Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 53: All Ready
As spring grew warmer, Liu Daogui submitted a document stating that bandits from the State of Yan were invading the Donghai and Lanling counties, and requested that the two divisions of Zuo Hou send troops to suppress the bandits for a period of two months.

The document was sent up, but as usual, it fell on deaf ears.

Liu Daogui felt depressed. The efficiency of the military government was extremely low. It was not uncommon for things to be delayed for two or three months, or even half a year.

Someone was sent to inquire, and as expected, Huan Hong, Yuan He, and Tan Daozhen went south to Xinting to attend the "elegant gathering" held by Wang Gong.

Xinting was first built in the Eastern Wu Dynasty and is located in the southwest suburbs of Jiankang. Since the Southern Wu Dynasty, whenever the weather was fine, important officials and celebrities in the court would often meet at Xinting to drink wine by the winding stream and feast among the flowers.

Over fifty years ago, Wang Dao uttered the following bold words here: "We should all work together for the royal family and conquer China. Why should we stand face to face with the prisoners of Chu?"

Wang Gong's current position in the court is almost the same as that of Wang Dao in the past. He is the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of Yan, Qing, Ji, You, Bing, Xu and Jinling in Yangzhou, the general in front, the governor of Yanzhou, and is stationed in Jingkou.

It can be seen that the emperor had high hopes for him.

The Huan family sided with Wang Gong, and Huan Hong was Wang Gong's subordinate, so naturally he wanted to take this opportunity to curry favor with him.

Now only Xun Xinzhi is left in the military headquarters. Liu Daogui would be asking for trouble if he went there, and he would have to face his cold stare...

But you still have to prepare.

Quality is more important than quantity in the army. This time I am going north with only veteran soldiers and close associates.

Gao Xun's 221 capable veteran soldiers were indispensable, as were Zhao Lunzhi's 37 men, and Li Damu's 35 men followed the Tianshi Dao to go fishing in the sea.

Including the five people under Liu Daogui's command, there are a total of two hundred and ninety-three people.

No matter how many there are, food and fodder will be a big problem...

Gao Xun's left troop had seven sets of iron armor and twenty-one sets of leather armor, while Zhao Lunzhi's troops had two sets of iron armor and seven sets of leather armor.

These thirty-seven "armored soldiers" alone can deal with three or four times the number of enemies.

Although the army was short of armor, they still had enough bows, crossbows, swords, and spears. Although they were rusty from lack of maintenance, as long as they could kill people, it would be enough. Rusty swords and spears were more lethal. A single scratch would kill the enemy within ten days at most...

When you are poor, you can only make do with what you have.

The only problem is a lack of arrows.

Liu Daogui had no choice but to take out all his belongings, sell thirty stone of grain, and go to the military market to buy more than four thousand arrows.

It was not just Liu Daogui who was busy. When the families of the left and rear units heard that they were going north, every household was overjoyed and started making dry food, dried fish, and vinegar cloth.

Dried fish is more common, which means the fish is sprinkled with salt and dried.

The dry food is a mixture of rice, millet and bran, which is then cooked and dried. It is easy to carry and can be eaten dry or boiled in water. However, the taste is hard to describe, and it is no different from eating sawdust.

Vinegar cloth is not real vinegar and cloth. These days vinegar is not much cheaper than wine and most people can't afford it. Instead, it is dried kelp that will not go bad even if kept for a year.

Guangling is close to the Yangtze River estuary, so seafood is relatively cheap there.

The soldiers also made arrowheads out of fish bones and threaded them onto reeds to make simple arrows, which were enough to deal with the unarmored bandits.

There are ways to deal with poverty.

All is ready except for the opportunity.

Half a month later, Huan Hong and Yuan He finally staggered back from Xinting.

Liu Daogui hurried to find Yuan He.

A year's plan begins in spring. Time waits for no one. There is still a month and a half left before spring plowing.

Your life, property, and grand plans all depend on spring plowing.

"Don't worry, Dao Ze, I will give you the approval in one or two days." Yuan He's eyes were hazy with drunkenness, his face was pale, and he trembled when he spoke, as if he was not going to a banquet, but was being drained.

