The little ancestor of the family

Chapter 378 Qi Zhonglian has a problem

Fan Qingzhou covered his eyes with his hands.

Ding Qiao's reaction was really slow.

In other things, she may be observant and quick to react, but in terms of emotions, she is definitely the slowest of the three.

Fortunately, Zhang Qian is by my side.

"Master, do you know where their food is transported from?"

Xiao Huaian then asked.

The climate in the northern border is cold and the grain yield is very low. How did the barbarians raise tens of thousands of kilograms of grain?

Fan Qingzhou narrowed his eyes.

"I sneaked in to take a look. There were some bags inside that had not been changed in time. They looked like Daliang's things."

"Sure enough!" Xiao Huaian seemed to have expected it.

"I was wondering why the food that was delivered earlier disappeared without a trace."

"But I also heard another piece of news."

Fan Qingzhou looked at his apprentice and said, "The reason why they were able to intercept this batch of grain was not only because of the support from the imperial court, but also because of the help from people in your military camp in Xixia Mountain!"

"Do we have anyone helping out here?"

Xiao Huaian's heart sank.

All the soldiers in the camp knew that the imperial court was transporting grain here.

But the only two people who really knew the arrival date were him and General Qi.

General Qi has been guarding the northern border for so many years, it is impossible for him to do such a thing, so who could it be?

While thinking, Xiao Huaian seemed to have an electric current flashing through his mind.

No! There was indeed something wrong with General Qi during those days.

"Oops!"

Xiao Huaian had a bad feeling.

"I'm going to take some people back to the camp and leave immediately. Xinran, you and Master will stay here first. Once King Rui has dealt with things here, he will send someone to take you back."

"I want to go back with you."

Looking at Xiao Huaian's expression, Ye Xinran also became a little nervous.

"There is no time to lose. I have to go back and see how the food is." Xiao Huaian disagreed.

It was not easy to win the attack on Xueyue City this time.

Xiao Huaian didn't dare to imagine what the scene would be like if they failed in their siege of the city and returned to the camp to find that all the food had been looted again.

By then, not only the soldiers of Xixia Mountain, but also the 10,000 elite soldiers brought by King Rui would be buried here.

The Liang Dynasty would no longer be able to recover the northern border for at least five years.

"Food? Are you worried about food?"

Ye Xinran immediately grasped the key point of Xiao Huaian’s words.

"Ok!"

Xiao Huaian had already raised his legs and walked outside.

"The food is actually all here with me." Ye Xinran said hurriedly.

"What?" Xiao Huaian turned around and looked at Ye Xinran with some surprise.

That day he saw with his own eyes Ye Xinran put all the food into the warehouse. When did the food return to Ye Xinran's hands?

"King Rui asked me to bring it with me."

Ye Xinran said.

"King Rui?"

Xiao Huaian paused for a moment and continued to walk out, "Then I'll go ask King Rui."

……

Since the capture of Xueyue City, King Rui has temporarily found an empty house and has been monitoring everyone to investigate and report on the latest situation in Xueyue City.

When Xiao Huaian walked in, Prince Rui was eating a cold steamed bun and writing something on a piece of paper.

The deputy generals around were also busy, and no one noticed Xiao Huaian walked in.

"Prince Rui, I want to take people back to Xixia Mountain." Xiao Huaian said.

King Rui looked up, chewed the bun in his mouth quickly, and asked, "Why are you in such a hurry to go back?"

"I'm afraid the barbarians will take advantage of our absence to launch a surprise attack on the camp."

"Isn't General Qi in the camp?" King Rui asked calmly.

Xiao Huaian looked into King Rui's eyes and asked solemnly, "Does King Rui really believe in General Qi?"

King Rui didn't expect Xiao Huaian to ask this question. He put down the pen in his hand and looked at Xiao Huaian seriously, "Why do you say that?"

"If King Rui really believed in General Qi, why would he take away all the food in the camp before leaving?"

When King Rui saw that Xiao Huai was safe, he looked around and saw that everyone was busy, so he pointed to the door and said, "Let's go out and talk."

The wind in the yard was bitingly cold, and the air was filled with the smell of smoke and fire.

King Rui looked in the direction of the Xixiashan camp and said slowly: "I know that you have a deep relationship with General Qi, and your soldiers were all trained by General Qi, so there are some things I don't want to say in advance.

