The Song Dynasty had sufficient food, especially the yield of potatoes was too large, and it could not be eaten every year, so it could only be used to make wine or feed livestock. Moreover, the Song army was on the defensive side, and behind it was Yanyun and Hebei, so naturally they were not worried about food, and they did not need to eat human flesh. However, the Liao army on the opposite side was completely different.

The Liao army's central army camp was the base of Yelu Zongzhen, and it was surrounded by layers of tents. In addition to Yelu Zongzhen, some of the important officials who followed him to the expedition also lived in this camp. In a corner of the camp, there was a separate tent, which was a distance from other tents around it. In this tent was Yelu Renxian, who was demoted to a civilian.

It was already dusk, and Yelu Ren sat alone in the tent, wearing a heavy bear skin cloak, and charcoal fire was also rising in the tent, making the whole tent very warm. Speaking of which, the bear skin cloak he was personally rewarded by him when he rescued Yelu Zongzhen. It is said that the bear skin was taken down by Yelu Zongzhen by himself from a bear he killed. It can be said that this glory is almost unattainable.

Although Yelu Renxian was demoted and was placed under house arrest in this independent tent, he was not abused. All his personal belongings were sent over, and the food and clothing in the tent should be fully fed. There were special people to take care of him, but he was not allowed to contact the people in the army.

Fortunately, Yelu Renxian likes to read books, and even when he goes to war, he carries a lot of books with him. Now that he is under house arrest, he is accompanied by books every day, and he doesn't seem lonely. However, some people are born to work hard, for example, Yelu Renxian seems to be getting more and more irritable during this period, and he can't even read books.

"Bang!" Yelu Ren, who was reading a book, suddenly threw the book in his hand to the ground, then walked back and forth a few times in anger, then quickly came to the tent and whispered to the guards outside: "I want to see Your Majesty!"

"No, Your Majesty has an order. Without his permission, you can't go anywhere!" The guard refused ruthlessly. Since the last time Yelu Rentian disobeyed the military order and allowed the Liao army to retreat without authorization, Yelu Zongzhen was furious and demoted him to a commoner. He had never seen him again during this period.

Seeing that the guard was worried, Yelu Renxian was also angry and anxious, but he also knew that the guard was ordered by Yelu Zongzhen. Unless Yelu Zongzhen agreed, he would not go anywhere. He could only turn around and return to the tent angrily.

However, just after Yelu Renxian returned to the tent, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from outside. Then Yelu Zhirang came over with a food box. When he saw him, he immediately smiled and said, "Brother Renxian, today is the best lamb, and there are two pots of good wine. We will not return until we get drunk!"

Seeing Yelu Zhirang, Yelu Renxian did not show any unexpected expressions, because during the period of time he was under house arrest, only Yelu Zhirang could visit him from time to time. As for what he was holding, it was his own supper. During this period, Yelu Zhirang often came to eat with his meal.

"Brother Zhirang, I want to see Your Majesty. Can you tell me about it?" Yelu Renxian didn't have the heart to eat at this time. He immediately asked anxiously.

"This..." Yelu Zhirang also showed a embarrassed expression when he heard this. After a moment, he smiled bitterly, "Brother Renxian, why haven't you given up yet? Your Majesty doesn't want to see you now, nor do you want to hear what you say that he doesn't like. If you anger your Majesty again, you might not even be able to save your head."

"I know Your Majesty refuses to see me, but I know that it's too late. If I don't retreat, I'm afraid that all of us will be left outside Gubeikou!" Yelu Renxian quickly came to Yelu Zhirang and said loudly, his eyes turned red when he spoke. He really didn't want to wait any longer.

"Brother Renxian, I know you are loyal to our Daliao, but you don't know your Majesty's character. Even if you are asked to meet Your Majesty, it will probably not have any effect. Instead, it will only cause trouble for yourself!" Yelu Zhirang also advised sincerely at this time.

