Chapter 501: The soldiers and horses have not moved, but the food and grass go first
The war has not yet begun, but those who are interested can already see some clues.
On the post road from Xinzheng to Guancheng, because it had just rained, the road was muddy and difficult to navigate, and the servants pulling the carriages and horses all scolded them.
"Xi Lulu——" Old Ma fell to his knees weakly, foaming at the mouth.
The carriage tilted, and under the fearful gaze of a servant, it rolled over and pushed him to the ground.
Grain bags fell one after another, crushing the slave until he vomited blood and his eyes were dull.
A grain bag was torn, and the yellow wheat spilled out, piled on his face, and soon buried him in the mud.
The people rushed over shouting, righting the carriage first, and then took out the slaves.
The servant was only twitching, his mouth was full of wheat grains mixed with blood foam, and his eyes were looking at the sky blankly.
The sky was covered with dark clouds and was extremely solemn, as if silently paying homage to this slave who died in vain.
The war has not yet broken out, but there are already casualties.
Someone took off the leather harness on the draft horse and tried several times, but they couldn't get the old horse to stand up again.
“It’s hopeless.” A white-haired old man sighed. He didn’t know whether he was sighing for the draft horse or feeling sorry for the young servants, maybe both.
Others watched all this in silence until a banker leader came over.
"What are you still waiting for?" He yelled: "The heavy rain and mud have already delayed the trip. We will prepare torches tonight and move forward through the night."
Everyone woke up as if they were dreaming. , one after another picked up the grain bags and piled them into the carriage.
A mule was brought behind.
The old man put the leather muff on the mule and continued to drive.
A group of sergeants passed by.
At a glance, there seemed to be hundreds of people, all with young faces. Behind each person is a mule, carrying food, water and equipment on its back, walking slowly through the muddy water.
The original appearance of their military uniforms could no longer be seen. They were all stained with mud and water, but no one cared about them and just kept their heads down as they walked on.
The old man withdrew his gaze and drove the mule cart slowly.
The leader of the banker specially assigned two young and strong servants to him, ready to provide assistance at any time.
"Crash!" Not long after walking, the wheel fell into a deep rut again, and it was impossible to get out.
The old man got out of the carriage and pointed with his whip.
The servant immediately took the firewood from the car and put it under the wheels.
A group of cavalry passed by, splashing a large cloud of muddy water.
The old man cursed secretly: "Mr. Chen gave you the horse to ride on when you are not fighting? If you are caught by the people who assassinated the governor, you will be whipped."
After the firewood was piled up, the old man got on the carriage again, and the three of them worked together to move forward.
The old man kept waving his whip, and the mule's hooves slipped several times, which made him murmur in his heart: If the frame of the carriage is broken, he will not be able to walk at all.
Fortunately, with good luck, after another try, the heavy carriage finally got out of the ruts and continued to move forward unsteadily.
The old man wiped his sweat and sighed secretly: It is the common people who suffer in the war.
He subconsciously looked up and looked ahead. The long motorcade stretched as far as the eye could see, extending directly to the distant horizon.
Just try harder, just try harder!
Sending the grain to the riverside and loading it on the boat is none of their business.
After returning home, there is still a lot of work to do.
A group of sheep were sent from Luoyang and sold extremely cheaply. He just bought one.
It was so skinny that he knew it was a foreign sheep that had traveled a long distance. After asking again, it turned out that it was sent from a place called "Jinguyuan".
He was worried that his careless grandson would be able to take care of the sheep, and wanted to go back early to see if he had to raise them to death.
In addition, it has been raining heavily for days and the roof is leaking, so I have to find time to repair it.
Alas, officials, please do your best and stop serving, okay?
******
In Futian Ze, as the bell rang, another group of boats left Hepu and headed for the river.
Guo Song looked at the densely packed equipment in the cabin and was very envious.
After his uncle Li Ju became the order of Xingyang, Wubao was left in charge of him.
He doesn't like to take care of general affairs, but he is very active in the training process. The most troublesome thing for him is the loss of swords, guns, bows and arrows.
These things are not cheap!
Guan's equipment may be much cheaper, but it rarely goes outside. Wubao Shuai like them had to either make it themselves or find someone to buy it, which was not easy anyway.
For example, arrows, I heard that each soldier of the Silver Spear Army has thirty arrows in his quiver, and each arrow has different functions.
There are those that shoot directly at the armor, some that shoot diagonally at the city head, and some that are specially used for projectiles...
What a luxury!
It is true that arrows are not expensive, but arrows are also different.
The arrows made by their Wubao craftsmen cannot be straightened using terminals, resulting in poor quality arrows.
Later, a craftsman who escaped from the Zheng family in Kaifeng was invited to teach step by step how to heat the arrow shaft and how to use terminals to correct it, and this problem was truly solved.
In addition to correction, I heard that the arrow shafts made by Guanye also need to be cut, polished, painted, wrapped with silk thread, etc. It is very cumbersome and the quality is not comparable to them.
This also allowed him to see clearly the gap between their small Wubao and the real aristocratic family. "The war is all about money!" Guo Song shook his head and looked at the sandbank in the swamp.
