mesbooks Chapter 513 Xie Qichen Leads the Troops to Get Food and Grass
Chapter 513 Xie Qichen Leads the Troops to Get Food and Grass
Not far from the city wall of Beiling City, the Second Prince of Beimo had more than twenty large iron pots set up, each of which was filled with meat. After the meat was cooked, the aroma of meat and spices mixed together, drifting in the wind, and soon reached the noses of the Da Zhou soldiers.
The soldiers of Beiling City have not had a full meal since the avalanche. Although they eat something every day, the amount is too little and they still feel dizzy from hunger.
Now the soldiers standing guard on the city wall, when they smell the aroma of meat, will unconsciously secrete saliva in their mouths, and they will want to eat meat, and they will want to eat it like crazy.
But they knew that Beimo did this with no good intentions, and they must not show that and let Beimo succeed.
But Beimo did this in order to undermine the firm confidence of the Great Zhou soldiers and make them open the city gates on their own initiative.
"Listen, soldiers of the Northern Desert. Our Second Prince knows that you have no food. So, he has specially ordered people to cook more than 20 pots of meat. If you just come over, we will not kill you. You can eat as much meat as you want. We will not limit the amount you can eat. You can eat as much as you want."
The people from Beimo kept shouting under the city wall, but no one from the garrison paid any attention to them. It was just a one-man show.
When the Second Prince of Beimo learned that the food and fodder of the Beiling City garrison was buried under the snow-capped mountains and that the city was running out of ammunition and food, he just had people cook the meat. Then the soldiers would not kill anyone as long as they opened the city gates and could enjoy eating the meat.
When he thought of this method, he suddenly felt that his idea was really brilliant. He would definitely be able to capture Beiling City without a single soldier. The 300,000 troops under the command of the Great Zhou God of War King Chen could also be used by him to become the vanguard of attacking the capital and help Beimo capture the Great Zhou.
But his idea was destined to fail. You have to know that the 300,000 troops of Beiling City were all led by Xie Ruiyuan. Although they were not the best in all aspects, at least their loyalty was beyond doubt.
There is no way that Beimo's little trick will succeed.
This was indeed the case. No matter how hard the people of Beimo shouted, not a single soldier wavered. In the end, the people of Beimo shouted in vain.
After Xie Qichen ordered the fire room to kill the war horses, he discussed with his deputy generals again. He felt that this could not go on any longer and they had to find a way to change the status quo, otherwise they would only be waiting to die.
He would rather die on the battlefield than starve to death, which would be such a miserable death. Besides, he couldn't just watch 300,000 soldiers starve to death.
"Wang Meng, select two thousand soldiers and go with me to collect food and grass from the northern desert tonight."
"General, you mean we should go and grab the food and grass in the Northern Desert."
"I didn't say that. We are just going to borrow some food and supplies."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, I will go and call for troops right away."
As soon as night fell, Xie Qichen led the well-fed and well-watered soldiers to set off.
The reason why he kept his troops inactive for so long was that he was waiting for news from the scouts to find out where the Northern Desert Army had hidden their food and fodder.
You know, on the first day after the avalanche, he was already thinking about where to get food and grass. It was obviously unrealistic to expect King Chen to have people transport the food and grass over. If he wanted an army of 300,000 to survive under such difficult conditions, he could only find a way on his own.
The first solution he thought of was not to buy food from ordinary people and rich families, but to lead his troops into the grassland to seize the cattle and sheep from the herdsmen.
He used to disdain to rob, but he had no choice because he was forced to do so. Besides, Beimo would send cavalry to the border to rob and raid every year. What he did was just an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But before he could take action, the Northern Desert Army arrived at the city of Beiling, forcing him to terminate his plan to seize the grassland.
But giving up on robbing the grasslands didn't mean he would stop targeting the Northern Desert people. And he didn't think it was a bad thing that the Northern Desert army was approaching the city.
You have to know that his previous idea was to go deep into the grassland and snatch the cattle and sheep from the herdsmen, but in this way, he would have to lead his troops into the grassland.
But not only the soldiers, he himself didn't know much about the grassland. Even though he had been to the grassland before, he couldn't accurately find the traces of the herdsmen in this snow and ice.
What they lack the most is food, so they certainly cannot take much food with them. Once they get lost in the grassland and cannot find herders and get supplies in time, there is only one consequence, that is, everything will be left on the grassland.
But the situation is different now that the Beimo army has arrived in Beiling City.
You must know that during the march and war, whether it is the Great Zhou or the Northern Desert, they will follow a principle, that is, food and fodder must be sent first before troops move.
Beimo actually dared to come directly to the city of Beiling. Regardless of whether it was a protracted war or not, he must have prepared enough food and grass.
With the ready-made food and grass, he didn't need to lead his troops to take risks and go deep into the heart of the grassland to rob. He just needed to seize the food and grass that Beimo had provided to the army.
So with this idea in mind, he sent scouts out to check where the Northern Desert Army stored their food and fodder.
What he didn't expect was that it took him nearly twenty days just to find the location of the grain and grass, and he sent out three groups of scouts.
In other words, Beimo took strict precautions when it came to food and fodder, and it was difficult to track down their exact locations.
Another point is that the snow outside is too thick. It is difficult for scouts to survive in the ice and snow for a long time. They will not be able to stand it after only two or three days.
In addition, the Northern Desert is heavily guarded, so it is very difficult to find out the location of the food and grass in the Northern Desert.
Fortunately, God still favors them. Just as he gave the order to kill the war horses, someone urgently reported that they had found the place where the Northern Desert Army stored food and grass.
Upon hearing the news, not only he but also the other deputy generals were extremely excited. It was not easy to get a large amount of food and fodder. No matter what, he would not give up this opportunity.
It's just that the place where the Northern Desert people store their food and grass, although not guarded by many people, is not only hidden, but it is also extremely difficult to transport the food and grass down without anyone noticing.
He decided to lead two thousand soldiers, sneak to the place where the food and grass were located, transport all the food and grass down, and then send someone to pick them up.
He knew that this plan was risky because if they alerted the Northern Desert Army, it would be difficult for them to escape.
But even so, he couldn't give up. There was really no food in the barracks, and he had to get food as soon as possible.
Another reason that made him feel that this plan was risky but worth a try was that he observed that people in Beimo had slackened off.
He also knew why the Northern Desert Army was like this. It was a fact that the Beiling City military camp was short of food, and it could not be concealed even if they wanted to.
The people of Beimo knew that the garrison in Beiling City would not be able to hold out sooner or later. They could win by just waiting, so why bother using knives and guns to increase casualties?
You have to know that due to the extremely cold weather this year, many herdsmen on the grassland were frozen to death, and the population in the northern desert decreased dramatically. Naturally, they wanted to reduce casualties during the war.