For the emperor

It has been a month since the Northwest Army stopped advancing.

During the three months when there was no news from the food convoy, each meal of the soldiers had been reduced from two and a half spoonfuls of rice porridge to one spoonful, not to mention a group of soldiers who needed daily training, Cang Tiansu himself often felt The stomach is rebelling.

Thanks to the previous victories, the soldiers have a high degree of belonging to the Northwest Army group and a sense of collective honor, but no matter how high the degree of belonging is or the sense of collective honor, there is no way to go to the battlefield on an empty stomach to die.

As food decreased day by day, and the days of starvation increased day by day, the strange noises in the barracks had gradually increased from small to loud.

In order to prevent mutiny, Cang Tiansu had already imitated Cao Cao and beheaded the food official, and wrote letters three times a day, urgently reporting the situation to the court, but unfortunately, nothing came of it, and there was no reply.

Xu Chen aggressively led his own soldiers, beheaded a dozen or so instigators in public, and hung their heads high, thus slightly curbing the spread of rumors.

Then things went from bad to worse.On the 13th day when the food was cut off, some soldiers had already dug up the corpses of the Qi soldiers who came to attack a few days ago from the soil.

When Zhu Erda, who was in charge of patrolling the camp that day, found out, more than a dozen people gathered together and sat around the campfire. They had roasted two rotting corpses until only their arms remained.

The smell of meat wafted around, and more and more soldiers gathered around.Juda said nothing, and neither did the soldiers who were fighting for the flesh.

Everyone was silent, and the gray-black sky was speechless, as if they were doing their duty, serving as the background color for this terrible mime.

When Cang Tiansu walked out of the tent, he felt the deformed excitement permeating in the barracks, his lips moved slightly, but he couldn't even sigh.

At the beginning of hunger, the stomach will "gurgle" from time to time to remind you of its existence.But when the stomach is really empty and there is nothing in it, the stomach will stop howling, and it will shut up obediently.

At this time, stomach acid will dutifully begin to corrode the fragile inner wall, little by little, slowly and in an orderly manner, trying to hollow out this natural barrier that prevents it from spreading.

This burning pain in the body is boundless, endless, endless, and endless.As long as one has breath, it will not stop.

Except for the patrolling soldiers, after more than ten days, no one moved around in the camp.But at this moment, the barracks was abnormally silent, and everyone had an indescribably ferocious and heavy expression on their faces.

Cang Tiansu raised his head and smiled silently.

Putting aside all cover-ups and hypocrisy, it is not for making meritorious deeds, not for defending the country, not for loyalty to the king, stretching out hands to the rotting human body without hesitation, swallowing silently into the throat, everything is just to survive.

Under the silent threat of death, our hearts are often harder than everyone imagines.

The time broadcaster stopped spinning like a day for thousands of years, it made a hoarse protest unhurriedly, and then the rewind button was pressed irresistibly.

That was the ancient ignorance era, when human ancestors walked in the vast wilderness, eating wild fruits, weeds, bark, beasts, or the fallen bodies of their companions.

Ethics and morality are no longer as heavy as a mountain, and propriety, justice, honesty and shame no longer have the mighty power to overwhelm the ages.

Tear off ethics, abandon morality, ignore etiquette and justice, and shatter integrity and shame.

Cang Tiansu raised his eyes and looked, but he didn't see the dense white tents, the silent crowd coming and going, and the ominous flames dancing in the khaki-yellow open space. What caught his eyes was the naked and undisguised humanity.

The most straightforward, the ugliest, the most ferocious, the dirtiest, and the most vulgar.

And the most authentic human nature.

Poems, songs and endowments are false, money, power, fame and fortune are false, and so is family, country and world.

Rice and steamed buns are the only reality now.

No rice, no steamed buns, and rotten human flesh.

Animals are always animals, animals are always animals, and sometimes humans are not humans.

Life is really a scene of tragedy and comedy, fate hangs its head down, watching the farce in the world, with fingertips trembling, I don't know what I'm thinking?

Duan Yu hurried over after receiving the news, and what he saw was the general of the Northwest Army standing in front of the dignified barracks in single clothes, staring into the distance, his smile was so illusory that it seemed to be blown away by the wind.

He stopped involuntarily.

Cang Tiansu noticed that someone was approaching, and looked sideways at him. After a while, the whole person gradually gained a sense of presence: "I have already ordered to open the spare granary tonight to distribute food to the soldiers."

Duan Yu was stunned.

Cang Tiansu didn't say anything, turned around and walked into the tent again.

The so-called spare granary was specially prepared for the generals in the army, and the grain stored in it was enough to last a dozen generals of the Northwest Army for several more months.

According to the regulations, this granary cannot be used until the critical time, and no one is allowed to eat it except generals with official titles.

