Chapter 750: Patrolling the River (Part 1)
This year’s spring plowing was a bit late. It didn’t start until late February and ended in early March.
Shao Xun left Pingyang with his entourage in mid-February, first heading west into the mountains, and then heading north to patrol along the river.
On March 11, the army arrived at Lishi, and then marched westward for four days to the ferry on the Yihe River.
The name of this ferry is Mengmenjin. It is not the Mengmen Shicao Ferry at the Hukou of the Yellow River in later generations, but it is located in Mengmen Town, Liulin County, Shanxi Province, opposite Wubao County, Shaanxi Province.
Two golden eagles, one behind the other, soared into the sky and emitted a cheerful hawk call.
On both sides of the river, the pasture has turned green and sprouted quite a lot of buds, which is quite pleasing to the eye.
In the mountains on the other side of the river, some farmers tend to their crops on relatively gentle slopes.
The land does not look very fertile, and irrigation is quite difficult, but the farmers have the perseverance and perseverance to engage in this difficult work day after day.
By the way, they are Qiang people.
The Qiang people, like the Han people, are accustomed to endure hardships, or even more so.
"What are they growing?" Shao Xun squinted his eyes and looked carefully, but even though he was a sharpshooter, he still couldn't see clearly because it was too far away.
"Mi Zi." Seeing that the staff and generals who came with the king did not say anything, Tian Mao, the prefect of Xihe, mustered up his courage and stepped forward to reply.
“Really?” Shao Xun glanced at his student and niece-in-law and asked with a smile.
Tian Mao was a little nervous and hurriedly said: "Maybe there is still millet."
"Why is it so." Shao Xun patted Tian Mao on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I didn't expect this either. Both. ”
Mountain farming is not easy.
He remembered that later generations of the Northern Song Dynasty and Xixia competed here, and their main goal was the relatively good agricultural land in these endless mountains. For example, Zhenzhu Mountain, located in Jiaxian County and Mizhi area of Shaanxi Province, has vast hectares of fertile land and high yields. The competition between Song and Xia was fierce.
It doesn’t matter if you didn’t grab it this year. Let’s see if the enemy has farmed.
After planting, they will kill him during the autumn harvest, making his year's hard work in vain.
It was a pure turn-based game. Both Song and Xia suffered losses, so that during the autumn harvest, the number of people preparing for war was several times the number of people harvesting food, and both suffered severe losses.
"Which county is across the street?" Shao Xun asked.
"Shangjun Fushi County (today's Yuhe Town, Yulin City) has been established for more than ten years." Tian Mao replied.
"How many counties are there in Shangjun?"
"Eight counties are Fushi, Baitu, Gaonu, Diaoyin, Yangzhou, Sheyan, Yuanyang and Dingyang."
"Where is Liu Hu of the Tiefu Xiongnu?"
"After he fled to the west of Xingxing and Yanmen, he settled in Shuofang and was still Liu Han's vassal. Two years ago he attacked Tuoba Dai. After the defeat, he fled to the north of Yinshan Mountain, and his younger brother Liu Lugu led the remaining tribes to surrender."
"So, Shuofang was controlled by the Tuoba clan?"
"That's not true. There are also Xianbei people who do not submit to the Tuoba clan, and there are also many Wuhuan people."
Shao Xun nodded and understood.
The Tuoba Dai Kingdom has Shengle as its northern capital and Pingcheng as its southern capital. From the current view, although most of the dignitaries are in Shengle, the strategic focus of the country is obviously eastward, with more emphasis on the Yanmen and Daijun areas.
If it weren’t for Liu Hu’s desperate attack, they would not have gone west.
If the Xiongnu wanted to make achievements in Henan, they could only send troops from Shangjun to suppress and appease them, and see if they could capture Shuofang and establish a territory roughly similar to that of the Later Qin.
Does this mean that I can also send troops to Hexi to try to capture Shangjun and Shuofang, so as to give the Huns a mountain to suppress?
"Woo——" the horn sounded.
Everyone looked for the sound, and it turned out that the sound came from the other side.
The soldiers from the Silver Spear Right Battalion who came with them were setting up camp and immediately scattered when they heard the sound.
