Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 3 On the Road East
Inside the Shazhou military tent under Jinshan Mountain, as a soldier in a round-collared robe spoke, everyone turned their eyes to Zhang Yichao.

Liu Jilong knew the soldier, who was Li En from the Shazhou Li family. His team leader who died in the battle was his nephew.

"Liu Jilong, since Li Canjun has doubts, you should answer them."

Zhang Yichao was as steady as a rock, he just smiled and stroked his beard, and Liu Jilong nodded and bowed upon hearing his words:

"Our army encountered the foreign soldiers and cavalry west of the Jin River. At first, the foreign cavalry was only a few people. Captain Li ordered us to explore in order to obtain more intelligence."

"About two quarters of an hour later, more than twenty cavalrymen emerged from the north and south, and Captain Li then ordered the troops to withdraw."

"Our army had been out of the pond since early morning to scout, and by noon we had already used up a lot of horsepower. Captain Li's horse was hit by several arrows, and finally had insufficient horsepower, so he led us to fight the foreign soldiers under a tree."

"During the fierce battle, Captain Li was shot in the face by an arrow. He knew he had no chance of survival, so he went out to fight two foreign soldiers but died of exhaustion. All we could do was to form a battle formation to resist the enemy."

"It's just luck that I'm still alive..."

Liu Jilong gave his former team leader some respect, but in fact the guy was killed after being shot in the face by an arrow.

But if he really explained it so calmly, it would inevitably lose face for the Li family, and Li En would probably not let him off so easily.

"In that case, Li Huaishen is indeed a brave man, but it's a pity... Alas..."

Zhang Yichao spoke slowly, which prevented Li En from continuing to ask questions and also gave Li En face.

"Huai Shen, write a letter to your father and ask him to allocate some money and food from the Shazhou treasury to this Captain Li and the widows of the soldiers who died in the battle."

"Yes!" Zhang Huaishen agreed, and Li En stopped asking questions after hearing that.

Seeing this, Zhang Yichao slowly stroked his beard and looked at Liu Jilong with a smile in his eyes: "I see that you have an extraordinary appearance and are brave. In addition to your achievements this time, I will let you temporarily take over as the leader of the third group."

"Since you are already injured, you don't need to participate in the attack on Jiuquan this time. After you take Suzhou, you can select your own soldiers from the recruiting office."

"Governor..." Upon hearing that Zhang Yichao had assigned the position of a team leader in this way, the other generals wanted to speak, but were interrupted by Zhang Yichao.

"You have heard what the boy said before. There are more than 5,000 Han and Hu people in Jiuquan. If we can successfully recapture it this time, we can add two more regiments."

Zhang Yichao's meaning was clear. The Second Regiment had four teams and twenty groups, and he just allocated a position for one group in advance.

Hearing this, the generals around him stopped talking, and Zhang Yichao smiled and waved to Liu Jilong, saying, "Go back and take care of your wounds."

"Thanks for the governor's kindness!" Liu Jilian behaved calmly, which made Zhang Yichao like him even more.

Seeing Liu Jilong stand up, Zhang Yichao signaled to Zhang Huaishen with his eyes, and Zhang Huaishen immediately understood and followed him.

They left the big tent, and after walking a few steps, Zhang Huaishen said to Liu Jilong: "You should take good care of your injuries. Jiuquan will be captured soon."

"Yes..." Liu Jilong bowed and saluted, and Zhang Huaishen also spoke:

"I didn't expect you to be so eloquent when I was recruiting soldiers. Have you ever read a book?"

"My ancestor once served as a Baizhi (a minor official who worked in the county government without a monthly salary) in Hexi Dao during the Shangyuan period. Although he died in the war after the invasion of the foreign bandits, he still left some tattered books for his descendants, so I can recognize a few words."

Liu Jilong did not dare to say that he was literate. After all, many characters in that era had not been simplified. Although Liu Jilong could understand most books, he could not write smoothly.

"It's good that you understand. After all, your family is poor."