What the imperial court meant was that once the army's food and grass supply was really insufficient, at least it must ensure that the generals would not be starved to death.

The rations of a dozen people for three to four months were distributed to nearly [-] soldiers. There was no guarantee that each person would get a few grains of rice. It would not be much better than plain water, and it would not have any effect on hunger.

To put it another way, it is actually very necessary to keep these grains in order to ensure that a group of real pillars of the country are safe and sound, and have the energy to command half-dead subordinates to deal with possible sneak attacks by the enemy at any time.

However, when Cang Tiansu's obviously unreasonable order was issued to the generals, no one chose to raise objections.

For the first meal in the barracks since August, none of the soldiers chose to give up the so-called rice porridge that was useless.

Everyone understood that this was Cang Tiansu's message to ordinary soldiers who were always at the forefront.

When you are starving, suffering, and eating human flesh, all the generals in the military camp, without exception, will accompany you, starve, suffer together, and even chew rotten human flesh together.

On the evening of the fourth day, Cang Tiansu rubbed his forehead and stared at the latest news from Zhao Liu, and was distracted when Duan Yu hurried in: "Susu, the patrols found more than a dozen people covered in injuries. Bringing a cart of grain and grass, the leader claims to be Liu Yansi, the food envoy!"

Cang Tiansu forced a smile, and stood up with support: "Well, if I don't come again, I can't help but run out and grab meat from them."

I have been hungry for several days on an empty stomach, and the smell of meat wafts from time to time outside, that feeling is simply unbearable.

Qi Guo received the news that the Northwest Army of Cang Kingdom was short of food, and quickly mobilized the army to rush to this area. Hurriedly, a large number of soldiers came the day before yesterday. make a profit.

As a result, there were a total of 8 people. Except for the thousands of people who were behind in charge of finishing work, none of them could escape.

Never underestimate the food cravings of a hungry person.To put it bluntly, even if not everyone is hard enough to eat human flesh, if there is only one out of five people, less than a thousand corpses are enough to feed 2 people for a few days?

The mighty and mighty soldiers of Qi State running from a distance undoubtedly aroused the high fighting spirit of many people in disguise.

When the battle was over and the generals saw the scene, they first looked at each other and laughed in unison. After laughing, everyone fell into a long silence.

When Duan Yu helped Cang Tiansu to the place where more than a dozen strangers were found, the situation of these people who claimed to be envoys from the capital was already very dangerous.

The news of the arrival of the food envoys spread rapidly in the barracks in less than half a stick of incense.Nearly ten thousand soldiers got up from their beds, silently surrounded more than a dozen people, and were still approaching step by step.

The lack of food for more than a month and the painful struggle for more than half a month are all thanks to these people.

Although the voice of inciting mutiny in the barracks has been very small after the order of Cangtiansu to distribute food, but not choosing to rebel does not mean that the soldiers in the northwest have no grievances in their hearts.

At this time, the atmosphere was extremely solemn, and it was three points more chilling than when the cannibalism first occurred.

Xu Xi and Li Renqiang stood side by side, blocking in front of Liu Yansi, and kept making noises, preventing the soldiers from approaching in unison, but the soldiers remained silent, as if they had never heard their order, and their footsteps did not stop at all. mean.

It wasn't until the figures of Cang Tiansu and Duan Yu could be clearly seen in the envoy's trapped place that the soldiers standing in the front stopped their threatening movements and slowly put down the raised knives and guns.

At this moment, Liu Yansi finally let go of his hanging heart.He wiped the cold sweat off his face, carefully looked at the only cart of grain left behind him, and his heart sank again.

Cang Tiansu didn't say hello, but frowned and looked at the lonely cart of food and grass behind a dozen people, and snorted softly: "Master Liu, what do you mean? It's only four months away from Beijing, you It’s been more than eight months after all the planning.”

Seeing that the other party didn't ask about the remaining food immediately, Liu Yansi heaved a sigh of relief, and said in a loud voice: "Please forgive me, the eldest prince, there is a reason for this incident."

Cang Tiansu didn't respond, quietly waiting for his next sentence.

Liu Yansi looked around in embarrassment at the surrounding soldiers who were listening to his answer, and said in a low voice, "It's not convenient to talk in this place, I think, let's talk about it in your main account!"

Cang Tiansu nodded with a good-tempered smile, then raised his right hand, Duan Yu understood, and immediately drew out the sword in his hand with a "clang", and the soldiers in the front circle also raised up the swords and guns that had just been put down stand up.

Immediately, there was the chilling sound of the blade being unsheathed in the dark crowd.

Cang Tiansu looked at the cold sweat dripping from the opponent's head, and smiled more harmlessly: "Well, it seems that my soldiers are not very happy. If you have anything to say, you should just say it."

Liu Yansi swallowed, hesitating in embarrassment, at this moment, Duan Yu casually twisted the handle of the knife in his hand, and a cold light reflected from the back of the silver-white knife just fell on his face.

