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Hu Dawei: "We must have been surrounded, but the rescue army sent by the imperial court is not just our way." Isn't the Guan Ning army led by Gao Qiqian over there, there are tens of thousands of horses in his department, and he is the main force of my Ming Dynasty. The main force of our army is only a few thousand, and although more than 1,000 people have been recruited along the way, it is also insignificant in the entire battle situation. Even if there is really a mistake, if the court really wants to investigate it, it has to investigate Gao Qiqian and Guan Ningjun, and it is not our turn to come up. ”

After all, Yang Guozhu is an old man in officialdom, but he saw the feelings of the world clearly, and shook his head with a wry smile: "I'm afraid it's just General Tiger's wishful thinking, don't you also see the results of the last night raid." The Ningxiang Army under the division of Lu Inspector was beheaded by more than 1,000 ranks, and won an unprecedented victory. However, the Guanning army was attacked by the main force of Jiannu, so that the whole army was defeated, and countless grains and grass were discarded. As a result, Gao Qiqian was not trusted by the imperial court, but Inspector Lu was taken back from Shang Fang's sword and removed from the post of secretary of the military department. There is no punishment for the past, and the merit is not rewarded, this court is a traitor, Your Majesty is deceived by others, what is the difference between this and the faint king......"

"Mr. Yang said cautiously, thunder, rain and dew are all graces of heaven, but Lu has no complaints in his heart." Lu Xiangsheng saw that he was becoming more and more unspeakable, and interrupted Yang Guozhu's words.

Since Yang Guozhu had already said this, he simply said it, and said angrily: "Your Majesty trusts the eunuchs' domestic slaves, but he has a lot of precautions against the foreign ministers. There is also this Guan Ning army, and every year the imperial court has to allocate nearly 9 million taels of salary. With such a huge expense, I don't know how many scholars, governors, chiefs and general soldiers have been fattened, and these nine million taels of silver are related to the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people up and down. No matter how badly the Guanning army fights, it must be protected. ”

Lu Xiangsheng and the others were stunned, and then their faces looked depressed.

After a long time, Yang Yanlin said to Lu Xiangsheng: "Jiandou, in my opinion, the statement that Zuo, the magistrate of Qingyuan, asked my army to wait for a few days is just a prevarication, and it cannot be believed." Today, Jiandou has lost ground. Most of the people in the world are people who tend to be inflammatory, and if you want to please Yang Sichang, you naturally refuse to burn your hot stove, so as not to offend Yang Thief. ”

Lu Xiangsheng said bitterly: "I don't care what others think or do. However, at the moment of the great enemy, if you want to come to Zuozhi County, you will not starve the officers and men of our army and even delay the fighters. After all, he has been reading the books of sages all his life, and this kind of ethics should still exist, and we have to trust a person. I first camped in Baoding for a few days, and then went to relieve the siege of Zhending when I got the supply of grain and grass. ”

Yang Yanlin was helpless: "No matter what, without food, there is no way to fight this battle." Nowadays, Hebei is full of Jiannu, and only the two cities of Baoding and Zhending can be replenished, and wait for a while. ”

Tang Wenxing listened to the discussion of the four people next to him, and felt sad for a while, but because of his identity, he couldn't interject.

He was sent by Sun Yuan to be Lu Xiangsheng's personal soldier this time, and his main task was to be a bodyguard. At the most dangerous moment, find a way to protect Lu Xiangsheng and fight his way out of the encirclement. He is still very confident in his luck and character, and in the combat effectiveness of the thirty brothers under him.

Ningxiang Army, when was you afraid of the enemy?

Next, Lu Xiangsheng and the Tianxiong army began a long wait in Baoding City.

During this time, Lu Xiangsheng was not idle, recruited thousands of homeless people, and began to reorganize the troops. In this way, the number of the main soldiers of the Tianxiong Army and the auxiliary soldiers has reached 4,000. Of course, because the vast majority of the troops are new recruits, the combat effectiveness has also dropped sharply.

Although Tang Wenxing has become Lu Xiangsheng's personal soldier, he has never regarded himself as a member of the Tianxiong Army. Anyway, he had already agreed with Lu Xiangsheng that when this battle was over, when Jiannu returned to the north, he and his thirty brothers would still go to Ningxiang Army. Just kidding, the current Tianxiong Army is honest, in his eyes, it is really rotten and it can't be worse, and it is only a little stronger than Guan Ning and other nine-sided border armies, and the Tongning Township Army can't be compared.

Lu Xiangsheng also agreed simply, saying that he would naturally let him go after the occupation. In the end, he also jokingly said, don't say that you Tang Wenxing will return to the Ningxiang Army at that time, and even the Tianxiong Army under a certain command will be handed over to Sun Yuan.

This made Tang Wenxing very happy.

The matter of asking for food from Zuozhi County was not going well, and as soon as he encountered the Tianxiong army urging him, he pushed back and blocked, and in the end, he went directly out of the city, saying that he had resettled the people affected by the disaster.

In this way, the Tianxiong army stayed in Baoding for four days, but not a single grain of grain arrived.

Moreover, the troops were replenished with thousands of new recruits at once, and they could have eaten food for ten days, but there were only two days left. The army, on the other hand, can only eat two meals a day, and the meals are filled with porridge.

