The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 264 Acid

Hami City, inside the Prince Zhongshun's Palace.

At this moment, the place was bustling with noise.

Tian Jiu's 10,000-strong western expeditionary army finally arrived in Hami City.

The dozen or so tribal leaders of Hami Guard, who had just been invited to drink tea by General Gan yesterday, felt a chill run down their spines.

Is five thousand troops not enough for such a small city like Hami?
Faced with the massive Han army, they truly could not harbor even the slightest wicked thoughts.

The main problem is that our strength doesn't allow it.

Have you not seen how miserable the Uyghur, Hui, and Harahui tribes, whose entire male populations have been wiped out, are now?
In the past, when these three tribes had the most warriors, they often seized pastures from other tribes.

Everything I ate before, I've vomited up now!

They unanimously elevated the status of the Han army to a new level.

Then she instructed the tribesmen to obey the orders of that stunningly beautiful female general.

The food, fruits, and sheep needed by the Han army should be sent to Hami City immediately.

They sold it at half price, almost giving it away, hoping the other party would remember their kindness.

General Gan's main tactic for these ethnic minorities, who were destined not to form alliances and achieve anything significant, was a combination of intimidation and cooperation.

Why is the army short of food?
Inside the palace.

Several centurions from the vanguard battalion were introducing Hami's specialties to General Tian, ​​whose hair was covered in yellow sand:

"General Tian, ​​what do you think of this big winter melon with its mottled skin? Based on my experience eating melons these past few days, the more mottled stripes a melon has, the sweeter it is."

He spoke while simultaneously moving the knife.

With a crisp "snap," the large melon was split in two, and the nectar inside flowed out along the cut.

The unique sweet aroma of melons instantly filled the entire room.

Tian Jiu pushed the person away, picked up the half of the melon that hadn't been cut into pieces, and slurped a mouthful of the melon flesh.

"Slurp."

The centurion immediately intervened:
"Oh dear, my lord! This melon is different from the kind from our Northwest. We eat the flesh, not the pulp. The pulp here isn't very tasty!"

"puff!"

Tian Jiu spat out the melon seeds from his mouth.

He then buried his head and slurped a few more mouthfuls before saying:

"Who the hell said this melon flesh is inedible? It's clearly still sweet! Look at you guys, you've only had a few meals of melons and you're already getting cocky!"

"How dare I! Why don't you try a bite of the melon and see?"

"Crunch!" Tian Jiu, half-believing and half-doubting, took a bite of the melon rind.

The centurion, who hadn't even had a chance to help peel the melon, simply said, "."

After much effort, General Tian finally got to eat the melon flesh, and couldn't help but grumble to himself:

The melons from the Western Regions are really no match for those from the Central Plains! Whose melons are so good, with such thick skin and not even the sweetest flesh?

However, for now...

The golden-yellow flesh of the melon is fragrant, sweet, and crisp; half of it is enough to fill you up.

When he heard that this melon, which used to cost two taels of silver each in Huaiqing Prefecture, was a staple food for the locals in Hami, and that one tael of silver could buy five or six hundred melons, he was extremely envious.

Having forced himself to finish a five- or six-pound melon, he came to Gan Minglan with a burp and said, "General Gan, we can't just sell such good melons cheaply in Hami! If we transport them to Jinzhou Pass, we can make a fortune selling two melons for a tael of silver!"

Gan Minglan felt a toothache listening to this; she guessed that these soldiers and bandits had been led astray by her.

Now, besides being single-mindedly focused on killing the Hu people, all they do when they have free time is rack their brains to think about making money.

Even if it's a bitter melon I made myself, I'll still stuff a lump of meat inside before eating it!

She beckoned to Tian Jiu, and only lowered her voice when he came closer:
“We’re not short of money now! The gold and silver treasures unearthed from this palace are enough to feed the entire army for several years, and I’ve also found a gold mine from Prince Zhongshun!”

"very?"

Tian Jiu's heart was pounding in her throat, and her eyes were wide open, almost popping out of their sockets.

Gan Minglan nodded in affirmation:

"The current annual output is about five or six thousand taels of gold! I asked the miners who were arrested, and the gold content in the mine is enough to keep us mining for at least another five or six years!"

Tian Jiu pinched his thigh, wincing in pain, then chuckled foolishly for a while before sighing.

"Hey! The soldiers all say you can make a fortune wherever you go! Look at those guys in your vanguard battalion, their faces are all grinning from ear to ear!"
This time you've truly cemented your reputation as the God of Wealth General!

The more than 10,000 brothers who followed Ang were not destined to be among the first to benefit from the soup; by now, the sour water they've produced could probably fill several vats!
General Gan, you can't show favoritism!

Look, look!
The temperament of soldiers is a reflection of the type of generals they command!
Gan Minglan was so angry at his mournful appearance that her gums ached.

"We are the Western Expeditionary Army, the Western Expeditionary Army! The Western Expedition hasn't even officially started yet, what's the big deal about the first batch of soup?"

"cough cough"

Tian Jiu slapped himself on the forehead:
"I've really been blinded by that yellow and white stuff! I still have to follow Deputy Commander Xiong's orders."

After saying that, he looked in the direction of the sandbar and sighed repeatedly.

It's urgent!

The news that the Prince Zhongshun's palace had paved its cellar with gold bricks and that the raw stones of Hetian jade were packed in boxes reached the ears of the newly arrived 10,000-strong army through the vanguard battalion.

Even the sweetest self-serve melons tasted sour to them.

Every now and then, a centurion would run up to Gan Minglan and wander around.

If you give them a questioning look, they just rub their hands together and chuckle foolishly.

Everyone thought that such a major military undertaking as the Western Expedition required careful planning before it could be carried out, and that the deputy commander-in-chief and others should come up with a sound plan.

Unexpectedly, plans can change faster than expected!
The day after the 10,000-strong westward expeditionary army arrived in Hami City, 40,000 archer cavalry from Huozhou appeared in Hami Guard.

As luck would have it, when they were still more than a hundred miles from Hami City, they were discovered by King Atu, who was developing his desert territory.

General Gan immediately summoned the army and announced:
"The brothers' cravings for a feast are coming to our door; they'll arrive in about six hours!"

The soldiers, eager for battle, listened to these words as if they were heavenly music:
"Great! I love this kind of eager business!"

"General Gan! Our brothers are desperate for food and starving! If the feast we get here can't compare to what we get in Hami City, we won't stand for it!"

General Gan vouched for her with her rare conscience:

"It's impossible not to get fat! We came from the neighboring Huozhou! Huozhou was the former Gaochang Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty! That's a great place for producing wine and cotton!"
How much does a jug of fine wine cost? Is cotton cloth a good thing?

"If you can wipe out this cavalry archer force in Huozhou, we'll take you there and raid for three days and three nights!"

The soldiers' blood boiled: "Let's do it!"

Receiving the news six hours in advance allows for proper planning.
(End of this chapter)