Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 394 Sima Yi: Do you want to see Zhuge Liang’s tips?

Jizhou, Yecheng.

The climate in the north is extremely cold. Now it is the middle of winter and there is heavy snow all over Yecheng, creating a scene of white snow.

It was so cold that there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets.

An old man selling charcoal in thin clothes was pulling a cart of charcoal and shouting on the street.

But because he did not have enough food, even his shouts sounded weak. He only shouted a few times before stopping to rest and catch his breath.

"Master, drink some water, I'll do the shouting."

A chubby little boy following the old man selling charcoal handed him a water bag and then started shouting on behalf of the old man.

"Selling charcoal, selling charcoal——!"

"Cheap and durable charcoal—!"

The tender and clear voice traveled far away on the snowy street.

The old man selling charcoal looked at his little grandson with loving eyes, but his eyes were filled with unconcealable heartache and sorrow.

This winter is colder than any other in the past. If we can't sell this truckload of charcoal, we will have no food to eat for the next few months.

He is fine, as he is an old man used to hardship and fatigue; but his little grandson is at the stage of growing up, so how can he not eat well?
"Ugh……"

The old man selling charcoal sighed in his heart, opened his water bag and took a sip, then prepared to pull his cart to other street corners to try his luck.

At this moment, several figures stopped in front of his charcoal cart, and seemed to be looking at the charcoal on his cart, which immediately perked him up.

"Would you like to buy some charcoal? These are good charcoals that I made myself. They are cheap and last longer."

The old man selling charcoal greeted them warmly.

At the same time, he looked at the two guests in front of him.

The two people in front of me were both dressed as scholars, one older and the other younger.

The younger one was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, handsome and wearing a blue shirt.

The older man next to him was about forty years old, looked white and plump, and was picking up a piece of charcoal and looking at it carefully.

There was another servant following behind with his head slightly lowered.

After looking at a few pieces, the fat scholar asked the charcoal seller with a smile: "Old man, how much do you sell this cart of charcoal for?"

Seeing that the customer in front of him wanted to buy charcoal, the old man's eyes lit up slightly, rubbed his hands, and then said carefully: "This cart of charcoal... in exchange for two stone of grain?"

"Then two stones..."
The scholar in blue was about to agree after hearing this.

But the fat scholar glared at him, and then said to the charcoal seller: "Young people don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, so don't take it seriously."

"This cart of charcoal is not very good, two stones is a bit too much, but considering the large amount, I'll give it one stone and seven dou, what do you think, old man?"
The price of charcoal was cut by three buckets at once, and the old man selling charcoal felt very distressed.

But it’s not easy to meet a buyer in this weather. If you miss the buyer in front of you, you don’t know when you will find the next one.

So after hesitating for a moment, the charcoal seller gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, "Okay, then one stone and seven buckets of charcoal will do. Where is your home? I'll deliver it to you later."

The fat scholar smiled and said, "No hurry, no hurry. I was bored at home so I came out for a walk. If you are not busy, please chat with me."

After selling a cartload of charcoal, the old man felt relieved. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "I can't read a single word and I don't have much knowledge. Just don't think I'm crude, my dear."

He could see that the two people in front of him were both noble persons of extraordinary status.

Even scholars from wealthy and powerful families.

The fat scholar smiled and said, "What's vulgar or not? That's just nonsense from the scholars. Some educated people are even more vulgar than those who haven't read books."

"How old is my father-in-law? Why is he selling charcoal in such a cold weather? Where is my son at home?

As he said this, he didn't mind that the charcoal cart had soiled his clothes, and sat down in an empty seat on the edge, looking very familiar.

The charcoal seller smiled and said, "I am sixty-four this year. I joined the army in my early years and almost died on the battlefield. Later, I returned home, got married and had children."

"But it should be because he killed a lot of people and committed sins. His wife and son died of illness one after another, and all the family assets were used up in medical treatment."

"My daughter-in-law was abducted two years ago when she was fleeing famine. Her whereabouts are unknown. Now we only have this little grandson left. He is also the only child in the family."

"Because of the heavy snow in recent days, food prices have risen rapidly, and my family is almost unable to make ends meet."

A sad look appeared on the face of the old man selling charcoal. As he spoke, he touched the head of the little boy beside him, and tears seemed to flash in the corners of his eyes.

The young scholar was moved by the words of the old man selling charcoal.

The fat scholar continued to ask, "Didn't the imperial court allocate food and supplies for disaster relief? Didn't you go to the Zhen's business to collect them?"

