The valley in which they camped was very large, but they dug up germinated grain at half the bottom of the valley. There is not much grain dug up in each burial site, only three or five catties, but after thousands of burial points, there are 30,000 stone of military rations buried here, to say the least. At that moment, everyone was talking about it, and they didn't know who buried this military ration. If the Sui army's baggage camp was intercepted, the Goguryeo people would have taken all the grain and grass away. Even if it can't be taken away in a hurry, setting it on fire or burying it in one place is obviously less labor-intensive than scattering it. Why bother digging so many small pits and burying the grain and grass like sowing!

Liu Hongji glanced at Li Jiancheng, grabbed Yu Wenzhong's wrist, and dragged him into the woods. Seeing that he was far away from the soldiers of the food protection team, he pulled out his waist knife with a swipe on the ground, put it on the opponent's neck viciously, and asked in a low voice: "Say, what's going on?" Is there any food and grass left for the army? ”

"General Liu, General Liu, don't, don't...."In terms of martial arts, Yu Wenzhong is not under Liu Hongji at all. But looking at the murderous eyes of the other party, he couldn't even mention the slightest resistance. While saying mercy, he stammered: "Also, there are still them, at least, at least the generals still have them!" ”

"Fart, when will the general run out of food!" Qian Jiulong, the guard of the Li Mansion, was also in a hurry, kicked Yu Wenzhong with one kick, and then stepped on the other party's chest, and scolded angrily: "Until now, you still refuse to tell the truth, believe it or not?" Kill you now, and then turn around and go back to Huaiyuan Town! ”

"Don't, don't" Yu Wenzhong waved his hand again and again, and he didn't know whether to beg everyone not to kill him, or to beg everyone not to turn around and return west. After stammering for a long time, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "When I was ordered to come back to ask for food, the soldiers had already begun to kill the horses. Captains and above can still guarantee two dry meals a day, and the brigade rate and team integrity can only be done one by one! ”

"***, that's still called food. Since it's broken, if your general doesn't withdraw quickly, what are you waiting for? Qian Jiulong was so angry that he smashed his fist on the tree, smashing the waist-thick pine tree back and forth.

"The Nine Route Army is not subordinate to each other. The prison army is only Liu Shilong alone, so naturally everything is decided by Lord Liu. Besides, the Goguryeo people had already surrendered, so everyone had to slowly retreat, in case others saw that the army was short of food, and they had the idea of repenting! Yu Wenzhong got up from the ground and explained in a low voice for his master. Now, he also understands that he can't hide the truth from everyone, so he has to make it clear about the ins and outs of the future like pouring beans into a bamboo tube.

It turned out that before the long-distance attack, according to the practice of fighting in the Central Plains, each soldier carried nearly three stone rations. The soldiers were physically strong, and the army was equipped with pack horses, so it was not a problem to carry this bit of baggage with them. But who knew that the terrain in Liaodong was complicated, and the army could not find a suitable guide, and the road they traveled was either a mountain or a swamp, and on such a difficult road, three stones per person was too much. [Note 1] After two days of walking, some soldiers secretly dug pits in the tents while camping and buried the grain to lighten their loads. Generals at all levels believed that after crossing the Ma Qi water, the army could collect grain on the spot, so they acquiesced to this behavior. As a result, the operation of burying grain became more and more intense, and later, almost every soldier began to take the initiative to reduce the burden on himself.

After the army crossed the Maqi River, it fought successive victories, so that the Goguryeo army did not dare to take the battle. At this time, the military rations were already on the verge of suing Xin, and General Yu Wenshu advocated the withdrawal of the army, but Liu Shilong supervised the army because he let go of the Goryeo Prime Minister E-zhi Wende, fearing that the labor would be useless and he would be used as a scapegoat after returning, so he resolutely disagreed with the withdrawal proposal.

The nine generals had their own opinions, and no one could convince anyone, so they had to obey Liu Shilong's arrangement, take advantage of the victory to cross Sashui, threaten Pyongyang, and prepare to borrow some food from the other side after meeting with the water division of General Laihu'er. Unexpectedly, when the 300,000 troops approached the city of Pyongyang, Laihu'er had been repelled by the Goguryeo people because of his greed for merit and trade, and he could not join the army at the designated place at all. At this time, the Goguryeo people were still strong and cleared the wilderness, and burned all the crops outside the city.

Hearing this, even Li Jiancheng, a noble son who had never fought before, knew that the prospects of the Sui army were not good, so he was so anxious to take a few steps forward and asked loudly: "Then what are you waiting for, either rush into the city in a hurry, or retreat quickly, and slaughter pack horses along the way to deal with it!" ”

"Originally, it was said that he would be put to death and then reborn, but Goguryeo cut the land and sued for peace at this time. Before the expedition, His Majesty had said that once Goguryeo was willing to surrender, he would not fight again. So, the army had no choice but to accept Gao Yuan's peace agreement, pretending to have enough food and grass, and slowly retreated! Yu Wenzhong smiled bitterly and shook his head, he also felt that this crusade was just like a child playing with mud.

