Reed flower military cotton coat
Chapter 41: Reed Flower Military Cotton-padded Jacket
Chu Huaibei's patrol route this time is opposite to last year. This year, he will first go west to Yingzhou, then go east from the grassland line of Yingzhou to Qizhou and then turn back to Youzhou.
The journey was smooth until we reached the junction of the grassland line between Chuzhou and Bingzhou, where we were suddenly hit by a snowstorm. In just a cup of tea, the biting north wind blew down a sky full of fluffy snow. No one could be seen ten meters away, leaving only a vast expanse of white.
Chu Huaibei made a prompt decision to have the patrol troops camp on the spot and not allow anyone to leave the team and act alone. As the snow continued to fall, the tops of the small tents that had just been set up could no longer withstand the pressure of the snow, and some of the tents began to collapse.
"Put up the collapsed tents, and place a long spear in the middle of the small tent to support the top of the tent. Originally there were ten people in one tent, but now there are twenty people in one tent. Immediately start to dismantle the extra tents." Chu Huaibei had no choice but to let more people gather together first. It would be warmer if they were crowded together.
However, in this weather, the Mongolian army could not appear here for the time being, so it was still relatively safe. With a command, the soldiers quickly dismantled the extra tents. Everyone huddled together and felt a little warmer.
The blizzard lasted all night. The next day, Chu Huaibei dug through the snow to get out of the tent. The sky was still gloomy. Looking up, he saw that the entire area was covered with snow, leaving only small round snowflakes.
No one had eaten since yesterday afternoon. While the snow had stopped, we cleared a place to make a fire and cook so that everyone could replenish their energy.
Chu Huaibei asked his personal soldiers to call everyone out of the tents, stretch their bodies and clean up the area.
"Your Highness! A soldier in this tent is sick from the cold!"
"Your Highness! There are several in this tent too, and one is already frozen unconscious!"
"Your Majesty! We have it here too."
·······
Following the loud reports from his personal guards, Chu Huaibei strode towards the nearest tent, where the unharmed soldiers had already vacated it. Chu Huaibei went inside to see the young soldier, shivering from the cold and running a high fever. He asked his lieutenant to bring her cloak and cover the soldier with it.
Originally, everyone sat on the ground in the tents. This time, when a snowstorm broke out, Chu Huaibei ordered the dismantled tents to be used as padding inside so that everyone could stay warmer whether sitting or lying down. In theory, there wouldn't be a situation where only one or a few people in a tent were frozen to death. Either everyone was fine, or everyone was in trouble.
Chu Huaibei asked them to move all the soldiers who were sick from the cold together so that it would be easier to take care of them. The others started to clean up the area, make a fire, boil water and cook.
"Xue Zhan, Qin Feng, go ask if anyone in the team is deliberately targeting others. Too many people have fallen, over two thousand!"
"Yes, I'll check it out right away." The two also felt that this was the only possibility.
Chu Huaibei looked at these sick people. Most of them had young faces and looked young. If it was really the old hands in the army targeting the newcomers, then when she returned this time, she would adjust the military laws and discipline.
Less than half an hour later, Xue Zhan and Qin Feng exchanged glances. It was obvious that they both cried out for injustice. They all said that they got along well with each other on weekdays and it was absolutely impossible for them to do such a thing. Last night, they had gathered the people who cried out for cold in the middle of several tents to take care of them, and many soldiers could testify to this.
"Reporting to the prince, they all said that they did not target anyone, and many of them surrounded the people who cried out for cold. Many people can testify to this." Xue Zhan replied.
"Qin Feng, what do you say?"
"Your Highness, I feel the same way here. They say that brothers are like brothers in battle, and anyone can take the blame for someone else's misfortune. How could I let my comrades freeze to death here for such a trivial matter?"
"Your Highness! Some soldiers insisted on taking off their cotton coats to give to their sick brothers, and I can't stop them anymore!" Lu Shun hurried over from the sick man's tent and reported anxiously.
"You're so ignorant! Let's go take a look together." Chu Huaibei suppressed his anger and walked quickly over there.
"No one is allowed to take it off!"
"Your Highness! I'm wearing two cotton-padded clothes. It's okay to take off one..."
The soldier who was answering spoke in a lower and lower voice under Chu Huaibei's sharp gaze.
Chu Huaibei signaled his personal guard to return the cotton-padded jacket to him and let him put it on. The soldier was stared at by so many people, so he had no choice but to take off his armor, revealing the old cotton-padded jacket underneath, and slowly put on the new cotton-padded jacket issued this year.
"Wait, let me see the new cotton-padded jacket in your hand." Chu Huaibei suddenly stopped him.
"Yes, Your Highness." The soldier paused while putting on his clothes, then came back to his senses and presented the cotton coat in his hands with both hands.
Chu Huaibei first turned it inside out in his hand, then used two fingers to rub the cotton-filled area back and forth vigorously.
"hiss··········"
"Your Highness!" Xue Zhan and Qin Feng exclaimed, but the next second their eyes turned red with anger.
A large number of fluffy reed flowers were seen floating down from the torn hole, and then blown northward by the strong cold wind. The soldiers were so shocked by what they saw that they could hardly utter a word, and only silence remained.
Looking at Chu Huaibei's stern expression, Xue Zhan and Qin Feng looked at each other and decided not to be the first to break the silence.
Chu Huaibei threw the cotton coat in his hand to Qin Feng, and went into the patient's tent, checking the cotton coats worn by the soldiers one by one. Xue Zhan followed her movements and checked together.
