Ma Erniang's Splendid Pastoral

Chapter 273 Mature and Depressed
Ma Min'er said firmly: "I believe in Zian, he will definitely drive the enemy away."

Fu Xiaoyou, Shan Xiaodan and the others looked at each other, "Then should we build the house or the city wall first?"

"Our people build houses, and Zian's people build city walls."

"Is the prince free to repair the city wall?"

"It's not a matter of availability, but a strategic need." Ma Min'er said with certainty.

-

"Little general, if we take the initiative to attack, we must have a stronghold, so where is our stronghold?" A general asked.

"Or go back to the camp thirty miles away?" Someone asked.

Xia Zhen stood in front of the map, listening to the discussions among his subordinates, but never expressed his opinion.

Zhang Nianmei said: "General, you let us divide our troops into two groups, one to fight the Jin Kingdom, and the other to fight the Liao Kingdom. I also think we need a stronghold, so that we can better supply and deal with it."

Wei Ren glanced at the master, "I think this is fine."

"The ancient pier is so dilapidated that it doesn't even have a city gate, how can everyone rest here with peace of mind?" General Gao retorted loudly.

Wei Ren replied: "We can build military defense buildings here."

"Defense construction?" General Gao asked, "Does Mr. Wei mean to build trenches or..."

"Build the wall."

"Where are the stones from?"

Under normal circumstances, most of the battlefields use the method of digging trenches to resist the enemy, and seldom use the method of building walls. One is because it is convenient to dig and it is not easy to build. Give yourself a natural hiding barrier.

"Thirty miles away, where we were once stationed."

"..." All the generals looked at each other, and fell silent for a while.

Wei Ren didn't care what everyone thought, he felt Xia Zhen's mind and said, "Little general, do you want to arrange people to repair the city wall now?"

"Immediately, immediately!" Xia Zhen said firmly.

"Yes, General!"

Xia Zhen looked at the second gentleman next to Weiren——Song Min, "Mr. Song—"

"Subordinates are—"

"You stay alone."

Including Wei Ren, everyone was stunned for a moment.

Song Min glanced back at the crowd, and immediately lowered his head and beat his hands, "Yes, little general (on the battlefield, the soldiers no longer called Xia Zhen the county king, but called the little general according to the seniority of the town's general's residence)! "

No one knew what Xia Zhen and Song Min said, but that night, Song Min, Gu Dun and a group of special forces under him disappeared!
-

The fighting in the outer ring continued, and Ma Min'er could hear the fighting outside in the broken city. The enemy kept provoking, and when there was no end, it seemed that if they were careful, they could suddenly break their defense line.

Fortunately, the snow had stopped and the sun outside was fine. Ma Miner put her son in the stroller and rolled it out to bask in the sun while watching her caravan repair houses.

"Yeah..." The seven-month-old Xia Yifan was wrapped in the stroller, except for the front, the other three sides were blocked, there was no wind at all, the sun was shining, and he was waving his arms excitedly.

The youngest girl beside Ma Min'er, Ju Huang, was originally a handyman girl, but because of her lively personality, she was transferred to Xiao Fan'er's side. Besides Lan Ruo and Lan Xi, there was another person to play with him.

But Ma Min'er realized that these were little girls, and as her son grew up, she had to find two boys for her son, so as to match his personality as a little boy.

There are some houses in the center of the small city, and the walls are still there. They cut down the trees outside the city wall and made the beams. The caravan team of a hundred or ten big men did things very quickly, ten to one building, and a dozen or so in two or three days. , Let the dusty little ancient city show its vitality.

"Young Madam, which one do you choose, we will go to light the fire right away."

Shan Xiaodan said to Xiaoyou: "It must be the best one!"

Fu Xiaoyou grinned: "The best one is a little small, and the big one is not very good, so I let the young lady choose..."

"Oh." Ma Min'er looked at it, "All these should be given to the disabled first, and let them settle down first. We will continue to repair until the battle is over and we have to leave."

"Yes, young lady, this subordinate understands."

Ma Min'er's mind was not on the house, but on the surrounding soldiers repairing the city wall. Xia Zhen really started to repair the city wall. He wanted to use this place as a stronghold to defeat the people of Liaoxia.