Zhang Huaishen showed a look of as expected, and then said: "If we can take over Gansu and Suzhou this time, I will keep you by my side to learn something."

"Thank you for your appreciation, Captain!" Liu Jilong expressed his opinion quickly. After all, in his memory, Zhang Huaishen still had a bright future for at least another thirty years.

Since I don’t have any background, the right thing to do is to rely on the Zhang family.

"Okay, you go and rest."

Zhang Huaishen signaled Liu Jillong to leave. Seeing this, Liu Jillong bowed and left.

When he returned to his tent, he saw that the tent, which was bustling before he set out in the morning, was now filled with only Zhang Chang, who was lying on a straw mat holding a knife and looking around from time to time.

"General!" Seeing Liu Jilong appear, Zhang Chang quickly stood up and brought a plate of food from the corner.

"This is the food that other soldiers just sent. They said Captain Zhang sent it."

"In addition, other military officers said that from now on I will be your subordinate!"

While Zhang Chang was explaining, Liu Jilong also saw clearly what was on the plate: a bowl of soup with foam floating on it, two Hu pancakes the size of a human face, and a small bag of dried meat.

"Sit down and eat together. From now on, just call me the chief cook. Don't call me the general."

Liu Jilong was very hungry. Although soldiers were given rations, in that era, even soldiers could not guarantee that they would have a full meal every time, let alone a strong man like him.

In his previous life, he was an ordinary clerk. After coming to this world, although he had a strong body, eating every day became a headache for him.

After so many years in this world, there are only a few days when I overeat.

For him, the memories of the delicious food in his previous life had long been lost in these seventeen years.

"Zhang Chang, how old are you..."

"Twenty, how about you, sir?"

Liu Jilong opened his mouth to ask, but he didn't expect that the skinny Zhang Chang was three years older than him.

"I'm seventeen..."

"Seventeen?!"

Zhang Chang was speechless. After he realized what was happening, he could only chuckle: "As expected of you, you are the team leader."

"Eat..."

"Hey!"

The age issue instantly made the atmosphere in the tent awkward.

Fortunately, both of them were very tired, and after a simple meal, they fell asleep on their respective seats.

The next morning, the two were awakened by the sound of soldiers getting up.

It was still a little chilly in Suzhou in April. After leaving the tent, Liu Jilong returned his horse to the captain of his team.

"Boss, do we have to return this horse?"

After Liu Jilong returned the horse, Zhang Chang watched the two men walk away before he started asking.

Liu Jilong calmly explained: "Although our army has been in uprising for more than a year, the army is in great shortage of supplies."

"For a wounded soldier like me who cannot go into battle, not only the horse, but even the armor must be handed over."

While Liu Jilian was explaining, Zhang Chang finally saw the entire scene of the Shazhou army packing up their camp in the dim light of dawn.

Except for the four regiments of more than 800 people close to the central military tent who can wear armor, the remaining thousand or so people on the periphery are basically simple long and short soldiers.

The only clothes they had on them were cotton hakama, jackets and futou. As for decent protective gear, they only had simple wooden shields in their hands.

"It's so simple... Can we recover Jiuquan..."

Zhang Chang swallowed and couldn't help feeling worried.

Liu Jilong saw through his thoughts and said in a very calm tone:
"When Governor Zhang recaptured Dunhuang, our army had only a few hundred weapons and a few dozen armors."

"Now, the number of weapons and armor has increased several times. They were all taken from the foreigners when we recaptured the cities."

"After we recover Gansu and Suzhou, we will also have our own mines and workshops..."

"By then, you and I won't have to wear armor anymore."

While Liu Jilong was telling Zhang Chang about the future, he reached out and touched his chest.

His expression was as if he really felt his own Tang armor on his chest.

Perhaps it was because of his words that Zhang Chang gradually felt at ease and was full of confidence in the road ahead.

At the same time, the sun slowly rose from the east, illuminating the Shazhou Army's eastward advance.

(End of this chapter)