Waves splashed on the shore, and the sound of gulls and egrets could be heard.
With Jili Province as the leader and other provinces as support, they came to the seaside and boarded the boat prepared by Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. They looked at the place where the water met the sky and moved north against the current.
However, at this moment, Tuyu was also standing on the deck of a ship. His face did not reveal the excited expression of the other soldiers. In fact, he really wanted to stay, to stay in the Song Mo Commander-In-Chief's office, and take advantage of the fact that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were not here to stir up trouble.
But he didn't dare to do so. It had nothing to do with Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. It was mainly because of the Tang Empire's imperial court. To be precise, it was Li Longji's plan. He mobilized 60,000 soldiers from Henan Province to hold a drill in Dengzhou. At the same time, he also took out 6,000 navy soldiers from Jiangnan Province.
If one were to travel by land from Jili to Dengzhou, it would take about a month to travel on horseback. But if one were to travel by water, it would only take a few days. Who would dare to make trouble for Jili? Perhaps the strong army of the Great Tang would arrive before the soldiers were ready.
"Li Longji is a stupid emperor. He will regret it one day if he doesn't take the opportunity to weaken Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Family." Ke Tuyu rubbed his face that was a little numb from the salty sea breeze and said confidently.
Zhang Xiaobao didn't care what Ke Tuyu thought. He didn't have the time. He was busy with the logistics plan. He had to let the soldiers understand the strength of Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Family.
Wang Juan, on the other hand, was playing with Pan 'er and the two little ones. Xiao Bei and the others had left with them. Naturally, they couldn't leave the two little darlings in Jili Province, even if there were still five thousand soldiers guarding the province.
Of course, they couldn't send the two little guys back to the capital. When they reached Luoyang, they would let their parents take care of them. As for Xiao Bei and the others, it was better to follow them all the way to Jinchuan. They could let the 100 little guards see what a real war was like. No matter how good the training was, it was different from actual combat.
Xiao Bei, who was used to following his family around, pulled Xiao Yuan to stand by the side of the boat. He stretched out two fingers and then three. He asked, "Do you know what this is called?"
"Two and three." Xiao Yuan tried his best to stay as far away from Xiao Bei as possible and said softly.
"Wrong, it's 23% of my strength," Xiao Bei said proudly.
Xiao Yuan pursed his lips. He understood what Xiaobei was trying to convey. Wasn't it just 23 bodyguards? Was there a need to repeat it every day?
"You're not convinced, are you? Then when we reach Jinchuan, let's compete and see whose guards kill more enemies. "Xiao Bei, who wanted to be a general, issued a challenge to Xiao Yuan.
Little Yuan shook his head vigorously. "A gentleman doesn't stand on a collapsing wall. It's better for me to hide behind. You win."
"Tsk, only children would hide behind. You're just a child."
"You're the kid, I'm not." Xiao Yuan finally didn't care whether he was a gentleman or not. It was a great insult to be called a kid.
"That's right. How did Big Brother teach her? Are you ready? Be ready at all times. We are the Strong Children's Protection Group, the future masters … "
Xiao Bei waved her little fists and sang in a crisp voice. She was now a member of a team.
Xiao Yuan also hummed a few words. But after thinking about it, he was still worried. "Can we really do it?"
"Of course. Why don't you lend your 11 people to me first? Cooperation is the foundation of victory. The minority obeys the majority. I have more people, so your people have to obey me."
Xiao Bei's purpose was finally exposed. After saying this, he suddenly rubbed his stomach. "Aiya, let's eat. Let's go. Don't waste time. After eating, we still have to listen to the story. The matter we talked about just now is settled."
"What matter?" Xiao Yuan didn't want to give up the military power, so he pretended not to know.
"Lend the soldiers. It's an adult matter. Let's go, or we won't be able to hear the story." Xiao Bei hurriedly pulled Xiao Yuan and ran into the cabin.
*****
Even children knew how to control the military power, so it was impossible for adults not to know. The generals who followed Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan out of the various prefectures were repeatedly told before they left that they could slightly cooperate with Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan, but they definitely couldn't let the two of them obtain the military power.
From the moment they sat on the ship, each of the generals appeared to be very nervous. The fear of water and the unfamiliarity of Jin Chuan made the hearts of the soldiers who were far away from home fluctuate.
If that was the case, they and the other generals wouldn't have to worry. But when they didn't have any good ideas, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan actually sent many people to contact the soldiers here.
They talked about the scenery along the way, talked about the various places they would pass by, and talked about the famous people who had appeared in the past and present. They introduced the situation at Jin Chuan and talked about the measures to deal with seasickness.
They had never seen such an army. Other than going to war, they still had to talk to the soldiers. Pressure, a lot of pressure. They didn't know if they could continue to control the soldiers when the time came.
