Ju Su picked up the tea cup again, sipped the tea slowly, his eyes slightly closed, as if he was immersed in the fragrance of tea, and his face was covered by the tea fog and could not see clearly, which made him feel a little more mysterious.

Liu Ye was not in a hurry, and placed his hands in front of his abdomen, calm and composed.

Two young trainees stood aside, standing quietly. Apart from a wall, several military advisors stood in front of the window, looking at the sand table built in the center of the lobby. Without looking back at the terrace, they stopped talking at the same time.

The lobby suddenly became quiet, and even the person who built the sand table eased his hands and feet and did not make any sound as much as possible.

Several trainee military advisers from Jizhou looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

As a native of Jizhou, they are the clearest about Ju Shu's current situation. Liu Ye's words are very tactful, but also very direct. Although Ju Shu is the head of the Military Advisory Office, he does not have enough military achievements. He can be a military advisor to sacrificial wine because of the emperor's respect.

This is not Ju Shu's responsibility. Liu Ye, the military advisor, had no military achievements. Before they joined the company, Your Majesty would not come to the front line. Your Majesty's great military achievements were all achieved with the assistance of the former military advisor and the current military advisor Guo Jia.

In the Military Information Office, which is mainly Ru Ying's original name, Ju Su and Liu Ye's situation are a bit embarrassing. The veteran military advisors, Jun Mou, are very polite to them, and have a slight alienation. Not to mention the newly-employed military advisors, Jun Mou, are already inferior to others.

This is not their responsibility. If His Majesty the Emperor does not come to the battlefield in person, how can they have the opportunity to experience a real battle formation? Apart from talking about war on paper, all they can do is deal with all kinds of real and fake intelligence and data.

His Majesty the Emperor's reputation of Wulai's victory in the battle is just a legend and has nothing to do with them. Now he is being blamed by His Majesty, they are very wronged. If His Majesty could personally conquer Yizhou as Liu Ye suggested, they could also follow the military and military service, and naturally they would not have such a mistake.

It can be said that Liu Ye’s suggestions have come to everyone’s hearts, including military advisors from Jizhou, military strategy, and even Ju Su himself.

Ju Su did not look back, but knew clearly what was going on in the lobby behind him. He slowly put down the teacup and said lightly: "The matter is prioritized. Now, the political discussion is the top priority that concerns the century-old plan of Dawu. Your Majesty's personal expedition should wait." He turned to look at Liu Ye, his voice was neither light nor heavy, but it was just enough for everyone in the hall behind him to hear it clearly. "Your Majesty personally expeditions and mobilizes the troops. It is not an easy thing. If it is not necessary, it is not appropriate to speak nonsense. The military planning department is Your Majesty's confidant, so you should be more cautious. First, look at the progress of Huang Zhong's army, and then talk."

"This is natural." Liu Ye nodded and said, "The balance between the court and the vassals is also a major event that concerns long-term stability. When it is appropriate, please ask Duke Zhu to come forward and ask Your Majesty to summon the Governor's Office and the Military Information Office to hold a joint discussion."

Ju Su nodded, but didn't know if he agreed, but he still didn't agree.

Everyone in the hall looked at each other, smiled knowingly, and became busy again.

Xu Huang stopped, raised his head and looked at the hillside in the distance.

From the change of the mountain direction, he knew that he had already walked out of the hinterland of Daba Mountain, but he still had a way to go from the plain.

They have been on the expedition for more than 20 days, and they are still trekking in the Daba Mountains. The difficult journey has exceeded their imagination. When they crossed the highest Dazhuling, they took them three days. They didn't even have a place to rest, so they could only stand on the narrow mountain road.

There were dozens of soldiers who fell down the hillside in their sleep. Every night when they fell asleep, no one could guarantee that they could still see the next day's sunrise.

However, in these three days, there were almost two points next to each other on the map, and the straight line distance was only twenty miles. Now he led the forward and had already walked out of Daba Mountain. The main force led by Huang Zhong was still climbing hard in the mountains, and the rear army might still be on standby in the Dazhushui Valley.

The narrow mountain road turned the 30,000 troops into a thin line.

"General." The personal guard Romon followed, stroked the huge rock standing on the side, opened his mouth wide, and panted.

Xu Huang looked back at Lomon. Lomon's face was pale, his forehead was covered with sweat, and his originally fleshy round face and cheeks were slightly sunken. He looked like a patient who had just recovered from a serious illness, but he was not like a young man in his early twenties. Shortly after entering the mountain, he saw that the mountain road was difficult to move, and the expected marching plan was likely to be impossible to achieve. Everyone consciously reduced their daily rations, hoping to hold on for a few more days. With huge physical energy consumption and insufficient rations, everyone's weight had dropped to varying degrees.

