"Why are there so many old and weak people?" Zhu Li was surprised.
"Reporting to the governor, the young and strong ones have all been hired by the local aristocratic families and gentry, and those who can't carry anything on their shoulders or lift anything with their hands have been eliminated." The guard soldier did not dare to hide anything and reported the truth.
Zhu Li frowned when he heard this, but finally sighed helplessly: "Wait until they finish drinking the porridge and take them all back."
Upon hearing this, the guard hesitated for a moment, but finally bowed and said, "Commander-in-chief, our food and fodder are collected from the Yiting granary according to the number of guards. Now that there are so many refugees, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get food and fodder."
Zhu Li glanced at him and naturally knew what he was worried about. However, it was not a manly act to watch someone in danger without helping him. Moreover, he had once been a refugee and naturally knew the hardships these people went through.
However, the worries of the subordinates were not unfounded. The rewards from the court were only on paper. They had to rely on local resources for food and supplies. Fortunately, they had the order from above.
The granary in Fuping does not belong to Zhu Li alone, and he cannot use it without limit. The food rations for these refugees must naturally be squeezed from the rations of the Shuozhou army. Even so, Zhu Li still decided to rescue the refugees to the end. Regardless of age, all of them were settled in the camp in the north of the city for easy care.
This made Wang Chongying and Li Xiaochang secretly sarcastic, but Zhu Li turned a deaf ear to it. How could a mere military man know that the people are the foundation of the country, the people's will is the will of heaven, and without the people there is no country.
Of course, Zhu Li also selected 600 strong men from the refugees to supplement the guards, and asked Zhou Dewei to train them strictly and provide them with enough food.
It is worth mentioning the filial son Jing Ming, who actually possesses outstanding martial arts. Jing Ming is very famous in the Jingnan area and is known as Jing Yidao. He did not tell the truth to Zhu Li. In fact, Qin Yan was really rampant, and he was not an ordinary victim of the poor. Instead, he assassinated several officers under Qin Yan's command and was wanted by Qin Yan, so he had to carry his mother on his back and flee to this place.
Zhu Li certainly didn't know this news. He just treated Jing Ming as an ordinary refugee. After the doctor cured Jing Ming's injuries, he joined Zhu Li's army and became an ordinary guard.
It was Zhou Dewei who discovered that he had good martial arts skills. When the army was competing for the position of fire captain based on his strength, Zhou Dewei found that Jing Ming was different. His martial arts did not seem to be from the battlefield, but rather from the rivers and lakes. Once engaged in close combat with him, he would be very difficult to deal with within five steps. Dozens of old soldiers and fire captains were defeated by him.
This discovery made Zhou Dewei very happy, and he made an exception and promoted him to team leader.
Zhu Li naturally had no time to take care of these things, as he had been thinking about the issue of military rations. Saving alone would not only be disadvantageous to the refugees, but also to his guards. Now he was fighting a war of attrition with the Cao army, and Zhu Li could not afford to waste time. He was prepared to take the initiative to attack without waiting for the enemy to attack the city. Since he had decided to take the initiative, he naturally had to be prepared.
He collected countless fine wines in Fuping City in the name of banning winemaking, and even sent people out of the city in disguise to nearby prefectures and counties to collect more fine wines in the name of government.
Then he continued to send people, disguised as aristocratic families and gentry from nearby counties and prefectures, to reward the Cao army. The Cao army had never experienced such a scene before. Shang Rang and Wang Zhongyin were suddenly flattered by such courtesy. After checking, they found that there was no problem with the fine wine, chickens and ducks, so they accepted them without hesitation.
The wine was delivered in waves, dozens of batches of wine were delivered.
The aroma of wine filled the entire Cao Army camp. Through several visits to the Cao Army camp, Zhu Li had already learned about the locations where the fine wine was stored and the distribution of the Cao Army camp through his spies.
Midnight on the 23rd day of the first lunar month.
Zhu Li and Meng Juehai led the Ya soldiers and Yue cavalry, a total of 4,800 people, and set out at night to rush towards the Cao army camp.
Wang Chongying and Li Xiaochang stood on the south city wall with flickering expressions. They made an agreement with Zhu Li that as long as Zhu Li could set a fire in the Cao army, they would agree to send troops to attack the Cao army, otherwise there would be no deal.
It was not yet the end of the first month of the year and the weather was freezing cold. The Cao Army's patrol officers huddled on the watchtowers, occasionally standing up and stamping their feet. They did not seem to be worried that the Allied Forces would attack. As long as the weather warmed up after this month, they would start to attack the city.
A feather arrow pierced through the night, silently and swiftly hitting his forehead. He didn't even have time to scream before he lowered his head weakly, fearing that he would never be able to stand up again in this life.
Zhu Li took the lead, wielding a double-edged spear, and rushed towards the gate of the Cao army. Together with Meng Juehai, who was good at wielding a spear, they stood on each side and struggled to lift up two gates. They caught the Cao army off guard and charged into the Cao army camp.
The coalition forces' sudden attack, which took place before the end of the first month of the lunar year, was beyond the Cao army's expectations.
A single stone stirs up a thousand waves. The alarm gongs of the Cao army camp suddenly rang out "Dang, Dang, Dang..." Several Cao army patrol guards attacked with spears in hand, shouting at the top of their lungs: "Enemy attack, enemy attack, the coalition forces are attacking the camp."
"It's bad. There's a fire. The coalition forces are attacking the camp."
