Gu Yuanbai just laughed at these rumors.
He did not take this matter to heart and turned to Kong Yilin to talk about border matters. The tone was leisurely, the streets could not talk about big things, and the two conversed as if they were having a casual conversation, and in the end, Kong Yilin took the initiative to tell Gu Yuanbai what the border was like.
Endless winds, unending grasslands, and blue skies.
As Gu Yuanbai listened to him, he also began to think about what Daheng's border would be like.
This thought flew up into the sky, swept by the wind and swaying toward the northern frontier.
*
When the Daheng soldiers cleared the battlefield, they brought the horses that died from injuries back to the camp to add meat as well.
It was a pity that the horses of the Khitans had been starved to the skin and bones, and those remaining meats were not enough for the tens of thousands of soldiers to share, not to mention the victims.
The last of this meat was made into horse broth, and the few who could get a bite of the meat had to use the broth to satisfy their cravings.
Marching to war is hard work, the emergency of relief, meat with little, very early has been eaten up. The only thing that could relieve the soldiers to improve their ration was the cattle and sheep snatched from the nomads and the horses wounded on the battlefield, so after winning a small battle with Rilianna, Xue Yuan and General Xue brought 20,000 men and completely surrounded Rilianna's tribe.
His Majesty's order was to strike fear into the nomads who frequently violated the border, and to negotiate peace when they were ready to unite internally, in order to seek stable development, dip into the economic lifeblood of the nomads on the grasslands, and form a fixed trade route.
If you don't succeed, then fight. Successful, then fight in a different way.
All the clans of the nomadic people numbered 200,000 to 300,000 people, and those who suffered from the locusts were also a small corner of them, and now if we were to take Daheng's cavalry against the ferocious cavalry of these people, seventy percent of them would lose in an ugly way.
It can't be helped, Daheng has fewer horses and fewer cavalry, so it takes time to cultivate cavalry. Gu Yuanbai had only been in the army for a short time, and he hadn't even seen many horses, let alone a large number of cavalry.
The goal this time was to use the locusts and the sound of the soldiers and horses to frighten them, and then to stir up their already dark internal disputes.
General Xue took His Majesty's words to heart, and with 20,000 men and horses took advantage of the time and place to beat Rilianna so that he could not raise his head, and Daheng's soldiers took advantage of the opportunity to seize all the cattle, sheep, and horses of Rilianna's tribe, and captured 8,000 of the enemy's troops, and the rest of the people were taken by Rilianna, and fled in a terrible plight to the north.
The horses that had been looted back were raised, and as soon as these horses ate the fresh grain and grass, they struggled no more, and their heads were buried under the roots of the grass, and they chewed it in large mouthfuls.
Some of the remaining cattle and sheep, also skinny to the bone, were partly left behind and partly all killed and butchered for meat!
"The cattle and sheep that were left behind can be slaughtered and eaten just in time for the cold weather," General Xue deliberated with the generals, "Rilianna has run away to the north, and should have gone to join Sivandan's tribe. Sivandan is bold and cautious, his tribe has also been affected by the locust plague, they will accept Rilianna's tribe, but this winter, he will not start another war with us for Rilianna."
"They're on their own," Xue Yuan said, "and the first thing this winter, whether it's them or us, is to stay alive."
The captured Khitans were used as slaves to add bricks and mortar to the construction of houses for the victims.
This winter is not good, the victims are not clothed, there is a warm bedding is good, these days there are already some victims have contracted wind cold, fortunately, there are medicinal herbs and the doctor is here, in order to save timely treatment.
The locusts have already entered the waking stage, if they do not settle the locusts in this period, once the locusts enter the adult stage and lay eggs, they will have to weed and cut the eggs and dig trenches to bury the locusts.
The people in the tent were silent for a long time, their hearts sinking with worry, but at that moment, a duck quack sounded outside. No one in the tent took this seriously, only thinking that they had misheard it.
However, immediately afterward, the dense sound of duck quacking rang out, causing one's ears to ache. Xue Yuan abruptly raised his eyes and glanced at General Xue before turning around and striding outside.
The tent curtains lifted, the ducks quacked louder, everyone followed the quacking, and as soon as they walked out they saw tens of thousands of ducks in black.
