The next morning, the Qi army was in a very low mood because they had no food and supplies, and Zhou Pu was unconscious due to anger.
Xu Zuojiang, whose official rank was lower than Zhou Pu's, thought it over and decided to withdraw from the territory of Xia and return to the border between Qi and Xia first.
The Xia Kingdom is too strange. Although their previous plans had gone smoothly and they had successfully occupied Chushui County, strange things have been happening ever since they entered. Now, their grain supplies have been destroyed and their general has fallen into a coma.
The fact that they still couldn't find out who did it left Xu Zuojiang feeling uncertain, and with the general unconscious, he couldn't make any decisions.
He feared that if they didn't leave soon, none of the remaining 250,000 soldiers would survive.
Therefore, General Xu did not wait for Zhou Pu to wake up, but directly ordered a retreat to the border of Qi, and to make further plans after sending a message to the emperor.
Meanwhile, the Zhao state acted even faster, setting off early in the morning to return to Henghe in Luxi City.
Although Qi Jiguang sent a message to the Zhao Emperor last night, it was impossible for him to receive the news immediately. They didn't even have the tools to cook, and the cook was dead.
The food and shelter of more than 50,000 people became a problem, not to mention that food and fodder were also running out. Even if they went hunting in the mountains, the food available there was simply not enough to feed so many people.
Qi Jiguang thought about it all night and finally decided to return to Zhao first to prepare supplies and wait for news from the Zhao emperor. He simply didn't have the time or energy to investigate whether the mastermind was someone from Xia.
The most important thing now is to appease the troops and find something. If this was done by the Xia people, then their move was too ruthless and too insidious.
They didn't fight openly at all; they first made the two generals lose their composure, so that they would fight without any strategy and would only want to kill each other. If he hadn't reacted quickly and noticed something was wrong, he wouldn't have gone for the kill.
Or rather, if Zhou Pu hadn't been afraid of death, given what had happened between them, one of them would probably have died here today.
Qi Jiguang, riding on his horse, looked back towards the direction of the Xia Kingdom, his eyes filled with surprise and doubt. When did the Xia Kingdom produce such a clever person?
Even Li Xiaochen, the God of War of Xia Kingdom, fought them squarely and used military tactics.
Such underhanded tactics don't seem like his usual methods.
It seems their understanding of the Xia Kingdom is too one-sided, or perhaps the Xia Kingdom is hiding something very deep.
The Zhao army marched very fast because they hadn't eaten breakfast and were traveling on empty stomachs.
They all hoped to reach the nearest county town on the border of Zhao before noon, so they could buy some food and have a meal.
For a time, the borders of the Xia Kingdom were at peace.
Zhao Yingfeng, who was far away in the mountains, had just arrived at the place they had left two days ago, but he did not see Zhao Chenhai and Tiger.
Only a few soldiers were tidying up and cooking.
"Where's that kid Zhao Chenhai?"
Zhao Yingfeng frowned and asked the soldier who was cooking over a fire nearby.
"General, you're back! Young Master Zhao and Brother Hu have gone hunting in the mountains! They should be back soon!"
The soldier cooking looked up and saw the general return. He immediately stood up, saluted, and replied.
"Alright, let's cook, everyone's hungry!"
Zhao Yingfeng nodded. With Brother Hu around, he wasn't worried.
The food had just been prepared when Zhao Chenhai and Brother Hu returned.
"Second Uncle! You're back!"
Zhao Chenhai looked at Zhao Yingfeng with a surprised expression and asked.
"Hmm, where have you been gallivanting off to? Come and eat, we should be able to head into town tonight."
Zhao Yingfeng frowned as he looked at Zhao Chenhai, who was covered in mud, and said...
"I'm going to dig for medicinal herbs! Second Uncle, look, so many herbs! Second Uncle, are we going into the city? Have the other two countries gone back?"
Zhao Chenhai opened the cloth bag on his back like a treasure to show Zhao Yingfeng. It really did contain medicinal herbs, and precious ones at that, such as fifty-year-old ginseng and lingzhi. Then he asked Zhao Yingfeng about the things that happened down the mountain.
"Yes, it should be soon. Once they leave, we can go to Jibei City. Then I'll take you to see how your sister's fiefdom is doing! Where did you get all these medicinal herbs? And so many of them?"
Zhao Yingfeng nodded and explained to him, but he was still somewhat surprised when he saw the medicinal herbs he mentioned. He pointed to the cloth bundle and asked incredulously.
Because it contains many precious medicinal herbs, which are rare even in the palace.
"Hehe! These were all found by Brother Tiger, and I dug them up. I'll give them to my sister when we get back!"
Zhao Chenhai carefully organized the medicinal herbs in the cloth bag, happily making arrangements.
"Okay, you dig it, you decide!"
Zhao Yingfeng composed himself. Since the excavation was already underway, he figured whatever the child said was acceptable. So he nodded indulgently and said...
However, they did not know that Lin Yuxin was no longer in the capital; she had already entered Luxi City.
Lin Yuxin had been riding in a carriage for more than ten days, and her buttocks were almost worn out from the jostling. As soon as they entered Luxi City, she refused to continue.
This group of people were disguised as wealthy merchants in the capital: Li Xiaochen (the merchant), Lin Yuxin (the merchant's wife), Cheng Tinghao (the merchant's son), Qiu Jingfan (the wife's maid), and Wang Yu and Leng Han (the merchant's servants).
However, before entering Luxi City, Leng Han turned towards Jibei City to exchange for Lie Yan.
So now only a few of them are going into the city. The others have split into several teams and gone in several different ways, so they almost never run into them.
"Xiao Fanzi, I'm tired. I want to stay in the best guest room. Go and arrange it!"
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