My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 638 You have a good plan, I have a wall ladder

The broken city wall stands under the sunlight, but the grandeur that once existed here is gone.

As the war spread to Sakpruit, the Samos who had fled everywhere also returned to this dilapidated capital one after another.

After all, this is their root. Besides, Adar is the emperor of the Samians and the Seres are still their allies, so there won't be much danger for the time being.

But everything has to start over again.

In the huge city, the returning Satsuma civilians tore down the charred houses and rebuilt them on the original foundations using rocks and wood collected from all over.

Amid the hustle and bustle, there were also vendors coming from other Satsuma cities, selling daily necessities.

Amid the hawking sounds, only innocent children were seen happily chasing and playing with their friends on the street. They ran past a relatively intact adobe house.

As night fell, a merchant from northwestern Europe and Africa was talking to an oriental merchant.

"Coming here from the far east, many things are inconvenient. I think as businessmen, you should understand this very well."

A man from Mortenard sat in front of an oriental businessman named Xi Ganlin. He had a typical Mediterranean face, slightly brown hair, a slightly hooked nose, and droopy eyelids, as if he always showed a gloomy look.

The Xi Ganlin sitting opposite him was from the Xi family, a rising clan in the Central Plains. Perhaps they changed their original surnames to avoid the catastrophe when the Emperor of the Great Xia massacred the noble families in the Central Plains.

A large amount of fertile land was later distributed, and in order to maintain the survival of the clan, all the energy and connections were used to open up trade routes.

Since the Japanese pirates in the East China Sea were wiped out, the Xi family also started maritime trade in Lin County, and their business was booming. Before the Western Expedition, the Xi family raised a huge amount of money and built a small port in Wuzhou, which was used to transfer their own goods and sell them to Southeast Asia.

After the Western Expedition began, the Xi family realized that this was a new trade route to the Far West. As the fifth-generation descendant of the Xi family, Xi Ganlin volunteered to take ten Xi family members and unite the clan's caravans to form a trading team of more than 500 people. They carried goods from the Central Plains all the way into the Western Regions, and then followed the rear team of the Western Expedition Army through Tianfeng Mountain and entered Hasai.

Doing business, surveying and trading along the way was the biggest gain of this trip.

Although they encountered the Sakprut army on the way and were cut off from the main force of the Great Xia Emperor, they were able to escape danger by following Prime Minister Zhuge.

Until now, they entered the Samian capital of Harabitos and decided to set up a trading point here, connecting Longcheng and Hasai, and then send people back to the Western Regions, and then to the Central Plains, asking the Xi family to send more people and supplies as soon as possible.

You know, the emperor is now short of food and fodder for his soldiers, and it is time to sell at a high price. Even if the emperor has no money at the moment, he can use the land to offset the price of food.

Xi Ganlin was twenty-eight years old and was already very courageous. When he proposed to supply the army with food and asked the emperor to pay with land, the ten young men from the tribe who came with him were frightened.

Who is the Emperor of Daxia? !
This man killed people without blinking an eye. He had slaughtered noble families, Japanese pirates who roamed the sea, and even fought all the way to this far west.

If they angered the other party, not only would their group be killed, but the Xi family in the Central Plains might also end up being exterminated.

However, before one thing was over, another thing happened that made them all tremble.

A businessman from the Sakprut Empire came to the door.

It was the man named Mortnar who spoke about the difficulties the caravan had encountered on its journey westwards, and then vaguely hinted at the predicament the Western Expedition Army had been facing.

"The Satsuma people have always been short of food on the plateau. I'm afraid your army can't get better supplies. As businessmen, you should be able to see the business opportunities."

Xi Ganlin remained calm and just sipped the tea he brought from the Central Plains. As for the other party, he even asked someone to make tea for him.

"This is the business of my country's merchants. You don't need to worry about it."

"Haha, you came from the far east to do business with the army. Besides being more courageous than ordinary people, you must have made a lot of money."

Xi Ganlin blew the floating tea stems and asked: "What do you want to say, sir?"

"I have a bigger business, would you like to partner with me?"

"What business?" Xi Ganlin asked, but then raised his hand to interrupt him, "Let me guess, to be extremely wealthy, you must do extremely difficult things. You..."

His eyes stayed on Mortenard's sinister face. After a moment, he smiled and said, "I will provide you with information from the rear, or I will be your insider to cut off the logistics of my Daxia army, right?"

Mortnar smiled but said nothing.

"It's really difficult. You have to know that my Majesty has many eyes and ears. It's very difficult to accomplish something like this... You have to raise the price!"

"Whatever you need, the Emperor will grant it."

