Chapter 558 Moral Bottom Line
Youzhou, Shanggu Commandery, Zhuolu County
Speed is of the essence in war. After Qin Heng and Sun Ming finished their discussion, he went to assemble the troops, leaving Sun Ming and the others here to have a good meal and replenish their strength.
An hour later, on the way back to Yanmen,
Two teams of Pingzhou soldiers marched silently in the snowy night.
The soldier at the front used a small shovel to clear the way, and quickly cleaned and adjusted any unevenness to make it easier for those behind to move forward.
Sun Ming, Qin Heng and others walked in the middle, and at the end were soldiers pushing carts and wheelbarrows.
Sun Congyi looked at the small shovel in the hands of the soldier in front of him and marveled at it, and looked eager to try it out.
Sun Ming looked at this scene in a trance. It was the first time he experienced what Pingzhou speed was. The efficiency was too high.
"General Sun, we are the advance team. The tools the soldiers brought will help us transfer the wounded." Qin Heng and Sun Ming said.
"Um, General Qin Heng, aren't you taking any food?" Sun Ming explained a little embarrassedly, "The imperial court is running out of food, and there isn't much left at Yanmen."
Qin Heng replied, "We've brought enough dry food for two meals. Tomorrow morning, a supply team will deliver a batch of food to Yanmen and Daijun."
The amount from Yanmen is a little less, just enough for the entire army to eat for three to five days, and the amount from Daijun will be supplied continuously.
They had just discussed that the Sun family army would retreat first, and the Pingzhou army that took over would use three days to cover their retreat and inflict a heavy blow on the Xianbei.
When the entire team reached a fork in the road, a team of 300 people was separated, led by Sun Congyi and assisted by Le Lin, and headed towards Dai County.
After all, only Sun Ming and others know about the change of camp. Sun's eldest son and second son, and even the entire Dai County, are still unaware of it, so Sun Congyi needs to go and notify them.
At five o'clock in the morning, they returned to Yanmen.
Their rotation this time was secret, so the noise needed to be as small as possible.
As the team leader, Yuan Datou had to remind those noisy kids, "Listen up, everyone, enter the village quietly and don't make any noise for me!"
Bang!
A burly man appeared behind him and whispered, "Who are you, old man?"
"Brother..." Yuan Datou looked at his sworn brother, feeling aggrieved.
Looking at this scene, the soldiers below were all laughing and shrugged their shoulders.
"Okay, get to work!"
Zheng Hu was a captain in the Sun family army. He would always remember the experience of guarding Yanmen in the third and fourth years of Tianhe.
In the late summer and early autumn of the third year of Tianhe, the Sun family army marched north to fight against the Hu people. Those months were truly the most difficult years of his military career. Food and fodder were scarce, and there was a shortage of winter supplies. The entire situation seemed hopeless. He was also injured at the time. At one point, he thought he would die in the spring of the fourth year of Tianhe.
Everything changed on that cold night. He was wearing the thickest clothes he had, covered with a thin blanket, and slept uneasily despite the cold. Then he was woken up at five o'clock in the morning.
He opened his eyes and saw the familiar Shangguan Muye, "General?"
Makino motioned him to be quiet, "Shh, don't talk, get up, pack your belongings, we're moving."
Move? Where to? Zheng Hu was puzzled, but he obeyed and got up with his help. He didn't have much belongings, so he packed up his bedding in one go.
Then, outside the camp for the wounded, he saw countless vehicles parked in an orderly manner, including wheelbarrows and carts covered with straw, and the wounded were sent to the vehicles one after another.
General Mu brought him to a wheelbarrow and said, "Lie down on it." Then he brought a blanket and said, "Cover yourself up, don't get cold."
Zheng Hu was full of doubts.
His doubts were not answered until he reached his destination.
After seeing that the wounded were all taken to the vehicles, Makino ordered an evacuation.
The wounded lay on carts, pushed away by their healthy comrades. They had very few belongings, and they took almost all of them with them.