These ducks quacked and pecked at the locusts on the road, but they were too fat and clumsy to do so.
Fat ducks, ducks that were nothing like all the starving, skin-and-bones cattle and sheep animals on the frontier.
Many people gulped, Xue Yuan even heard clearly the several generals beside him gulping along. These ducks were layer after layer, each as big as a man's calf, running this way in waves, and the man escorting the army of 100,000 ducks shouted anxiously, "Dare I ask where General Xue is?"
Yang Hui, the general beside Xue Yuan, hissed at the top of his voice, "General Xue is here!"
The soldiers and victims blocking the road in front of them hurriedly made way, and Xue Yuan's eyelids jumped a few times as he strided forward in front of the crowd's deeply expectant gazes.
The visitor's eyes just lit up when he saw him, and he said in a loud voice, "General Xue, I was ordered to send 100,000 ducks from the rear! The road was bumpy and lost track of more than two hundred ducks, the remaining ninety-nine thousand seven hundred or so, please ask General Xue to check!"
The crowd behind him was in an uproar.
One hundred thousand ducks! This, this is a hundred thousand ducks!
Xue Yuan was also shocked by the number, then came back to his senses and said succinctly, "These ducks came all the way over here to eat all the locusts?"
The visitor smiled even more enthusiastically, ''Yes. Outside the locusts have been eaten almost, these ducks are also eaten by each belly full of round, and so on the last some locusts are pecked out, these ducks are the generals on the table of the dish, only hope that the generals do not hate them to eat locusts on the good."
Plates of food.
Xue Yuan glanced at the ducks with a green light in his eyes. Each of these ducks had shiny fur and godly eyes. Locusts were delicacies to the ducks, but these ducks that had traveled all the way, the meat on their bodies worked out to be chewier and sturdier because of the road were also delicacies to the soldiers, extremely rare and extremely delicious delicacies.
Xue Yuan's throat knots rolled a bit, and the crowd who heard this also fixed their eyes on the duck, so enthusiastically that they couldn't take their eyes off it at all.
The drumming sound of 100,000 ducks quacking up in this instant also became wonderful, transporting ducks to the border also has a few thousand people, leading the people to see Xue Yuan this look, very on the road: "General if you want to taste the flavor, today on the slaughter can also be."
"There's no rush," Xue Yuan said politely, then smiled slightly, "Leave them a few days to peck the border locusts out."
These ducks came in time, completely saving them from having to use manpower to catch locusts to get rid of locust eggs. The corners of Xue Yuan's mouth secretly hooked up, his mood was pleasant.
Did Gu Yuanbai send so many ducks to the border because he missed him, so he wanted to save him some time so he could return to the capital quickly?
The famous General Xue suddenly stifled two laughs.
He had just been wondering how to go about managing the locust spawning, but it turned out that the 100,000 ducks coming from the rear had already finished the matter.
Such a coincidence that coincided back and forth gave Xue Yuan a feeling that he and Gu Yuanbai had a heart-to-heart.
Xue Yuan, as he had done earlier when he was tricked by the Taoist priest into buying the talisman paper, began to haunt his mind again with this possibility of the heart being in the right place.
What he thought about on a regular basis, could Gu Yuanbai know or not.
If they knew that, wouldn't the two of them have already been lovebirds several times, already entangled in love, not distinguishing between you and me?
*
Xue Yuan's pleasant mood was maintained.
The locust plague was stabilized internally, and there were no enemies poking around externally. This period of time is a rare time of peace and quiet, after having a free time, Xue Jiujiuyao's one mind is placed on Gu Yuanbai's body, as soon as he thinks of this person is like drinking eight points of wine, his thoughts fluttering, so hot that he can't sleep every night, and in the morning he has to put up his long guns and cannons.
Xue Yuan even washed his pants for half a month, every day in front of his tent there are pants fluttering in the wind. Soldiers and generals who passed by his door knew what was going on, and at first they snickered and laughed, and then they smiled and admired him.
General Yang, who was well acquainted with Xue Jiuyao, even ran over to kindly remind him, "Xue Yuan, don't be so reckless just because you're physically young, you've been washing your pants for half a month, haven't you? Why is the fire so big!"
