A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

Chapter 144 I'm not messing around

"Come in and speak." Huo Jiang's smile faded, and he regained the authority of a commander-in-chief.

The cook rushed in carrying a wooden ladle, which was still covered with bits of vegetable roots and grass, presumably because he had discovered the problem while feeding the sheep.

"General, something terrible has happened! There's been an accident at our sheepfold to the east!"

Huo Jiang frowned impatiently, "Hey! You keep saying 'something's wrong,' 'something's happened,' but you should explain what happened and how it's wrong."

The cook then got to the point, "When I went to get more food and water, I found six sheep lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection, the other sheep didn't look too good either; they were all listless and unwilling to eat."

"Some are already staggering and probably about to faint. I dare not delay and must report this to the General immediately."

Huo Jiang and Meng Chengping exchanged a glance, their expressions turning serious.

Outsiders may not know how important these sheep were to the Northwest Army.

The Northwest Army had to rely on self-sufficiency for almost half of its supplies.

Soldiers guard the border year-round, where bloodshed, injury, pressure, and loneliness are constant companions.

Huo Jiang thought that at least everyone should be able to eat meat to their heart's content during festivals or after a victory, so that while satisfying their appetites, they could also find some comfort in their hearts.

Therefore, the military camp kept several hundred sheep, and in accordance with the tactic of having multiple burrows, the sheepfold was divided into four areas: east, west, south, and north, and placed in relatively inconspicuous locations.

So much so that when the imperial court sent people to inspect, they didn't find any sheep in the military camp.

The sheepfold on the east side that the cook mentioned was also the sheepfold closest to the edge of the military camp.

Meng Chengping said, "If sheep get sick, there are usually telltale signs from the beginning, and it doesn't spread this quickly. Could it be..."

He looked at Huo Jiang, "The enemy poisoned them?"

Huo Jiang remained silent with a sullen face, still deep in thought.

Mu Nanzhao casually fiddled with the bronze wine pot on the table and said, "Although that place is close to the outer defensive fortifications, the possibility of poisoning is almost zero."

Meng Chengping retorted, unconvinced, "Brother Mu, what makes you so certain?"

Mu Nanzhao looked up and gave him a look that said, "Idiot, can't you think for yourself?"

Huo Jiang pondered for a moment and said, "Firstly, no one in my camp has been able to break through silently."

"Secondly, even if there were spies within the military camp, there were many places he could have targeted, such as water cellars, granaries, and even the kitchen. Why would he choose to poison the sheep?"

Meng Chengping seemed to be thinking about something, and muttered, "That makes sense. If someone poisons a sheep, we won't eat it if we see it's not behaving properly. Why would the person who poisoned it take such a risk? It's completely useless anyway."

At this moment, Gu Xixi, who had been silent all along, stood up quietly.

"General, may I go and see the sheep?"

Huo Jiang turned to Gu Xixi and asked, "Mr. Gu, have you perhaps thought of something?"

Gu Xixi said, "I'm not good at animal husbandry, so if it's something like an epidemic, it will be really difficult to handle."

"But what if..."

She hesitated for a moment, but still truthfully voiced her guess, "If there's something wrong with the sheep's feed..."

"Impossible!" the cook vehemently denied. "I've been feeding them like this since last summer, and there's never been a problem."

Gu Xixi asked, "How do these sheep eat every day?"

The cook said, "In the morning we eat the grass I cut myself, at noon we eat the fodder stored in the camp, and in the evening we have fodder and bean dregs, plus vegetable scraps and peels that we've collected all day."

Gu Xixi frowned slightly, and after a moment, asked again, "Did you eat grass this morning too?"

The cook nodded proudly, "Since the grass and trees sprouted in early spring, I go outside the camp every morning to cut the freshest grass for them. The sheep are happy after eating it, and it was the same last year."

Gu Xixi said calmly, "Perhaps the original distribution of grass species in this area is indeed not the problem."

"But plants can migrate."

"Grass seeds are either scattered by the wind or carried to distant places by animals."

"Furthermore, our human activities can bring over grass seeds that don't originally belong here."

"Given the right conditions, it can take root and sprout."

The cook scratched his head in confusion, not quite understanding.

Huo Jiang roughly understood, "So those sheep might have just happened to eat the poisonous grass?"

Gu Xixi nodded, "It can't be ruled out."

“Alright,” Huo Jiang immediately pointed at Meng Chengping, “You, take Boss Gu to the sheepfold.”

Then he said to the cook, "Go and call the medic over, and have him check if the sheep are sick."

The cook responded and ran off with his ladle in hand.

Gu Xixi and Meng Chengping were about to leave when Mu Nanzhao followed them.

He didn't look to the side or at anyone, and simply said, "If there's excitement, I'll go too."

Meng Chengping had already sensed that the atmosphere between the two was not right, and he did not want to get involved.

So he deliberately strode ahead, ostensibly to lead the way.

Mu Nanzhao parted his thin lips slightly and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "The General has already told you that war is coming soon, and it may not be safe here at any time."

Gu Xixi gave a perfunctory "hmm," her voice barely audible, like a mosquito's hum.

Mu Nanzhao continued, "The compensation that the military owes you must have been settled by now."

"I advise you to mind your own business and go back as soon as you've finished looking at the sheep."

Gu Xixi finally turned to Mu Nanzhao, unable to suppress a cold laugh.

"I knew it! Buying out everything with money, the style is exactly the same. It seems that it was you, the expert, who came up with the idea for the general?"

Mu Nanzhao did not deny it.

Gu Xixi turned her face back to the front and said coldly, "Unfortunately, I haven't agreed yet, so it's not settled."

"Gu Xixi!" Mu Nanzhao's face darkened with anger. "Can you please stop making a scene?"

Gu Xixi laughed sarcastically, "You say I'm causing trouble? Then go tell the General that someone is causing trouble in the army and tell him to kick me out immediately."

The two stared at each other, neither willing to give an inch.

After looking ahead several times, Meng Chengping had to step in to smooth things over, "Um... the sheepfold isn't far ahead, shall we hurry up?"

On the other side, Huo Jiang sent the others away and immediately led his men to the granary.

If a flock of sheep develops problems at the same time, and it's not due to illness, the first thing to check is their feed.

In addition to fresh grass, the sheep in the army also received the same amount of hay as the warhorses every day.

If the problem lies in the warehouse where hay is stored, then this is a serious matter.

With a major battle imminent, provisions are of paramount importance.

To be on the safe side, it's better to find no problems after investigation than to have any omissions or errors.

The sheepfold to the east.

The military doctor arrived first.

The cooks called him "Mr. Zhao." He was a middle-aged man with a scholarly air, fair complexion, no beard, and wearing a faded blue cloth robe.

Mr. Zhao squatted in the sheepfold, examining a sheep that had fallen to the ground.

As Gu Xixi leaned closer, she heard him muttering a complaint: "You want me to take a look? Am I a veterinarian?"

"I'm already doing the work of more than a dozen people, and now they're making me treat sheep?"

"That scoundrel surnamed Huo didn't say that when he invited me here!"