It’s hard to break a phoenix’s destiny

Chapter 556: Food shortage during the march

The old woman's surname was Wang, and she looked to be in her sixties. Although she was a little hunched over, she was in good spirits. At least her eyes were very bright, and she walked steadily. She did not show any fear when she knelt in front of Liu Yao.

"I am from Luoyang. The house was on fire and I was an old woman with nowhere to go. I happened to see the young general passing by and asked me for a drink of water. I felt that it was not easy for the young general, so I said a few more words. Seeing that the young general's subordinates were all younger children, I felt sorry for them. I thought that since I had to flee Luoyang anyway, I might as well follow the young general and help with some things. I see that many people have joined you in this way. Although they will not fight in the battlefield, they can cook and boil medicine." When Wang Po looked at Liu Cheng, her eyes were full of love. She felt sorry for his uncomfortable sitting posture and quietly pulled his awkward armor for him. "It's a bit offensive to say this, but the young general should be studying in the school at his age in Dajin. How can he spend his days fighting and killing like this? It's too bloody."

She must have seen Liu Yao's long sword, and her eyes looked a little dim.

"You are from the Great Jin, why are you following us?" Liu Yao didn't care and continued to ask. In his tent, besides the bloody long sword, there was also a blood-stained armor, which looked even more shocking.

Deputy General He Chi was slightly injured and was washing the wound on his arm with clean water, grimacing in pain. The doctor next to him kept whispering to him to bear with it and that medicine would be applied soon. But the wound seemed to be very deep, so the doctor's movements were a little slow.

Wang Po could not help herself and did not answer Liu Yao. She stood up and walked to the doctor and said, "You pour the water, I will dip the blood stains, and then you quickly pour the strong liquor... Young general, can you help? Hold down the general's body. It will be painful when pouring the strong liquor."

"Oh oh oh." Liu Cheng glanced at Liu Yao secretly, then stood up with great effort and tried to hold down He Chi's legs.

At this time, the clean water had washed away the dirty blood on the wound. Wang Po picked up the wine jug and did not hand it to the doctor. Instead, she poured it directly on He Chi's wound. Then she wiped off the excess liquor with a clean cloth, and took the porcelain bottle of medicine powder from the doctor. She did not sprinkle too much, but just enough to cover the wound. Her technique was extremely fast and precise. It seemed that she had 10 to 20 years of experience.

Liu Yao was secretly surprised again. Who is this old woman?

After treating the wound of the deputy general He Chi, although he was also sweating profusely from the pain, there were no other problems. Wang Po gave a few more instructions, and her words were even more detailed than those of the doctor. Perhaps she also felt that she had said too much, and while wiping her hands, she said to Liu Yao: "General, don't blame me. My husband's family used to run a medicine shop, and I have done these things for many years. Unfortunately, he died early, and my only daughter got married early. Later, I was left alone, so I closed the medicine shop and lived a quiet life."

Seeing that she had made it clear, Liu Yao's expression improved a little, and he coughed twice, "I'm sure you've heard that the loyal and brave army I lead does not spare any women."

"I know, I know. They told me." Wang Po's smile became even more loving. "I will leave once I get out of this bamboo forest. I still have to go east. My daughter is in Hui County in the east, but I don't know how she is doing now."

"It's fine over there now, but it's hard to say in the future." Liu Yao's heart softened a little, "Okay, but you also saved Liu Cheng and so many people, so you have made a contribution. I'll give you 100 taels of silver later, which will be good for you to keep."

"Oh, thank you, General." Wang Po smiled and knelt down again, and kowtowed to Liu Yao solemnly to express her gratitude. Because of the victory, everyone was in a much better mood. Liu Yao gave Liu Cheng a few more instructions before letting him and Wang Po leave the big tent to do their own things. Liu Cheng took out a cake from his arms and put it in Liu Yao's hand, indicating that he still needed to eat more.

Liu Yao nodded, thinking that the child had grown up. When they left the tent, he turned to look at his deputy general He Chi and suddenly asked, "How much food do we have left?"

Being asked this question out of the blue, He Chi was a little confused. After thinking for a while, he said, "It shouldn't be much. We were blocked by Liang Zong once in Jiujiang before, and we had to throw a lot of things before we could cross the river. So now it should be... less than three days."

This is bad news.

Liu Yao's face turned ugly again. "The emperor asked us to defend Chang'an, but I was driven all the way to southern Anhui. If this continues, if we really go to the east and south, then the problem will be serious. Especially if Liang Zong and Sima Rui join forces, it will be too difficult for us to deal with these 40,000 people."

"How about I send someone to look for Shi Le? He should be fine. Besides, he has 200,000 men under his command. If he can come to support us, the situation will be different." Deputy General He Chi was Liu Yao's right-hand man and his adviser. Because they started talking about political affairs, several deputy generals came over and even found branches to draw the current situation on the mud.

"Don't be afraid of Sima Rui, as he is not yet mature. Instead, we should pay more attention to his general Xie An, who is a ruthless person who burns, kills and plunders. I heard that they sent about 10,000 people disguised as bandits to disrupt the situation in the southeast, and also killed many wealthy and prominent families." Deputy General Wei Xing was more mature, and he was very worried. "Shi Le may not be reliable, and he is very ambitious, so he is unlikely to help us."

Deputy General Wang Dun brought some food and placed it in front of Liu Yao, then took out a wine jug from his arms and handed it to him, whispering, "General, this is all the wine left. I just poured it on He Chi's wound."

"Well, it's okay." Liu Yao grabbed the wine pot and took a sip. "The most urgent thing now is food and fodder. Our 40,000 people need to eat. Is there anything edible in the bamboo forest?"

"There's really nothing at this time of year." Deputy General Wang Dun laughed bitterly. "We looked for a few hunters' huts, but we only found some moldy cakes. There was nothing else."

"If there is no food, there will probably be civil unrest." Deputy General Wei Xing frowned even more tightly.

"Let's go and see what else there is. There are always some beasts and birds in the forest. We can kill them first to satisfy our hunger." Liu Yao had no other choice. He felt annoyed as he looked at the topographic map drawn on the ground.