Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 674 - 672

Chapter 674: 672

New Year’s Day in General Li’s military camp

It’s lunchtime again, and the soldiers are lining up for their meal.

Looking at the thin porridge with more water than rice, the soldiers grumbled incessantly.

"We usually have porridge, but today is New Year’s Day! Not to mention meat, can’t we even have some dry rice?"

"We eat this swine fodder every day, my hands and feet are weak, how can we fight!"

"Didn’t they say that the food supply was coming soon? How many days has it been? Why are we still starving!"

"Exactly, when we were with General Li before, the Imperial Court provided for our meals. There were not as many military merits as now, but at least we were well-fed! When have we ever gone hungry?"

"There might be more silver now, but what good does it do when the cost of grain here is so high! Sometimes even if you have silver, you can’t buy food, we are simply waiting to starve to death!"

...

The soldiers sipped the water-like white porridge, complaining with each other’s barbs.

These days, their meals have changed from dry food to thin porridge! It’s a major holiday now, and there’s not even a bit of dry food, no wonder the soldiers are grumbling.

General Li had originally wanted to celebrate the New Year with his soldiers, but hearing them quietly discussing the food issue, he didn’t dare to show his face. He could only silently turn and return to his tent.

The carefully calculated food supply had encountered one problem after another, and now the soldiers were on the verge of starvation.

With tens of thousands of mouths to feed, the daily food consumption is not small! The current amount of stored grain... in short, in a few days, there will be no porridge to eat.

A while ago, they were still able to disguise themselves as civilians to buy some food, but now each grain store requires a household certificate for rationed purchases, and they can’t buy more than the quota limit.

General Li closed his eyes. The lord of Rui’an county is indeed a lucky star for the Imperial Court, but his nemesis!

Ever since Minze Country got the Marquis Shengping, the Li family had been dogged by one misfortune after another!

First, his children were in danger, one after the other! Now that the lord of Rui’an County has returned home for the celebrations, the food supply for his tens of thousands of soldiers has been ruined!

And that man is still not dead despite all attempts! General Li clenched his fist at this thought!

No, there’s no more food!

We can’t wait any longer!

Just as General Li was about to call someone in and discuss marching out, the cheering from the Imperial Court’s army across the river faintly reached their ears.

General Li once again went out, walked to the river, and looked far ahead. He could see bonfires flickering in the soldiers’ camp on the other side. Each bonfire had a lamb being roasted over it, and many people were also roasting chicken and fish. The aroma of meat and wine wafted over, making even him feel his stomach growl.

Stimulated by the scent of food, many soldiers couldn’t help but rush over to the river to take a look, thus, the complaints from the soldiers were louder.

They were soldiers too, while others enjoyed delicacies and fine wines, they were starving and freezing! This disparity in treatment was just too great!

General Li knew well the consequences of losing the soldiers’ morale if things continue like this. He retracted his gazing eyes, returned to the camp, and began to speak with a face full of apology in front of the soldiers: "Brothers, our food was intercepted by the Imperial Court on its way here, causing everyone to go hungry these past few days. It’s New Year’s Day today, and I can’t even provide a full meal for everyone, as your general I feel utterly ashamed. I apologize to everyone."

"The general didn’t want everyone to starve; it’s just that the food prepared by the general for everyone was robbed by the people of the Imperial Court! Now there are purchasing restrictions on the city’s food supply, so even if the general wants to buy some, he can’t. The people of the Imperial Court want to get rid of us completely! They took away everyone’s food rations, and now they’re over there eating meat and drinking wine freely! It’s utterly outrageous!" The general’s deputy added indignantly.

The soldiers were enraged upon hearing this!

They thought angrily in their hearts, since it was stolen, why not steal it back!

They simply couldn’t endure the days of starvation and freezing any longer.

Since the Imperial Court was intent on their destruction, then: "General, let’s march over there! Take our food back!"

"Right, why should they eat and drink well out of our stolen food, and we only get to drink porridge!"

"Right, take it back!"

"Take it back!" The starved soldiers roared in unison, brandishing their spears.

The best thing would be to launch an attack right now and seize those roasted lambs, chickens, fishes and fine wines.

In the stimulus of delicious food, the response was overwhelming, and the morale of General Li’s army rose to unprecedented highs!

This is what hunger will do.

"Brothers, let’s march at midnight tonight! We’ll take back what is ours, we’ll either win or die trying!" General Li voiced the decision he had made in his heart.

At this point, the morale of the soldiers reached an all-time high.

And the enemy...

In military campaigns, the greatest taboo is indulging in wine and festivities. It is often said, drunkenness leads to trouble!

Today is New Year’s Day, it’s not a suitable day for killing, probably the Imperial Court’s forces thought of this taboo of his, which is why they dared to be so unbridled and openly provocative!

Since that’s the case, he would do the exact opposite and attack when they are drunk and off guard!

...

Di Shaowei stood on high ground, watching the fiery emotions from General Li’s army across the water, a cold smile appeared on his face.

Can’t stand it anymore? He had been waiting a long time for this!

He had two large jars of wine brought out and spilled secretly on the ground, so the smell of wine in the air became even stronger.

Then, large jars of meat soup were distributed to the soldiers’ hands.

Thank goodness the soldiers always drank from bowls, if they had been holding wine glasses, drinking meat soup from them, many people wouldn’t have been able to hold back their laughter.

However, during this freezing cold, drinking hot and alcoholic meat soup and feasting on roasted meat, white buns, was indeed a great joy in life!

The chorus of "Cheers" rang louder and louder.

Those who didn’t know better would think that they were actually drinking wine, due to the scent in the air!

Listening to the faint sounds of cheers and toast coming from across the river, General Li’s face darkened further. He spoke some more soothing words to comfort his soldiers, then led several deputy generals into his tent and began discussing battle plans.

There was no choice but to march; the soldiers were about ready to rebel from hunger!

The world is darkest before dawn.

A long wooden ship was placed on the surface of the river which was lightly frozen over, and instantly a sound of ice breaking could be heard.

The ship was very long, about two meters wide and over thirty meters long, directly spanning the small river.

The soldiers jumped onto the ship, running to the other side.

When a large cloud of darkness was about to engulf them, the night watch soldiers of the Imperial Court’s army noticed that the enemy troops had surreptitiously crossed the river!

The horn sounded urgently.

"Get up, the enemy is attacking! Hurry up, get up!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers of the Imperial Court quickly rose from their slumber, ran out, gathered in squads, their movements and speed were as if they were prepared for battle even in their sleep!

The reality was, they had been waiting for General Li’s army to come over for a very long time, to the point where they were almost falling asleep!

And after the enemy troops crossed the river, behind them, a similar cloud of darkness was rapidly approaching!

The war is about to start.