"Food, Lord Ruan Xizhou's goal this time is food!"
"The artillery of the Ming army is indeed very powerful and poses a great threat to the city. But people are like iron and food is like steel. If you don't eat a meal, you will be hungry. According to the information obtained by the Ming army, the Huotou army has always received it every morning.
The food and vegetables for the second day were used to light a fire for the soldiers to cook. It is already late at night, and the food and vegetables in the kitchen should have been used up. All the food is in the food camp. If they can be burned down, the Ming army will
There is no food to eat. Haha, picking wild fruits and vegetables and hunting cannot feed an army of 150,000, and the Ming army will soon collapse without a fight."
"Besides, Lord Ruan gathered all the surrounding soldiers into the city before the Ming army attacked, and the Ming army did not know that there was a secret passage in Nanding City that led directly to the outside of the city, so they must have been slack on our army's possible attack on the camp.
They would definitely be a little panicked when they found out that our Dayu generals led troops to attack the camp of King Jingjiang of the Ming Dynasty, and they never expected that someone would attack the grain and grass camp separately."
Wearing dark clothes, Niu Gui was quietly sneaking towards the grain and grass camp behind the southwest camp with the help of bushes. While walking cautiously, he explained softly to the adjutant Zhang Yinquan behind him who was very puzzled by this.
"But, general, although burning the Ming army's food will leave them without food, experienced generals all know that the morale of the troops retreating without food will easily collapse, and not 23 out of 10 people may be able to withdraw by then. For
For the general in command, the best way is actually to attack Nanding City with the whole army. As long as the city is captured, there will be food. Most likely, they will attack Nanding City day and night, regardless of casualties. How should Mr. Ruan respond?"
Zhang Yinquan asked.
"Master Ruan, how should we respond? The Ming army will certainly not be able to capture Nanding City, so why should we respond?" Niu Gui said.
…
…
"Ruan Xizhou will definitely not take this seriously." He Wenchang explained to them while leading the Miao soldiers from the Third Department of Education to the Grain and Grass Camp: "After we lost a lot of troops in the attack on Nanding City on the first day,
I found the information about the Hu clan and many generals in Annan collected by the Jin Yiwei back then, and after turning out the page about Ruan Xizhou, I realized that Ruan Xizhou, the guard of Nanding City, was no ordinary person."
"Nguyen Hi Chau once garrisoned the city of Hue in the south of Annam for more than ten years. At that time, Annam was weak and internally very turbulent. Champas often invaded Annan's Guangzhi Prefecture. Hue, as the most important city in Guangzhi Prefecture, was destroyed more than once.
The Champa people surrounded it, but it was never captured, just like the Marquis Geng of Changxing who defended Changxing City for ten years but was not captured by Zhang Shicheng. For this reason, Ruan Xizhou was appreciated by the late kings of the Annan Chen Dynasty and he was promoted step by step."
"So Ruan Xizhou, like Marquis Changxing, is very confident in his defensive ability and does not think that anyone can capture the city he is stationed in. Therefore, he will not care about the next fierce attack of the army, but will regard it as an opportunity and attack fiercely.
The army that had not captured Nanding City and was completely cut off from food and grass would probably collapse on its own without being pursued by the Annamites. Most of them even thought of taking the opportunity to annihilate the army."
Long Shengdeng was confused by He Wenchang's explanation. His level of Chinese was limited, and he could understand almost every daily word, administrative word, and military word, but he had no idea what place names, some idioms, and colloquialisms meant.
However, the woman following him could understand He Wenchang's explanation. This woman was Long Ping'er, Long Shangdeng's daughter. She had studied in Kunming for several years before, spoke Chinese very fluently, and was also familiar with the humanistic allusions of the Ming Dynasty.
In her heart, it was she who explained He Wenchang's words to his father when He Wenchang came to Long Shangdeng's camp. After He Wenchang finished speaking, Long Ping'er explained to his father in a low voice.
