Chapter 52: Jindalai

  Jin Xiu bit her lip and whispered a few words to her mother, who shook her head.

  Jin Shu knelt down in front of Zhou Xuan Zhang: "Brother Zhou, please forgive me, I really can't say! Please believe us, we are really going to find Dad, they said my dad is in Pyongyang."

  Jin Xiu's voice was sorrowful and her tears fell like rain, Zhou Xuan Zhang sighed: "Then, can you tell me how old you are?"

  "You promise, just ask this one question." Jin Shu said, biting her lip.

  Zhou Xuanzhang smiled wryly and after a long time, Jin Shu actually set conditions for him.

  "Alright, I promise, just this one question."

  "I'm sixteen." A blush flew across Jin Shu's face.

  A sixteen-year-old girl, accompanied by her mother, searched the world for her father. Even someone with a heart of stone would be moved to tears.

  "Alright, follow me and I'll take you to Ping'an."

  Jin Shu burst into tears and laughed: "Thank you, Brother Zhou." The carbon ash on her face was washed away by tears, and Jin Shu's face became a flower-like face.

  "Crying and laughing at the same time, with a face full of gunpowder!" Zhou Xuan Zhang teased.

  Jin Shu's smile stopped abruptly: "Big Brother Zhou, you're bullying me!"

  "Sorry, sorry, I was just joking." Zhou Xianzhang didn't want to make Jin Shuang angry: "Ha ha, Yao Xi."

  "Agreed!"

  "Don't go back to the front outpost, just stay here and be responsible for protecting the safety of these two women." Although Na Ha Wu's military salute was like beckoning a dog, he was an old soldier after all, and his eyes were useful. Handing over Jin Xiu and her daughter to him seemed more reliable. Yao Xi was a new recruit, a former farmer, honest and timid, without the vicious habits of an old soldier, which also made Zhou Xuanzhang feel more at ease.

  Na Ha Wu and Yao Xi responded in unison, guarding Jin Shu and her mother's side. The patrol team set off, and soon they passed through the reeds and arrived at the riverbank.

  Song Qing had ordered the fleet to wait by the river, and as soon as Zhou Xianzhang's vanguard arrived, they boarded the ships immediately. Half an hour later, the entire vanguard crossed the Yalu River and set foot on Korean soil.

  Last night, Song Qing had already revealed his trump card to Zhang Xun and Zhou Xuanzhang. The three battalions under Zhang Xun's command were actually intended to rush to Yashan in the shortest possible time to reinforce the defenders of Yashan.

  So, Zhou Xuanzhang, as the vanguard of the Qing army entering Korea, landed and did not wait for Zhang Xun's main force to immediately march towards Uiju.

  According to the plan, Zhou Xuzhang should follow Zuo Baogui's route of advance, passing through Yizhou, Pingzhou, Pyongyang, Tianan and arriving at Asan. This road is mountainous and water-filled, and Korea does not have decent highways, making it extremely difficult for the army to march.

  Fortunately, Zhou Xuan Zhang's vanguard was the forefront of the army, advancing lightly with only five days' worth of dry rations and light weapons. The first day they marched eighty miles, arriving in Yizhou that night.

  However, after passing through Yizhou, the situation became increasingly disheartening.

  The vanguard marched through the endless mountains, with extremely rugged mountain roads. One moment it was a deep and bottomless cliff, and the next it was a rapid river. The troops suffered heavy physical losses, and what's worse, they saw the bodies of Qing soldiers and mules that had fallen to their deaths along the way, which greatly dampened their morale. The bodies were mutilated and terrifying, left behind by Zuo Baogui's troops, who had clearly paid a terrible price in the mountains of Korea.

  For four consecutive days, the vanguard had yet to leave the mountains, and the soldiers were already exhausted, but in front of them were still endless mountains, as if there was no end.

  It's almost dusk, the sun sets in the west, casting a red glow on the mountain ridge, with fiery clouds floating in the sky.

  It seems like we can only camp in the wilderness tonight.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang was anxious in his heart, the troops only brought five days of dry rations for lightening their load, four days had passed and the troops were still wandering in the mountains, morale had reached the brink of collapse, once they ran out of food, this vanguard might be buried in the midst of the mountains.

  Na Ha led a white horse, on which Jin Shu sat, while Yao Xi led a red horse carrying Jin Shu's mother. The two women still had carbon powder on their faces.

  Since entering the mountains, Jin's mother had been expressionless and silent. Jin, on the other hand, was getting more and more excited, constantly looking around from horseback, occasionally bursting into silvery laughter, only to be glared at by her mother and hastily compose herself.

  Na Ha Wu and Yao Xi, on the other hand, had a bitter look on their faces. The two of them led the horse, dragging their feet in deep and shallow steps. When they heard Jin Xiu's laughter, they opened their mouths to scold, but seeing Zhou Xian Zhang not far ahead, they could only spit out saliva and swallow back the filthy language that had reached their throats.

  "Watch out, uncle!" Jin Shu suddenly exclaimed from horseback.

  Na Ha was so frightened that he shuddered, hastily withdrawing his foot. On this mountain cliff, if one is slightly careless and steps into empty space, they will fall into the bottomless abyss and be smashed to pieces.

