Chapter 57: The robbery of food

Because the camp was short of food, the food collected from the rear was transported immediately. There were dozens of grain transport teams in the entire grain channel. If the three thousand cavalrymen were divided, each grain transport team would not be assigned 200 people. This would naturally not be possible. Yuan Taizuo had to order the rear to suspend the grain transport, concentrate the grain transport teams before escorting them together, so that the guards could reach the strongest and safe.

Goguryeo gathered the grain transport team. The 5,000 cavalry led by Zhang Shou had nothing to do for a moment. Su Xing went deep into the rear to burn, kill and loot, causing chaos in Goguryeo's grain collection action. Goguryeo's cavalry was willing to fight, but the number was too small, so they could only ask for help from the camp.

But it was not only a headache for Yuan Taizuo. Yu Zhongwen did not put all his hopes on the military rations of the Silla Goguryeo armies. After sending Zhang Shou to rob the grains, the next day, the Sui army also began to move and launched a sudden attack on the Silla camp.

After several months of construction, the Goguryeo camp can be said to be a deep ditch and a lot of traps. If it is to attack for a strong force, the Sui army will probably not suffer from the siege. However, the Silla army did not take long for it to land. After a counterattack, it discarded the original camp and had to build a new camp and stand on the corner with Goguryeo. Compared with the Goguryeo camp, the Silla people's camp can be said to be extremely simple. As soon as the Sui army attacked, Silla felt extremely difficult and had to ask for help from Goguryeo.

Yuan Taizuo had no choice but to send more than 10,000 cavalry to assist Silla in defending the camp. He fought with the Sui army every day, and the Sui army did not get into trouble. Seeing that the Goguryeo cavalry was dispatched, he retreated when he fought. The Goguryeo cavalry was determined to chase him, but the total number of cavalry was far less than that of the Sui army, so he gave up. In this way, hundreds of people were killed and injured every day. More than ten days later, the Goguryeo cavalry actually injured more than 2,000 people. Yuan Taizuo could not take out any extra troops and soldiers to fight against the Sui army in the rear.

On that day, the soldiers had just finished their breakfast. Due to insufficient military rations, the food was already limited. The soldiers could only eat one and a half full. After the meal, the camp was still in a bad mood. Many soldiers cursed. Yuan Taizuo came to patrol the camp and was extremely worried. He couldn't help but sigh when he returned to the tent.

A personal soldier brought a wooden plate on the table: "Sir, have something to eat."

Yuan Taizuo looked at the wooden plate on the table and saw a bowl of white rice and a small bowl of horse meat on the plate. Many war horses died every day when they fought with the Sui army these days. Yuan Taizuo had no appetite when he saw the horse meat. He thought that ordinary soldiers could not even eat brown rice, so he reluctantly picked up the chopsticks and pulled a few bites of rice to eat. When the chopsticks were placed in the bowl containing horse meat, his stomach couldn't help but rolled in, put them down and said, "Forget it, take it down."

"Yes." The personal soldier took down the horse meat as he said. As soon as he left the camp, Yuan Taizuo had heard the sound of several personal soldiers sharing meat. He couldn't help but sigh again. Now even his personal soldiers can't eat enough, and he doesn't know when the food in the rear can be transported. At present, the camp can support it for seven days. If there is no military ration in seven days, he can only slaughter the horse and eat it.

"Report, Lord Mo Lizhi, Princess Silla sent someone to ask for food again." A personal soldier reported outside.

Yuan Taizuo was furious: "Tell them that there is no food. If the food arrives, I will definitely distribute it to them according to the preface."

Silla, after Goguryeo reached a 46% share of the grain transported in that day, Goguryeo's grain transport team was robbed by the Sui army the next day, so naturally no grain was distributed to Silla. However, Silla made Goguryeo implement this agreement with the one paid on the day. Goguryeo's grain storage was less than Silla, so how could Yuan Taizuo be willing to pay? The two sides could only argue.

"Yes, the villain understands." The personal soldier heard that Yuan Taizuo's tone was not good. He had fulfilled his full responsibility, so he naturally would not persuade him and went down to refuse to the Silla people.

Not long after the personal soldiers went down, General Gao Yanshou walked in: "Master Mo Lizhi, the Sui army began to attack the Sila Camp again. Will our cavalry be dispatched immediately?"

Yuan Taizuo was angry that the Silla people just urged for food and said, "No need, wait and see."

Gao Yanshou said "Oh." He found a place in the camp to sit down and stopped talking. He was already numb to the Sui army's daily attack on Gao Yanshou. Anyway, there were more than 50,000 people in the Sila camp, so it would not be possible to collapse in a short time.

The shouts of killing outside were clearly heard, becoming louder and louder. Yuan Taizuo was worried that if the Silla camp was captured, Goguryeo would have to fight alone.