Xue Yuan lazily lay in the sun, sniffing, his mouth lifted, "Don't block the old man's sun."
General Yang moved a stool to sit aside, looking at not far away from the Khitan prisoners chopping firewood, said in a serious tone: "I am a person who has been there, know that marching and fighting in the army are all men, sows can't even see one, holding back is also deserved. But you this is also really too exaggerated a bit, say, this is not in your heart there is someone?"
Xue Yuan was skeptical about the "heart-to-heart" thing these days, but as soon as he thought about it, if it was true, if he was thinking about Gu Yuanbai, Gu Yuanbai would know what he was thinking about. When he thought of this possibility, Xue Yuan became a bit impatient.
These days spring dream after spring dream, the little emperor is not also able to see him do these spring dreams, and then blush heartbeat, cold face and blush unspeakable?
Blushing, Gu Yuanbai shouldn't be blushing. But the way he lifted his foot and crushed Xue Yuan's brother, the tail of his eyes hooked up, vicious and his lips reddened, just thinking about it made Xue Yuan harden.
"Yes." Xue Yuan lazily voiced.
General Yang's eyes lit up with complete curiosity, ''Who is that person who can mesmerize you, Xue Jiujiuyao, to such an extent that you are so mesmerized that your seven orifices have lost their six? Does General Xue know? Does Mrs. Xue know?"
"What do you mean I was mesmerized?" Xue Yuan raised his foot and stepped on the short stool beside his foot, denying it, "Where do you see that I'm mesmerized."
Is the person who has someone in his heart all so uncertain in his joy and anger, General Yang wondered, "You climb up every morning to wash your pants look, is not it still called God's soul?"
"Youthfulness and liver fire," Xue Yuan's face didn't change, "Recently the nights have been a bit hot."
The cold winds of the northern frontier had blown up, and it was November, and while others were frozen to the bone, he said it was hot.
Unfortunately, General Yang had a stupid mouth and knew that he was talking nonsense, but he didn't know how to expose him, and he was sweating anxiously when a small soldier ran over and said, "General, the imperial court has sent someone to deliver something again!"
General Yang froze, but a gust of wind flashed in front of him, and Xue Yuan had already stridden away from him.
*
During these months at the border, both the soldiers and the victims knew how much the imperial court loved them.
After piling up mountains of rice and grain is a whole 100,000 ducks, that duck is so delicious that the victims also follow the meat. One mouthful of it was so fat and beautiful that one could not wait to swallow even his tongue.
Such delicious duck meat is not easy to eat before the locust plague came. Once the duck meat was in the mouth, it was so delicious and chewy that it made people feel that all the hardship of these days had been driven away.
Elder General Xue did not mince words either, how could 100,000 ducks be enough for all the people to have a few bites. When the duck meat was served on the table, not to mention the people, the various generals were all in a frenzy, chopsticks were like war, eliminating plate after plate of meat in a matter of moments.
In those days, the whole border was free and happy, and the duck feathers were also of great use, being picked up to prepare for winter clothing and bedding. Even if the next day how difficult, the people thought, how to afford the court to give them grain, afford to eat these meat.
They were ready to face the cold winter, ready to tough it out even in the worst of circumstances, but they didn't realize that what the court was sending them wasn't over yet.
What they were worried about is exactly what the court was worried about and has been addressed by the court.
Long loading wagons were placed on top of the clearing, and the soldiers gathered around the sides, curious to know what was on them.
"Is it grain and meat?"
"We have enough food, as well as ducks and nomads' cattle and sheep." The bystander retorted.
Someone else worried, "Why does the court keep sending us things? One trip after another, it can't be that the court is saving money to pay for it, right?"
The whispers in the back continued, the sound of discussion gradually became noisy, and General Xue in the front with all the generals had already come out to greet them, and was also full of puzzlement wondering what this was.
The official who escorted the caravan here had a good relationship with old General Xue, he stroked his beard meaningfully and laughed, "If the general can't guess, why don't you let someone unload these things from the car and take a good look at them?"
Although Old General Xue didn't know what this could be, he knew it must be something good that would be useful to them, and the old general opened and closed his lips a few times, both guilty and touched, saying, "I'm ashamed to have made His Holiness so worried to this point."
