Jin Renwen was silent and pretended not to hear. When Jin Qinchun saw this, he didn't say much and went straight out of the tent.
——————————————————————————
The military camp of the Ungjin Governor's Mansion.
Outside the tent, people were coming and going. Wang Pu heard the horses neighing, some people were complaining about back pain, and some were asking for beeswax to maintain their bow strings. The entire camp was like a giant beehive, making his head buzz. Like all the recruits in Yaqiandu, Wang Pu was eager to try and excited before going on the expedition. However, as the journey continued, fatigue, worn feet, and sprains gradually caught up with the young men. Everyone became exhausted and lost the ability to start. The final blow to Wang Pu was Feng Han. He fell ill and had to get on the pack animals prepared in advance and move forward with the team.
"Water, is there any water?" Wang Pu felt that he was very thirsty, so he asked the servant on the side. The servant responded, brought a pottery bowl over, and said with a smile: "You are lucky, the military doctor picked a lot of nettle." Ma, make some tea soup, take a few sips!"
Wang Pu thanked him and drank a bowl of nettle tea soup. The servant poured him another bowl. Wang Pu took the pottery bowl and sipped it while holding the warm pottery bowl with his hands to keep warm. At this time, he felt a lot more comfortable and had strength in his feet, so he stood up, wrapped his coat tightly, and walked out of the tent. He soon found his group and found that his companions were gathered around the campfire, so he slowly walked over.
"What's cooking in the pot?" Wang Pu asked.
"Wang Pu, you are cured!" Seeing Wang Pu coming over, his companion stood up in surprise and made room for him: "It's wheat porridge. What's growing on your hair these days is wheat, and there's no big stone mill. It's just wheat porridge." It can be roughly peeled off and cooked into porridge!"
"It's good to have wheat porridge to eat when marching and fighting!" Wang Pu sat down cross-legged. The smell of wheat came from the pot, which made his stomach growl immediately: "It smells like last year's new wheat. really not bad!"
"It's just a bit boring!" Someone laughed: "It would be great if someone could hunt some game, even a rabbit!"
"Rabbit?" Others laughed and said, "Haven't you heard of it? When the army passes through the border, not even a blade of grass will grow. There are tens of thousands of us this time. With so many people passing by, let alone rabbits, even mice are hard to find!"
"In fact, rat meat is also delicious! Especially the voles in autumn. They all grow plump. They are skinned, gutted, washed, skewered with wooden skewers and roasted on the fire until they are brown. That The taste is no worse than rabbit or chicken!" Someone was thinking about it while talking, and saliva could not help but flow from the corner of his mouth.
"Stop talking about this stinky boy. The more you talk about it, the hungrier I get!"
"That's right, we are going to war this time! But you kid only wants to eat and drink! You will definitely do something bad before the battle!"
The boy who said the field mice were delicious was surrounded by a group of companions. His face turned red with anger and he stuttered back: "It sounds like I am the only one who wants to eat it. You guys don't want to eat meat? I didn't say that." It would be great if I could hunt some game! He is clearly the one who wants to do something bad in the middle of battle!"
"Yes, yes, he was the one who just said game!"
Seeing that the conflict suddenly turned to another companion, Wang Pu couldn't help laughing. He picked up a piece of dry wood and knocked on the iron pot: "Stop arguing, let's eat porridge first! We will wait until Pyongyang City is conquered." , after the annihilation of Goguryeo, I will buy a sheep and treat everyone to a feast!"
"well!"
“Mutton is better!”
There was a cheer around the fire. The wheat porridge was ready. Everyone took out their bowls and chopsticks and gathered around the fire to eat. Wang Pu ate a bowl of wheat porridge, sweated all over, and gradually gained strength. I just feel like my original illness is cured.
"Hey, did you smell it? Someone is grilling meat!" The boy who just said that rat meat is no worse than rabbit meat and chicken suddenly asked.
"How can there be barbecue here? Are you thinking too much?" Someone sneered.
"That's right, if you want to eat meat so much, go find it, and the rest of the porridge will be mine!"
In the face of everyone's ridicule, the young man persisted: "I did smell it. If you don't believe it, just smell it carefully!"
Wang Pu saw that his expression was solemn and did not look like he was pretending, so he also smelled it. Sure enough, he also smelled the aroma of barbecue: "Yes, I smell it too, it should be coming from the left!"
"Yes, it's on the left. It smells so good. That's the camp on the left!" Someone said, "It seems like those Mohe boys are over there. Where do they get barbecue to eat!"
"I heard from the archery master that the bow skills of those Mohe boys are very powerful. They were brought from their mother's womb! Could it be that they hit some prey?"
"Nonsense, I don't believe they can shoot arrows right from their mother's womb!" Someone sneered: "Let's go over and see what's going on!"
