The Eastern Route Army led by Wen Yiheng was delayed for nearly ten days in the Hanhai Metropolitan Protectorate. No matter how fast and slow the road was, by the time we arrived at the city of Xishou, it was already three days later than the expected arrival time.

Su Fenglan, who had already arrived at the support of the West Surrender City, and the capital protector and champion general of the West Surrender City all went out of the city to greet him.

Yun Mulin rode a high-headed horse and walked proudly in front of Wen Yiheng, leading a mighty army of nearly 200,000 troops into the West Surrender City, and directly camped in the city.

Because of Yun Mulin's presence, Su Fenglan did not dare to rashly recognize Su Jiudong. He could only wait for the moon to be dark and the wind was high, avoiding Yun Mulin's attention, and then he found Wen Yiheng's main tent to meet Su Jiudong.

As soon as the three of them met, they talked about the matter discussed earlier about attacking the capital of Sujin.

Su Jiudong was the first to speak: "I privately thought that this attack on the capital of Su Jinguo was impossible. Not only is the probability of success not high, but if you are not careful, you will be constrained by the enemy, become a prisoner, and then become a bait that will be used to blackmail and exchange interests with our DPRK. ”

Su Fenglan is a battle-hardened veteran, and of course he understands that this move cannot be done. Wen Yiheng, who is well-read, naturally understands this truth.

However, the two of them invariably showed a sad look.

"As early as when the court was deliberating, your father and I persuaded the saint like this. But the saint still insists on going north, and the king's order cannot be violated, and we can only do it. ”

Su Fenglan, who had always maintained his head high in front of the soldiers, finally showed a weakness in front of the closest people like Su Jiudong and Wen Yiheng.

Although he knew that he might lose this attack on the capital of Su Jinguo, Su Fenglan still had a different heart to boost the morale of the soldiers, and before waiting for the arrival of the Eastern Route Army led by Wen Yiheng, he shouted against his will all day long.

"On the first day after I arrived in Xishou City, I had already sent a letter to the saint and tried my best to advise, but the reply I received a few days ago almost didn't make the old man angry..."Su Fenglan carefully took out Emperor Tianduo's reply from his arms and handed it to Wen Yiheng.

"What does the letter say?" Su Jiudong anxiously leaned in front of Wen Yiheng to probe, "What the hell is this idea?" To say that we are so worried about the problem of transporting grain that we let the 600,000 troops each carry 200 catties of dry rations? ”

"It's really a ghost idea!" Su Fenglan finally had the opportunity to scold: "Even if each person carries two hundred catties of dry food, it can only support it for two months." If you want to conquer Sujin Kingdom in the north, how can you do it in just two months..."

Wen Yiheng also complained: "Before leaving, the saint specially instructed me that after attacking Baya City, the capital of Sujin Kingdom, if there is a chance, immediately capture King Arislan of Sujin or Xiangguo Dalantai... Thinking about it now, it does mean a lot of whimsical meaning. ”

Su Fenglan didn't want to think about it anymore, so he changed the subject: "By the way, why did the prince come here with you?" How could you have waited so long to reach the city of the Western Surrender? ”

Wen Yiheng told Su Fenglan about his stay in Hanhai concisely, and Su Fenglan only felt that he had heard another bad thing after hearing it.

"It's already very sad to have Sima Weiye as a stupid envoy to surrender, and now that the crown prince is coming to supervise the army, it's even worse..."Su Fenglan suddenly remembered a key point: "By the way, does Sima Weiye know that the Holy Lord asked you to capture Arislan and Dalantai alive?" ”

Wen Yiheng shook his head: "The saint only left me alone to inform me at that time, and I don't know if I talked to Sima Weiye again afterwards." "Looking at the current situation, I'm afraid that Emperor Tianduo didn't inform Sima Weiye of the capture alive.

Su Fenglan looked up to the sky and sighed: "I just hope that this Sima Weiye will not make any more moths in the future... If he makes trouble again and asks for surrender, the old man will be the first to beat him all over the ground to find his teeth, so that he doesn't care about the blind privilege that represents the Holy and is not controlled by the Lord! ”

There was nothing to say all night, and the next day, Wen Yiheng, as the generalissimo of the march, wanted to give orders.

Su Fenglan had already settled the matter before, and the Su Jinguo army, which had come to provoke the northern border for the first time, was now going to announce a major event that was nothing more than the opening of a large army to attack Baya City, the capital of Su Jinguo.

Wen Yiheng shouted slogans to boost morale, but he was worried about the lives of the current 400,000 soldiers. Su Jiudong watched Wen Yiheng speak from the side, and couldn't help but secretly hate the mediocrity of Emperor Tianduo in his heart.

Wen Yiheng and Su Fenglan couldn't ignore Emperor Tianduo's stubbornness in requesting a northern expedition to Su Jinguo, so they could only follow the order and lead the army to Baya City, the capital of Su Jinguo.

The nearly 200,000 Eastern Route Army led by Wen Yiheng and the 200,000 Central Route Army led by Su Fenglan, a total of nearly 400,000 troops, marched on the Gobi Desert in Mobei.

The hot weather and the harsh Gobi climate caused the army to stop and stop all the way, marching for nearly 10 days, and it did not reach one-third of the distance.

The scorching sun and the heavy armor were contradictory, and many soldiers could not stand the scorching heat and fell one after another. Naturally, the march does not carry ice cubes and fans, so how to cool off a large number of soldiers suffering from heat stroke is the number one problem for the accompanying military doctors.

