"Alas, Ah Bi, little maid, you should go. I can't sleep with you here."
Zhou Fugui wanted to sleep soundly, sleep until the sky and earth were dark, but the Dingling tribe's little beauty, Ah Bi Ya Si, stood by. How could he sleep?
"Do I bother you that much?" Ah Bi Ya Si said aggrievedly.
"Not at all..." Zhou Fugui sighed, hearing this. "Ah Bi, you are a beautiful and obedient girl. Zhou is not a saint, how could I dislike you? It's just that after so many years of marching and fighting, I've gotten used to sleeping alone. Suddenly having someone else makes it truly difficult to fall asleep."
"Hehe, Big Brother, you're lying to me." Zhou Fugui praised Ah Bi Ya Si, which instantly turned her grievance into happiness. She said with a smile, "In the military camp, don't you big men all sleep crowded together? Ah Bi Ya Si is small, but she knows this."
"Uh..." Zhou Fugui said awkwardly, "What you said... is indeed true, but..."
During marches and battles, there were not so many formalities. Wherever they went, everything was done casually, especially eating and sleeping. There were no private quarters or separate tents, unless one was the commander of an army. Thus, a group of rough men slept together, their snores like thunder filling the tent, rising and falling, a noisy and incredibly foul-smelling scene that Zhou Fugui had long grown accustomed to.
"But what?" Ah Bi Ya Si felt wronged again. Tears welled up, and she looked at Zhou Fugui, saying in a low voice, "Big Brother Ah, don't send me away. Brother told me to serve you. If I leave, Brother will scold me."
"This Agu Da Mu..." Zhou Fugui couldn't stand a woman's pleading the most. So he looked at Ah Bi Ya Si helplessly and said hesitantly, "Then... you can stay? This bed is big enough for two people. Let's... rest then? What do you think?"
As Zhou Fugui spoke, he gestured to the soft couch.
"No need. Big Brother sleeps on the bed, I'll make do on the floor for the night. Big Brother can call me if you need anything," Ah Bi Ya Si said happily.
Zhou Fugui suddenly blushed upon hearing this.
Had he misunderstood? Zhou Fugui thought to himself. The young girl genuinely wanted to serve him, fetching tea and water, not that kind of service...
Although the girls on the prairie were bold and unrestrained, they wouldn't debase themselves like this. Ah Bi Ya Si was only fifteen years old and was somewhat shy. Zhou Fugui had indeed overthought it.
As for the previous time, it was merely to repay Zhou Fugui's great kindness, and also because of Agu Da Mu... he didn't know what he was thinking.
Perhaps the time Ah Bi Ya Si took off her clothes and wanted to sleep with Zhou Fugui was just about sleeping.
"Miss Ah Bi, you sleep on the bed, I'll sleep on the floor," Zhou Fugui said to Ah Bi Ya Si afterward. "This floor is much more comfortable than a military tent."
What Zhou Fugui said was true. The floor of the room was covered with Persian carpets and some precious furs, which were soft and much more comfortable than a hard bed.
"You are a great general, a great hero, how can you sleep on the floor? I'll sleep on the floor, you sleep on the bed," Ah Bi Ya Si said with a shake of her head and a laugh.
"Then... alright, we're both tired, let's rest now," Zhou Fugui was too exhausted and too lazy to argue with her anymore, so he said, "Miss Ah Bi, help me take off this layer of iron shell first."
After Zhou Fugui spoke, he stood up from the armchair and spread his arms.
The heavy iron armor had been on him all along, and it was not a comfortable experience.
Armor is a defensive garment. In terms of material, there are cloth armor, leather armor, beast armor, chain mail, bronze armor, and iron armor. Cloth armor is almost like a cloth garment, offering almost no defense. Leather armor and beast armor are not much better; a spear thrust or an arrow flying would create a clear hole. The only thing that can provide defense is iron armor. Bronze armor and iron armor can greatly increase a person's survival rate on the battlefield.
However, everything and every item has its pros and cons. The armor made of bronze and iron has the disadvantage that its scales, like the two-part iron armor on Zhou Fugui's body, which has at least over two thousand fish-scale plates, and a breastplate on the chest and back, weighs around twenty jin. Therefore, wearing iron armor for a long time makes one feel extremely tired and appear extremely clumsy. People with weaker physiques, such as the delicate scholars Li Qing and Ye Guantian, cannot wear helmets and armor for long periods.
This is not even heavy armor. Heavy armor can weigh fifty to sixty jin in total. Warriors clad in heavy armor must be chosen for their strong bodies, all of them elites, all of them treasures.
Warriors in heavy armor riding on warhorses in heavy armor become heavy cavalry, also known as heavily armored cavalry. Heavily armored cavalry naturally possesses strong charge power and excellent defense. However, because it depends on both the armor and the person, establishing a unit of heavily armored cavalry is extremely difficult. There are heavily armored cavalry in this world, such as among the Xiongnu and the Great Yan Kingdom, but they are extremely rare and are considered treasures, not to be deployed lightly.
It should be known that one heavily armored cavalryman requires at least three to four auxiliary soldiers to help with putting on and taking off armor. A thousand heavily armored cavalrymen would require at least three to four thousand auxiliary personnel.