The food and supplies allocated by the imperial court for disaster relief were distributed to the people by the Zhen family business. These things have always been done by the Zhen family.

The old man selling charcoal shook his head and said, "I asked the Zhen family's store, and they said they have distributed all the charcoal."

"Has it been sent out?"

The fat scholar's eyes suddenly stern when he heard this, and then he pondered for a moment, then smiled and said to the charcoal seller: "Let's talk about this for today, old man, I'll take my leave first."

As he said this, he smiled at the little boy and wanted to reach out and touch his head.

But the little boy was still angry about the fat scholar's bargaining behavior just now, so he hid behind the charcoal seller and made a face at him.

The old man selling charcoal could not help but say awkwardly: "This child... please don't blame me, my dear."

"pretty good."

The fat white scholar was not angry. He withdrew his hand with a smile, and then left with the young scholar.

"By the way, sir, where should this charcoal be sent?"

At this time the old man selling charcoal remembered that the other party had not yet said where to send the charcoal, so he hurriedly opened his mouth and shouted.

"Someone will come get it later."

The fat white scholar did not look back and gradually walked away.

Disappeared at the end of the street corner.

Not long after, there was a sudden sound of horse hooves, and a team of guards riding tall and imposing horses came galloping over.

Gorgeous embroidered clothes can be vaguely seen under the clothes of this group of people.

While the old man selling charcoal was shocked, the leading guard clasped his fists towards him, had someone put down a large bag of grain, and then took it away along with the donkey cart.

After watching the other person go away, the charcoal seller came to his senses. He then walked forward to take a look at the food in the bag and could not help but exclaimed.

Because in the bag there was not only food, but also several strings of cash, enough to buy his donkey cart and have some left over!
Even after all the guards had disappeared and left, the old charcoal seller still hadn't come to his senses for a long time.

"Master, what's wrong with you?"

The little boy couldn't help asking when he saw the charcoal selling old man in a daze.

The charcoal seller stroked the big money in his hand, his eyes complicated, and he touched his grandson's hair and sighed, "It's nothing, we just met a noble person."

……

The fat scholar and the young scholar were Jia Xu and Guo Jia.

Guo Jia frowned and asked in confusion, "Your Majesty ordered Zhen to prepare supplies for disaster relief long before winter. Why is there still a shortage of food and supplies?"

He was very surprised by what the old man selling charcoal had just said. Even the relief supplies and food in the imperial city were beginning to be in short supply, let alone other places.

This is a major matter that concerns millions of ordinary people. How could Zhen be so careless about such a thing?
The shortage of food and supplies should have been reported to the court earlier so that they could be dispatched in advance. However, they were not available when they were needed. This is simply playing with the lives of the people!
Jia Xu had a cold expression and said nothing.

He came to inspect in person after learning about the severity of the disaster, wanting to see what was going on, but the result was beyond his expectations.

"This matter needs to be reported to His Majesty as soon as possible."

Jia Xu said in a deep voice that no matter whether Zhen was incompetent or there were other reasons, the disaster problem needed to be resolved as soon as possible.

Guo Jia nodded solemnly, and then the two of them got on the carriage and headed for the palace.

But at this moment a horse came galloping.

An envoy in embroidered clothes dismounted from his horse, knelt on one knee outside the carriage, and said with his hands clasped, "Mr. Jia, there is an urgent report!"

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

"Class A?"

Jia Xu's face changed slightly, and he immediately said, "Present it quickly!"

Intelligence is divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D according to its importance. Level A is news that is as urgent as an 800-mile express and needs to be delivered as soon as possible.

Without saying a word, the envoy in embroidered clothes took out a secret letter with a wax seal intact from his bosom and handed it to Jia Xu with both hands.

Jia Xu opened the letter and read it carefully. After reading just the first line, he couldn't help but widen his eyes, and an expression of disbelief appeared on his face!

"Brother Wenhe, what's the matter?"

Although Guo Jia knew that the information of the Embroidered Uniform Messenger should not be leaked easily, when he saw Jia Xu, who was always calm, showing such an expression, he couldn't help but ask.

Jia Xu did not answer but read the secret letter carefully.

Then he opened the carriage curtains and breathed in the cold air outside, then whispered to Guo Jia: "Concubine Zhen... is pregnant with the heir."

"what?!"

Guo Jia's face changed instantly and he stood up in shock.