Liu Yansi didn't dare to delay immediately, looking at this group of tigers, leopards and wolves who planned to wait for Cang Tiansu's order to execute him on the spot, he had to raise his voice: "It was the emperor's sudden order, ordering me to take people to clean up the storage first. Rogues of the mountains!"

Li Renqiang, who had changed from blocking in front of him to standing behind Cang Tiansu, immediately let out a heavy sneer.The sound was so loud that at least half of the crowd could hear it clearly.

Cang Tiansu didn't seem to notice the rudeness of his subordinates. He stared at him for a while, and said softly: "Send the envoys that transport food and grass to the soldiers who are fighting to suppress the bandits? To tell you the truth, I find it hard to believe such absurd things . There is no evidence to say, I wonder if Mr. Liu can produce evidence that I can trust."

Cang Tiansu believed that the order was really issued by Emperor Cang Jing, but at the same time, he also believed that Emperor Cang Jing would definitely not leave any evidence.

By doing this, the emperor made it clear that he did not take the soldiers fighting on the front line seriously. He treated the Northwest Army with great military exploits like this. He was not sure what virtue he would have when facing ordinary soldiers like them.

Once this matter is implemented, it will not only be a matter of the Northwest Army, but it will arouse the common disgust of all the generals and soldiers of the Cang Kingdom.With Emperor Jing's usual style, the follow-up must have been dealt with cleanly long ago.

What he didn't expect was that Liu Yansi said with a face full of embarrassment first: "The order was issued directly to me by Mr. Li Quan, the chief eunuch in the palace. It is said that it is the emperor's word of mouth. Where is the evidence?"

Later, he suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly took out a bright yellow scroll from his sleeve, his face became better: "By the way, Eunuch Li asked the humble official to send you the emperor's imperial decree—I don't know, whether this can be counted as possible." Evidence that convinces you?"

Cang Tiansu was stunned for a moment, glanced at Duan Yu beside him, gestured for everyone to take a step back, then lifted his robes, and knelt down respectfully to receive the order.

There is nothing special in the imperial decree. It praised Cang Tiansu for his meritorious deeds against the enemy, his youth and talents, etc., and the date was marked below as usual, which was one month after Liu Yansi's envoy left Beijing. This is enough to prove that What Liu Yansi said was correct.

Cang Tiansu held the imperial decree in both hands, and was not in a hurry to investigate the authenticity of the imperial decree, but changed the topic: "What about the grain truck? My father asked Mr. Liu to calm down the bandits, but he didn't say anything. He agreed to let you take the grain truck together." threw."

Liu Yansi's expression changed when he heard the words, he was silent for a while, and pointed to the knife on the attendant's body: "To tell you the truth, we were ambushed by a large number of bandits at the exit of the Zangliang Mountain Range. A team of hundreds of people , Almost the entire army was wiped out. I and a few of my subordinates worked so hard to grab this cart of food." Of course he knew that this matter was messed up. A whole cart of grain and grass can at most be enough for 10 people God.

Cang Tiansu was noncommittal, turned around and smiled at Duan Yu and the three of them: "The rogues in the Zangliang Mountains are indeed growing rapidly, and they are growing so fast that they can even eat hundreds of fully armed soldiers."

Liu Yansi couldn't help frowning: "What does the eldest prince mean? Could it be that I left the grain truck there on purpose?!"

"Let's go to the barracks. It's finally considered that we have rations. Let's leave tomorrow's affairs to tomorrow." Cang Tiansu turned sideways and made a "please" gesture. A passage for one person to walk.

The soldiers in the northwest still had knives and guns in their hands. Liu Yansi almost walked sideways carefully to ensure that he would not be scratched by the blade. As he walked all the way, the cold sweat on his back had soaked into his clothes.

After the porridge banquet to celebrate the envoy’s arrival in the camp, Duan Yu, who was full of rice porridge, angrily threw the general’s armor that he had taken off on the ground: “What? So righteous?!"

Cang Tiansu stroked his hair along his hair, beckoned him to be quiet, spread out the imperial decree that Liu Yansi had just given him under the lamp, and looked at it carefully.

The eldest prince of the Cang Kingdom always felt that there was something wrong with this matter. According to the consistent tradition of Emperor Cang Jing, the blame should be thrown to Liu Yansi without hesitation.The only place where things could turn around is the imperial edict in his hand.

really……

Cang Tiansu stared at a corner of the imperial decree, scrutinized it for a long time, then suddenly raised his head and said, "Ayu, find out all the imperial edicts that your father received before, and go and bring Xu Yuan, Li Renqiang and the others over!"

Duan Yu let out an "ah", quickly reacted, turned around and ran out without asking why.

