Transmigration begins with archery training

"

"I told you so..."

Second Senior Brother Cheng Wei squatted on the ground: "This deal is not worthwhile. The southern expedition should not be undertaken so hastily. We should proceed gradually!"

"General, General, you can't leave!"

Fan Hailing wept bitterly.

He had only been in rebellion for a few days.

How could the man in white robes die?!

Isn't this going to cost him his life?

Sun Buqi silently lifted the white cloth and closed his brother-in-law's eyes.

Amidst the dejection, Xu Wencai rebuked them, "What are you all crying about?! Last night I observed the heavens and saw the Purple Star shining brightly in the north! We may not be in dire straits after all!"

"Old Xu..."

Wang Zhi said, "Are you saying that this head is fake?"

"I……"

Xu Wencai initially wanted to confirm, but ultimately he said truthfully, "I don't know either, but... but is it really true? Are we just supposed to open the city gates and surrender?!"

"What a load of crap!" Wang Zhi shouted. "I was a dead man fifteen years ago. My junior brother gave me a second life. If he's really dead, it's time for me to return that life!"

"When Master left, it was my junior brother who stepped forward and stood in front of us senior brothers and sisters."

Rong Yanqiu gave a self-deprecating sneer, and then said in a venomous tone, "Even if the Northern Liang army and the Governor's Mansion are completely wiped out this time, I will drag a few more of the court's lackeys down with me."

"Alright! Since that's the case, what else is there to say?!"

Xu Wencai, taking charge of the overall situation, said:

"Be prepared for both possibilities!"

"If, sir, something truly happens to you, the most urgent task is to make proper arrangements for your family and find a way to contact the two female immortal masters in your household so that they can take the two ladies and young master and young lady away from Liangzhou first."

"Then it's us."

"The city still has ample food supplies, enough to hold out for at least two months. If there's still no news of the master after two months, then it means it's really..."

"It won't be too late for us to fight the enemy to the death then!"

"Therefore, generals, please be sure to perform your duties until the very last moment!"

……

Hongdu Prefecture.

Chen Sanshi came to the large pot, grabbed some cooked grass roots and tree bark, ate them in front of everyone, and then returned to the city wall to continue sitting quietly. Even he was somewhat weak.

The warhorses in the city had long been killed and eaten. In the last ten days or so, the brothers had started to eat whatever they could find, and they were almost at their limit.

"Commander..."

Zhao Wuji walked over, leaning on his knife: "I can't hold on any longer. Can I eat a piece of my own flesh?"

"Boom——"

While talking.

The soldiers standing guard not far from the city wall suddenly collapsed to the ground with a "thud," having fainted from hunger.

"Commander."

Zhao Wuji leaned against the city wall: "Last time you said the city would fall and the enemy would come down, when will it fall? The brothers really can't hold on much longer..."

"hold on."

Chen Sanshi closed his eyes to calm his mind.

He was waiting, waiting for the decisive opportunity to arrive.

"Commander!"

"food!"

"Suddenly, there's a lot of grain at the foot of the city wall!"

"..."

Feng Yong came to the city wall to report, his weak voice filled with obvious excitement.

"food?"

Chen Sanshi stood up.

Under the city wall, a small mountain of grain had been piled up overnight, including wild vegetables, millet, chaff, a small amount of rice, and ready-made dry rations.

At this moment.

An elderly man, leaning on a cane and supported by his granddaughter, was placing some prepared cornbread on the ground.

"Fellow villagers."

Chen Sanshi lightly jumped off the city wall: "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Your Highness!"

The old man was startled, then quickly put down his cane and was about to kneel when the man in white grabbed him: "Uncle, there's no need to kneel. All this grain was delivered by you."

To know.

Hongdu Prefecture has been suffering from famine.

Especially in recent years, with continuous wars and ever-increasing grain requisitions, places like Hongdu Prefecture, where the land is not fertile, have long been impoverished, with every household struggling to make ends meet. In even poorer areas, people are starving to death every day.

Go on like this.

It's about to come to the point where people are exchanging their own children to eat each other!

Even under these circumstances, people still brought them food.

"Your Highness, the Northern Liang army are good people!"

The old man said with great emotion, "I am eighty-two years old this year. I have seen many battles, but I have never seen anything like what the prince did. After entering the city, he first destroyed the sacred crops, then killed the corrupt officials, and finally didn't even bother to collect a single grain of our food!"

"Yes, what better soldier in the world!"

More and more people gathered nearby; they were all emaciated and their clothes were patched.

"Just yesterday, a soldier was so hungry he was eating mud, but he didn't steal our food."

"..."

"Fellow villagers."

Chen Sanshi said, "You yourselves don't have anything to eat either, so..."

"Your Majesty!"

"You can't say that!"

You must accept this grain!

"If the outsiders come back, they'll definitely replant the poisonous weeds in the fields!"

"Yes, we're doing this for ourselves!"

"As long as Your Highness can hold on, we'll only go hungry for a while at most, but if you collapse, we'll go hungry for the rest of our lives!"

"Your Highness, please accept the grain!"

"..."

Someone in the crowd took the lead, and then everyone knelt down on the ground like rice paddies being blown by the wind.

"We won't get up unless Your Highness accepts it!"

"..."

"Alright, on behalf of my brothers, I thank you all, fellow villagers!"

Chen Sanshi clasped his hands in a fist and said, “I, Chen Sanshi, hereby promise that if I can leave this city alive and return, I will exempt Hongdu Prefecture from taxes for three years!”

"Zhao Wuji!"

"Hold these grains safe and use them to...cook for the brothers!"

At this moment.

Both sides were extremely tense.

This sudden surge in food supplies could very well be the key to victory or defeat!

……

The central command tent of the pacification army.

"Your Majesty!"

"A centurion led his men and ran away!"

"Your Highness, some people are causing trouble. They say that if we don't retreat soon, they will defect to the enemy."

"Many brothers in the rear army fainted from hunger, and then... were directly divided and eaten by the others."

"..."

More and more chaotic phenomena are beginning to occur.

With food and supplies running low, the pacification army reached its final limit.

"Brother Cao."

Dao Xuan Sanren said, "That's about enough. If we don't retreat now, we're going to collapse."

"..."

Cao Rong squinted and remained silent.

"It's definitely time to withdraw."

Ling Yun said, "Qiantang Prefecture has been besieged for a long time, and we're at our limit. If we hurry over there, we can more easily confirm Chen Sanshi's death and we'll definitely succeed!"

“Fellow Daoist Lingyun is right.”

Dao Xuan Sanren said, "Now is the best time to retreat. Not only are our men starving, but the Beiliang army in the city is also dizzy from hunger. They certainly won't have the strength to chase after us, and it's no different from being dead."