Chapter Eleven: The Food Crisis

  Yue Yun returned to the main camp and once again devoted himself to intense martial arts training. He knew that as the commander of the Bei Wei army, he might be sent into battle at any moment, and if he didn't quickly recall and master those fragmented memories of his martial skills, he would probably die on the battlefield before he could even report to Feng Bo Ting.

  He vaguely remembered that he used to use a set of gun techniques, which seemed to be taught by his father Yue Fei, who in turn learned from his master Zhou Tong. After years of actual combat experience, Yue Fei improved and wrote the gun technique into a secret book called "Yue Family Gun Technique". In the military camp, only he and Yue Lei were taught the full set, while other generals only knew half of it, but a few simple and direct moves were taught to the soldiers of the Bei Wei army.

  Yue Fei did not promote it throughout the army, reportedly because he was worried that if it were leaked out, it would spread to the Jin State and be learned by the Jin army, which would be detrimental to the Song army.

  Yue Yun thought to himself, in the Battle of Yanjing, he was able to lead the Beiwei army to a frontal victory over the Jin army's most elite troops, the Tie Fugui and Guaizi Ma units, and this must have had something to do with the spread of these shooting techniques throughout the military.

  However, at present, Yue Fei is busy to the point of being unable to take a break, so it's impossible for him to come and guide Yue Yun in recalling his shooting skills. Therefore, the heavy responsibility naturally fell on Second Brother Yue Lei again.

  On a vacant lot beside the big camp of the Bei Wei army, Yue Yun Zheng was half squatting with his legs wide apart in a horse stance, practicing the Yue Family Spear Technique under the guidance of Yue Lei.

  "Big brother, stand up straight! Gun level! Eyes on the front, body don't sway......" Yue Lei gazed at Yue Yun's movements and constantly corrected his mistakes.

  All he could recall was that poor Yue Yun really couldn't remember much, and Yue Lei basically had to teach him from scratch, which made him sigh in frustration.

  "Alright! Now let's start with the thrusting technique!" Yue Lei shouted: "Big brother, put your left hand in front and your right hand behind, grip the gun handle tightly... aim at the target and thrust out fiercely, this is called the Middle Flat Thrust! It's the most basic move in the Yue family spear technique!"

  This move, Zhong Ping Ci, is also one of the three major killing moves practiced by every soldier in the Bei Wei army. Although it looks simple, it actually contains the essence of gun intent.

  "Hey!"

  "Hah!"

  Yue Yun began to repeatedly practice the "Middle Piercing Thrust". He felt that his internal strength had increased significantly compared to yesterday. It seemed that as he practiced his spear techniques, his physical strength was slowly recovering. Although he had not yet recovered to the level of his former self, who could charge in and out of the Golden Army's formation with ease, he was much better than before. Moreover, the longer he practiced, the more fragments of spear technique memories seemed to emerge in his mind.

  Two hours later, Yue Yun was already sweating profusely, yet he continued.

  Yue Lei saw that he had basically grasped the essentials, and then said: "Alright! Big brother, I think you've fully mastered the first move 'Middle Flat Stab'. Let's start practicing the second move - Slanting Lift Stab. You hold the gun handle tightly in the same posture as 'Middle Flat Stab', then slantingly lift and stab upwards, mainly aiming at the enemy's face..."

  For five consecutive days, Yue Yun was practicing day and night, often until deep into the night. Several times, even Yue Lei couldn't bear to watch him anymore and advised him to rest before he finally stopped. Originally, he had some impression of the Yue family's spear technique, but with such hard practice, his martial arts skills improved significantly in these five days.

  What surprised Yang Yun even more was that this body's strength far surpassed his previous life as a small white-collar worker in the city. He could easily lift a 500-jin heavy boulder and with a fierce thrust of his spear, he could even pierce through tree trunks as thick as a bowl.

  He only deeply realized now that Yue Yun was called the bravest of the three armies, and got the title of "winning official", it's really not a cover-up. With this physical quality, I estimate that even if he returned to his previous life, he could easily knock down Tyson, the boxing king of America.

