C19 (1/2)
From the first moment he saw Lady Xiu’er, Kong Sheng's gaze had almost never left her. This girl's appearance was too similar to his wife's. It was just that even though she was wearing the clothes of a country girl, she couldn't hide the indescribable aura in the corner of her eyes. If one were to say that his wife was from a small family, then the lady in front of him who was very similar to her seemed more like a princess who had come to visit privately.
Kong Sheng looked at the red-clothed female who walked in front of him and subconsciously asked, ”Who is this lady? ”What's your name?”
Without waiting for the Lady Xiu’er to reply, Hu Erniu had already stepped forward and stood between the two of them, answering in a rough voice, ”Reporting to my lord, this is my cousin, a person from Fengwu Province.”
Kong Sheng stared blankly for a moment before withdrawing from his imagination. He said goodbye to Hu Erniu with a bit of embarrassment and worked hard for him, then turned around to arrange for the others to quickly let the food delivery team enter the city to rest.
Truth be told, Hu Erniu's group was purely from the point of view of transportation of food, they were indeed very awkward. With just this little bit of food, it would only be enough for Phoenix City Pass to support him for two days, and wouldn't even be enough for three days. But the serious Hu Erniu believed that other than emergency food, he also brought hope. He quickly reported the current situation of the Pang Lai County to the other lords. Several tens of thousands of kilograms of food were piled there, and once the Imperial Army arrived, it could immediately remove the encirclement.
Hu Erniu was extremely excited, but Kong Sheng and the others frowned upon hearing him. According to the pace of Shi Keren's old commander and his understanding of the imperial city, the reinforcements should arrive at Pang Lai County in five to ten days, and he could immediately launch an attack on the Demonic Beast army. Although thousands of Demonic Beast were hard to deal with, they would not cause too much of a stir when facing an army of a few hundred thousand people. But the question was, how would he endure this period of time?
The Red Camp within the Phoenix City Pass had quickly become public enemies. They immediately sealed off their own residence, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. In addition, to feed their horses, they stole all the straw from their rooftops.
If a person became anxious from hunger, other than stuffing everything into their mouth, there was also the irritability of their emotions. Stealing grass and stealing other people's rations was of the same nature. As a result, there were more than just people's militia trying to rush into the Red Camp station to kill horses. In the end, all of them were beaten up and thrown out by the Empire's elites. Fortunately, they still had some sense of propriety. With their sabers and sheaths, they managed to pull out their spears. In the end, no one died.
A few of the authorities in the provinces of China started to pressure Kong Sheng again, telling him to discipline his subordinates properly. However, Kong Sheng was also helpless. For a war to begin, he said that he would do whatever he wanted with his Red Camp, but with the current situation, he couldn't even enter the Red Camp encampment himself, what was to be said about this? The Red Camp soldiers that were born with Imperial Military Academy had already stopped showing their faces. Those that came out to deal with them were all noble sons, each one of them directly holding onto their family's title, what could Kong Sheng do? He had already captured the honorable Baron and Viscount Chen Chu. Could it be that he would have to capture all of the heirs of the various families in the empire as well? If he couldn't pass this round and everyone died here, then there was nothing left to say. But what if he passed this trial? The few officers left, the one facing the pressure from the families was Kong Sheng.
Therefore, Kong Sheng had already made up his mind. The war horses were originally part of the Fire Phoenix Army, so it was understandable for them to protect the war horses. Lord Kong didn't want to help. If you have the ability, you can just stand on your horse and not let it go, or if you have the ability, you can just snatch the horse and kill them. He could tell who was the boss from the looks of it! In fact, his attitude was a little biased towards the Fire Phoenix Army. In a one on one fight, only the experts in the Border Army could compete with the young masters of influential families who had learnt martial arts since young. people's militia? Forget it.
Although it was noisy, the question that everyone was facing together was still one, ”What do we do if we don't have something to eat?” If you don't eat horses and have no food, don't tell me you want to eat humans?
Hu Erniu's words had once again dragged the bustling atmosphere down the chasm. A few of the officers looked at each other, not wanting to speak first.
Hu Erniu was speechless for a long time. He had thought that this group of monkey-like, adult leaders would come down to shake hands with him, to express their gratitude, and to praise him as Phoenix City's savior, the hope of the empire. However, all of their faces darkened, as if what they sent was not food, but ice. Thinking of this, he did not say anything further. Squatting at the corner of the room, he took out an ice-cold sweet potato from his bosom and started nibbling on it. As a result, this careless action drew everyone's attention to him.
Facing the gazes that were filled with killing intent, Hu Erniu was scared to the point that he almost peed his pants. He trembled and asked: ”Erm ~ My lords, can't we eat here?”
Kong Sheng took a deep breath, and said to Zhao Handong: ”Han Dong, arrange for people to send Captain Hu back to rest, be careful.” The meaning of the last four words were very clear. If Hu Erniu still dared to hold onto the sweet potato and gnaw on it like this from the outside, the people's militia soldiers would definitely chop off his hands and gnaw on them.
Seeing Zhao Handong bringing Hu Erniu out of the door, a few of the pipe belts from the provinces started firing at Kong Sheng at the same time:
”Lord Kong! Right now, there are only ten more days until Imperial Army. No matter what, you must endure through these ten days! ”
”I can't be arrogant anymore, Lord Kong! As a member of the Empire's aristocratic families, shouldn't they bring out more honor and sacrifice? ”
”Lord Kong, if you are sure that the two of them are not going to help each other, then it would not be good for this lowly official to restrain his subordinates. We can still gather a few thousand soldiers and horses! ”
Kong Sheng closed his eyes and listened. After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, exhaled lightly and asked: ”Masters, the reason why you guys are against Red Camp is simply to kill horses and split their meat, right?”
Xu Tiankong said angrily, ”What do you mean by that, Lord Kong? This official is not responsible for Red Camp, but for Phoenix City Pass! ”
Kong Sheng slightly nodded his head, ”Then let me first apologize to Master Xu, my words were wrong. From a different angle, if Red Camp can gather enough food, then would we not have to kill war horses, and not have to target Red Camp as well? ”
Xu Tianxiong frowned, ”Don't tell me that there's private grain in Red Camp? That's why we're not allowed to enter the camp? ”
Kong Sheng revealed a wry smile as he shook his head, ”I'm afraid that even the bark has already been eaten by the Red Camp, how can there be private grains? But I might be able to get food. ”
Walking on the city walls, Zhao Handong frowned and asked Kong Sheng, ”Old Kong, have you decided? This is a narrow escape from death. ”
Kong Sheng smiled bitterly and nodded, ”Since the food cannot come in, then someone has to think of something. I have been looking at the ground outside for the past few days. The weather is getting colder and colder and the mud has frozen solid. Moreover, Red Camp is not always an option, there must be an explanation. ”
Zhao Handong tilted his head and looked at Kong Sheng, and asked after a while: ”Old Kong, it's not like there's a shortage of food in the city for a day or two, and what is causing trouble now are only people's militia, and even Border Army are tightly restrained, they won't reach the level you described. If their people's militia dares to cause trouble, this father will bring their Border Army and destroy them! ”Just tell me the truth, just what has provoked you?”
Kong Sheng stopped, lowered his head and thought, then said slowly: ”If I return successfully, I will tell you.”
Zhao Handong was startled: ”You want to go personally?”