Some imperial decrees are issued, such as the imperial decree for the mobilization of the army. The generals need to hand over the decree to the court after they are used up, and they are not allowed to keep it privately.But like what Cang Tiansu received today, the imperial decree similar to the royal commendation allows the generals to keep it for themselves, which is also a special honor for the royal family to treat heroes.

After carefully looking at each imperial decree, Cang Tiansu pursed his smile, stood up and straightened Duan Yu's collar, and whispered softly, "Let's go, let's arrest people."

Cang Tiansu very high-profilely mobilized all the generals in the middle of the night, woke up all the soldiers, and rushed to the temporary camp of Liu Yansi with the strict formation that he usually marches and fights.

At that time, Master Liu was having fun with two camp prostitutes in his arms, when he saw a group of vicious people rushing in, before he could say a word, he was thrown out naked.

"Cangtiansu!" As soon as Liu Yansipu went out, he noticed that the eyes of everyone projected on him were not even the slightest bit warm. He panicked and said sharply, "I am the emperor's envoy. Why do you Humiliate me so much!"

The envoy represented the emperor in the army, and it stands to reason that anyone who saw him had to be polite and address him as "My lord".Since ancient times, it has never been heard of which dynasty or generation, which envoy ran naked in front of 10 people.

"It depends on your false transmission of the imperial decree." Cang Tiansu said with a smile, and lightly let go of his hands. The cold wind was fierce, and a bright yellow scroll in his hand fell down to Liu Yansi's face on the ground.

Liu Yansi picked it up in a daze, and shouted in confusion, "Impossible! Eunuch Li handed it to me!"

Cang Tiansu sighed from the bottom of his heart, and said calmly: "This so-called imperial decree, from the fabric to the pattern to the handwriting, is indeed very similar to the real imperial decree, but the seal mark at the bottom is giving away. "

He raised his voice and tried his best to reach as many people as possible: "All the generals must know that the jade seal of the Great Cang Kingdom is four inches long and four inches wide, and it contains the meaning of stability in all directions— — see for yourself your forged decree."

Liu Yansi's heart sank, he raised his hand tremblingly, and used his knuckles to draw the size of the mark. He stared at Cang Tiansu for a long time, and compared again without giving up. In the end, he could only accept the only answer, and his whole body trembled. Like sifting grain.

——Three inches long and three inches wide!

"Beheaded." Cang Tiansu didn't allow him to say anything more, and waved his hands to signal his subordinates to drag down the dozen or so envoys who were dragged out.

Li Renqiang took half a step forward, stood close to his back, and whispered in a voice that only two people could hear: "As an envoy, I lost most of the grain carts--I made such a big mistake, How could Lord Liu still be in the mood to hug a woman and have fun?"

Cang Tiansu turned his head and told the truth with a smile: "General Li is indeed very intelligent. That's right, I put the drug in his rice porridge, and I also let people stuff those two camp prostitutes into it." .” When it comes time to finish the job, of course we have to make things more beautiful.

Killing a person who has made a big mistake and is learning from the pain is far less satisfying than executing a person who has made a big mistake and is still unwilling to repent.

Li Renqiang took a deep look at him, said nothing, shook his sleeves, and left.

Cang Tiansu asked someone to set up two pots for breakfast the next day.One bite is rice and the other is meat.Rice is white rice, and meat is human flesh.

If he wanted to rekindle the fighting spirit of the Northwest Army, Cang Tiansu didn't mind recycling waste at all.Using this method to deal with a member of the Liu family is only the first step in his revenge.

From last night, he could see that the soldiers always wanted to let out their pent-up breath, and simply killing people would not achieve very good results—and could use this to draw the relationship between the two sides even closer. further.

He made it very clear that a large bowl of rice, or a piece of meat from the so-called envoy who had starved them to death for several months, was left to the soldiers who came to receive the meal to choose.

At the same time, Cang Tiansu said that when he was full, he would pick out [-] soldiers and follow him to Zangliang Mountain to wipe out those daring bandits who dared to rob the military rations and take back their rations. He alone will bear it.

As soon as this remark came out, the soldiers who learned that only one carload of food and grass arrived safely last night put down the heavy stones on their hearts. The barracks of the Northwest Army finally regained some of their former vigor and vitality.

Cang Tiansu was also very satisfied with the result.Until the whole pot of meat was distributed, no one chose to touch the pot of fragrant rice porridge.

It can be seen that everyone's eyes have regained their brilliance, and after a catastrophe, the entire army is several times more united than before it ran out of food.

Li Renqiang rolled his eyes and looked at the general of the army, and pointed at the soldiers who received human flesh: "How many of them are yours?"

"The first one hundred." Cang Tiansu replied with a smile, "They were all selected from Ah Yu's personal soldiers, his most trusted subordinates."

Human blood is easily aroused, let alone a man, let alone a soldier.