fast? It takes half a day to go back and forth to Bincheng!"
After Zang Yun landed, he didn't bother to respond to Na Feng, and rushed to Zhou Ziru: "Prime Minister Zhou, the troops of the Xigui Army have arrived more than thirty miles outside the south gate of Rongcheng!"
"How many troops and horses?"
"As far as the eye can see..."