Although the house is being repaired and the city walls are being repaired, there are still wars on the outskirts. Wars are just like peasants working in the fields. In the evening, Xia Zhen came back with a shoulder injury. Min'er burst into tears of distress, but he didn't take it seriously, "Didn't you see that many soldiers were more seriously injured than me!"

"I know." Ma Min'er hurriedly asked someone to take the blended alcohol to wipe it for him, and then took herbal medicine to apply it, and wrapped it up with gauze for him.

After Shan Xiaodan waited for someone to bring in the food, he went out.

"It's cold, so I asked them to make a simple soup pot to keep them warm."

Xia Zhen nodded, hugged her son with the other arm, and let him sit on his lap. Xiao Fan'er grinned with a drooling mouth, and stretched out her little hand to pull his stubble from time to time.

When Ma Min'er saw it, she laughed, "I've never seen you with a beard, but it's a good idea to hide it." She wanted to say that she was quite mature and masculine, but she didn't have the nerve to say it.

"I'm going to shave it tonight, so I'll keep it." Xia Zhen was delighted by the admiring eyes of the young daughter-in-law, and her injured arm didn't feel so painful anymore.

"Farewell, scrape it off quickly, there is no time to take care of it, it is dusty, dirty, I don't despise you, and your son can't stand it either."

"Haha..." Xia Zhen's unhappy mood was made more cheerful by the young daughter-in-law.

Ma Min'er took her son back and put him on the baby stool, "I'll call my father over, you need to rest first."

"Ah."

Xia Zetao looked at the wounded and sick, and was looking at the newly renovated houses on the street. Some of his lame legs were slightly dragging, and he walked slowly. For some reason, his heart was always a little choked up, and he felt an urge to cry.For fear of losing his composure, he kept his face sullen and meticulous.

Chunping, his follower, thought he was angry, and kept saying good things for Ma Min'er: "General, Young Madam didn't use our people, it was all done by people in her caravan."

Xia Zetao walked to the repaired gatehouse, and reached out to touch the rough gate. The gate was lined with wooden planks of different shapes. It's really hard for them.

"Great... General, I saw the people in the Young Madam's caravan, in order to make a saw, and said a lot of good things to the people in the blacksmith shop in the army..."

Xia Zetao opened the door and entered the courtyard. There was no weeds in the small courtyard, stone slabs paved the road, and the open space was cleaned up. He walked along the stone slabs to the main hall of the small courtyard, the left and right houses, and the small kitchen... Common people live at home That's right.

"Big...big general, go back...go back to eat!" Chunping urged the general again when he saw that the general had seen it.

Ma Min'er found out the tent, but didn't see Xia Zhen's father, so she asked, "Where's the general?"

The soldier patrolling the street pointed to the front and said, "The general is in that house."

"Thank you very much." Ma Min'er clasped her hands and bent over, thanked her with a smile and looked forward.

Xia Zetao walked out of the yard slowly, and Chang Sui Chunping whispered in his ear, "I heard that this small yard is for the sick and wounded. After the hearth is built inside, let them live in."

Xia Zetao held the knife in one hand, and unconsciously swayed the other hand along with his walking pace. He walked slowly to the door and looked at the short street. The sunset in the winter evening gradually fell, and the weather became colder and colder as the sun set. neck.

"Father—" Ma Min'er, who was about to shrink her neck, saw Xia Zetao, and went up to him with a smile.

Xia Zetao looked at his daughter-in-law, and then at the streets, houses, and city walls. A war is not a one-person war. It requires the efforts of many people. As a general who leads the war, he understands this truth well.But to find like-minded subordinates, in addition to your own leadership ability, you also need to meet caring people, so that you can complement each other.

Subordinates are subordinates after all, if it doesn’t work, change it and come back again, but as for the wife, maybe someone can remarry, but the Xia family can’t, first, the Xia family can’t do anything to throw away their wives, and second, he, Xia Zetao, can’t bear to abandon her The son's mother, so... In this life, he can only blame himself for being young and impulsive, and then spend his whole life bearing the consequences of his impulsiveness.

While feeling lost and sad, he secretly rejoiced that his son was luckier than himself, and found a good woman who could take care of things like his mother. No, maybe, she could do more than her mother. She was like the logistics officer under Zhen'er, How good it can stand up to anything!
"Father—" Ma Min'er stepped forward and saluted as a daughter-in-law.

Xia Zetao nodded approvingly, and smiled slightly: "Go back."

