The sky was gray, and the people on the ground only felt that they were in a steamer, and it was very hot.

The wind had stopped at some point, and without the flowing air, the sweat of the people on the ground could not stop flowing.

Plains County.

The people of the surrounding villages and towns walked into the city, Cheng Yi cleared the radius of dozens of miles, and a large number of materials were collected in the plain county, and the walls were cleared.

It's like that, when it comes to wars.

If war is regarded as a person holding a sword, then the soldiers involved in it can only be regarded as a sword at most, and the grain and grass are the ones who play the role of 'people'.

We have a lot of food, that is our advantage.

If the enemy has little food, the enemy will naturally be at a disadvantage.

On the city wall, the soldiers who patrolled with spears and spears were already sweating, and the armor on their bodies, which was used to ensure the safety of their lives, was now more like a heavy burden.

But they did not dare to remove their armor because, as mentioned earlier, it was a guarantee of their lives.

As for the stuffiness, it can only be upright.

"Why hasn't it rained yet, it's really going to heat people to death."

In the Han army, the sound of complaints sounded from time to time.

And God seems to have heard their complaints, suddenly.

Patches of rain began to pour down from the sky.

In a hurry, the flag was attached to the flagpole under the rain, and it was not swaying.

And the soldiers guarding the city also felt a hint of coolness at this moment.

"Prepare ginger soup to ward off the cold for the patrolling soldiers, and let the rest of the soldiers on the city wall shelter from the rain."

"No."

Looking at the pouring rain, Cheng Yi instructed the people under his hands.

This rain is good, but it is not good.

Whether it is cold or hot, it will reduce the combat ability of the people under him, although this rain will sweep away the boredom in the hearts of the soldiers, but after the rain is clear, if there are soldiers who feel the wind and cold, it will also be a disaster for the entire army.

Pingyuan County is 100 miles away.

The Tiger Squat Army and the Xuan Army, which were marching, also stopped at this moment.

The army was staffed with wind crews who could survey the weather, and they received orders from the front to cover all the equipment on the carriage and horses with a rain cloth, and temporarily put up a rain shelter.

Although these tung oil-brushed cloths are heavy, they are one of the armaments that the Tiger Squat Army must bring, and their importance even exceeds the melee blades carried by the soldiers of the Tiger Squat Army.

The loss of melee ability is not fatal to the Tiger Squat Army, but if the artillery is lost due to the rain, it will be a disaster for the Tiger Squat Army.

Countless shelters rose from the ground, and the rain poured down on them, as the windmaster had said.

Under the canopy, Xiong Zhen looked at the map he was carrying, and said to Zhao Xuanji, the tiger squat captain beside him.

"Brother Xuanji, we shouldn't be far from Pingyuan County, do you want to send a sentry to confirm the exact location of Pingyuan County?"

Although Zhao Xuanji is now only a tiger squat military captain, Xiong Zhen has no contempt at all.

The Tiger Squat Army is a bit special, in terms of military position, Zhao Xuanji's status as a captain is comparable to his status as the commander of the first army.

This is because since the day the Tiger Squat Army was founded, there has only been one main general, and that is their king, Zhang Qi.

For this army that has transcended the times, Zhang Qi will not let him have any chance to be independent.

"General Xiong can make a decision, and the soldiers of this battle tiger squat army will have full authority to cooperate with the action of the Xuan army."

Zhao Xuanji replied modestly.

Xiong Zhen laughed twice, didn't dare to pat him on the shoulder again, turned his head and ordered.

Several horsemen braved the rain and went to the general direction of Pingyuan County and began to probe the enemy.

When the wind and rain subsided, the sentinels who had gone to investigate returned to the camp site with the rain all over their bodies.

As soon as they arrived at the place, Xiong Zhen did not rush to let them return to their lives, but let them change their clothes and drink some ginger soup before starting to question.

"Is there a clear direction?"

One of the several sentry riders nodded, spread out the map placed on the carriage frame, pointed to one of them and said: "General Huiyu, there is no problem with the direction we are waiting for, and we can continue to go straight for a hundred miles to reach the North City Gate of Pingyuan County." ”

"Baili. It's fast, and at the speed of our march now, we can reach it in five days. ”

"Can the Taiping army in the direction of a thousand times move?"

The sentinels shook their heads.

"Looks like they're waiting for our move."

"Okay, wait and rest, come here, send a message to Qiancheng, and after six days, gather to attack Pingyuan County!"

"No!"

——

"Your Majesty, the secret letter from the direction of the Bohai Sea three days ago."

Yanmen County.

