weaving

Chapter 1187 Do you want me to be a 'runaway general'?

Hu Dawei followed Yang Wenyue to his central army camp, and was about to see him off before returning to the camp to arrange defenses. But before they parted, Yang Wenyue suddenly asked, "When did General Hu and bandit Zuo Ping become so familiar with each other? It seems like they have endless things to talk about!"

  Watching Yang Wenyue's gradually receding back, Hu Dawei sighed secretly in his heart. In fact, he also felt the unusual changes in Zuo Liangyu today, but what could he do when the war was about to begin?

But no matter what, Hu Dawei never thought that he would cause dissatisfaction from Yang Wenyue because of this, and he even revealed a hint of suspicion.

  Could it be that Yang Wenyue would suspect that Hu Dawei was taking the initiative to get close to Zuo Liangyu with the intention of changing his allegiance?

You must know that ever since the rebels attacked Luoyang and Yang Wenyue was ordered to enter Henan to assist in the suppression, Hu Dawei led his Baoding soldiers to follow Yang Wenyue. They fought in more than ten battles over the two years. Although they failed to defeat the rebels, even if they had no credit, they had worked hard.

Hu Dawei shook his head and rode his horse towards his central army camp with a wry smile...

…………

The government troops at Shuipo Ji were cut off from water and food, and their men were exhausted. Although they fought bravely to defend their lives, the military discipline in each camp was much poorer, and even the soldiers on night duty were mostly lazy.

As long as the enemy troops had not yet approached their own camp, they could hardly arouse their interest. They all looked lazy, lying, sitting or leaning, and there was really not a single one standing upright.

May 17th, just after the hour of Yin.

Sporadic artillery sounds began to be heard from the opposite side of the Chuang army camp. The loud noises of "Boom!" and "Boom!" came one after another in a very strange rhythm, constantly beating the hearts of the Shuipoji army.

This kind of shelling was already very commonplace for the government troops. It had become their daily alarm clock to wake them up several days ago, and it was extremely accurate.

At first, whenever the enemy's artillery fire was heard, the government troops would panic. But as time passed, everyone became accustomed to it and was no longer as panic-stricken as at the beginning.

They were no longer afraid of the flying hot shells, nor did they run around aimlessly. Everyone stayed where they were supposed to be, listening carefully to the whistling sound of the shells as if they were enjoying a noble piece of music, in order to determine where the shells would hit.

"Even if you don't get killed by a cannonball, you'll starve to death sooner or later!"

This is what most of the government troops thought. They were so hungry that their stomachs were sticking to their stomachs. Although they were not too weak to run, they just didn't want to waste their limited energy on meaningless things.

At the beginning of the Mao hour, the government army camps began to make fire and cook porridge as usual. In order to let the soldiers eat as much hot porridge as possible, they could not add more grain, but they added whatever wild vegetables, grass roots, tree bark and various insects they could catch, and everyone was not picky about it.

There are hundreds of thousands of troops stationed here. There is no trace of green in each camp, and even outside the camp is almost green. If you want wild vegetables, grass roots, or tree bark, you can only look for them far away outside the camp.

Naturally, no one was willing to take the initiative to do such a dangerous and deadly task, but in order to eat as much as possible, everyone would still send a team out of the camp every day to dig wild vegetables.

The days rotate day by day, life and death depend on fate!

On the surface, everything seems to be the same as usual. The enemy army will continue to fire artillery all day long, and if someone is killed, then consider it good luck - go and be reborn into a good family.

…………

"Damn it, did the blind thief eat gunpowder today?"

Hu Dawei stood on a high platform in his own central army camp, looking out at the camp of his deputy general Zeng Xinjun in front of him, with an expression of disbelief on his face.

It turned out that since the hour of Mao today, the artillery fired by the enemy army deployed by Hu Dawei in the Baoding military camp in front was several times more than usual, and they continuously bombarded Zeng Xin's military camp.

"General, it's already 9:00 p.m. and they don't seem to be stopping. Did the thieves pick up the gunpowder and shells on the street?" Hu Dawei glanced at Hu Zichen beside him and said to him, "Does Zeng Xin's army have any news? What are the losses?"

"Half an hour ago, Vice General Zeng sent a letter saying that the enemy's artillery was fierce and most of the tents in the camp had been destroyed. Less than 10% of the soldiers were killed or wounded, but many horses and mules were hit and many were injured."

"Quite a lot? Quite a lot?"

Hu Dawei opened his eyes angrily and shouted, "The military situation is urgent, but the news is still so unclear. Did he believe that this was his first day in the army?"

Hu Zichen hurriedly explained on behalf of Zeng Xinjun: "Deputy General Zeng also said that the enemy had launched a charge in an attempt to break into their camp, but was repelled. I think it was because of the urgency of the military situation that they were unable to conduct a detailed investigation of the casualties of the troops and horses."

He also added: "I will send someone to Deputy General Zeng's camp to investigate the casualties and report back."

Although Hu Dawei was still angry, he did not mention the matter again. He just reminded him, "You also need to ask for details about the enemy's charge. How many troops did they have? What was their equipment like? Was it a real attack or a feint? You need to ask for details."

"Yes."

"Also, send a message to Chen Dakuan in the right camp to light a fire and cook immediately. Today, the entire camp must be well fed and on alert. No one may take off their armor, and no horse may take off its saddle."

"Yes."

Hu Zichen seemed to be still a little hesitant, but when he looked at Hu Dawei with a serious face, he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

"Say what you want to say."

Still unable to escape Hu Dawei's gaze, Hu Zichen had no choice but to reply obediently: "General, we are short of firewood, so we have to make a fire and cook today. I am afraid that there will not be enough for tomorrow."

Hu Dawei said with a resolute look: "The intruder's behavior is abnormal, there must be evil intentions. I'm afraid we will have to fight for our little fortune here. Now we can only hold on one day at a time."

"General, Earl Yongning once said..."

Hu Dawei turned around fiercely and glared at him, angrily saying: "Do you want me to be a 'runaway general'?"

Hu Zichen was so frightened that he dared not say another word. He could only escape from him and go downstairs to arrange for his personal soldiers to pass on the message.

In fact, Hu Dawei was not afraid to fight the bandits. The last time in Mengjiazhuang, it was because the troops of He Renlong, a general of the Shaanxi Army stationed there, were defeated first, and then Li Guoqi's troops also fled. This caused Hu Dawei's subordinates to lose their fighting spirit and fled to Shenqiu.

Hu Dawei had already considered this matter a "great shame and humiliation", so when he heard Hu Zichen mention the words "Emperor Yongning", he first thought of Zhang Cheng's message that "you can go east between Chen and Qi and go to Lanyang".

Although he knew that Zhang Cheng had good intentions, Hu Dawei really couldn't do that again.

He was originally a Mongolian surrendered soldier from outside the Great Wall. After he became a general, he was known for his bravery and courage, which led to his promotion to commander-in-chief step by step. Therefore, he regarded deserting from the battlefield as the greatest insult to himself.

At this moment, his gaze shifted to Yang Wenyue's camp on the right. The artillery fire there was no less than that of his own front camp. The "rumbling" sound continued, and it seemed that it had also become an important target of the bandits' artillery bombardment.

"Could it be that... Blind Li wants to use the Baoding Army as the first mover?"