A group of teenagers stood up and walked to the left following the smell of meat. They walked through a wide street and saw seven or eight bonfires distributed like a checkerboard. Around a dozen teenagers were sitting around each fire. , it is the camp in the left wing of Yaqiandu. However, these teenagers were very alert. Wang Pu and others were still twenty or thirty steps away. The people around the nearest fire had already stood up, each wielding swords, sticks, bows and arrows. The leader shouted in rather blunt Chinese: "What? people?"
"My name is Wang Pu!" Wang Pu stepped forward and responded: "I am the flag leader of the third team in the right wing of Yaqiandu! Are you from the left wing?"
Hearing Wang Pu's answer, the man leading by the fire shouted twice, and the originally tense atmosphere relaxed. He took two steps forward, pressed his chest with his right hand, and knelt down to Wang Pu: "Yes, we He's from the left wing team! I met Shangguan in Lower Acton!"
With the help of the firelight, Wang Pu could clearly see that the young man in front of him had a stocky physique. The middle of his scalp was shaved clean, and the hair on both sides was braided. He was exactly the way a Mohe person would dress. As one of the first local powerful children to take refuge with Wang Wenzuo, Wang Pu was naturally attracted to him. Looking at it from another perspective, while other companions were still serving as soldiers and team leaders, he was already the flag bearer of a team. He pretended to look majestic and asked: "Get up! I was just ordered to patrol the camp and smelled the aroma of meat from your side. This is the land of Silla's allies, and it is surrounded by Silla people. You are stealing Poultry and livestock of local people?"
"No!" Acton was stunned when he heard this, and quickly shook his head: "We did not touch the local people's poultry and livestock!"
"Then what are you roasting on the fire?" Wang Pu's voice became a little more stern.
"It's a white stork! There are also wild pigeons!" Acton replied: "After camping, I took two brothers to the river and shot them! If you don't believe it, you can take a look at the feathers!"
Wang Pu walked to the fire and saw four roasted birds on the fire. It was hard to tell whether they were chickens, ducks or the white storks and wild pigeons he mentioned. However, there were two bundles neatly packed on the ground. The feathers are indeed not found in poultry such as chickens and ducks.
"Why do you keep these feathers?" Wang Pu asked.
"Leave it here and use it as arrow feathers!" Acton said with a smile: "Although there are arrows on it, it's still not as easy to use as the one you made yourself!"
Wang Pu reluctantly glanced at the roasted birds on the bonfire, pretending to be nonchalant: "Since it's not a stolen bird, let's forget it!" He was about to turn around and leave, but was pulled back by Acton. .
"Brother Flaghead, please accept it!" Acton took a roasted white stork from the fire and brought it over.
"What are you doing?" Wang Pu resisted the temptation and put out his hand to refuse: "How can I take the prey you hunted!"
"According to the rules of our Mohe people, if a hunter hits his prey, he must share it with others he meets!" Acton said with a smile: "Since we happened to meet you today, don't refuse!"
"I can't tell, this Mohe barbarian really knows how to talk!" Wang Pu was secretly happy. He reached out to take the roasted white stork and said with a smile: "Okay, Acton from the left wing, I remember it. Today I will I owe you this favor, and next time I shoot a prey, I’ll treat you to a drink too!”
Wang Pu said goodbye to Acton and walked back with the roasted white stork. His companions gathered around and saw the roasted bird in Wang Pu's hand. They were all overjoyed: "Wang Qitou, you are really capable. You can let him go in just a few words." These barbarians took out the meat to eat, right? Where did they get it from?"
"Don't say it in such a bad way!" Wang Pu scolded: "What do you mean when someone hunts with their own skills? They share the prey among us according to their own rules. You all need to repair your mouth." Virtue, I’m not afraid of getting mouth sores after eating it!”
Everyone couldn't help but laugh at Wang Pu's scolding. They returned to their own fires, divided the roasted bird and ate it with porridge, then assigned sentries for the night and did not mention resting.
In the early morning of the next day, as the first horn sounded, the Tang army packed up, prepared breakfast, and set off after eating. Under the guidance of the Silla guide, Wang Wenzuo led the troops to easily cross the Han River on a pontoon bridge, and then headed northwest. Next to Wang Wenzuo, Li Bo held high the banner representing "The King of the Governor's Palace of Xiongjin", with the red border and white background fluttering in the wind.
When the Tang army was discovered, it was already the third day after crossing the Han River. The scouts led by Black Teeth Changzhi discovered someone spying on the top of the mill in the distance, but by the time the cavalry he sent arrived, the mill was already empty. The cavalry continued to pursue, but within a mile they encountered the Goguryeo people. There were about fifty archers, twenty cavalry, and more than a hundred infantry. As soon as the two sides came into contact, the Tang army's scouts retreated. With the abundant horsepower of one man and two horses, they quickly got rid of the pursuit.
