Chapter 222: Food is gone

Counting the war auxiliaries and the recruited Ding Zhuang, the total strength of the Ming army assembled in the Dafang area is as high as more than 50,000 people, which are arranged along the Xiangshui River in the Guihua Station, Geya Station, and Dafang City, and the Jinji Station in the east is used as the logistics base of the army, and most of the military rations are stationed here. Although it was located in the rear of the army, the material support was crucial, and there were also two battalions of soldiers here to provide protection, as well as 6,000 soldiers with negative rations—all of which, of course, were under the control of Marshal Zhang Fang, who wore the seal of General Pingman.

The two marshals vaguely knew in each other's hearts that more or less, some military rations would definitely fall to the two thieves of Lu'an. Of course, no one has the courage to blatantly transport grain in the direction of Bijie under Wang Ershan's nose: such a huge amount of goods can only be transported by water for long-distance transportation, and the Xiangshui River is next to Dafang City, so it is impossible to hide it from him. However, there is no need for this, Chen Qiyu has a very good way, more than seventy percent of the grain is transported to the southeast in reverse, Wang Ershan's attention is in the west, and he doesn't notice what is happening behind his back.

Xiangshui River is roughly east-west direction, not far after Jinjiyi, merge into Liuchong River and continue to flow east until Yachi, here there is the north-south Sancha River into the north flow, the north is the Yachi River, after Lu Guang changed to call Lu Guang River, the middle section of the Sancha River is called Si Wax River, and the upstream is called Gulong River. There are a lot of names, in fact, to put it bluntly, there are just two rivers - the east-west direction is the Liuchong River, there is a tributary upstream is Xiangshui, and the north-south direction is a river, divided into five sections, each with its own name. It can also be seen from so many river names that the mountains of Qianxi isolate the various tribes very much, today we know that there are Miao, Yi, Dong, Buyi, etc., but the Ming Dynasty called them all Miao Man, nine Miao and nine surnames, so the same river has its own customary name.

A large transshipment yard has been erected on the south bank of the confluence of the Xiangshui River and the Liuchong River, and large and small grain ships are constantly shuttling between the Jinjiyi and the transshipment yard, unloading heavy grain bales, and returning back against the current with empty boats. Seventy or eighty percent of the ships that sailed from the rear of the downstream to the grain platform on the front line of Jinjiyi will also be directly stopped here, and the grain bales will be directly unloaded at the transshipment yard. The boatmen and the escort soldiers were very happy: sailing against the current was a very hard work, and it was easy for everyone to save a long journey. What's more, the river patrol officer who gave the order held Zhang Dashuai's command flag and arrow in his hand - the military situation on the front line is changing rapidly, and you will unload where the marshal tells you to unload, although they are all illiterate and illiterate, but everyone knows the fate of disobeying the marshal's military order!

Eighty miles southwest of the transshipment yard is Zhijin Village, which is full of mountain roads. The mountain road is very lively, there are endless grain carts, there are also people carrying grain burdens, and there are Han Miao in costumes. There were several rest points on the way, and the Ming army's servants often ran into the Miao people. Although the language is not understood, the Miao people are very enthusiastic, always take the initiative to greet them, and will share all kinds of strange food they bring, especially all kinds of insects: bamboo insects, water beetles, bugs...... Buried in charcoal ash and simmered for a while, it will be fragrant and crispy. There is also a kind of thumb ruler to put the long big crickets, after boiling, mix with beans, and then pour some green beef bitter bile, sprinkle with green onions, garlic and salt is the sour, cool and spicy seedling sauce, dipped in the dough cake to eat, it can be very good to eat, and it is also very refreshing. Of course, the best thing to eat is definitely the bee chrysalis, which can be sweet to the heart, but unfortunately it is rare to see it. However, the Miao people's eyes were a little strange when they wanted Han Bing to look over, and their smiles were a little strange, and they looked like ...... Taunt?

Cut, whatever, they're all barbarians, maybe the barbarians are like that.

There is also a freight yard five miles outside Zhijin Village, and the people have completed the task when they unload the grain here. A long shed was set up next to the freight yard for the people who had unloaded the goods to rest, and there was food in the shed, and if it was late, they could rest in the shed for a night and then go back. But you can't go any further - a few guys tried to sneak into the village while the sun was setting, and then they never came back. The next morning, the team officer couldn't find anyone, so he could only report it, and the above didn't pursue it in the end, so it was over. Later, General Chen sent a message, those guys wanted to abscond at night, but they had been caught and killed by the patrol, and if any team escaped in the future, the team officer would kill them together! Everyone is a little strange, at night they are all night blind and blind, how to escape? However, the officers were afraid, and they watched it very strictly every night, and some of them tied their ankles with ropes before going to bed, and even asked everyone to go together in the middle of the night.

