Chapter 700 Snowstorm
On April 15th, the third year of Taiwu, a heavy snowfall that had never happened in a century continued to rage in Gyeonggi.
The remaining mountains of the captivated Songshan Mountains are covered with white snow, and candles illuminate the south.
A prison car with a curtain hanging on it, pulled by four pack horses, was running along the post road from Taigu Pass to Kyoto.
There was a curtain blocking the situation inside the prison car, and there were four knights wrapped in apricot capes beside the car, always alert to the surroundings.
The wind and snow were getting heavier and heavier, and now the sky and the earth were completely white.
The four packhorses pulling the prison cart stepped on the snow, breathing heavily, their noses punching in the cold air. Sixteen horse hooves flew, and snow and soil were flying.
At the same time, in front of the prison car, the weather-beaten postman Lao Liu was also trying hard to control the packhorse and determine the direction.
He is the most outstanding coachman in Daguting, and this time he was recruited by the Taishan Army to escort the prison car.
Since the Taishan Army successively captured the eight passes of Gyeonggi, everyone in Gyeonggi must accept the reality that the Taishan Army is here, and Gyeonggi now belongs to the Taichao.
Therefore, former Han family officials like Lao Liu had to make a choice, either to miss the old dynasty and resign, or to work harder to stay in the Taichao system.
For Lao Liu, who had a large family to support, he chose the latter without hesitation.
At this time, he was driving the horse with whip, trying hard to make the pack horse run on the straight track.
Because there are ravines on both sides of the straight road and it is covered with snow at this time. If you accidentally run down, your horse will be injured and your car will be destroyed.
Therefore, only Lao Liu, who has been running this road for twenty years, can take on this task.
Suddenly, Lao Liu saw a black spot in the snowy field in the distance, and he was walking hard towards it.
Old Liu subconsciously pulled on the reins and was about to slow down his horse, but at this moment a knight beside the prison car reprimanded him in Mandarin with a Hebei accent:
"Don't stop, keep walking."
Old Liu muttered something, and then followed the order.
He could only lament in his heart that the poor pedestrian would freeze to death in the snow today.
But the officers of the Taishan Army all spoke up, and Lao Liu could only let it go.
The prison car continued to run under the control of Old Liu, and soon he saw two people in the snow. One was older and the other was younger. They were walking hard in the snow and shouted loudly towards them. talk.
Originally, they were very excited to see the group of people, but when they saw that the carriage showed no sign of slowing down, they suddenly became discouraged.
Suddenly, a knight galloping beside the prison car glanced at the two men with two yellow scarves wrapped around their foreheads. His expression changed and he said loudly to Old Liu:
"Slow down and stop."
After hearing this, Lao Liu quickly pulled up the reins. The reins pulled the horse's mouth, slowing them down abruptly. The rest slid on the snow for a certain distance according to inertia, and then stopped not far from the two pedestrians.
At this time, Lao Liu was able to take a closer look at the two passers-by.
They had yellow scarves on their foreheads, a spear in their hand, and a large and small dagger on each side of their waists. They also wore straw sandals on their feet, and their toes were red and swollen from the cold.
Seeing these two people dressed up, Old Liu understood why those Taishan soldiers wanted him to stop.
Co-authoring is like meeting their own colleagues.
Sure enough, the military officer who had just called for the car to stop stepped forward, looked at the two people up and down, and asked:
"Are you the Yellow Turban Army?"
Hearing this, the older passerby put down the wooden spear in his hand, and then respectfully performed a teaching ceremony:
"Deng Dang, the yellow turban of Runan, has met his comrades in the Taishan Army."
After he finished speaking, a young man behind him also saluted respectfully:
"Lü Meng, a yellow turban from Runan, has met his fellow soldiers from Mount Tai."
But after the two of them saluted, the four Taishan soldiers opposite you looked at each other, looking at each other.
They didn't expect to meet Runan's Yellow Turban comrades here.
And that makes them uncomfortable.
This is not just a sectarian opinion. Although among the current composition of the Taishan Army, Qingzhou Yellow Turban and Hebei Yellow Turban are the most numerous, but there are also a small number of Runan Yellow Turbans who have joined the Taishan Army.
After all, the Taishan Army fought side by side with the Runan Yellow Turbans in the Yingchuan area, and also recruited many Runan Yellow Turbans into the army.
But under the current circumstances, these four people had to think more.
Because the Runan Yellow Turbans had started anew after Liu Pi took charge of the situation and clearly classified the Taishan Army as Taoist traitors, the relationship between the two parties was very tense.
Later, Yuan Shao led his army to besiege the Runan Yellow Turbans, and Liu Pibuzhi took the remaining Runan Yellow Turbans and formally surrendered to Yuan's army.
And now? The four of them could not forget who they were holding in the prison car now.
Therefore, the four of them had to be wary of the two Runan Yellow Turbans in front of them.
