nucmednet Chapter 568 Vulture
Chapter 568 Vulture
When Ye Qing'an arrived at the grain and fodder camp, he saw the soldiers emptying the unburnt grain into winnowing baskets, and some of them were using the baskets to sift out the snow mixed in with the grain.
Several sacks filled with grain and fodder had already been placed to the side.
Ye Qing'an walked over and glanced at the grain and fodder in the winnowing basket, then casually grabbed a handful.
There's nothing wrong with the grains; they're a mix of old and new, but the grains are still quite plump.
This was probably because, knowing that Liu Enze and the Crown Prince were coming, no one dared to tamper with the provisions.
Compared to food supplies, medicinal herbs are much more complicated.
Several military doctors were busy on the side, sorting the messy medicinal herbs into categories and separating the ones that had been soaked in water, preparing to dry them when the weather was better.
The soldiers were all busy and no one noticed Ye Qing'an's arrival.
Ye Qingan stood to the side watching, and felt more and more that the soldiers in this camp were quite efficient in their work, at least when it came to matters concerning their own interests, they acted very quickly.
This army simply lacked the will to fight.
As Ye Qing'an was pondering this, he heard a cry coming from the sky...
Ye Qing'an looked up and saw several large birds circling back and forth in the sky.
“That’s…” Ye Qing’an narrowed his eyes: “A vulture?”
A soldier standing nearby nodded when Ye Qing'an asked, "It's a vulture."
After the soldier finished speaking, he frowned: "These vultures are so annoying. They've been following us all the way here, and they're always hovering around up there."
Ye Qing'an turned to look at the soldier: "These vultures come here often? Why not just shoot them?"
"Why shoot them? You can't kill them all, can you? These vultures feed on carrion. This is a battlefield, where people die all the time, and the bodies aren't always properly disposed of. The vultures come in search of food. Even if you shoot them, new vultures will just come. You'd need someone to guard them and kill them every day. That's too much trouble."
That's too much trouble!
Ye Qing'an opened her mouth, but after seeing clearly the soldier's uniform, she fell silent again.
He's just an ordinary soldier who follows orders; what's the point of arguing with him?
Thinking it over, Ye Qing'an turned around and headed straight for the main camp.
The crown prince summoned her.
"What's wrong? You came in such a hurry and look so unhappy." The Crown Prince was reading a memorial when he saw Ye Qing'an come in and couldn't help but laugh and tease her.
Ye Qing'an took a deep breath: "Just now I saw in the camp that there were quite a few vultures circling above our camp."
"Vultures?" The prince blinked, looking puzzled. "What about vultures?"
Before Ye Qing'an could answer, the Crown Prince couldn't help but laugh: "Qing'an, you wouldn't be worried that there won't be any meat to eat in the future because the food in the camp has been burned, so you want to shoot down that vulture and eat it, would you?"
“Those vultures feed on carrion; they’re not exactly clean creatures.”
Ye Qing'an shook his head: "Although vultures feed on carrion, those vultures have been circling above us. Has no one in the camp ever thought about it or mentioned it? Could those vultures possibly be sent by the Emperor to gather information?"
"A vulture? Sent by the Emperor to gather intelligence?"
The Crown Prince chuckled: "Qing'an, aren't you being a bit too sensitive? These vultures aren't like eagles. Who would keep a flock of vultures to gather information for no reason?"
Ye Qing'an pursed her lips: "Your Highness, these are extraordinary times, we must be cautious."
"Since those rebels have gone to such lengths as using wooden birds as a trap and raising vultures to gather intelligence, what's so strange about that? It's precisely because of the element of surprise that they're less likely to arouse suspicion. But we can't afford to lose again. Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free..."
"Although I have never been on the battlefield, I have read some books and heard some stories. The battlefield is ever-changing, and a single oversight can lead to total defeat."
Ye Qing'an lowered his head and looked down: "Putting aside everything else, how much effort would it take us to shoot a few vultures? But if those vultures are indeed the ones the rebels use to scout our camp, and we let them circle over our camp day and night, and the Emperor knows everything about our camp, is Your Highness willing to bear such consequences?"
The crown prince's expression gradually became serious, his brows furrowed, and his face grew increasingly grim.
Ye Qing'an always knew how to control people's hearts and how to advance and retreat appropriately. After speaking, she laughed again: "However, these are just some suggestions from your subject. I just feel that although there are rotting corpses on the battlefield, it is really strange that so many vultures only circle above our camp and do not go to Anzhi City, and rarely go to the sky above Anzhi City."
“If Your Highness thinks I am wrong, you don’t have to pay attention to me. If Your Highness has any doubts, you can send trusted people to keep a close eye on those vultures and see where they go after circling over here. Did they go to Anzhi City and land there?”
Ye Qing'an sighed softly, "I hope I'm just overthinking things. Otherwise, given the rebels' cunning and scheming, I'm afraid we..."
Although the Crown Prince took Ye Qing'an's words to heart with some importance, he didn't feel anything particularly significant.
However, Ye Qing'an's last words suddenly aroused the Crown Prince, making him feel almost unable to suppress his irritation.
It seems like I haven't felt this way for many years.
The last time I had this feeling was when...
The Crown Prince gripped the pen tightly, back when Yi Moxu was still alive and in the palace before his accident.
The Crown Prince gritted his teeth. Yi Moxu had been called a child prodigy and genius since childhood.
He was naturally gifted and intelligent. He could remember almost everything the tutor taught him after hearing or reading it only once. Not only could he remember it, but he could also integrate it and apply it to other situations.
At that time, what he heard most often was: "Your Highness, look how well Mo Xu is doing, and you're even older than him..."
"Mo Xu is really amazing. He will definitely achieve great things in the future."
"I have never seen a child as intelligent as the Third Prince. I used to think that the Crown Prince was quite good, intelligent and hardworking. But now that I have seen the Third Prince, I feel that the Crown Prince is rather plain in comparison."
……
The crown prince's eyes gradually reddened; Yi Moxu's appearance had almost stolen everyone's attention from him.
He hates!
Later, when Yi Moxu got into trouble, he thought he could finally turn things around. He secretly sent people to keep an eye on Qian'an and Yi Moxu.
Who would have thought that Yi Moxu would survive and even launch a rebellion?
Isn't the rebel army led by Yi Moxu?
Do they have wisdom and strategy? Don't they?