Jiang Tangtang raised her hand and put all the medicine into her spatial storage, asking curiously, "Are you recruiting soldiers?"
Lu Shiyan said, "Yes, the military strength in Puzhou is too small to fight against the Western Rong. I suggest that Lord Zhang recruit some refugees to serve as soldiers."
"Recruiting soldiers requires food, right? Do you have that much food?" Jiang Tangtang hesitated for a moment, but still said, "If you don't have enough food, you can take some from me."
Lu Shiyan said, "Not for now. Lord Zhang said he would find a way. I will contact you again if needed in the future."
Jiang Tangtang felt inexplicably relieved and said sweetly, "Okay!"
"You go to sleep first! I have something to do here and need to go out for a bit."
After confiding in someone and her excitement wore off, Jiang Tangtang yawned and went to sleep.
Lu Shiyan went to the Western Rong army camp again.
Among the pile of medicines Jiang Tangtang had just taken out, he discovered a very potent antidiarrheal medicine.
He planned to see if there was an opportunity to put the powder into the food of the Western Rong soldiers tonight.
If successful, it could hold off the Western Rong soldiers for a while longer.
Helian Heng didn't sleep a wink last night. On one hand, he sent people to investigate the surrounding area to see if there were any suspicious people and where the stolen grain had been transported. On the other hand, he subjected the soldiers to severe interrogation to catch the traitors.
After a day and a night of commotion, causing widespread discontent in the military camp, they still couldn't find the traitor.
Just as he was wondering if he was being paranoid and misunderstanding his subordinates, news broke that a large number of soldiers were suffering from severe diarrhea.
Helian Heng immediately dispatched a military doctor to examine the soldiers, who unexpectedly concluded that they had been poisoned. The poison was the laxative they had brought with them on this mission.
Helian Heng was furious. "Interrogate him! Dig three feet into the ground and find the traitor!"
The strategist, his beard twitching, said, "Your Highness, please calm down. This might be an enemy plot. We must not fall for their scheme."
Helian Heng sneered, "You mean the enemy stole our grain from our granaries without us even noticing, and deliberately used a laxative unique to our army to incite infighting among us?"
The strategist forced a smile and said, "Your Highness, it's not impossible!"
Helian Heng said, "If there were no inside agents, how could the enemy have moved our granary without us noticing? Even if it was an enemy plot, there must have been a traitor within the army. If this traitor is not eliminated, we can forget about a smooth war going forward."
The strategist was speechless.
Such a large amount of grain could not have been transported out without an inside agent. But even with an inside agent, the strategist felt it was a very difficult task.
The strategist frowned, then suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "Your Highness, is this related to that gang of thieves?"
When they moved camp, they transported the grain in batches to ensure its safety. One grain delivery team was completely robbed and its entire load was stolen.
The thieves acted swiftly and efficiently, and they have yet to find any clues about them.
Helian Heng pondered for a moment, then said coldly, "Send someone to investigate."
He won't let any possibility slip by now.
The commotion from the Western Rong quickly attracted the attention of Prince Duan and Prince Rui.
Neither side dared to get too close to the Western Rong camp, so they were unaware of the actual situation.
However, after the Western Rong soldiers disguised themselves, they inquired about the thieves everywhere, and every little detail was collected by their men and quickly sent the information back.
Prince Duan asked in confusion, "What did you say? Are you investigating some kind of江湖盗贼 (jianghu daozhe, a term referring to thieves and outlaws)?"
The subordinate replied, "Yes, they said the bandits were extremely brazen and had robbed a whole group of their provisions."
"Why are you only investigating now?" Prince Duan stroked his beard, feeling that this matter was not simple.
"I don't know either, but I heard that the man was extremely skilled in martial arts. The Western Rong soldiers disguised themselves as refugees and searched around for bandits with such good skills, saying they wanted to go and seek refuge with him."
Prince Duan frowned deeply and said, "Could it be that the reason why that scoundrel Helian Heng didn't attack Puzhou is related to that bandit?"
No one could answer him, and there was complete silence below.
Prince Duan said unhappily, "Go, go and investigate quickly, and see what's going on."
He had initially thought that Prince Rui had finally made his move, and he had been happily waiting for both sides to be severely weakened so that he could profit from it! Could it be that he was just being happy for nothing?
Meanwhile, Prince Rui's men were also reporting this news to him.
Like Prince Duan, Prince Rui was also completely baffled, clearly not understanding what the Western Rong army was up to.
The only one who knows the inside story is probably Lu Shiyan.
Taking advantage of Helian Heng's suspicion of an internal traitor, he quickly made arrangements and began recruiting soldiers.
The recruitment method was also very simple and brutal: people would set up a table at each intersection and announce that anyone who signed up for the army would receive ten catties of grain.
At this time, many refugees were already eating tree roots. Ten pounds of grain could keep their families alive, and many desperate refugees immediately signed up to join the army.
While recruiting soldiers, Lu Shiyan also ordered the city walls to be reinforced and various weapons to be manufactured.
The city of Puzhou was bustling with activity, and many people felt they had seen a glimmer of hope. But the grain that Zhang Kui was providing was dwindling.
Besides the need for food to recruit soldiers, the training of these newly recruited soldiers also requires food.
These are refugees, all as thin as bamboo poles. If they are not properly cared for and given more physical training, how will they be able to go to the battlefield?
In addition, food is needed for tasks such as hiring people to forge weapons.
With food supplies dwindling but many places still needing it, Zhang Kui was so worried that he lost a lot of hair.
He had previously taken out all the reserve grain from the government warehouse.
He had already done things like recruiting soldiers without authorization. Anyway, his official career was coming to an end, so he didn't care how he would explain himself to the court in the future.
But as the grain in the official granaries dwindled, he began to panic. If this continued, he would have to use his own private treasury.
But we've already come this far, and if we give up now, all our previous investments will have been for nothing.
He was unwilling to give up just like that.
Amidst the bustling activity in Puzhou, all the farm tools Jiang Tangtang requested were finally made.
Lu Shiyan took time out of his busy schedule to personally escort Jiang Tangtang back to the valley.
Jiang Tangtang has been going to the blacksmith shop whenever she has free time, and has already become close friends with the Li family.
In addition, she also collected scraps from all over the place and recruited talents in iron smelting and other fields.
Many businesses in the city felt that Puzhou was doomed and moved away early. Their hasty departure inevitably left behind a considerable amount of belongings.
Previously, there were no guards or patrols in the city, and these houses had been ransacked by many vagrants and hooligans.
These people broke the locks on the house doors and ransacked the place for food or valuables. But they didn't want anything inconvenient to carry, like chairs, pots, or jars. Jiang Tangtang released the medicine from the space as Lu Shiyan had instructed, which freed up some space for other things.
Jiang Tangtang took these things without any hesitation.
With the addition of the talented people he recruited, she could be said to have reaped considerable rewards.
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