The orderly finally got some food from the room.

Qian Laosan looked at the two cold coarse buns mixed with bran in the stoneware bowl, with a strange expression, and swallowed his saliva for a long time before asking, "...... That's what you've been eating for the past two days? ”

Sun Zhongshan, who was silently planning what preparations to make before the attack, nodded and said, "That's all." It's this bit of food, or the county yamen squeezed it out from between the teeth. You must have seen the situation in the county town full of people fleeing one by one, and there were thousands of extra mouths out of thin air, and the grain in Yixian County was not enough at all. Duanzhou is fighting again, and even if there is food...... he can't say it anymore. He saw the thin, thin arm again.

Qian Laosan grabbed a bran bun that was almost as hard as a stone, and asked in surprise, "What?" Starving to death? ”

Sun Zhongshan buried his head and sighed with a heavy heart.

Qian Laosan froze suddenly. He blinked and looked at Sun Zhongshan, and it took him a long time to react, and the bun in his hand slapped it on the table, scolding: "it!" What is this Yi County Order for? Does he not want to live anymore and dare to let people starve to death in the place! One by one! With his roar, an eight-rank military attache opened the curtain and crashed in, standing at the door and shouting: "Your post is here!" What do you command? ”

"You, take a few people, go and arrest that bastard county order in Yi County for me! What else is the county master's book, all of them have been taken! ”

"Yes!" The officer roared and commanded.

Sun Zhongshan hurriedly stopped the officer, and then explained to Qian Laosan, who was blushing and thick-necked: "You can't blame the Qiao County Order. He didn't expect to encounter such a situation, he was already busy in a hurry, jumping up and down all day looking for food. But he can't help it, there are too many people who flock to the county seat......"

Qian Laosan took a few breaths, ignored his own personal captain, puffed up his eyes and glared at Sun Zhongshan, and asked, "Then, what do you say?" ”

Sun Zhongshan gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sentence from his throat: "The only way at the moment is to use the food in the South Gate camp to save the emergency!" ”

Qian Laosan's face turned pale all of a sudden, he lifted his blindfold, stared at Sun Zhongshan with a pair of triangular eyes, as if he didn't know him, and said in a hoarse voice: "That's military rations." Without the order of the battalion, it is a capital crime to kill the head without permission......

Because he had made up his mind, Sun Zhongshan calmed down instead, stared at his comrades and said: "The matter is urgent, and you can't take care of killing the head, you give an order, let the Nanguan camp open a warehouse for relief." ”

Qian Laosan stretched out his tongue and licked his dry lips again and again, his face turned blue and white and blue, and only after a while did he breathe deeply and said: "I knew that this was the case, I was desperate to win the task of leading the troops to raid at that time...... " He sighed, "Okay, just according to what you said, put the grain." He slowly groped for the silver nails embedded in his belt, and he couldn't tell what the expression on his face was, as if it was infinite emotion, but also like self-pity and sentimentality, and said to himself, "Damn it, even if you don't die this time, you have to peel off a layer of skin......"

Sun Zhongshan said with a smile: "Even if you peel the skin, the first one won't be your turn." ”

Qian Laosan was stunned, and immediately understood the meaning of Sun Zhongshan's words, nodded and said: "You are right, the adults must take responsibility for this kind ......of thing, and if you want to pick up the skin of the adults, you must first pick up the skin of the adults" He smiled and called his own soldiers over and asked them to go separately to inform the officials in charge of the Yixian County Ya and the Nanguan Battalion to come to the barracks for a meeting; poured himself a bowl of freshly brewed hot tea soup, broke the hard bun into the tea soup, and swallowed the soup with the bun. After eating and drinking, he wiped his mouth, saw Sun Zhongshan's eyes lowered and frowned, and he didn't say a word, knowing that he was planning to send troops, so he asked, "The festival is about to snow, and it must be too cold in the mountains, so you need to prepare more warm clothes." There are also dry food, wounded medicine, ordnance, bows, arrows, ropes, and so on, and they should also be prepared. Oh, and by the way, there are hooks to climb the walls, so be prepared a little more. In this way, you make a list to see what you need, and I let Nanguan Daying open a warehouse for you to choose. If you have a lot of things, then you should bring more horses, and carry all the grain, grass and baggage on horses, and when the road is really no longer able to cross the livestock, then change to the people's backs. I'll give you more men to help you get the supplies up anyway. ”

The friend thought about himself so thoughtfully, Sun Zhongshan couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart. He glanced at Qian Laosan warmly and said with a smile: "These are definitely needed." With you, I don't have to worry about that. I'm worried about the guide right now. His fingers tapped lightly on the table, and he thought and said, "I have calculated that I will bring enough food for twenty-five days, one person will have one pound and four taels a day, and one thousand and one hundred people will have more than forty thousand pounds of grain, which will require one hundred and twenty horses to carry it; There are also arrows, tents, medicinal herbs, and other baggage, which also require fifty or sixty horses. Add them up, and you'll have to prepare me with two hundred horses. to serve these two hundred horses, and at least a hundred people; The amount of chewing these people is another ......"