... ...
Upon hearing the shouts, countless Grass Army guards immediately rushed out from all directions. However, Zhu Li and Meng Juehai did not want to fight. They rode their horses quickly, as if they were eager to rush forward.
Among the Cao army, none of the officers who rushed up hastily to intercept the two men were capable of fighting against them. In addition, Zhu Li and Meng Juehai seemed to be very familiar with the distribution of the Cao army camp. When they galloped on their horses, their target was very clear.
The direction where the Yue cavalry were galloping was exactly where the fine wine was piled up. Whenever they rushed to a place where fine wine was piled up, Zhu Li would ride his horse to the front, swing his steel spear diagonally, and knock over the Cao army guards who were rushing out from the horizontal railing. He would swing the spear again and smash it with all his strength on the pile of wine jars. A sudden "clang" sound arose, causing countless wine bubbles.
Meng Juehai behind him also swung his grab and overturned several jars of fine wine. The wine flowed all over the ground in an instant. Countless Yue riders behind him rode past on their horses, picked up the wine jars and galloped all the way, spilling the wine all over the ground. In the chaos, the aroma of wine filled the air and water flowed all over the ground.
Zhu Li rode non-stop. After one stronghold where fine wine was stored was destroyed, he rushed to the next one without hesitation. This charge was too swift and too sudden. No one had expected that the coalition forces would attack the camp in the middle of the night, seemingly specifically to destroy the fine wine, leaving them confused for a moment.
There were dozens of places where fine wine was piled up, but in less than half an incense stick of time, most of them were destroyed by Zhu Li and his men. The Cao army camp was now almost covered with wine and the aroma of wine was wafting around.
After Wang Zhongyin, who had just walked out of the tent in full gear, smelled the aroma of wine, frowned, and shouted loudly: "What's going on? Could it be that this is not an enemy attack, but someone is drinking alcohol in a group?"
A lieutenant of the Cao army immediately bowed and replied: "General, the coalition's attack came suddenly and was very strange.
There was no attack on the guards of the camp, as if they were here just to destroy the wine."
"Specifically to destroy the fine wine? Are you referring to the fine wine that the nearby noble families and gentry sent us some time ago?" Wang Zhongyin was full of suspicion.
"Exactly"
Wang Zhongyin seemed to have suddenly thought of something. His face turned pale with horror, and he suddenly shouted loudly, "No, stop him quickly."
Most of the guards around were confused, but a clever one immediately thought of a possibility and exclaimed, "They are using wine as fuel, maybe they want to burn down the camp."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone could no longer remain calm, their confusion disappeared, and their expressions were instantly filled with horror.
Some time ago, quite a lot of wine was sent by the gentry and aristocratic families from the nearby counties and prefectures. Throughout the first month of the year, these people sent wine one after another, and the number was huge. In the camp alone, there were dozens of places to store wine. If all of them were destroyed, the wine would be spilled, and I'm afraid most of the camp would be covered with wine.
But is it too late now? Just when the top leaders of the Cao army understood the harm of the matter, Zhu Li continued to destroy three or four places where the fine wine was stored. Before all the wine was destroyed, Zhu Li felt that it was enough, and ordered arson without hesitation. The fire broke out suddenly and spread in an instant, following the ground wet with wine. The fire was like a raging fire dragon, running through the camp. As the Yue cavalry continued to set fire, several fire dragons gathered and turned into a sea of fire in an instant. In a moment, almost one-third of the Cao army camp was engulfed by the fire.
Some smart guards in the Cao army immediately rushed to fetch water to put out the fire. Even the smart fire captains and team leaders immediately organized the guards to put out the fire. However, the fire caused by the burning wine and water was not stopped by the clean water that they had brought from the ice cave. Instead, it contributed to the spread of the fire, and there was a tendency for it to get worse and worse.
The cold night, the sea of fire, the shouting, the galloping horses, the chaotic soldiers, the swords and guns, instantly formed a picture of a night attack on the enemy camp. It seemed that God was also in a playful mood at this time. The wind suddenly arose, and the fire became more rampant and raged.
While the other side was in a mess, Zhu Li led his men to destroy almost all the places where the wine was stored, and then went straight to the southwest granary, which was an important grain and grass base of the Cao army. The granary was an important base, so naturally there were capable and brave generals stationed there. They met several powerful generals of the Cao army and attacked fiercely without saying a word, spurring their horses and waving their guns.
"Death to you thief."
"Accept your fate."
... ...
But before they could finish their words, they saw a silver screen in front of them, and a flash of lightning, with a glare, rushed into their attack range.
Zhu Li swung his spear around, killing gods and Buddhas, and with the help of Meng Juehai, several officers guarding the warehouse had their weapons dropped from their hands in an instant, and their bodies flew away, accompanied by hot blood like a rain of flowers, which scattered in the sky, and was particularly cool under the illumination of the fire.
The Shuozhou Yue cavalry rushed into the Cao army's granary. Zhu Li ordered to set fire again without hesitation. The fire swept across the entire southwest granary in an instant. The wind was strong and the fire was more intense. The entire granary was engulfed in fire in a short time.
Standing on the south wall of Yiting, looking around, they could see the Cao army camp, with flames rising to the sky, threatening to burn down the entire camp. Wang Chongying and Li Xiaochang, who had been standing on the wall in doubt and hesitation, could no longer stay there. If they did not go up to share a piece of the pie at such a good opportunity, they would be doing themselves a disservice.