It had to be said that Fu Ya's method had indeed allowed Bi Xiu to enjoy himself, and he became addicted to it. The next day, Bi Xiu announced to the army that he had taken Fu Ya in as a concubine. In the future, Fu Ya would be the madam in the army camp.
Unfortunately, although the madam had a great reputation, she did not have much time to put on airs because she spent the majority of her time in bed, under Bi Xiu's body. Bi Xiu vented all of the humiliation that he had received from Feng Yu Heng on Fu Ya. He vented all of the emotions that he had wanted to vent on the battle on Fu Ya. This caused Fu Ya to be tormented to the point that there was not a single part of her skin that was not bruised. If it was not green, it was purple, and it was not bite marks.
Yet she could not resist or complain. She could only force a smile. This was for the sake of General Bi Xiu being able to bring her back to Gu Shu's capital and bring her into his own residence. Even if she was just a concubine, there would come a day when she could climb to the position of official wife.
Far away in Jue Ping City, Feng Yu Heng never thought that the girl that she had met in Qian Zhou would actually walk down this sort of path. When Dashun's spies returned with news, she could not help but sigh that people's hearts were hard to fathom, and fate was hard to predict.
Huang Quan also recalled how Fu Ya had once been concerned about Ban Zou. His heart was filled with anger, and he began to insult Fu Ya.
However, the matter of recovering Jue Ping City had gone smoothly, but to Xuan Tianming and Feng Yu Heng, not everything had gone smoothly. For example, the news that Xi Fang had come to report, "General, master, the Southern Army is running low on supplies. At most, they will be able to last for another ten days. If the supplies from the capital are not transported to the South, the Southern Army will run out of supplies. "
Xuan Tianming furrowed his brow tightly and pondered to himself: "The task of transporting the supplies has been left to second brother. Thinking about it, it must be Eighth Brother that has done something in secret. Second brother's journey South will be filled with danger."
Feng Yu Heng was even more pessimistic than him, "I'm afraid he has already fallen into Eighth Brother's trap. Although the matters in the capital can hold him back, they can't hold back his henchmen. The maternal families of so many concubines in the imperial harem are not a small faction. From the capital to the South, they probably have people in every prefecture. Just a random trip would be enough to make the Second Prince suffer. "
Xuan Tianming tilted his head and asked He Gan, who was also in the tent, "Do we still have enough to eat?"
He Gan said, "We have enough on our side. We still have some left over from before. Master also brought so much when he came, so it should be enough to last for a while. Most importantly, we chased away Gu Shu's army. Just by taking over Sha Ping City and Jue Ping City's granaries, we have obtained a considerable amount of provisions. We can guarantee the army's needs. "
Xuan Tianming nodded. "That's good. As for the South, I will allocate some money to have people purchase provisions from Lan Zhou and Luo Province first. We'll deal with the emergency first. If there is no movement from the capital, we can't just sit and wait. We'll gradually expand the area where we purchase provisions. We can't just rely on Luo Province. A single Luo Province cannot support an army of three hundred thousand. " He thought a bit more then said, "We're not giving them these provisions for free. There must be some people trying to fish in troubled waters. We need to quickly ferret them out."
Feng Yu Heng, however, thought quickly and said: "We can't give them the supplies so easily. Although the 300 thousand troops have already surrendered, you're right. There will still be some people that want to fish in troubled waters. It would be better for us to use this opportunity to fish a bit more. Let's see if we can catch those small fish."
Xuan Tianming expressed his agreement.
However, before going to the South to fish, Feng Yu Heng first made a trip to Lan Zhou and Luo Province. She did not touch Xuan Tianming's money. The money she used to purchase provisions was all the money she had plundered from the capital. She spent it quite happily.
The momentum of Xuan Tianming's army had already spread throughout Luo Province. Even the matter of Princess Ji 'an going to the battlefield with the Ninth Prince to take over Jue Ping City had become the topic of conversation for the citizens of Luo Province. Whenever Princess Ji 'an was mentioned, everyone would give her a thumbs up. There was not a single person who did not praise her. There were even people who said that such a heroine was worthy of a god of war like His Ninth Highness.
With the momentum, Feng Yu Heng's purchase of provisions went very smoothly. She did not spend a single cent and obtained a large amount of stored provisions. There were even some citizens who suggested that they could go to the farmers to place an order so that they could directly purchase the provisions when they harvested.
Feng Yu Heng did some calculations with the grain merchants in Lan Zhou. The main thing was whether or not such a large amount of provisions would affect the food of the citizens in the South. The conclusion she obtained was that it would not. Because the weather in the South was hot, the provisions could be grown for two seasons. They would be harvested twice in the spring and autumn of each year. The provisions Feng Yu Heng was currently collecting were not stored provisions, but rather new rice from this year's spring.
She finally understood why the provisions in the South were cheap and in large quantities. It turned out that this was the reason. She couldn't help but sigh. Truly, different professions were worlds apart. She really did not understand anything about farming!
Aside from the estimated provisions, she also hired many farmers to help raise chickens, ducks, fish, and pigs. She also ordered a supply of vegetables. She chose a few farmers and had them send it to the Southern Border Army Camp at regular intervals. Then the Southern Border Army Camp would send it to Shaping City and Jueping City.
She calculated that if this side could be self-sufficient, then there would be no need to transport provisions thousands of li from the capital. It would be more practical to directly convert them into banknotes.
