******
In Shaohu Garden, the rain was pouring down. Qin Mu stood under the corridor with his hands behind his back, looking at the wind and rain in the sky without saying a word.
Hong Niangzi stood with him for a long time and could not help but persuade him: "Don't look, the rain won't stop for a while, and you are tired all day, go back to your room and rest first."
The wind lantern under the corridor swayed in the wind. Lightning flashed across the sky from time to time, illuminating the night sky and the lake outside the corridor.
Seeing that Qin Mu did not answer, Hong Niangzi took a step forward and put her hand in his palm. Qin Mu held it gently. The warmth from her hand warmed his heart.
Hong Niangzi asked softly, "What are you worried about? It's just a rain, isn't it? It's not like it won't stop. Even if it lasts for three or five days, it won't have a decisive impact on the war situation. I don't believe that the Tartars can turn the tide with just a rain."
"I'm not worried about the rain."
"Then what are you worried about?"
"These past two days, I always felt like I was missing something, but I couldn't figure it out, which made me a little uneasy."
"Go back and have a drink." Lady Hong suggested generously, "I've been in your situation before, and it happens often. Every time I drink, I figure it out. Come on, I'll go back to the room with you to have a drink."
Qin Mu laughed dumbly and said, "You still say that? You didn't get yourself drunk and then you don't have to think about anything, did you?"
"Believe it or not, in a situation like yours, the more you think about it, the less you can get the point. Relax your mind and you will naturally figure out the crux of the problem."
"Well, what you said makes sense. Okay, let's go back to the room and have a drink."
The two returned to the room, and Hongniang prepared wine and food. Qin Mu opened the window to let the cool breeze with rain outside blow in. The servants hadn't brought the food yet. Hongniang opened a jar of wine and sat opposite Qin Mu under the window. He didn't want the Hetian white jade cup.
She directly took two large Jingde blue and white bowls, and with a little effort, she quickly filled the two bowls with wine without spilling a drop. Qin Mu looked at her and sighed, "Ying'er, you really want to get me drunk."
"It's just like when you write poetry, you get inspiration only when you drink too much. Do you understand?"
“I know, I know…”
"Don't just talk, do it!"
"Did it?"
Seeing Qin Mu looking at the wine bowl hesitantly, Hong Niangzi said dissatisfiedly: "Are you a man?"
Qin Mu thought to himself, don't you know whether I am a man or not? He picked up the wine bowl and said, "Don't drink too much. If you drink like this, you will be drunk in a short time after a few bowls. Is it fun?"
"Drink it or not. It's up to you." Hong Niangzi refused to admit defeat and drank the bowl of wine by herself.
Qin Mu looked at the beauty under the lamp and smiled helplessly: "You should drink less."
As Hongniang poured the wine, she said, "I heard that everything in this world is divided into yin and yang, male and female. According to this division, the north is male and the south is female."
At first, Qin Mu didn't understand why she suddenly said this. But soon he figured it out. Lady Hong was mocking him, a southerner, for not being bold enough and acting like a sissy.
Qin Mu would not argue with her. He picked up the wine bowl and took a sip. Crack! The lightning outside the window split the rain curtain, dancing in the night sky like a silver snake. The rain poured down under the eaves. Qin Mu noticed that the water level of Shao Lake had obviously risen a little;
Red Lady said: "Don't worry, a heavy rain will not cause a flood immediately."
It is hard to say. If the rainfall is heavy and covers a wide area, a single rainfall can cause flooding in the Hongze Lake area. Because the Yellow River and the Huai River both flow into Hongze Lake, the downstream areas are often unable to discharge water in time, thus causing flooding.
Someone wrote a poem to describe the scene of the confluence of the Huaihe River and the Yellow River: The Huaihe River is green like moss, flying down the Tongbai Mountain. The Yellow River suddenly comes from the west, rushing into the Huaihe River. Feng Yi beats the drums to make the waves wild, and the snow cliffs fall... The two heroes fight to the death, and roar loudly to the heaven and earth. Shaking the bones of the mountains, and grinding the souls of the sun and the moon. The Yellow River never stops, and the Huaihe River never stops. The east wind blows the waves of the sea, and the autumn colors surge for thousands of miles.
From this poem, we can see how astonishing the scene was when the two heroes, the Yellow River and the Huai River, fought against each other, with raging waves and shaking the mountains. Qin Mu vaguely remembered that the prosperous Sizhou City since ancient times was soon buried at the bottom of Hongze Lake by floods and disappeared forever.
Qin Mu suddenly shuddered and murmured, "The flood... will disappear forever..." At that moment, a chill ran up from his tailbone to his head. With a bang, he threw the wine bowl on the table and ran out.
Red Lady was startled, not caring about being splashed with wine, and chased after him: "What's wrong? What happened?"
Qin Mu seemed not to hear and continued running while yelling, "Come here, Li Shi, quickly pass the ball to Yan Gaofei!"
***
It rained heavily all night, and Meng Ke tossed and turned all night.
