After the fake emperor received Chu Qing's letter, he did not make an immediate decision. Instead, he told Fuling about the matter and asked for her opinion.
Fu Ling read Chu Qing's letter and knew that the situation was serious, so she immediately asked the fake emperor to distribute military pay to Chu Qing and find someone to escort him all the way.
Due to the urgency of the situation, the team escorting the military pay set off immediately after getting ready. They did not dare to stop along the way, and would only stop for a while when they were particularly tired.
The escort team soon arrived in the mountains and forests. Bandits were often found in the mountains and forests, so those escorting the military pay were very careful. But unexpectedly, despite being careful along the way, they still encountered bandits.
"Bold! Do you dare to steal military pay?"
The bandits looked at the escort team with knives and laughed loudly, "What we are robbing is official silver."
The leader of the escort team frowned and shouted loudly: "What official silver? This is military pay! Do you know the military pay? This is used to buy food and grass for the soldiers who are defending the enemy at the front."
"It's not military pay, but in our eyes, this is official silver." The bandit laughed and said, seemingly not taking robbing military pay seriously at all.
"Soldiers, we are killing the enemy at the border and protecting our country. You bandits and Japanese pirates still dare to steal military pay here. Aren't you afraid that His Majesty will kill you if he finds out?" said the leader of the escort team. The other party has a large number of people. If They have no chance of winning in a fight, so they can only persuade and threaten them.
"Since we are bandits and Japanese pirates, we have not taken our lives seriously for a long time." The bandit leader said without fear of death, then raised his hand and shouted: "Brothers, kill me and give me all your money." Grab it."
As soon as the bandit leader finished speaking, the bandits immediately rushed towards the escort team, and the two sides fought, and a fight broke out in an instant.
The bandits were outnumbered, and the people escorting the team worked hard all the way, so they died and were injured very quickly. The bandits were ruthless and had no mercy, so even though they were injured, they still killed all the people in the escort team.
The bandits took the soldiers and returned to their hometown happily, leaving corpses on the ground.
"General Chu, I just learned that the military pay distributed by the emperor was robbed on the road, and the people escorting the military pay were also killed." The spy knelt down on one knee and clasped his hands in his fists.
"What?!"
Chu Qing's expression suddenly changed. They were already at a critical juncture, and now their military pay was being robbed, which made it worse.
"General Chu, what should we do now?" The person next to him asked, "How about General Chu, please ask your Majesty for another batch of military pay?"
Chu Qing shook his head and said: "It's too late. It will take six or seven days to send the letter from here to the city and then deliver the military pay here. Besides, we can't guarantee that the military pay will not be robbed again."
"What should we do? There is not much food left, and we can barely survive for three days."
Chu Qing frowned and said, "Even if the remaining food and grass can last for three days, the enemy will not give us three days."
"General Chu, what does this mean?"
Chu Qing looked at the march route map and said: "The escaped prisoners must have told the enemy about the burning of our food and grass. The reason why the enemy has not taken action in the past few days is because they want to wait until we are exhausted. They'll wipe us out with just a little effort. I guess they'll take action soon."
"Then in the general's opinion, what should we do next?"
Chu Qing frowned. At the moment, he had no good solution. He could only say: "First, hide the fact that the military salary has been robbed. Don't let the soldiers in the camp know. To stabilize the morale of the army, I will find a way to solve the problem of food and grass as soon as possible. Also Yes, let the spies pay close attention to the enemy's movements."
"Yes, General."