"More than a dozen soldiers have fallen in front, still the same, heat stroke!" A fifteen-year-old man ran in from the military doctor's tent and shouted to the military doctors. The young man is the year when he tied his hair, and he is Qu Xiaohao, the son of Dr. Qu, the captain of the military medical team. starting point

"Since you know it's the same, why don't you take out the herbs and divide them? What to steal and be lazy. Doctor Qu was busy treating a soldier who had broken his wrist, and he didn't have the time to kick the naughty Qu Xiaoyan, so he only glared at him with his eyes.

"Yes, yes, yes." Qu Xiaoyan stuck out his tongue and turned to get Huoxiang from the many medicine boxes lined up.

"Wait, don't be in a hurry to get Huoxiang first." Su Jiudong, who was dressed as a man, stopped Qu Xiaoyan's hand to take the medicine, and handed him the soup bowl in his hand, "You take this bowl of summer soup and let the soldiers drink it." ”

Qu Xiaoqi saw that the soup bowl was still a common brown soup in traditional Chinese medicine, and he couldn't help but wonder: "Isn't the summer soup all made of Huoxiang and licorice?" Daddy had already let us share it with the soldiers. ”

"Those were other people's soups to cool off. My bowl is different, this is my own perilla leaves, weed leaves, licorice boiled to cool off the heat. Su Jiudong explained:

"Whenever a soldier suffers from heat stroke, the team routinely uses herbs, licorice, honeysuckle, etc. to prescribe for the soldiers individually. While these herbs are indeed beneficial for preventing heat stroke and colds, they are not very effective in cursing the heat for soldiers who have already suffered from heat stroke. ”

Qu Xiaoqi nodded with the soup bowl, but did not move his steps, and asked, "En, so, what do you think?" ”

"My high opinion? It's this bowl of summer soup in your hand. ”

Su Jiudong pointed to the soup bowl: "I sifted out the perilla leaves and boiled them with weed leaves and licorice to make a summer soup." Perilla is warm and spicy, dispersing cold, and regulating qi. Try it out to soldiers who are suffering from heat stroke, and maybe it will work faster. ”

"What Xiao Dong said is good, you can also give it a try." Dr. Qu, who was busy with his busy schedule, agreed with Su Jiudong's "innovative" move, and then urged Qu Xiaoyan: "Why are you still standing there stunned?" Hurry up and send it to the soldiers! ”

Su Jiudong and Qu Xiaoyan went out one after the other, and gave out all the fifty bowls of heat-relieving decoction that Su Jiudong had boiled in advance on the table.

Su Jiudong handed the last bowl of summer soup to the weak soldier who was sitting next to the grain truck, the soldier was already so thirsty that he had no strength, and finally Su Jiudong carefully fed him to drink.

The decoction passed through his throat, and the refreshing stamina finally lifted the soldier's qi. "It's finally cooler, it's not easy to march on a hot day, and everyone has to carry their own food and grass."

Su Jiudong pointed to the grain and grass bag that was thrown down next to the soldier, and asked curiously: "Is the ration in this bag really as much as two hundred catties?" ”

The soldier nodded dejectedly: "Isn't it... Two hundred pounds, carried on his shoulder, is really fatal. ”

Finally having a chance to talk, the soldier and a few people next to him whispered to Su Jiudong.

"Originally, the grain and grass could still be pulled by horse-drawn carts and pushed by wooden carts, but now it can be poured, seeing that it is about to reach the Ob River and enter the Altay Mountains, but the war horses are tired and afraid, and they refuse to carry them again, and as soon as they put the grain bags up, they will make a fuss and shake the grain bags off the ground."

Su Jiudong pointed to the beam transport vehicles behind the soldiers again: "The war horse refuses to carry two bags, so aren't there still these beam trucks?" ”

"Whew! Originally, there were more than 8,600 grain trucks, but there were less than 2,000 of them left on the way. There are not enough wagons, and the remaining grain bags will have to be carried by our manpower. ”

The carriage was damaged, the horses were too physically exhausted, and the soldiers had no choice but to carry two bags on their shoulders and walk in the hot Mobei Gobi... How can a person carry two hundred pounds and two bags? Even if they can carry it, how can they continue to march in the Gobi?

…… No wonder more and more people are suffering from heat stroke, the weather is only one of the causes of heat stroke, and the second reason is the bad idea of the Tianduo Emperor to carry the grain bag on his back.

"How can you carry so many sacks of grain? You've been carrying it since you left the city, and it's been so hard. ”

Su Jiudong, a military doctor who can carry it from the city to the near Ob River in the west and does not need to carry two bags, sincerely admires the perseverance of the soldiers.

The soldier looked around vigilantly, and quietly told Su Jiudong: "I'm not afraid to tell you, in fact, many grain bags have been thrown on the way." ”

"What?" Su Jiudong was so surprised that he almost jumped up. Grain and grass are the source of "life" for all soldiers, how can it be said that they will be thrown away?!

The soldier said disapprerovingly: "The march is too hard, and naturally there are people who can't stand it and can't move, so they secretly throw the grain bags halfway while the generals are not paying attention." If you don't throw it away, I'm afraid that there will be more people who suffer from heat stroke. ”

"Those soldiers who threw food bags would rather die on the battlefield in the future than die of exhaustion because they couldn't stand carrying food bags on their backs on the way."

As he spoke, the soldier hugged the grain bag next to him: "I still cherish my life, I don't want to die in battle, but I don't want to starve to death, so I am reluctant to throw my grain bag." ”