Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3533: More Considerate

The sky gradually brightened, but for the soldiers of Danshui County, it did not necessarily mean hope.

The amount of early morning prostate has decreased.

Originally, Cao's soldiers did not eat much. In the morning, they had one pancake and a bowl of soup, and in the evening, they had two pancakes.

As for the food allowance originally stipulated by the Han Dynasty for soldiers, whether the monthly food allowance of 1.2 dan was the full quota, the soldiers did not understand and did not dare to ask.

There is a huge difference between the two liang of pancake, is it the two liang mixed with water or the two liang of original ingredients? However, it is marked as two liang.

On the city wall, Cao's soldiers stood weakly, holding swords and spears.

The pancakes shrank and the soup became thinner.

I couldn't bear to pee after eating!

I'm afraid that after I finish peeing, I'll be hungry...

Looking north from the top of Danshui County, towering mountain peaks stand one after another, all higher than Danshui County. They seem to be endless giants, pressing down one after another, about to crush Danshui County.

There are no special battlement walls or four-cornered towers in Danshui County, only old-style city gate towers, battlements on the city walls, and some beacon towers serving as sentry towers.

Niu Jin led the guards on a patrol, pointed out several problems of negligence on duty, urged his men to fix these problems, and then returned to the city gate.

In the open space inside the city, about two hundred Cao's soldiers began to line up.

Soon, the queue was formed.

Niu Jin looked at the teams, was silent for a moment, then waved his hand, "Tell the four team leaders that whoever brings the most prey will be promoted!"

The guard responded and turned to go down the city wall to pass on the message.

We again requested Xiangyang to resend food and fodder. It would take about five to eight days from the time the request was sent to the time the food and fodder was finally delivered.

The biggest problem now is that if we want to survive for five to eight days, we must have some reputation...

So Niu Jin sent out four teams, each with fifty people, to drive these people out of the city in the name of hunting.

Niu Jin is not an expert in internal affairs, so he can't think of any good solutions.

Not to mention food, once you eat it, you eat it, and once you use it, you use it. Even if Niu Jin has the ability to move food from his left pocket to his right pocket, it is impossible to turn his excrement into food again...

Niu Jin believed the promise of promotion based on the amount of hunting he did, regardless of whether the team leaders believed it or not.

…

…

In the upper reaches of the Dan River, the lights were bright in Liao Hua’s army.

Liao Hua had already led his troops out of Wuguan and was setting up camp on the mountain road when Cao's soldiers suddenly came to surrender, which surprised Liao Hua, so he went to the camp that night.

Several military trainees under Liao Hua entered the big tent and saw a surrendered soldier from Cao's army standing by the tent. He looked exhausted and timid, standing nervously on the side, his head and body covered with dust, as if he had just been dug out of the ground.

The surrendered soldiers of Cao's army did not carry any weapons and did not hide their tracks at all. They actually went up the mountain road directly to look for the cavalry scouts. They were then held down by the cavalry scouts and brought here.

Seeing that all the military academies had arrived, Liao Hua waved his hand and said, "Say it again. Everyone has listened carefully!"

There has always been a habit of military discussions in the Cavalry Army.

Although this will lead to a slight decrease in efficiency, it also prevents military commanders from being arbitrary and gives low-level military academies room and opportunities for development. It is also because of this system that when facing a battle, everyone from generals to military academies knows what they need to do and how to do it, and they have enough initiative when facing a battle.

There are disadvantages, too. Once people start to blame each other, or even blame each other, it is easy to fall into a vicious cycle, and in the end, nothing can be discussed, there is no final result, and a lot of time is wasted.

Everything has its pros and cons. Anyone who only focuses on a single pros and cons and discusses the overall situation is a hooligan.

Therefore, Liao Hua followed the custom of the Cavalry Army and summoned his military academies to attend the class together.

The surrendered soldier of Cao's army responded, then stood below, lowered his head slightly, and told the story one by one.