"Where are you retreating, before you come back!" Liu Hongji pulled the sheepskin map that Li Xu had worked hard to draw from his own soldiers, pointed to the ink lines on the east and west, and asked incoherently. At this moment, there is no way to scold any bastards anymore, as everyone on his side expected yesterday, the 300,000 Eastern Crusade army pinned all their hopes of survival on this 10,000-stone army ration.

"Liu Jianjun sent an advance envoy to report the victory, and then General Yuwen sent a few small ones back. I ran non-stop for six days along the way, plus yesterday and today, and the whole eight days have passed. According to the speed of withdrawal at that time, the army should have crossed Sashui at this moment and reached this...."Yu Wenzhong whispered his finger on an unnamed hill on the south bank of Maqishui opposite the mouth of Bo Kou.

For eight days, the army has been walking for eight days without the supply of food and grass, and I have to ask God to bless the Goguryeo people to speak credibility and be willing to recognize the alliance under the city! Liu Hongji was so angry that his eyes turned blue, and he wanted to arrest Yu Wenzhong and choke to death with rotten grain. But this is obviously not the time to pursue responsibility, the moment the grain protection team can arrive early, it is possible that the 300,000 army will return a few more people. Moreover, Yu Wenshu and others pretended to be wrong, and the practice of slowly retreating could not be wrong. If this move can really deceive the Goguryeo people, maybe the army still has hope of survival.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly ordered his soldiers to inform the soldiers to cook as quickly as possible, and hurried away immediately after eating. From the grain seedlings that had been dug up, some soldiers had already guessed the reality that the expeditionary force was on the verge of running out of food. Therefore, everyone also understands Liu Hongji's thoughts. Half-baked to get some food to fill his stomach, and then drove the war horse over the mountains.

This area is already the source of Daliang water and Wugu water, and the mountains are quite steep. Halfway through, horses kept stepping on empty stones and breaking their legs, and everyone couldn't care about the distress. The grain was unloaded onto the backs of other animals, and the wounded horses were pushed down the wide mountain road into the deep valley. Listening to the screams of the mount before it died, everyone's hearts were furious, as if it was themselves who were pushed down. At the same time, everyone is looking forward to it in their hearts, hoping that when they climb over this mountain, they will be able to see more than 300,000 robes appearing peacefully in the distant sky. For a while, everyone was not as scared as when they first set off in the morning, although their faces were pale, the movements of their hands and feet did not fall at all.

Everyone hurried desperately for their lives, and in the second half of the night, the brigade finally succeeded in crossing the ridge. Although the mountains in this area are not high, they are one after the other. As soon as I came down the slope, I started to climb another mountain beam. Finally, I came across a slightly gentler mound, and by the moonlight in the first half of the night, I saw a dark camp entrenched on the road that everyone must pass.

"It's here, our own camp! I changed mounts here when I came back! Yu Wenzhong shouted happily, and he wanted to rush up the mountain on his horse, but Liu Hongji grabbed the reins, and he was caught off guard, and the whole person almost fell off the horse.

"Look at the cottage, why don't there be any torches!" Liu Hongji blushed and reminded in a low voice.

Yu Wenzhong was stunned for a moment, and instantly understood that something was wrong. jumped off the warhorse, pulled out a pair of small horizontal knives from his waist, and tiptoed to touch them.

"Someone, raise a torch, unfurl the Great Sui Banner and follow me up the mountain, if someone attacks, immediately return fire!" Liu Hongji jumped off his horse and ordered loudly. If the cottage had been occupied by the Goguryeo people at this time, after this little midnight people shouted horse neighing, the other party would have known that the Sui army was approaching, and Yu Wenzhong would have touched it alone, and it would not have any effect at all.

Immediately, a personal soldier stepped forward and raised the banner for Liu Hongji. The hundred veterans who had been chosen as the vanguard shouted loudly, holding shields in one hand and torches in the other, and scattered into small groups and slowly pressed towards the hillside. To everyone's surprise, no one in the cottage came out to greet the friendly troops, and no one fought back, until Yu Wenzhong's figure rushed to the gate of the village, and there was no movement inside.

"Rush in!" Liu Hongji pulled out his waist knife and jumped into the camp first. The huge camp was empty, and on the ground, the discarded blades reflected the cold moonlight, which made people's hearts shiver. Torches were thrown into the makeshift dwellings made of wood and thatch, and by the light of the rising fires, all sorts of feathered arrows were seen filling the doors, windows, and roofs.

"This has been sneak attacked, and the enemy has withdrawn!" Yu Wenzhong rushed in and turned around for half a circle, ran back and said.

