Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 137: Life in Troubled Times
One ship after another hoisted sails and rowed oars, sailing together on the Qishui River, waving flags and shouting as they moved forward.

The boats were close to the water surface, the small boats were loaded with corn and beans, and the large boats were loaded with guns, spears, arrows and other weapons.

When they traveled from Yanzhou to the ferry crossing fifteen miles away from Jixian County in Henei County, they ordered the military officers on the river bank to wave flags to stop them.

Cui Yan, who was in charge of transporting food and fodder, was a little confused and wanted to ask.

I heard a familiar voice coming from the shore, shouting, "Ji Gui, I am here on the orders of the envoy to inform you that the ships carrying food, fodder and equipment do not need to move forward. Ji County is about to be captured. The fleet will rest for half a day and then send them directly to the outskirts of Ji County."

Cui Yan walked to the bow of the boat, squinted his eyes and stared at the shore to see who was talking. It turned out to be Sun Gongyou.

Although both of them worked as clerks in the office of Cao, the governor of Dongjun, and had known each other for a long time, they could not put personal interests above public ones.

Cui Yan asked loudly: "Does Gongyou have any documents with seals? If you don't have any documents, please hand them over to seal. I'm sorry I can't obey you."

"Yes, of course." Sun Qian quickly took out a roll of documents from his horseback bag and held it high.

Cui Yan then ordered his men to lower the small boat, go to the shore to bring up the sealed bamboo slips, and take out the ink pad from the cabin to compare them carefully.

After checking several times and confirming that there was nothing wrong, he ordered the fleet to dock.

"Ji Gui, I guessed that you would come quickly. After receiving the order from the envoy, I rode my horse all the way along the river, for fear that I would not be able to stop you." Sun Qian said with a smile, pointing at Cui Yan.

Cui Yan's handsome face suddenly broke into a bitter smile, and he bowed his hands in apology, saying: "Please forgive me, Gongyou. Yan is valued by the envoy and is responsible for the transportation of food and grass for the army. I have been working diligently and have not dared to be negligent in the slightest."

Sun Qian waved his hand nonchalantly.

Anyone would be so cautious when taking the envoy's seal as a token, and he was not a narrow-minded person, so he didn't mind it at all.

After resting for half a day, the fleet set sail again. Sun Qian and his entourage followed and were shown the way. There was a place planned by the envoy about a mile or two outside of Ji County.

After the canal boat arrived, it stopped near the shore.

Cui Yan ordered people to carry in food and military equipment, and took out the documents and stood on the shore with Sun Qian and other military officers to check them one by one.

Water transportation is fast, and the civilians and assistants who are transporting the goods eat the dry food they carry with them, so there is no loss of corn and wheat.

"Wheat, barnyard millet, millet, alfalfa stalks, beans, fodder, and wild rice totaled 96,310 hu."

"Eighty-three thousand arrows, five hundred and twenty-three sets of repaired leather and armor, one thousand seven hundred crossbows, three thousand four hundred swords, and two thousand one hundred spears."

"The rest of the sundries, herbs, silk, linen, and robes, one boat each."

Cui Yan said to Sun Qian while he was asking questions.

Logistics transportation is an extremely arduous task. The officer in charge of transportation either encounters no problems at all, or if he does, it is a major problem.

When transporting military equipment and food, the most feared thing is that the navigable river sections have many shallows and reefs. Cui Yan would rather put the heavy equipment in front to resist the risk than put the ships loaded with food in front.

He knew very well that what Qing and Yan provinces lacked most was corn, not military equipment.

Seeing that all the supplies had been delivered to Sun Qian and the auxiliary soldiers who were carrying them on the shore, and the state official Xun You also came to check them, Cui Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he bowed to the two and said, "Xun Jun, Gong You, Yan still has important tasks to attend to, so I will take my leave now."

After unloading the grain and military equipment, he would sail down the river with the empty boat, return to Jiyin and Shanyang County, and wait for the next batch of grain to be transported.

Ever since he took charge of transportation, he had to sigh that water transportation was still very convenient. No wonder the envoy built water conservancy projects everywhere.