Qian Laosan wrinkled his brows and thought for a while, and said, "A hundred people must be fine, Ma ...... Let the Yixian Yamen try their best to recruit locally, not enough to pull from the camp at the south gate! No matter how much, everything is close to you first, one by one, whether your attack can succeed is the most important thing! ”

"In addition, you must prepare four hundred copper coins and five hundred taels of silver for me immediately."

"Huh? What do you want so much money for? The battle hasn't been fought yet, isn't it too early to reward the soldiers? ”

"No, it's for the guide." Sun Zhongshan said, "I'm afraid that there will be any mistakes or misdirections on the road, so I need twenty guides." I am a lone soldier behind enemy lines, and it is a succession of tough battles, and it is almost like sending me to death, and I am afraid that no one will be willing to do it if I have less money. I'm going to have a first 20 hair, hit Beizheng, and double the reward. ”

Qian Laosan smiled, didn't say anything, only nodded and said: "I'll tell the matter when the meeting is held later, and the horses and people will guide the supply or something, and buy you a complete ...... as soon as possible."

Sun Zhongshan interrupted him and said, "It's not as soon as possible, it's about doing it immediately." I must be ready to stop by the end of the day, and I will set out at the latest hour. ”

"Okay! I'll give the order! Qian Laosan agreed. He was about to greet someone, but Sun Zhongshan said again: "There is another matter. Huo Shiqi, a scholar of Yixian County, is familiar with geography and terrain, and has the heart to serve the country......"

"Who? Who is this Huo Shiqi? ”

“…… The yamen will recruit a guide from Zhang Bang, and Huo will go straight into the yamen with pride, saying that I am willing to lead the heavenly soldiers to surrender this thief and show the majesty of the country. Sun Zhongshan took a sip of the tea soup, and then said with a smile, "Huo Shiqi is the seventeenth uncle." ”

Qian Laosan had a strange expression, his eyes stared at Sun Zhongshan without blinking, and suddenly pointed at Sun Zhongshan and scolded with a smile: "Old Sun, Old Sun, I always thought you were a kind and honest person, I didn't expect you to be a fool!" That's not good, you can't do it alone, I finally got a chance, and I also have to hug the thick legs of adults...... Yes, since Uncle Seventeen volunteered, it is absolutely necessary to greatly praise one by one, and with this incident, Huo Shiqi, a scholar from Yixian County, should take the lead once. The two of them smiled at each other and tacitly agreed.

Qian Laosan thought for a while and asked, "I remember, your daughter-in-law's stepfather seems to be also from the Huo family?" ”

Sun Zhongshan said: "Her father-in-law is Mingxu, who is the sixth in the Huo family, and is the cousin of the seventeenth uncle. My adults and I both call him the sixth uncle. He was also a little implicated in the case of Nanguan Daying last year, and was removed from his post, and has been idle at home for more than a year. Qian Laosan didn't care, why didn't he follow his daughter-in-law and call Huo Liu his father-in-law. He heard Sun Zhongshan mention that Huo Liu and Uncle Seventeen actually had little to do with that lawsuit, and it was because they didn't look at each other with the current Yixian County Commander that they were secretly stumbling. But this little thing is nothing in his eyes now, because he said with a smile: "At present, there are many people who have flocked into the county seat, and there are many things, and the county order has to deal with the official affairs in the yamen, collect grain and grass, and also care for the refugees to cope with the garrison, which is really hard for him." With a sigh, he seemed to be full of infinite admiration for Qiao Zhun who was busy on all fours. But now is another critical time, and the army is about to fight with the Tuqi people when they speak, and there are even more places to be supported by the county order. I think Huo Lun is a usable person, he is an old man in the yamen, he knows the customs and customs of Yi County, and he is familiar with local political affairs. …… In my opinion, this will do, and in the future, the county commander will be in charge of the affairs of the yamen and the collection of grain and grass, and Huo Lun will take charge of pacifying the people and assisting the army. ”

Sun Zhongshan smiled in agreement. How could he not see that Qian Laosan was rectifying Qiao Zhun. The army was dispatched, and the most difficult and error-prone errand was to collect grain and grass people, Qian Laosan said lightly, and pushed Qiao Zhun into the fire pit. However, he didn't sympathize with Qiao Zhun. Who asked this Hun County Order to put small shoes on Uncle Seventeen and Huo Liu? Deserve!

The two of them talked for a long time about their official and private affairs, and Qian Laosan gave several orders one after another, and the county government and the chief officials of the Nanguan battalion also arrived, so they held a temporary meeting in the command post of the military camp.

The meeting was very short, basically when Qian Laosan was talking, crackling and arranging a lot of matters, and then everyone went separately to prepare. The more manpower there is, the faster things can be done, and the Nanguan battalion, which is bent on contaminating Qian Laosan, the upstart of the guard, is even more full of assistance, and by the evening, all the preparations required by Sun Zhongshan have been arranged. Early the next morning, Sun Zhongshan led the team to lead the pack horse and set off in the northwest direction.