Zhang Qizheng was in the first batch of official affairs from Shanhai City in recent times.

A figure stepped out of the shadows, half-kneeling in front of him, his hands presenting a brown paper wrapped in a lacquered envelope.

He casually took the result, opened the lacquer seal with a dagger, and took out the letter paper inside.

After some reading, Zhang Qi bowed his head.

"The two armies of the tiger squat are about to arrive in Pingyuan County, and when the war breaks out over there, it is time for our side to go out of Yanmen."

"Where has the grain road gone?"

"It has gone out of 100 miles, and five grain points have been built along the way."

"Well, let the Guerrilla continue to guard, and stop after walking another hundred miles."

The agent gave up.

"Is there any information coming back from the direction of Chang'an in the near future?"

Zhang Qi lit the letter with a candle flame and discarded it in a copper basin and asked.

"Not yet, but His Majesty has sent three dotted line agents to go, ready to respond to the retreat of the Yang God at any time."

"Okay, add a secret order and the Yang God, so that he doesn't have to pass on the information in the palace anymore, and everything is mainly to protect himself."

"No!"

The figure rose and disappeared into the darkness.

Before the head of the case, Zhang Qi pulled down the scroll map on the right wall.

"Xiazhongling directly takes Mayi, passes Lou annoys to master Taiyuan, and goes to the party. Oh, that's enough, the northeast of the Yellow River is under control, and the next person to worry about it is not me. ”

——

Changan.

Weiyang Palace.

The emperor in his thirties is in the prime of life, but now Liu Che is a little withered.

The 300,000 Han troops in the north have not sent back any news for more than two months.

The sense of unease in his heart has reached the highest level since he ascended the throne.

"Damn it!"

The mood of boredom has accumulated in his heart, and Liu Che has been a little moody recently.

The female eunuchs in the palace were beaten and killed for no reason.

"Your Majesty, drink some soothing soup, you're too tired."

A white-clothed Sang Yang who looked like an immortal came with a wooden plate.

Now in the palace, he is allowed to wear regular clothes.

Seeing Sangyang, the boredom between Liu Che's eyebrows dissipated a little.

The man in front of him was his only consolation during this time, and the relief he brought him even exceeded those concubines in the harem.

"Sang Qing."

Liu Che grabbed Sang Yang's waist and let him sit on his side, and the brown decoction in the bowl was drunk by him.

Perhaps it was psychological comfort, Liu Che's brows soothed, and Sang Yang leaned sideways, his fingers kneading his temples.

The right amount of strength made Liu Che comfortable, and gradually, he felt a little sleepy.

His head rested on Sang Yang's lap and closed his eyes: "I'm too tired, really, too tired." ”

Sang Yang's expression did not change in the slightest, he was still as indifferent as water, but in the deepest part of his eyes, that touch of disgust was fleeting.

With a wave of his hand, Sang Yang asked the eunuchs and palace maids serving in the Weiyang Palace to go down.

They had long been frightened and retreated as if they had been amnestied, and their eyes were full of gratitude to Sangyang.

Liu Che fell asleep, Sang Yang took over and reviewed the folds on the table, as Liu Che's servant, the future minister of the Inner Dynasty, he did this every day, and he did it very well, many ministers in the court threw olive branches to him, but Sang Yang didn't pay any attention.

In the palace, as long as Liu Che is still sitting in the emperor's seat, then he does not need to cater to any minister.

I don't know how long it took.

Liu Che woke up leisurely, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was that face that was so perfect that he couldn't fault it.

"Sang Qing."

The short rest made Liu Che feel refreshed, he called softly, Sang Yang's eyes lowered, and his eyes were facing each other.

"Your Majesty, you're awake."

"Hmm."

Sitting up, Liu Che looked at the pen in Sang Yang's hand and the folds that had been reviewed and waiting to be printed on the side, and a touch of relief appeared in his eyes.

Unexpectedly, the Sang family, who used all his net worth in exchange for his eldest son to enter the palace, gave him such a big surprise.

Talent, resourcefulness, and Sang Yang are above ordinary people.

Now it has become an important arm for him.

"I'll do the rest."

"Go and make tea for Your Majesty."

Night.

Sang Yang returned to his residence, and Liu Che did not stay with him tonight, which made his heart feel a little lighter.

The candle was lit, and Sang Yang habitually glanced at the door frame.

A little inconspicuous drop of ink made him realize.

Back in the bedroom, I lifted the floor tiles under the bed, and a small ball of paper was squeezed and flattened.

He carefully took it out and smoothed it, there were only a few symbols on it that ordinary people couldn't understand, but Sang Yang could see it clearly.