Although there are some hiccups in the narration, I can still explain the origin of the matter in general...

"... I followed the order of General Niu... er, Niu that thing, to go out of the city to hunt... My team leader thought that we finally crawled out of the pile of dead bodies, not only do we have no food to feed, but we also have no money to earn. Now we can't even get food, and we have to hunt for it ourselves... Now Danshui has sent out four or five teams to hunt, and there are only more than half of the soldiers left in the city, and there is no food to eat. They must not be living in peace... I don't ask for anything, I just don't want to continue hunting, as long as I can have a safe meal..."

Liao Hua asked some more details, and the surrendered soldier answered them all. Those who knew said they knew, and those who didn't know said they didn't know. After they finished speaking, they looked at Liao Hua eagerly.

Liao Hua smiled and said, "Okay, let's go down first..."

After a pause, he said, "Let's go to the back camp first and have a good meal and rest for a while."

The surrendered soldier couldn't help but grin, bowed to Liao Hua again, and then went down.

After the surrendered soldier left, Liao Hua asked the military academy, "What do you think about this matter?"

"Could it be a false surrender?" A military school student immediately said, "Cao's army has been stationed at Wuguan Road for more than a day or two, how could they be out of food? This reason... doesn't sound very reliable..."

"But if not, then this is an opportunity... No matter what, it is definitely a good thing to be able to get the elixir at a lower cost..."

"Wait, I just heard that this surrendered soldier said that he was a squad... so can we send someone to check it out right away? It's easy to make up a lie about one person, but it's hard to make up a lie about a squad!"

"Yes! But could it be a trap, meant to lure our team in?"

"Huh? That makes sense..."

All military academies expressed their views and commented on the current emergency situation.

Liao Hua listened and nodded slightly. He didn't say anything immediately. Instead, he waited until everyone had said almost everything before thinking and slowly saying, "The cavalry ordered us to march into Jingzhou. Danshui must be taken down first... Originally, I thought of hiding during the day and attacking Danshui by surprise, but now the situation has changed... If we ignore the surrendered soldiers, our strategy of hiding during the day and attacking at night will be exposed... If we do what the surrendered soldiers say, there is a risk of truth or falsehood... So the most important issue now is to find out whether what the surrendered soldiers said is true or false! I just asked someone to take the surrendered soldiers to the rear camp and feed them... Whether it is true or false, we can see the clues... But this is also one of the points of judgment... Military School Li said it well just now, it is easy to make up a lie for one person, but it is difficult to make up a lie for a group of people! If the surrendered soldiers are still sincere, then the next step..."

Liao Hua looked around and said, "I think it might be better to do this or that..."

…

…

The cold wind howled in the mountains.

The breath of spring does not seem to bring much warmth to the mountains and rivers in this area.

The world is ruthless. No matter whose ambitions are, they seem unable to change the flowing mountains and rivers and the rugged rocks here.

The temperature dropped at night, and the feeling of hunger became more torturous. I tossed and turned but couldn't fall asleep. I didn't dare move too much because the only heat I had would be dissipated if I moved too much, and my hands and feet would become colder.

Pain, hunger, cold.

When these pains are intertwined, it becomes particularly difficult to endure at night.

"Will they...come?"

"Will you come?"

"Shut up and go to sleep!"

"…"

The sound stopped for a while, then rose again faintly in the darkness.

"I'm hungry... I can't sleep..."

"We're all hungry..."

"Me too……"

"And me..."

Then there was silence again.

After a while, someone else said, "Back then, I joined the army just to earn a few buns... but now I can't even afford to eat buns... why is this happening..."

yes.

The greater wish is for peace in the world, but we find that the world is becoming less and less peaceful.

The smaller hope was to fill my stomach, but I found that I was getting less and less full...

All this is the soldiers' own problem, right?

"Ah...what's that smell?"

"What do you smell... ah, I smell it too! It smells so good!"