Don't look at the freight yard to the stockade is only five miles, and there are several checkpoints in the middle. If someone can really get past it, they will be surprised: Zhijin Village is full of people inside and out! What kind of village is this, it is clearly a city!

Strange to say, at noon that day, a cavalry general wearing a full set of Ming army armor led a dozen horse guards swaggering past the freight yard and went straight to the direction of Zhijin. The Miao soldiers on the checkpoint immediately became nervous when they saw the riders from afar, and the swords were tense as if they were facing a great enemy, and a few archers also dipped their arrows in the small bamboo tube hanging around their waists, and then put their bows on the arrow platform with half a bow on guard - the bamboo tube was a sticky yellow-brown sap, which was the bloody throat venom that made people smell and change color! Seeing the blood seal throat tree is also known as the poison arrow wood, the sap is highly poisonous, after entering the human body, the poisoned person seems to be choked by an invisible hand, and at most an hour will suffocate to death, so it is named to see the blood seal throat. Ordinary foot bows can break armor at most, and superficial skin injuries will not be a big problem, so the archers use venom as an effect blessing - as long as the skin is broken and red, the person who is hit by the arrow will die without help, and there is no cure for you Daluo Immortal. There is no poison arrow wood in Guizhou, which was sent by a friendly army in Yunnan. Keeping the secrets of the Weaving Gold Village a top priority, so the sentinels on the periphery were all distributed with these most precious killer poisons.

When the horsemen came close to a stone's throw away, the leading general shouted, and all the knights reined in their mounts, and the horses changed from trotting to walking. The Miao sentinels looked at each other and relaxed slightly: it was obvious that the dogs were not hostile. When they got closer, the Ming general shouted loudly - it was actually in Miao.

Hearing the shout, the expressions of the Miao soldiers immediately relaxed, and they all put down their flat weapons and responded a few times. Laiqi once again urged the war horse to trot forward, and when passing through the checkpoint, those Miao soldiers all raised their palms above their heads to salute the cavalry.

The horses galloped all the way into the Zhijin Village, and got off the horse in front of a very large bamboo building familiarly, and the horse guards greeted the surrounding Miao people familiarly, and they scattered in twos and threes to sit in the crowd, and someone handed over tea. The Ming generals led by him entered the bamboo building proudly.

The person who came was Chen Qiyu!

After about an hour, Chen Qiyu came out of the building, and the horse guards said goodbye to everyone, and everyone rode away from the stockade and galloped towards the direction of Jinjiyi.

Another person came out of the bamboo building. Looking at his appearance of about forty years old, his face is full of fierce color, and his thick knuckles and thick nails reveal the grind and vicissitudes of life. On his head is a round seedling hat made of blue-black homespun cloth, on which is embroidered with silver thread an eagle with wings spread in the air. The top is a blue cardigan, the lower body is black wide-legged trousers, and the feet are a pair of black homespun double-beam boat-toe shoes (including official boots, the shoes of the Han people in the Ming Dynasty are also divided into left and right feet). In addition to the silver eagle embroidered on the hat, there is no decoration on the whole body, and most of the Miao people around the bamboo building are wearing colorful Miao embroidery, so this costume is very eye-catching in the crowd. Seeing him come out, all the Miao people in the four places bowed their heads, and some people who looked like the head of the village came over one after another.

He nodded slightly to everyone and said in a deep voice: "Everyone prepare, and send troops in three days." ”

Small cheers rang out from the crowd.

This man is Ahn Bangyan!

An Bangyan did not run to Bijie as Wang Ershan judged, but stayed in Zhijin Village under the nose of the Ming army!

This is one of the nests that An Bangyan has been operating for a long time, and with him are the most elite eight thousand Miao soldiers in Shuixi Benzhai, as well as the most loyal five or six leaders and their subordinates, and now there are more than 20,000 Miao soldiers hidden in the Zhijin Village!

Chen Qiyu was originally An Bangyan's sworn friend, and his so-called defection was actually a fraudulent surrender by Elder An's order! At this time, Chen Qiyu took the risk to come in person, and Chen Qiyu reported a major event: the Ming army was about to retreat.

Wang Ershan did have to withdraw his troops - because the Ming army ran out of food.