'Hide yourselves and wait for transfer. ’

This is a letter from home.

There were only a few words, but Sang Yang, who rarely had fluctuations in his expression on weekdays, almost cried.

He tried his best to hold back his thoughts, burned the paper ball with a candle flame, put the floor tiles back into place, and lay down peacefully on the bed.

fell asleep, tonight's Sang Yang slept exceptionally steadily.

He sat in a dream, and all that appeared in the dream was the various scenes of Liaoning City.

——

"Roaring ——!"

The roar of wild beasts rang out in the mountains and forests.

A tricky feathered arrow shot out of the shadows, and with a pop it hit the beast's right eye with precision.

The beast's roar became even more frantic due to the pain, but the trap on its left hind leg made its movements unusually slow.

And after that arrow was fired, there was no other sound in the forest.

Gradually, the roaring beast lost its breath and fell limply to the ground, its chest no longer heaving.

"Awesome, Brother Jia, this arrow is comparable to the sharpshooter in the Eagle Strike Army, beautiful!"

The beast that waited was no longer silent.

In the distance, in a tree, a young man dressed as a hunter shouted.

And under the trees, in the bushes, Huo Quzhi walked out with a bow.

He didn't look at the beast that had fallen to the ground, but kept looking at the bow and arrow in his hand.

Since receiving his mountain patrol hunter suit, Huo Quai's eyes have never come off the hunting bow.

Unlike the bow he was familiar with before, he didn't understand the device on it, although he tried the strength of this bow, but when he actually used it to shoot at the beast, he clearly felt the power of this bow.

Looking at the arrow in the beast's eye, and then at the bow and arrow in his hand, Huo Quzhi took a breath and carried it back to his shoulder.

"Come down, go and bring the horses over, it's about the same today."

"Okay."

The hunter in the tree got out of the tree and went to lead the horse that was placed in the distance.

These hunters patrolled the mountains in groups of two, divided the area between the mountains and forests, and this branch of the southern foot of the Great Khing'an Mountains is now in charge of the two of them.

Its main duty is to hunt tigers, leopards and jackals in the mountains and forests to prevent the loggers and people living nearby from being attacked by them.

In fact, after so many years of development, the number of beasts near the outside of the mountain has long been scarce, but this cannot stop the number of beasts in the entire Great Khing'an Mountains, and almost every year, there are beasts that come out of the depths of the Great Khing'an Mountains.

Over time, the hunters who used to fill the meat reserves of the Liao Land by hunting became a new profession, specially used to hunt these dangerous beasts.

Huo Quzhi pulled out the dagger on his waist and walked towards the fallen beast, and after the dagger pierced into the heart of his chest, he pulled out the arrow in the beast's eye.

"Brother A, I'm back."

The hunter who went to lead the horse also led two horses at this moment, and on the back of the horse, there were still several pheasant carcasses at this moment.

In addition to hunting wild beasts, mountain hunters also hunt some small prey, which is one of their work benefits, as long as it is not indiscriminate, generally no one cares.

"Oh, what a big gray wolf, this is not a native wolf species, this is more like a sled dog raised by the deer herders from the north."

The hunter who partnered with Huo Qubing knew more about the beasts in the mountains and forests than Huo Quzhi.

When he got closer, he almost immediately recognized that the gray wolf they had hunted today did not belong to the common wolf species in the area.

"Questions?"

Huo Quzhi asked.

"Yes, but it's not big, just report it to the Animal Husbandry Department."

The hunter who partnered with Huo Quzhi had a slightly out-of-the-box personality, and he was more of an active explorer than a calm hunter.

"You want to bring it back to the city?"

Huo Quzhi inserted the drawn arrow back into the quiver, and together with the young hunter, carried the wolf corpse to the horse's back.

"It seems that wolves are social animals, and if there is one here, it means that there may be wolves in the forest, which is dangerous to the livestock farm and everyone down the mountain."

"And this wolf is so big, the amount of food must not be small, maybe now they have set their sights on the cattle and sheep in the pasture below the mountain."

Hook on the ropes, said the hunter.

"Hmm."

Although the young hunter was impressed by Huo Quzhi's martial arts and archery, in terms of the common sense of mountain patrol hunters, Huo Qubing knew that he was not as good as the young hunter in front of him no matter what.

He listened to the hunter's advice, and the two of them turned on their horses and walked out of the mountain.

After descending the mountain, they went to the village below the mountain and informed the village guards to be wary of possible wolves, and then hurried to the animal husbandry department outside the city of Liaoning.

(End of chapter)