Chapter 114: The Two Armies Go to War
After walking up a few steps, I stopped, thought for a moment, and then went back upstairs a few steps.
He rubbed his eyes, a question arising in his mind.
Was he still half asleep and dreaming? How come there were so many people downstairs when I woke up?
The children Xiao Cui brought were happily licking the crumbs of pastry from their palms in a corner. One of the children seemed to sense something, looked up and met his gaze, and then smiled and spoke to him.
Judging from the lip movements, he should be saying, "Brother, you're finally awake!"
Zhu Mingyue smiled faintly and nodded, finally feeling a sense of reality.
He thought he had been asleep for a while, but he never expected that the two spoiled brats would still be there.
"Bring me two more plates, no, four plates of mutton."
"I'd like a serving of crispy fried pork, and a serving of white radish."
"What's so good about white radish? It's bland and tasteless. It's better to eat duck intestines."
"Ugh, duck intestines are disgusting. You have such a strong palate. Radishes are much better."
While eating hot pot, the two criticized each other's preferences.
Thankfully, it's a divided hot pot, which effectively reduces unnecessary disputes.
For example, those who love white radishes will specifically choose to add them to the mutton soup pot. The white radishes are stewed until they are soft and melt in your mouth. There are also chunks of mutton in the pot. You can sip a bowl of the soup, and the freshness will warm your heart. There is nothing better than having a bowl of this in winter.
For example, those who love duck intestines, like Xiao Cui, will cook them in a hot pot with butter. They only need to be cooked for a few dozen seconds, and then they will be coated in a bright red broth. Just looking at them makes your mouth water.
Of course, there are also dishes that everyone generally likes, such as beef.
Whether it's a clear broth hot pot or a butter hot pot, it's delicious no matter how you cook it. Dip it in the shop's special sauce, and the taste is simply amazing.
Of course, the shop also offers other hot pot soup bases besides these two, such as duck soup, chicken soup, and sour soup. They're just not as popular as these two.
Zhu Mingyue observed for a while and found that many of the customers looked familiar, probably regulars at Mingyue Restaurant, as the tables were full of dishes.
The waiters were so busy they barely had time to breathe, carrying pots and plates. Even the Guan brothers and Xiao Cui put on aprons and joined in.
Zhu Mingyue wanted to help, but so many people below knew him and would try to chat with him. One or two was fine, but he couldn't handle too many people, so he simply went back to the private room and stared blankly out the window.
I was busy until noon, and finally saw off the last table of guests.
Xiao Cui and He An had already undergone countless trials and tribulations, so this level of intensity was no problem for them at all. It was just tough on the kitchen staff preparing the ingredients; their hands were shaking terribly. Xiao Er was on his first day of work, exhausted, his legs trembling, but he dared not complain.
He An was even happier than Zhu Mingyue: "Our hot pot restaurant opened quietly, and it's amazing that it had such a great start!"
Guan Jing was also excited: "My goodness! You must have been sleeping, boss, to find that the place is packed upstairs and downstairs. There weren't many people at first, but then a few more tables came, and then suddenly there were so many people, it's like we planned it all along."
"That's right. Fortunately, everyone was in an orderly manner and no mistakes were made. There's just one thing I'm not sure if I should say it."
Zhu Mingyue glanced at He An, who seemed about to offer his opinion, and opened her mouth: "Speak."
He An: "Beef is really popular, but our shop only has enough for one plate per table at most. Any more than that and we're out of stock."
One of the waiters nodded quickly: "That's right, I told them the beef was sold out, and they complained to me about it."
Zhu Mingyue was also in a dilemma. "In that case, we should go to more butcher shops to buy beef, and it would be best to sign long-term supply agreements." He bit his lip and added, "From now on, let's limit each table to two plates!"
That's all we can do. Even though the Northern Barbarians sent a lot of cattle and sheep to the Li Dynasty, not many were distributed to the various counties. They could only have a small taste, and it wouldn't be easy to get more.
He An counted on his abacus several times; the hot pot shop had made more than twenty-three taels of silver in half a day after deducting costs.
This is a considerable income, though not as much as Mingyue Tower in Shangyang County, but not far off.
After settling the accounts, the sun was already setting when Zhu Mingyue announced another piece of good news: "Everyone worked hard today. You will each receive a 200-wen opening bonus later."
Cheers erupted: "Thank you, boss! We'll definitely work hard!"
No wonder people from outside are eager to work at Mingyue Tower. I heard that Mingyue Tower has the best treatment in the county. Not only are meals provided, but there is also plenty of oil and fat. The salary is high, the manager is beautiful and kind-hearted and doesn't have to worry about anything. They even give out money during festivals.
Now I've seen it for myself. Two hundred coins is several days' wages for other people outside. They just give it out like that. It's really too generous.
...
Human joys and sorrows are not shared. While Ganzhou was still peaceful and prosperous, and wealthy young men in Zhu Mingyue's restaurant were not arguing over a plate of beef, Jizhou was shrouded in a deathly atmosphere.
Several small-scale internal conflicts broke out among the soldiers under constant hunger and high pressure.
