Early the next morning, as soon as the sky was bright, Hua'an got up early to put on his armor and prepared to go to the camp to inspect.

"Hey, why is it so cold in the tent, is there a leak." As soon as Hua An got out of the quilt, he felt a cold air.

After carefully inspecting the surroundings of the tent and not finding any air leaks, Hua An put on his armor and walked out of the Chinese army's tent with full doubts.

"It's snowing, it's snowing." As soon as Hua An stepped out of the tent, he saw that the entire camp was immersed in a fairy tale world, the snow on the ground was at least a foot thick, and the snow in the sky was still falling.

The bitter northwest wind blew the goose feather snow into the tent of the Chinese military camp, and a small amount of snowflakes hit Hua An's cheeks directly, making Hua An feel a cold air.

It snowed so thick overnight, which greatly surprised Hua'an's expectations, and the cold air in the air made Hua'an feel familiar.

This feeling happened a few years ago, when Hua An had just been promoted to general and was ordered to protect the Yan State of Chu Pei's envoy to Liaodong, Hua An clearly remembered that the climate in Liaodong was so cold.

But this is Xiquyang, a city on the south bank of Huaishui, how did it become so cold overnight, this is really weird, but, thinking about it carefully, Hua'an also understands that they must have encountered a cold snap that has not been encountered in a century.

"With such a cold day and such a thick snowfall, it seems that the plan to attack Xiquyang will be postponed for a few days." Hua An muttered to himself.

A few steps out of the camp, Hua An bumped into Wang Liu head-on.

Seeing Wang Liu's anxious expression, Hua An hurriedly asked, "Wang Liu." What's the matter in such a hurry. ”

"Big brother, the weather has suddenly turned cold. More than 100 of our soldiers froze to death overnight. Nearly 1,000 people suffered frostbite, and the losses were heavy! Wang Liu hurriedly reported.

"What, so strict." Hua An was shocked when he heard this, looked at Wang Liu, and asked, "Where is the cotton clothes?" Why don't you add cotton clothes to the soldiers? ”

Wang Liu's face was bitter, and he sighed: "Big brother, there is no extra cotton clothes in our army camp at all, and all the soldiers' cotton clothes are equipped according to the standards of the Jianghuai winter climate. Who would have thought that the weather could get so cold all of a sudden. ”

Looking at Wang Liu's face that was a little red from the cold, Hua An sighed and said, "Let all the frostbitten soldiers enter the camp tent, build a few more fires, and let the soldiers bake more fires." ”

"Yes, big brother, I know what to do." Wang Liu answered softly, paused, frowned, and said, "Big brother." It is not a way to let the soldiers hide in the camp tent to roast the fire, Xiquyang is in front of us, and our army cannot launch an attack on Xiquyang without cotton clothes to keep it cold. ”

Hua'an heard this. He nodded and said, "Yes!" However, our army's cotton clothes and other materials are still in the camp in Jiangnan. Nowadays, the roads are covered with snow, making it difficult to walk. It will take at least ten days to come and go, and more than ten days later. Maybe what's going on? ”

"Big brother, we can go to the nearby Yin Tomb and Chengde to raise cotton clothes, and we can raise a little bit of it!" Wang Liujian said.

"Yinling is not far from here, it only takes two days to go back and forth at most, Chengde is a little farther, I am afraid that it will take three or four days to return, Wang Liu, you immediately allocate two thousand men and horses, one thousand to Yinling, one thousand to Chengde, no matter how many cotton clothes are raised, you must return as much as possible." Hua An ordered.

"Yes, big brother, I'll go and prepare." Wang Liu clenched his fists and turned to leave.

Hua An rubbed his cold palms and continued to inspect forward, because the snow was too thick, it was very difficult to walk, and his stride was naturally much smaller than usual.

"Big brother, big brother, big brother." Thunderstorm, Iron Bull and Wang Wu hurried over at the same time.

Seeing that the three of them also had anxious expressions, Hua An hurriedly asked, "What, how many casualties have your subordinates had?" ”

Thunderstorm replied first: "Big brother, our soldiers only have dozens of frostbite, and there is no big problem, but the loss of war horses is large, and hundreds of war horses suddenly feel unwell and have refused to eat, which should be related to the sudden cooling." ”

"What, war horses don't eat." Hua An was shocked when he heard this, and immediately paced anxiously, war horses are important war resources, and hundreds of war horses were unwell at once, how could Hua An not be nervous, and besides, would the rest of the war horses also have such a situation? This is what worries Huaan the most.

As for the reason for the discomfort of the war horse, Hua'an can probably guess that it is due to the hot climate in Jiaozhou, and during the war horse in Jiaozhou, the horse is very unsuitable for the tropical climate, and often sweats.

In order to adapt the horses to the hot climate, Hua'an ordered the soldiers to lose all the thick hair on the horses' bodies, which improved the horse's heat resistance, but also weakened the horse's ability to resist the cold.

After that, in order to return to the capital quickly, Hua'an ordered the cavalry under his command to return to the capital as quickly as possible, the physique of the war horse was damaged, and it was not recovered for a while.

