Just when Pang Gang was busy preparing for the army's expedition, Lu Xiangsheng also led 20,000 Xuan soldiers from Tongzhou to Zhuozhou, but ran into trouble.

When Lu Xiangsheng set off, Gao Qiqian gave him only 1,000 catties of grain and grass, 1,000 stones and 160,000 catties of grain and grass seemed to be a lot, but in fact, it was not enough, but according to the consumption of two catties of grain per soldier, the 20,000 army had to consume at least 40,000 catties of grain every day, and even with people to eat horses, the grain and grass allocated by Gao Qiqian was not enough for the army to eat for four days.

When Lu Xiangsheng walked halfway to the army, there was no food, when Lu Xiangsheng urged Gao Qiqian to allocate grain and grass, Gao Qiqian always used the words "no food in the army" to shirk, just like this, Gao Qiqian was full of food and drink every day and hung far behind Lu Xiangsheng, but Lu Xiangsheng was hungry while fighting with a small group of Qing soldiers.

On 11 May, Lu Xiangsheng's troops drove to the vicinity of Baoding, and at this time, Lu Xiangsheng had neither any salary nor any grain or grass.

When he arrived in Qingyuan County, Lu Xiangsheng asked Qingyuan County to prepare grain and grass, but people ignored him at all. For this reason, Lu Xiangsheng wrote a handwritten edict and sent it to the Qingyuan Zhixian, saying: "If it is delayed again, the three armies will be defeated by starvation, and they should be dealt with by military law!" Qingyuan Zhixian Zuo relied on the power of the superintendent army Gao Qiqian, not only still ignored it, but also instigated Gao Qiqian to write a letter to reproach Xiangsheng and said: "Under the fortified city of my Gongtun army, if you don't advance or retreat, how will the major events in the future be helped?" Lu Xiangsheng led the hungry soldiers to Zhending, hoping to get some help. Unexpectedly, Zhang Qiping, the governor of Zhending, saw that Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian had excluded him, and he also closed the city gate tightly and did not let anyone enter the city. The army is about to run out of food, soldiers can only eat one porridge a day, sometimes not even a meal, have to rely on grass roots, bark and very little miscellaneous grains to satisfy hunger, at first Zhang Qiping promised to receive a day's food, but Lu Xiangsheng sent officials to receive food, from noon to dusk, from the east gate to the south gate, do not open the city gate, from the inside of the word: "It is late, only a thousand taels of silver, no food." Then he took the money down from the head of the city.

But in these years, if you have silver, you may not be able to buy food, and Lu Xiangsheng got 1,000 taels of silver but had nowhere to buy food. Some soldiers, with the tacit consent of the officers, divided into small groups at night, quietly left the camp and went to the countryside to look for fodder, and there were robberies and annihilations, so that the common people hated and feared the officers and soldiers more and more. Wherever the officers and soldiers went, the people fled cleaner and farther away.

Because there is no food, it is said that it is often hungry and full, the phenomenon of desertion gradually appeared in the army, the 20,000 army all the way is hungry while fighting with the Qing soldiers, the battle damage plus the deserters, when it arrived in Baoding, the original army of 20,000 people when it first set off was less than 13,400 people.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng began to despair, Gao Qiqian and Yang Sichang relied on the emperor's favor to press on his head like a mountain. He wanted to fight, but he was being hit hard at every turn. The emperor not only did not support him, but was angry with him, and several times strictly reprimanded, demoted him, and almost removed him from his post and recalled him to Yanjing to listen to the inquiry. He was now often in fear, fearing that he would suddenly receive a decree that would dismiss him from his post and interrogate him, and that his chances of serving his country on the battlefield would be in vain. He knows the emperor's temper, who said that something like this would not happen? It was from this time that Lu Xiangsheng's heart was thinking of dying in battle.

Just when Lu Xiangsheng was in a dire situation, Pang Gang was also hurrying to Baoding, this time the army led by Pang Gang had two infantry battalions, an artillery battalion, plus more than 1,000 cavalry, personal soldiers and a baggage battalion of more than 2,000 people, enough for more than 16,000 men and horses.

On the 15th of May, Pang Gang's army had already marched into Hejian Mansion, and at this time, Hejian had been looted by the Tartars many times, and had become ten rooms and nine empty, and there were few people within a hundred miles. As far as the eye can see, there are hungry people everywhere, bones strewn strewn, and all kinds of dead people abound. The rest of the people also had a pair of strange eyes, which was a sign of hunger and dizziness. What made the crowd unbearable was that there were also hordes of people who cut off the flesh of those who had fallen to eat, and abandoned dead babies were everywhere.

At the beginning of encountering such a thing, Pang Gang also ordered to drive away those hungry people who ate people, but then he saw too much of this kind of thing, and he became numb, he was just a mortal, not an immortal who rescued the suffering......