Chen Gong was about to fight, and they came out of Wubao for a hundred people, and on the order of Pei Fujun, they came to Putianze to graze their cattle.
The county sent 30,000 sheep all the way from Jinguyuan, and the journey of hundreds of miles was almost exhausting.
But you have to admit that these little things are really tenacious. After ten days of eating tender and juicy grass on the sandbank, my body bulged up visibly to the naked eye, and I slowly gained some weight.
Guo Song waded through the water and came to a small sandbar more than a hundred steps square, and looked carefully.
In one year old, cattle, horses and donkeys will get twice as much, and sheep will get four times.
As long as there is enough fodder, this thing grows really fast.
Generally speaking, if there is one sheep at the beginning of the year, as long as you are not unlucky, there will probably be four sheep at the end of the year.
However, the 30,000 sheep in front of us are not used for breeding. After they are raised, they will be sent further east to the Wenshijin area.
The pontoon bridge is being built over there, and eventually these 30,000 sheep will probably become the prey of the frontline sergeants.
He was about to go into battle, so in order to boost his morale, he naturally had to have a good meal, which he could understand.
There are several thatched houses built on the sandbank.
Guo Song knew that this was a temporary resting place for the shepherds. Without this war, many fort residents would come to graze on the sandbank, but all of them would be requisitioned by the government - grass is also a precious resource.
This made him realize more deeply how costly fighting a war was and how much inconvenience it would cause to the people.
When he was in Pingyang in his early years, he once thought that as long as he practiced martial arts and military formations well, wouldn't fighting be like that?
After coming to Henan with his uncle and taking care of everything by himself, he realized how naive that would be.
If you don’t have someone to help you with logistics, you won’t be able to fight the war.
His family's Wubao only produced a hundred men. Countless Wubao and manors were mobilized throughout Henan. Countless officials, scholars, and powerful men were like him, running around everywhere. , sending bags of grain, bundles of arrows, and sheep to the front line.
Chen Gong quickly unified Henan, Wubao and the manor united around him, and finally reached the current situation.
On the contrary, if these people do not support him, his logistics will collapse instantly and no battle will be fought. Let alone eating sheep, it is quite possible for humans to eat each other.
Running an army and caring for the people is really not a simple matter. It cannot be achieved by relying on fighting and killing.
******
Outside the southern city of Fangtou, there was a lot of noise with people shouting and neighing.
Several temporary wooden bridges were erected on the Qishui River, and a large number of sergeants quickly passed through and arrived at the west bank of Qishui.
Yang Dan climbed up to the high platform, took a rough look, and immediately cursed.
How long has the war been going on here? The woods have been cut down. Simple felling of trees and setting up a fence seemed to be a difficult task at this time.
With no choice but to ask the soldiers to dig trenches and build earthen walls for protection.
After the order was given, the sergeants received the equipment and immediately started working enthusiastically.
The mud on the river bank was relatively soft, making it very easy to dig. The trench extended at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Yang Dan looked around and was very satisfied.
They went to the west bank of Qishui to set up defenses, not to defend the city, but to protect Fangtou South City.
Above the river, boats were parked everywhere, and people, horses, and goods were everywhere, in a mess.
At this time, if the Huns sneak across the Qishui River and come to kill them, they will most likely cause the Confucius slaves who have not had time to enter the city to blow up the camp, and the military supplies and food that were finally transported will be burned. .
Therefore, they crossed the river and marched westward, setting up defenses in advance to protect the flanks of Nancheng to prevent others from taking advantage of them.
In the distant wilderness, two or three Huns rangers were quietly peeping.
It is impossible to hide such a big movement from anyone. After all, this is an army of 60,000 to 70,000 men, not 600 to 700 men!
The scene was really big this time. Dozens of counties in Yu, Yan, Si and Jing prefectures were mobilized and tried their best to transport grain, grass and military supplies, which were stored in the north and south cities of Fangtou. .
Even the Cangcheng was not enough, and had to temporarily build rain shelters, earth houses, and wooden houses to store military supplies.
The three thousand vanguards under him were probably the first batch of troops to arrive at Fangtou.
Well, maybe not, because there are still 4,000 Wancheng soldiers in the east of the city, commanded by Liang Su, the original Pinyang order, who also went forward to set up defenses and camped on the south bank of Baigou.
Those Kansai people!
Yang Dan chuckled and returned to the camp under the protection of his own soldiers.
Above the big river, the sound of waves is still there, and hundreds of boats are vying for the current.
Sergeants and servants with various accents gathered here.
Every ship docked was accumulating energy for the upcoming war.
They brought armor from Xuchang, spears from Xiping, and strong crossbows from Luoyang...
Millet from Chenliu, wheat from Yingchuan, beans from Chenjun Gather here.
War horses from Guangchengze, mules from Longpi Ranch, and cattle and sheep from Jinguyuan arrived one after another.
The officials escorting the transport were shouting so loudly that they were almost hoarse.
The officers leading the team cursed and slapped the clumsy auxiliary soldiers hard.
The clerks were so quick to write down the materials for registration and delivery that their hands cramped up.
This is war.
(End of this chapter)