As night fell, Su Lu led the army and finally arrived at Li Xiaoqin's camp. What he saw was a miserable sight.
There were seven to eight hundred guardsmen crammed into dozens of shacks, and all of them were as skinny as skin and bones. Li Xiaoqin, the strongest man, was almost twenty kilograms lighter than the day he went to find Su Lu to recruit soldiers.
When the guide Kou Cheng saw Su Lu, he hugged his thighs and cried. He looked like his own father had died.
As night fell, the tents had not yet been set up, but the guards dug a large hole in the ground, large enough to accommodate thousands of people sleeping.
Although the pit was shallow, it frightened Li Xiaoqin enough. He held Su Lu’s hand and burst into tears:
"Have I already been sentenced to death? Should I be executed on the spot?"
Li Xiaoqin, who was almost forty years old, cried like a child. He was wronged. It wasn't that Xiaoqin didn't try his best. The mountain road was too difficult to walk.
Su Lu patted Li Xiaoqin on the shoulder: "What are you thinking about? It takes everyone's hard work to dig such a big hole to bury you."
Li Xiaoqin wiped his tears and understood. He immediately felt relieved. He pulled Zhao Pu next to him and asked:
"How did you get here? By the way, where are your heavy armor and iron guns? Why do you only have these things?"
Li Xiaoqin kept asking questions.
Su Lu ignored them and directed Su Ping and Li Kun to throw all the firewood they found into the pit and divide them into dozens of large piles. They should not be too close to each other, otherwise it would affect everyone's eating.
The big pot was set up, and the melted snow water immediately started to steam, and soon it started to boil.
Su Lu ordered Li Kun to bring people to pour all the spices and chilies prepared in advance into the pot.
"Every pot must be filled with enough. The weather is cold and damp. If the brothers want to survive, they must rely on these things to survive."
Su Lu told Li Kun that this is a life-saving thing. If everyone's body heat is not enough, they will not be able to survive tonight.
Soon, a fragrant smell came out of the boiling cauldron, mixed with the spiciness of chili peppers, causing a group of guards to throw their own dried meat into the pot.
The dried meat is hot as soon as it is in the soup. After a few turns, the person who threw the dried meat will pick it up and return it to his mouth.
Li Xiaoqin watched Zhao Pu eat the dried meat eagerly: "Zhao Canjun, where is our dried meat?"
Zhao Pu pointed to the mountain of bracken piled on the ground next to him: "Captain Su said, you eat that one first."
A group of hungry guards who looked like skinny monkeys only dared to curse in their stomachs. They had no choice but to do so. There were many people on the other side. If they dared to curse, they would be beaten for fear of being beaten.
Li Xiaoqin looked constipated: "Zhao Shenjun, Brother Zhao, let me call you brother. Is this thing edible?"
After staying here for four or five days, Li Xiaoqin found everything edible. He firmly refused to believe that this thing was edible.
Kou Cheng picked up his chopsticks, picked up a chopstick and threw it into the pot. He was not that particular. When he was a child, his family was poor and he could eat the leaves of the trees. These brackens can definitely be eaten after they are cooked.
Governor Su did not allow everyone to eat meat. He must have had his thoughts. People would not die if they ate vegetables.
"tasty"
Kou Cheng took a bite of the cooked bracken, said something vaguely, and then gathered the remaining bracken together, picked it up with chopsticks, blew on the hot air, and swallowed it.
When the hot bracken enters the mouth, a warm current fills the cold body. The spicy smell of chili rushes down the throat. The warm current instantly warms the whole body. The cold seems to be isolated from the outside of the body, and the whole person feels ironed.
.
Kou Cheng closed his eyes and felt like he was about to fly.
"Delicious"
Kou Cheng burst into tears. He had eaten so many things since he was a child, but he never expected that bracken would be the most delicious.
Inspired by Kou Cheng, a group of people put bracken into the pot one after another. Li Xiaoqin's chopsticks were so fast that he took away Zhao Pu's dried meat before he could react.
"I don't believe bracken can be as delicious as dried meat."
Zhao Pu had no dried meat and could only pick up a piece of bracken with chopsticks. After swallowing it, Zhao Pu also stared: "It's so delicious."
Li Xiaoqin didn't believe it: "Fart, bracken can be as delicious as dried meat."
"Hey, it smells so good."
Li Xiaoqin said in admiration while grabbing bracken with Zhao Pu:
"The person who invented this way of eating is really a god. Once the unpalatable bracken is boiled, it turns into a delicacy that cannot be compared with other delicacies. I have eaten all over the eight alleys in Beijing, but I have never seen anything so delicious.