"Yes, father." Ma Min'er followed behind him, a few steps away, maintaining the respect and distance that a junior should have.

There was still a short distance away from the tent, so she found a topic, "Father, how is little sister?"

Little sister?For a while, Xia Zetao really didn't realize it. He froze for a moment, then turned to look at his daughter-in-law, meaning, what are you asking?

"It's the little sister born to my mother!" Ma Min'er was embarrassed by the look, and thought to herself, is there something wrong?
"Oh..." Xia Zetao laughed, "She is in Liangzhou City with her mother."

"Can you call someone when you leave?" Ma Min'er didn't want to ask, but she really had nothing to say, so she could only greet her family. Although Xia Zhen's younger sister was only three months older than her son, even if she was younger than her son , in that generation, you have to be called sister-in-law.

Thinking of the scene of sister-in-law and nephew grabbing things when they live together in the future, for some reason, she couldn't help but want to laugh.

Xia Zetao probably also realized that his wife and daughter-in-law had a baby every year, and they couldn't hold back their faces. Fortunately, one was in the capital and the other was in Liangzhou, which avoided embarrassment.

A couple of daughters-in-law and daughters-in-law walked and chatted. They treated each other well from embarrassment to normality. After entering the account, Xia Zhen hugged her son in one hand, while the other hand was injured and drooping. Standing up, he called out, "Father—"

"sit down"

"Father, sit down."

Xia Zetao smiled while sitting, "Have Baxia offering today?"

"Yes, father, it's cold in winter, and Min'er said to eat something hot to keep him warm."

"Okay, thoughtful."

Although eating Baxia offerings, Ma Min'er asked Aunt Shan to make some meat dishes and put them on the table, and let the father and son have some wine, and she took her son to sit beside her and slowly accompanied them.

Halfway through the meal, the empty stomachs of the two of them finally stopped being hungry. They slowed down and chatted leisurely, "Zhen'er, I'm afraid I'm going to pass this year here."

Xia Zhen looked up at her father, "I want to go back to Liangzhou City."

"But the Chinese New Year is only 20 days away now, and it's hard to catch up now."

Xia Zhen pursed her lips, it was the truth, she paused for a moment, didn't say anything, and continued to pick up food, but Ma Min'er felt that he was not in a good mood.

Xia Zetao also felt that his son was in a bad mood, so he smiled lightly: "Don't worry too much, in fact, playing slowly will benefit our Xia family."

Xia Zhen raised her eyes and paused for a moment, and immediately understood the meaning of her father's words. Holding the wine glass, she wanted to put it down lightly, but it still fell heavily on the table.

"Zhen'er, you should understand what the sage means. Since ancient times, there has been a saying between emperors and ministers and good generals that 'flying birds are gone, good bows are hidden; cunning rabbits are dead, lackeys are cooking'. We have to accept the reality."

Xia Zhen sneered: "But now it's not one enemy, but three or four. His surname is Liu. He doesn't want to give out any money or food. He also wants to take over the military power of my Xia family after driving off the enemy. Seeing that he can't take it back, he I really want the enemy to consume our strength..." I couldn't continue, picked up the wine glass and drank the wine inside.

Ma Min'er secretly sighed, this is the system of monarchs and ministers in the feudal dynasty, the emperor was afraid that the generals with heavy troops would pose a threat to him, so he really racked his brains!
"Eat vegetables, it will be cold if you don't eat." Ma Min'er reminded them to eat quickly.

"Yes, eat vegetables." Xia Zetao put away his sad mood, life must go on, let's move forward slowly.

-

Once again, the princes and princes of the Jin and Liao countries were in a tie with the people of the Wei Dynasty. Now they are relying on war-wounded war horses to satisfy their hunger. If this continues, they may eat up all the war horses.

"I've already sent a letter to my family, asking them to bring sheep and cattle over."

Prince Jin looked up at the other party, "Brother Li, is he ready for a long fight?"

"If we don't fight back Xia, we won't be able to take Liangzhou City. If we don't take Liangzhou, this year's battle will be in vain." Li Shenghao's eagle-like eyes are very dark.

"We grabbed two seasons this year, but we didn't get any food. It's really dissatisfying."

"What is there to be dissatisfied with? One is Yizhou Prefecture, the other is Liangzhou Prefecture, and there are almost no other places that produce grain. But these two places, one is the headquarters of the Xia family, we can't get through it at all, and the other is Xiajiaxin. In addition to being guarded by heavily guarded base camps, Liangzhou Xinfu City is surrounded by mountains on three sides, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, making people helpless."

