xymnovel Chapter 465 Respect to the Great Chanyu! Respect to the Immortal Master
Chapter 465 Respect to the Great Chanyu! Respect to the Immortal Master
Upon hearing the immortal master's words, Touman Chanyu nodded, finding them somewhat reasonable.
But the two wise kings were still very anxious.
The Left Wise King stepped forward and said, "Great Chanyu, the Immortal Master's words are reasonable. However, the warriors of all tribes are gathered at the front line, and the consumption of cattle and sheep by people and horses is enormous every day!"
Winter is coming soon. If we continue to fight this stalemate with the Qin army, our lower-ranking tribes will not be able to hold out!
The Right Wise King echoed, "Indeed. We should take advantage of their pause and send out cavalry to raid them a few times, to find out their strength."
Touman Chanyu listened to the opinions from both sides and felt helpless.
He was well aware of the logistical pressures, but he dared not disobey the Immortal Master's plan, nor did he want to risk the lives of his tribe's warriors to confront the Qin army's heavily armored defensive formation.
"Alright, there's no need to argue anymore."
Touman Chanyu stood up and said loudly, "Pass on my order: the army at the front should hold the line as the Immortal Master instructed, and not make any rash moves."
To appease the generals in the tent, Touman Chanyu clapped his hands.
"Bring wine and meat!"
A group of Xiongnu maids carried in roasted lamb legs and bottles of mare's milk wine, and placed them on the tables of the various generals.
Touman Chanyu picked up a bowl of wine and loudly reassured everyone: "Gentlemen, the Qin army has suddenly stopped, which is a good thing! It means they are afraid!"
They knew the Wuyao River was difficult to cross, and they knew how formidable our Xiongnu warriors were!
The Chanyu took a sip of wine and a smile appeared on his face.
"Even if they rest for a few days and continue crossing the river, so what? The Immortal Master has devised a plan for us to break through the ice and cover our retreat. With the Immortal Master's strategy, as long as the Qin army dares to set foot on the ice, they will be swallowed by the river. At that time, they will suffer a crushing defeat!"
After hearing the Chanyu's words, the generals, though still somewhat apprehensive, could only suppress their anxiety upon seeing the wine and meat before them.
"The Great Chanyu is right, the Qin army is definitely afraid!"
"Homage to the Great Chanyu! Homage to the Immortal Master!"
……
For several days in a row, on the northern wilderness.
On the battlefield with over 100,000 soldiers, the Qin army and the Xiongnu seemed to have reached some kind of tacit balance, with both sides holding back their troops.
The Xiongnu cavalry did not charge south, and the three armies of the Qin Dynasty remained firmly rooted to the spot. Apart from occasional small-scale skirmishes between scouts in the buffer zone in the middle, the main force made no further moves.
The most unbearable part of this long standoff was for Luan Diyun, who was imprisoned in Zhang Fan's main tent.
As the commander-in-chief of the Xiongnu, how could she be willing to be a prisoner for the rest of her life?
In the past few days, Luan Diyun racked his brains and came up with all sorts of ways to sneak away.
She took advantage of a break when the guards brought her food to try and distract them by pretending to be sick.
Use a sharpened bone to cut the hemp rope tied around the ankle.
Even in the dead of night, under the dim light of the fire inside the tent, they would slowly crawl towards the edge of the tent, trying to squeeze out through the gaps at the bottom.
But reality dealt her a cruel blow.
Every time she thought she was about to succeed, before she could even touch the tent flap, Luo Ying and Luo Li would pull her back with smiles on their faces.
These two seemingly delicate maids were not only incredibly alert, but also surprisingly strong; catching her was as easy as an eagle catching a chick.
After being arrested seven or eight times and severely punished several times, Luan Diyun finally despaired and became completely obedient.
She understood that as long as the twins were around, she couldn't fly away even if she had wings.
"Since we can't escape, we'll eat you out of house and home!"
Driven by a vengeful, "what's the use" mentality, Luan Di Yun channeled his grief and anger into a voracious appetite.
Every time it was mealtime, when the ropes binding her hands were untied and she was allowed to eat, she would devour the meat without any regard for appearances, eating as if it were a whirlwind.
Zhang Fan sat behind his desk, looking helplessly at the Xiongnu woman in the corner of the tent who looked like a starving ghost reincarnated.
"With your appetite, you could eat the rations of three infantrymen in one meal in our Qin army," Zhang Fan shook his head.
However, Zhang Fan didn't feel bad about it.
Fortunately, the amount of grain transported by Meng Tian's army in the central route was enormous, including not only plenty of beef and mutton, but also potatoes.
These potatoes were easy to store and cold-resistant, making them the best food for the Qin army to survive the winter in the north.
As night fell, a cold wind howled outside the camp, and the temperature dropped below freezing.
With nothing else to do, Zhang Fan had a copper pot set up in the center of the tent, with a roaring charcoal fire burning underneath. He then invited Fusu and Mofeng to eat hot pot inside the tent.
The pot was bubbling with bright red chili oil, which was Zhang Fan's secret modern hot pot base.
Thinly sliced mutton, large chunks of beef, and diced potatoes were tossed and turned, filling the entire tent with their aroma.
On the other side, Luan Diyun, whose hands and feet had been freed, sat on a soft cushion in the corner. She was still gnawing on the dry roasted lamb leg in her hand when she smelled this aroma.
I'm so hungry for it!
She swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on the bubbling copper pot.
"What is this...? It smells so good!"
Luan Diyun felt an itch in his heart, and the roasted lamb leg in his hand suddenly tasted like nothing at all.
In the Xiongnu royal court, even at the Chanyu's state banquet, the food was nothing more than boiled meat in water with a little coarse salt. Where had they ever seen such a heavenly way of eating that was so delicious and visually appealing?
Beside the hot pot, Mo Feng, sporting two huge dark circles under his eyes, sat down unsteadily next to Zhang Fan.
As soon as he sat down, Mo Feng picked up his chopsticks and began sifting through the mountain of ingredients piled up beside him, shouting, "Immortal Master, is there anything highly nutritious? Where's that bull penis? Tonight I'm going to eat the whole thing!"
Looking at Mo Feng's weak appearance due to excessive indulgence!
Fusu, sitting opposite him, put down his chopsticks and sighed helplessly.
"Mo Feng, how dare you ask for bullwhip?"
Fusu frowned, his tone full of disappointment, "Under the guise of treating female prisoners well, you've dragged all the slightly attractive Xiongnu female prisoners of war you captured a few days ago into your own tent!"
Do you know that you haven't even gone to drills these past few days?
Fusu grew increasingly indignant as he spoke: "As the leader of the Mohist school, with a formidable enemy at hand, you're indulging in women! This is utterly immoral! If this gets back to Xianyang, those officials in the Censorate will surely impeach you!"
Zhang Fan listened to Fu Su's complaints and felt helpless.
He picked up a slotted spoon, scooped a large piece of beef tendon from the pot and threw it into Mo Feng's bowl, reminding him, "Mo Feng, Fu Su is right."
"You better watch yourself, kid. We're fighting a war, don't waste all your energy in bed. If you actually die on a woman's belly, how are you going to explain it to the Mohists!"
"Hehe, don't worry, Immortal Master, I know what I'm doing!"
Mo Feng readily agreed, but his mouth kept moving as he chewed the slices of meat covered in red oil, sweating profusely as he ate, exclaiming how satisfying it was.
Halfway through the meal, Mo Feng let out a burp, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over Luan Di Yun, who was huddled in the corner of the tent.