The army moved forward. At first, some people came to the carriages during meals, but gradually they appeared less and less.
Because every time it was time for dinner, Fang Yun could always bring out all kinds of delicacies from Jingzhou City, including braised, sauced, smoked, fried, stir-fried, and boiled food. As long as they were slightly heated, the fragrance would waft dozens of feet away, which was far better than the food in the army.
Everyone then understood that the Marquis of Zhujiang was determined to carry out Confucius' fine tradition of "never tire of fine food, never tire of delicate meat", and even prepared a large amount of delicious food early in the journey.
So, some people began to make up stories about Fang Yun's extravagance.
However, when this matter reached the ears of those high-ranking officials, they caught unusual information. They realized that Zhang Longxiang had actually found the ancestral Hanhu shells.
The State of Chu was located to the south of Confucius's literary world, and the weather warmed up rapidly after the beginning of spring.
Even though it is not the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, green can already be seen in many places. Just as the poem says, the grass looks green at a distance but is not green when you get close.
With the help of the marching poems, the biggest impact of long-distance journey on soldiers is not physical fatigue, but mental fatigue.
Every day, there would be scholars in the army playing cheerful music on the zither or pipa, or holding some activities when camping at night, such as wrestling, martial arts competitions, etc., to constantly eliminate the monotony of the journey.
Along the way, no general of the Lumen Army came to pay a visit to Fang Yun, and Marquis Lumen was always at the front of the team, as if he had completely forgotten that there was a Marquis Zhujiang in the army.
Fang Yun felt a little heavy-hearted. He had been in the army for many days and had not received a single visit from a general, which was enough to show the seriousness of the matter.
These days, Fang Yun mostly studied in the carriage, but he also secretly observed the troops. He soon discovered that there was occasionally a hint of obscure and powerful talent in the Lumen Army. The level of that talent was similar to the power of Lumen Hou, but the nature was quite different. The two sides were several miles apart. And blocked by many soldiers and carriages, Fang Yun never had the chance to see that person.
Fang Yun felt that the aura of talent was somewhat familiar, but he could not guess who that person was. However, at least he could be sure that the Chu army had one more university scholar when they went south this time. Three university scholars against five barbarian kings could completely defeat them one by one, and the chance of winning increased by at least 20%.
As the troops continued to move forward, the soldiers and generals began to get impatient, and Zhang Longxiang became the object of the whole army's frustration. From morning till night, soldiers and generals kept scolding Zhang Wankong or Zhang Longxiang, and several high-ranking generals even cursed him with thunderous tongues.
Marquis Lu Men never stepped forward to stop it.
Fang Yun never fought back, but after being scolded so many times, he couldn't help but feel a little angry.
The winter snow melted and the spring rain came. When we were still three days away from Zhucheng, a drizzle of spring rain began to fall from the sky.
At first, there was nothing wrong, but after walking for several hours, morale became very low. Lu Menhou stepped forward and wrote a poem on the spot to stop the flooding, which stopped the spring rain in a radius of hundreds of miles.
The whole army was greatly encouraged. They shouted "Long live the Lumen Army" and expressed their gratitude to the Marquis of Lumen.
At night, the army set up camp, and Fang Yun stayed in the carriage and read as usual.
Fang Yun has been generally very happy these days, and this joy comes from the books of Confucius.
Although the Shengyuan Continent collected famous works from various ancient lands into the Holy Academy, it ignored inferior or ordinary books. However, these books occasionally had some unique insights, and Fang Yun was overjoyed every time he read a good passage.
As he was about to go to war, Fang Yun had been reading the military classics of Confucius and practicing in his mind. When he read the profound parts, he wanted to take out the official seal and enter the Thirteen Cloud Ladders of the Military Strategy to verify it. Unfortunately, this place was too far from the holy temple, and he could not use the official seal at all, so he had to give up.
Not long after dinner, Fang Yun happened to read the notes on a military book written by a university scholar. The book said that the number of people in the Confucian literary world had been growing stronger in recent years, but the barbarians had also been growing stronger, and had slowly learned some of the human race's military tactics, so they were able to grow stronger in the Confucian literary world.
Seeing this, Fang Yun’s mind instinctively began to deduce. After the deduction was completed, Fang Yun was about to continue reading when he was suddenly stunned.
"With 150,000 troops heading south, the barbarians will definitely get the news! Among the five barbarian kings, there is the Fox Barbarian King, who is familiar with the art of war, which is why the Pearl River Army suffered heavy losses. Even Marquis Qishan is troubled by it. If I were the Fox Barbarian King, what would I do if I learned that 150,000 troops were reinforcing Pearl City to retake Lianguan?"
Fang Yun could no longer sit still, so he immediately put down his book, quickly got off the carriage, and walked towards the direction of the central military tent.
In order to prevent sneak attacks or accidents at night, the army has strict prohibitions. Soldiers in each battalion and army have fixed areas of activity, and except for generals with badges, no one is allowed to move around randomly.
Fang Yun was arranged to live at the outermost edge with the Jingnan Army, far away from the Lumen Army.
When he was walking in the Jingnan military camp, no one stopped him. After all, the general of the Jingnan army was just a Hanlin, and those small soldiers did not have much confidence facing the dignified Marquis of Zhujiang.
As Fang Yun stepped into the Lumen Army's territory, three teams of patrolling soldiers came quickly from three directions, raising their shields and spears.
"Sir Hanlin, do you have a night travel badge?" The leader of the team, a man with a black face, was looking at Fang Yun seriously and gesturing to the back. Two people in each of the three teams put whistles in their mouths, ready to blow loud warning whistles at any time.
Fang Yun frowned slightly and said, "I am Zhang Longxiang, the Marquis of Zhujiang. I don't have a badge, but I would like to see Lord Lumen Marquis."
Although the two men had equal titles, there was a gap in their literary status and power, so Fang Yun could only ask for a meeting with the attitude of a subordinate.
The three teams were stunned, some looked angry, some looked sneering, but most of them were not surprised, just a little relaxed. No matter what the soldiers thought, no one spoke nonsense.
Fang Yun watched everyone's actions and thought to himself that the Lumen Army was indeed a strong army.
The black-faced captain said, "Please wait for a moment, Marquis Zhujiang. I will report to the Marshal right away."
"Thank you." Fang Yun nodded. Lumen Hou was the marshal of the Lumen Army.
The black-faced team was leaving with their soldiers, and the other two teams were staring at Fang Yun.
"You guys continue patrolling. I'll wait here and won't force my way in." Fang Yun said.
The two teams of soldiers remained motionless, and some of them showed a hint of contempt.
"Hmph!" Fang Yun snorted coldly, but ultimately did not attack. He stood there waiting.
Time passed slowly. A quarter of an hour later, Fang Yun looked up and saw no trace of the black-faced team leader.
Another quarter of an hour passed and the black-faced team still hadn't arrived.
After a full three quarters of an hour, the black-faced team leader came over with a general wearing a Jinshi robe.
The Jinshi general smiled, walked closer, bowed, and said, "Your humble servant Wei Changxian greets Lord Zhang. I wonder what brings Lord Zhang here to do for you?"
Fang Yun also bowed and said, "I was reading military books at night and got some insights that were related to the war situation in Chu State, so I wanted to meet with Marquis Lumen to discuss military affairs."
Wei Changxian laughed and said, "Your Majesty is concerned about the country and the people, I admire you. However, the Marshal is discussing the plan to pacify the barbarians with the generals, so it is inconvenient for him to meet with Your Majesty Zhang."
(To be continued.)
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