The Splendor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 58 The Squad
The ruins barely formed a small camp, where fourteen people and more than twenty horses were crammed together.

The bonfire emitted plumes of smoke, mingling with the white breath exhaled by the crowd, bringing a touch of warmth to the frozen wilderness.

Before dawn, Lao Pan was already squatting by the campfire, busy with his work.

He moved a few fairly regular stones, built a simple stove, placed a small iron pot with a slit on it, and boiled snow water, which made a gurgling sound.

Xiao Yi opened his eyes at the smell of meat and saw Old Pan sprinkling millet and crushed dried herbs into the pot.

Recalling the phrase "to feed the refugees" that he had heard while cleaning up the corpses yesterday, he couldn't help but ask, "What kind of meat... was cooked?"

"Horse meat." Old Pan sighed, "Live horses are the lifeblood of an army, but dead horses are just firewood, we can't waste them."

Looking up, at the edge of the woods, Xihou and Hudeng were wrapping horsehide, while Wu Gouzi was hanging meat on a tree branch to dry in the wind.

Xiao Yi breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and took out some feed from his bag to feed his black horse.

Seeing that there was frost in the horse's nostrils, he took a piece of linen and wiped it.

"Chief Xiao, slow down," Old Pan said. "Horse noses are delicate. This cloth has been frozen overnight and is stiff. It's easy to scratch it. You have to gently rub it with your hands and let the heat melt the frost. Don't use brute force."

Xiao Yi did as instructed, covering the frost with his hands and wrapping the animal's hooves with dry grass to keep them warm and promote blood circulation.

The horse seemed to sense his gentleness and rubbed against him twice. Xiao Yi then stroked its mane.

Old Pan couldn't help but laugh and said, "This horse is much more precious than a person. It's hard to take care of and eats better than us."

Fan Si was quick-witted and, seeing Xiao Yi's actions, immediately took care of each horse. Lü You and Wei Liang followed to help, while Hua Heng clamored to learn and chased after them with Guo Zongyi.

"Give them some warm water," Old Pan instructed. "After feeding them, take them for a walk around a couple of times, and don't let them lie down immediately."

"Okay!"

Old Pan then fumbled for a small, flat earthenware pot, shook some coarse, yellowish salt into it, and slowly stirred it with a peeled willow twig.

Wei Liang sniffed and said, "It smells really good. Brother's cooking skills are better than Fan Si's."

"There's no way around it, my old teeth can't chew anything hard, chewing flatbread on the march is the worst, I can only drink some thin porridge."

Jiang Erniang wasn't idle either. She took a small, broken earthenware pot and heated some warm water by the campfire, baking the hard flatbread until the surface was golden brown and the inside was warm.

She blew the dust off the pancake, broke it in half, and handed it to Hua Heng and Guo Zongyi, scolding, "You two brats! Stop making a fuss, eat, don't choke."

But when he turned to Hua Nong, his tone became dissatisfied again.

"Even drinking some thin porridge in Kaifeng, enough to see your reflection in, is better than eating this in the freezing cold..."

Hua Nong smiled awkwardly. Seeing that Hu Deng was about to change Wu Gouzi's dressing, she took out an oil paper package from her bag and handed it over, saying, "This is a family heirloom herbal medicine. Add some to it so it won't fester."

Wu Gouzi was stunned for a moment, then Hu Deng slapped him on the head and scolded, "Idiot, you don't know how to thank me."

"Thank you... Mr. Thank you."

After a simple breakfast, everyone became familiar with each other.

Although they came from different backgrounds, Xiao Yi had the highest official rank and the best temperament, while Lao Pan was older and more experienced. Naturally, the two of them were the leaders, one in charge and one in assistant.

After eating, bury the embers and cover them with a thick layer of snow.

Old Pan inspected each horse one by one, and when he found a loose shoe, he would wrap it twice with hemp rope.

Little Monkey led his horse to the official road, shouting, "From here north, Yedu is still over 130 li away. In normal times, we could see the city walls of Yedu before dark. But we have women, children, and wounded soldiers, so it's hard to say..."

"A day or two won't make a difference; safety is the priority."

The distance was actually closer than Xiao Yi had expected.

He always heard others say that Yedu was an important border town, which seemed to him to be far away. This was a misconception after the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. In reality, the territory of this "Han" was very small, and Yedu was probably located in the area of ​​Daming County, Handan, Hebei.

It's not even as far as Guo Wei and Zhang Mantun's hometown, Xingtai.

The journey began, and the little monkey was very cheerful, taking the lead to scout the way. Sometimes it would disappear for an hour or two, and sometimes it would rein in its horse on the earthen slope by the official road, scratching its ears which were red from the cold. It really did look like a monkey.

Lü You, Fan Si, and Wei Liang tacitly dispersed around, while Lao Pan, along with Hu Deng and Wu Gouzi, brought up the rear.

Xiao Yi, along with the Guo family aunt and niece, and Hua Nong's family, stood in the middle.

The snowfield was vast and desolate, with distant mountains appearing like dark eyebrows, outlining a vast and desolate silhouette against the gray sky.

Most of the villages along the official road were dilapidated, with collapsed earthen walls and no sign of human habitation. Crows perched on bare tree branches, cawing shrilly.

Seeing this, Hua Nong couldn't help but sigh.