Finally, Guan Shao personally intervened and managed to calm the two sides down.
After learning the whole story, I realized that the fight suddenly broke out because of a disagreement.
One side was the pro-war faction, who believed that they should strike at the root of the problem and drive the southern barbarians back to their homeland.
On the other hand, it's quite the opposite. The imperial court isn't even sending grain to Jizhou anymore, so what's the point of them guarding it? Those people in the capital are living the high life, indulging in revelry every night. They want them to risk their lives without paying a single grain of food? Dream on!
Logically, such an incident in a military camp should be dealt with according to military law, but due to the large number of people involved and the urgency of the battle, Guan Jing gritted his teeth and finally compromised.
He knew that many people below him had complaints, and he himself felt extremely angry and saddened by the inaction of the court.
Unexpectedly, his compromise led to the spread of rumors within the military.
There were all sorts of opinions, the most outrageous of which was that the court officials only knew how to enjoy themselves and didn't care about the lives of the soldiers on the front lines. They said it would be better to let the southern barbarians invade and fight their way to the capital, so that they could experience what it's like to have an enemy at the gates.
At first glance, it seems like there's nothing wrong with it; it's just a thoughtless remark made in anger, and shouldn't be taken seriously.
However, most of the soldiers were ordinary people who had never studied literature. They were easily swayed by these words and decided that instead of fighting to the death in Jizhou and not getting any attention from the court, they should just head back home.
Snap—
With a loud bang, inside the general's tent, Guan Shao, his neck red and swollen, pointed at his men and demanded, "Sun Biao, you explain this to me clearly!"
Sun Biao knelt on one knee, head down, and remained silent for a long while before saying in a muffled voice, "This subordinate does not know." After speaking, he turned his head to look in Xie Pei's direction, implying, "Perhaps it came from another camp."
Guan Shao immediately grabbed a teapot and threw it straight at Sun Biao. The teapot hit Sun Biao squarely in the chest and shattered.
Tea was spilled all over the floor, and some tea leaves were also stuck to Sun Biao's face, mixed with the tea and about to fall off, making him look extremely disheveled.
Guan Shao glared angrily: "Don't you dare try to argue with me! How could you even think of that? You made a mistake and instead of reflecting on it, you dare to use someone else as a shield."
Sun Biao's forehead veins bulged. He endured a few heavy breaths before calming down. When he spoke again, he still had the smiling tiger look: "General, please don't be angry. Your subordinate knows his mistake."
"Oh?" Guan Shao turned to look at him: "Tell me, what did you do wrong?"
Sun Biao: "It was because of my poor management. I was exhausted during this period and neglected my soldiers. When I came to my senses, such words were rampant in the camp. They all thought that I was incompetent and could not persuade them. In a fit of anger, I found the person who spread the most rumors and beheaded him as a warning to others."
Guan Shao sneered, "You've got guts, killing your subordinates like that?" He then sat back down in his chair, and after a long while waved his hand, "You've failed in managing your subordinates. Go and receive your punishment."
"Yes!" Sun Biao's lips curled up slightly, but he quickly suppressed it again. The process was so fast that it seemed no one could tell he had smiled, but Xie Pei, who was sitting next to him, saw it all clearly.
Sun Biao turned to take his leave when a deep, slightly hoarse voice suddenly sounded behind him, "General Sun, be careful when walking at night."
What does that mean? Sun Biao paused, frowning slightly in confusion.
Looking back, Xie Pei was staring at him expressionlessly, but Sun Biao interpreted this as a provocation.
He and Xie Pei had always been at odds. Xie Pei had always looked down on him since Xie Pei was just a captain, which made him very unhappy. Later, when they became generals on equal footing, he was even more furious.
Even though the two were at odds, Xie Pei never bothered to speak to him, and they never even argued.
Today was the first time he had spoken to me on his own initiative, and what he said was so cryptic and unclear that I felt a little uneasy. But I quickly suppressed that unease and in the end, I just snorted at Xie Pei and turned to leave, not like I was going to accept punishment, but rather like an arrogant victor.
After everyone left, Guan Shao looked as if he had aged ten years. "Xie Pei, do you think Sun Biao really... really colluded with the Southern Barbarians?"
Seeing that Xie Pei did not speak, he continued, "Sun Biao joined my ranks when he was in his early twenties. Although he comes from a wealthy family in the capital, he is not a good-for-nothing. Although his abilities are inferior to yours, he is not bad either, and he has a lot of fighting spirit when he fights."
“He’s been with me for over ten years! He never stood out in the army, but he’s always been honest and hardworking. I really don’t want to believe it’s true.” Guan Jing sighed.
Xie Pei's tone was stern: "Tolerating his subordinates spreading inappropriate remarks."
Guan Shao: ...
Xie Pei: "He interrogated the Southern Barbarian spies without prior notification."
Guan Shao: ...
Hsieh Pei: "The person who started the spread of the rumors was executed without trial."
Guan Shao silently wiped away a bead of sweat: "Alright, alright, that's enough."
