The Red Mansions Across the Four Seas

Chapter 597 Looks like a war is about to be fought
Two days after setting off from Guanxiangtun, Baochai and his party arrived at Heishuitun.

From here, you will enter the grassland.

It is getting late now, and we will camp outside Heishuitun village tonight.

The yurt has been set up, and the team started to cook.

The firewood was bought from local people, and when the fire was lit, they started to burn the charcoal they brought.

Now there is heavy snow everywhere, and you can often see people along the way, and you can also buy some dry firewood and straw.If we go further and reach the pastoral area, the fire there will be full of cow dung, and there will be no firewood and stalks.

Leng Ding got there, and the cow dung was nowhere to be found.Once in this situation, even if you don't freeze to death, you will get frostbite.It is necessary to march with some charcoal.

Wisteria and green radish brought in a pot of charcoal fire, and the yurt gradually became warm.

The yurts were all brought from Beihai. Although they were relatively thick, they still couldn't withstand the severe cold in the twelfth lunar month.If you don't light a fire at night, you can't sleep.

As soon as the charcoal fire was put down, Miaoyu, Daiyu, Shi Xiangyun, Tanchun, and Yingchun gathered around to enjoy the fire.

"Hey, this damn weather is even colder than Beihai."

Daiyu was shivering from the cold, she kept rubbing her hands together, and occasionally moved her hands to her mouth to breathe.

"Where did Xichun go?"

Tanchun looked around, but did not see Xichun.

"I'm going to set up a guard post with Tamara."

"Where's Sister Bao?"

"I'm checking the car."

Just as he was talking, Baochai came in.

"Oh, it's still warm in your room, but mine is like an icehouse."

As soon as Baochai entered the room, she went to the brazier.

"I saw that from now on, we sisters will all live in a yurt. It will be warmer and save some charcoal. We may be able to go back someday in the future."

"Sister Bao is right. Save more charcoal so that you can bring it to Brother Min. I wonder if he has any charcoal now?"

Yingchun spoke with a worried tone.

"Don't worry, Yingchun, there are so many people at Brother Min's place, they won't freeze him. They always have a way."

Someone knocked on the door and welcomed them in. It turned out to be Jiao Li and Liu Cheng.

"I just went to the village to inquire. Chief Min and the others did pass here. There are still four hundred miles from here to Hongshan. If we go fast, we may arrive in seven or eight days. I just don't know if they are still there. There?"

Jiao Li introduced to Baochai.

"If they had fought there, they wouldn't be there now."

Baochai made a guess.

"It depends on what Chief Min is planning. If he wants to withdraw his troops, he should have come here by now."

"The Chinese New Year is coming soon. Does Fourth Brother Min really not want to come back for the Chinese New Year?"

Tanchun asked tentatively.

"It must be that they don't want to come back. Besides, the Mogu people will not let them go easily. Liu Cheng, how is the guide?"

"I've found it. It's two cobblers. They have been to the Mogu Grassland before and are very familiar with it. There is another thing. According to the two cobblers, if you go any further, there will be horse thieves."

"Horse thief? Did you say how many there are?"

"There are several groups of horse thieves, the largest one has 60 to [-] people, very fierce."

"Do horse thieves have firearms?"

"There are only a few firecrackers, most of which are bows, arrows and sabers."

"Miaoyu, marching tomorrow, can you go a little further to scout?"

"Of course it can. Tomorrow, we will let go ten miles away. If we encounter horse thieves, we will attract them and destroy them on the spot."

"Yes, let them have a good taste of the power of our firearms."

Shi Xiangyun clenched his small fist, looking eager to try.

"Shi Daha, do you dare to kill someone?"

"Why don't you dare, isn't it like killing a chicken? Even Xichun dared to kill, but I would not? Yingchun, haven't you killed anyone before?"

"Forget it, you don't have to argue at this time. When it comes to an emergency, you have to kill him if you don't want to. If you don't kill him, he will kill you. You can't be polite."

"Miaoyu, you are leading troops to fight, tell me, where will Fourth Brother Min be at this time?"

Hearing Baochai's question, everyone stopped talking and looked at Miaoyu.

"Fourth Brother Min uses his troops like a god, how would I know? However, Fourth Brother Min has not withdrawn his troops at this time, I think he still wants to fight with the Mogu people. Didn't it mean that there are horse thieves? They should be well-informed. If they meet I’ve killed the horse thief, and I’ll catch two captives for interrogation, and maybe I’ll get some news. The rest is to inquire while walking. But the front is the border of the Mogu people, I’m afraid they won’t tell us the truth.”

"It doesn't matter if you don't tell the truth. When the time comes, ask a few more people and verify each other, and you will always come up with the truth. Jiao Li, in the past few days, I will collect more people's opinions."

While talking, Ying'er, Wisteria and other maids and soldiers brought food.

Jiao Li and Liu Cheng withdrew, and the girls began to eat.

The staple food is steamed buns, which are all steamed in Shengjing. After being thoroughly heated in a large pot, they are almost the same as freshly steamed buns.

Non-staple food is a dish, dried cabbage and vermicelli, with a few slices of meat inside.