"Brother Li's words are very true." The golden prince Yelu Haorong was also very depressed, deep in his heart he really wanted to fight the opponent, but he had nowhere to start.

Jin Luya sat beside Yelu Haorong, with her head slightly lowered, adding wine and vegetables for him from time to time, listening to their conversations with ears, analyzing how far they had fought with the Great Wei Dynasty, but in the end there was no progress at all. She listened anxiously.

Yelu and Li knew what they were going to do, after drinking a few cups, they didn't dare to be greedy, so they asked the servants to withdraw the wine and tore up the mutton specially provided for them.

"Actually, we almost succeeded that day, and we were able to grab their food. Even if we couldn't grab it, we could set them on fire."

"Looks like we'll have to figure it out."

The two looked at each other and nodded at each other, as if they had formed a tacit understanding. With just one look, they could understand what the other party wanted to do.

Because there was going to be a war, he left when the meal was almost finished. Li Shenghao said: "I'll go back and do the math again. If brother Yelu has something to do, you can tell me as before. We can discuss it together, and the chances of winning are great."

"Okay." Today it was the turn of the Third Prince of Liao to go to Yelu Haorong's camp to discuss matters, and he got up to see him off, "Brother Li, let's go."

"Brother Yelu, you're welcome, stay." Li Shenghao stepped out of the tent, mounted his horse and galloped away.

Jin Luya followed Yelu Haorong to the door of the tent, and when she saw the other party running away, Yelu Haorong turned her head, and she hurriedly saluted, "Your Highness—"

Yelu Haorong glanced at her. Although he had been on a tie with Xia Zhen, he knew that this woman was capable. The anger of the past few days was exhausted, and he felt much calmer. He stretched out his arms to wrap her arms around her shoulders. Xie, "Let's go, let's continue eating."

"Yes, Your Highness." The man treated him well again, Jin Luya relaxed his cautious heart and smiled sideways.

The women in the Wei Dynasty were quite attractive, their small faces were white, tender and smooth, Yelu Haorong couldn't help but reach out and touch them, "Master is happy, I have to take care of you tonight, do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Highness, it is my duty to serve you well."

"Haha..." Yelu Haorong raised his head and laughed loudly. After laughing, he turned his head and said, "Come on—"

"Your Highness—"

"Quickly count our troops and confirm how many people we have lost?"

"Yes, Your Highness, the little one will go to work right away."

"Well, let's go." Yelu Haorong's face was calm, he had to check his own strength and confirm the direction of walking below.

Back at the dinner table again, without outsiders, Jin Luya became more comfortable in serving her, with slender hands, holding on to the jug, pouring wine for Yelu Haorong, "Your Highness—please—"

Yelu Haorong took the wine glass and drank it down. She took the glass back and helped him fill it up again, "Your Highness, drink slowly, it's not easy to drink."

"What is not in the top, what are you afraid of, anyway, there will be no war today or tomorrow."

"Your Highness..." Jin Luya said with an ambiguous smile on the corner of his mouth, "What if you go to sneak attack again?"

"Go again?" Yelu Haorong narrowed his eyes when he was a little drunk.

"Yeah, Your Highness, you are tired, Ming Jin withdraws troops, what about the other party?"

Yelu Haorong stared at Jin Luya for a long time without moving.

-

People who are in a bad mood tend to get drunk, Xia Zhen is such a person, Ma Miner hurriedly prepared hangover soup for him, and asked him to drink it before going to bed.

Drunk people are as difficult to deal with as pigs. It took a quarter of an hour to take off Xia Zhen's shoes and socks, and then helped him take off his shirt and shirt... What a tiring word.

"Mother, it seems that he can't wash up tonight. Fortunately, it doesn't stink in winter, otherwise, the smell is good enough." After Ma Min'er said to herself, she wrung out a towel with water and wiped it for him. Served him in bed.

After leaving the tent, he said to Xiaowen, "Wake up at night, wake up Zian quickly if something happens."

"Yes, young lady, I understand."

Ma Min'er originally wanted to go back to her tent to take her son to sleep, but after thinking about it, she was worried and found Zhang Nianmei, "Brother, have you eaten yet?"

(End of this chapter)