"General, give it." Romon gasped and handed over a handful of wild fruit. "I just picked it on the side of the road and it tasted pretty good."

Xu Huang married two of them from Romon's palm. He used his fingers slightly to pinch the hard core, spread his palms, blow away the broken shells, and chewed them slowly. The fruits were actually not delicious, but at this moment, no one cared about the taste. They still had wild fruits to pick, and the army behind them didn't even have such a chance.

"General, we are afraid we have been fooled by those barbarians." Romon whispered: "All the way is, there is no easy way to walk, either going up or down the mountain, sometimes just turning around." He looked at the several Ba people on the hillside in front. "And look at them, the look of our eyes is obviously wrong..."

Xu Huang coughed lightly, and Romon immediately closed his mouth. When he turned around, he saw the Badi Han man named He Ping and another Baman soldier walking over one after another, holding a machete in his hand, his clothes were half open, revealing half of his chest. Romon was surprised to find that Wang Ping, who seemed not strong, actually had strong muscles.

It can be seen that the hard marching of more than half a month has no effect on them. These cunning barbarians must have taken advantage of the opportunity to go out to explore the way and ate them. They were familiar with the tribes in the mountains and could find food, but they refused to raise food for the army.

He Ping walked to Xu Huang, inserted the machete on his belt, and bowed his hand to salute.

"I've seen the general."

Xu Huang nodded lightly. "Emperor He Du, where are you?"

"Fan Kuaipo. It is said that when Emperor Gaozu of Han was in Hanzhong, Fan Kuai was ordered to march south and passed by here and stopped to look south, just like the general at this moment."

"Fan Kuai." Xu Huang sighed softly. "Heroes don't ask where they come from, and dog-slaughtering people can be granted marquis and generals, which is what it means." He Ping blinked his eyes and wanted to speak but stopped. Xu Huang asked again: "Which road was Fan Kuai going south back then?"

He Ping raised his hand to the northeast direction. Xu Huang looked along his hand, but he could only see a dense mountain that was airtight and could not see the road at all. "Is there a road there?"

"It was originally there, but later, the road was blocked by huge rocks and was abandoned. Following that road, walking more than 300 miles northeastward, was where Fan Kuai stationed his troops. Now it is a settlement with about a few hundred families."

Xu Huang thought for a moment. "So, isn't we not far apart?"

"It's not too far, but there are a few ridges in the middle. When we came, we walked the Bucao Water. The Bucao Water had a relatively abundant amount of water, which could satisfy the use of the army. This road was along the Yao Water. The Yao Water was not large in volume. After the earthquake, a weir was formed upstream, and some of the water changed its direction, and the water downstream was like a stream. It's winter now, and there is no water downstream. If it's summer and autumn, the general will walk a hundred steps there and you will see it."

Xu Huang suddenly realized, looked at He Ping, and smiled and said, "Emperor He Du was so familiar with this terrain. Is he a local?"

"I am a native of Dangqu, and I will arrive in three hundred miles. In fact, it can be said that in Dangqu, Xuanhan was originally a township in Dangqu."

"How far is Xuanhan County?"

"It's about sixty miles."

"How many household registrations in Xuanhan and how much food can we provide to our army?"

He Ping frowned. "Xuanhan has limited household registration and not much arable land. Now it is time to get green and yellow, so I am afraid there is no food. If you want to raise grain, you still have to go to Dangqu. Dangqu is a big county. Even if you divide the Xuanhan and Hanchang counties, there are more than 10,000 households, which is enough to provide the army with half a year of military rations."

Xu Huang touched his short beard and frowned. "But Dangqu is still more than 300 miles away, and I'm afraid I can't catch up. Dangqu is a big county and faces water on three sides. It's hard for our army to capture it in an urgent manner. It's better to take a break in Xuanhan for a few days first. Xuanhan has not many household registrations, so can you borrow some from the surrounding tribes? No need to add more, just piece together ten days and half a month of food to restore our army's strength."

He Ping nodded and agreed. "What the general said is so true. Let me inform General Zhang and ask him to come forward to discuss with the leaders of various tribes."

"It's a blessing to see the commander He Du."

"I dare not, this is the responsibility of my subordinates." He Ping bowed and bowed, turned around and took two steps, then turned back, patted his forehead. "I was ashamed, I almost forgot about the main business. From then on, I moved forward for about ten miles, and the river surface became wider, and it was not so urgent. The general could log people, build some rafts, and place the wounded on the raft. It would be much more convenient to go to Dangqu in four or five days."