"Inspect the whole camp first and see if there are any traces left!" Liu Hongji ordered in a low voice.

The veterans agreed, and went into the camp separately to search, and after about half a pillar of incense, several gang leaders came back one after another to report, saying that this place had become an empty camp, not only did not have any soldiers stationed there, but not even a single corpse was found.

"Arrange for everyone to enter the camp first, and be careful not to drink the well water here. Later, send someone to search around to see if there is a mountain spring nearby! Although Liu Hongji was suspicious, he still ordered everyone to enter the camp for repairs. If an enemy army is nearby, the Guards must first regain their strength. Otherwise, not only will grain and grass not be transported to the front line, but there will also be a danger that their side will be completely annihilated.

This abandoned camp, though a little shabby, is better than sleeping in the valley. After a whole day of rapid marching, the soldiers were already exhausted, and when they heard the general's order, they immediately entered the camp in turn, and when they fell, there were snoring. Liu Hongji, Li Jiancheng, Li Xu and other major generals were also tired, but they didn't dare to sleep, so after arranging the manpower on duty and sending veterans to explore the nearby movements, everyone gathered in a relatively secluded house and discussed tomorrow's plan in a low voice.

"It depends on the situation, the Goguryeo people have begun to fight back!" Qian Jiulong was the first to stand up and threw out a topic that everyone was always unwilling to face, but had to face.

"If the Goguryeo people near this cottage start to fight back, I'm afraid that Bo Shan Village may not be able to keep it!" Li Jiancheng glanced at Yu Wenzhong, whose eyes were bloody, and said in a very low voice.

Under the siege of people, it was difficult for 1,500 soldiers to hold out behind the wooden walled walls for two days. Since the Goguryeo people have made up their minds to trap the expeditionary force to death, they are bound to win it. According to this inference, even if the grain transport team rushed over, it would definitely not be able to deliver the grain to Yu Wenshu's hands.

Whether to move forward or to retreat decisively, the answer is obvious. But no one wanted to speak first, and whoever proposed a word of withdrawal first, the lives of the 300,000 army would be sacrificed by his own hands. Although even if this little bit of military ration was safely delivered to the Maqi water, I am afraid that the Eastern Expeditionary Army would not have a chance to eat a grain of rice.

Without waiting for everyone to come to a conclusion, Yu Wenzhong knelt on the ground with a "plop", without saying a word, and kept kowtowing to everyone. The ground in the barracks was so hard that in a few strokes he was already bleeding from his forehead. Seeing this, Liu Hongji and Li Jiancheng couldn't say anything about the westward direction of their troops. Reaching out to help Yu Wenzhong stand up, the other party's knees grew on the ground as if they had taken root.

The two sides were pulling and pulling, and when they were at a stalemate, suddenly, the wooden door of the room was kicked open. Brigade leader Li Liang crashed in, I don't know if it was because of surprise or anger, he didn't care about the military salute, he pointed out the window, his face was pale, his lips trembled up and down, and he trembled for a while before he spit out a few words.

"People, people, heads, hurry, go!" After speaking, he opened his mouth, and tears, snot, and the dry food he had eaten in his stomach in the afternoon rolled down at the same time.

Seeing Li Liang shocked like this, everyone knew that something big must have happened outside. He took his hand and walked briskly to the courtyard. Li Liang, who spit out a mouthful of dinner, wiped the stains on his face, finally breathed a sigh of relief, and cried and scolded: "Behind the mountain, behind the mountain and by the river, God-damn Goguryeo mongrel, they are not people, they are not people!" ”

"Don't cry, the military is important. What's going on, take me to see! Liu Hongji let out a low snort to stop Li Liang's crying.

The latter was reminded by someone, and suddenly remembered that this was in the barracks, and most of them were recruits who had never seen blood, gritted his teeth to stop the grief, pulled Liu Hongji's wrist, and pulled it outward. At the critical moment, everyone didn't bother to blame him for being rude, followed him, and stumbled down the hill. In the distance, I heard the sound of running water, and then I smelled a foul smell.

"Raise the fire!" Liu Hongji knew that something was wrong, stood still, and ordered loudly.

Several guards of the Li Mansion who followed them stretched their torches forward at the same time, and by the light of the jumping fire, they saw a huge pagoda, crawling from the base of the tower to the top of the pagoda full of flies and maggots. At the first sight of the fire, the flies were frightened, and a dark cloud rose up, instantly revealing the material of the stupa itself.

It's human heads, hundreds of human heads piled on top of each other. On each head, there is a pair of round eyes.

Note 1: Tang system, one stone for two buckets, today's twenty-four catties. In the Sui Dynasty, the government military system was implemented, and each group had to prepare a total of 6 horses (or donkeys) for transportation, that is, the so-called "six pack horses". Therefore, each person carried three stone of grain, and seventy-two catties was not too heavy to march in the plains.

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