One of the elders, You Yi, saw Deng Dang and Lu Meng looking cold, so he took the initiative to ask:
"How did you two get here? This place is not close to Runan."
Deng Dang was still explaining, and he replied:
"Comrade, we came here to escape. Ever since the main altar was breached by Yuan thieves, we lonely ghosts unwilling to surrender have been wandering around nearby."
"We heard a few days ago that the Taishan Army was going south to Kyoto, so my companions and I decided to go north to join you."
The elder You Yi was not moved by these words, but questioned:
"How did you enter the pass? Guangcheng Pass, which entered Gyeonggi from Runan, has been occupied by Yuan's army. How can you get out? And even if you can get out, if you want to join the army, you have to go to Taigu Pass. How can you go beyond Taigu Pass? South?”
Deng Dang shook his head, not daring to deceive:
"The two of us traveled all the way from Songshan Mountain, and we got lost when we got here. It started to snow heavily again today, and we were really desperate."
As he said that, he happily asked:
"I wonder, Comrade, if your carriage can hold two more people? For the sake of Comrade, please save us."
The four people opposite You Yizhong, the one who was the first to shout for Lao Liu to leave, snorted coldly after hearing this:
"Now that I think about it, we are the same comrades? That's not what you, Daoshang Liu, said back then, saying that our Taishan Army was a heretic and deserved death more than the Han Army."
After saying this, the elder You Yi reprimanded, and Deng Dang and Lu Meng couldn't help but bow their heads in shame.
After reprimanding his companions, the elder You Yi smiled and said to Deng Dang:
"Comrade Deng, I will discuss this with some of the bureau chiefs, please wait a moment."
Deng Dang and Lu Meng looked at each other and expressed their gratitude.
Then the elder You Yi went back and asked the other three:
"How? Will you let him get in the car?"
The youngest You Yi was the first to object, saying:
"Guo Tou, we have military affairs now. We don't know the details of those two people at all. It's too risky to let them get on the bus."
This young You Yi is called Wang Yao. He surrendered to the army in Handan in the first year of Taiwu. He accumulated merit and became the envoy of You Yi. He is now under Guo Shu's rank.
Guo Shu is the slightly older You Yishi. He is the cousin of Princess Liu Qian, so he has a special relationship in the army.
But Guo Shu was different from his cousin Liu Hui. He was relatively reserved and low-key, so even if Wang Yao objected at the moment, he did not get angry.
Guo Shu didn't say anything, but Zhang Xiang, another Youyi envoy, scolded: "Xiao Wang, you said it lightly. If we didn't know that these two people were from the Yellow Turban Army before, it would be fine, and we would just run over. . But now we know that our comrades are frozen in the frost and snow, and we will definitely be punished later.”
As he spoke, Zhang Xiang looked at the remaining fourth player, You Yi, intentionally or unintentionally.
This person's face was wrapped in a scarf, and when he saw Zhang Xiang looking over, he shrugged:
"Don't look at me. Just make your decision. I won't talk much anyway."
At this time, Wang Yao realized what Zhang Xiang meant and understood that there was another system here, and there were some things and things that couldn't be said like this.
So Wang Yao kept silent.
In the end, it was Guo Shu who took the initiative to ask that person:
"Captain Taishi, do you think it will be dangerous if we let these two Runan comrades get on the bus?"
It turned out that the masked person was Tai Shici.
Why did he, who had already become Colonel You Yi of the Central Guard Army, stay here with Guo Shu and the other four?
It turned out that Zhang Chong had been concerned about this matter since the Taiguguan front line was sent to capture important figures in the Yuan army, and even specially asked General Tai Shici of Youyi to lead the team south.
After Taishi Ci arrived at the front line of Taigu Pass, he interrogated this person, but also failed to get any information about this person, so he transferred Guo Shu and others from the army to go on the mission.
Guo Shu and the others did not know the whole story. They only knew that they wanted to escort one person to Beijing. They did not even know the reason why Tai Shici joined their team.
At this moment, Taishi Ci didn't care about Guo Shu and the others' caution, but said lightly:
"With the four of us, we can still defeat those two weak Yellow Turban soldiers, so we might as well die."
This was the final word, so Guo Shu walked up to Deng Dang again and told him:
"You can get on the carriage, but you can only sit with the coachman. In addition, we can only send you to the nearest inn, where you have to wait for the wind and snow to pass before setting off. Any questions?"
Deng Dang and Lu Meng glanced at each other and nodded in unison.
Guo Shu was impatient and asked with a stiff face:
"What else?"
But I heard Deng Dang and Lu Meng say in unison:
"Can you give us a cloak."
In this way, the two of them each got a cloak that the Youyi people were wearing, and then wrapped it up and huddled around Lao Liu.
After that, the convoy continued to move forward, heading towards the station deep in the wind and snow.