"
Zhao Pu sneered: "It's as if you have really been to Bada Hutong."
Li Xiaoqin's eyes widened: "After all, I am also a family member, and Uncle Anyuan's Mansion in Xicheng is my home."
Zhao Pu was full of admiration at the moment: "Disrespectful, disrespectful, cheating on the family of our ancestor Li Zhihuai, I know it."
Li Xiaoqin was immediately discouraged, threw his chopsticks and cursed:
"I'll break the turtle's legs sooner or later, and I'll be embarrassed all day long. I said, Lao Zhao, this way of eating is not what our governor came up with, is it? It's so delicious."
Zhao Pu nodded, then took out his rice bowl and greeted everyone:
"Of course it's the governor's method, otherwise who could come up with such a good idea. Drink soup, drink soup, you can survive tonight with just a mouthful of soup."
Li Xiaoqin saw that everyone had bowls, but he was the only one with empty hands. He got angry and picked up the big pot.
At night, Li Xiaoqin looked at the buried fire with a strange look on his face: "Captain, if we sleep like this, won't we freeze to death?"
Su Lu pointed to a pile of woolen skins on the ground and said, "This is yours. You are responsible for distributing it. Wrap it up and sleep. We have to march tomorrow and the road will be even harder."
After saying that, Su Lu also wrapped himself in a sheepskin and lay down on top of the buried fire. The heat from below had already risen and the soil was beginning to heat up. It would not be a big problem to keep this warmth overnight.
The next day, when Li Xiaoqin woke up, he moved his limbs and found that he didn't feel frozen. He was suddenly surprised. In the past, dozens of brothers were huddled together, and his arms and legs were still cold. Today, he just wrapped his arms and legs.
I bought a sheepskin jacket and it was so warm.
Kou Cheng, who had woken up, touched the soil on the ground with a look of realization on his face: "General Li, the soil is warm. The governor asked everyone to sleep on top of the fire. It's because the soil is warm, so everyone doesn't.
It will freeze."
Li Xiaoqin grabbed a handful of loess, and it was really warm, not at all colder than his own hands.
Looking at Su Lu, who was commanding the guards to burn snow and melt water, Li Xiaoqin's face was full of shame. At first, he was quite happy when he replaced Captain Su as the leader, but now he realizes that he was really stupid at that time. Captain Su was so stupid.
It must be extremely difficult for powerful people to refuse something.
I regret it!
After breakfast, the guards also packed up, saluted, and started to set off.
"Throw away the iron pot and just keep the waist knife that you carry with you. Ahead is Wangliang Ridge, which is the hardest to climb. Once we pass Wangliang Ridge, we will truly survive."
The shouts of Su Ping and Fatty Zhao rang out in the ranks, reminding the guards to discard their heavy objects and pack lightly.
Kou Cheng looked at the iron pot on the ground with a look of reluctance and asked Su Lu next to him:
"Captain, if you lose the iron pot, we won't be able to eat as delicious a meal as last night."
Su Lu looked at the snow-covered Wangliang Ridge and let out a long breath:
"We can survive after crossing Wangliang Ridge. This is what you said. When we get to Lintao Tunbao, there are Tule people in the area, and there is plenty of dried meat for us to eat."
Kou Cheng was reluctant to leave and turned his head several times to look at the iron pot. After being scolded by Su Lu, he cheered up and climbed up the mountain.
Wangliang Ridge is very high, and the guards finally climbed to the top when the sun turned high in the sky with great effort.
The guards rested where they were, and Su Lu found a stone to sit down and rest, gnawing on dried meat and eating a mouthful of snow.
After finally finishing chewing the dried meat, Su Ping's startled voice caught Su Lu's attention.
"What a huge river, it must reach to the sky!"
"That's the end of the river, is it snow or white clouds? It looks like white clouds."
"Kou Cheng, Kou Cheng, why is there a city over there with many houses? Are there any people there?"
Looking far into the distance, in the distance, a large river rushes down between the white clouds, with white waves rolling into the sky.
Not far from the river, you can vaguely see a city, but because of the distance, you can't see if there are any people there.
Kou Cheng finished chewing the dried meat without looking up. He searched for clean snow on the ground, took a bite and stuffed it into his mouth, smacked his lips and said:
"That's Liangzhou in the Western Qin Dynasty. It's very far away from here. That's where the name of this ridge comes from. That river is called the Yellow River..."
Kou Cheng told everyone the allusions here.
Su Lu looked into the distance and suddenly remembered a poem.
Far above the Yellow River, among the white clouds, there is an isolated city called Wanren Mountain.
Why bamboo flute complain willow, spring is not degree Pass.