But he forgot that he was in a carriage. When he stood up, his head hit the roof directly. He squatted down holding his head in pain, looking miserable.

Regardless of the pain in his head, Guo Jia asked, "When did this happen? Why... so suddenly?"

This news was shocking. Just a few months after Lu Lingqi became pregnant, Zhen Mi also became pregnant. The emperor suddenly had two heirs!

"You ask me how I know?"

Jia Xu curled his lips and said, "The intelligence said that Concubine Zhen had vomited on her way home, and her condition worsened after she returned home."

"After the doctor's diagnosis, it was confirmed that Concubine Zhen was pregnant with a dragon heir."

After hearing what Jia Xu said, Guo Jia had a complicated expression and couldn't help but sigh: "What should I do?"

Both Zhen Mi and Lu Lingqi were pregnant. This was both good news and bad news. He didn't know how to feel for a moment.

"Let's go into the palace first."

Jia Xu sighed and said nothing more.

The carriage drove slowly towards the palace.

……

The attack and defense of Tongguan has been going on for some time.

The fierce attack launched by the Han army under the command of Zhang Liao made it difficult for the soldiers of the Western Liang army guarding this dangerous pass to cope with it.

The reason is simple: the weather is too cold.

The climate in the north is already cold, and it has been snowing recently. How can people bear it?
The soldiers of the Xiliang Army didn't even dare to hold their weapons for a long time, because if they did, their hands might stick to the weapons. Such conditions were extremely harsh.

But the Han army was also having a hard time.

Although they had a lot of warm clothes, which minimized the impact of the cold weather, they were still unable to capture Tongguan.

The terrain of Tongguan was too dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was as solid as a rock. Therefore, the successive attacks caused the Han army to suffer heavy casualties.

In the Han army camp.

Zhang Liao was inspecting the wounded camp with Sima Yi. Looking at the injured soldiers in each camp, he couldn't help feeling heartbroken.

So he said to Sima Yi: "Military Advisor, we have been attacking for ten consecutive days. We need to slow down a bit. If we continue like this, our soldiers will not be able to bear it."

Although casualties were inevitable in a strong attack, the strong attack method adopted by Sima Yi was a way to put maximum pressure on the enemy while not caring about his own casualties.

Zhang Liao couldn't bear to watch his soldiers go to their deaths one after another. It was not because he was soft-hearted, but he really didn't want to continue wasting his soldiers' lives in vain.

These are the soldiers he trained with great effort!

Sima Yi's face was grim as he said, "The casualties we are paying now are to take Tongguan more quickly and avoid the sacrifice of more soldiers."

"Pang De has been instigated to rebel. As long as Ma Chao sends him to guard Tongguan, we can easily capture Tongguan!"

He instigated Pang De to rebel through the embroidered robe envoy, and now he needs to keep putting pressure on Tongguan so that Ma Chao will send Pang De to come to the rescue.

"But……"

Zhang Liao hesitated to speak. It was not that he did not believe in Sima Yi's wisdom, but this was completely gambling with the lives of his soldiers.

What if Ma Chao came personally to guard Tongguan?
Seeing Zhang Liao's expression, Sima Yi said, "Hold on for another five days. If there is still no news after five days, we can discuss other countermeasures."

"Now Cao has also sent troops to Bingzhou. If we fail to capture Tongguan before Cao's troops arrive, this Western Expedition will probably be in vain."

They had received news three days ago that Cao Cao had sent troops, apparently to help Ma Chao break the siege and stop them from attacking Tongguan.

This is not good news for them.

Hearing this, Zhang Liao could not help but curse: "Damn Cao thief, when I go south in the future, I will definitely capture him alive with my own hands!"

After saying that, he left cursing.

Sima Yi silently took out the brocade bag given to him by Zhuge Liang from his arms, with hesitation in his eyes.

If his plan fails, should he look at this magic bag?
"This magic bag contains a strategy to defeat Ma Chao."

"I'll leave it here. It's up to you whether you want to read it or not."

"But I hope Zhongda can put the overall situation first. If you really have no other options, don't forget this great plan."

Zhuge Liang's voice rang in Sima Yi's ears, causing his palms to clench instantly, and his fighting spirit and confidence were ignited again.

"No, I won't watch it even if I die!"

Just as Sima Yi was about to turn around and return to the camp to summon his generals for a meeting, a soldier hurried over, knelt on one knee and said, "Military Advisor, the scouts ahead reported that Pang De's troops have arrived at Tongguan!"

(End of this chapter)