  Nahwufu lowered his head and took a look, but saw that the road under his feet was very flat and there was nothing wrong with it. Nahwufu shouted: "What's all the barking about!"

  "I'm afraid you'll trample on Jindalai, look, uncle, Jindalai is in bloom."

  At my feet was a cluster of white gentians, quietly blooming on the rugged mountain path.

  Na Ha's five elements didn't come together as one, and with one kick, he trampled Golden Lotus into a pulp: "I've been unlucky for eight lifetimes!"

  Yao Xi laughed and said, "Old Na, this is your fault. Someone kindly reminded you to cherish the beauty, but you didn't understand the situation, so you'll be single for the rest of your life."

  "What romance! Can this damned romance fill my belly? My grain sack is empty!" Na Ha Wu had a big appetite, and the dry rations for five days were finished in four days. He was now worried about what to eat today.

  "Lucky for you that you're a veteran," Yao Xi cursed: "I heard that you followed Zuo Zongtang to fight, don't you know how to save food?"

  "Laozi has never been to North Korea before, is this a place where his mother's people come from? Every day climbing mountains, even bringing ten days' worth of dry rations isn't enough to eat!"

  What Naha Wu said was true. The predecessor of this vanguard regiment was the army led by Zuo Zongtang, which was accustomed to fighting on plains and was very unfamiliar with mountainous terrain. Before departure, they carried dry rations according to their habit of fighting on plains. After entering the mountains, they found that the physical consumption in the mountains was huge, and the five-day dry rations could only support four days. Already half of the soldiers had run out of food.

  A hungry man has no taste for Gondolas.

  "Here you are, uncle," Jin Shu handed down a small piece of flatbread from the horseback, only half the size of an apple.

  Nahashi Wu grabbed a bun, swallowed it in one gulp without even chewing, and cursed with his mouth full: "You damn thing is killing me! Not eating was fine, but after swallowing this I'm even hungrier!" Nahashi Wu's stomach growled with hunger, but after eating half the bun, not only did it not alleviate his hunger, but instead brought up stomach acid, burning his heart with anxiety.

  "But I don't have any, not even a little bit." Jin Shu spread out her hands and said: "This half piece of mantou was still saved by my mother for me."

  Na Ha gave Jin Shu a fierce glare, scaring her so much that she shuddered and hastily buried her head, bowing down on the horse's back.

  By the roadside, another cluster of goldenrod appeared, bathed in pink by the sunset, swaying gently in the breeze. Ha Wu stopped and bent down to pick two branches, handing them to Jin Shu: "Take it!"

  "Then, uncle, you're really great."

  "That's a load of crap! I'd rather die of starvation..."

  Zhou Xianzhang, who was walking in front, turned around, and Ha Wu hurriedly covered his mouth.

  "Halt and make camp on the spot!" Zhou Xuan Zhang ordered.

  As Zhou Xuanzhang gave the order, the 108 men of the vanguard suddenly went limp and fell to the ground in all directions, and a chorus of wails rose up on the mountain road.

  Before even seeing a Japanese person, Zhou Xuan Zhang's vanguard was defeated by Korea's Dasan and became a defeated army!

  For these four days, Zhou Xuan Zhang had become increasingly speechless towards this vanguard under his command.

  This vanguard is said to be Song Qing's troops, having fought against the Nian Army and battled in Shaanxi and Gansu. However, in reality, there were only a few old soldiers in the team, while all the others were new recruits who had been recruited just a month ago.

  In the 21st century, they should be training to march in step at boot camp and may not even get to touch a gun. But in the Qing Empire, these new recruits who had been enlisted for only one month were actually carrying Winchester, Schneider, Krag, and Mauser rifles onto the battlefield!

  They can just fire their guns and that's it, as for anything else, Zhou Xuan Zhang really doesn't dare to hope.

  Even Western-style military salutes, Zhou Xuan Zhang was also turning a blind eye, no longer making strict demands.

  Zhou Xuanzhang walked up to Naha Wu, who hastily raised his hand and shouted "Call the dog!" Zhou Xuanzhang scolded: "I told you, find a secluded place to practice first!" As he spoke, he took down a package from his back and threw it at Naha Wu: "Go distribute it among everyone."

  Na Ha Wu opened it and found fifty beef patties inside. He immediately drooled: "Boss, you still had this treasure hidden away."

  "You eat one, others eat half." Zhou Xianzhang said: "Jin Shu mother and daughter, one each."

  "Zhou Dage, I and my mother will just eat half of it." Jin Shu had already dismounted her horse and was following Hei Wu.

  Naha Wu shouted: "Less nonsense, this is the general of the Grand Master, who dares not to obey!" Naha Wu said, took out two beef patties, stuffed them into Jin Shu, and picked one up himself, gnawed on it first, then distributed the patties to everyone.

  "Tell everyone, save some food, I estimate we still have a day of mountain road before reaching Pingwu, when we get to Pingwu, I'll treat everyone to drinks!" Zhou Xiangzhang shouted at the back of He Wu.

  "Alright!" Nana Ha Wu didn't even turn his head back.

  With beef patties, the team was in high spirits.

  The sun has set, a bright moon is shining high, and the mountain wind is blowing gently.