But then Long Ping'er turned around and said to He Wenchang: "Sir He, although the number of Annan soldiers who attacked the grain and grass camp is not very large, they must be one of the elites selected from ten thousand. Our army only has more than a thousand people.
,How can we stop them?"
He Wenchang understood that what Long Ping'er meant was that those who were afraid of being sued for blocking the Annan people would be wiped out. More than a thousand soldiers were just one thousand households, which was nothing to the Ming Dynasty; but for the head of the Third Department of Education, the lawsuit was
He said that this was half of their young and middle-aged men. If they all died here, it would be very difficult for them to litigate. No matter how much property they were rewarded by the Ming Dynasty, they could not make up for such a huge loss.
Therefore, He Wenchang said without hesitation: "With more than a thousand of us, we cannot stop all the Annan attackers, but at least some of the food and grass must be preserved so that the army will not starve."
Long Shangdeng and Long Ping'er were in a slightly calmer mood. If He Wenchang had hesitated in his answer just now, they would have collapsed upon meeting the Annan people without any hindrance.
"My sons, listen to my order and immediately rush to the grain and grass camp at full speed to protect part of the grain in the north of the camp." Long Shangdeng shouted in Miao language.
He Wenchang was about to say something else after hearing Long Ping'er's translation, but suddenly, Long Shangdeng twitched his ears and said, "There are people marching quickly nearby. The men are picking up the soldiers and preparing to fight."
He Wenchang also heard the rustling sound coming from the nearby grass at this time. He nervously pulled out his sword and faced the direction of the sound, ready to fight.
They had stopped at this time, but the voices on the other side were getting closer and closer, and with the faint moonlight, they could even see the grass shaking due to the people walking through it.
Soon, several people emerged from the grass. He Wenchang shouted, waved the knife in his hand and chopped down.
…
…
"Yiwei, wake up quickly."
"Huh?" Ye Yiwei opened his sleepy eyes and said half-awake.
But then he woke up completely. The person who woke him up poured a basin of water on his face as soon as he opened his eyes.
"Who is so bold! You dare to pour cold water on me!" Ye Yiwei immediately shouted loudly.
"Why, do you want to punish the father?" the man asked again.
"Ah, it's dad." Ye Yiwei shouted in surprise, and then complained: "Dad, my son is sleeping soundly at night, why are you pouring water on him?"
"Of course something happened." Ye Zigao pulled him out of the bed impatiently and said to him: "Get dressed quickly, there is no time to delay."
Ye Yiwei shivered immediately after being pulled out of bed, and immediately put on clothes. As soon as he had almost put on his clothes, Ye Yiwei pulled him out of the tent and came outside.
"When you hear the faint shouts of killing coming from the north, there must be Annan people attacking the camp. Fortunately, they did not choose to attack the grain and grass camp, so we can take it easy. But regardless of whether the Annan people attack the camp successfully or not,
General Li, the deputy general who is acting as the admiral in charge of food and grass, will also patrol around. It would be bad if he saw you sleeping. So I woke you up. Normally, you can just sleep secretly. If the general is patrolling
If you are caught sleeping in the camp, you have to think about the consequences yourself."
"Even if General Li doesn't punish you severely, you will still lose face. Remember, what you lose is not your own face, but His Majesty's face! Or at least, it is also the face of the empress!" Ye Zigao said.
Ye Yiwei whispered softly: "What about my sister's face? She doesn't care about me in the palace. It's better to be a concubine for some young master and take care of me."
"What are you talking about!" Ye Zigao heard what he just muttered and shouted angrily: "If your sister hadn't entered the palace, would you have been able to enjoy the life of fine clothes and fine food in the past few years? Your sister gave (Zheng Guogong) the palace
The young master is your concubine. If she is favored, you are just a slave with some respect. If she is not favored and you have to work every day, how can you live like this? Even the young master in the house may say a few jokes when he sees you.
, I dare not do anything to you. What else are you dissatisfied with?"
