Chapter 2302 Making Friends (April Monthly Ticket Plus 17)
Seeing that they had just emerged from the Protectorate, General Guo was afraid his father had done something bad again, so he hurriedly asked, "Master Zhou, why are you here..."
Manbao smiled and said, "We got some clues about the cowpox method, so we wanted to give it a try and asked General Guo for help."
General Guo wanted to know more, but with Lord Zhuang here, there were many things he couldn't say out loud.
Seeing the hesitation on his face, Lord Zhuang smiled and said to Bai Shanzhou: "You just came back, catch up with the two young generals. I will go back first."
Bai Shan immediately asked Daji to send Mr. Zhuang back.
General Guo breathed a sigh of relief and then invited them to the restaurant for a drink and a meal, and to talk.
He poured them tea and asked with a smile, "When did you come back?"
"I've only been back for two days."
That was indeed not long.
General Meng asked them curiously, "Where did you go? It's so chaotic out there right now, even merchants are rarely out and about. Aren't you afraid of running into soldiers and bandits out there?"
"Haven't you almost wiped out all the bandits?"
General Guo couldn't help but say, "That's the trade route heading east, but aren't you going west to find a cure for cowpox?"
Bai Shan said: "We will go north first and then west."
However, Kucha is located in the southwest of Xizhou, so they are indeed offset.
General Guo breathed a sigh of relief. He was actually quite worried that something might happen to them, especially within the jurisdiction of Anxi.
General Guo asked in a subtle way, his father should not have done anything wrong, right?
Bai Shan smiled and mentioned their request for coming here this time, saying, "General Guo has already agreed to our request. I think he will be able to help us find a place and people in the near future."
General Guo fell into deep thought. This matter was actually not difficult. He felt that it could be done without his father. He decided to ask the people in the Protectorate who was in charge of this matter after he returned, and then give them instructions and try his best to help them accomplish this matter.
He also hoped that Zhou Man, Bai Shan and others would finish their business and leave Xizhou as soon as possible. It was not because he did not welcome them, but to prevent them from having conflicts with his father again.
To be honest, he still liked them very much. After all, he had few friends of the same age as him. Apart from General Meng, there were only two other people who could be called friends, and neither of them lived nearby.
It was rare to meet someone his own age who didn't look at him strangely because of his father, nor was he afraid of his father, so he really wanted to make friends.
Especially if the other person seems to have good character and appearance.
Unfortunately, they were not afraid of his father, nor did they look at him strangely, but they were a little bit at odds with his father.
After dinner, General Guo and General Meng escorted the people back to their courtyard gate before mounting their horses and leaving.
After leaving the alley, General Meng looked back and said to General Guo, "It's a pity that there are few medicinal materials in Xizhou City. They don't make many ready-made medicines now. Otherwise, I really want to buy some more from them."
He said, "You've used their hemostatic medicine before. It's better than what we have at home, right?"
General Guo nodded. "Western Province is short of supplies. There's nothing we can do about it. But the food and fodder will arrive in a couple of days. There will definitely be medicinal herbs that the army needs. I'll make sure to allocate more to you later. You can ask them to help you make the medicine."
General Meng was overjoyed. "Good brother, thank you very much in advance. We don't have much medicine with us. The last time Tubo broke through the pass, we injured many people and used up most of the medicine."
General Guo said, "I heard from General Ashina that he will send another group to the south to guard the border, and then ask you to join us in the expedition against Kucha?"
General Meng smiled and said, "General Ashina, whom my father asked to serve, is a vanguard. Although it's dangerous, it's easy to make meritorious deeds. This time, the Western Regions will be basically pacified. You're lucky. Following your father here, you can occasionally fight against the Tibetans and the Western Turks. However, not many people dare to block our Yumen Pass, so there are fewer opportunities to make meritorious deeds."
"Do you want to stay at Yumen Pass?"
"I am the eldest son, and my father still wants to keep me at Yumen Pass so that I can take over his position and continue to guard Yumen Pass in the future."
General Guo Xiao didn't know what he was thinking about, and said with a little disappointment: "I may have to stay in Anxi with my father forever."
There are many opportunities to make meritorious deeds in Anxi, but its importance and prosperity are far inferior to Yumen Pass.
And General Guo's character...
General Meng reached out and patted him on the shoulder, then asked, "By the way, how is the morale of your troops?"
"good."
It's more than okay. Since the arrival of General Ashina, the morale of the army has been greatly boosted.
There might be a general manager present. General Guo had previously promised the soldiers personally that if they captured Kucha this time, everyone would be rewarded according to their merits after the war.
What this sentence means to General Guo is that all soldiers can share the spoils.
The soldiers, who had not had cotton-padded clothes for two years, heard that their morale was high and they all wanted to attack Kucha as soon as possible.
It's rare for their general to be so generous.
General Guo Xiao suddenly thought of something and reined in his horse, saying, "I'm going back to the army."
"Are you looking for prisoners for Zhou Man and the others?"
"The government is busy with the expedition and I'm afraid they may not be able to assist you, so I'm going to take a look."
General Meng knew his concerns, so he did not follow him but parted ways with him.
After Manbao and the others watched the people leave, they turned around and were about to enter the yard when the gate opposite opened. The person who had been looking through the crack of the door immediately jumped out and asked, "You're back?"
Manbao and Baishan looked back at them, their faces puzzled. "Didn't we meet the day before yesterday when we came back?"
The evening before yesterday they came over and said they wanted to celebrate and even had dinner together.
Da Yu laughed awkwardly and immediately pointed at the people around him and said, "We have met before, but you haven't met Batur yet, right?"
He said, "Not long after you left, he came here to give us a message."
Bai Shan said, "Erlang has already told us that he thanks the mayor for his kindness. We will definitely go and thank him if we have the chance on our way back."
When Da Yu heard this, he immediately asked, "When are we returning?"
Manbao said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Maybe next year."
I frowned at the heavy rain. It's not stable outside now. Although the trade route is open, the war is still going on. It's still very dangerous. Who knows when we will encounter the scattered remnants of the army?
Encountering remnants of the army is more dangerous than encountering horse bandits.
And there are always troops coming from Yumen Pass to support them. What if they are mistaken for bandits and eliminated along the way...
I heard that when General Ashina was coming here, he killed all the horse thieves and bandits he encountered without even stopping on the way.
Da Yu and Batur looked at each other and said through gritted teeth, "Next year, then next year."
I hope their skins can be preserved when we return. I just want to escort someone once, but who knew it would take so long? Will the mayor really not skin them alive?
See you tomorrow
The mayor smiled slightly: Yes
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
