Chapter 138 Trapped in Qiangzhou
"I'll go."
"No, if Simon's army arrives, it will be difficult to defend Yuanzhou without you in command."
Bai Dalang strongly objected, "Why don't I, my third and fourth brothers and I go together?"
Bai Li agreed. Although the Simon thieves had set up camp a hundred miles away, there was no guarantee that they would run out of food and supplies and send a small force to attack Yuanzhou.
"Well, go ahead. Remember to take my warrant with you. If necessary, you can abandon your weapons to save your life."
"Little sister, you can't talk like that.
Those supplies are the key to winning the battle. How could you ask us to give them up?
Ten of us are no match for one Ba Niu crossbow."
"Why can't I? I made the Eight Oxen Crossbow. Even if I discarded it, I can still make it again. Even the Emperor can't say anything to me."
"But how can you be a marshal when you're being partial and violating military discipline in front of the soldiers?"
Screw the favoritism and abuse of power, Bai Li won’t fall for it.
However, in order not to worry his elder brother, Bai Li didn't dare to say anything more.
"I'm just saying what if, what if it doesn't come to that?"
"If the time comes to give up, we will definitely sacrifice our lives to protect the Eight Ox Crossbow."
Bai Li felt her teeth itching when she heard this. Her brother was so stubborn that she knew she couldn't rely on him.
And her father is also a stubborn person. He feels that sending her brother will be of no use. The father and son are of the same character. If it really comes to that, her brother will just have a few more corpses.
"No, I'll ask Luo Yang to go with you, and you'll have to listen to him then."
"Little sister!"
"That's settled. Otherwise, you guys shouldn't go. I'll ask Luo Yang to go."
"Okay, I can listen to him then. As for whether Dad and the others will listen to me, I can't guarantee it."
"You don't have to worry about this. I will naturally find a way."
Bai Dalang scratched his head, feeling that his sister had seen through his little thoughts and had a backup plan, but he had no choice, he had already tried his best.
Luo Yang, Bai Dalang and a group of five people wore straw raincoats and hats and braved the heavy rain to head to Qiangzhou.
At this moment, on a mountain road at the junction of Qiangzhou and Yuanzhou, Bai Zongren and others were blocked by a landslide. Looking at the road turning into a hillside, they were anxious.
"Brother, it's been raining heavily for three days straight. Judging from the situation, it will take us half a month to reach Yuanzhou."
"No, military orders are as strong as mountains. Our mission is to reach Yuanzhou in one month, but now twenty days have passed and Yuanzhou is still waiting for our supplies."
"The river is flooding, there are flash floods on the mountain roads, and landslides on the official roads. How can we get through?"
"Think of another way. You can't let someone die from holding their urine."
"It seems we have no choice but to dig the mountain, but how can we dig without a pickaxe and shovel?"
Bai Zongze looked at his two brothers and asked a most practical question.
"We are now in the middle of nowhere and have nowhere to buy anything.
Our rations have been soaked by the rain and will become moldy and rot in two days, so we must leave here."
Bai Zongren looked at the makeshift tent, which was packed with carriages. Because the carriages had eight-ox crossbows, which they regarded as more important than anything else, people and horses could only squeeze on the edges, and everyone and horse was soaked.
"Also, people can still carry it, but our horses can't stand being exposed to the rain every day. I'm afraid they'll collapse in a few days."
Bai Zongren has spent half his life in the military, and his horses are his life and death companions. Naturally, he cherishes his war horses and cannot bear to see them suffer.
“Brother, let alone the war horses, even we humans can’t handle it.
"After two days of not getting their clothes and hair dry, several soldiers are starting to feel cold. I hope we don't get a fever tonight."
"Is it that serious? Go collect some firewood and roast it. It should be fine."
"The firewood we picked up was all wet. It took a long time to burn but it wouldn't catch fire. The smoke was unbearable for both people and horses."
"Pick it up and put it next to the fire to dry. It will be dry when the next round of burning begins."
"Okay, I'll take a few people out to collect firewood, and by the way, I'll look for some wild vegetables to dig up. Otherwise, eating wet bread every day will make your stomach uncomfortable."
"By the way, let's see if there are any Chinese herbs like those that Doctor Mu mentioned. I'll dig up some that can dispel wind and cold, boil them up, and give everyone a bowl to drink to dispel the cold."
"Got it, big brother."
Bai Zongze took a few people there wearing straw hats. Bai Zongren looked at the heavy rain curtain and sighed deeply, his brows furrowed so tightly that they could kill a mosquito.
At this time, a soldier who was taking care of the horses came to report.
"Captain Bai, several horses are sneezing non-stop. It looks like they've caught a cold."
"Whoever brings ginger, please slice some ginger to wipe the horse's nose, and then boil a pot of ginger soup for it to drink."
"Captain Bai, there is no ginger."
"Then, give them more hot water to get rid of the cold."
"OK."
The soldier who took care of the horses left, and the cook came to report again.
"Captain Bai, without dry firewood, we can't boil water."
"I know. I've asked someone to pick it up."
"But the firewood we collected was still wet. There was so much water dripping from the tent that I couldn't even light the tinder!"
Bai Zongren was really overwhelmed and rubbed his eyebrows with his hand.
Suddenly his arm touched something in his arms. He took it out and saw that it was a small cloth bag. It must have been given to him by his wife when he was not paying attention.
The day before leaving, Nangong Min asked him to go home and give some instructions, so he hurried back. He didn't even say a few words to his wife, but just told her to take good care of the women and children at home before leaving.
He touched the cloth bag, some were thin and soft, some were hard.
He untied the bag and poured the contents onto a wooden block that he had dragged back to use as a stool. Except for an oil-paper package with the words "herbal medicine for treating colds" written on it, he didn't recognize the other items.
There was a strange cylindrical object among them, and I didn’t know what it was.
However, I seemed to have seen it used to make fire in the kitchen at home. It was given to Aunt Bai by his daughter. It was called a lighter.
He picked it up and fumbled with it over and over again. With a snap, a flame shot up. He was startled and almost threw it away.
He calmed himself down and pressed it again.
Snap!
This time he did not let go, and a cluster of flames shot up, with the flames three inches high.
"Ah! It's fire!"
The cook shouted happily, "That's good! This flame will definitely light it!"
"Then you try it."
"How did it disappear?"
As soon as Bai Zongren let go, the flames went out.
The cook's outstretched hand stopped awkwardly in mid-air. Could it be that the flame also recognized people?
Bai Zongren stuffed something into his hand, pointed to a protruding spot and said to him, "Press here, and release it when the firewood is lit."
"Oh, I'll try."
Snap!
"Oh my! It's amazing!"
"Go boil some water quickly. Make sure it's boiling and warm before giving it to the horse."
"knew."
The cook left excitedly with the fire-starting device. With fire, he could make some hot food to warm everyone up.
The weather was still a little chilly at the end of March, and coupled with the fact that our bodies had been soaked in rain for the past two days, everyone felt like their bones were icy.
If you can drink a bowl of hot soup noodles, you will feel refreshed.
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