At these words, the generals' expressions showed a hidden shame.
The saint treats them so well, three times to the border at the expense of great financial and material resources to transport things, which is something they have never thought of.
Originally thought that Xue Yuan brought so much food is already the limit of the court can take out, is the court their love and trust, at this time to know, the court to them is far from it.
How can this not be humbling and exciting?
The official pacified them, "Why do you feel guilty, generals? You have protected the safety of our Daheng border, and you have died for the people of Daheng, and it is all thanks to you generals that our Daheng has such a prosperous scene with a calm sea and a clear river."
Saying that, he instead made a deep bow, "It should be us who feel guilty."
When Xue Yuan arrived, he saw them talking politely to each other. He listened to two sentences of impatience and directly told the soldiers to go ahead and unload the carts to see what exactly it was that the saint had sent.
Seeing him like this, the people who had spoken a few rounds of polite words stopped talking and looked towards the car with anticipation. In less than a moment, the contents were revealed, the crowd did not know who was caught off guard, shouted out in shock: "It's even a winter coat!"
The soldiers became a tumultuous mass, scrambling to try and poke their heads in for a last look, "What, winter coats?"
"The court sent us winter clothes?"
Elder General Xue immediately ordered five soldiers to come forward amongst the crowd and had them change into their winter coats. As soon as the brand new winter coats were put on, warmth and softness hit them, and the soldiers buried their faces in the winter coats, only to feel that in less than a moment, their whole bodies were hot and sweaty.
Elder General Xue looked at them and was surprised, "This winter coat has seen results so quickly?"
The soldiers said in a chorus, "General, these winter coats are especially hot and lightweight, and we're already sweating."
General Xue, half convinced, personally picked up a winter coat and put it on, after a moment, shock flashed across his face, followed by great joy.
The rest of the generals could not resist the curiosity in their hearts, and also tried on their hands, and were greatly surprised, "How is this winter coat so lightweight!"
The official smiled and kept quiet, only to give them a detailed account of the cause when they pressed the matter.
When the generals realized the reason, they could not resist the high-pitched surprise and hurriedly ran off to prepare for the distribution of cotton clothing.
The officer and old General Xue hadn't seen each other for many days, and the two of them fell back to talk slowly afterward, General Xue had already instructed his men to go down and prepare a meal and wine. The two of them headed towards the military tent, Xue Yuan wanted to take the opportunity to ask about matters in the capital and followed along.
After being seated, halfway through the wine, the official who came out from the capital suddenly smiled, lowered his head and said mysteriously, "General Xue, you are far away from the capital and do not know that a big event should happen in the capital afterward."
Old General Xue said, "Oh, what is it?"
Xue Yuan happened to chuck up a piece of duck.
The official smiled and said, "His Holiness has fallen in love at first sight with a woman, and is already preparing to take this woman as his consort into the palace."
Xue Yuan paused in his hands.
No way.
Xue Yuan completely scoffed, not only did he not believe it, but he also felt funny in his heart, he wanted to continue eating his meal calmly, but he couldn't move his hands.
Old General Xue on the side was already clapping his hands and laughing. Constantly pursuing its details, that official said out as if it was true, about the words of the Holy Spirit, he also dared to fake?
So what if it's not a forgery.
There were still honey-colored juices left on the duck meat, which also slid off the skin very quickly because the hands of the person holding the chopsticks were shaking.
Xue Yuan threw his chopsticks and walked out of the tent in large strides.
Yellow sand in the sky, the cold wind wrapped in sand to the face, one by one to hit the face again, the cold air from the lungs and then Man Yan limbs.
In the middle of the day, he burrowed back into the tent and asked, "The saint wants to accept the consort into the palace?"
The voice is dry and hoarse.
The Beijing official said, "...... Indeed, the Holy ...... Consort entered the palace ...... zither."
Xue Yuan seemed to be listening attentively with his side ears, but the words running into his ears became intermittent, near and far.
After a long time, when no one inside the tent spoke anymore, when General Xue called out Xue Yuan's name from anger to nervousness with a cry, Xue Yuan turned back.
He said, "I know."