After Su Jiudong learned that some soldiers couldn't bear the burden of carrying heavy grain bags for a long time, so they chose to secretly abandon the grain bags on the side of the road, he no longer had the idea of gossiping and chatting with the little soldiers, and just wanted to quickly find an opportunity to inform Wen Yiheng and Su Fenglan of such an important military situation.

When it was time for dinner, Su Jiudong's pretended military doctor "Xiaodong" would always go to the main account on time to give Generalissimo Wen Yiheng and General Su "please have a safe pulse".

Su Jiudong walked into the main tent, looked around vigilantly, and only after making sure that there were no outsiders nearby did he dare to tell the story that he had heard about the soldiers discarding the grain bags during the day.

"Is there such a thing? The grain and grass are heavy, and losing the grain bag is tantamount to self-defeat! How unreasonable! Su Fenglan slapped the table angrily, wanting to scold loudly, but he was afraid that the soldiers patrolling outside the tent would hear it, so he could only swallow back the scolding words that came to his mouth.

"I've only heard about it, and I haven't had time to check if any soldier really threw the food bag he carried." Su Jiudong's self-deceptive hope was just a venting remark from the soldiers' mouths, and he did not put the act of throwing grain bags into action.

"It's not easy to check?" Su Fenglan was still angry: "Gather everyone directly, and say that you have to carry your own food bag to do weight training, and whoever has no food bag can see it clearly." ”

The more Su Fenglan thought about it, the more angry he became, and he couldn't wait to gather people together to do weight-bearing exercises right now, so that the group of little rabbit cubs could taste the price of throwing away military rations.

"This is not possible." Wen Yiheng did not agree with Su Fenglan's simple and rough punishment method, and said in a deep voice: "If it is so clear, it will only arouse the rebellious psychology of the soldiers. If there is an emotion that does not deal with it and causes everyone to throw away the grain bags, then we can only starve to death in this Gobi. ”

Wen Yiheng called the adjutant Mo Mingshan and instructed: "You find an excuse, and Doctor Su will send some snacks to the soldiers to cool off the heat, and secretly check whether there are really some soldiers who do not have food bags." ”

Su Jiudong immediately took Mo Mingshan to the military doctor's tent to get Huoxiang, and Wen Yiheng and Su Fenglan continued to discuss how to deal with this matter next.

Su Fenglan, who was angry, finally calmed down, and his tone lost the impulse just now: "It's also the old man's negligence." After marching for so long, I couldn't find out that the bunnies were stealing the food bags. ”

Wen Yiheng secretly guarded: "It's not you, General Su, it's wrong for the Holy Lord to let the soldiers carry the grain bags on their own. ”

The soldiers are mainly marching and fighting, and now each person carries more than 200 catties of grain bags on his own shoulder, which has consumed the soldiers' original physical strength.

Before the war started, more than half of the physical strength of the Yin army had been consumed, and Wen Yiheng was worried about whether the future battle would be as smooth as expected.

"At first, the old man had the same opinion as you, and he didn't agree with the Holy Lord's order to let the soldiers carry their own food bags." Su Fenglan's tone was full of heavy helplessness.

"But now that our war horses are lame, and the wooden carts are broken, where are there enough transports to load grain bags? It's not just a matter of letting the bunnies carry their own food bags. This is also a decision that has to be forced by the current situation. ”

Wen Yiheng proposed: "It is better to set up a reward mechanism and tell the soldiers that whoever can keep the grain bags intact to the destination will make a few more notes in the military merit book." ”

The system of accumulating military merits in the Great Yin Dynasty is to look at the number of enemies killed. Kill an enemy and write it down in the military merit book. Accumulate a certain amount and you can get a boost. This is also the only way for the soldiers at the bottom to go up by strength.

In this way, the system of accumulating military merits can effectively motivate soldiers to fight bravely against the enemy. But there are also people who die on the battlefield in order to be able to write a few more strokes in the military merit book and cut off a few more enemy heads.

It is precisely because he knows how difficult it is to make this military exploit, so Wen Yiheng wants to raise the morale of all the soldiers by recording military merits.

"Don't be that troublesome." Compared with Wen Yiheng's "euphemistic" approach to psychologically boost morale, Su Fenglan is more inclined to use punishment to restrain the soldiers: "Tomorrow, the old man will order that anyone who discards grain and grass at will will be punished with fifty strokes of the military stick and cane!" ”

"No, such a punishment will still arouse the dissatisfaction and rebellion of the soldiers." Wen Yiheng retorted: "Many things, the more restrained they are, the easier they are to cause bad consequences. If it is explicitly forbidden, the soldiers will privately come up with another way to deal with it. ”

Su Fenglan didn't say a word about Wen Yiheng's statement, and only asked after Su Jiudong and Mo Mingshan came back from the investigation: "How?" Did some of the soldiers really secretly throw away the grain bags? ”

Su Jiudong replied in a low voice: "The situation of throwing grain bags does exist, but the number of people throwing them is not large. As far as the results of the current secret points are concerned, there should be only more than 60 people who have secretly thrown away, and there are no more than 100 for the time being, so the loss should not be large. ”

Su Fenglan's anger was once again ignited by the ruthless facts: "There are really little rabbit cubs who dare to throw military rations... Tomorrow, the old man will let them know that it is amazing! ”

Su Fenglan, the general of the battlefield, still insisted on his punishment method, and directly announced the ban on littering grain and grass before Wen Yiheng the next day.