With this and Feng Yu Heng deliberately pushing back the delivery of food by a few days, it was such that after ten days, the granary in the Southern Army's camp was empty; however, the food that came later could not be delivered.
Early in the morning, the logistics officer in charge of the Southern Border Army's provisions opened up all of the granaries. They were completely empty. He spread his hands towards the soldiers who had come to prepare meals and said, "There's nothing we can do. The new general won't send us food. We can either go out and beg or stay in the camp and wait to starve to death!"
The soldiers felt that his words were a bit too unpleasant to hear. These days, they had all heard about the Ninth Prince and Princess Ji An's various deeds. Under Xi Fang's intentional indoctrination, the figures of Xuan Tianming and Feng Yu Heng had already gradually grown in the hearts of the Southern Border soldiers. Adding on the fact that they had taken down Jueping City in one fell swoop, and it had been done in a single night in such a clean and efficient manner, these people were filled with admiration.
As a result, one of the soldiers retorted, "This can't be blamed on the general. Even if the provisions were to be transported, they would have to pass through the South first. These days, there hasn't been any deliveries at all. We don't have any provisions, but the troops the general brought in the desert also don't have any provisions! "
The logistics officer reminded them, "Could it be that you've forgotten that when Princess Ji An came to the South, she brought ten carriages of provisions!"
The soldiers waved their hands and said, "Ten carriages sounds like a lot, and it also seems like a lot. Although they don't have as many people as we do, they still have over one hundred thousand people. How many meals would ten carriages of provisions be enough? We can't count on them at all. "
"Ten carriages? That's only the ten carriages that Princess Ji An brought! " The logistics officer said, "They took Sha Ping City and Jue Ping City. Do you know how much provisions were left in those two cities? Gu Shu's army was routed, so how much provisions were left behind? Gu Shu and the Ten Kingdom Alliance have over five hundred thousand people! Food enough for five hundred thousand people to eat would be enough for a year in the hands of over one hundred thousand people! "
If this was the case, the soldiers also felt that something was wrong! That's right! Sha Ping and Jue Ping had provisions stored in them. The army had won, and they had not heard of Gu Shu burning down their granaries. Had the remaining provisions not been taken by the Ninth Prince's army?! There was enough provisions for an army of five hundred thousand people! With these things, why would they need to transport provisions from the outside?!
Seeing that the soldiers were no longer speaking up for the Ninth Prince, the logistics officer's lips curled up and he said, "What is the purpose of us soldiers fighting wars? It's to earn a bit of military pay so that our families can eat their fill. But now, not to mention our families, even we don't have any food to eat. Everyone knows that soldiers look impressive, but after a battle, who knows how many of our brothers will lose their lives on the battlefield, never to return. What we're doing is a job where there's no tomorrow. The prisoners on the guillotine are given a full meal before they die. Why treat us so harshly? To put it bluntly, His Ninth Highness was incredibly brave, but when His Highness the Eighth Prince was here, there was never a shortage of provisions. "
He spoke with righteous indignation, and by the end, there was even a bit of melancholy. People could not help but think of the past. When they followed the Eighth Prince, instead of fighting, they were stationed at the border. They ate and drank well every day, and there were many times more girls in the red tents. There was no limit to the number of times they could enter the red tents each month. The treatment was much better than before.
How could people be like this? One, they were afraid of comparison, and two, they were afraid of incitement. When comparison and incitement came together, they would not be able to withstand it. Moreover, they had not accepted Xuan Tianming for many days. Others relied on legends and military exploits, but they did not have much actual contact with him. The only time that Xuan Tianming came to the Southern Border camp was when he brought them shock.
The soldiers no longer said anything. They all lowered their heads and returned to the camp in low spirits. The empty granary was placed there. Today, there was no rice and no flour. There was no need to make rice. However, they did not know how the soldiers of the three armies would make a ruckus if they did not have food to eat.
If the soldiers did not have food to eat, of course they would make a ruckus. When they discovered that it was mealtime but there was no food, when they discovered that the soldiers did not even get up, someone finally could not resist the urge to run to the granary to check. Seeing the empty granary, the soldiers were all infuriated.
Someone took the lead to find Xi Fang. He pointed in the direction of the granary and asked: "What is the meaning of this? Since His Ninth Highness took over the army, he should treat everyone equally! Why is it that we don't even have food to eat? Are you deliberately trying to starve us to death? "
Xi Fang had communicated with Feng Yu Heng before, so he already had an idea of this matter. In response to these people's questions, he only spread his hands and said: "The convoy escorting the provisions from the capital has yet to arrive. I can't do anything about it! However, His Ninth Highness has already sent people to investigate why the provisions have yet to arrive. The capital will have to give us an explanation. "
"Explanation?" Someone shouted: "Why do we have to wait for the capital to give us an explanation? We want to hear His Ninth Highness' explanation! He has the ability to take over the army, but he doesn't have the ability to provide provisions. When there is a problem, he pushes it to the capital. What kind of general is this? We don't want this kind of general! "
This person's words carried an imperative tone and were very provocative. Many people were infected by these words and also felt that it was unfair. They all shouted: "Let His Ninth Highness give us an explanation!"
At this time, a woman's voice was heard from the entrance of the camp. It was very loud and clear, but it did not sound like it was made with internal energy. It spread in all directions and gave people a sense of oppression.
She said: "Who wants an explanation from His Ninth Highness? Come, come, come, talk to this princess first! "
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