Some people are watching the ferry, some are occupying the hills on both sides, and some are hiding in the valley, ready to attack at any time.
The soldiers of Yi Congjun and Luoyan Army also led their horses out one after another, preparing to fight.
Shao Xun laughed, rode his horse down the hillside, and came to the ferry to drink.
There is a small house here. I heard that it was a temporary residence for Liu Kui, the son of Liu Cong and King of Gaoping, when he went hunting in the mountains. Liu Kui once lived in Lishi, and later returned to Pingyang to serve. After the Battle of Wenxi, he served as a pursuer. Killed in Sushui.
The clear sound of horse hooves sounded. Shao Xun turned his head and saw the heroic Liu Yena running over. He got close and jumped off the horse lightly.
The breath is slightly short, the bulging chest is extremely proud, the buttocks are as round as beads, and the thighs are slender and powerful. A fit young woman of twenty-six or seventeen years old is at her most charming and charming.
This is a woman in the same age echelon as Princess Yu Wenjun (twenty-four years old).
The sergeants were preparing to spend the night in a temporary camp. The staff found an open space, set up desks, and handled more urgent official duties. Shao Xun sat under the locust tree at the entrance of the small courtyard and looked at the other side.
"Your Majesty is going to attack Shangjun?" Liu Ye asked, sitting on the grass with buds without any concern.
“Call me Lang Jun.” Shao Xun said.
"Yes, Lang Jun." Liu Ye said without any shyness.
"You are too little woman now." Shao Xun smiled.
“What is a ‘little woman’?” Liu Ye asked curiously.
"I have heard that Mrs. Liu is brave and brave. With a military order, any offender will be killed immediately..." Shao Xun stopped talking in the middle of his sentence.
Maybe women were one way in front of him and another way in front of others. He remembered that time in Youzhou, when Liu Ye sentenced the Jie people who had committed crimes, but he was not lenient at all.
Didn’t the punishment of lying on the ground and having the leg bones repeatedly crushed by horses’ hooves and wheels come from Liu Yena’s mouth?
"You just have these dirty thoughts." Liu Ye didn't know what he thought of, but he actually blushed.
Shao Xun was confused. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly heard some movement on the other side of the river, so he turned to look.
Mengmenjin is located on a narrower part of the river bank, only a few hundred meters in fact. Looking from the east of the river to the west of the river, others may not be able to see clearly, but the large group of people can still find it...
******
Shi Le climbed the hillside , overlooking the other side.
The sound of trumpets just now came from his troops.
After the horn sounded, groups of knights rode forward one after another, quietly looking at the ferry on the other side.
Outside the small brick courtyard hidden among the trees, there seemed to be a man and a woman sitting side by side, very loving.
Shi Le looked up at the golden eagle hovering in the air, and then at the men and women on the other side of the river, his face gradually turning pale.
"Uncle." Shi Hu followed, followed by hundreds of panting soldiers, holding high the banner with the word "石".
"Ming Gong, do the thieves want to cross the river?" Zhang Jing also rushed up the hillside, built a pergola with his hands, looked towards the other side, then took a breath and said: "It looks like the Silver Spear Army. "
"Cross the river? Cross the river!" Shi Le's anger was so intense that it was incomprehensible. He said, "We can't build a pontoon here, and the thieves haven't collected the ferry yet. How can we cross the river? ”
Zhang Jing was spat on, speechless.
Shi Hu looked at the fast-flowing Yellow River and said nothing.
He heard people say that even in the coldest twelfth and first lunar months, the river surface here is not frozen solid.
Sometimes half of the river is frozen, sometimes the middle is not frozen, and sometimes it is full of ice floes.
Crossing the river here in winter is simply whimsical.
What about summer? In fact, it is also difficult, because the current is too fast and it is difficult to build a pontoon bridge, so we can only ferry.
Also because of the strong current, the ferry is very slow and cannot carry many people. It is also easy to capsize and is very easy to defend. I wonder what my uncle is worried about?
Have you gone a little crazy now that you are older and after being beaten to the point of collapse by Shao Thief?
Thinking of this, Shi Hu sighed secretly.
