Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

Wang Pu is really sick. At the beginning, Guo Shao thought that Zhang Yongde was pretending to be sick, but Wang Pu didn't have to pretend.

"Cough, cough, cough." Wang Pu let a maid help him up and coughed for a while. He sat up with a cloth pillow behind his back, and said with a sickly face, "It's really rude to meet like this..."

Guo Shao just arrived at his home and saw Wang Pu in the bedroom. The room was very warm, but there was a strong smell of traditional Chinese medicine from somewhere, which was very pungent. People in high positions are specially taken care of when they are sick, and there are often people who want to visit them, so the situation is not too bad. Wang Pu's age seems to be in his early fifties, and he is in his prime, but his body is indeed a little weaker, and he looks thinner after being sick.

Guo Shao hurriedly stepped forward to support him and said, "Your Majesty is in poor health, why do you still care about the common etiquette? I asked the Queen Mother to invite some imperial doctors from the Taichang Temple (the Shaoqing of the Taichang Temple is Zuo You) to show you."

Although Wang Pu was bedridden, his face was pale and he was obviously sick, but he was not so serious that he lost his mind. He said, "Thank you, General Guo, for your kindness."

Guo Shaodao: "I will lead my troops out of Beijing soon, and I won't be able to visit Wang Shijun again for a while."

At this time, Wang Pu sighed suddenly, and said slowly: "I have no regrets about being a privy envoy from a young official. But when the weather is not off, I can't see the unification of the world, the restoration of Youzhou, and the big situation that will affect hundreds of years... I really feel a little regretful. If General Guo accidentally thinks of the old man in the future, he will pour a glass of wine on the ground and call the old man to let me know."

After hearing this, Guo Shao suddenly thought of a poem: Wang Shibei set the Central Plains Day, and the family sacrifices were never forgotten to tell Nai Weng.

He hurriedly said nicely: "I heard that Wang Shijun is just suffering from a cold. You just need to rest in peace and recuperate, and you will recover in a short time."

Wang Pu said nothing.

Guo Shao then said: "The recent strategic level is based on Wang Shijun's deployment. Xiang Gong rests in Guzhen. After the weather is warm, the Zhou army will attack Shu from both sides of the North Road and East Road."

Wang Pu nodded: "In this way, the chances of winning are higher than just staring at Hanzhong."

Guo Shao only felt that his heart was shrouded in inexplicable sadness...a very faint and lingering emotion. It’s not sadness. Although he appreciates Wang Pu’s talent, he doesn’t really have a deep friendship. To worry about his illness would be heartbreaking, and it can only be a play; of course, it’s impossible to gloat. So my heart is a little sour, it seems that such a feeling is called sadness.

Guo Shao talked to him a few more words, and then told him to rest and recover from his illness, and to keep the ginseng and other good medicinal materials he brought, and not to keep more.

... When returning home, Guo Shao passed by a relatively large restaurant, and specially ordered some delicious dishes to be delivered to the house.

On a rare occasion, he took the initiative to get close to that little Taoist priest, Qingxu, when she felt that today's food was not bad. Guo Shao then asked: "Your master, Daoist Chen Tuan, can cure wind-cold? It's not a common wind-cold, it may have caused other diseases, and many doctors have not cured it..."

Qingxu frowned: "I was puzzled just now, but as expected, this is called courtship for nothing, either adultery or robbery!"

Guo Shao was stunned and said: "You can't say it so badly, you just say that I will admit it temporarily. But it's not wrong, I have something to ask of you, don't I treat you better, instead of yelling at you?"

Qingxu said earnestly: "Benefactor Guo, you have to figure it out. Master and I are both Taoist priests, not doctors. If we can cure diseases, why should we become Taoist priests and change careers?"

Her single eyelids are delicate and immature, but her tone is like this, Guo Shao finds it inexplicably funny. But he was not in the mood to joke with her, so he immediately said: "Didn't Chen Tuan's elixir and your cultivation method cure the Queen Mother's previous serious illness?"

Qingxu said: "That's because a blind cat met a dead mouse, and it happened to be the right symptom. It's not that we have medical skills. The elixir and inner alchemy were originally used by Taoists to drive away the fire. The Queen Mother happened to use it because of the fire poison invading the body. Now I ask us to treat some difficult and miscellaneous diseases. How do I know how to cure them?"

"Wind-cold is cold poison, and there is no elixir to dispel cold poison?" Guo Shao asked.

Qingxu said with a displeased face: "I can't explain clearly to a layman! My master is now in Huashan, if you don't believe me, send someone to ask him."

Guo Shao was helpless... In this world, it is really possible to die from a cold and a fever. Maybe Wang Pu had symptoms such as pneumonia caused by a cold, but he couldn't understand it. After all, he was not a doctor. He still didn't want to see Wang Pu die of such an illness, after thinking about it, he wrote a letter and planned to send someone to Huashan to look for Chen Tuan according to Qing Xu's words.

...

As soon as the first month is over, the festive atmosphere has gone, and there are busy scenes everywhere. In the fields, people driving oxen to plow the fields, carrying fertilizer and water, and people wearing straw hats bent over to work can be seen everywhere. The government officials are most concerned about farming this season, but Tokyo's military agencies are still stepping up their preparations regardless of the busy farming.