  But in Yue Lei's view, he is still far from recovering to his previous level. Now, let alone beating himself, I'm afraid even Niu Tong and Guan Ling are not opponents, and can only win some ordinary team leaders of the Bei Wei army.

  However, considering that his brother had amnesia and could recall so much now was already quite good. Moreover, he had just recovered from a serious illness and yet practiced shooting with such diligence, his perseverance made him also extremely admire.

  At this moment, Yue Yun was holding the bright silver spear and practicing horse riding and charging. Although he has started to gradually recall some of the memories and consciousness of this body in the past, after all, it is too fragmented. His gun skills are quite familiar, but his riding skills can only be said to be barely passable, let alone archery.

  Although Yue Lei thought he was just recovering from a serious illness and his body had not recovered, he advised him not to practice so desperately. However, Yue Yun did not dare to relax at all, he could clearly remember that as the commander of the Beiyuan Army, the combat missions he undertook in history were all the most difficult and arduous. If he didn't quickly regain his martial arts skills, he might die on the battlefield.

  Yu Lei looked at his big brother, who was sweating profusely as he practiced his marksmanship in front of him, and then glanced up at the sunset above. He couldn't help but say: "Big brother, take a break, okay? You've been practicing all day, and you're still recovering from your illness. It's not good for you to be doing such intense activities!"

  He was also drenched in sweat at this time.

  "Alright! Let's take a seat for a while!" At this time, Yue Yun was also exhausted. During this period, he had truly integrated himself into the collective of the Yue Family Army and began to have feelings for its generals and soldiers. As his emotions deepened, he increasingly wanted to preserve the Yue Family Army and avoid the tragic fate of Yue Fei.

  Just then, a messenger rushed over on horseback to report to Yue Yun that the general had another important matter to discuss with him.

  Yue Yun entered the commander's tent with a lot of doubts, but saw that except for Yue Fei, only he, Zhang Xian, Niu Gao, Tang Huai, Wang Gui, Zhang Xian and Li Ruoxu were present. It seemed to be a small-scale meeting.

  After Yue Yun sat down, Li Ruoxu began to explain. After his explanation, Yue Yun finally understood the reason.

  It turned out that the news of the army's withdrawal to the south had already spread, and many civilians came from nearby areas. Zhuxiantown was already overcrowded, so these civilians set up simple tents outside the Yuejiajun military camp, waiting to return south with the troops.

  However, most of the refugees did not bring much food with them, and the food supplies of the Yue Family Army were only enough for themselves. The local people in Zhu Xian Town had been ravaged by war for many years and had little stored grain left. Therefore, the shortage of food became a pressing problem. Now even if the Yue Family Army wanted to buy food locally with money, they couldn't get any.

  "Gentlemen, this matter is not trivial. If we cannot quickly alleviate the food shortage problem, it will not only affect the morale of our troops and the people, but may also invite an attack from the Jin army, which would make things even more troublesome." Li Ruoxu repeatedly warned. This was also the reason why they didn't dare to let too many people participate in this meeting.

  Yue Yun noticed that Yue Fei's face also looked very unsightly, apparently he had also underestimated the number of civilians who came.

  Li Ruoxu saw the shocked expressions of everyone, and slowly shook his fan, saying: "Actually, as long as our grain can be increased by one month, it will be much easier. Now it's already the end of July, and in two months it will be harvest time. When the grain from nearby states is collected, it will be enough for the army and civilians to retreat. However, currently our military's grain is only enough for ourselves to eat, but the people who come from all over are gathering around us more and more, once they finish eating their own food, whether our military should rescue them or not has become a big problem!"

  He paused for a moment, then continued: "Not to provide relief would be unbearable for us, and it would also tarnish the reputation of our army. But if we do provide relief, our military rations will not even be enough for us to retreat..."

  Zhang Xuan furrowed his brow, and immediately said: "Li Junshi, haven't we been stationed in the Jingzhou area all these years? I remember that before this expedition, there were about 800,000 stones of grain stored in Xiangyang. If we let the rear army send this batch of food over, can't we alleviate this crisis?"