The weather is cold in winter, and I can’t even bring cabbage and potatoes. I put it in the car for a day, and it freezes.On the other hand, dried cabbage and vermicelli are not afraid of freezing, do not take up much space, and are light in weight, making them more suitable for marching in the field.

Miaoyu and Daiyu have long been used to this kind of food.

Although other people had suffered hardships on the road from the imperial capital to Beihai, it was not as difficult as it was.However, it is already very good to be able to eat such a meal at this time.

I'm so hungry, everything tastes delicious.

In the past, all of them were the daughters of the mansion, and their meals and teas were all exquisite.Especially Daiyu, who used to eat only a little bit of each meal and stopped eating.After following Jia Min from Beihai, no one cared about her except Zijuan and Xueyan, and finally she got used to eating big pot meals.

Now that she is devouring her food, how can she still look like the delicate and weak sick Xi Shi in the past?
A cool wind blows, and Tamara and Xichun come back.

Xichun's personal soldiers entered the painting and the color screen served food for the two of them, and there were no tables and chairs, so the two of them squatted on the ground and ate like everyone else.

Here the girls are in a group, and there is a group of servant girls and soldiers. The food is also the same. They are all used to it, and no one finds it strange.

After eating, everyone discussed together for a while, and then spread a blanket to sleep.Although there are quilts, they all sleep with clothes on.

Everyone huddled together, one by one, moved the brazier aside, and the guards took turns to watch the night, adding some charcoal from time to time.

At Xu time, Miaoyu went out to patrol around and check the sentry post.When it was Haishi, Tamara went out to check again.

For the rest of the night, Liu Cheng and Jiao Li were in charge, going out to check the guard post from time to time.

The next day, after eating at Maoshi, we continued our journey.At this time, the field is covered with heavy snow, and there are only a few ruts on the road.

However, I have gotten used to this kind of road in the past two days, and the vehicles will go on the road as usual.

At this time, it was already dawn, and some villagers in Heishuitun stood outside the village, watching this strange team leave with curious eyes.

They have sometimes seen teams before, but those teams are very different from this team.

When those teams arrived in the village, they drove the villagers out and occupied their houses. This team did not enter the village, but just camped outside the village. This was the first time we saw it.

Miaoyu led a dozen scouts to explore the way ahead, and Mi Tianci, one of the two guides, followed him.Another guide, Mi Tianbao, followed the large group.

In order to hurry, I didn’t stop to cook at noon. In the morning, each person was handed out a steamed bun, and each of them carried it in their arms so that they wouldn’t freeze. If they ate the steamed bun at noon, it was considered lunch.

After walking for a long time, I didn't see anyone.At three o'clock in the afternoon, Miaoyu noticed two cavalry coming from the opposite side, and they immediately loaded up some furs, which seemed to be dealers who were messing around with fur.

Walked to the opposite side, didn't say a word, just nodded and passed.

"Mi Tianci, have you met these two people?"

Miaoyu asked.

"I haven't seen it before. It seems that they are not from this area. I know most of the leather dealers here."

"Do you think they look like horse thieves?"

"Miss Miaoyu, you have small eyesight, so you can't tell."

"I've seen a lot of leather dealers, and their bodies are usually full of greasy. The clothes of these two people seem to be too clean, and there is no fishy smell on their bodies. Isn't it a bit strange?"

"Hey, Ms. Miaoyu, it's true if I ask you to say that. They really don't look like skin dealers."

"Wisteria, Luluo, you two turn around and pass them, tell Miss Bao to pay attention to these two people."

"Miss, why bother, just shoot them to death."

Wisteria and Luluo have been with Miaoyu for a long time, and they are used to killing people.

"They may be spies for horse thieves, or they may not. Don't startle the snake. Go."

Wisteria and Luluo left, while Miaoyu led the people to continue searching slowly.

At 03:30 in the afternoon, Miaoyu arrived at Woniugang.

There are no houses around here, and when the team behind arrives, it will be dark, Miaoyu decides to camp here tonight.

According to Mi Tianci, he has traveled more than 80 miles today. This speed is not too slow for the transportation team.

After half an hour, the convoy arrived, so we started camping.

There are no tall trees here, and there is not much wood to pull on the car, and it is cold in winter, and there is no fence to erect, so as usual, the camp is surrounded by vehicles.

As usual, the girls gathered in a yurt and chatted together.

Miaoyu and Tamara were outside, directing the construction of the yurt and cooking.The two didn't return to the yurt until dinner was served here.

While eating, Jiao Li and Mi Tianci came in.

"The two people I saw during the day just passed by here."

"Oh, it's getting dark, why don't you hurry?"

Baochai immediately became suspicious.

"We pretended to let them stay here for one night. They said that home is not far away, and they will be home in a short time."

"Mi Tianci, how far is the nearest house here?"

Miaoyu asked.

"It's at least fifty or sixty miles. It's a little unusual for them to travel like this at night. If they encounter wolves, they will be in trouble. People on the grassland generally don't travel at night like this."

"Sister Bao, it seems that we are going to fight tonight."

Miaoyu said with a smile.

"Just hit it, what should come will always come."

Baochai said something lightly, and continued to eat.

(End of this chapter)