It is not a way to wait any longer, and at this time, the holy decree of the imperial court urging the soldiers is becoming more and more severe day by day. The holy decree said that Zhending is the gateway to Shanxi and Hebei, and its strategic position is extremely important. Now that it has been besieged by Houjin Jiannu, if the city is lost, Lu Xiangsheng, Yang Yanlin, Yang Guozhu and other related people should be held responsible.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng couldn't wait any longer, and it was estimated that he would not get any supplements if he waited any longer, so he had to order the army to set off immediately and rush all the way to relieve the siege of Zhending.

As for the food problem, Yang Yanlin volunteered, saying that he was going to run and lie down and dive there, to see if he could talk about it again and get some from him.

Because of the abundant food and grass, the Guanning army, which was high and submerged, had already entered the territory of Zhending one step ahead of the Tianxiong army. However, not a single soldier was sent to fight against Jiannu. The big rout in Tongzhou had already made him and Guan Ningjun frightened.

Now, whenever there is a glimmer of hope, Lu Xiangsheng will not let it go, so he nodded and agreed.

The army walked on the road for three days, and the time had reached the beginning of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, and the cold winter of the ninth count had finally arrived. And the army's food was completely eaten, and each person only had a bowl of gruel a day to hang his life.

On the march on the Bingxue Road, the soldiers were so hungry that they couldn't stand it, and as they walked, some people lay on the snow to pull away the snow, pull out the wheat seedlings buried in the snow, and kept stuffing them into their mouths.

Tang Wenxing was better, and he didn't feel hungry, he was a person who had been forgotten by King Yama, and he was still in good spirits.

But the cavalry under his command were all so hungry that their faces turned blue, and some people complained: "How did this Lu Inspector do it, why can't he even get a grain of grain, I'm so hungry that I'm about to vomit sour water, grandma's, or our General Sun has a way...... The officials of the Ming Dynasty are all very bad. It's just that the superintendent has lost his position, and seeing that his official position is not guaranteed, he refuses to come over to curry favor. If it were the overseers of a few months ago, these officials would be as well-behaved as dogs. The court treats us like this, what are we still fighting? If you really want to go against the fuck, at least you can have a good time. ”

Tang Wenxing shouted angrily: "Shut up, this kind of thing can also be said?" If you want to be a thief, someone will cut you down. ”

The cavalryman said aggrievedly: "What do I do to be a thief, I just feel wronged, let's fight with General Sun well, how happy it is, but I sent such an aggrieved messenger." I'm not even afraid of death, I'm afraid of starvation. It's just that the war horse can't stand it, if it goes on like this, how can it fight? ”

"What's wrong with the warhorse?" Tang Wenxing was shocked.

The cavalry said in a low voice: "War horses need to eat materials to be strong, General Tang forgot, our Ningxiang Army's war horses are protected by good black beans, wheat bran, and dry materials." In the event of a big war, when you need to contribute, you have to feed some eggs and boiled vegetable oil. This Uncle Ma is very expensive, and no one can starve them if they are hungry. One horse eats enough to raise ten strong men. Now, the Taixiong soldiers are starving, and this war horse can only eat green by itself. ”

"Eat green, how can this be done?" Tang Wenxing was furious and turned his head to look. But he saw a cavalryman in the distance leading his horse to the ground. The war horse kept digging the snow with its front hooves, looking for that trace of hard-won green. I can't help but feel sour, this year's war horse is precious, a good war horse, worth a thousand gold, who doesn't treat it as a baby pimple. Now, he endures it like a man.

The cavalry looked worried: "General Tang, it can't go on like this, if the war horse just eats green, it will take four hours just to eat, and how much grass can be found in this cold weather." After eating the sticky snow water seedlings, the horses began to loosen. If we continue like this, we'll all become infantry. You have to think quickly, you really can't do it, ask the overseer for some! ”

Tang Wenxing realized the seriousness of the problem, and was about to go to Lu Xiangsheng, thinking about it, "It's okay." ”

The cavalry was dissatisfied: "What's the matter? ”

Tang asked the governor to sigh: "Supervisor, Inspector, what can he do?" His old man is not like us, he endures a meal of gruel every day. Although the overseer does not say anything, I know the bitterness in his heart. Tell you the truth, the Overseer weeps every night when no one is around. ”

Speaking of this, Tang Wenxing's eyes turned red.

The cavalry was silent for a long time, and only then did one of them kick the snow on the ground in a negative mood and said: "How did this battle come to this, I wonder when I was serving under General Sun, when I ever worried about this kind of thing." Why didn't Inspector Lu become it? ”

Tang Wenxing lost his mind for a while: Yes, how can General Sun get the official position and prestige of the grain capital supervisor who is not much higher than he doesn't know, why is the army starving?

"General, General!" Suddenly, a cavalryman ran over crying: "My tumor, my tumor......"

The so-called tumor is the mount that this man is riding, because the war horse has a bony protrusion on its forehead, so it is nicknamed by its owner.

"What's the matter, talk slowly."

"Tumors...... The tumor was thin for two days, and it collapsed while walking on the road just now...... My tumor, my tumor! The horseman crouched on the ground, covered his face with his hands, and cried aloud.

Finally, there was a dead horse, and Tang Wenxing's heart was cold.

Then, in two days, eleven more of the war horses he brought to the Tianxiong Army died one after another, and those who were alive were all wilted and unable to lift their spirits.

Looking at the thin horse broth, Tang Wenxing directly threw the bowl on the ground.

The horsemen also splashed meat candy on the snow, and these horses were their comrades, their brothers.