First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 177 Attack on the Grain Road
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Rong Zheng also nodded when he heard the words, 5000 people attacked the camp, and most of them were infantry, they could only scare the rebel army, it was really useless in the battle situation.

Gao Chong stared at the map on the desk, and suddenly his eyes lit up, "Look, Niuwei Mountain is in the southeast of Xichuan, Zhu Can came from the east, and its grain and grass came from Dengzhou, so it should pass through here."

Hearing these words, Rong Zheng immediately cheered up, "Seize food?"

Gao Chong nodded, and immediately called the scouts, ordering them to covertly inquire about Zhu Can's army supply road.

At this moment, the scouts came to report, "There is chaos in the enemy camp."

Gao Chong hurriedly went to the top of the mountain to look around, only to see flames in Zhu Can's camp, "it must be Zheng Siqing who attacked the enemy camp at night."

"Then do we need support?" Rong Zheng asked immediately.

After a little hesitation, Gao Chong shook his head and said: "Hold the troops and pass on the order. From now on, extinguish the fire at night, act in secret, and don't expose your traces."

Rong Zheng paused when he heard the words, and said bluntly: "However, lighting a fire and cooking will inevitably produce cooking smoke, how can this be concealed?"

Gao Chong immediately smiled and said: "It's simple, just make a smoke-free stove."

"Smoke-free stove?" Rong Zheng's eyes widened with disbelief, Gao Chong didn't explain.

Early the next morning, when it was time to light the fire and cook the meal, Gao Chong did it himself.

First, a large square pit is dug in the open space under the tree. This pit is used to fill the fire and can also block the fire from the stove. Then a round pit is dug one foot away from the square pit to set up the pot.

Then the bottom of the two pits was dug through, and the excavated soil was piled up around the square pit to keep out the wind, and then three shallow trenches were dug above the round pit to be used as flues, and some damp firewood leaves were covered on the flues, and the tops were covered with soil.

Finally, the pot was placed on the round pit, and the surrounding area was sealed with soil without leaving any gaps. The fire starter was stuffed into the round pit from the square pit to ignite. Tiny smoke comes out of the flue, and when it rises less than a person's height, it is blown away by the wind. If you don't look carefully, you can't see it at all.

Rong Zheng was astonished, "The general is really a god", Gao Chong waved his hands and said straightly: "Like a gourd, draw a ladle, build a smoke-free stove according to the same, and spread sentries around, so it must be concealed."

At this time, in the camp of the "Chu" army, Zhu Can was furious, stomping on the "meat" on the ground with his feet.

"I have never eaten old meat. If I want to have rotten bones, if I don't have rotten bones, then I won't be envious of sheep." Zhu Can looked fierce, "If you give me this old meat, you won't be afraid that I will eat you?"

The cook lying on the ground trembled, "Your Majesty, calm down, forgive me, because the Tang army fortified the walls and cleared the fields, and moved all the meat to the city. There is no fresh meat in Xizhou."

The old meat that Zhu Can talked about was the dry human meat food that had been marinated since Dengzhou, but Zhu Can was most unwilling to eat this kind of "old meat". Zhu Can actually divided human meat into several grades because he ate human beings.

The lowest grade is the old man's meat, which is both firewood and flat, which Zhu Can calls "the fire around the fire"; the second is the young woman's meat, which in Zhu Can's opinion is more delicious than fresh and tender mutton, and is called "not envious". "Sheep"; the top grade is the meat of infants and children, which will be soft and rotten when boiled lightly, which is called "hegu rotten".

Applying words such as inhumane, full of evil, and inhumane to beasts to Zhu Can are not enough to describe his cruelty and perversion.

Hearing this, Zhu Can suddenly became furious, "Damn it, everyone deserves to die, I will eat them up when I break Xichuan." "Quickly send an order to Nanyang to send me a batch of fresh and rotten bones. If it weren't for your poor fellow, I would have eaten you."

"Yes, yes, the villain has rough skin and thick flesh, it's not tasty, it's not tasty", the cook trembled all over, and hurriedly ran down.

After Zhu Can returned to the tent with a huff, a beautiful woman in tulle rushed up to greet her, "Why is Your Majesty so angry, come and drink a cup of tea to relieve the fire."

Seeing this beauty, Zhu Can twitched his index finger, and immediately said: "I don't have a good appetite today, and I'm still hungry, and I'm in a bad mood."

The beauty laughed hurriedly when she heard the words: "I don't know what your Majesty wants to eat? I will do it now."

Zhu Can's eyes lit up when he saw the beautiful woman's gorgeous appearance, delicate skin and tender flesh, "Beauty, do you know what I want to eat?"

The beauty paused, and suddenly remembered something, she hurriedly laughed and said: "I don't know, but I make a good soup, your majesty, would you like to taste it?"

Zhu Can laughed loudly, "You beauty is what I want to eat." After saying that, he pinched the beauty's neck and twisted it hard, and the beauty disappeared, and he carried the beauty to the tent door. "Go and cook for me, and reward you with a leg."

The guard at the door of the tent was overjoyed when he heard the words, and hastily dragged the hot beauty to the back kitchen.

Zhu Can continued to attack Xichuan fiercely, but the army and people of Xichuan City were united, and the young and strong defended the city spontaneously. Zhu Can made no progress for several days, and the army was short of food and grass. When the grain and grass arrived, they bypassed Xizhou and went to Shangzhou to plunder.

Gao Chong, who was hiding in Niuwei Mountain, finally got the news that the "Chu" army ration team from Champion County, Dengzhou appeared, but what is surprising is that in addition to hundreds of carts of grain and grass, this ration team also brought hundreds of A ragged young woman.

Rong Zheng and the others were very puzzled by this, "Zhu Can's soldiers were all bandits and bandits with no military discipline. Could these young women be camp prostitutes captured by Zhu Can?"

Gao Chong's face was gloomy, and the veins on his clenched arms were exposed, "I'm afraid it's not just as simple as a prostitute."

Since the beginning of the Yue Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period, in order to comfort the soldiers, the generals in the army have summoned women who have lost their feet or widows to act as camp prostitutes, but Gao Chong knew that the women in Zhu Can's camp must not be simple camp prostitutes, because Zhu Can is a thief who likes to eat human flesh.

"Gather at Maoshi tomorrow, and then follow me on the mountain road," Gao Chong said through gritted teeth, "After killing the grain transportation team, all the grain and grass will be transported back to the mountain. Remember, don't hurt those women."

Early the next morning, Gao Chong led five thousand soldiers to ambush at the foot of Niuwei Mountain.

At Sishi, a group of people finally appeared on the official road at the foot of the mountain.

The great Chu character flag fluttered high, and a general was sitting on horseback, holding a woman in his arms, raising and lowering his arms.

Afterwards, more than a thousand soldiers and horses were mobilized to drive away hundreds of civilians, and the most conspicuous in the team were the hundreds of women with tied hands in the middle, who were walking with difficulty, but those who lagged behind were beaten and driven away by the soldiers. Extremely outrageous.

When the Chu character flag reached the center, Gao Chong shouted, "Shoot the arrow", and the arrow shot straight at the food transport soldiers, but none of the arrows fell from the women's surroundings.

After a round of arrow rain, Gao Chong got on his horse, held his horse spear, and rushed straight towards the leading general.

(End of this chapter)