Chapter 138 Tigers in the Mountain
After leaving Jingu Garden, the "caravan" continued westward.
After walking southwest for a day, I saw a restaurant in the distance and stopped.
"Maybe the store takes care of draft animals?" someone asked.
The store owner was already drowsy. After squinting for a long time, he nodded.
Thirty or forty horses require a lot of food, but he has accumulated a lot of hay here and can barely cope with it.
After a while, two young men came out. One of them unharnessed the draft horse and fed it with fodder and salt water. The other brought in large bales of hay and chopped it up on the spot with a guillotine.
"How can we just eat grass? We have to walk a long way." A follower of Fan Long said: "Is there no grain?"
The young man looked back at the old man.
The attendant asked someone to take out a few pieces of skin and pass them over, saying: "Quickly bring some grain to feed."
The old man took the leather, carefully inspected each piece to make sure it was in good condition, and finally nodded.
A moment later, a muscular woman with a sinewy face came out of the backyard, carrying a large bag of grain easily.
After carrying one bag, I went back to carry the second bag.
"The store always prepares this. It seems that there are a lot of business travelers in Luoyang." Fan Long entered the restaurant, sat cross-legged on the futon, and said with a smile.
He is quite used to sitting cross-legged, because the Huns like this.
After the store owner asked what they wanted to eat, he went to the kitchen first, then came over, poured wine for Fan Long, and said casually: "There are indeed many business travelers this year. From the accent of the guest, he is from Bingzhou "Come here?"
Fan Long glanced at the store in surprise, nodded, and said, "Come from Taiyuan, selling some leather goods and horses."
"Bingzhou in the past two years." There are fewer merchants." The store owner didn't want to ask any more questions and just said, "Before the drought, there were merchants from Bingzhou who trafficked horses, sheep, medicinal materials, and leather goods going south every year."
"The store owner is very knowledgeable. Fan Long said with a smile.
The severe drought in Bingzhou four years ago had a profound impact. From then on, the situation became increasingly chaotic and eventually got out of hand.
There are still many people from Bingzhou going south, but they are refugees.
“We have seen less and less in the past few years.” The storekeeper sighed: “There is no peace with all the fighting. If Zhang Fang hadn’t been driven away last year, Luoyang would be in even worse shape.”
< br>“Who drove Zhang Fang away?”
“Isn’t it Shao Sima who’s ‘One Thousand Breaks One Hundred Thousand’?”
“He is now the general in the palace.” Fan Long He smiled and said: "Why is the store so clear?"
The store was silent for a long time, and finally said: "I have two sons, one died in the battle of Chengdu and Hejian to conquer Changsha, and the other died in the battle of East China Sea to conquer Chengdu. ..."
Fan Long sighed after hearing this, stood up and poured a bowl of wine for the shopkeeper.
Within one year, two sons died in battle one after another. The white-haired man sent the black-haired man away. How miserable.
However, today’s world is full of such tragedies. I would rather not have a piece of pure land. What else can I say?
The store owner picked up the wine bowl and took a sip, and said: "This store also opens and closes sometimes. From the twelfth lunar month of last year to the twelfth lunar month of this year, it has been a whole year, which is the longest it has been open."< br>
"It's so difficult to survive." Fan Long sighed with emotion.
But at the end of the day, he will continue to recruit talents for the King of Han, continue to contribute to the King of Han's conquest, and continue to make this world more chaotic.
This is not surprising.
People can be compassionate, can release goodwill and give benefits within a certain range, but once their fundamental interests are violated, everything is in vain.
"I just hope Shao Sima can stay in Luoyang for a few more years, Silver Spear Army can stay for a few more years, and I can open a store for a few more years and raise a few grandchildren," the store owner said.
"Silver Spear Army?" Fan Long was startled.
"In the mountains to the southwest, I heard that there is a big fort. Sometimes troops will march here. With carts and drums and horns, the soldiers stand on the carts and shoot arrows. The old man is blind. , I don’t know what formation I practiced.”
Many things in the officialdom are really hidden only from the top but not from the bottom.
Yunzhongwu has been under construction in Nuji Mountain for a year. There are many large vehicles and people traveling between Luoyang and Nuji Mountain.
Sometimes we pass a motorcade, another time we pass a large group of refugees, sometimes there are people driving cattle, sometimes there are soldiers coming and going, and there are often messengers stopping their horses in this small shop to eat.
It is impossible for soldiers and messengers to say nothing. After a long time, it will be difficult to hide the truth from the people below.
Many people in power in history were surprised when things came to a head and found that things were beyond their control. In fact, it was because you were out of touch and were fooled. It is a tradition in old officialdom to hide things from the superiors but not from the inferiors.
