At the beginning of March, the privy envoy Cao Yu led an army of 90,000 people on the east road, and they rushed to Zhuozhou as fast as thunder. This was the first feat of the Eastern Route Army, and Cao Yu immediately sent someone to spread the news of the victory to the capital.
At noon, Emperor Xuande was about to rest for a while when he heard that there was an emergency for 800 miles, and Emperor Xuande's sleepiness disappeared. After taking the battle report, his eyes scanned the writing on it line by line. Emperor Xuande frowned more and more deeply. He slapped the battle report on the table, and said angrily: "Guohua is greedy for merits and mistakes, how could the army go first? The reason for the backwardness of food and forage? If the Liao army burns the food and forage, my Eastern Route Army will…”
Guohua is the word of Cao Yu. Halfway through speaking, Emperor Xuande suddenly strode out, and sent someone to set off immediately to pass an order to Cao Yu, ordering Cao Yu to lead troops to guard Zhuozhou, first-class food and grass, and second-class troops on the middle and west roads, not to attack Youzhou without authorization .
However, in Youzhou, which is closer to Zhuozhou, Yeluxiong, the general of the Liao Kingdom, got the news of the defeat of Zhuozhou as early as yesterday, and even learned from the defeated general of Zhuozhou who came to defect that Cao Yu was making a sudden attack, and the grain and grass of Dazhou was still behind. walk. Yeluxiong walked to the sand table, and after about a quarter of an hour, the man narrowed his eyes slightly, called his eldest son Yeluzhao, pointed at Qigou Pass on the west side of Zhuozhou and said, "You bring eight thousand elite soldiers, and secretly detour from the mountain path to Cao Yuzhi. On the rear side of the army, I went to burn the food and grass for Da Zhou, only the food and grass, and there is no need to fight with it."
Yelu Zhao clasped his fists to lead the order.
Here Cao Yu led his troops to Youzhou, but he didn't know that Yeluzhao had taken eight thousand elite iron cavalry to walk behind them on a trail.
The vast majority of the East Route Army's grain and forage had just arrived at Yingzhou. Before Cao Yu set off, he arranged for Guo Xiao to lead the troops to escort the grain and forage. Guo Xiao did his due diligence and tried his best to let the grain and forage team move forward at the fastest speed. The mules and horses were replaced three times a day to pull the grain carts in turn.
Located between Zhuozhou and the capital, Guo Xiaoxian received an oral order from Emperor Xuande, ordering him to catch up with the army as soon as possible. Guo Xiao accepted the order, but unfortunately he could only keep it as it was, and couldn't think of a way to speed up.
"No need to be in a hurry, Shizi, the coach brought food and forage for the 20th day, and we'll definitely be there on the 20th." Ma Feng, the superintendent of transport, said in a relaxed and authentic tone.
Guo Xiao nodded, and the convoy walked for another hour.
As night fell, Guo Xiao went around the camp again before entering his tent. The long night was long, Guo Xiao and Yi leaned on the bed, only a dim yellow oil lamp was left beside him. The evening wind blew in through the gaps in the felt cloth, and the flame of the oil lamp swayed back and forth irregularly. Guo Xiao stared at the flame and slowly took out an object from his arms.
It was a wax paper bag, moisture-proof and waterproof. Guo Xiao lowered his eyes, unfolded it layer by layer, and finally revealed the rice paper inside. I don't know how many times the rice paper has been folded, and the girl in the painting has changed because of the creases. Guo Xiao held the rice paper with one hand and gently pressed the crease with the other. Girl.
Looking at the portrait, the man's deep pool-like eyes gradually showed a touch of tenderness.
This is 14-year-old An An. Liang Shao put the portrait in the recipe and gave it to her, but he bumped into it. In order not to let him know, she rarely acted like a spoiled child with him, saying that she was afraid that he would covet her recipe. When the portrait was exposed, she rounded her almond eyes angrily and asked him to teach Liang Shao a lesson. Although it was all fake, Guo Xiao liked it.
