Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 36 Ominous Premonition

Seven days passed by in a flash, and there was no movement in the city.
Ji Ling's army has already begun to reduce its rations.

After all, when we set out for the war, we didn't expect that the war would last so long.
I didn't bring much food and grass.

With more than 2 people consuming so much rations a day, the quartermasters at the rear have begun to complain.

At dinner time, Ji Ling came to the front line and looked at the soldiers on the city wall who seemed to be preparing to have a meal.
Ji Ling said to a soldier next to him,

"Climb up to the well railing and see if they eat tree bark or wild vegetables now."

The soldier was ordered to climb to the top of the well and look towards the city wall.
I saw the defenders on the city wall having dinner as expected, but there were no bark vegetables.

Big bowls of rice made Xiao Bing salivate.

"Reporting to the general, the enemy had rice and dried meat for dinner."

"What?" Ji Ling's eyes widened, his tone full of disbelief.

"Very good, Liu Xuan must have plundered all the people's food in the city, right?"

"The soldiers are well fed, but the people are starving. In a few days, the people will rebel."

Ji Ling is very confident in his analysis.

There are tens of thousands of people in a county town, and if there is no food shipped in for ten days, the food in the city must be almost exhausted.

"We'll see you again at breakfast tomorrow."

The next day, Ji Ling called for the soldiers after breakfast.
"What did they have for breakfast today?"

"Reporting back to the general, I have seen it. They had rice with pickles and broth for breakfast today."

Ji Ling licked her lips,
"Damn it, what are the conditions for this?"

On the third day, Ji Ling didn't have breakfast and climbed to the well railing early during breakfast time.
He wanted to see for himself what the soldiers guarding the city were eating.

It was now time for the soldiers guarding the city to have breakfast.
Ji Lingmao was on the well, squinting hard to identify the food on the wall.

However, what shocked him was the rows of soldiers leaning against the wall.

The big bowl in his hand was indeed filled with rice, the kind of white rice cooked from polished rice.

Everyone's bowls are full of rice, with tips sticking out of the tops.
Ji Ling watched the soldier who delivered the meal open two wooden barrels and scoop a spoonful of soup into each bowl.

There were actually vegetable leaves, egg drops, and dried meat in the soup.

Ji Ling couldn't help but wipe the corner of his mouth. When he lowered his head, he saw that it was saliva.

What shocked Ji Ling even more was the group of common people who helped the soldiers carry food.
After distributing the meals to the soldiers, each man also carried a large bowl of rice.

I poured a spoonful of broth over the rice and ate it deliciously against the wall.

Ji Ling didn't know how he got down from the well.
All he knew was that he was depressed and a little hungry.

In order to compete with Liu Xuan for consumption, the army began to supply limited rations a few days ago.

As the commander-in-chief, Ji Ling does not have to go hungry, but he does not have the conditions to be like the soldiers on the city wall.
Eat a big bowl of white rice in the morning.

"Military advisor, this plan doesn't work. Do you have any other good ideas?"

Ji Ling is like a deflated rubber ball,
If you can't attack the city, you'll be crushed by others despite all your efforts.

Ji Ling, who had no clue, could only ask military advisor Yang Hong for advice.

"Before the expedition, His Majesty issued an ironclad order to capture Huaiyin and massacre the city for three days. Now you and I have been trapped outside the city for half a month, and the war has made no progress. If this matter is reported to the palace, with His Majesty's temper, he may not even bother me. The crime of beheading is unavoidable."

Yang Hong began to think deeply after hearing this. Ji Ling was right. With Yuan Shu's character, if he knew that their [-] troops could not defeat the [-] defenders of Huaiyin County, beheading would be an easy task.

Since it can't be attacked and it can't be consumed, then we can only
Yang Hong's face was filled with uncertainty, but he finally slowly said to Ji Ling,
"Your Majesty only said to massacre the city, but he did not explain exactly how to massacre it." A coldness flashed in Yang Hong's eyes, and he whispered a plan into Ji Ling's ear.
Ji Ling was shocked after hearing Yang Hong's plan.
Looking at Yang Hong's cold eyes, even though he had been on the battlefield for a long time, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his body.

