Chapter 264 Little Pride
In order to get alcohol, Shen Yuexi initially wanted to collect it from the wine in the military camp.
But when she thought about the outrage at the celebration banquet when everyone opened the wine jars and found that there was only cold water inside, she gave up the idea.
Fortunately, the Qi army had been relatively quiet these past few days, with no fighting between the two armies. This allowed her to calmly try various methods. After trying several, she suddenly remembered that ancient wine was made by fermenting grain. Could Daxiong make alcohol directly from grain?
She tried it with a little grain and was able to collect alcohol successfully.
The universal manufacturing machine is awesome.
Her next goal was to get enough food.
"Let's go to the grain storage valley. There is enough food there for you." Xiao Zhuo took her out of the military camp and headed west, accompanied by a convoy full of empty cans.
To the west of the main camp lay two valleys, each with a single entrance, serving as natural granaries. One was called Xiayuan Valley, the other Jiagu. All the grain shipped from Xiliang was stored in Jiagu, guarded by five thousand soldiers.
Passing through the wooden watchtower and entering the entrance of Jia Valley, Shen Yuexi looked up and saw rows of thatched houses densely packed up along the lush hillside. The soldier opened the door of the nearest thatched house for her, revealing grain bags piled up like a small mountain inside.
Xiao Zhuo said, "The food here is enough to support the expenses of 50,000 troops for three months. Yuexi, you can find food in any thatched hut and use it."
Shen Yuexi asked the accompanying soldiers to unload the containers containing alcohol. She found a thatched house in an open area and asked Daxiong to start making alcohol. Xiao Zhuo went to talk to the general guarding the granary.
After half an hour of work, Shen Yuexi had produced a thousand jars of alcohol. The original carriages were unable to carry this much alcohol, and twenty more were needed. Just then, a Xiliang general named Geng Hong arrived with a grain transport team and was unloading the grain in the valley. Shen Yuexi went to talk to him.
Geng Hong was delighted to see Shen Yuexi and bowed, saying, "Princess, the Queen has instructed me to greet you again and again if I see you."
"Queen?" Shen Yuexi was surprised. "Sister Mei is the queen?"
She looked at Xiao Zhuo who was talking to the garrison commander in the distance. If this person knew that Mei Dai had become king, would he be unhappy? When this person gave Feng Zhang an official title, she wanted Yang Cong to be an official as well, but this person did not agree.
"It's like this," General Xiliang said, "The Queen is the only one left in the Mei family. A country cannot be without a ruler, and Xiliang cannot be without a king, so everyone has supported her as queen. However, the war in Xiliang is intense, and the whole country has not yet been notified."
"Wouldn't everyone have any objections to letting a woman be king?" Shen Yuexi was very curious.
In this era, it is impossible for women to take the imperial examinations. Now Mei Dai has become the Queen of Xiliang. Wouldn't those old people and conservatives who stick to the old ways object?
"The matter of claiming the throne should have been reported to the Emperor first. However, the Emperor has passed away, and the new ruler has not yet been appointed. We in Xiliang are being harassed by the Western Rong in the north, and Yongwei in the south is occupied by the Qi King's army. Now is the time to unite and face this crisis. The Queen is the daughter of the Western Liang King, and she is the only one qualified to do so." Geng Hong's eyes flashed with admiration. "The Queen has led our Western Liang army into two battles against the Western Rong in the north, with one victory and one loss. Everyone feels that she is the only one who can lead us."
Shen Yuexi was both surprised and delighted. From their previous repeated defeats against Xirong, they were now evenly matched. She hadn't expected Mei Dai to be so exceptional. Compared to her father and brother, perhaps Xiliang had truly found their king.
She said to Geng Hong, "General Geng, I would like to borrow twenty carriages from the fleet. I would like to ask your soldiers to help us transport them for a while."
Geng Hong readily agreed and ordered his soldiers to move the goods.
Shen Yuexi passed through the endless stream of soldiers carrying food and fodder, ran down the hillside and came to Xiao Zhuo:
"My dear, everything is ready. I have borrowed twenty carriages from General Geng to help. Shall we take the things back to the camp?"
Xiao Zhuo turned to her and said, "Yuexi, wait a moment." Then he turned back to the defending general and said, "Did you say there were woodcutters passing by outside the valley?"
"Yes, two woodcutters came here to cut wood yesterday, but our soldiers stopped them and didn't let them get close."
"I understand." Xiao Zhuo lowered his head in thought.
Shen Yuexi didn't know why he was lost in thought, so she turned to the defending general and asked, "Did those two woodcutters say where they were from?"
"They said they were from Dongji Town."
"Why are people from Dongji Town coming here to chop firewood?" Shen Yuexi asked in surprise. "If they want to chop firewood, they should go to Baixiu Mountain south of Dongji Town. Baixiu Mountain is nowhere near here."
Hearing this, Xiao Zhuo looked up and smiled at her, "Yuexi, have you also noticed the flaw?"
"Uh...what flaw?" Shen Yuexi still didn't understand.
She is always a beat slow to react, there is nothing you can do about it.
Xiao Zhuo said, "They are spies from the King of Qi, and they are here to steal our food supplies."
Hearing him say this, the defending general was the first to become nervous and asked nervously, "Could it be that the Qi King's army is coming to rob the grain?"
"Rob the grain, or burn it." Xiao Zhuo agreed confidently, "Once the grain here is robbed or burned, it will be an incalculable loss for us."
Shen Yuexi also became nervous after hearing this: "Then what should we do? Should we send heavy troops to defend first?"
The first solution she thought of was to send a large number of troops to defend the granary.
"No, if we send our troops here, it will play into the hands of the Qi King's army. They can use their superior military strength to directly attack our camp." Xiao Zhuo explained to her.
Shen Yuexi recalled what Qiu Liming had told her before, the consequences of dispersing the troops, and felt a headache coming on: "Then what should we do?"
Xiao Zhuo said to the defending general, "Come closer and I'll tell you a countermeasure."
The defending general leaned over to listen, and Xiao Zhuo muttered something in his ear. He could not tell what he was saying, but he nodded repeatedly. Finally, Xiao Zhuo patted his shoulder and said, "Be very careful. The lives of tens of thousands of us depend on you."
The defending general said, "Don't worry, my lord. I will definitely fulfill your mission."
At this time, the Xiliang Army had already loaded the alcohol bottles onto their carriages. Xiao Zhuo said to Shen Yuexi, "Let's rest here until dark, and then we can leave."
Shen Yuexi didn't know why he asked this, but she knew that Xiao Zhuo must have a reason for doing things, so she didn't ask any more questions.
When it got dark, Xiao Zhuo ordered the caravan to leave Jiagu quietly in the dark without lighting, heading north to Xiayuangu, four miles away. Also accompanying them was a caravan carrying grain.
The convoy's movements were all covert, which Shen Yuexi found very strange. Later, she thought about it and understood Xiao Zhuo's intention.
The enemy already knew that Jia Valley was where Xiao Zhuo's army stored its grain. Xiao Zhuo ordered the granary guards to quietly transfer the grain at night, so that even if the enemy attacked, they would be empty-handed.
She felt a little proud that she had grown up and could even guess Xiao Zhuo's plan.
But no one in the long convoy noticed that in a hidden place on a mountain top not far away, two scouts of the King of Qi's army were watching everything happening below.
"Hurry back to camp and inform the King of Qi and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that the Xiao Zhuo army has been alerted and is secretly moving food and fodder at night. The new storage location is Xiayuan Valley."
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