  Li Ruoxu shook his head and said, "As early as a month ago, I sent a fast horse back to request that the grain be transported up quickly, but for some reason, the governor of Xiangyang, Tian Shizhong, has not transported the grain up."

  Zhang Xian suddenly fell silent. Xiangyang was the basic rear base of Yue's northern expedition this time, and most of the grain and grass of Yue's army were stored here.

  Tian Shizhong used to be under Zhang Jun, and had served as the military governor of Yingzhou. Half a year ago, he was transferred to Xiangyang, where his performance was quite satisfactory. At the beginning of this northern expedition, Tian also worked diligently, but over the past month, his behavior has been very abnormal, often disobeying Yue Fei's orders in secret. However, as the military governor of Xiangyang appointed directly by the Bureau of Military Affairs, even Yue Fei had no authority to remove him from office.

  Li Ruoxu continued, "The commander has called everyone here to arrange for the procurement of grain and fodder. We must try to alleviate the food shortage problem within next month, otherwise we won't be able to wait for the new orders from the imperial court, and we will all perish."

  Yue Yun knew as soon as he heard this that Yue Fei had already decided to rescue the common people. In such a critical situation, he was willing to use military rations to help these refugees, which is almost unheard of among military leaders of this era. Yue Yun thought to himself that even if he were in Yue Fei's position, he might not have been able to make such a decision.

  At the risk of his own army possibly starving due to lack of food, and even facing mutiny, he went to rescue civilians who were unrelated to him. This can truly be called a great hero or even a saint. No wonder Yue Fei was revered as "Wu Sheng" (Martial Saint) in later generations.

  Niu Gao heard the current situation and said in a loud voice: "Why do the Commander-in-Chief and the Military Advisor have to worry about this matter? Niu Gao is not talented, willing to lead a team of horses back to Xiangyang to urge the discussion of grain, if he cannot safely transport the grain to Zhuxiantown, he will be punished by military law!"

  Yue Fei and Li Ruoxu both furrowed their brows upon hearing this. They knew Niu Gao all too well - he was a fierce warrior, but also had a violent temper. Letting him lead the charge into battle might be acceptable, but putting him in charge of rushing grain supplies was probably not a good idea.

  Yue Fei was about to refuse when Tang Huai smiled slightly and nodded in agreement, saying: "If you want to pursue the grain, Brother Niu is actually a good candidate. Tian Shizhong's temperament is relatively clear-cut, he's a bully who takes advantage of the weak and fears the strong. If we speak nicely to him, he might not even take us seriously. It's likely that only someone as fierce and intimidating as Brother Niu can scare him into submission."

  Niu Gao burst out laughing and asked again, "Marshal, Military Advisor, what do you think? Even Tang brothers said that old Niu is the most suitable for this task! If old Niu can't escort the grain here, I'll behead myself!"

  Yue Fei and Li Ruoxu exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves: If that's the case, it wouldn't be bad to send Niu Gao either. However, he is indeed reckless in his actions, and the matter of provisions is not something to be taken lightly.

  Niu Gao saw that Yue Fei was still hesitating, so he opened his big mouth and shouted: "If you're afraid that I, Old Niu, will make a mistake, then let Tang Huai go with me! The two of us can go together to ask Tian Shizhong for military rations. Shouldn't you feel at ease then?"

  Yue Fei thought for a moment after hearing the news, and felt that letting Tong Hua, who was careful and cautious in doing things, and Niu Gao, who was rough and careless, work together would also be a good choice. He nodded his head in agreement: "Alright! Niu Gao, Tong Hua, you two will lead one thousand soldiers back to Xiangyang to urge the delivery of grain! But remember: don't get too stiff with Tian Shizhong! As long as the grain can be transported up here, don't make things difficult for them!" He repeatedly exhorted.

  Niú Gāo and Tāng Huái naturally agreed with their mouths full.

  Yue Fei acted decisively and immediately ordered Li Ruoxu to write a military order, which he signed and sealed before handing it over to Niu Gao and Tang Huai, instructing them to set out with the army at once.

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