My uncle now has eight thousand cavalry, and the vast majority (five thousand people) were brought here by him. Sooner or later, the position of Shuofang Prefect will fall to him.
Uh, yes, Shi Le has been appointed as the prefect of Shuofang by Liu Can.
Considering that the Xiongnu did not own the land of Shuofang, this so-called prefect was just in name only. To really do it, Shi Le had to fight for it himself.
Of course, the Xiongnu court will also provide appropriate help, such as recruiting Liu Hu and Liu Lugu (nobles from Tiefu Xiongnu), as well as farm tools, seeds, cattle, etc. for farming in Shangjun.
They do not have enough strength to take over Shuofang now. They will first cultivate the fields to support themselves, make friends with the tribal nobles in Henan, and then pursue other plans.
The location of their farming was also determined: Baitu County (near Shenmu, Shaanxi today).
The local household registration is not abundant, and most of them belong to the Qiang, Xiongnu, and Xianbei tribes. They mainly focus on grazing, supplemented by farming-it is the kind of farmland that sows and then leaves it alone, and "relies on the sky to harvest".
It is said that in the Han Dynasty, the population was quite large and agriculture was quite prosperous. But now things have changed and people have changed, but it is no longer as prosperous as it used to be.
"Why doesn't Shao Thief, your mother's maidservant, leave? Has the palace in Bianliang collapsed? Do you have to live in Pingyang Palace?" Zhi Quliu came on horseback and cursed when he saw it. .
Shi Hu couldn't help laughing.
Zhang Jing couldn’t help but smile.
Shi Le took a long breath and said: "Let's go, the Shao thieves can't cross the river."
"It's none of our business to cross the river. Liu Yang's tribe will drive them away." Shi Le Tiger grunted and took the lead down the mountain.
Before leaving, he took one last look at the other side.
Another woman walked out of the small courtyard. She was saying something to Shao Thief, and then they went in together.
Zhang Jing called everyone down the mountain and said to Shi Le as he walked: "Ming Gong, after we went to Baitu County, our first enemy was the Dugu tribe of the Xiongnu. They relied on the Tuoba clan and disobeyed the court's orders. They often plundered the Tiefu tribe and even the Huns. "Shangjun, you must be on guard."
"I heard that the Dugu tribe had surrendered to the imperial court?" Shi Le asked.
"Of course, it's just an old thing. The late emperor was able to recruit the Dugu tribe, but that's not necessarily the case today." Zhang Jing said.
“Where is the Helan tribe?”
“The Helan tribe is also a Huns, but they have been married to Tuoba Xianbei for generations and have never been recruited.” Zhang Jing said: “The current plan , we must first stop the plundering of the Dugu tribe. This tribe has always been arrogant because it has Tuoba Xianbei as its backer. Many small tribes in Henan have enemies with them. Ming Gong may unite these tribes."
" Well, not bad." Shi Le praised.
After saying this, he, like Shi Hu, couldn't help but look back.
It is impossible to say that you are not afraid.
For so many years, since Yema Gang, he has been suppressed by Shao Thief, and his mentality once collapsed. After recuperating in recent months, I have regained a little confidence.
Liu Can sent him north, which was not an insult. It can even be said that it was reused, giving him one last chance.
He understands this very well.
As the sun sets, smoke rises from the other side of the river.
In the small courtyard, Liu Ye was lying lazily on the couch, his hair was messy, his face was red, and he was full of water.
The gentleman just now was really too cruel.
As for the reason for the fierceness, she buried her face in the mattress, and her ears were red.
Shao Xun, like a sage, sat behind the desk. After writing an order, he got up and went out. He handed it to Yang Qin and said, "Send it to Pingyang and handle it immediately."
"No." Yang Qin left immediately.
Shao Xun looked at the gradually darkening sky and was very satisfied.
He has already sent an order to establish Dinghu County here, under the jurisdiction of Xihe County, and to move some of the Jia clan in Pingyang to settle here.
There is no money to attack Kansai at the moment, so it is always good to prepare in advance.
(There will definitely be three updates today, so don’t worry about it. It’s the last day. If you don’t vote, it will be wasted.)
(End of this chapter)