The plank rope bridge was able to allow infantry to pass unhindered in the evening of the same day. Although it was wobbly due to the lack of a fixed cable-stayed cable, it made it temporarily impossible for horses and vehicles to pass. However, if the soldiers on both sides of the strait can be unimpeded, there is no need to worry about the disconnection between the two sides of the strait and the attack of the brute army. The rest is to strengthen the rope bridge so that the carriages and horses can pass through it, and that is only a matter of time.

That night, Wang Yuan held a banquet in the camp on the north bank, and invited Song Jianquan and his generals on the south bank to come to the banquet and discuss the next move. However, when Song Jiangong led seven or eight generals to arrive, Wang Yuan, Li Mi and others, who were greeted at the door of the tent, found that Song Jiangong's expression was displeased, not like the expression after winning the battle.

Several generals who came with Song Jiangong also carried several large baskets of things covered with oilcloth in baskets, and they didn't know what they were. Li Mi, who likes to joke, smiled when he saw this scene: "General Song, could it be that you have captured some treasures of Nanzhao soldiers and horses, and brought them over to open our eyes?" ”

Song Jiangong didn't even answer to Li Mi with a gloomy face, which made Li Mi very embarrassed.

Song Jiangong came to Wang Yuan and saluted with an expressionless face. Wang Yuan smiled and said: "General Song has worked hard, and General Song is the first merit in this battle." Holding the top of the mountain on the south bank was as solid as a rock, killing and wounding nearly 10,000 barbarian soldiers, which greatly dealt a blow to Ge Luofeng's arrogance. I want to go to the imperial court to ask General Song for credit. Tonight, a banquet will be held to entertain General Song, let's enter the tent, let's talk while eating. ”

Song Jiangong frowned and said: "Thank you Deputy Marshal, it is the duty of the deputy marshal to complete the task assigned by the deputy marshal, but I am not happy about this humble position." ”

Wang Yuan smiled: "What's wrong?" Still not happy to win? Do you want to be happy when you lose? ”

Song Jiangong arched his hand and said: "Forgive my subordinates for being disrespectful, and I think that this battle should have been more perfect." Although the soldiers and horses of Nanzhao were killed and wounded nearly 10,000, my soldiers and horses also suffered more than 3,000 casualties. In particular, more than 2,000 of them died not in battle, but because of man-made disasters, which made the general very unhappy. Tonight, he did not come to the banquet, but to ask the deputy marshal who was responsible for the death and injury of the two thousand people. ”

Everyone around was stunned, they didn't know what Song Jiangong was talking about, and they were blunt and disrespectful to the coach, as if they had come to Xingshi to ask for guilt, which made it difficult for several people to accept.

"General Song, the person in front of you is Vice Marshal Wang, be careful when you speak." Liu Dehai shouted in a deep voice.

"General Liu, I'm not right about people, and I haven't said anything ugly yet." Song Jiangong sneered.

Liu Jun stepped forward and shouted: "The surname Song, do you think you have meritorious?" Anyone can do this with a strong bow and a strong crossbow and 15,000 elite soldiers to defend the opposite hill. Don't think you're capable. The deputy marshal doesn't value you, do you have this opportunity? Now it's time to make a lot of nonsense. ”

Song Jiangong said angrily: "You ......"

Wang Yuan shouted in a deep voice: "Don't quarrel, do you still have me in your eyes?" ”

Everyone was busy silencing and bowing their heads, Wang Yuan frowned and said, "I still don't know what you're arguing about?" General Song, can you tell me what's going on? What kind of man-made disaster did you just talk about? I don't quite understand. ”

Song Jiangong arched his hand and said: "The deputy marshal forgives the sin, the humble position was a little abrupt just now, but the humble position is very angry about this matter." Come on, show the things to the deputy marshal. ”

Several generals carrying baskets came and poured several large baskets of things on the flat ground in front of the tent, and everyone saw clearly what these things were by the light of the blazing fire in the two large oil basins, which turned out to be gas masks.

"Lieutenant Marshal, these are all ripped from the faces of the brothers who were poisoned and injured after the barbarian miasma's attack. The deputy marshal had promised before, saying that this thing would definitely resist the poison of the miasma, and he also believed in the deputy marshal's words very much. Therefore, when the barbarians carried out a poisonous attack, the lowly brothers were not allowed to move, and wanted to give the barbarians a surprise attack. But I didn't expect that after the miasma, two thousand brothers were poisoned and injured alive, isn't this a man-made disaster? I knew that this mask was useless, even if it was a way to die in battle, but now it was poisoned alive, who can give an explanation for this matter? Song Jiangong said emotionally.

Wang Yuan was also stunned, it turned out that it was because the gas mask failed to work and he lost 2,000 soldiers and horses in vain, which made Song Jiangong so angry. In fact, Wang Yuan was also shocked, if it was said that more than 100 of the tens of thousands of gas masks would only lose their effectiveness, Wang Yuan would not be surprised. But out of 15,000, there are 2,000 that are ineffective, which is a frightening proportion. There must be a reason for this.

