To fight, you need a bow, arrows, stringed rosin, and arrow feathers.
The winter leather armor worn by the sergeants was also damaged and needed to be replaced.
The Eastern and Western Military Ministries have been in arrears for two years and have not been able to deliver them, saying that the handover with the Ministry of Household Affairs was not smooth.
But ordinary sergeants don't understand this. When they say that he, the quartermaster, is greedy for money, he jumps with both feet.
Therefore, he doesn't want to fight and he doesn't want to be scolded.
Time passed slowly, snowflakes fell on the ground with a rustling sound, and with the rapid sound of horse hooves outside the barracks, the news Luo Baihu had been waiting for finally came back.
The ordering soldier rushed into the room with a cold air, performed a military salute to Luo Baihu, and said loudly: "Master Lei Qianhu sent an order, no one in the guard station can leave the camp unless ordered."
"well!"
Luo Baihu slapped the military case, which made his armor rattle, and he immediately sat back on the edge of the couch dejectedly.
Wang Zhong, however, breathed a sigh of relief, leisurely warming himself by the charcoal pot and saying: "Sir, judging from my humble position, Di Lu's invasion this time will not involve Ruijin Town, and even the Marquis will not be touched."
"Don't be so nagging, what do you say?"
Luo Baihu immediately cheered up.
Wang Zhong was nominally his quartermaster. In fact, when they were still new recruits, they were comrades who stirred the pot in the army.
After ten years of major and minor wars, Wang Zhong's arm was disabled, and now he retired to the second line and became a housekeeper and his military adviser.
Wang Zhong put his injured arm close to the brazier. His arm was amputated due to frostbite, and the stump would hurt when it was cold.
When Lauren saw him rubbing his arms, he quickly handed over the boiling tea soup: "Old man, you should have rested long ago today, and I dug you up to get cold."
Wang Zhong took the tea soup but did not drink it. He only said in a low voice: "You also know that since the Third Young Master entered the grassland, the Di tribe has never been peaceful.
Two tribes were supposed to move into their winter pastures, but instead headed west..."
Luo Lun suddenly realized it, his eyes widened, he patted his thigh and said: "That's it!"
At the beginning of winter, while collecting military pay, he also received a secret order: Strictly guard Suijin Town.
There is no reason or hint.
But soon Wang Zhong heard the news from his colleagues who were delivering supplies: The Third Young Master had returned to the grassland.
The identity of the third son of the Marquis is a secret known to almost all veterans of the Zhenbei Army for more than ten years.
After all, most of the soldiers and horses of the Zhenbei Army came from the same tribe for more than ten years.
These veterans have stayed in the northwest with the Marquis for half their lives, and have dealt with the Di people for half their lives.
I really have complicated feelings towards the Dilu people.
Every soldier of the Wu Dynasty has the blood of the Di tribe on his hands, and there are also colleagues around him who died under the sword of the Di tribe.
However, everyone ate beef and mutton sent from the Dilu grassland, and wore cowhide armor and boots from the grassland.
Speaking of love and hatred, every veteran has a story. Who has not encountered that hot and unrestrained alien girl?
Especially the story of the Third Young Master, it starts with the beauty of the prairie riding a hundred miles alone in the snow and throwing herself into his arms.
Everyone said that Mr. Hou entered Dilu Grassland out of anger.
In fact, veterans like them all knew that the Marquis took this opportunity to send troops to garrison hundreds of miles on the grassland and massacre several tribes of the Di tribe.
The Di tribe on the border of the Wu Dynasty was almost eradicated, and the border had peace for more than ten years.
It was when Wang Zhong was stationed on the grassland that he encountered a heavy snowstorm and lost his arm due to freezing.
There is also the Wuda tribe who moved away from Xia Shiguan five years ago and lives on the grassland.
It seems that he no longer has anything to do with the Zhenbei Army, but in fact he is still on the day's journey of the Zhenbei Army, and he often comes and goes in private, just like visiting relatives.