Guan Shao said helplessly that he admitted that as one gets older, one tends to become more emotional. Sun Biao had been with him for a long time, and when Xie Pei said he suspected him of colluding with the Southern Barbarians, he didn't even want to hear the evidence. His first reaction was that it was impossible.
No matter how much he believed it, Xie Pei's evidence pointed to the other side, which was an undeniable fact.
Guan Shao stared at the shattered porcelain shards on the ground: "Let's not talk about him anymore. A fox will always show its tail eventually. I've had people keeping a close eye on his movements. I want to see what he's really up to."
Xie Pei nodded. He had sensed something was wrong as early as when the idea of launching a counterattack was first proposed. After he made his suggestion, Sun Biao was the one who reacted the most strongly. As Guan Shao had said, he didn't stand out much, but he would always say something behind the scenes to stir up trouble and guide other people's thoughts.
At the time, the vast majority of people followed Guan Shao and expressed their support. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he was forced to gradually back down.
But Xie Pei took in all of his words and actions.
Then came the recent widespread negative comments circulating in the military, which are very much in line with Sun Biao's style.
He traced the source and eventually identified Sun Biao's men.
Even if a normal person harbors resentment towards the imperial court, they would not utter such absurd words as letting the southern barbarians into the city and attacking all the way to the capital.
The southern barbarians were ruthless. After attacking Suiyuan, they ordered the massacre of the city. It is easy to imagine what the people would face after attacking Jizhou: nothing more than widespread suffering and displacement.
Aside from the southern barbarians, no one would want this outcome.
Therefore, the intentions of those who spread such remarks are obvious.
Guan Shao then changed the subject: "Luckily you discovered it in time and nipped it in the bud."
Xie Pei frowned: "It's not timely, there are only five days left."
Guan Shao knew the significance of these five days. Five days later, they were destined to fight a desperate battle against the Southern Barbarian army. With such a thing happening at this juncture, how could they have any chance of winning if their morale was unstable?
"I'll try to find a way to get some food, so that the soldiers can at least have a full meal before they go to the battlefield."
Raising grain these days is no easy task.
Last time, he shamelessly begged the Prince of Ningjiang, using his friendship with the Prince of Ningjiang from his youth as collateral, and only then did he obtain a batch of grain to sustain him until today.
But he's too busy taking care of himself to ask for help again.
He did want to use his private wealth, but after decades of serving as an official with clean hands, his meager savings had long since been gone.
Five days later, the Jizhou army, numbering 100,000, dispatched 80,000 troops, fully equipped and ready to go.
Smoke billowed in the air, drums thundered, corpses littered the fields, and blood stained the land.
Twelve days later, a sudden, heart-wrenching cry echoed through the village late at night.
Zhu Mingyue has been unable to sleep for the past two days, tossing and turning, feeling as if a huge, immovable rock is pressing down on her heart, making it hard to breathe.
Upon hearing the crying, my heart began to pound, and my right eyelid twitched wildly. Without even bothering to put on clothes, I immediately grabbed a cloak and draped it over myself.
It was bitterly cold outside, with gusts of cold wind blowing. Zhu Mingyue carried an oil lamp and walked out of the gate, looking thoughtfully in the direction of the village chief's house.
Fifteen minutes later, Zhu Mingyue knocked on the village chief's door.
No one paid any attention, but Zhu Mingyue wasn't annoyed and continued knocking. After a long while, the door opened from the inside, and under the light, Li Zhengming's eyes were red, and his voice choked with emotion: "My older brother is back."
Li Zhengming was always composed, and this was the first time Zhu Mingyue had ever seen him lose his composure in front of outsiders.
His heart skipped a beat, and he asked anxiously, "What happened to Li Zhengyang?"
Li Zhengming stepped aside: "He might... he might not make it."
Zhu Mingyue rushed in. Li Zhengyang's mother was lying by the bedside, sobbing uncontrollably. The person on the bed moved slightly, and upon closer inspection, it was indeed Li Zhengyang.
"I don't want you to achieve great things, I just want you to live a peaceful life!"
The village chief looked much more haggard. When he saw Zhu Mingyue enter, he merely nodded slightly and then turned his back to the others.
Zhu Mingyue turned to Li Zhengming and asked, "What happened?"
Li Zhengming: "My elder brother was wounded in the leg by the Southern Barbarians while fighting on the front lines. There were no medical facilities in the army, so they said they were able to bring him back because of General Xie's influence. But now he has a high fever and is... probably on his deathbed."
Zhu Mingyue stepped forward and patted Li Zhengyang hard on the head: "Li Zhengyang, wake up! Don't sleep!"
Li Zhengyang's mother cried until she was breathless, then looked up in confusion and said, "Mingyue, it's no use, let him go in peace!"
Zhu Mingyue: ...
He was almost laughing out loud with anger. The man was still breathing! They were just waiting for him to die. So Li Zhengyang was injured like this and still insisted on going home just so that his soul could return to his hometown?
Xie Pei's actions were all highly purposeful. Since he had Li Zhengyang sent back, he felt it wasn't just about transporting a corpse.
"Get up, everyone. Find a cart and let's take Brother Zhengyang to the county clinic. Maybe he can still be saved."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