"As a minister, one should be loyal to the country. I cannot watch Your Majesty make mistakes and do nothing!" Yelu Renxian said again with great righteousness.

"You..." Yelu Zhirang felt a little uncomfortable when he heard this. Although Yelu Renxian did not intentionally, he vaguely scolded himself. After all, he was also a close minister around Yelu Zongzhen. However, he did not dare to dissuade Yelu Zongzhen, which was far inferior to Yelu Renxian.

"Brother Renxian, the situation is actually as bad as you said. The weather is cold now. Although we are not feeling well, the Song army in the city is not feeling well. Maybe one day we can capture Gubeikou and occupy this place, which is equivalent to opening Yanyun's gate. In the future, we will kill whenever we want!" However, Yelu Zhirang was not angry, but advised him again.

Yelu Zhirang was indeed not as talented as Yelu Renxian, but he knew the principle of Mingzhe protecting himself. Speaking of which, Li Zhang taught him this principle. It was Li Zhang's reminder that he saved his family in Xiao Nojin's great purge. Now, he followed Yelu Zongzhen and even took the principle of Mingzhe protecting himself to the extreme. He rarely violated Yelu Zongzhen's meaning.

"The weather is so cold, so there is not enough clothes for us to keep the cold. Now someone must have been frozen to death. In addition, the food and grass should have been eaten. The soldiers below have already gone hungry. You still say this situation is not bad?" Yelu Renxian said anxiously again.

"You...how do you know that the food has been eaten up?" Yelu Zhirang couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard Yelu Renxian's words. Although Yelu Renxian had the power before, it was Yelu Zhirang who actually managed the logistics. Moreover, Yelu Renxian was under house arrest during this period and could not contact external news at all, so he should not know about the food matter?

"Hmph, don't think I don't know. My three meals have become more and more exquisite these days. I just want to numb me and make me think there is enough food in the army. But in the past few days, you, the person who manages logistics, have come to me for free. You can imagine that even you can't eat these things!" Yelu Renxian immediately pointed to the supper mentioned by Yelu Renxian and said.

Hearing that Yelu Renxian had seen through the small tricks of the three meals at once and pointed out that it was his own reason, Yelu Zhirang couldn't help but turn red. However, Yelu Renxian did guess well. The Liao army had run out of food three days ago and could not recruit the rear. Yelu Zongzhen was furious for this and even scolded him, but it could not solve the problem at all.

"It's time for you to do this, why haven't Your Majesty withdrawn? Isn't anyone persuaded Your Majesty?" Yelu Renxian said with a little heartbroken at this time. The withdrawal of the army was related to the fate of the Great Liao Dynasty in the future, so he was also a little surprised at Yelu Zhi at this time and asked these people not to dissuade Yelu Zongzhen.

"Why didn't you persuade me? In fact, during this period, people kept asking Your Majesty to withdraw from the army openly and secretly. However, Your Majesty was very stubborn and couldn't listen at all. Instead, he scolded the people who persuaded me. I was also scolded for food and grass. Now the camp has started to kill horses for food!" Yelu Zhirang finally stopped hiding it and said with a wry smile.

"I'm confused, our Khitans have fewer horses, just like they have two legs missing. How can they cook their legs and eat them?" Yelu Renxian was shocked again when he heard Yelu Zhirang's words. Although he had long guessed that the food in the camp had been eaten up, he didn't expect it to be so bad that he actually wanted to eat the war horse. You must know that war horses are the life of cavalry!

"Of course I know the importance of war horses, but no matter how important the war horses are, they are not as important as the soldiers' belly. To be honest, some time ago, there have been people-eaters in the camp, and some rebellions have even occurred in some army. This is all about food. During this period, your three meals a day are actually the imperial food of Your Majesty." Yelu Zhirang smiled bitterly again and explained that if there were other ways, they would not kill war horses for food.
Chapter completed!