Chapter 690 A Dream of Youth 222

The wounded were recovering day by day, but Xie Ning's face grew darker with each passing day. "Where are the medicinal herbs that were supposed to arrive today? Why haven't they arrived yet?"

She went to urge the Grand Eunuch several times because of this. The Grand Eunuch was also very angry and sent a letter back to the capital. This war involved the mobilization of all military forces in the Northwest, and the emperor had also spent his own savings to fund the war.

If anyone tries to profit from the checkpoints along the way, the emperor will be so angry that he will have them executed.

Despite their best efforts, the medicinal herbs finally arrived before the attack on Yinzhou, and Xie Ning breathed a sigh of relief. If there hadn't been any herbs by then, she would have had to go into the city to buy them.

It was obvious that one-third of the medicinal herbs had been replaced. Xie Ning was furious. Although she had anticipated the corruption along the way, she did not expect them to be so bold as to replace one-third of the medicinal herbs with inferior ones and to substitute raw herbs for processed ones.

Seeing Xie Ning's cold expression, Liu Yuanchang glanced at the escorting official and ordered, "Drag him away."

The quartermaster's legs went weak, and he kowtowed and begged for mercy, but it was no use. This time, not only were the medicines problematic, but the food supplies were also embezzled, especially the uniforms, which were the most severely affected.

The next day, Xie Ning saw the quartermaster hanging outside the tent, but turned his face away expressionlessly and rode off with the army to attack Yinzhou.

When Jingyuan realized something was wrong, he immediately made an example of someone to warn others. In addition, Xie Ning's incriminating report was sent to the emperor's desk along with the Grand Steward's military report. The quartermasters behind him were all on edge, not daring to be late or let the rats on the road eat too much, otherwise they would lose their lives.

The Great Zhou army marched triumphantly, and when they occasionally ran out of food, they would take food stored in the enemy's cellars to feed themselves.

Once, Liu Yuanchang was amazed by Xie Ning's excellent archery skills, so he practiced with him for a long time. Xie Ning was a genius who could hit the bullseye every time, and the two often talked about archery.

But the army not only had arrows, but also crossbows.

Bows were used by infantry and cavalry, while infantry used crossbows.

Xie Ning knew of such a thing, but had never seen it before. It was only after she formed a close friendship with Liu Yuanchang that she was able to see it.

In the era of cold weapons, cavalry had a great advantage over infantry, but the powerful bows and crossbows of the Great Zhou Dynasty were excellent weapons for infantry to defeat cavalry.

According to Liu Yuanchang, the army would be equipped with black lacquered crossbows, yellow birch crossbows, white birch crossbows, etc., and the arrows they fired would include wooden feather arrows, phoenix feather arrows, steel-tipped arrows, and three-section arrows, among many other types.

However, the army led by Liu Yuanchang was equipped with a new type of crossbow.

"May I give it a try?" She only had a superficial understanding of weapons like bows and crossbows and had not studied them in depth.

"Haha, come on, I'll teach you!"

The length of the Shenbi crossbow is three feet two inches, and the string length is two feet five inches.

"Whoosh—" The arrow left the bowstring and shot straight into a tree more than 500 meters away. Xie Ning couldn't help but widen his eyes. The power of this crossbow was comparable to that of a rifle.

Not only does it have a long range, but it also has great power.

Seeing Xie Ning's surprise, Liu Yuanchang stroked his newly grown beard and ordered the soldiers to bring up the other crossbows, including the more powerful Kedi crossbow, with a range of 500 meters, enough to pierce through the enemy's heavy armor.

The crossbow, in particular, had a range of over 1,000 meters.

While bows and crossbows are indeed powerful and have a long range, they also have drawbacks, namely long intervals between shots. Therefore, in combat, three tactics are used to compensate for this: volley fire, focused fire, and overlapping formations.

Xie Ning's eyes held both admiration and regret. Bows and crossbows would eventually be replaced by firearms, that is, guns and cannons, but this was also a crystallization of wisdom.

For several days in a row, the weather was sunny. Xie Ning kept asking herself where she was now, recalling what her father had told her about the distribution of military power and the characteristics of some generals.

Among them was a comment about the commander-in-chief, Li Yu. Xie Wangzhi said that Li Yu was a talented general, but he was narrow-minded and intolerant.

If you encounter a conflict of interest, it's best to back down in minor matters, but in urgent situations, you can't back down at all, or you risk causing serious trouble.

Now that the army is about to reach Lingzhou, Xie Ning felt a tightness in his heart. He still stopped the Grand Steward and the Deputy Grand Steward to tell them about this matter. They were all officials in the court and well-known generals. Surely they wouldn't be so petty?

Liu Yuanchang had a good impression of Li Yu, after all, the other party was indeed very good at leading troops.

But Chief Steward Fu Yao felt a chill in his heart. He also remembered the letter his elder brother had sent him, which also reminded him to be careful of Li Yu.

Although the enemy will not intentionally do anything harmful, on the battlefield, in the struggle for military merit, one wrong step can lead to the annihilation of an entire army.

Fu Yao gave Xie Ning a deep look. "Thank you for reminding me, sir. Only the three of us know about this, so don't worry."

Liu Yuanchang was puzzled. "Grand Steward, she is just a young girl. Although she is quite skilled in medicine, she knows nothing about strategy and military affairs. How can you believe her one-sided story?"

General Li has guarded the western border for many years, achieving numerous military exploits. He understands the northwest best, and his opinion should be paramount in the event of war. Moreover, His Majesty has appointed him as the commander-in-chief of one of the routes... You yourself said His Majesty is far-sighted... Does Lord Xie have a personal grudge against General Li?

Otherwise, Liu Yuanchang wouldn't understand why Xie Ning would secretly speak ill of General Li in front of them.

"How could I not know?" Fu Yao glared at Liu Yuanchang. "The point is, not only did Lord Xie say this, but my brother also said it."

Liu Yuanchang immediately fell silent. Well, he admired the chief steward's older brother, Fu Qing, even more.