But since you asked, I'll tell you, I think there's something wrong with Qi Zhonglian!"

"What did King Rui discover?"

Xiao Huaian asked.

"Before leaving, I went to see him and found that he had opened the bandaged wound and applied medicine on it himself."

Xiao Huaian was puzzled: "What's the problem?"

King Rui said: "You should know that when Miss Lu examined her, she said that the poison she was suffering from was difficult to cure and would require very complicated treatment."

"Yes." Xiao Huaian nodded.

"Since she is the doctor we recommended, and you are the one guaranteeing Miss Lu, why would Qi Zhonglian not trust her and choose to apply his own ointment?"

"Because he believes that the ointment in his hand is the real antidote!"

Xiao Huaian suddenly realized.

"Correct!"

King Rui nodded, "If he has the antidote, why didn't he cure it after so long? And when he saw me, he panicked and hid the medicine."

"But I still don't believe it!"

Xiao Huaian's expression was serious. "General Qi has been guarding the northern border for so many years, how could he have anything to do with the barbarians? If he really wanted to betray us, he wouldn't have waited until now."

"Maybe he didn't have any problems before, but something happened that changed his attitude?"

King Rui sighed.

“You have not been in Northern Xinjiang for long, but I have heard a little about the situation here.

The emperor has always disliked the army of Northern Frontier because of the Xiao family's affairs. People in the court knew the emperor's attitude, so they were very perfunctory towards the Xixiashan camp.

Withholding of military pay and stealing of moldy food were common occurrences.

This is still good.

At the worst time, they did not receive military rations distributed by the court for two consecutive months.

At that time, Qi Zhonglian was just like you are now, leading everyone to the mountains to look for food.

There are many more examples like these.”

Xiao Huaian had heard Qi Zhonglian mention these things before, but he didn't describe them in such detail.

Qi Zhonglian only confided his true feelings to him once, when he was drunk.

He felt that the imperial court was useless and that they must have given up on the Northern Frontier, which was why they were so harsh to the soldiers there.

At that time, Xiao Huaian also advised General Qi not to be too pessimistic.

However, after waking up, General Qi completely forgot what he had said, so Xiao Huaian never mentioned it again.

Now that I think about it, Qi Zhonglian must have been extremely disappointed with the court a long time ago.

"Even if he is disappointed with the court, General Qi still has feelings for his soldiers. He would never betray his brothers."

Xiao Huaian still insisted.

"It shouldn't happen, but what if the barbarians really have something on him? I'm afraid he will have no choice but to do something."

"But the General Qi I know has no weaknesses."

"Ok!"

King Rui did not refute.

He knew that without factual basis, everyone would stick to their own opinions, and the more he spoke, the more rebellious the other party might become.

“These are just my guesses, so I asked Miss Lu to take all the food in the warehouse before she left.

When we return, we can put the food back, it won’t have much impact.”

"In that case, I'd better go back and take a look."

Xiao Huaian was eager to go back and prove that what he said was right.

"Just a moment."

King Rui looked at the smoke from the cooking fires across the wall and said, "Today is the first day of the new year, let everyone have a sip of hot porridge before leaving."

……

On the open space outside the wall, dozens of large pots were set up. The porridge in the pots had been boiled and was bubbling.

The porridge is cooked into a very thick consistency, and contains japonica rice, brown rice, soybeans, red beans and some other ingredients.

When cooking the porridge, they also threw in two pieces of boiled oil.

The porridge cooked in this way will have the aroma of meat and vegetables.

When the common people got the news, they lined up early with their empty bowls, waiting to get porridge.

It will take some time to rebuild Xueyue City. During this period, King Rui decided to distribute porridge once a day so that the people can have a hot meal.

After the porridge was cooked, the people came forward one by one to get the porridge. Only after all the people had received theirs would it be the soldiers' turn.

The boiling hot porridge, with the long-lost aroma of meat, penetrates people's nostrils.

After receiving the porridge, a middle-aged man couldn't help but immediately lower his head and take a sip.

The boiling hot porridge spreads in the mouth, and the aroma of the food stimulates the mouth to secrete saliva continuously.

At the same time, the scorching temperature made him open his mouth repeatedly to breathe.

The hot porridge burned him so much that he almost cried, but he was reluctant to spit it out. He endured the heat and swallowed it.

