Wang Pu was really ill. Guo Shao thought Zhang Yongde was just pretending to be ill, but Wang Pu didn't need to pretend.
Cough, cough, cough. Wang Pu asked a maid to help him up and coughed for a while. He sat up with a cloth pillow behind his back and said with a sick face, "It's really rude to meet like this."
Guo Shaogang arrived at his home and saw Wang Pu in the bedroom. The room was warm, but there was a strong smell of Chinese medicine wafting from somewhere, which was very pungent. People in high positions have special people to serve them when they are sick, and there are often people who want to visit them, so the situation is not bad. Wang Pu seemed to be only in his early fifties, in the prime of life, but his body was indeed a little weak, and he looked even thinner after he fell ill.
Guo Shao hurried forward to support him and said: "Envoy Wang is in poor health, why are you still concerned about the customs and etiquette? I will ask the Queen Mother for permission and invite a few imperial doctors from the Ministry of Rites, namely Zuo You, the Shaoqing of the Ministry of Rites, to come and see you."
Although Wang Pu was bedridden and his face was pale and obviously ill, his condition was not serious enough to make him unconscious. He said: "Thank you, General Guo, for your kindness."
Guo Shao said: I will lead my troops out of the capital soon and will not be able to visit Envoy Wang for the time being.
At this time, Wang Pu suddenly sighed and said slowly: "I have risen from a minor official to a Privy Councilor, and I have no regrets in bringing honor to my family. But I still feel a little regretful that I cannot see the unification of the world and the restoration of Youzhou, and cannot see the great situation that will affect hundreds of years. If General Guo happens to think of me one day, please pour a glass of wine on the ground and call me to let me know."
After hearing this, Guo Shao suddenly remembered a line of poetry: On the day when the royal army conquers the Central Plains, don't forget to inform your father during the family sacrifice.
He hurriedly said in a friendly way: I heard that Envoy Wang just caught a cold. You just need to rest and recuperate, and you will recover soon.
Wang Pu said nothing.
Guo Shao then said: The recent strategic arrangements are all in accordance with Envoy Wang's deployment. Xiang Gong will rest in Guzhen, and when the weather warms up, the Great Zhou army will attack Shu from the north and east.
Wang Pu nodded: This way, the chances of winning are higher than just focusing on Hanzhong.
Guo Shao felt that his heart was shrouded in an inexplicable sadness, a very faint but lingering emotion. It was not sadness. Although he admired Wang Pu's talent, their friendship was not deep. If he said that he was worried about his illness and was heartbroken, he could only be acting; of course, he could not gloat over his misfortune. Wang Pu and others were his allies, very capable allies. So he felt a little sour, as if this feeling was called sadness.
Guo Shao spoke to him for a few more words, then told him to rest more and recuperate. He also left behind a bunch of good medicinal herbs, including ginseng, which he had brought with him, but not much more.
On his way back home, Guo Shao passed by a relatively large restaurant and specially ordered a few delicious dishes to be delivered to his house.
He took the initiative to get close to the young Taoist priest Qingxu, and when she thought today's meal was good, Guo Shao asked: Your master, Taoist Master Chen Tuan, can cure not just ordinary colds, but may also cause other diseases that many doctors have not been able to cure.
Qingxu frowned: I was wondering just now, and it turned out to be as expected, this is called showing kindness without any reason, it is either a traitor or a thief
Guo Shao was stunned and said: "You can't say such harsh words, even if you say you are cramming for the exam, I will admit it. But there is nothing wrong with it. I need your help, so why should I not be nice to you instead of yelling at you?"
Qingxu said earnestly: "Mr. Guo, you have to understand. My master and I are both Taoist priests, not doctors. If we can cure diseases, why don't we change our profession and become Taoist priests?"
Her single eyelids were delicate and had a childish face, but her tone was like this, which Guo Shao found inexplicably funny. But he was in no mood to joke with her, so he said: The Queen Mother's previous serious illness was not cured by Chen Tuan's elixir and your cultivation method.
Qingxu said: It was a blind cat that caught a dead mouse, and it just happened to be the right one for the disease, not because we have medical skills. The elixir and the inner elixir method were originally used by Taoists to drive away the fire element. The Queen Mother happened to have fire poison invading her body, and it worked unexpectedly. Now what kind of difficult and complicated disease is being asked for us to treat? How do I know how to treat it
Fenghan is a cold poison, and there is no elixir to drive away the cold poison, Guo Shao asked.
Qingxu said with an unhappy look on his face: There is no way to explain to a layman that my master is now in Huashan. If you don’t believe what I say, send someone to ask him yourself.
Guo Shao was helpless in this world, where a cold or fever could kill someone. Maybe Wang Pu had a cold that led to pneumonia or other symptoms, but he couldn't understand it, after all, he was not a doctor. He still didn't want to see Wang Pu die of illness like this, so after thinking about it, he wrote a letter according to Qingxu's words and planned to send someone to Huashan to find Chen Tuan.
After the first month of the lunar year, the festive atmosphere had faded, and everywhere was filled with busy scenes. In the countryside, people driving oxen to plow the fields, carrying fertilizer and water, and wearing straw hats and bending over to work could be seen everywhere. The officials of various government offices were most concerned about farming at this time of year, but the military institutions in Tokyo completely ignored the busy farming season and continued to step up preparations for war.