"Gold and silver are too heavy, and I have enough food. How about...giving me some land?"

"How many dollars?"

Xi Ganlin's eyes showed greed, and he raised a finger: "Yes, I want the land around Hasai. It is close to Xizhou in the east and is very suitable for east-west trade."

On the opposite side, Mortnar stared at the oriental merchant in front of him for a long time. He was very satisfied with the greed in the other's eyes. This was the nature of a businessman and he could not be deceived.

"The Central Asian Plateau is very large. Once we defeat the army of Emperor Seris and take it back, the emperor will be merciful and send you your reward."

Xi Ganlin nodded excitedly and bowed to the other party: "Then I would like to ask you to say a few more words of praise for me in front of your emperor."

Mortenar stood up and returned the greeting, then walked towards the side door of the courtyard. After walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at Xi Ganlin, "Xi, I suddenly want to ask, why didn't you hesitate?"

"Haha, when it comes to big things, how can you hesitate? There is a saying in the East that wealth and honor are sought in danger!" Xi Ganlin walked over, "Besides... my Xi family was once a family of scholars, and in the Central Plains of the East, it was also considered a famous family. Unfortunately, it was suppressed by the emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty and became a merchant family, barely surviving! You tell me, with such an opportunity, why should I hesitate!"

"I don't know what's going on in the East, but I see hypocrisy and greed in your eyes."

Mortnar laughed and quietly slipped out through the side door with a guard.

After the door over there was closed again, a member of the Xi family came to Xi Ganlin.

"Brother, isn't it too risky for us to do this... Besides, there are hundreds of thousands of people... I'm afraid to bury them all here..."

"If you're afraid, don't do anything. You can go back to Central Plains now!"

Xi Ganlin's smile turned cold, but he did not drive this brother away. Instead, he continued, "Do you think I'm really stupid enough to do business with this barbarian? The emperor has spies everywhere. It's possible that he was targeted when he entered the city."

The young man turned pale and said, "That brother received him and promised him."

"If I don't agree to him, how can I seek wealth and fame at the risk of my life?" Xi Ganlin went back, picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then threw the tea leaves and the tea in the cup into the bushes.

"But for this wealth and honor, I have to ask our Majesty for it, haha!"

Then, he spat at the dullness with which Mortenard had just left.

"With your ability, you think you can do business with me? Tsk..."

Xi Ganlin put down the teacup, strode onto the roof, and walked into the house.

……

At night, on the street where the Sakpruit merchants left, a pair of eyes were watching all this. A figure flashed by in the darkness, jumped onto the roof, stepped on the unique flat roofs of these houses, and disappeared into the night in a few moves.

Located on a street outside the Satsuma Imperial Palace, this is the lord's palace where administrative officials work.

Zhuge Liang, who was in charge of the rear, had already processed the latest batch of grain and fodder transportation, and now that food had arrived, it was already in short supply.

The food that was urgently transported from Satila was partially consumed in Longcheng, and now in Harabitos, it was almost gone in half a month.

"Right now we can only rely on the soldiers on the front line to fight and support the war. If we solve half of the problem, the rest can only be sustained for about half a month."

Even a good cook cannot cook without rice. No matter how good Zhuge Liang is, he cannot produce food. The only plan now is to either attack all the way to Ophiro and capture the other emperor alive. Otherwise, he can only get some from Miranter, the Qin army and the Tang army to solve the urgent problem. This is why he sent a letter to the front line, asking Su Chen to open up the passage between Miranter and Analia as soon as possible.

The lights flickered. Zhuge Liang put down his brush and waved his feather fan to bring a cool breeze. Then, footsteps were heard approaching the door outside.

"Prime Minister, I have important news to report!"

"Please come in!"

Zhuge Liang responded and the guards outside opened the door. The man who reported was wearing brocade robes and had an embroidered spring sword on his waist.

The person who came was a spy from the Embroidered Uniform Division.

After entering the room, he bowed to Zhuge Liang and reported everything he had monitored.

"Not a Samoan?"

"Not like."

Zhuge Liang was silent for a moment. Just as he was about to give orders, footsteps were heard outside again. It was a clerk under his command who came over.

"Prime Minister!" The visitor stood outside the door and bowed: "The Xi family has sent a letter."

Zhuge Liang put down his crane fan, exchanged a glance with the spy from the Embroidered Uniform Service, and calmly asked the clerk to bring in the letter.

He unfolded the letter paper, and on it were lines of fly-sized handwriting.

"...I, Xi Ganlin, come to the Prime Minister's steps to kowtow. Today, there are barbarians from the West disguised as merchants, inciting common people to cause chaos in the rear of our Great Xia army, resulting in the defeat of the army and the death of hundreds of thousands of people.