As soon as Liu Daogui saw him like this, he knew he had been drinking and taking drugs. These nobles were living like gods, eating and drinking all day, holding power, surrounded by beautiful women, and without having to do anything, leaving everything to the corrupt officials.

Even if it were Liu Daogui, he wouldn't want to go north and fight the barbarians...

"Subordinates retire."

In this case, we can only wait until he wakes up.

We waited for another three days, and the weather became warmer.

Liu Daogui waited anxiously. He had missed the farming season, so going north was meaningless. If he couldn't pay the interest by the end of the year, he would have to either run away or sell himself to Huan Hong...

Fortunately, Yuan He's reply finally came, and Liu Daogui breathed a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, Yuan He not only approved Liu Daogui's northward march to "suppress the bandits," but also added two hundred elite soldiers to the front, led by Zhou Zheng...

Gao Xun smiled after reading the document and said, "Sir Yuan is really taking good care of Dao Ze."

Liu Daogui said, "How can it be that simple? The troops in front are Huan's trusted confidants. The deployment requires the consent of Huan Hong and Huan Daozhen."

Anything that is abnormal is a demon.

Even if Huan Hong and Huan Daozhen nod, he still has to pass the test of Huan Chengzhi.

Yuan He had said before that Huan Chengzhi was not a broad-minded person...

"Don't worry about it. Zhou Zheng is the leader of the troops. He won't harm us." Liu Zun said carelessly.

Liu Daogui thought so too. He felt that Zhou Zheng was a man of integrity. He had saved him once, so he probably had no bad intentions.

Gao Xun took the document and read it twice. "There are two hundred more soldiers and horses, but food and fodder are in short supply. Why hasn't the military government allocated food?"

Liu Daogui was stunned, so happy that he didn't notice that the military government hadn't allocated a single grain of food...

Yunxiu borrowed 100 dan of grain and fodder, but he spent 30 dan on arrows, leaving him with 60 dan. The minimum daily rations for a soldier were about two liters, and with over 400 soldiers, that was only enough for seven or eight days...

Together with the dry food provided for the soldiers' families, it can only last for half a month at most.

If the soldiers and horses are not moving, the grain and grass will go first.

Liu Daogui smiled bitterly in his heart. Yuan He added two hundred front camps to his camp, but it became a burden.

"What's there to be afraid of? Are you afraid of having no food after going to Lanling? Just eat whatever is available!" Liu Zun's face was full of fat.

In the first year of Yongxing (304 AD) during the Eight Princes Rebellion, Hejian King Sima Yong's general Zhang Fang invaded Luoyang, kidnapped Emperor Hui and over 10,000 official and private servants, and returned west to Chang'an. Short of food, the army resorted to killing people and mixing their meat with that of cattle and horses to eat...

In February of the sixth year of Yongjia (312 AD), Shi Le stationed his troops at Gepi, Xincai, Yuzhou, trained soldiers and repaired armor, and trained farmers to build boats. He was eyeing Jiankang with a covetous eye. Shi Hu led 2,000 cavalry as the vanguard to raid Shouchun, but was defeated by an ambush by General Yangwei Ji Zhan at Julingkou.

Blocked from advancing southward, Shi Le followed the advice of his adviser Zhang Bin and returned to Hebei. The army was out of food, and the cities and forts along the way were fortified and the fields were cleared. Shi Le was helpless and allowed his soldiers to kill each other and eat the corpses as they marched north.

Two years ago, there was a minor drought in Jiangzuo, and cannibalism was common...

"Why not borrow some more from the Tianshi Dao?" Gao Xun looked strange.

"It's better not to get too close to the Tianshi Dao. I have a military order in my hand. Anyone who stops me on this northward journey will be a bandit!" Liu Daogui took out the blank silk and spread it on the table.

There is no law these days, and Lanling County is not a good place. They even dare to drive away the county magistrate sent by the court, and there is lawlessness.

Even if I have a knife in my hand, if I still starve to death, I might as well find a piece of tofu and kill myself...

There are one set of rules in Guangling and another set of rules in Lanling.

"Hahaha, that's how it should be!" Liu Zun applauded.

(End of this chapter)