Chapter 436: Blood Sausage, Pig Trotters, and Misreported Military Intelligence

These few battles were all "must win, cannot lose," with tight time, heavy tasks, and dangers abounding.

However, regarding this long-range raid, no one present had any objections. General Nanke immediately said: "If old Huyan were still alive, Xi Ji would be hard to deal with; now that he's dead, Huyan Zhao is busy consolidating power, so Xi Ji must be in chaos. If we arrive within seven days, we will definitely be able to catch them off guard. Heh, the capital of Xi Ji is still close to the western line, which is convenient for us to harvest. I remember old Huyan wanted to move the capital east before, but the ministers opposed it, and he had to give up in the end."

Zhong Shengguang inserted small flags onto the sand table: "General Nanke has already stated the enemy's disadvantages, now let's talk about their advantages."

The crowd brainstormed and discussed, stating the troop distribution and general characteristics of Xi Ji, then discussed the choice of raid routes, the order of attack, and then the defense tasks around Panlongcheng during the troop deployment...

Wen Daolun also emphatically analyzed Huyan Zhao, the future Emperor of Xi Ji, and his personality and temper. After all, this was the true opponent of Panlongcheng in this battle.

Finally, they even talked about the weather in Xi Ji for the next few days.

When He Lingchuan heard General Hong mention leading the army to Xi Ji at the meeting, he shivered.

History had finally returned to the track he was familiar with! He had heard before that Panlongcheng attacked the small country of Xi Ji in the east, but as for why they attacked and how they attacked, later generations didn't understand, only knowing that this war came without any warning.

Now, he was about to observe it from the perspective of a participant.

After hearing his retelling, the members of the Broken Blade Squad were all eager to try, and Alo also nodded: "The Jin Xi Corridor is too dangerous, the lives of millions of people cannot be pinned on the enemy's mercy. It's better to fight for the road yourself, which is the most comfortable to walk."

He Lingchuan smiled: "That's exactly the truth. We are just an advance squad, I estimate that before the army sets off, Commander Zhong will notify the whole city and explain these pros and cons clearly."

"The Huyan family built the Xi Ji Nation, originally having several fierce generals and receiving help from the Baling Nation, indeed choking our road back east. But their luck was not good. In the past ten years, old generals fell one after another, and the newcomers were not enough to shoulder the burden alone, so the national strength gradually weakened. Now old Huyan is dead, it is truly a heaven-sent opportunity, how can we not take it?"

Menban interjected: "Oh, no need to say so many big principles, as long as Commander Zhong says we are going to attack Xi Ji, it will definitely be cheers from the whole city, strongly supporting it!"

Everyone laughed.

Hu Min suddenly asked the newly joined teammate: "Old Yu, tell us about your skills?"

"Me?" Old Yu touched his head, a bit shy, "I don't have any other skills, I'm just good at getting close to wild beasts and monsters, and communicating well with them."

"Beast tamer?" Liutiao said with a surprise, "Very rare."

For this kind of cultivation method, talent is more important than diligence. Otherwise, if you are a person without an affinity constitution, no matter how you fake a smile, strange wild beasts won't like you.

Old Yu laughed: "I usually stationed on the plateau, this time I was transferred back by General Hong to execute the mission, I hope everyone will give me more advice."

Several hours later.

Xi Ji western mountainous area, Longhou Pass.

The sky was getting late, and the Xi Ji military camp started cooking, the aroma drifting all the way to the top of the gate wall.

The soldiers responsible for observation and vigilance swallowed their saliva, starting to calculate the shift change time.

"Heard there's wild boar meat today, a big pig of three or four hundred jin, when can we go down to eat?"

Although it was early summer, it was still very cold in the mountains at night.

"Those two bastards changing shifts must have eaten their fill down there before coming up, all the good meat was eaten by them."

"Why don't we just go down? Grab two pieces of meat first."

The sentry hesitated: "This isn't good, right? What if we get discovered..."

"It's past the shift change time, those two bastards aren't punctual!" Another person was angry, "If there's a penalty, it's their penalty. Oh, I see blood sausage! Who is such a genius to know how to stuff blood sausage?"

The sound of swallowing saliva immediately grew louder.

The few people on the wall couldn't hold back anymore, jumping down in three steps to grab meat to eat.

The meat in the pot was just cooked, ribs and loin were definitely sent to the officer's tent, and the rest depended on who the cook had a better relationship with.

Sure enough, their skipping duty wasn't discovered.

Watching the good meat fly away from the pot, the three queuing up were secretly anxious.

Finally, it was their turn: "Blood sausage, blood sausage, want blood sausage!"

"Who wants blood sausage, I want pig trotters!"

The cook responsible for giving meat smiled without smiling, giving them blood sausage near the binding position, and for the guy who wanted pig trotters, he gave a piece of spine.

The kind with eighty percent bone and twenty percent meat.

"Hey hey, this meat is too little."

The cook glared: "It's good enough that you get any, get lost, don't block the people behind!"

These people walked away dejectedly, but were happy again when they sat down to gnaw on the meat.

It was really fragrant, they hadn't had meat for half a month.

Not to mention this was fresh meat, fresh pork slaughtered this afternoon! "Heard the Emperor just passed away, those nobles in the capital also have to be vegetarian for three days."

"Is that so?" The one gnawing on the big bone said vaguely, "Then they don't eat as comfortably as we do."