Hao Dayong rode a war horse and walked at the front of the team, looking at the dilapidated villages on both sides of the official road, he sighed and said to a general beside him: "Brother Wei, look at it, this Hejian Mansion is also the ground under the feet of the Son of Heaven, it stands to reason that even if it is not as prosperous as Jiangnan, it will not be so dilapidated, but look at it, what has become of it now?" ”

The general surnamed Wei also shook his head and said, "Yes, the current Da Ming doesn't know what's wrong?" It's getting more and more unseemly, think about it, it's better for us to go to Qingzhou, the people live and work in peace and contentment, although I don't dare to say that the night is not closed, but at least the people can be fed and clothed, and there is still hope for this day, but you can take a look at this Hebei border, tsk......"

The surname Wei always stopped talking about this, some words can be understood by both sides, there is no need to say it too thoroughly, although everyone knows that sooner or later their adults will have to turn their faces with the court, this is already an open secret, but after all, everyone is still under the banner of Daming.

Speaking of this, seven or eight figures suddenly appeared on a hillside in front of them, running desperately towards the team.

The vigilant Hao Dayong hurriedly shouted: "All be on alert!" ”

Following Hao Dayong's order, the team behind him immediately stopped, and dozens of foot soldiers led by him had already begun to load their rifles, ready to shoot at any time.

Soon, Hao Dayong saw a few figures who reported to him, it turned out that these were seven or eight ragged and unkempt women, and there were dozens of people chasing after them, and a woman who ran to him immediately shouted loudly: "Master Jun, save us, they ...... They're going to eat us! ”

With the shouting, these women had already run in front of Hao Dayong, knelt down with a puff, and cried loudly: "Master Jun, save us, they are going to eat us!" ”

Hao Dayong looked at the dozens of people who chased in front of him who were still holding wooden sticks and other things in their hands, although they were also looking at the dishes, but they looked fierce, and they didn't know what was going on.

It's not like he hasn't seen the tragedy of cannibalism along the way, but most of them eat dead people, and it's the first time he's seen eating living people like today. In a fit of rage, Hao Dayong pulled out the longbow hanging on his back, and shot the arrow on the bow.

With a "whoosh", the slender bow and crossbow with a cold light pierced the chest of the hungry man holding a wooden stick at the head, and the hungry man suddenly fell to the ground, and the sound of falling to the ground was as good as a broken sack falling from a high place.

"Fence them all up, and don't let any of them go!" It seems that Hao Dayong is really angry.

"Boom, la, la......" hundreds of sergeants immediately rushed forward and lifted up the dozens of hungry people.

"Put your weapons down, or you'll be killed!" As the sergeants shouted, the dozens of hungry people threw their hands to the ground, they raised their hands, and their frightened eyes kept flashing among the sergeants.

The rescued women were stunned by Hao Dayong's arrow, and knelt in front of Hao Dayong with a puff, kowtowing and crying: "Master Jun, don't kill me, don't kill me!" ”

Hao Dayong sighed, glanced at the general beside him, dismounted and helped the woman led by him and said softly, "Get up, we are officers and soldiers, not bandits, and we will not harm you." ”

After speaking, Hao Dayong looked at the women in front of him and found that they were all young people, without old people and children, but it was normal to think about it, the easiest people to die in such a world were the old people and children, and only young people with strong bodies could survive.

"This damn world!" Hao Da scolded in a low voice, looked at the general manager surnamed Wei next to him, and the surname Wei took out a piece of hard stuff and a kettle from the cloth bag on his waist and handed it to the woman.

"It's flatbread!"

A voice of surprise sounded among the women, and then the women immediately screamed, and the people were about to start a snatch for the cake.

"Stop!"

Seeing that the women were about to pinch each other over a piece of bread, a loud shout rang out, and a young general came over, and the general came to the women, with an indescribable majesty on his face, which immediately frightened the women.

The person who came was Pang Gang, and I saw Pang Gang glaring at Hao Dayong and asking, "Hao Dayong, what is going on, why did the centaurs stop?" ”

When Hao Dayong saw the comer, he hurriedly stood up and gave a military salute before saying: "Huge people, it's like this, when I came here, I found that these women were being chased by these victims, it turned out that they were going to capture and eat these women, and they ...... when they saw it."

Hao Dayong told Pang Gang about the situation, and after hearing this, Pang Gang stared at the women in front of him and asked, "Is this the case?" ”

"Yes, Master Jun, they're going to eat us!"

Several women saw that the young military master's official was obviously older than the military master just now, and immediately told everything about it. It turned out that they all fled from Hebei, and their families died along the way, leaving only their group.

I didn't expect to meet these hungry people today, these hungry people who were dizzy immediately had a bad intention to catch them all and eat them, and it was also their fate that they met Pang Gang's army when they desperately fled, otherwise they would inevitably be hungry......

(To be continued)