The whole province of Guizhou and Huguang are constantly sending military rations to the front line, although Lord Wang has not personally visited the Jinjiyi Grain Terrace, those grain orders have been personally targeted, so he is worried about finding generals who dare to fight, the advancement of the transformation of the land and returning to the stream, and the harassing attacks of the rebels in the direction of Bijie and Chishui, but he never thought that there would be such a thing as a shortage of grain - the grain of Jinjiyi is obviously enough for the army to eat for more than a year!

Then he was stunned by a fire.

Zhang Fang handed over all the sales of military rations to Chen Qiyu. In his subconscious, although the silver is not too much, but a person who thinks that Brother Chen is so good at doing things must be a little measured, and no matter what, he will leave an appropriate amount of surplus food for emergencies, right?

Of course not.

At the beginning, Chen Qiyu carefully controlled the amount of grain transported, and would also allocate military rations that could last for ten days and half a month on time to go to outposts such as Guihua Post and Ge Crow Station. After a while, when Zhang Fang and Xie Zhongren were completely relieved, they began to supervise the transportation with all their might, except for Dafang City and Zhang Jie's headquarters military camp, there will never be a shortage of food - well, a small number of times of transportation, although there is no shortage on the surface, but as long as the transportation is stopped, each battalion will not last for five days at most. Later, when Liu Chaobu was the first to find out that the grain in the camp had begun to wander around the cordon, the grain depot of Jinjiyi had basically been emptied!

When Chen Qiyu found Zhang Fang embarrassedly to review that he had accidentally sold all the grain, Zhang Dashuai was also stupid. But at this time, it is useless to say anything, the catastrophe has already broken through, and then look at the silver ingots piled up like a hill in the handsome tent, Zhang Fang and Xie Zhongren don't know what to do. Fortunately, the resourceful Chen brothers had already thought about it: set fire to it and kill the grain officer.

That's all there is to it.

The personal guards of the two handsomes went out and went straight to the Golden Rooster Station.

Then Wang Ershan was awakened by the fire in the middle of the night, and received Zhang Fang's report and a bunch of heads early the next morning: the grain platform was attacked by Miao thieves, all the military rations were burned, and the treasury officer, the battalion officer responsible for guarding and defending, and the thousands of generals were all beheaded according to military law!

Wang Ershan collapsed to the ground as soon as his eyes went dark. I have just been rescued, and the report of the front-line food urging has also arrived.

Lord Wang, whose brain was blank, urgently checked the grain stocks of each battalion as Chen Qiyu had expected, forced the troops with a little surplus of grain to allocate emergency rations to the friendly forces that had begun to starve, ordered the outpost to withdraw to the rear headquarters, formulated a retreat plan for all the soldiers and civilians, and issued a document to the rear asking for the storage of grain at several scheduled retreat sites at all costs...... The generals who ran out of food asked for it with red eyes, and the generals who had three or five days of food were unwilling to give it, and the two sides almost fought...... Wang Ershan didn't close his eyes for almost three days and three nights.

Wang Ershan didn't want the innocent people to fall into the hands of thieves again, so he wanted to take the whole city to retreat together. Looking at the team that helped the old man and the young turtle move eastward at a speed, Lord Wang made up his mind: when he returns to Yachi, he must personally slaughter this bastard Zhang Fang!

It's a pity that Lord Wang didn't have this opportunity.

Chen Qiyu rode over and offered another good plan: "My lord, our army is retreating, and the last general is worried that the traitors will take advantage of the situation to pursue." Shouldn't we burn Dafang on fire? We're still far from Bijie, so we don't have to worry about the thieves there seeing the fire. Moreover, if the naturalization and the crow withdraw their troops, the thieves will definitely wonder if it will be a trick by our army to lure the enemy. When they cautiously groped all the way over, and then saw that Dafang was in ruins, maybe they would give up the pursuit? Even if they are still chasing, the thieves have lost a place to rest and stay, so they naturally can't catch up too quickly. Also, after all, the people's homes are here, and there will definitely be people who will try their best to flee, and if they fall into the hands of thieves, the truth of our army will be known to the thieves - once the fire is burned out, they will lose their thoughts, and they can only follow the army......"

Wang Ershan felt that what General Chen said was simply too reasonable.

Dafang City is in flames.

Indeed, a fire can make the pursuers have nowhere to rest, and the people can stop the idea of fleeing...... But there's another role: to pass on signals.

Of course, Bijie's Shuixi Army couldn't see the generous firelight - An Bangyan, who had already been ambushed nearby, could see it clearly!