"Big brother, the war horse can't last a few days without eating, what should I do?" Thunderstorm asked anxiously.

Hua An stared at the thunderstorm and said loudly: "Thunderstorm, let your subordinates work harder, weave more straw clothes, put on the war horses, and build a high wall in the northwest direction of the horse shed to block the cold northwest wind, remember, let the soldiers take turns to work to prevent frostbite." ”

"Yes, big brother, I remember." Thunderstorm hurriedly answered, and then turned to leave.

After the thunderstorm left, Hua An looked back at Tie Niu and Wang Wu, and motioned for the two to report the situation.

"Big brother, hundreds of soldiers in our department have frostbitten, and the losses are not big, but most of the soldiers are stuck in the camp tents, and they will get frostbite as soon as they come out, this is not a way!" Tie Niu said first.

"Big brother, our soldiers also have a lot of frostbite, they are all ordered to sentry and stand guard, the soldiers who stay in the camp tent are not frostbitten, but the camp tent is not warm, and the sentry can't be allowed to stand guard in the camp tent!" Wang Wu said in a rough voice.

Hua An paced up when he heard this, paused, and said loudly: "Sentry is dead, people are alive, so you won't be flexible!" Let the soldiers who are guarding take turns to keep watch, change them every moment, and you won't get frostbitten! ”

"Yes, big brother, we remember." Tie Niu and Wang Wu nodded in response.

After a pause, Tie Niu pointed in the direction of Xiquyang and asked softly: "Big brother, with such a heavy snowfall, the soldiers of the Zhao army must be so cold that they can't stand it, if they send troops to attack Xiquyang, maybe they can capture the city in one fell swoop." ”

"No, even if we can break through Xiquyang, our army's casualties must be very large, but I'm afraid that there will be more people who will freeze to death than those who will die in battle!" Huaan shook his head.

In this kind of climate where the weather is extremely cold, the snow is up to a foot thick, and the goose feathers and heavy snow are drifting non-stop, allowing soldiers in thin cotton clothes to attack the enemy's heavily fortified city is tantamount to driving sheep into the tiger's mouth, and Hua'an will not joke with the lives of his soldiers.

"Big brother, big brother." Just as Hua An, Tie Niu, and Wang Wu were talking, Wang San walked over.

Hua An saw Wang San's dusty appearance, and hurriedly said: "Wang San, early in the morning, where did you go?" ”

Wang San hurriedly replied: "Big brother, I saw that the snow was falling too much, so I personally went to Xiquyang to see the movements of Shihu's army." ”

"Oh, what did you find?" Hua An hurriedly asked.

Wang San shook his head and said, "Xiquyang is normal, the soldiers of the Zhao army are holding the city wall without the slightest sign of relaxation, and the Shihu army has no action to attack and escape. ”

"Hey, this Shi Hu is calm, and there is no change in the slightest." Hua Anxin was secretly surprised, paused, and said: "Shi Hu does not move, we will not move for the time being, right now, the cold snap is coming, the biggest mission of our army is to solve the problem of heating the soldiers, we must strictly control the number of frostbitten soldiers, especially the warmth measures of the war horses must be in place, and the soldiers who have been frostbitten must also be treated as soon as possible, and do not let their frostbite worsen." ”

"Big brother, leave this to me." Wang San replied loudly.

"Okay, let's go to the stables first." Hua An said and walked towards the stables in the northern part of the camp, with Wang San, Tie Niu, and Wang Wu following behind.

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In Xiquyang, the soldiers of the Zhao State had the city wall as a support, and there were many houses in the city to live in, so the severe cold felt was much better than the Jin army outside the city, and the soldiers of the Zhao army were all from the north, and they were more able to adapt to the cold weather, and the ability to withstand the cold was not comparable to that of the Jin army.

It's just that those soldiers who were burned by the fire and have not yet recovered are more miserable, their burned parts have fragile skin, and after the severe cold, the burned skin is directly converted into frostbite, which makes these soldiers miserable.

At this time, there were only two days left of the surplus food of the Zhao army, and if they did not break through, they would face the danger of running out of food, and the snow outside the city was as thick as one foot, which was obviously not conducive to the movement of the army, which gave many Zhao generals a headache.

Because the weather was too cold, Shi Hu, the king of Zhao State, had been staying in his big tent of the Chinese army, and from time to time there would be generals going to the tent to report to Shi Hu the casualties of the soldiers under his command, and Shi Hu also nodded, indicating that he knew.

For the breakthrough, Shi Hu and his henchman general Hou Ba had already had a detailed plan, so they were not afraid at all about the imminent exhaustion of military rations.

It's just that the sudden violent cold snap made Shi Hu worry that the boat on the shore of Huaishui would be frozen when docked ten miles north of Xiquyang, so he specially sent Hou Ba to personally lead a team of soldiers to check.

A whole hour has passed, and Hou Ba has not come back, which makes Shi Hu's heart become anxious, although the snow outside the city is very thick, but it will only take half an hour at most to go back and forth, and with Hou Ba's force, even if he encounters the interception of a small force of the Jin army, he has enough ability to escape safely. (To be continued......)