He got up early when it was just dawn, and was relieved when he saw that the rain had finally subsided and the sky was about to clear up.
He put on a straw hat and a raincoat, and patrolled the camp with his personal soldiers. The stokers in the camp were making a fire to cook. As the firewood was wet by the heavy rain, thick smoke was rising from the stove. Several stokers puffed out their cheeks and blew hard, their faces choked by the smoke and covered with tears, but there was no flame.
"Damn you Liu Laosi, last night I asked you to collect some firewood into the tent to start the fire, but you ignored me? If we miss breakfast, the governor will blame us and we will lose our heads."
"Boss, I collected it, but the rain was too heavy and water got into the tent. Plus, the rain kept coming, so even if the firewood wasn't wet, it would have gotten wet when I took it out."
"You idiot, can't you light a fire in the tent and then take it out?"
"this... ... ... ."
Meng Ke heard the conversation between the firemen from afar, and walked over and said, "Hurry up and get some kerosene from the quartermaster to start the fire. Go quickly."
"Ah! Commander-in-Chief... Yes, yes, I'll go right away." The commander of the cooking battalion hurriedly took a few stokers to find the quartermaster.
This may seem like a trivial matter, but it is not. The emperor does not want hungry soldiers, and soldiers who cannot eat in time will have a major impact. Therefore, the first place Meng Ke came to inspect was the kitchen camp.
After visiting the kitchen camp, he went to the food and military supplies storage area. Things like gunpowder, once damp, would be temporarily unusable. If a war broke out suddenly, all the guns and artillery would become scrap metal.
As the commander-in-chief, Meng Ke would feel uneasy if he didn't check these matters personally, which concerned the life and death of the army.
The gunpowder in the army was stored in cans. Meng Ke opened several cans in succession and only felt relieved after confirming that the gunpowder inside was still dry.
At this time, a fast horse galloped into the camp, and its iron hooves as big as bowls knocked on the ground, splashing mud and water everywhere. The personal soldiers guarding the central army tent knew it was an urgent report, and immediately brought the person to see Meng Ke.
The messenger quickly dismounted and said in a hurry: "Report to the Grand Commander, at five o'clock in the morning, the vanguard was attacked by a large number of enemy troops. Due to heavy rain, firearms cannot be used. The battle is tense. General Hao requests the Grand Commander to send reinforcements immediately."
When Meng Ke heard this, his eyes lit up and he asked in a deep voice, "How many troops does the enemy have?"
"General, when I left the vanguard camp, it was still dark and I couldn't be sure of the exact number of the enemy troops, but I roughly estimated that there were no less than 30,000, and they were all cavalry."
In this case, almost all the Qing troops in Shangqiu were mobilized.
Dangshan is about 150 miles away from Shangqiu City. Hao Yaoqi's 10,000 vanguards were about 70 miles away from the main army. Duoduo's tens of thousands of troops rushed 70 or 80 miles in the rain overnight to launch an attack. This was indeed unexpected.
As Meng Ke rushed back to the central army camp, he asked, "How many casualties did the vanguard suffer?"
"Reporting to the Grand Commander, although the enemy's night attack was discovered in advance, our army is unable to use firearms and bows and arrows. The enemy has several times more than us and easily attacked the wall of the stockade. Our army suffered heavy casualties. The Grand Commander, please send reinforcements quickly, otherwise General Hao may not be able to hold on."
Meng Ke strode back to the central army tent and immediately shouted, "Beat the drums and gather the troops!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The drums in the central army rumbled. Generals Su Jin, Hui Dengxiang, Jin Shenghuan, Hu Shouliang, Guo Yunlong and others rode their horses and rushed over. As soon as they rushed into the tent, Meng Ke said, "I just received a report that the main force of Duoduo attacked the vanguard Hao Yaoqi's troops at five o'clock in the morning. Su Jin!"
"I will be here in the end."
"I order you to lead 30,000 cavalrymen, bring dry food and water, and rush to support Hao Yaoqi immediately. Be careful, send more scouts, and be careful of Duoduo surrounding and attacking the reinforcements."
"I obey your command!"
Su Jin received the order and immediately left the tent with Hu Shouliang, Niu Wanchuan and other cavalry generals. The 30,000 cavalrymen in the cavalry camp quickly distributed dry food and water, ate as quickly as possible, and then rushed out of the camp lightly.
The rain in the sky had not yet stopped completely, and the sky was vast and gloomy. The ground was full of water, and thirty thousand cavalrymen roared past, splashing mud and water like rain.
Su Jin felt that the horse was not going fast enough and kept urging him on, because if rescue was not done in time, Hao Yaoqi's 10,000 vanguards would most likely be wiped out.
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ps: The battle for monthly tickets has entered a fierce stage. The third, fourth and fifth places are only separated by a few votes. Yin Xiong and I are constantly stabbing each other. There are two people chasing behind. The situation is pressing!
Brothers, at the critical moment, we must stand firm, charge, let us charge! Request for monthly tickets, urgent request for monthly tickets!
..(To be continued..)
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