These people only wore one new cotton-padded jacket from this year. Those who didn't get cold either wore two or only wore last year's old cotton-padded jacket. They were either frugal by nature or wanted to ask someone to send it back home after the New Year, so they avoided this disaster.
"Xue Zhan, take 5,000 soldiers and send these sick soldiers back to the nearest Bingzhou. After they are settled, come back and reunite with the main force."
"I obey your command!"
"Qin Feng, while Xue Zhan is away, you need to keep people alert."
"I obey your command!"
An hour later, Qin Feng entered Chu Huaibei's tent carrying a bowl of hot wheat porridge.
"Your Highness, you should have a bowl too. The soldiers outside have already had hot oatmeal porridge." Qin Feng placed the bowl in his hand on the desk beside him.
Chu Huaibei picked up the bowl and drank slowly before speaking: "Qin Feng, I'm a little tired. I'll rest for an hour. Xue Zhan needs to send someone back. Go and help him arrange it."
"Yes, Your Highness, I will not disturb your rest." Qin Feng took the empty bowl, left the tent, and helped Xue Zhan to take care of the sick soldiers.
Chu Huaibei lay on the cold straw mat and cleared her mind for a while. Her previous anger almost burned her sanity. She didn't know whether the King of Zhenbei in the original novel had encountered this incident, and how she would deal with it if she had. But now she just wanted to make a big fuss, the bigger the better. She didn't know who was behind it, but she would naturally find out after the fuss got big.
The Great Xia might be nearing its end. There are people who keep stirring up trouble in the army guarding the border. It cannot be called bad, it is just stupid. The protagonist of the original novel, the third prince, is also not very capable. Why hasn't he sat on the throne and started his peak career yet?
However, in the original novel, after her death, the Mongolian cavalry broke through the border, and the emperor fled to Jianye in the south of the Yangtze River with his people and established his capital there, directly abandoning the area north of the Huai River. The emperor was frightened and fell ill, and died soon after. Later, the third prince turned the tide, rectified the chaotic court, reduced the bloated official system, gradually consolidated power in his own hands, and greatly improved the efficiency of the court.
Later, he personally trained an army and led them to reclaim the city that had been invaded by the Mongols. Although he was almost stabbed to death by Heng Heng, the male protagonist is immortal and he was alive and kicking again soon.
Forget it. It seems impossible to expect the Third Prince to show his might and clean up the government at this stage. She should rely on herself to prove herself. This time, she will definitely get the mastermind off the hook.
By the way, she was so angry that she didn’t send a message to the military camp to let the generals who stayed behind to check. In this weather, if the soldiers on duty outside wore those reed-flowered clothes, they would freeze to death, especially those guarding the beacon tower.
Thinking of this, Chu Huaibei stood up, picked up a pen to write a short message, stuffed it in a wooden mailbox, walked out of the tent, blew a whistle to call the Saker Falcon, tied the mailbox to its feet, touched its head, and shook his arm upwards, and the Saker Falcon spread its wings and flew towards the military camp.
After lying in the tent for less than an hour, Xue Zhan and Qin Feng had already made arrangements for the sick soldiers.
"Your Highness, I have made all the arrangements and will be ready to return to Bingzhou." Xue Zhan said goodbye to Chu Huaibei.
"Well, be safe, I'll be here waiting for you to come back."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will take my leave."
Xue Zhan stood up, turned around, walked towards the team, and jumped on his horse.
"Back to the city."
Five thousand soldiers and more than two thousand patients slowly headed towards Bingzhou.
The remaining soldiers remained silent for several days while awaiting General Xue's return. Clearly, with such a major incident happening, the prince was in a very bad mood. Although the prince always had a stern face, showing no emotion, his aura was now colder than the winter wind and snow. Only General Qin could still speak to the prince normally.
When General Zhongwu Song Shoujie, who stayed behind in Youzhou, received Chu Huaibei's urgent letter, his first thought was "Is he crazy?" He then quickly arranged for people to investigate and immediately wrote a letter to notify General Xuanwei Yang Sui and General Guide Li Guyan.
Even with such a quick response, several soldiers guarding the beacon tower froze to death silently, and were not discovered until their shift was relieved. Initially, they thought they had accidentally frozen to death due to the sudden heavy snow and the cold, but now, seeing that the frozen soldiers were wearing new cotton-padded jackets from this year, everyone was filled with anger and sadness.
After Chu Huaibei met up with Xue Zhan, he continued to patrol eastward. He did not encounter the Mongolian army until he returned to Youzhou. It was rare for a year to be so peaceful.
This year, Mongolia suffered a sudden and severe snowstorm, which crushed many people's tents and froze many cattle and sheep to death in every household. The Mongolian royal court in the depths of the grassland also encountered heavy snow that had not been seen in more than ten years. They were busy with post-snow disaster rescue work and had no time to launch a surprise attack on the northern border.
The first thing Chu Huaibei did upon returning to the barracks was to write a memorial, fiercely recounting the impact of the reed-flowered cotton-padded jacket. He then lamented the difficulty of leading troops, serving his country and his people. Now everyone in the northern border knew about this, and he hoped the emperor would find the mastermind and bring justice to the fallen soldiers. He then sent an urgent military report to the emperor, traveling 800 miles.
The urgent message sentry changed horses along the way and delivered the letter to Fengjing. The people along the way found out that it was an urgent message from the north over 800 miles away. They thought that the Mongolian army was attacking the north and panicked, not knowing what to do. Those who were wealthy were already considering whether to take their whole family to hide in the south.
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