The gathered generals considered this and kept glancing at each other, but they didn't have any ideas. If they were asked to do the same thing, they admitted that they couldn't do it.
During the meal, one of the generals finally couldn't hold back the worry in his heart and whispered to another person beside him, "General Mo Na, did you suddenly ask us to gather at the cabin tonight? Should we go or not?"
The person who was called Mo Na couldn't make a decision at the moment. Now that they had left their hometown and no one was around, they had to be careful. He replied, "Let's talk about it later. I'm just worried that we don't have to worry about food and water here. Will the soldiers not have enough to eat? This time, there are a total of more than 40,000 people here. It's difficult to make good supplies."
The person who asked the question also nodded, "That's right. There are five thousand guards in Jili Province. Three thousand went to the north. I don't know what they did, but one thousand disappeared for no reason. Only one thousand are with the troops. I don't know how big the battle at Jinchuan is. I heard that the flames of war have been going on for a few days.
Maybe they have already started the battle. They deliberately didn't light three flames to deceive us. When the battle really starts, I hope you can help. "
His guess was right. The battle had indeed started. Logically speaking, there should be three flames of war. However, whether it was Han Xuanfeng, Zhang Xiaobao, or Wang Juan, they didn't want to do that. Two flames could be a reminder, but three flames would make the people in the imperial court who didn't know the specific reason uneasy.
"Of course, of course." Mo Na was also nervous. He always felt that he was being schemed against.
The generals had different thoughts when eating, but the soldiers under their command lived very well. According to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's understanding, northerners usually had a strong appetite, so the food prepared for the soldiers was a little salty. Coupled with the light soup, the taste was something the soldiers had never tasted before.
Jiamos made of marinated donkey meat, pickles in jars, and soup with cucumber, egg, and fungus were three simple dishes. All the soldiers ate until their stomachs were bloated. They couldn't stop cheering.
However, when the person sent by Ke Tuyu to investigate came back, Ke Tuyu felt more and more uneasy. Usually, in the army, he didn't give his subordinates donkey meat and good biscuits, let alone soup with fungus. Many soldiers probably didn't even know what fungus tasted like since they were born.
How could fungus be eaten by ordinary people? It seemed that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were scheming something big.
He thought about how he had always lost in the several confrontations. Suddenly, he was worried and unconvinced. He waited until night came and discussed with the generals before he could unite to deal with the two of them.
*****
The ship was not slow. Even if it was against the current on the water, it didn't stop at all. In addition to the full sail, the wheels on both sides of the ship were also turning non-stop.
Zhang Xiaobao didn't have to take all the supplies from his own home. In that case, the loss of freight would be even greater. Along the way, he bought directly from the places on both sides of the river. The current season was a good time for several kinds of vegetables.
He sent people to spread the news that he was buying a large amount of goods. There were naturally clever merchants who would think of ways to collect enough ingredients and send them to the place. As a result, the prices on both sides of the Yellow River rose by a lot.
Zhang Xiaobao didn't have the leisure to think about how much the passing by could increase the economy on both sides of the river. He was thinking about how to deal with Ke Tuyu.
Every cabin where the generals lived had a special surveillance method. What a group of generals discussed last night naturally couldn't escape his' ears'.
After hearing the report from his subordinates, Zhang Xiaobao said to Wang Juan, "But Tuyu is really ruthless. In order to deal with us, he didn't care about the health of the soldiers and wanted to poison them. He even wanted to eat poisonous things themselves."
"It's not a poison that can kill people. It's just croton. There are only two purposes. First, he wants his subordinates to misunderstand us. Even if they don't think that we poisoned them, they will think that our logistics are not good. Second, he wants to delay time. He can't travel so fast when he's sick."
Wang Juan showed a very disdainful attitude towards what Ke Tuyu did.
Zhang Xiaobao sat there and tapped his face with his hand for a long time. "Since he wants to do things to the extreme, I will help him. It's not easy for him to get a lot of croton. I have to help him. He wants to be ruthless to himself, but I will be even more ruthless to him. I want to see if he can continue to command the army after he falls ill."
"What are you going to do?" Wang Juan hadn't seen Zhang Xiaobao's signature move for a long time, but this didn't mean that she didn't know the consequences of Zhang Xiaobao's actions.
Zhang Xiaobao also missed this kind of direct and targeted strategy. He chuckled and said, "There's a tactic called information warfare, and there's also a saying called 'three men make a tiger'. Our advantage is that we have Water Cloud and Pigeon. Even if he doesn't do it, he'll still do it even if everyone says he did it."
"You want to send a message directly to the Song Mo Commander-In-Chief's office and expose Ke Tuyu's actions?" Wang Juan guessed.
"No, I want to send a message to his surroundings and let the people in the Song Mo Commander-In-Chief's office know through other people's mouths. But not now. No matter what, we have to go through the capital so that they can't catch up even if they want to send a message."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