"Are you a pig brain, can the powerful eat worse than us big-headed soldiers?" The third person sneered, "I heard they all have small kitchens at home, getting up in the middle of the night to cook for themselves. Big pig trotters, eat as much as you want, blood sausage, eat as much as you want!"

"Alright alright, eat quickly, go up after eating." The first one was eating blood sausage, the portion was really small, he finished it in two or three bites, and was smacking his lips, "Don't let the shift changers discover we skipped duty. Then we'll get five more boards."

They finished eating quickly, licked the bowls clean, and were about to touch their guns to go on duty, when suddenly they heard a "Boom" sound from behind—

Everyone heard it, turned their heads, and were stunned.

On the beacon tower, flames suddenly ignited fiercely! And it was four beacons firing in a row, which was outrageous. This was the specification for lighting beacons when encountering a large-scale enemy invasion.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!" Someone shouted desperately, and the whole camp was in chaos, with whistles and gongs ringing non-stop.

Many soldiers were still holding rice bowls in their hands, their first reaction wasn't to throw away the bowls and pick up weapons, but to take the opportunity to eat a few more mouthfuls.

Such fragrant wild boar meat, how wasteful if they didn't eat more? Which bastards of enemies had to choose to attack when everyone was eating meat?

The Longhou Ridge garrison commander gave up the meat in his bowl, strode out and said: "Sentry, come down and report!"

The sentry didn't issue an alarm, why did the beacon tower ignite instead?

Countless eyes focused on the pass city wall.

But it was empty, not a single shadow.

Those three sentries hadn't gone up yet.

"What's going on up there!" The garrison commander was shocked, thinking those three sentries had been killed by someone, the opponent was powerful! He was also very nervous: "Full combat readiness! Send someone up, quickly!"

Longhou Ridge was the first pass of Xi Ji Nation in the west, facing the pressure of Panlongcheng. Because Xi Ji Nation was a new country that had just split from the Western Luo Nation not long ago, its relationship with Panlongcheng wasn't very good.

Panlong Army's name was loud, putting great pressure on the garrison here, although they had never invaded.

But the garrison commander immediately linked the Emperor's death with the enemy invasion.

Was the opponent trying to take advantage of the situation?

At this time, several people pushed the three sentries over: "They didn't die, they just slipped down to eat meat privately!"

In the firelight reflected by the beacon tower, the three were trembling.

The garrison commander was furious.

The soldiers who climbed the wall pass looked into the mountains for a long time before leaning down and shouting: "No situation. It's a false alarm!"

A false alarm? The garrison commander was half-believing.

It was possible for sentries to misreport, but how could the beacon tower ignite by mistake? Who would throw fire into it?

The garrison commander had to say hurriedly: "Extinguish the beacon tower, extinguish it!"

The soldiers were in a hurry to put out the fire.

The problem was that this beacon tower was specially designed, and even the fuel was specially made. Once ignited, it immediately became a raging fire, but it was extra difficult to extinguish.

This design was to prevent the enemy from quickly extinguishing the beacon tower, causing the signal not to be transmitted.

The garrison commander could only find a spellcaster to stop the fierce mountain wind, and then ordered the soldiers to pour bags of sand placed behind the pass onto the beacon tower. Because all four beacon stoves were lit, the fire was particularly vigorous, and it took thirteen or fourteen trips back and forth before the fire gradually extinguished.

During this period, the sentry pointed to the east and said: "The beacons of Longji Pass are also lit."

The meaning of connected beacons was that Longhou Ridge was the first stick, and as long as the beacons were lit here, every beacon tower to the east would immediately light up.

Four beacons were lit here, and four beacons were transmitted to the east, without any mistake.

After leaving Longji Pass, Xi Ji was almost all plains, and it would reach the capital after transmitting a few more beacon towers.

The garrison commander's heart went cold, and he had to find someone to gallop to the capital to say it was a false alarm.

Of course, how could galloping horses be faster than beacon transmission? Not to mention the rugged mountain roads.

Just half an hour later, the news of a large-scale invasion by the Western enemy reached the Xi Ji Palace. Huyan Zhao, the crown prince who had not yet ascended the throne, woke up and hurriedly ordered the whole army to prepare for battle.

Someone said: "No cannon sounds heard."

According to regulations, one beacon one cannon, four beacons four cannons, these were all rules. After lighting the beacons, the pass tower had to follow up with cannon fire to avoid accidental ignition and misreporting, misleading decision-making.

But the beacon tower hadn't been lit for many years, and no one knew the situation at Longhou Ridge. The Royal Court still prepared overnight and sent people to gallop to the west to investigate.

It wasn't until the afternoon of this day that the news from Longhou Ridge finally arrived:

False alarm.

The cause is unknown and is under investigation.

Huyan Zhao was furious.

It was already tiring enough to keep vigil for his father during the day, and he had to be woken up at night, sleeping with his spear until dawn!

Investigate, investigate strictly!

Punish, punish strictly!

Originally, the penalties for late reporting and misreporting of beacon towers were extremely severe.

Longhou Ridge didn't find the cause in the end, and could only catch the three unlucky sentries to take the blame, so these three were beheaded.

The crown prince originally wanted to chop off the garrison commander's head, but the ministers pleaded for mercy, so it was changed to thirty boards and demotion by one level.

Those thirty boards were not easy to bear. Although the punishment was received at Longhou Pass, the crown prince specially sent palace envoys to supervise, and the small soldiers executing the punishment didn't dare to be light-handed. After receiving those thirty boards, the garrison commander felt that half of his soul had flown away, and he could only lie in bed to recover.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 437 =====