"General Gao, let's lead the troops to fight immediately."

"Yes, I will obey the order." Gao Yanshou stood up and walked out. After a while, the sound of horse hooves sounded, and the sound of killing gradually faded away. Yuan Taizuo knew that after the Sui army saw the Goguryeo army set out, they would definitely retreat alternately and lure their cavalry to pursue. If their cavalry did not pursue, the other party would definitely be arrows like rain. If they pursued, they would have to pay hundreds of cavalry's lives.

"Ba." Yuan Taizuo beat the table hard with his palm. When the military rations arrived, he would launch a decisive battle against the Sui army no matter what. As long as the Sui army on the south bank was defeated, the army would retreat immediately.

"Hurry up, hurry up." On the plain, a huge convoy appeared, with three thousand fully armed Goguryeo cavalry guards on both sides. As the convoy slowly advanced, some soldiers urged the rushing civilians from time to time to speed up.

In front of the convoy, a Goguryeo general in his thirties was covered in armor. His eyes looked ahead and showed a hint of anxiety. This general was Yuan Taiqi, the chief general who was responsible for escorting food and grass this time. He was Yuan Taizuo's younger brother.

This time, 20,000 shi of military ration were plundered. As long as the food was transported to the camp, the camp could support it for at least another twenty days. In order to find enough food, Yuan Taiqi also robbed the military ration sent to the Hufeiling Pass. If the camp collapses, what's the use of defending Hufeiling?

This place is only about one hundred miles away from the camp. According to the route, it will take three days to reach the camp. Yuan Taiqi did not dare to relax at all. He knew clearly that a Sui cavalry broke into the rear and was thinking of his food team. Although he did not know the specific number of the other party, according to the information, the number of the other party was not less than thousands.

"Report, sir, I didn't find it before, it's very safe." A scout came to Yuan Taiqi with sweating. He had been traveling for dozens of miles.

Yuan Taiqi nodded slightly and encouraged: "Okay, continue to inquire, don't slack off."

"Yes, sir." The scout jumped off the horse, regardless of sweat, jumped onto the back of another horse that had not undergone intense exercise, and galloped forward again.

This grain team is related to the life and death of the entire coalition army. If it is robbed, even one-third of the food in the rear will never be able to collect even one-third of the food within ten days. Yuan Taiqi naturally knows the consequences. In order to prevent being ambushed by the Sui army, Yuan Taiqi sent hundreds of people to serve as scouts, and the distance the scouts scattered is as far as twenty miles.

In the dense forest, the light reflected by the red armor was vaguely visible. This dense forest was five or six miles away from the official road that the Goguryeo grain team was going to pass. Goguryeo's scouts appeared on the official road from time to time and searched on both sides, but still did not find the place where the Sui army was settled. After all, the number of scouts in Goguryeo was still limited, and it was amazing to be able to search for the dense forest three or four miles away on both sides of the official road.

The dull sound of hooves sounded, and the experienced soldiers knew that there were cavalrymen with horse hooves approaching him. Zhang Shou raised the telescope and looked in the direction where the sound was heard. Two knights in black armor were reflected in their eyes. Although the armor of these two people was almost exactly the same as that of the Goguryeo people, Zhang Shou still recognized that he had sent a scout and immediately put down the telescope.

After a while, the two men dressed as Goguryeo scouts came to Zhang Shou: "Report, General, the grain transport team is only ten miles away."

Ten miles are about half an hour, but it is difficult to say. If you walk for a while, it is possible for an hour. Zhang Shou waved his hand and ordered backwards, "Send the order and start moving forward."

There were waves of instigation sounds heard in the dense forest. The Sui army stood up one by one, leading its horses forward. The best distance for the cavalry to raid was within one mile, otherwise it would lose the significance of the raid. It was just that because Yuan Taiqi sent too many scouts, the main force of the Sui army was not allowed to avoid the main road. Now that it is at a critical moment, it is naturally necessary to shorten the distance of the raid.

Although all the Sui army tried to be careful, an accident occurred because of too many people. "Bang." A war horse accidentally hit a tree, shaking the small tree as thick as a bowl.

On the official road, two Goguryeo scouts who were patrolling suddenly stopped and looked at the shaking trees in the dense forests several miles away, with a look of confusion in their eyes. One scout left the main road without hesitation and ran towards the dense forests where the small trees were shaking, while the other scout stood on the road and watched.

"Swish!" A long arrow flew out of the grass. The Goguryeo man covered his throat with his hands, made a few yells, and fell to the ground with a bang. The war horse arched his master's body with his mouth in confusion. He wondered why the master fell down. Two figures quickly emerged from the grass. One of them held the reins of the war horse, and the other carried the body to the horse. Then he swept the branches on the ground several times, and hurriedly removed the official road.
Chapter completed!