Wang Yuan frowned and stepped forward, reached out and picked up a mask from the ground to look at it over and over in the firelight, and said, "General Song, have you checked the way the soldiers wear masks?" If it is worn in the wrong way and cannot be sealed, it will not be effective. ”

Song Jiangong said: "Deputy marshal, this is absolutely impossible. No less than 100 times in advance of the training, even if someone wears it incorrectly, it will not be more than 2,000 soldiers who wear it incorrectly. Adjutant General Zhang and Adjutant Li can testify that they have been ordered to wear training masks several times beforehand. ”

The two lieutenant generals stepped forward and knelt down and said, "Deputy Marshal Qiqi, General Song really attaches great importance to this matter and has issued many orders. We have also been trained to wear masks more than 100 times according to orders, and my brothers should have mastered how to wear them. ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "I know, I don't believe it's because of the non-standard wear." Then the problem lies in this mask. ”

Wang Yuan looked at the mask in his hand over and over again, weighed it from time to time, and suddenly stretched out his hand to Song Jiangong and said, "Yours should be effective, bring it to me and take a look." ”

Song Jiangong took out the hanging mask from his waist and handed it to Wang Yuan, Wang Yuan weighed the weight of the two masks with both hands, suddenly squatted down and pulled out a dagger to cut both masks, and took out its main accessory - a long bamboo tube containing coke. Cut off one end of two bamboo tubes of the same length and similar thickness, and pour out two coke-compacted carbon cores.

"Sure enough, sure enough." Wang Yuan said in a deep voice.

In everyone's surprise, Wang Yuan stood up with two charcoal cores of different lengths and said: "Bastard, this problematic mask has cut corners, look at this carbon core, it is more than an inch shorter, and the poison filtration effect is naturally too bad." General Song, you are right, this is a man-made disaster, this is the sloppy behavior of someone when this thing was made, causing such a bad result, this is intolerable. ”

The generals gathered around one after another, staring at the two carbon cores, one long and one short, and found that they were really short, and they were all shocked.

"Liu Jun, take apart all the masks and verify the length of the carbon core inside." Wang Yuan said in a deep voice.

Liu Jun agreed and immediately beckoned more than a dozen guards to do it, and after a while, there was a large row of black carbon cores on the ground, which were uneven in length, but each one was one less than the normal carbon core. At this point, there is no doubt that all this is the result of someone cutting corners.

Wang Yuan's face turned pale, and he shouted: "Call Liu Xun straight for questioning." ”

The guards immediately went to call Liu Xunzhi to come, Liu Xunzhi was appointed as the treasurer of the army's supplies, and was busy working in the warehouse behind the camp, when he heard that he was busy with doubts on his face, and saw that Wang Yuan had not yet saluted, Wang Yuan shouted and asked: "Liu Xunzhi, are you guilty?" ”

Liu Xun didn't know why, and said in amazement: "What does Erlang mean?" ”

Wang Yuan shouted: "Mr. Liu, I have a lot of trust in you, and I ordered you to supervise the manufacture of anti-drug miasma masks. You were negligent in your duties and cut corners, and the charcoal core in your mask was seriously insufficient, resulting in the poisoning and death of more than 2,000 soldiers. Looking at the comparison of the length of these carbon cores, what else do you have to say? ”

Liu Xun's face turned pale, and then he understood why the ground was full of dismantled masks and charcoal cores of different lengths, and he picked up these ineffective masks to check them, and fell to his knees with a puff, and said in a trembling voice: "How can this be?" How so? How could such a mistake occur when the old man is conscientious? ”

Wang Yuan snorted coldly: "Mr. Liu, although you are my private person, military law is ruthless. You have made such a mistake, and I can't protect you, Mr. Liu, you have disappointed me so much. ”

Liu Xun said in a trembling voice: "The deputy marshal is angry, the guilty should be punished, and the old man will never deny it." But let me see what the reason is. Because since there are so many defective masks, it means that there may still be defective products in the warehouse and in the masks worn by the soldiers, giving the old decay a chance to find out the defective masks. When this is done, the old man can be punished with peace of mind. ”

Wang Yuan said coldly: "Then you will find the reason, give you one night, tomorrow morning I will know the reason for this incident, and how many of all the masks are defective." But don't you think that it is a crime of merit, more than a thousand lives, hundreds of soldiers are poisoned, crippled and unconscious, this is not something that can be erased by the personal relationship between you and me. ”

"Yes, yes, the deputy marshal is angry, the old man understands things, the deputy marshal doesn't have to mind personal relationships, everything is done according to military law." Liu Xun faced him like ashes, and said in a deep voice.

Wang Yuan waved his hand and said, "Go, come and see me tomorrow morning." ”

Liu Xun agreed in a hoarse voice, and walked away with his body bent.

Wang Yuan sighed, turned back to Song Jiangong and said: "General Song, I will give you an explanation tomorrow morning, don't worry, although Liu Xunzhi is a guest of my Wang family, I will never bend the law for personal gain." ”

Song Jiangong also felt a little embarrassed about this matter, Wang Yuan expressed his attitude, but he was a little embarrassed, scratched his head and said: "Deputy marshal, if Liu Xunzhi can find out the broken masks worn by the soldiers and horses in the army, so that this incident will not happen again in the future, it will also be a crime." My purpose is just not to make such a mistake in the future, not to punish someone. ”

Wang Yuan shook his head and said: "That's not possible, if everyone is like this, who can still fulfill their duties in the future?" If it is his responsibility, I will punish him severely by military law, and behead this person as an example. ”