But things are different now. The Third Young Master has moved the tribe as a whole, deep into the Dilu Grassland, and has escaped the influence of the Zhenbei Army.
From then on, the two families worked independently.
Changes in the border situation are also coming one after another. In order to prevent being plundered by winter, various police stations have increased their vigilance and strengthened patrols in their jurisdictions.
But...it is not allowed to leave the camp here in Broken Gold Town.
Luo Baihu took out the map and began to search with Wang Zhong for the locations of the villages that had been most severely attacked since winter.
According to descriptions in military newspapers, these villages and towns are located north of Hecheng.
Wang Zhong and Luo Lun looked at each other and made no secret of what they were thinking.
Veterans like them had visited both the north and south of Xiashi Pass. The terrain there was easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Di people would not go there at all, and there were not many troops stationed there.
But now I just went.
During the "Broken Gold Massacre" five years ago, Marquis Zhao Yanjiao was almost imprisoned. The imperial court took this opportunity to conduct a large-scale change of generals and troop deployments in the Zhenbei Army, thus separating military power.
Of the 100,000 Zhenbei Army, 20,000 were transferred to the northeast, 10,000 went to the southwest, and only 50,000 were actually stationed in Yunzhou in the northwest.
The military power in the hands of the marquis was divided thinly.
The defense line north of Hecheng belonged to deputy commander Tang Ying, and the troops stationed were not the Zhenbei Army, but the Xuanwei Army from Gyeonggi.
Deputy Commander Tang Ying... was recommended by the Minister of Household Affairs, and the Xuanwei Army belonged to the eldest prince.
At this time, the lights in the military camp were brightly lit at Xia Shiguan, and a few attendants began to quickly tidy up the room.
A middle-aged man with a medium-to-slender build and wearing dark casual clothes strode into the room. Next to him, Zhao Tinglei followed half a step behind, holding a fur cloak.
As soon as the two people came in, the soldiers saluted and exited the door, surrounded by guards.
Zhao Tinglei respectfully asked the middle-aged man to sit down: "Father, it's dark and snowy now, why did you rush out of the city?"
The middle-aged man has an ordinary appearance, but his face is as red as a jujube, he has three short strands of beard under his chin, his eyebrows and eyes are shining brightly, and he has the aura of a superior person even before he opens his mouth.
"Tell me, where is the mistress now?"
The middle-aged man is none other than Zhao Yanjiao, the Marquis of Zhenbei who sits firmly in the city.
Yesterday, Pingliang Fort was invaded by the Di tribe, and there was no news about the guard station stationed in the fort, which prompted him to come and investigate in person.
Zhao Tinglei looked embarrassed: "My son doesn't know what my father said..."
"Your armory has been exposed, and you still want to hide it?" Mr. Zhao stared at him with bright eyes.
The migration of the Uda tribe was not a trivial matter, how could he not know about it, and Xiaosan came back early to say goodbye to him.
But he didn't expect that Xiaosan would go directly to the depths of the grassland, and...
The Di people who fled to Pingliangbao were nomadic tribes that had been outside Xiashiguan.
Zhao Tinglei knew that his father had understood this matter. He thought for a moment, lifted his clothes and knelt down: "Father, if the Zhenbei Army wants to stabilize its position in the court, it can only be watched and thought about by the emperor every day."
When he said this, he suddenly raised his head, his eyes full of anger: "Because the northwest realm has been peaceful for too long, all the cats and dogs in the court jumped out and started barking.
The Zhenbei Army family was not originally responsible for the Broken Gold Massacre, but those who were hiding in the capital blamed all the blame on their father.
Now that border wars have resumed, what should those people say?
They can only rely on their father to guard Xiashi Pass, and military pay and food must be sent immediately."
Zhao Yanjiao stood up suddenly, slapped Zhao Tinglei hard on the face, and said angrily: "So...you are using Xiao San as a gunman to provoke border troubles? Do you know that doing so will harm him?"