Hunger will amplify the efficiency of all human organs that explore food, so these Cao army soldiers who were at a disadvantage could smell the faint aroma of food wafting in the distance!

This flavor of oil and carbohydrates may have been born since the Spring and Autumn Period, and then extended northward to the desert, forming oil cakes and naan, and in Guanzhong, it formed a certain Guanjiamo that has been passed down for thousands of years, but later became a tool for a small group of people to make money...

These guys who are unscrupulous in making money never produce a single steamed bun, but they make a fortune from selling steamed buns.

After all, they are also the porters of this great name.

The fragrance came first, and then the voice of shouting was heard in the whistling night wind.

"Come out, everyone, come out!"

"I brought you some food..."

When the sound reached the hiding place of the hunting Cao army soldiers, it immediately caused a commotion!

"Eat... something..."

“Gurgle…”

When they realized there was food, almost everyone's saliva was drooling like crazy, and they couldn't even speak clearly!

With their stomachs growling with hunger, everyone suddenly raised their heads, straightened their backs, and their eyeballs shone with green light in the darkness!

Short-term hunger is enough to cause a person to have an emotional breakdown, and most of these Cao army soldiers are in a state of medium-term, long-term hunger, or semi-hunger!

Without any hesitation, these Cao army soldiers ran out from their hiding places.

"Where is the food? Where is it?!"

Everyone was shouting at the same time, and then they saw, in the distance, some lights flickering on the mountain road, as if the light of hope had finally reappeared in the world.

…

…

As long as it is a city, there must be a city gate.

Just like no matter how strong a fortress is, it always has weaknesses.

The same is true for Danshui City.

Regardless of Niu Jin's political command, he was at least decent enough in military affairs. Even though the city wall of Danshui County did not have fortifications such as horse-faced fortifications, a low wall was still built along the city gate to form a structure similar to the inner city. Even if the enemy broke through the city gate, they could not quickly invade the city and were still within the attack range of the defenders' various bows and crossbows.

The city gate itself is also made of relatively thick hardwood. Every day, the guards will pour water and apply a layer of mud on the outside to prevent the cavalry's gunpowder from exploding or the kerosene from burning.

Originally, there should have been a thousand-jin stone barrier in the city, but because the city defense had been in disrepair for many years, it had been damaged, and Niu Jin did not have the resources to repair it, so it could only be abandoned there, with a wooden fence serving as a temporary measure, which only served to slightly block and delay the enemy's breakthrough.

As soon as the sky brightened, the military officers guarding the city saw a group of soldiers staggering back from outside the city.

The city guard squinted his eyes and looked carefully, then waved his hand and said, "It looks like they probably didn't hit anything..."

Not everyone can be a hunter if they want to.

There are indeed more birds and animals in the mountains in spring than in winter, but the Danshui mountain path is close to the Danshui Mountain Trail. Because people have been walking on it from ancient times to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period until now, the birds and animals in the mountains have basically tacitly accepted that this area belongs to the territory of two-legged animals such as humans, and they will not come here easily. Once they dare to invade human territory, they are mostly ferocious beasts that regard humans as prey. Therefore, hunting is easy to say, but it is just a matter of lip service. However, if you really want to catch prey, you may have to walk more than ten miles into the mountains!

There was no experienced hunter leading the team, so they all swarmed into the mountains. Even if these people could hunt prey, they would most likely hide immediately after seeing so many humans appear...

The military academy guarding the city also knew that this was actually Niu Jin's helpless move. After all, these people in the city also needed to consume food and grass. Sending them away would save at least one-third of the food and grass every day, which would be enough to delay the supply of food and grass later.

As for whether these people can catch prey, in fact, whether it is Niu Jin or the middle-level military school, they don't care. If they can get lucky, it is naturally the best, and if they can't catch it, it is also normal.

