Ming Taizi's Total War

Chapter 106

"Oh, why did it come so soon?"

For Zhang Yong and Gao Jie's arrival, Xu Dingguo was very surprised. It was only two days since he received the news and discovered Zhang Yong and Gao Jie's scouts.

In Xu Dingguo's impression, the marching speed of the Ming army had never been so fast.

"Should I take someone out of the city to greet him?" Li Jiyu asked Xu Dingguodao.

"Okay, you go out of the city first to drive away the refugees nearby, and then I will organize the gentlemen in the city to go out of the city to welcome you." Xu Dingguo wanted to make a gesture of welcome to cover up his disapproval.

One mile away from the south city gate, Xu Dingguo was fully armed and wearing a red cloak, and personally led the gentry and people of Suizhou to stand under the yellow sand all over the sky, enduring the sun's exposure.

Zhang Yong has good eyesight, and he saw a group of people holding flags standing and waiting hundreds of meters away, so he said to Gao Jie.

"It seems that Xu Dingguo, the general of Suizhou, is very respectful."

"He saw Shangguan coming here, so it should be." Gao Jie took it as a matter of course.

On the other hand, when Xu Dingguo saw Gao Jie and Zhang Yong approaching, he shouted at a distance of a hundred paces, "The last general, Xu Dingguo, leads the gentry and people of Suizhou, waiting here for General Dingyuan, Uncle Xingping."

"Don't be superficial. The army is here from afar. You go to prepare firewood and let the soldiers bury the pot to make food. I'll go to the city first to discuss the war."

"The last general obeys." Hearing Zhang Yong's order, Xu Dingguo dared not disobey, so he ordered Li Jiyu to carry firewood for the soldiers brought by Zhang Yong.

And he, Xu Dingguo himself, together with the gentry of Suizhou, brought Zhang Yong and Gao Jie to the Suizhou Yamen in the city to discuss the war.

Zhang Yong said he was discussing the war, but he was actually asking about the situation in Suizhou, Xu Dingguo, and what he had seen and heard in Henan.

"How many months have you been in Suizhou? How many people do you have under your command?" Zhang Yong asked Xu Dingguodao.

This is the thing that concerns him the most. How many soldiers and horses there are is actually the value of Xu Dingguo in his eyes.

Zhang Yong, as the character Zhu Cihong summoned by relying on the system, is actually very similar to Zhu Cihong in character, more practical, bloodthirsty, and when looking at a military leader like Xu Dingguo, the indicators for judging his status are exactly the same.

"General, at the end of the day, there will be a hundred soldiers around him, five thousand local soldiers from Suizhou, and no one else." Xu Dingguo dared not hide anything from Zhang Yong about this.

"5000 troops, well, as a general soldier, you can command [-] troops." Zhang Yong said to himself.

"Then how much do you know about the situation in Kaifeng Mansion?" Zhang Yong asked again, as if he wouldn't give up until he knew everything about Xu Dingguo.

"Well, the last general stationed in Suizhou, he only knows how to defend the place from being invaded by bandits, and doesn't know much about the situation in Kaifeng Mansion."

"I only know that the fake Kaifeng Jiedushi is the fake Ningling Bo Tianhu, and the fake Kaifeng prefect is Lin Yi. I don't know the rest."

"By the way, Henan Governor Yue Qijie and Henan Governor Chen Qianfu are in Qi County. They should know more about the situation in Kaifeng Mansion. You might as well ask them later."

Xu Dingguo didn't know the situation in Kaifeng Mansion, so he pushed Yue Qijie and Chen Qianfu out.

"Okay then, I see that the smoke has risen outside, you two, let me go to the barracks to inspect first." Zhang Yong saw black smoke rising from the sky in the distance, and he knew it was in the barracks. When the fire started to rebel, I wanted to inspect it.

Regarding this, Gao Jie and Xu Dingguo naturally did not dare to disobey, and obediently went out with Zhang Yong.

Suizhou City originally had a large piece of fertile farmland, but because of the peasant wars in recent years, no crops were planted.

After the war, there was a famine, and it was too late for the farmers to fill their stomachs. How could they manage these fields.

So over time, the land near Suizhou City became completely deserted, in the true sense of the word, because of the shortage of food, the hungry people even pulled out the grass roots in the loess and ate them.

However, it was cheaper for Zhang Yong and Gao Jie's army. They just didn't need to clean up the land, and they could settle down in the camp directly.

Tens of thousands of people came to the outside of Suizhou one after another and set up camp here. Slowly, a beige forest rose from the plain and surrounded Suizhou.

And on the road further away, soldiers kept coming from the dirt road.

After Zhang Yong brought Xu Dingguo and Gao Jie outside the city, he casually walked into a camp surrounded by seven or eight tents, and saw an iron pot cooking food.

"Hello General!"

"Hello General!"

The soldiers who were napping nearby waiting for food saw Zhang Yong and the others coming, so they straightened up and stood up to say hello.

"You are tired from marching for days. You should sit down and rest." Zhang Yong waved his hand and said.

When he came to the iron pot, Zhang Yong watched a soldier keep tending the firewood under the iron pot, so he stepped forward and asked.

"Are you adding firewood? What kind of food are you cooking? Might feed the soldiers?"

"General, I'm making porridge." The soldier lifted the lid of the pot as he said that, and the water vapor lost the cage that restrained them, and flew into the sky in a hurry.

After a while, the steam dissipated, and Zhang Yong saw the dark dishes cooking in the iron pot. He saw various beans and rice grains tumbling in the water with unknown names and colors.

Seeing Zhang Yong's displeased face, the little soldier hurriedly explained, "General, don't look at the porridge in this pot, but you're actually hungry. Drink two or three bowls and you'll be full."

"Well, I see."

"Hey, why is your firewood white?" Just after the soldier stood away, Zhang Yong saw the white stick under the iron pot, and he thought it was some strange white wood.

"Oh, it's not wood, it's bone." Xiaobing answered truthfully.

"Bones, how can white bones be used as firewood? Where did your bones come from?" Zhang Yong asked forcefully.

Burning white bones as firewood is something Zhu Cihuang can't tolerate, and people like Zhang Yong can't bear it either.

"Yes, it was sent by Mr. Xu." The soldier dumped the blame on Xu Dingguo.

Hearing what he said, Zhang Yong turned his head to look at Xu Dingguo, his eyes seemed to ask him to give an explanation.

"General, I don't seem to be using bones as firewood."

"It's true that Suizhou is located in the Central Plains, there are no mountains and forests around, and there are plain farmland everywhere."

"Originally, the Taiping Festival was fine, and we could use straw to make firewood, but in recent years, wars, famines, and floods have been almost continuous, and large tracts of land have been abandoned. Even in Suizhou City, we can't find much firewood as fuel."

"If you don't use these bones, I really can't think of what to use as firewood."

(End of this chapter)