After the order was issued, the soldiers really took countermeasures as Wen Yiheng expected, since you forbade me to throw it, then I will secretly throw it at night, or dig a pit on the spot and bury it... I'd rather be beaten to death with a stick than die of exhaustion with a sack of grain.

The soldiers were rebellious by the ban, and the number of people who secretly threw food bags became more and more numerous. The number of soldiers throwing food bags quickly increased from just over 60 to nearly 300. Thirty-nine

Seeing that there were more and more soldiers throwing food bags, the ban issued by Su Fenglan was already in vain.

Su Fenglan saw that the grain bags were losing more and more, and he was anxious, "Zichu, why don't we mention the method of recording military merits you said before to the soldiers?" ”

Now Su Fenglan wants to reiterate the method of "recording military merits" suggested by Wen Yiheng, but it is estimated that the effect is no longer as obvious as it was promulgated at the beginning.

Wen Yiheng shook his head hopelessly, "If you mention it at the beginning, I can't tell if the situation can be better." If I mention it now, I'm afraid it won't stop much damage..."

"How's that to be?" Su Fenglan is now beginning to regret his impulsive move.

"I'm afraid that the weather will get hotter and hotter in the future, and it will be even harder for everyone to walk on the Gobi under the sun, and it will only be more exhausting to carry food bags on their backs..."

Now there is no better solution, Wen Yiheng can only look at the problem from another angle, and said weakly: "Throwing away the grain bag, the soldiers will not be too tired, and it will be regarded as saving physical strength for the future battle." ”

Su Fenglan understood that Wen Yiheng was a self-deceptive comforting word. At present, the Western Route Army led by General Huaihua cannot arrive for the time being, and no one can help them who are trapped in the Gobi, so they can only seek a little comfort from the kind and self-deceptive words.

As the weather became hotter and hotter, more and more soldiers could not bear the scorching sun and carried food bags, and finally more than 20,000 soldiers secretly threw all the food bags they were carrying on their own halfway.

Although the food bags were thrown away, there was still surplus grain and grass to feed the soldiers every day, so they would not starve to death immediately for the time being. And the speed of the march with the food bags thrown was also briefly increased.

However, such a growth rate was to tear down the east wall and make up for the west wall, which could only be used as a temporary rapid march, but it brought great pressure to the protracted battle in the future.

Wen Yiheng led nearly 400,000 troops in the Gobi Desert and marched north for another ten days, and finally could see the Altay Mountains in the skyline in the distance.

Su Fenglan, who was looking at the skyline, had been worried about the grain bag for a long time, and when he saw the Altay Mountains in the distance, he finally showed a slight heartfelt smile:

"The city of Zhuot, the vice-capital of the Sujin Kingdom, is near the Altay Mountains. Seeing Altay Mountain means that we are close to Zhuote City, and it also means that we are getting closer and closer to Baya City, the capital of Sujin Kingdom after Zhuote City, the deputy capital. ”

The appearance of Altay Mountain is undoubtedly exciting, and everyone is happy to finally see a landmark like Altay Mountain, but Mo Mingshan, who is standing behind Su Fenglan, is a "bad guy" who is good at breaking people's cold water.

Mo Mingshan reminded "maliciously" behind Su Fenglan: "Although we are close to Altay Mountain, our soldiers' food bags have been almost thrown away. Even the shoddy grain and grass that was used as a backup for emergencies was left behind. ”

Such bad news is tantamount to a red flag. It's uncomfortable to listen to, but you have to face it and find a way to solve it.

Wen Yiheng finally resorted to a "killer" method in the eyes of the soldiers at this time. Wen Yiheng stood on a large stone that was a little taller, and announced loudly in front of all the soldiers.

"There are very few food bags and grass left in our army today. The city of Zot is so close that it would be tantamount to suicide if we rushed to the past. It is imperative that we get back all the sacks of grain that you have discarded. ”

The soldiers fell into a silent silence, as if they were holding their breath.

“… Yes, about the fact that you secretly threw the grain bag, the prime minister and General Su have long known. The reason why you were not punished was also because I pity you for the hard work of the march. ”

Wen Yiheng looked around at the silent crowd, and finally said the killer idea.

"If anyone can return and bring back the grain bags that were originally discarded, they don't need to record military merits, and they will be promoted directly on the spot."

"Brought back five bags of grain and promoted on the spot to the rank of captain from the ninth grade; brought back ten bags and was promoted to the rank of captain of Renyong on the ninth grade; Bringing back twenty bags is from the eighth rank of the imperial insult captain... And so on, until the Zhaowu captain on the sixth grade. ”

In the face of such a large span of clear promotions, the silent soldiers gradually became restless.

From the bottom soldier to the most basic level from the ninth rank to the German halberd, it is necessary to accumulate 200 military merits, which is equivalent to cutting 200 enemy heads.

Compared with the danger of the enemy's head, the difficulty of returning to find the food bag and bringing it back is only to endure the scorching sun and weight, which is much safer than going into battle to kill the enemy.

The chief of the guard raised his hand and asked: "Generalissimo, a bag of grain weighs two hundred catties." If there is no external force, you can only bring back one bag by relying on human power. So you can't fulfill your promise to bring back more than a bag. ”