When the campfire was lit, Huo Qiyuan told Gu Yuzhi to take off his socks and boots and put them next to the fire to dry. He took out a very small earthenware pot from his bag, scooped up some clean snow water, and put it on the fire to boil.
The earthenware pot was supported by branches, and rice cakes that had frozen into ice blocks were placed on top of it, and the steam was used to gradually warm them up.
When Shu Xiaohan saw the rice cake, she remembered how Gu Yuzhi had struggled to swallow it the previous times, and sighed softly, "If only the young prince had found wheat sooner."
The soil in Xinliang is very suitable for growing wheat. Although the varieties are not as good as those in later generations, it is still perfectly adequate to ensure that the young prince does not have to eat rice cakes that upset his throat when he goes out.
Forced to survive in the wild, Gu Yuzhi now has the added task of finding wheat seeds, and he thinks he's still just a kid, isn't the burden on his shoulders a bit too heavy...?
He sat cross-legged on a tree stump, resting his chin on his hands as he looked at Marshal Huo. Suddenly, he let out a long sigh: "Mr. Huo, during a war, is it really possible to be out in the wild for a long time with nothing at all?"
He felt so tired after just one morning, and he was thinking of giving up...
But before he set off, Chief Secretary Xie had spoken to him earnestly, saying that although he was a child, he was also a prince and the pillar of the people of the northern desert. He could not take advantage of his young age to do things that would disappoint the people.
Gu Yuzhi thought that if he said he wanted to go back to Changzhou, Marshal Huo would definitely agree, but he would definitely be disappointed in him.
He puffed out his cheeks, then sighed like a little adult. The thought that there was still a month left made him feel even more miserable than waiting in the palace for the day he was to set off for the northern desert!
Huo Qiyuan added two more matches and hummed softly while watching the small earthenware pot.
Those days of dominating the battlefield and fighting like a distant memory seem like a lifetime ago.
He said softly, “I grew up in the army. When I was ten years old, the Northern Barbarians invaded, and I volunteered to go into battle to kill them. I thought I was fully prepared for the cruelty of the battlefield, but when I went out of the city to fight, I was still too scared to move by the bloody and cruel scene.”
That was probably the most humiliating time of Huo Qiyuan's life.
The deafening screams filled his ears, and severed limbs were everywhere. He was so terrified by the real carnage that he stood frozen in place, his whole body trembling uncontrollably, and his first instinct was to run away.
Four words filled his mind—it was terrifying!
The real battlefield is not thrilling; it's bloody, and people can die at any moment!
It wasn't until the hot blood splashed onto his face that he truly realized he was on a battlefield, not on a city wall.
But at this moment he had already rushed to the forefront of the battlefield.
The enemy general had already spotted him, shouting that he was the commander's son, and led his troops to try to use him as a breakthrough point to attack Jeonju.
In that battle, almost all the generals of the northern desert surrounded him. He was forced to raise his long sword and scream as he slashed at the enemy. From the initial fear to the later numbness, the blade of the long sword became taut, his tiger's mouth was torn, and he could not even lift his arm before finally breaking through the encirclement and returning to the city.
Huo Qiyuan's eyes reddened, his voice choked with emotion, and his voice seemed distant: "After returning to the city, I learned that my father's closest and most trusted deputy general had died on the battlefield to protect me. He was impaled on a spear by the Northern Di general and stood there outside the city."
“That deputy general also watched me grow up. It was he who strongly persuaded my father to agree to my going out of the city to fight the enemy. He said that I am a descendant of a general and that I would have to go to the battlefield sooner or later. Being young is not an excuse, because the Northern Di people will not let anyone go just because they are young.”
Gu Yuzhi watched as Marshal Huo buried his face in his hands, his shoulders trembling slightly, and his face gradually darkening.
The Marshal Huo he knew was the pillar of the entire prefecture, the god of war in the hearts of the people of Sangchao, an invincible and upright man.
But now, Marshal Huo, alive and well, sat before him, his shoulders slumped, radiating dejection and regret...
Gu Yu felt a tightness in his chest, but he couldn't explain why. He clenched his small fist and asked, "And then what happened?"
"And then?" Huo Qiyuan chuckled self-deprecatingly. "My father led me to the city wall to look at the corpse of that deputy general, listen to the roars and laughter of the Northern Di people, and see the disappointed eyes of my father and the other generals. I finally fainted."
"That night, I developed a high fever, and my dreams were filled with blood, and the corpse of that lieutenant was being carried high..."
Later, Huo Qiyuan experienced many wars, killed countless enemies, and many people around him died on the battlefield, but he always remembered the feeling of his first time on the battlefield.
"Your Highness..." Huo Qiyuan slowly exhaled and said earnestly, "You may think that I am a prince, I don't need to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, I won't encounter such things, or I have made preparations to face any difficulties, but no matter how well you are prepared, you will still feel helpless when you get to the battlefield."
Gu Yuzhi felt a chill creep up his spine. He instinctively pulled his cloak tighter around himself and murmured, "When you went to the battlefield later, were you also afraid?"
Huo Qiyuan gave a soft "hmm": "Yes, of course we can. We can devise strategies to defeat the enemy, but not everything will go as planned, after all, we are dealing with people."
“There are always unpredictable changes in people.” Huo Qiyuan looked at Gu Yuzhi. “Just like when Guard Zhang and his men went to Qizhou this time, even though they made thorough preparations, they were still almost surrounded and killed by the Li Ji Escort Agency.”
Gu Yuzhi listened in a daze, after all, he had never experienced the cruelty of the battlefield.
But when the topic of Qizhou came up, Gu Yuzhi immediately sat up straight, waving his little fists angrily and saying, "Guard Zhang said that the chief镖头 (head镖师, a kind of bodyguard/escort) is dead, and the remaining people have no idea who tipped them off!"
Fortunately, the fire at Li's Escort Agency gave Guard Zhang and his men a breakthrough.
Gu Yuzhi lowered his voice slightly: "Mr. Huo, is this what it means for the battlefield to be ever-changing?"
Huo Qiyuan laughed and poured hot water into the water bag, handing it over: "It's a bit hot, Your Highness. Drink it in small sips, and drink less. I'll go up the mountain later to see if there's any wild game."
Although the purpose was to train His Highness's wilderness survival skills, it was necessary to proceed step by step. If they immediately entered the highest intensity training, His Highness might not even have time to train before being sent back to Changzhou to seek medical help from Imperial Physician Qin to prolong his life.
Upon hearing that they were going hunting, Gu Yuzhi immediately became interested, raising his little hand and saying, "I want to go too! I want to go too! The palace holds a spring hunt every year, but I've never participated before because I'm too young!"
He could only listen to his fifth brother boast every year, and he was really envious.
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