The matter is of great importance, so I pretended to agree, but after thinking it over, I feel it is not appropriate, so I would like to ask the Prime Minister to make the final decision."

The content was exactly the same as what the spy from the Embroidered Uniform Division said, and all the credit was given to Zhuge Liang.

"He really is a businessman, bold but careful."

After reading the contents of the letter, Zhuge Liang walked among the lights, waving a crane fan. The spy from the Embroidered Uniform Division and the clerk looked at him quietly.

After a moment, the walking figure stopped.

"Here's a plan to break the impasse!" Zhuge Liang smiled and told the clerk, "Go and get Xi Ganlin to come see me!"

It's quiet at night.

Soon after, the Xi family's carriage quietly drove through the messy streets and stopped in the alley beside the lord's mansion.

The young man of about 27 or 28 years old from the Xi family walked into the side door with great trepidation and then entered the study of the Prime Minister of Daxia.

The candlelight illuminated the shadows of the two people against the window frame, and whispers were heard between them.

It was not until the middle of the night that Xi Ganlin came out of the study and carefully got into the carriage and left.

The current situation on the front line has to be treated with caution, especially since the Sakprut Empire launched a civilian offensive, which blocked attacks in two directions.

At present, the armies are still facing the dilemma of food shortage.

Especially in the northern province of Milan, the offensive of the Qin and Tang armies became extremely slow from the initial unstoppable momentum due to the civilian offensive.

Every day, many people risked their lives to attack, while others sneaked in, took advantage of the familiar terrain, and set fire to the military camp under the cover of night.

Late August to early September.

Another camp was set on fire by two Sakpruits late at night. At the same time, the local troops from the Miranter province lurking outside, although not numerous in number, took advantage of the firelight and the cover of night and rushed over like crazy.

The fire illuminates the night.

The burning fence collapsed and fell into the camp ditch with flames. The rushing figures hit the heavy military formations at the gate like raindrops.

Blood and shouts of killing spread wildly in all directions.

Li Yuanba was like a prehistoric beast, roaring "Ah, Ah!" repeatedly. He stood at the forefront of the army formation at the gate, wielding a hammer in both hands, and swept away wave after wave of rushing Sakpruts.

On the plain, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong, who were tall and strong and wielding long spears, came with their troops from another camp to reinforce, and they cut off the ambush force in the middle with great confidence.

In the distance, the Yizhou army, led by Zhang Fei, rushed out from the foothills, circled around the rear, and blocked the Sakpruts' retreat from behind. The soldiers of the Tiger Step Camp howled ferociously, wielding heavy Mo Daos, and chopped down the panicked enemies and horses in front of them.

Li Jing, Guan Yu and two thousand Tang troops were stationed on a nearby high slope. They wielded Qinglong swords and long spears to beat the Sakpruts who rushed up the slope and forced them to fall down the slope.

The thin clothes under their armor stuck to their skin due to sweat, which was quite uncomfortable, but they continued to fight off the barbarians and civilians who rushed towards them.

Further away, the Sakpruits were still pouring in like a tide.

In the southwest of the night, a cavalryman holding torches was approaching quickly, with a fluttering flag and the Chinese character "马" (horse) fluttering in the wind.

……

The southern border of Analia and Ophelia.

The enemy kept attacking the camp on the field like a tide. An Lushan led 5,000 slave soldiers to fight alone. He wielded the heavy weapons as if they were nothing in his hands, knocking down the people who rushed towards him to the ground.

"Too much... too much... I can't handle it anymore!"

He was fighting and muttering to himself.

……

"Stay where you are and no one is allowed to retreat!" Dong Zhuo shouted hoarsely.

At dawn, before they had time to break camp, the Western Liang army, which had reached the central and western regions of Analia Province, once again faced an attack from the Sakpruit civilians that was like a tidal wave.

Tens of thousands of civilians flocked in.

……

The morning light is rising slowly in the central part of Analia Province.

In the huge tent, after reading the intelligence that had just been delivered to him, Xia Tianzi walked out of the tent holding the letter. Outside, a dense crowd of soldiers were gathering.

His face was solemn. He climbed onto his horse and raised one hand in the cool breeze.

As the sunlight shone down, Su Chen's voice roared like thunder.

"The way out of the impasse has been revealed. It's time to return it to the Sakpruit people."

The sky was filled with rolling clouds, and thousands of soldiers let out savage roars and clapped their weapons and shields.

The smoke of war is gradually rising.

The real war is coming.

(End of this chapter)