Qi Zihao stood in the military tent, frowning and saying nothing while looking at the secret report that had just been sent back in his hand.
Yan Laosan came in from the outside with sweat on his forehead. In the past few days, he had been responsible for taking people to deal with the corpses left behind.
After the person is cremated, the ashes are put into clay pots with names written on them, and they are buried after returning home.
The corpses of the Xirong people were piled in one place, poured with kerosene and burned together to prevent the corpses from decomposing and causing epidemics.
This victory not only greatly dampened the morale of the Xirong people, but also effectively reduced their combat power.
Therefore, the scouts sent out before finally had the opportunity to approach the base camp of the Xirong people, and soon the news came back.
Combined with the previous interrogation of Xirong prisoners, it is basically certain that Li Zian's guess is correct, and the Xirong people really came through the secret passage in the heart of the mountain.
"Let Li Zi'an be fooled!" Qi Zihao said with some dissatisfaction, "I asked Jia Lin about the situation. Last year, there was an earth dragon turning over in the mountains. It made a lot of noise. Even their original residence was destroyed.
It spread, and many people were injured.
"It was precisely because of the Earth Dragon's transformation and Jia Lin's injury that the Ghost Lord and the elders reluctantly agreed to go down the mountain and live in Juzhou City temporarily.
"It is probably because of this that a secret passage was formed in the mountain that can connect the two places. It was accidentally discovered and used by the Xirong people."
Now that the news was confirmed, Qi Zihao spread out the map, found the location mentioned in the secret letter and drew a circle: "Now that we know the secret passage is here, we will find a way to block it, and then clean up the remaining Xirong people. Let's
You can return to the imperial court with your master, and you will never have to suffer in this miserable place again."
It sounds simple, but there is still a lot that needs to be done, so you have to do it step by step and slowly.
After discussing with Yan Laosan for a long time, Qi Zihao started writing to Li Zian, first informing him of the confirmed news, and then asking for gunpowder support.
If you want to completely block the passage in the mountain, the best way is to blow it up directly.
A few days later, Yan Laosan came back from outside the military camp. The bones of the last batch of soldiers who died today were also cremated. Behind him was a small group of people, each holding a clay pot in their hands.
Each pot has a piece of white paper with the name written on it.
Wherever they went, the busy soldiers consciously stopped their work and silently paid attention to them.
"Where is the general?" Yan Laosan walked into the camp and asked when he didn't see Qi Zihao.
"Master Yan, the general has brought people to place gunpowder. You can find it by walking eastward."
"Gunpowder? Where did the gunpowder come from?" Yan Laosan's eyes lit up when he heard these two words, but he was very confused in his heart.
I just wrote a letter a few days ago asking the prince to provide gunpowder. It has only been a few days. Even if it is tied to a carrier pigeon and sent here, there is not enough time!
Yan Laosan was right. Li Zian had just received a letter from Qi Zihao asking for gunpowder.
He only glanced at it, threw it aside, and ordered it to be burned.
Qi Zihao led his troops to receive the wounded medicine today. As soon as the two teams met, he couldn't help but frown.
Li Zian actually arranged for so many palace guards to just send some medicine for injuries. Isn't it too much to make a fuss?
"General Qi!" the leading imperial guard dismounted and saluted Qi Zihao, "I am the official Mao Dongshu, and I am sending you something in the name of the prince.
"The first few cars are all kinds of medicines, and the next few cars are gunpowder. You must be more careful whether transporting, storing or using them."
"Gunpowder..." Qi Zihao was stunned, "The prince has also prepared gunpowder?"
No wonder the delivery of the medicine seems to have taken a few days longer than expected.
The royal guard who led the team to deliver the things didn't know why. He thought Qi Zihao wanted the things from Li Zian!
After all, gunpowder is not an ordinary item. Even with Li Zian's identity, it is not easy to gather so much gunpowder in a short time.
Thinking of the letter he had just sent out not long ago, Qi Zihao couldn't help but turn a little blue.
Damn it, Li Zian actually made another move and thought of going ahead of him.
Although he was quite dissatisfied, Qi Zihao's mood improved unknowingly when he thought that the gunpowder had been delivered, which had saved him a lot of time.
A group of people carefully transported the gunpowder to a place about ten miles away from the military camp. Qi Zihao stopped the convoy.
Although Da Qi has been researching gunpowder and firearms over the years, although they are powerful, they are still somewhat unstable.
Qi Zihao didn't dare to put these things in the military camp, otherwise if one accidentally caught fire and exploded, everyone would be buried with him, which would be an unjust death.
Moreover, the Juzhou forest area is humid, so if the gunpowder fails to ignite if it gets wet, it will really delay things.
So Qi Zihao ordered his people to go out and cut down a lot of trees, build a high platform almost as high as a person from the ground, and carefully move boxes of gunpowder up there.
After that, they asked people to put many layers of oilcloth around it to protect it from airtight.
When Yan Laosan came over, he saw a strange thing standing among the grass and trees in the distance.
"Is it all gunpowder?"
"Yes!" Qi Zihao happily patted the oil sermon wrapped with gunpowder, "This time we don't have to wait all the time and can speed up the progress!"
But Mao Dongshu said nervously: "General Qi, please don't shoot too hard."
"What are you worried about? It's not like I've never played with gunpowder before. It doesn't matter if I use such a little force." Qi Zihao actually didn't use any force at all before. It was more like touching it than shooting it.
But seeing the timid appearance of the person sent by Li Zian, I couldn't help but want to show off, and even raised my hand to take another photo.
However, Yan Laosan quickly grabbed his eager hand and said seriously: "General, we have to send people to guard here day and night. If something happens, it will be over!"
Hearing this, Mao Dongshu said: "Master Yan, Master Shizi gave instructions before we came out. Before General Qi uses it, we must strictly guard the gunpowder without making any mistakes."
Yan Laosan took a look and saw that Mao Dongshu had brought a total of three hundred men, each of whom was wearing soft armor. Not only were they equipped with long knives, bows and arrows, and even hand crossbows, they could be said to be well-equipped elite soldiers and strong generals.
He immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I'll be relieved if the prince has arrangements."
Qi Zihao said somewhat displeasedly: "There's no need for him to worry about it. Why, my people can't even defend a few boxes of gunpowder?"
Yan Laosan knew that his old habit had returned and that he had to compete with Li Zian in everything, so he quickly pulled him back and said, "The general's soldiers still have to be kept to deal with the Xirong people. I'll leave this to the palace."