The thoughts of literati should not be underestimated.

However, Yang Hong's strategy is indeed feasible in Ji Ling's opinion.

After thinking for a moment, Ji Ling finally nodded, "This matter will be left to the military advisor."

In Huaiyin City,

Liu Xuan was lying on a bamboo chair enjoying the cool air, while Zhao Liniang and Sun Waner were waiting on him on the left and right.

One rubbed his shoulders, the other squeezed his legs.
The days were indescribably pleasant.

The defense on the city wall was watched by Cheng Hu, and the security of the city was assisted by Qin Li, Li Lin, and others.
Instead, Liu Xuan became a man doing nothing.

Of course, it’s not completely idle.

Every day before breakfast and dinner, Liu Xuan went to the gangtou army to work for half an hour.

The Huotou Army are all from the Tiger Camp. They will not have any doubts about Liu Xuan.
What they have to do every day is to distribute the buckets of rice conjured by Liu Xuan to the city walls and relief points in the city.

Fighting for consumption, Liu Xuan is not afraid of anyone.

The weather was a bit sultry, and Liu Xuan was woken up just after he woke up from his nap.

It turned out to be Xuchong, a household clerk in the county. This person was in charge of household registration and other affairs in Huaiyin County.
If there is nothing important on weekdays, there is no need to come to Liu Xuan directly.

"Liu County Magistrate, my subordinates have been sorting out the population registration of households in the city in the past two days. They found that there is something wrong with the situation in Mulushi Street in the west of the city, so I came here to report it."

"If there is any situation, please tell me in detail."

Xu Chong frowned and said, "My subordinates are in charge of Huai's registration. According to the procedures, if someone dies or goes missing in the city, they must report it to Hu Cao."

"But in the past few days, the number of people reporting deaths has tripled, and [-]% of them are from Luoshi Street in the west of the city."

"When something goes wrong, there must be something fishy."

After Liu Xuan heard this, he immediately became alert.

"Xu Chong, have you sent someone to check on Luoshi Street?"

Xu Chong said: "My subordinates did send people to check. They just said that the weather was hot recently. Most of these deceased people had old diseases, which caused the recurrence of old diseases and died."

"No, even if there are old illnesses, they will not all die in a few days. Huaiyin is facing a foreign threat now. There must be no chaos in the city. I will go and check it myself."

Liu Xuan was about to get up when his expression changed, but the notepad opened.

[Notepad opens.]

[In 197 AD, in the city of Huaiyin, Ji Ling's army was besieging the city, but strange deaths occurred in the city. The number of deaths increased sharply in Luoshi Street in the west of the city within a few days. You felt that something was fishy and decided to investigate the matter personally. 】

[Trigger survival mission: cause of death]

[Mission details: Find the cause of death of the people and solve the problem. 】

[Task reward: entry*2]

Now that the survival mission was triggered, Liu Xuan knew that this matter was definitely not simple.

Immediately took Zhao Liniang and Hucao Xuchong to the west of the city.

Liu Xuan rode on his horse to the west of the city and arrived at the entrance of Mulushi Street.
Before entering, I felt a strange smell.

The residents here don't seem to have much vitality.

It stands to reason that Huaiyin County is now governed by Liu Xuan, and various livelihood projects have been done very well.

Coupled with the cooperation of the aristocratic families in the city, the living conditions of the people in Huaiyin County are no less than ten times better than before.

Even though the army was besieging the city outside, the people inside the city were joyful every day.

Only the people in Mule City Street were lifeless.
And as Xu Chong said, the people who died in the entire county in the past few days,
[-]% of them come from this street.
Is it?

Liu Xuan suddenly had an ominous premonition.

(End of this chapter)