……
Lu Meng talked a lot, so he chatted with Lao Liu on the way:
"Old man, your driving is too good. You are the best driver I have ever seen who can drive four horses, not to mention that you can't see clearly on the windy and snowy road."
But Lao Liu ignored him at all, shouted at the carriage and continued on his way.
Lu Meng's mouth was full of snow and he continued to babble, but at this time Lao Liu whispered:
"Little brother, stop talking. I don't care what you think, but don't cause trouble in our old Liu's car."
Lu Meng gulped, glanced at his silent brother-in-law, and shrank back.
Seeing that Lu Meng stopped talking, Lao Liu visibly let out a breath, and then urged the horse to go faster.
At this time, the wind and snow were getting heavier and heavier, and there was no reference point on the road. Even Old Liu didn't dare to determine the route.
He said loudly to Guo Shu beside him:
"Chang Guo, it seems we won't be able to reach the inn in front today. I'm afraid of running into a snow pit if we run again. I know there is a small dock on this road where we can avoid the wind and snow."
Guo Shu looked at the sky and the earth in front of him, nodded with Zhang Xiang beside him, and then agreed.
In this way, Lao Liu quickly changed lanes with his carriage and horse and drove towards a valley not far away.
……
Liao's Wall is a dock wall hidden at the foot of Songshan Mountain.
On the country road not far away, Lao Liu drove a prison van and sped over.
The high-intensity Mercedes-Benz made not only Lao Liu very tired, but also Guo Shu and Tai Shici.
But even so, they first took a closer look at the dock wall in this mountain gap.
This is a typical Chinese-style dock wall with a small area. There is a pavilion and a building surrounded by logs and mud next to it.
This dock wall actually has many functions, because the road from Kyoto to Taigu Road is one of the transportation routes with the largest flow of people in the world, but not everyone is qualified to live in the inn, so these wild dock walls were born.
Meals, accommodation, fodder, and occasionally hot water can be provided here, which greatly facilitates business travel.
And this Liao family also does some business.
Due to the traffic of business travelers nearby, this Wubi often obtains some special products from the mountains and sells them to the business travelers who stay there. At the same time, he also buys some products that are in short supply in the mountains from these business travelers.
Relying on buying and selling, this Wubi can't be said to be prosperous, but it is also a very famous wild place in this area.
The prison car quickly stopped in front of the dockyard, and then a slave rushed down from the bell tower to help Old Liu lead the pack horses.
Old Liu looked at this strange man and asked casually:
"Where are you dock owners?"
Natu Li said in local dialect:
"Isn't there a big chaos in the capital? A few days ago, the nobles in Kyoto rushed from Taigu Road to Yingchuan. The former dock owner didn't know who he heard, saying that the Taishan Army was coming, specifically to kill rich people like him. , so I took several tribesmen southward to Yingchuan overnight.”
As he spoke, Tu Li skillfully unloaded the carriage shaft on the pack horse, and then said:
"Later on, some of our people in the mountains felt that the business in this dock wall was good, and then they made an offer to the former dock owner. But even though the people have changed, don't worry, we are more affordable than before."
Old Liu felt sad after hearing this and sighed:
"It's all this damn world. Let's not talk about it. Have you set up a fire pit on the wall of your dock? Give us all some hot water. It's freezing here. Have you ever seen such heavy snow in April? What a disaster.”
After the Tu Li put down all the carriage shafts, after listening to Lao Liu's words, he hurriedly bent down and said:
"No, it's a really evil day. I hope you'll be safe. The hot water is in the wall, the fire pit is burning, and there are a few guests inside, all taking shelter from the snow."
After saying that, Tu Li took the initiative to walk to the prison car, ready to shake off the snow on the curtain.
But just when he touched the curtain, Guo Shu scolded:
"Don't move, let us do this ourselves."
After saying that, he told Wang Yao to help Lao Liu and move the prison car, the packhorse and the four of their horses to the stable next to the material yard.
There was obviously not much work that Old Liu and Wang Yao could do, so Deng Dang and Lu Meng in the car also took the initiative to help Old Liu.
Taishi Ci frowned and looked at the dock wall, then looked at the disciples who were helping over there, and suddenly smiled and said:
"I'm here to help you too."
As he spoke, he grabbed his own horse with one hand, and took his horse from Guo Shu with the other hand. The two people's eyes met for a moment, and then they separated.
Seeing the look Tai Shici gave him, Guo Shu's heart tightened, and then he smiled at Zhang Xiang, who was also wary:
"Come on, let's take this big shot in first. It's cold outside, but it may not be warm inside."
With that said, he opened the tent, opened the prison cart, and put down a prisoner with wooden shackles on his hands and iron ropes on his feet.
Then Guo Shu and Zhang Xiang walked into the dock wall with the man on their side.
The wind and snow outside are getting worse.