The guards and horses who reinforced the North Route Army have begun to move out of Beijing one after another; the East Route Army, which is mainly in charge of the Dianqian Division, will not move for more than a month... because the Kingdom of Shu is already on guard against the North Route, and there is no need to hide it.

The outer city of Tokyo has requisitioned ten spacious and suitable houses to renovate armor workshops. There are two or three workshops in one house; including forging iron plates, forging hammers for stamping shapes, and some artisans who manually forge corners and assemble armors by hand with rivets. The various armor-making links are divided and cooperated. On average, a set of forging hammers can manufacture a set of four pieces of armor in one day, which is 20 to 30 times faster than that of chain mail and iron cloth shirts. Of course, the armor with only four pieces of armor is not comprehensive in protection, and it cannot be compared with changing locks.

Guo Shao expects to be able to make 800 to 900 sets of simplified armor by the end of February.

He is not satisfied with this speed, but limited by the scale, there is nothing he can do for the time being. First of all, the supply of raw materials is slow, and then there is a shortage of funds and manpower, and the place is not big; the houses in Tokyo City are private properties, and forced expropriation is likely to cause conflicts, and even the workshops need to spend money.

...The local town soldiers and guards commanded by Xiang Gong were less armored, compared with the elite soldiers of the Dianqian Division who were better equipped. Guo Shao dispatched the first batch of three hundred armors to the soldiers and horses of the guards who reinforced Xiang Gong.

By the end of February, more than 500 pairs of plate armor had been completed.

Guo Shao directly equips the first commander of the first army of the left wing of the Huben Army, and this commander itself is the heavy infantry deployed at the front in the battle formation, and used to wear ring armor. Now with the addition of 500 pairs of plate armor, it has truly become a heavy infantry command with excellent equipment and strong defense; soldiers wear chain mail and skirt armor on active parts, and head, shoulders, chest, and arm plate armor on the outside... Guo Shao tried it, basically completely immune to long-range bows and crossbows.

Before the expedition, the soldiers of the Huben Army made some iron masks to improve the facial defense, so that the commanding soldiers persistently pursued defense.

When Guo Shao inspected the army, even he was shocked by the lineup of the first command.

In the barracks, more than 500 people were covered in iron, and the brand-new plate armor had a cold light that is unique to metal. From a distance, it looked like a group of mechs. Except for the fingers protruding from the sackcloth gloves, almost no part of the soldier's body was exposed. There is an iron helmet on it, and even the face is made of iron. Only the eye sockets are exposed. At first glance, even people can't tell them apart. There are many vertical gaps in the mouth and nose for breathing, which looks like the exposed teeth of a skeleton. It is extra terrifying.

This is probably the ultimate infantry equipment in the era of cold weapons. Unlike the world's concept of focusing on mobility and lightness, Guo Shao feels that his path seems to be starting to deviate from the mainstream.

... Guo Shao still sent Fu Ermei to the palace, and Li Yuan'er to Li Chuyun's home. After making proper preparations, he led more than 16,000 people from the left wing of the Huben Army, more than 21,000 people from the left wing of the Hema Army, and more than 21,000 people from the Hema Army, and the Crane Bow and Arrow Straight. They left Tokyo at the end of February and headed south first. At this time, the weather has completely warmed up, there is greenery everywhere, and all the flowers are in bloom, which is a good time for vitality.

After the new formation of the Huben Army, the right wing also fought a big battle. But Guo Shao is not for training this time, he wants to try his best to win the war against the Kingdom of Shu quickly, so he still chooses the left wing of the Huben Army, which has been proven in actual combat, as the main force of the East Route Army.

Guo Shao led the army to Xiangzhou (now Xiangfan City) first. Tokyo used to have no obstacles and the road was very smooth. At this time, there was no secrecy about the movement of the Zhou army... On the endless plain, the several parallel roads between the fields were full of troops. From far and near, there are many people looking out from the fields, watching this magnificent scene; where the sight line is good, the marching scene is very conspicuous.

Except for the on-duty guards gathered on the road, most of the troops were not so tidy and coercive, because everyone went out to march and set up camp with a lot of things. People led mules and horses to carry things on their backs, and there were many peasants pushing wheelbarrows and donkey carts behind the army; if the team was not very orderly and there were flags everywhere, it would look more like a large group of people fleeing famine densely.

Guo Shao's Chinese army also has a carriage... Everyone would rather ride a horse than a carriage. The terrain on the plain is flat, but the roads in the wild are not flat at all, and riding a carriage is a kind of torture. But there was a woman in the carriage.

Aunt Sun, a mid-forty-year-old mistress, is also not very attractive. With such a woman in the army, the soldiers obviously would not think that the Lord will bring a woman to entertain the journey; otherwise, they should at least bring a younger one.

Jing Niang, who is wearing a leather armor and riding a horse, is more suitable to relieve boredom. Guo Shao specially customized a pair of breastplates for him. Two semicircular outlines were stamped on the breastplate. He thought she would be more comfortable to wear this way; unexpectedly, he was not thanked for his kindness, and Guo Shao was even scolded. Of course, Jingniang wasn't wearing that plate armor either.