When Makino saw this scene, he inexplicably felt a little ashamed.
Ma Jin waved his hand and said, "Let's go, let's leave the rest to us."
In the silent snowy night, they moved quietly.
Southland
When Xie Zhan received the imperial decree appointing him as the Grand Commander of the Army, all his subordinates were overjoyed.
Xie Zhan was calm. He now commanded several large armies, so it didn't matter whether he was given the title of Grand Commander or not. There were no additional benefits.
The army to encircle and suppress the King of Jin has set out, led by Dong Guowei.
Xie Zhan will then go to the East China Sea. To the north of the East China Sea are the Pingzhou soldiers led by Qin Zhao. They have been keeping their troops inactive for some time, making it unclear what their intentions are. He is worried that Dong Guowei will not be able to cope with it.
Before that, he wanted to talk to Dong Jichuan.
Dong Jichuan was a capable person, and he wanted to use him for his own purposes.
So he asked someone to invite Dong Jichuan.
When Dong Jichuan arrived, he and Xie Zhan were the only ones in the outer study.
Xie Zhan asked him to sit opposite him.
After Dong Jichuan sat down, Xie Zhan personally poured him a cup of tea and said, "Prince Cheng has been executed. What are your plans next, Mr. Dong?"
Dong Jichuan stretched out his right hand, put his five fingers together, and knocked the table three times with his fist facing downward.
Facing Xie Zhan's question, Dong Jichuan pondered for a moment and said tentatively, "Master Xie, to be honest, after this incident, I feel very tired. I just want to go back to my hometown to recuperate for a while and then think about the future."
Xie Zhan paused while sipping his tea and sighed, "Mr. Dong, I understand you may be feeling a little discouraged. But the Xianbei barbarians are now full of ambition, and rebellion is rampant in our country. I am determined to drive them out and put down the rebellion. You have the talent to help the world, so I beg you to help me and restore a bright and clear sky to the people of Dali."
"Thank you for your praise, General. I am not talented enough and have little knowledge, so I am not worthy of such a big task." Dong Jichuan waved his hands repeatedly.
He knew that Xie Zhan wanted to recruit him, but he didn't really want to join his team.
During the few days when he was invited to the Xie Mansion as a guest, he seemed to have nothing to do, but in fact he had already thought about the current situation in his mind, and by the way, he also took a look at the leaders of various forces.
First of all, there is their Dali Emperor Song Mo. His practice of abandoning his ministers is really disheartening.
Although Xie Zhan is very capable, his reputation is somewhat mixed.
Although he had never been to Pingzhou, the lord of Pingzhou, Lü Songli, had a good reputation and showed considerable ability. One could tell from the development of Pingzhou that he had steadily and steadily built a strong presence.
Although Xie Zhan returned to the court and was now appointed as the Grand Commander of the Army, he also held great power in the court.
As a subordinate, deep down, I still expect my superiors to have a higher moral standard.
"Sir, please do not underestimate yourself. The country is in crisis. Please have mercy on the people of the world."
This hat was a bit too big, so Dong Jichuan could only emphasize that he had no interest in a career in politics or making great achievements, and just wanted to live a carefree life.
"Thank you, General. A forced melon is not sweet, especially for counselors like me. You should understand this principle." Dong Jichuan reminded and refused implicitly.
When the Xie and Zhao families were exiled to the south, the Chen family, one of the six major families, forced him. What was the final outcome?
If he forced himself to be a counselor, he might end up following the same path as the Chen family.
Xie Zhan saw that he was determined and could only give up. "Well, but the country is in chaos right now. Mr. Dong, please stay in the South for now. If you ever change your mind, send someone to let me know. I'll be waiting for you."
After Xie Zhan finished speaking, he picked up the tea. He would never let Dong Jichuan leave because he might run to Pingzhou. He wanted to kill this possibility in the bud.
Dong Jichuan was helpless about this and said, "Thank you, Governor, for your understanding."
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