After bowing and saying goodbye, Xun You stood on the river bank and watched the fleet getting smaller and smaller downstream, and sighed: "No wonder Fengxiao recommended Cui Jigui to the envoy several times, he is indeed a talent." On the other side, two siege rams built by woodcutters and assistants were being dismantled. The Liangzhou bandit army stationed in Ji County encountered a battering ram that was taller than the city wall, and in less than an hour they were captured by Zhang Fei and his troops.

The soldiers of Camp A stepped up the stairs in the battering ram with long hammers and long swords, and quickly rushed towards the city wall, breaking through the enemy's defenses and advancing straight in. It wasn't long before they killed the resisting Liangzhou army, causing them to retreat in disarray, with screams ringing in their ears.

The Liangzhou army was also dumbfounded. They had been fighting fiercely with the armies of the Guandong princes for a long time, but they had never encountered heavy armored infantry that was covered in iron armor with only tiny gaps on the face.

The spears were broken by force, leaving only a dent in the opponent's body, which even aroused hatred. The soldier ignored the obstruction of others' spears and rushed straight towards him.

The Liangzhou soldiers screamed, dropped their broken spears and ran away.

Zhang Fei was stopped and saw this and said angrily: "Don't try to escape, why don't you dare to fight me to the death?!"

By the time he had killed several people with his knife and the Liangzhou army dared not approach, the soldier had already run away without a trace.

Zhang Fei had no choice but to suppress his anger and angrily yelled, "You bastard!"

The Armored Battalion climbed up the city wall and pursued the enemy into the city streets, killing their way to the county government office. Seeing that the county government office was on fire, they had no choice but to withdraw. They were wearing armor and could not put out the fire. The remaining enemy troops had not yet been eliminated, and it was too risky to take off their armor to fetch water to put out the fire.

The only thing they could do was to move away any flammable objects near the county government office to prevent the fire from spreading.

The first batch of soldiers followed closely behind and came in from the top of the city wall. Zhao Zhen quickly assigned people to control the fire, while the other soldiers formed a shield formation and went from house to house, kicking down doors to clear out the Liangzhou bandits hiding everywhere.

Some of them had changed into common people's clothes and hid in the houses of the common people. No common people dared to point them out. The old men and women held their heads in their hands and shrank their necks, unable to utter a word for a long time.

However, the soldiers of Qingzhou noticed that although the woman was naked and holding a child, she was still hinting at the only male in the family.

The sergeant understood what he meant and was about to leave the house, but the moment he turned around, he grabbed the man and threw him to the ground.

Several soldiers pressed the man to the ground, ignoring his pleas for mercy, they tore open his clothes to check the scars on his body. They saw arrow and knife scars. The sergeant once again sternly questioned the old man and the old woman, saying that anyone who dared not report the thief should die with him.

The old woman then said tremblingly: "This thief killed my eldest son's family, and abducted my youngest son to be a laborer to defend the city. We don't know whether he is alive or dead. We are afraid that we will have no news of an heir, so we dare not tell you."

The sergeant was silent for a moment and then said, "The Han relative, Envoy Liu, has led the royal army to recapture Ji County. If your young son had not died in the battle on the city wall, you should be fine."

"If they unfortunately die, won't they still have children and heirs?" The sergeant said, pointing at the child in the woman's arms.

"That's not my son's heir!" the old man cursed angrily.

The woman lowered her head when she heard this, hugged the child tightly and said nothing.

The sergeant saw it and suddenly understood, and could only sigh softly.

He turned around and kicked the Liangzhou bandits hard in the crotch, and their screams echoed throughout the house.

The soldier asked in the plain dialect: "Sergeant, the commander said that he doesn't need the surrendered soldiers. Do you want to take them outside and kill them on the spot?!"

The sergeant nodded, and when the Liangzhou soldiers were set up, he stopped his comrades, pulled off their robes, and threw them at the woman's feet.

He looked up and said to the old man, "The world is in turmoil. I am lucky to be alive. It is better to have children and grandchildren to carry on the family line than to die without them."

After saying this, he walked out of the door with his soldiers and comrades.

Hearing the sound of the armor leaves getting weaker and weaker, the woman looked at her clothes on the ground and rubbed her eyes to wipe away her tears.

(End of this chapter)