After Zhou Fugui defeated two Xiongnu armies and captured Bailang City, he captured a lot of armor, horses, and provisions.
Zhou Fugui also wanted to use the knowledge in his mind, such as knowledge of iron smelting, to reduce the weight of iron armor while increasing its defensive power. However, given his current circumstances, this was still temporarily impossible.
"Thank you, Big Brother..." Ah Bi Ya Si thanked him happily and then went behind Zhou Fugui to help him remove his armor.
As Zhou Fugui untied the leather straps, cloth strips, and velvet ropes of his armor, he looked back and smiled, "What are you thanking me for? You are helping me, I should be thanking you."
"Hehe, I am but a little female slave, I cannot accept the thanks of a great general," Ah Bi Ya Si said with a smile while forcefully untying the leather straps, cloth strips, and velvet ropes.
Ah Bi Ya Si was already sweating lightly on her forehead from exhaustion.
"Who said you are a female slave? You are free now, like a bird flying out of its cage, free to fly anywhere," Zhou Fugui said with a smile.
After Zhou Fugui spoke, he waited for Ah Bi Ya Si's response, but after a long while, he heard no movement. He turned back to look and saw her secretly wiping away tears.
So Zhou Fugui asked in surprise, "Miss Ah Bi, what happened?"
"Big Brother..." Ah Bi Ya Si replied with sobs. "Ah Bi Ya Si was born a slave. My father was a slave, and my mother was also a slave. My mother died from exhaustion, and my father went south, his fate unknown..."
"Alas, may good people be blessed by heaven!" Zhou Fugui sighed upon hearing this.
"What does that mean?" Ah Bi Ya Si asked, her face still wet with tears, leaning out her head while holding onto Zhou Fugui's armor.
"Good people are blessed by heaven, benevolent people are aided by heaven," Zhou Fugui replied. "It means heaven protects good people, and good people will be rewarded."
"Oh, my father is a good person..." Ah Bi Ya Si said, looking down. "He has always been a good person. My father was very good to me and my brother. Going south, going south... he was also forced. Big Brother, if you met my father, would you kill him?"
The father of the Agu Da Mu siblings, although forced, was also a member of the Xiongnu army, and at this time, the Xiongnu and the Yan Kingdom were at war.
"This..." Zhou Fugui thought for a moment and then smiled. "Miss Ah Bi is so lovely, for your sake, how could I possibly lay hands on him?"
After speaking, Zhou Fugui pinched Ah Bi Ya Si's tender little face.
Although Zhou Fugui did not intend to do anything to Ah Bi Ya Si, he couldn't resist teasing such a lovely little girl.
If he were to meet the father of the Agu Da Mu siblings on the battlefield, Zhou Fugui wouldn't know what to do.
The northern nomadic tribes attacked and plundered the south. Many of them were forced to go, but some went for plunder in the Central Plains. How could Zhou Fugui distinguish? Moreover, on the battlefield, it was either you die or I live.
"Ah Bi Ya Si thanks Big Brother," Ah Bi Ya Si said with a happy thank you after Zhou Fugui playfully teased her. She was not angry, but rather somewhat happy.
At this time, the armor had been removed. Ah Bi Ya Si hugged the iron armor and walked towards the wooden cabinet in the room, intending to place it inside.
However, the iron armor was too heavy, and the wooden cabinet was too high. Ah Bi Ya Si, even standing on her tiptoes, lost her balance...
"Thump!"
"Ouch, it hurts!"
Ah Bi Ya Si fell to the ground, crying out in pain with a soft voice. The iron armor rolled onto the floor, making a "clatter" sound.
Pi E, leading a few personal guards, stood guard outside the door. Hearing the commotion from the room, they exchanged glances.
"Brother Pi E, the camp master he...?" a personal guard asked Pi E in surprise.
What was happening inside, all the personal guards could imagine. But Zhou Fugui, the camp master of the White Tiger Battalion, had caused such a big commotion.
Was it worth it? The personal guards all thought to themselves, being careful not to hurt that little girl, Ah Bi Ya Si.
"What your master does is none of your business. Go patrol outside," Pi E said, glaring at the personal guard.
Zhou Fugui, hearing the commotion from inside the room, turned around. Seeing Ah Bi Ya Si's appearance, he couldn't help but laugh.
The huge armor compared to her small body was simply disproportionate...
"You say you clearly can't move it, yet you insisted on moving it. Did you get hurt?" Zhou Fugui walked over, lifted the iron armor with one hand, and picked up Ah Bi Ya Si with the other, laughing.
"It doesn't hurt anymore, but Big Brother, you stink so much! Why do you smell so bad?" With the armor removed, the stench from Zhou Fugui's body naturally emanated, a pungent odor that almost made Ah Bi Ya Si faint. She fanned herself with her hand and chided him.
Zhou Fugui sniffed his hand and found that he indeed reeked.
He hadn't bathed in two to three months, so how could he not stink? httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"Big Brother, shall I help you bathe?" Ah Bi Ya Si then said to Zhou Fugui.
Bathe? Zhou Fugui was speechless. He was so sleepy he could collapse, why bother with such formalities?