Chapter 144 I'm Not Fooling Around
"Come in and talk." Huo Jiang restrained his smile and restored the dignity of a commander-in-chief of an army.
The cook rushed in holding a wooden ladle, which was covered with vegetable roots and grass residues. It seemed that he discovered something wrong while feeding the sheep.
"General, something bad has happened! There's something wrong with the sheepfold to our east!"
Huo Jiang frowned impatiently, "Oh! You keep saying bad things. Something has happened. Can you please tell me what happened and why it's bad?"
The cook then got to the point, "Just now when I went to add water, I found six sheep lying on the ground. Looking carefully, the other sheep were not doing well either. They all looked listless and were unwilling to eat."
"Some of them are already staggering and are about to faint. I dare not delay and will report this to the general immediately."
Huo Jiang and Meng Chengping exchanged glances, and their expressions became solemn.
Outsiders may not know how important these sheep are to the Northwest Army.
The Northwest Army had to rely on self-sufficiency for almost half of its supplies.
Soldiers guard the border all year round, and they are always bleeding, injured, stressed and lonely.
Huo Jiang thought that at least everyone should be able to eat meat to their heart's content during festivals or after a victory in a battle, so that they could satisfy their appetite and feel somewhat comforted in their hearts.
Therefore, hundreds of sheep were raised in the military camp, and in accordance with the tactic of "a cunning rabbit has three burrows", the sheep pens were divided into four parts: east, south, west and north, and were all placed in relatively inconspicuous places.
So much so that even when the imperial court sent people to inspect, they did not find any sheep in the military camp.
The sheepfold on the east side that the cook mentioned is also the one closest to the edge of the military camp.
Meng Chengping said, "If the sheep are sick, there are usually signs from the beginning, and it won't be contagious so quickly. Could it be..."
He looked at Huo Jiang, "The enemy poisoned us?"
Huo Jiang kept his face gloomy and said nothing, still thinking.
Mu Nanzhao casually played with the bronze wine pot on the table and said, "Although that place is close to the outer fortifications, the possibility of poisoning is almost zero."
Meng Chengping was unconvinced and asked, "Brother Mu, why are you so sure?"
Mu Nanzhao raised his eyes and gave him a look that said "You idiot, can't you think for yourself?"
Huo Jiang pondered and said, "Firstly, no one in my camp has been able to break through silently."
"Secondly, even if there was a spy inside the military camp, there were many places to attack, such as the water cellar, granary, or even the kitchen. Why did he choose to poison the sheep?"
Meng Chengping seemed to be thinking about something, and muttered, "That's right. If they poisoned the sheep, we would not eat it if we saw something was wrong with it. Why would the person who poisoned it take such a risk? It would be useless."
At this time, Gu Xixi, who had been silent, stood up silently.
"General, can I go and see those sheep?"
Huo Jiang turned to Gu Xixi and asked, "Boss Gu, have you thought of something?"
Gu Xixi said, "I'm not good at animal husbandry. If it's an epidemic, it will be really difficult to deal with."
"But if..."
She hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth about her guess, "If there is something wrong with the grass the sheep eat..."
"Impossible!" the cook denied. "I have been feeding the dogs this way since I took over last summer, and there has never been a problem."
Gu Xixi asked, "What do these sheep eat every day?"
The cook said, "In the morning, they eat the grass I cut myself. At noon, they eat the fodder stored in the camp. At night, they eat fodder and bean dregs, plus the vegetable roots and peels they have saved throughout the day."
Gu Xixi frowned slightly, and after a moment, she asked, "Did you eat grass this morning as well?"
The cook nodded and said proudly, "Since the beginning of spring, I have been going outside the camp to cut the freshest grass for them every morning. The sheep are in a good mood after eating it. It was the same last year."
Gu Xixi said calmly, "Maybe the original distribution of grass species around here is indeed fine."
“But plants migrate.”
"Grass seeds are either spread by the wind or carried to distant places by animals."
"There are also activities by our people, which can bring in grass seeds that don't originally belong here."
“As long as the conditions are right, it will take root and sprout.”
The cook scratched his head in confusion, not quite understanding.
Huo Jiang probably understood, "So maybe those sheep just happened to eat the poisonous grass?"
Gu Xixi nodded, "Not ruled out."
"Okay," Huo Jiang immediately pointed at Meng Chengping, "You, take Boss Gu to the sheepfold."
Then he said to the cook, "Go call the military doctor and ask him to see if the sheep are sick."
The cook responded and ran away holding his own ladle.
Gu Xixi and Meng Chengping also wanted to leave, but Mu Nanzhao paced behind them.
He didn't look around, didn't look at anyone, and just said, "If there's fun, I'll go too."
Meng Chengping had already noticed that the atmosphere between the two people was not right, and he didn't want to get involved.
So he just walked in front with big strides, calling it: leading the way.
Mu Nanzhao opened his thin lips slightly and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "The general has already told you that the war is about to start. It will be unsafe here at any time."
Gu Xixi hummed perfunctorily, as low as a mosquito's hum.
Mu Nanzhao continued, "The compensation that the military should give you must have been negotiated."
"I advise you to mind your own business and go back as soon as you're done with the sheep."
Gu Xixi finally turned to Mu Nanzhao and couldn't help sneering.
"I thought so. Paying money to buy off everything is exactly the same style. It seems that you, the master, gave the general the idea?"
Mu Nanzhao did not deny it.
Gu Xixi turned her face back to the front and said coldly, "Unfortunately, I haven't agreed yet, so the deal is not done yet."
"Gu Xixi!" Mu Nanzhao looked annoyed, "Can you please stop making trouble?"
Gu Xixi laughed sarcastically, "You said I was making trouble? Then go tell the general that someone is making trouble in the army and ask him to kick me out immediately."
The two men stared at each other, neither willing to give in.
Meng Chengping looked ahead several times and had to step in to smooth things over. "Well... the sheepfold is not far ahead. Why don't we hurry up?"
On the other side, Huo Jiang sent a few people out and immediately led people to the granary.
If a group of sheep have problems at the same time, unless they are sick, the first thing to check is the forage.
In addition to fresh grass, the sheep in the army also received a daily meal of hay, the same as the war horses.
If there is a problem with the warehouse where the hay is stored, it would be a big deal.
With the war approaching, food and fodder are of paramount importance.
To be on the safe side, it is better to find no problems after investigation than to make any mistakes.
The sheepfold in the east.
The military doctor arrived first.
The cook called him "Mr. Zhao", a middle-aged man with a scholarly air, a fair face and no beard, wearing a faded blue cloth robe.
Mr. Zhao squatted in the sheep pen, examining a sheep that had fallen to the ground.
When Gu Xixi got closer, she heard him mumbling something complaining, "You asked me to check? Am I a veterinarian?"
"I am doing the work of more than a dozen people, and now you want me to treat sheep?"
"That's not what this thief Huo said when he invited me here!"
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