The troops of the Imperial Guard Division who were to reinforce the Northern Army have begun to be transferred out of the capital one after another; the Eastern Army, which is mainly under the charge of the Palace Guard Division, will not make any moves for more than a month because Shu is already on guard against the Northern Army and there is no need to conceal it anymore, but the truth of Shu's deployment of troops against the Eastern Army should still be a matter of speculation.
Tokyo's outer city has requisitioned ten spacious and suitable houses to transform armor workshops. There are two or three workshops in one house, including forging hammers to forge iron plates into shapes, and some craftsmen who forge corners and assemble armor helmets by hand with rivets. Each armor-making link is divided into different parts and cooperates with each other. On average, a group of forging hammers can make about four sets of armor a day, which is 20 to 30 times faster than the handmade chain mail iron cloth vest. Of course, the protection of only four pieces of armor is not comprehensive, and it cannot be compared with changing locks.
Guo Shao expects to produce 800 to 900 sets of streamlined armor by the end of February.
He was not satisfied with the speed, but was limited by the scale and had no other options. First, the supply of raw materials was slow, then there was a lack of funds and manpower, and the space was not large; the houses in Tokyo were private properties, and forced requisition would easily cause conflicts, and even the land for the workshop had to be spent.
The local garrison troops and the Imperial Guards led by Xiang Gong were less well-armored, while the elite troops of the Palace Guards were better equipped. Guo Shao allocated the first batch of 300 sets of armor to the Imperial Guards who were reinforcing Xiang Gong.
By the end of February, more than 500 sets of plate armor had been completed.
Guo Shao was directly equipped with the first commander of the first army of the left wing of the Tiger Guard Army. Moreover, this commander was a heavy infantry deployed in the front of the battle formation. He used to wear chain mail. Now he has been supplemented with 500 sets of plate armor, and has truly become a well-equipped and highly defensive heavy infantry commander; the soldiers wear chain mail skirt armor in the active parts, and wear head, shoulder, chest and arm plate armor outside. Guo Shao tried it and found that he was basically completely immune to long-range bows and crossbows. It is difficult for close combat weapons to cause effective damage to them except for blunt hammers.
Before going to the battle, the soldiers of the Huben Army made some iron masks for themselves to improve their facial defense, allowing the soldiers under this command to persistently pursue defensive power.
When Guo Shaoxiao led the army to go to war, even he was shocked by the lineup of the first commander.
In the military camp, there were more than 500 soldiers, all in iron. The brand-new plate armor shone with the unique cold light of metal, and from a distance they looked like a group of mechas. Except for the fingers sticking out of the linen gloves, almost no part of the soldiers' bodies was exposed. They wore iron helmets, and even their faces were iron masks, with only the eye sockets exposed. At first glance, it was difficult to tell them apart. There were many vertical gaps at the mouth and nose for breathing, which looked like the teeth of a skull exposed, which was particularly terrifying.
This was probably the ultimate infantry equipment in the era of cold weapons. Different from the world's emphasis on mobility and lightness, Guo Shao felt that his path seemed to be beginning to deviate from the mainstream.
Guo Shao sent Fu Ermei to the palace and Li Yuaner to Li Chuyun's home. After everything was ready, he led more than 16,000 people from the left wing of the Tiger Guard Army and the Crane Horse Army, a total of more than 21,000 people from the Crane Archery Army, and left Tokyo at the end of February, heading south first. At this time, the weather had completely warmed up, there was greenery everywhere, and all the flowers were blooming. It was a good time for vitality.
After the new Huben Army was formed, the right wing fought a big battle. But Guo Shao did not do this for training, but to try his best to win the war against Shu as quickly as possible, so he still chose the left wing of the Huben Army, which had been proven in actual combat, as the main force of the Eastern Route Army.
Guo Shao led the army to Xiangzhou (now Xiangfan City) first. There was no danger or obstacle in the way to Tokyo, and the road was very flat. At this time, the movement of the Zhou army was no longer secretive. On the endless plain, the several roads running parallel between the fields were full of troops. There were also many people in the fields, looking at this grand scene; in such a place with good sight, the marching scene was very conspicuous.
Except for the guards on duty, most of the troops were not so orderly, because they carried a lot of stuff when they went out to march and camp. People led mules and horses carrying stuff, and there were many laborers pushing wheelbarrows and donkey carts behind the army; if the team was not very orderly and there were flags everywhere, it would look more like a large group of people fleeing famine.
Guo Shao's central army also had a carriage. Everyone would rather ride a horse than ride in a carriage. The terrain on the plains was flat, but the roads in the wild were not flat at all. Riding in a carriage was a torture. But there was a woman sitting in the carriage.
Aunt Sun was a middle-aged woman in her forties, not very pretty. With such a woman in the army, the soldiers obviously would not think that the commander brought a woman to relieve boredom during the journey; otherwise, he should at least bring a younger one.
It was Jingniang who was riding a horse in leather armor that was more suitable for relieving boredom. Guo Shao specially customized a breastplate for her, with two semicircular outlines stamped on it, thinking that it would be more comfortable for her to wear; but unexpectedly, his kindness was not appreciated, and Guo Shao was scolded. Of course, Jingniang did not wear the plate armor.