If time can stop on that day, he is willing, she will always be his stepsister and stay by his side forever.
The candlelight jumped, and the man's stern face was filled with nostalgia and tenderness that he hadn't even noticed.
As the night got darker, Guo Xiao repackaged the portrait, placed it against his chest, blew the oil lamp, and lay down with his clothes on. Although she was lying down, Guo Xiao still had her image in her mind. She was ten years old, she was thirteen years old, she was married, she was hugging Zhao Zhao... Scene by scene, over and over again, no matter how many times I recalled it, I would never get tired of it. .
Everything was silent, and the man who was immersed in his memories suddenly opened his eyes.
The sound of horse hooves, the sound of arrows breaking through the wind, became more and more dense.
Guo Xiao jumped up, grabbed the saber he had kept with him, and rushed out of the tent in a blink of an eye.
In just a short time, the fire was everywhere outside, and the Liao army's unbridled laughter filled his ears, from all directions, Guo Xiao jumped on the horse, and looked into the distance, the night was full of fire, and people were moving. How many, only to see more and more grain trucks up.
"Prince, Shizi, the Liao army is here!" Ma Feng, the transport envoy, ran towards him in embarrassment while tying his belt, his hair disheveled.
"I'm going to meet the enemy. You bring people out to transport food. How much can you save!" Guoxiao ordered sharply, and after that, he urged the horse to rush out.
Ma Feng hurriedly went to prepare.
However, the rockets kept shooting from the outside, shooting wherever there was no fire, hitting the grain, the grain instantly turned into a sea of fire, and hit the officers and men of Da Zhou. Burn more prosperously. At first, Ma Feng really wanted to be ordered to save food. Seeing that the soldiers around him were shot and died tragically, Ma Feng was extremely frightened, and no longer had the will to fight. He grabbed an ownerless horse and rushed out alone.
"Prince, retreat!" The horse galloped, Ma Feng looked around, and suddenly found a familiar figure.
Guo Xiao turned his head and saw that he was leading a group of soldiers to flee. He shouted angrily, "Before the enemy, all deserters will be executed!" After roaring, he turned his horse's head again and rushed into the Liao army to fight.
Ma Feng hesitated, afraid of the Liao soldiers, and also afraid of being executed by Guo Xiao afterwards. He was in a dilemma. Suddenly, in the firelight, a Liao cavalry soldier raised a big sword and slashed at Guo Xiao's back!
"Sir, be careful!" Ma Feng was horrified, but as soon as he said the words, he saw Guo Xiao fell off his horse and was swallowed by the raging fire!
Ma Feng was shocked at first. He couldn't believe that the dignified son of Duke Wei had died like this, but the Liao soldiers who rushed towards him like ghosts and spirits pulled him back in time. Even a brave general like Guo Xiao died. If you don't run away, do you want to give your life here
"Drive!" With dozens of men and horses, Ma Feng desperately broke through and rushed all the way into the boundless darkness.
~
The Liao soldiers retreated after burning the grain and forage, leaving the grain and forage of the 100,000-strong army for several months to burn on the spot for a whole night. Ma Feng escaped for a distance, and found that the Liao soldiers did not catch up, so he stopped running, stopped in place, and slowly gathered around 2,000 deserters. Slowly the light came on, and the scouts confirmed that the Liao soldiers had retreated, and Ma Fengcai led two thousand men back to the camp to check the casualties.
The fire went out, the black smoke billowed, and the deserters didn't come, but they could vaguely see the corpses all over the ground, and what was even more disgusting, was the scorching... The smell of meat, that was not escaping the Liao soldiers. The bodies of the slaughtered Da Zhou soldiers were burnt overnight, some were all scorched, the ghosts and spirits were indistinguishable, some lay on the ground, their backs burned black, and their faces were half burned...
Ma Feng couldn't bear to look at it again. Based on his memory, he was the first to arrive at the place where Guo Xiao fell.
Sure enough, there lay a completely charred corpse, lying on his back, holding a long sword in his dark hands.
"Sir..." Ma Feng's knees softened and he knelt down.