"Delicious, delicious! I haven't eaten something so delicious in a long time!"

The satisfaction brought by the food overwhelmed all the pain and gave him great satisfaction.

Like him, the people on the street all had happy smiles on their faces.

This was the first time that the people expressed their true feelings after the Liang army entered the city.

"We finally made it through!"

"Yes, before this, who would have thought that we could eat such delicious hot porridge on New Year's Day!"

"It's a pity that my old lady is so unlucky. If she could hold on for another month, she would be able to drink the white rice porridge she longed for."

"Oh, who says it isn't!"

"My eldest grandson is lucky. His mother has no milk these days and the child is getting thinner and thinner. Now with this porridge, the child can survive!"

"Yes, yes, then go back and feed the child some porridge!"

……

Watching the people coming and going in a hurry with satisfied looks on their faces, Xiao Huaian felt a little calmer.

"When I first came to Northern Frontier, General Qi told me that what he wanted to see most was the people living and working in peace and contentment. So, no matter what, I believe that General Qi would not do anything to let the people down."

"Some things can only be confirmed with your own eyes. After dinner, take two thousand people back to check. Be careful on the road."

Rui Wangdao.

They had repelled the barbarian ambush on the road before, and now they have captured Xueyue City. It can be said that they have already inflicted heavy damage to the barbarian's military strength, so now King Rui is not worried that the barbarians will attack again.

Since Xiao Huaian wants to go back, let him go back and take a look.

Xiao Huaian agreed, went back to explain the situation to Ye Xinran and the others, and then set off with his men.

The way back was smoother and they rode at full speed all the way.

But the closer they got to the camp, the more worried Xiao Huaian became.

When they were halfway along the road, Chu San suddenly pointed at the top of the mountain and shouted, "Boss, look!"

Xiao Huaian looked up and saw thick smoke floating in the sky.

The smoke had floated so high and had not dissipated, which showed how big the fire was.

"That's the direction of our camp!"

Everyone had a bad feeling in their hearts.

"No, let's go back quickly!"

Xiao Huaian tightened the reins and urged the horse to speed up again.

The snowflakes raised by the flying horses' hooves refracted dazzling light under the sun.

When the team turned over the hill, they would see the whole scene.

I saw flames rising into the sky from the Xixia Mountain camp, and thick black ashes being thrown up and down, as if they were going to burn a hole between heaven and earth.

"Boss, what on earth is going on?"

"The barbarians must have taken advantage of our absence to launch a sneak attack!"

"Then General Qi and the others..."

"We still have many brothers left in the camp!"

Everyone was talking, and Xiao Huaian raised his hand to stop all the noise.

"Something must have happened in the camp. Let's go back and check it out. Everyone, keep some distance and be careful the rest of the way!"

"Yes!"

At Xiao Huaian's command, everyone moved away in order.

They walked forward for a while and suddenly saw a team fleeing in panic a few hundred meters away.

"Stop! Prepare for battle!"

Everyone stopped where they were, picked up their weapons, and waited for the opponent to come to them.

"Why does it look familiar?"

Chusan stretched his neck to look across, and before the group of people came close, he began to mutter to himself.

When the people on the other side approached, he suddenly shouted: "Isn't that Lao He? And Lao Wu, they are all our own people!"

One of our own!

As Chu San shouted, the others also recognized the identity of the person who came.

They are really the brothers who stayed behind to guard the camp.

The people on the other side obviously also noticed the movement here.

At first they stopped and seemed to want to escape, but when they saw who was here, they quickened their pace and ran over quickly.

A few fast runners came to Xiao Huaian's horse and knelt down with a plop: "Military Advisor Xiao, we are useless. We failed to save the camp and General Qi!"

Xiao Huaian looked at these people. Their bodies and faces were all blackened by smoke, and sweat washed down, leaving grooves on their faces.

"what is going on?"

There was anger in Xiao Huaian's voice.

He Yu raised his head, looked at Xiao Huaian and said, "Military Advisor Xiao, the barbarians took advantage of your attack on Xueyue City and sent people to attack our camp.

They arrived before daybreak, killed all the night watchmen in the dark, and directly occupied our military camp!"

"What about the mechanisms outside the camp? Are none of them working?" Xiao Huaian's face changed.