Seeing the soldiers staggering and listless, the city guards probably guessed that they hadn't gained anything, so they didn't bother to greet them. They had the soldiers check the tokens they were carrying and did a simple headcount. "Oh? Why are there two or three missing?"

"He fell into the ravine." The leader of the team answered with his head down.

The other soldiers also lowered their heads.

The military officer guarding the city was quite embarrassed when he heard this, and didn't know what to say. He thought it would be easier said than done, so he simply waved his hand and asked his men to open the door.

This is understandable. These people were sent far away without any sufficient dry food. It would be difficult for them to stay in the mountains for two days, let alone survive a night!

Isn't it normal to fall into a ravine or lose one's life accidentally?

In this way, I didn't catch anything, came back empty-handed, tired and hungry, how can I express myself in a nice way?

Thirty or forty people slowly entered the city.

Other Cao army soldiers on the surrounding city walls also saw this group of people.

Many people were also discussing in low voices.

Unlike those people in later generations who always like poetry and distant places and feel that they would rather die than live in a reinforced concrete coffin house, in the Han Dynasty, it was really not easy to survive in the wild. A simple stomach upset and uncontrollable diarrhea would directly cause a person to die of dehydration, not to mention other dangerous situations.

Most of the teams that Niu Jin sent out of the city were originally lower-middle-level soldiers with relatively average relationships. So when these people came back, there were more people who came to watch the fun than those who showed sympathy.

Anyway, in troubled times, everyone's life is worthless. Live one day at a time. Who cares about who?

At the city gate, the sergeant who opened the gate brought a few people with him. At first, he wanted to ask for help and lend a hand, but he saw that the soldiers just looked at him coldly. Even the soldiers who seemed to have wounds wrapped on their bodies just rolled their eyes and ignored him completely. So he just snorted twice and retreated awkwardly.

The soldiers entered the city gate and did not disperse. They leaned sideways, standing or squatting, gradually blocking the doorway.

The sergeant who opened the city gate looked around and felt something was wrong, but he didn't think too much about it. When he saw the hunting team coming out of the city, he moved forward and whispered, "I say, about this matter, I know you have resentment in your hearts, but at this time, there is no need to be so particular... It's not easy for General Niu either. It's such a desolate place with chaos and war... Everyone should be more considerate and understanding..."

This so-called "consideration" and "understanding" were actually not something that a sergeant like him could understand. It was just that he often heard the nagging of Shandong officials and gentry, so he learned it. Now he imitated them and put it forward, and he has some of the charm of those Shandong officials and gentry.

The leader of the hunting team stared at the captain blankly, as if he didn't know him, and then said softly: "I didn't expect it... I thought that we poor soldiers should all be suffering, and we should all be a family... I didn't expect that your brother is really so righteous and considerate of the officials..."

The captain was stunned for a moment, and the smile on his face was a little stiff. "Look at what you said... Isn't it the same? Aren't we all together?"

The leader of the hunting team shook his head, his eyes gradually becoming fierce, "No, it's different... Shangguan won't give us a chance to live... We can't deny ourselves a chance to live! We understand Shangguan, but when has Shangguan ever understood us? ! "

The sergeant felt something was wrong with the words he heard. Before he could figure out what was going on, he saw the hunting team leader had already drawn his sword, swung it horizontally, and cut a big gash in the sergeant's throat!

Blood spurted out, staining the faces and bodies of everyone in the doorway. Suddenly, everyone was covered with scarlet spots, making the hunting team leader's faces look hideous!

"What are you still standing there for?! Rebellion!! Welcome the Hussars into the city!"

At the command, everyone took action.

All of a sudden, the sound of weapons cutting into flesh and the sounds of screams and curses echoed at the entrance of the city gate.

"Rebellion! Rebellion!"

"Someone is plotting rebellion!"

“Ahhh…”

"Welcome the cavalry army into the city, and everyone will have enough food to eat!"

The sun is rising.

The blood color spread throughout Danshui City.