Chapter 1457 - 352: The Beginning

Chapter 1457: Chapter 352: The Beginning

"Have a bit of this."

Hui An handed a piece of qingtuan to Guo Dong.

Guo Dong had been vomiting quite a lot these days, and his face had become somewhat sallow.

Coming from the Yan region, he was indeed a landlubber. As soon as he boarded the ship, he felt as if his body wasn’t his own, like someone was pressing his head against the wall repeatedly.

The Yan State did have a naval force, but it was more symbolic, stationed at certain lakes. Even the naval forces themselves didn’t truly consider themselves as navy, just having a few more ships.

The current force on the Wang River was the first properly organized naval fleet to catch the eyes of the Yan court.

So, there were indeed quite many people like Guo Dong who got seasick.

In order to maximize transport capacity, many water battle equipment on the battleship had been dismantled. Hence, every deck of the ship was filled with people packed tightly.

The cramped space, the foul air, naturally made people feel uncomfortable. One would vomit, then another, leading to an indescribable smell in the cabin.

Fortunately, Hui An was good at swimming, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to escape over the Wang River back then.

The superior commanded to organize those who were good at swimming and unaffected by seasickness to take care of the seasick comrades. After issuing this command, the Yan officer turned his head:

"Ugh!"

"Does this thing work once eaten?" Guo Dong asked with some doubt.

If there’s stuff in the stomach, it makes one want to vomit more.

Hui An shook his head, saying: "It’s useless."

Guo Dong said somewhat aggrievedly: "You should’ve lied to me."

Hui An laughed and said: "After throwing up for a few more days, you should get used to it, but you can’t not eat, you’re already vomiting bile."

Guo Dong bit into the qingtuan with some resignation.

Soft and glutinous, sweet and fragrant with a hint of freshness.

Chewing,

Guo Dong squinted his eyes,

sniffed,

and said:

"My mother also makes this."

"Your father is gone."

"..." Guo Dong.

"Your brother is crippled."

"..." Guo Dong.

"So you have to live well, live on." Hui An said.

Guo Dong exhaled deeply, saying:

"Finally a human sentence."

Hui An laughed and sat down beside him.

"What about you, what do you want to do after the war?" Guo Dong asked.

As for Guo Dong, he wanted to go home. Although many of his fellow soldiers planned to follow Lord Zheng to the Snow Sea Pass, Guo Dong also wanted to, but he couldn’t leave.

In the ancient county of Yan State, there was his elderly mother, his bedridden brother, and a girl waiting for him to return and get married.

Even moving the whole family was unrealistic. His mother’s health was poor, his brother was paralyzed, taking the whole family from ancient county to Snow Sea Pass, someone might just end up collapsing on the way.

Guo Dong thought of earning merits and receiving rewards. If there was a military honor rank, that would be even better.

Returning to the ancient county, just like his father, he could be a centurion of the mountain camp, supporting the family should be no problem.

"I don’t know."

That’s Hui An’s answer.

He had been an orphan for a long time.

Returning to the Ying Capital City to find his adoptive father again?

Hui An didn’t want to go back. Having been on the battlefield, to become an adoptive son again, to be a laborer, to knowingly be treated like a fool by the adoptive father—before, he could endure it. Now, he felt like he might cut his adoptive father’s head off and use it as a wine vessel.

"Just continue following Lord Pingye, I’m envious of you."

Because Guo Dong was a Yan person, he admired Lord Pingye more.

Hui An nodded, saying:

"Probably."

Continuing with the troops under Lord Pingye’s banner, fighting battles. This life didn’t seem so bad.

There was food and drink, and he could kill, this life was dangerous yet gave a sense of security.

Even if he were to die in battle someday, it wouldn’t seem like something terribly unfortunate.

"Haha, in the future, when you’ve risen to great heights, don’t forget your brother." Guo Dong laughed.

Yan people value military merit,

Even during the times filled with clans and gates, Yan commoners with ambitions would go to Beifeng Prefecture to find a job, using the heads of barbarians as currency for their rise.

Thus, over time, when Qian people imprinted "All are inferior except study" into commoners’ minds, Yan commoners carved their wealth with machetes!

Guo Dong truly didn’t want to leave the military camp.

Hui An spoke up: "The other day, I heard two officers talking, saying that once we’ve dealt with the Chu people, next, we might fight the Qian State. Fighting the Qian, you’ll be closer, maybe we’ll have the chance to meet again."

"By then, you might be an officer, and I’ll still be me."

"No problem, then I’ll have you be my personal soldier."

"It’s a deal."

"Come, come, drink the medicine, drink the medicine!"

An officer called,

"Everyone must drink a bowl, it’s for preventing cold, whoever dares not drink will be punished by military law!"

In such a closed environment, if someone gets sick and catches a cold, it could easily spread.

Back in the days of the black slave trade, who knows how many slaves died on the ships.

Of course, in this expedition, although the Yan Army’s personnel density on each ship was quite high, the treatment was certainly better than that of the enslaved Africans, plus, this is a river, not an ocean.

However, to be on the safe side, Lord Zheng specially prepared herbal soup to ensure everyone drank a bowl each day.

The ingredients of the medicine were simple, equivalent to a diluted version of Qingkailing and Banlangen from later generations. As for curing diseases, it might not cure much, but saying it’s completely useless would be inaccurate.