"Do you think this enemy should be Goguryeo's regular army?" Wang Wenzuo asked.
"Yes!" Hei Te Changzhi replied: "This group of enemy archers has a surprisingly large number, and they are not the kind of people who are just trying to fill up the numbers. Many of the scouts were injured!"
Wang Wenzuo nodded. In the armies of ancient countries in the cold weapon era, archers were a technical branch and could not be faked. Nine Dou of infantry bows and six Dou of cavalry bows. If you can fire them, you can fire them. If you can't fire them, you can't fire them. , a hit is a hit, a miss is a miss. It's not like the spearmen, who can just pull a group of mud-legged soldiers, each throw a bamboo spear, line up in a row with a supervising team behind them, and place cavalry on both sides to fool them. Such a high proportion of archers is not something that a local powerful tribe can achieve.
"Do you want to wait for the Silla people?" Black Teeth Changzhi asked.
"Just wait a minute!" Wang Wenzuo showed a look of helplessness. It turned out that since crossing the Han River, the Silla people's marching speed had become very slow, and they were almost half a day's journey behind Wang Wenzuo's Tang army. Wang Wenzuo could also guess the intention to some extent, but he also knew that this was not something Jin Renwen could control, so he could only pretend not to know.
"yes!"
"Continue to send more scouts, and send more to the left and right!" Wang Wenzuo said: "This is the territory of the Goguryeo people, so be more careful!"
"As you command!"
Wang Wenzuo's caution was not unnecessary. In the evening of that day, a short encounter broke out between the Tang Army's scouts and the Goguryeo cavalry near a small forest about fifteen miles east of the Tang Army's camp. The battle ended after dark. , both sides had to withdraw from the battlefield with bloodthirsty fury, leaving only corpses and wounded on the ground. Crows croaked with joy in the woods, and piercing howls of wolves were heard in the distance, preparing for the feast that was about to begin. Publish notice.
————————————————————————————————
"Please forgive me!" Jin Renwen patted Wang Wenzuo's shoulder apologetically: "My people walked too slowly!"
"It's not your fault!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "The Silla people probably think they are fighting a war that has nothing to do with them. No one can make such soldiers speed up!"
"Yes!" Jin Renwen sighed: "I've said it several times, but it's no use!"
"In the army, if you speak with your mouth and no one listens, then you can only speak with a knife!" Wang Wenzuo smiled and poured a glass of wine for Jin Renwen: "But this time our South Route Army is only serving as a diversion, and the main attack It's the British Duke's northern route. As long as we can contain the 40,000 to 50,000 Goguryeo people, the British Duke will take care of it!"
"That's true!" Jin Renwen said with a smile: "So you are very confident in the British father-in-law?"
"Well, with the Thunderbolt Chariot, it is not difficult to capture most of the mountain cities that the Goguryeo people are proud of!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Without the mountain cities, the Goguryeo people are just turtles without their shells. If the British Company was like this If he can’t deal with it, all his decades of fighting will be in vain!”
"A turtle that has shed its shell?" Jin Renwen laughed: "Sanlang, Sanlang, your mouth is too vicious, isn't it?"
"Evil? I think it's just right!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Obviously occupying thousands of miles of fertile land in Liaodong, but building the city on the top of the mountain, isn't this a turtle?"
"This is your fault!" Jin Renwen shook his head: "Although the land in Liaodong is flat, most of it is swamp. When it rains, floods will occur. It is not a suitable place for founding a country!"
"To put it this way, Hebei, Jianghuai, and Jiangnan in the Tang Dynasty were originally flooded swamps. It was only after many years of cultivating ponds that the swamps were drained and turned into fertile fields! It has been hundreds of years since Goguryeo was founded, right? But for hundreds of years, he has been hiding on the hilltops, not building water conservancy projects or cultivating fields, but spending his people's energy on hundreds of mountain cities. What's the use? If they spend their energy building mountain cities on water conservancy fields, Nowadays, the household registration in Liaodong can be doubled at least twice. Even if you can't reach the Central Plains and become the emperor, it won't be difficult to swallow up all the Japanese countries of Silla and Baekje, right?"
Someone got the answer right in last night's question forum.
Yes, the five-character poem is an anti-poem by Xie Lingyun criticizing Liu Song, but that is not why the poem is used here. It was because Yuan Shanjian, the last emperor of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, resented the domineering general Gao Cheng, so he recited this poem to express his determination and courage that he would rather subjugate his country than accept being manipulated by a villain as a puppet.
Last but not least, please subscribe, reward, and vote
(End of chapter)
