Chapter 1087: Rations

Feeling a mixture of heartache and amusement, Qi Haoran couldn’t help but run into the mountains and catch two pheasants. After roasting the pheasants, he gave one to his son and secretly gave the other to Mu Yangling.

Mu Yangling chuckled and pulled him into the tent. “Look at what that is.”

Seeing that there was a roasted lamb leg on the table, Qi Haoran asked in shock, “Where did this come from?”

“I caught it. I originally wanted to catch a roe deer, but who knew that I would encounter this as soon as I entered the mountain? I was lucky. Since the tents were set up early today, I asked the kitchen to leave a lamb leg behind. The rest of the lamb was made into stew for everyone to share. But the stew is so diluted that I can’t even taste the lamb at all. When the meat was cooked, I asked the Assistant Commander Bai and Commandant Fang, and the others to share it. I personally roasted this lamb leg. If I can’t finish it, keep it for later. You can share it with our son on the road.”

Qi Haoran couldn’t help but squeeze Mu Yangling’s hand and said in a low voice, “Bear with it a little longer. I reckon that the rations will arrive in a few days. If not, we’ll just rob Great Jin of their rations.”

“How can Great Jin still have rations for us to rob? All the villages and towns we’ve passed in the past two days have been plundered by the Jin soldiers. I’m guessing the Jin Court didn’t manage to gather enough rations, so they let the Jin soldiers use this method to keep their hunger at bay, even though it’s going to make matters worse.”

“The Jin Imperial Court just ordered to reduce the taxes and treat the people kindly…”

Mu Yangling sighed and said, “That’s why I said that Great Jin’s luck has run out. The government decrees don’t work, and chaos arises. The commoners are the ones suffering, though.”

Qi Haoran did not share Mu Yangling’s sentiments, and was instead very optimistic. He said, “The moment we take over the city, someone will settle them down. They won’t have to endure much hardship as long as the Jin soldiers don’t kill anyone.”

In Qi Haoran’s opinion, their luck was considered good. It just so happened that Great Qi’s warehouses were abundant, so after recovering the territories, they would have grains to help the people tide over for three to four months. Otherwise, even if the Jin soldiers didn’t rob them, the war and the occasional natural disasters in the past few years had already brought them enough suffering.

At this moment, the citizens whose land had been recovered by Great Qi were indeed rejoicing, and were gradually recovering from being robbed by the Jin soldiers.

The situation in the recovered territories quickly spread to places that had not been recovered. The commoners welcomed the Great Qi army even more and hoped that the next place that Great Qi would recover would be their county. They hated the Jin people who would wantonly plunder. Instances of Han rebellions grew, so much so that Qi Haoran would meet a group of rebels every time he arrived at a new county. With the help of the local people, the Great Qi army was advancing super quickly.

The logistics soldiers transporting the rations had been chasing after them.

After doing the calculations, Fan Zijin was so anxious that his mouth was bubbling. Considering Haoran and his army had already starved for three days, they would starve to death if the rations did not reach them soon.

Fan Zijin was very dissatisfied with the efficiency of the logistics department. The rations had always been a priority in wars. He had long prepared the rations, but the logistics department in charge of transporting them could not even catch up to the army that was attacking the city. Brimming with fury, Fan Zijin could only look for the Emperor. “Eldest Cousin, the rations can’t catch up. Why don’t we get Haoran and his army to wait for a while? If we want the soldiers to fight, we have to let them eat their fill, right?”

Qi Xiuyuan pointed at the map and said, “We can’t stop. General Yuan and General Mu have already tidied up things on their end and are advancing with their troops. Haoran can’t stop now. Don’t worry, as long as he can fight, he won’t starve. It was so difficult for him back then and still he turned out fine. I’m sure he’ll be fine this time, too.”

Fan Zijin pursed his lips. “But he’s been eating dry food and can’t even eat his fill…”

“Then get your logistics department to speed up. To think the people escorting the rations can’t even catch up to the army attacking the cities.” Qi Xiuyuan sneered. “If it weren’t for the fact that the war is ongoing, I would really want their heads to roll.”

Fan Zijin also wanted that, but it was better to go about things in a steady manner at a time like this. Qi Haoran was at the front line, so he did not dare to make any big moves.

Fan Zijin gritted his teeth and went back to pressurize the logistics people: If they could not send the rations to the army, they would be punished according to military law.

With this threat, the rations finally caught up to the battalion two days later. By then, the soldiers escorting the rations were so exhausted that they almost fell to the ground and vomited blood.

The reason why they were slower than the battalion was because of the cold in the late spring. Speaking of which, it was also because they were unlucky. In the past, the cold in the late spring would only cause the weather to be a little colder or bring about some light rain. However, this year, there were hail storms during the late spring cold. Later on, there was some light snow, causing the roads to be so slippery that they could skate on ice. As a result, the donkey carriages and hand carts would slide from time to time. Once the grains fell, they would have to stop and reload the carriages. This explained why they were even slower than the army.

The instant they saw Prince Rong, they knelt on the ground, hoping that he could put in a good word for them in front of the Duke. They really didn’t mean to delay.

Qi Haoran scolded them and chased them out. Sure, they had their difficulties, but didn’t he?

If not for the fact that they could intercept some of the enemy’s rations every time they attacked a city, his army would have starved to death long ago. Besides, his wife and child were also in the army. Because the rations were not delivered in time, Mu Yangling had lost a lot of weight, and Little Bear was so thin that he was almost reduced to skin and bones.

They were innocent, but weren’t his soldiers, wife, and son innocent?

Delaying military orders for supplies ought to be punished.

After the rations were delivered, Little Bear felt that he could finally eat his fill. He carried the bowl and went to get food. When the veterans saw that he had already eaten three bowls and still wanted to continue, they all stopped him and said, “Kid, you’re eating two people’s portions. If you continue eating, what is there left for us to eat?”

The rice received by each platoon was limited. If one person ate too much, the rest could only eat less.

Little Bear was stunned and looked at them pitifully. Could it be that he still had to starve when the rations had arrived?

The veterans snorted, and they wanted to say that they weren’t falling for his wheedling manner. But when they saw Little Bear pouting pitifully, they couldn’t help but ask, “Kid, I’ve long wanted to ask you. How old are you?”

He looked strong, but his face was very tender. It was obvious that he was not yet an adult.

Little Bear replied, “I’ll be 13 in July.”

The veterans frowned. One had to be 16 years old to join the army. Even if they relaxed the age requirement due to a shortage of soldiers, the recruit had to be at least 14 years old. Little Bear was sent to the army at the age of 12…

The veterans belonging to the same section looked at each other and sighed. Having been in the army for more than 20 years, they were accustomed to such cases. The kid either could not survive elsewhere and took the initiative to join the army, or they were captured. Otherwise, it was unwanted kids who were sent to the army by their families.

Their hearts were already hardened after all these years, but at this moment, they could not help but soften. A veteran took the bowl in his hand and helped him fill it up with rice. He said, “Come with me to the kitchen to get food tomorrow. You’re still young, so you have to eat well. Otherwise, you won’t be able to grow well in the future.”

Little Bear’s eyes lit up. Did this imply acceptance? Did this mean that he could learn from them in the future?

At night, Little Bear sneaked into his father’s tent for supper and reported to him happily, “Daddy, do you think they’ll teach me survival skills if I ask them directly?”

Qi Haoran looked up at him and said, “Didn’t they teach you long ago? Otherwise, what do you think they’ve been instructing you to do these few days?”