At this time, Fan Long listened and was thinking: "Does Sima Yue know about this?" Xuan then thought that there are not a few officials and generals who repair Wubao Manor. Even if Sima Yue knows, he may not necessarily I think something is wrong.
However, Wubao and Wubao are different, and the steps are also different.
Sometimes, details often cost lives.
"The store just said that the Silver Spear Army drove carts, marched and shot arrows. Can you elaborate on that?" Fan Long asked again.
"I don't know very well." The shopkeeper thought about it carefully and said, "It means bringing many carriages and mule carts, divided into two columns, and the sergeants marching in the middle. When the drums sound, they stop immediately. The convoys were connected end to end. Then a sergeant jumped on the car and fired arrows when the horn sounded. "
The old man spoke very briefly, even a little confusing, but Fan Long understood it.
This is the routine for infantry to deal with cavalry.
A large group of infantry marched, and the baggage vehicles were placed on both sides to prevent the cavalry from charging directly. When encountering enemy cavalry, the baggage trains were connected end to end, forming a circle. The cavalry could not charge directly, and the dismounted infantry could not defeat the infantry. Just shoot from a distance. The range, power, and accuracy of a riding bow are not as good as those of a walking bow, not to mention that people may have crossbows, so it's really difficult.
In the former Han Dynasty, Wei Qing seemed to do this when he attacked the Xiongnu.
Ma Longxi did the same thing when he entered Liangzhou.
Why is this Shao Xun always practicing tactics against cavalry?
Are his soldiers that elite? The car formation is very simple, but different people use it, and the effects vary greatly.
Fan Long thought of the soldiers he saw in Jinguyuan. They were terrible. How dare he?
The food was served quickly.
Fan Long and his entourage finished eating in a few seconds. After the horse is almost fed, the master will leave.
The convoy headed west, arduously moving along the dilapidated official road.
When they arrived near Nuji Mountain, Fan Long and several followers stopped.
In the distance are endless mountain forests with many pines and cypresses, which are still lush and green even in the middle of winter.
In front of the forest, a plateau suddenly rose up, about ten feet long - Xun Xu, the secretary of Jinzhong, once made a ruler, which was slightly shorter than the rulers of the Later Han and Wei Dynasties (nearly 21.9 centimeters), one step Six feet, about 1.3 meters, ten feet, about 2.2 meters.
The plateau is quite large, with bamboos and trees on it, occupying more than half of the ground.
The north of the plateau rests on the Luoshui River. Standing on it, you can overlook the jade-belt-like river from a high position.
On the west side of the plateau is a deep ditch, three to four feet deep and about ten feet wide. It may have been a dry river originally, but now it is covered with bamboo, wood and weeds.
Fan Long had a keen eye and even saw a dozen sheep wandering in the deep ditch, digging out dry grass from under the snowdrifts and munching happily.
On the east side of the plateau is Qugushui. A large amount of farmland has been opened up on both sides of the plateau, and many ditches have been dug. It is very careful.
I can’t see anything on the south side, it should be the road going up and down the plateau.
There is a Wubao on the plateau, located in the northwest corner.
To the west of the fort is the deep ditch. The plateau wall is relatively steep and difficult to climb.
To the north is Luoshui, which is also difficult to get across.
I can’t see clearly what the east side looks like, maybe a trench has been dug.
There are many residents living on the north side of Wubao. There are some diamond-shaped windows on the wall. Occasionally, urchins will stick their heads out, scream and then shrink back, and other children will laugh in unison.
The sound of drums could be heard faintly from the south side of the plateau, and even the sound of hundreds of people shouting "kill" in unison. Without thinking too much, you can tell that it is a sergeant practicing - Silver Spear Army?
"There is such a fierce tiger hidden deep in the mountains." Fan Long sighed with emotion: "This Shao Xun has a family business here, no wonder the recruitment is in vain."
"Big Honglu, do you want to send someone over to investigate?" a follower asked.
"No." Fan Long waved his hand and said: "Don't try to scare the snake. Besides, Shao Xun is a person that the King of Han values and he treats me with courtesy. Why should he be like this? Let's go, it's nothing. Let’s see.”
There is also a large area of land on the north bank of Luoshui that will be cultivated and planted next spring.
From the amount of land, the population in Wubao can be roughly estimated.
There are no less than five thousand men and women living in this Wubao.
Fan Long and his party left quickly.
While passing through Sanxiang, we rested for a while, then meandered northward along the mountain road and disappeared into the vast mountains.
And in the Kinmen Mountain to the west of Sanxiang, the person he missed was patrolling.
(End of this chapter)