“I once read Du Fu’s poem, ‘Jackals and wolves block the road, people are cut off, beacon fires illuminate the night, corpses lie everywhere,’ which describes the scene of ‘ten years of war’. To this day, the chaos has lasted for a hundred years. Every word is written in blood and tears, and I don’t know when they will all be shed.”

Xiao Yi said, "It will be soon. You will live to see the end of the rebellion and the restoration of Xing."

He always manages to instill confidence in those around him with his unwavering attitude.

Hua Nong wanted to continue the conversation, but Jiang Erniang, who was traveling with him, pinched him and complained, "What Mr. Mo says is useless. Let Chief Xiao have some peace and quiet."

"Sigh, you've really given me a hard time..."

"What do you want to say?" "Nothing, nothing."

The couple's horses then slowed down a bit.

Guo Xin naturally spurred her horse to ride alongside Xiao Yi and asked, "Tell me, are Mother and the others alright?"

Xiao Yi remained silent for a moment, then said calmly, "The imperial court is wary of General Guo's military power and will not easily take action against the lady. Moreover, General Wang of Chanzhou has already sent people to Kaifeng to rescue her..."

He paused.

There were actually many other reasons he could come up with, but the words Wang Yin used to describe Liu Chengyou and Li Ye, "blinded by greed and utterly depraved," echoed in his ears.

The Guo family suffered a terrible misfortune, encountering a madman with no sense of reason.

"Ah."

Guo Xin's slender back, which had been tense, finally relaxed.

She turned her head and looked at him, her eyes brightening slightly. She said softly, "Qingwen trusts her husband... Oh, I, the head constable, trust you, the deputy head constable."

As Yedu drew closer, it felt like hope was drawing ever closer, and her mood improved considerably.

Xiao Yi smiled faintly in response, his eyes lowered, avoiding her gaze.

At midday, the sun was high, but there was little warmth, and the white light reflected from the snow was dazzling.

Little Monkey spurred his horse back and shouted, "Xiangzhou is just ahead!"

Instead of entering the city, the group rested in a village near the main road outside the city.

The village's mud-brick houses were low and haphazardly arranged. There were few pedestrians, and those who were there looked malnourished and hurried along. A dozen or so stalls were set up along the muddy roadside, selling rough earthenware bowls, straw sandals, reed mats, and other travel essentials, or rare winter vegetables like cabbage and turnips.

Some people even sold their sons and daughters.

The most lively place was a foot-run inn with a tattered wine flag hanging above it. A makeshift shed had been set up at the entrance, with a pot simmering in murky soup, emitting a few wisps of muttony smell.

Everyone couldn't help but gather around, even Lü You, a well-traveled local from Kaifeng, came close to the pot and took a deep breath.

"Damn it, hurry up and drink something hot."

"Make twenty millet cakes first!"

Old Pan glanced at the soup in the pot, frowned, and said, "A few pieces of offal, so clear you can see your reflection in them, go feed the horses in the trough. Cook this meat for us, and go buy some cabbage and turnips to cook together. Do you have any wine?"

The old man tending the pot, his face full of wrinkles and wearing a tattered coat, said with a forced smile, "Sir, this pot of soup costs fifteen coins, the flatbread four coins each, the firewood for cooking the meat soup costs seven coins, the cabbage and seasonings cost fifteen coins, and the wine is available, fifty coins a pot..."

"Shut up!" Hu Deng glared and cursed, "You old bastard, selling at such high prices, you're trying to rip us off!"

The old man immediately looked miserable and begged for mercy, saying, "Please have mercy, these mutton offal dishes are not good enough for you soldiers. I paid for them myself. The wine was brought by my son from Fuyang. The journey was not safe, and the travel expenses alone cost more than this. This old soldier knows the market in Hebei."

"Huh? My brother Pan is easy to bully?"

The old man was on the verge of tears, knowing he should show filial piety but also facing a real dilemma.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Yi glanced at Wei Liang.

He had previously asked Wei Liang to distribute cakes to the children, and now he wanted to see Wei Liang's reaction.

The two men locked eyes, and Wei Liang realized what was happening. He took out a bag of money from his bag and stepped forward.

"Hehe, how could we let the brothers from Chanzhou pay? Old man, take these. If there's any more, consider it a reward from my headman. Bring out some good wine and food; we've been freezing all the way here."

"Alright!" The old man felt as if he had been granted a pardon.

Hua Nongben looked on with a worried expression, but upon seeing this, she breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly.

The group went into the foot restaurant and sat down.

Xiao Yi looked out the window and saw Fan Si and Wei Liang tending to the horses together, whispering to each other in their hometown dialect.

"Wow, the sun must have risen in the west today, you've finally changed your ways."

"Hey, Mr. Bu Hua once said that soldiers get paid and should protect their fellow villagers."

"Didn't you used to hate these grand principles the most?"

“How can they be the same? The gentleman said that being noisy with others is a completely different matter… Yes, give it to me.”

"very?"

"I lost half a string of cash to you in the bet." Wei Liang said, "The head constable said that the benefactor who can bring us immense wealth must be Mr. Hua. He is educated."

"What's wrong with studying? Don't you hate scholars the most?"

"Nonsense, there are many kinds of scholars. What we're annoyed about is definitely not the God of Wealth who brings us great fortune."

"Leave far away."

"You can't renege on this half-finished money; you'll have to pay it sooner or later..."

(End of this chapter)