"Then, she took care of you and me on the battlefield! Although she is only the admiral of food and grass, she is not sure to be an official in the guardhouse in the future, which will be life-and-death! It is better to remain a slave in the mansion, at least
Your life is safe. Anyway, you still have your second brother to take care of you in old age..."
Before Ye Yiwei finished speaking, Ye Zigao slapped him in the face with a big mouth, and instantly the left side of Ye Yiwei's face turned red.
Ye Zigao shouted angrily: "Why did I raise such a thing like you! Your sister has finally gained some status in the palace and can look after us, and you actually talk like this!"
"Since you said that I still have a second child to support me in old age, then my father will treat you like a child in vain. You can do whatever you want with me in the future. After all, you have nothing to do with me!"
Ye Yiwei also lost his temper and argued loudly with Ye Zigao: "Well, from now on, you will count on your second brother to take care of him when he is old, and you will die in Annan as your son!"
Ye Zigao became even more angry and stretched out his hand to slap him in the mouth again, but he dodged it. While dodging, Ye Yiwei said: "Since you said you raised me so big in vain, how can I love you in the future? Why should I still do it?"
Do I want to be slapped by you?"
"Okay, okay, okay," Ye Zigao raised his finger and pointed at Ye Yiwei, saying "Okay" three times in a row. Just as he was about to say something else, there was suddenly an unusual movement from the side. Even though he was fighting with his son,
I couldn't help but look sideways.
…
…
When the two of them started to quarrel, the soldiers under Ye Zigao had already hid upwind. Shangguan had quarreled with his own son. Although they had seen it several times, they still rarely listened to other people's housework.
Wonderful, especially since their superior was the father of the concubines in the palace. If they heard something they shouldn't hear, they would be seeking death. They didn't want to die yet, so they hid quickly.
One of them said: "Master Qianhu, too, always quarreled with Ye Yiwei in public. We have learned to be good and know not to listen. It would be bad if someone passed by and listened."
"Ye Yiwei is still too ignorant. It's great to have such a person who can take credit for his achievements. There is no danger in the grain and grass camp and he can still claim his merits. If my second uncle hadn't been the governor of Weili, how could I have gotten such a good job?
"Ye Yiwei is so blessed that he doesn't know how blessed he is." Another person said.
"Hey, how can you compare with others? Their biological sister is a concubine in the palace, and there is also the emperor's eldest son. Even if they are just living and waiting to die, they will be rich and wealthy all their lives. Is that what you think?" said the person who spoke before.
The person who spoke later argued again. He was about to refute when he suddenly felt the grass beside him moving violently and said, "What's going on? Is there a wild beast walking through the grass?"
He casually opened the grass in front of him, and suddenly a black shadow jumped out in front of him. He realized something was wrong at this time, and just as he was about to scream, he saw a shining dagger passing in front of his eyes, and then he disappeared.
Before he died, he seemed to hear screams coming from beside him.
…
…
When Ye Zigao turned his head, he saw countless people in dark clothes jumping out of the grass. They swiftly wielded knives or daggers to slaughter his soldiers. Their movements were very fast, and many of them were
People's throats were cut before they could even scream, and they fell to the ground clutching their necks. Only a few people screamed before they died.
Although Ye Zigao had never made any achievements before, he finally followed Chang Yuchun and Chang Mao and his son to the battlefield. He immediately realized that this was the Annan people who were about to raid the grain and grass camp. He stretched out his hand to drag Ye Yiwei, who was already stunned, and walked towards the back.
Run. Ye Yiwei didn't know what to do at this time, and started running following Ye Gao's movements.
Ye Zigao had tried his best to avoid attracting their attention. He knew that the Annan people came here not to kill as many Ming troops as possible, but to burn as much food as possible. They would not send troops to chase the scattered Ming troops, so
He specifically ran towards places with less food to avoid being chased. As for the responsibility of guarding food and grass, he had already forgotten about it at this time.