"It's so good." Xu Huang smiled and said, "Romon, send someone to cut wood and build more rafts."

"Here." Romon responded and turned around.

He Pinggong bowed and turned around and left. As soon as he turned a corner, Romon returned to Xu Huang, looked at the direction where He Ping left, and whispered: "General, do you really want to build a raft?"

"What do you think?" Xu Huang glanced at Romon with a smile.

"I think this surname He is unreliable. He kept urging us to go to Dangqu, and there must be ghosts in it." He suddenly widened his eyes. "General, will Dangqu be ambushed?"

Xu Huang smiled, waved his hand, and ordered Romon to send orders to ask several of his captains and commanders to come for a meeting.

Seeing Xu Huang's expression, Romon knew that he was prepared and was energetic and hurried away. Xu Huang sat down on the spot and called a few agile guards to climb to the heights, keep alert, and look around. He arranged a few scouts to search for news along the valley.

The mountain road was narrow and the army was moving forward in a line. It took Romon half an hour to know that everyone, several lieutenants and the captains took another half a day to arrive in front of Xu Huang. After so many days of travel, everyone was a little embarrassed. Before Xu Huang spoke, they each looked for a place, squat or leaned, and they didn't even feel like talking.

Seeing that everyone was here, Xu Huang stood up. When everyone saw him, they didn't need Xu Huang to greet him, and stood up one after another and walked to Xu Huang.

Xu Huang looked around and sneered. "Why, after climbing the mountain for a few days, I lost my energy? You are like this, and you still want to defeat Cao Aman and take all of Yizhou? Who is the most tired? Let's take a rest first, and you don't have to participate in this mission."

Several lieutenants and chief lieutenants looked at each other and smiled awkwardly, but their waists straightened unknowingly, and none of them retreated. After climbing the mountain for more than 20 days, their legs were thin. It was easy to see the opportunity to make contributions, who would be willing to retreat?

"I'm talking ugly words ahead. We are not familiar with the place, and it's hard to tell whether the information provided by Zhang Lu's subordinates is true or false. I'm only 30% sure whether I can succeed. If I don't do it well, it will be annihilation. If anyone doesn't want to go, I can understand."

Everyone looked at each other, their faces became serious, but no one spoke.

Xu Huang waited for a while, and saw that no one gave up, so he began to deploy the mission. The vanguard army had more than 5,000 people, led by five school captains and seven commanders. In addition to inquiries about the road and clearing obstacles, he also had the task of raising food for the army.

Because the journey was more difficult than expected, the army was about to face the crisis of food cuts. According to the existing food, they could barely reach Dangqu, and there were at most three or four days of food rations.

Unless the Dangqu people surrender voluntarily, the food for three or four days is not enough to support the army's siege. If there is Shu army waiting for them in Dangqu, they will work so hard to get over there, which is tantamount to falling into the trap.

The risk is too great.

Xu Huang decided to take a few days off in Xuanhan and wait until the situation in Dangqu was found out before making a decision. As for the urgently needed food, it will be solved on the spot.

Specifically, it is to collect grain from tribes around Xuanhan. If the tribe takes the initiative to collect grain, it is of course the best. If a tribe refuses to collect grain, it will be forced to collect it and kill people.

If you are urgently following the power, this is not the time to be a woman's kindness.

"It's nothing to kill people. I'm afraid that even people can't see them." Commander Liu Qin said softly.

"It shouldn't be." Captain Feng Xi narrowed his eyes and looked at the mountains in the distance. "From the mountain, we have already left Daba Mountain, not far from the plain below the mountain. The mountain of Daba Mountain is from northwest to southeast, but the mountain here is from northeast to southwest, and several ridges are arranged in parallel. The ridges are getting smaller and smaller, but the plains between the ridges are getting wider and wider. There must be tribes living here, and it will not be small."

Liu Qin patted her forehead ashamed. "Brother Feng is right, Brother Feng is right."

Feng Xi was not humble, and looked at Xu Huang with bright eyes. "General, Badi Han and Man live in mixed places. Since Xuan Han is right in front, it means that there will be no small population here, but there are not many Han people in the household registration. There must be water sources where people live in the mountains. The water sources needed by large tribes are not ordinary streams. If we find rivers with larger water volumes and search along the water, we will definitely find tribes living along the water."

Xu Huang smiled and shook his head again. "You are right. There must be someone in places where there is water. However, I want to remind you one thing. There is a Shu army waiting for us in Dangqu. We cannot alarm them for the time being. Therefore, it is best to stay away from the water when you kill people, and do not let the body fall into the water and float to Dangqu City."
Chapter completed!