Chapter 138 Tiger in the Mountain

Chapter 138 Tiger in the Mountain

Chapter 138 Tiger in the Mountain
After leaving Jingu Garden, the "caravan" continued its journey westward.

After walking southwest for a day, I saw a restaurant in the distance and stopped.

"Can the shopkeeper take care of the draft animals?" someone asked.

The shopkeeper's eyes were blurry. He squinted for a long time and then nodded.

Thirty or forty horses require a lot of food, but he has stored a lot of hay, which is barely enough to cope with the situation.

After a while, two young men came out. One of them untied the draft horse and fed it hay and salt water, while the other brought a large bundle of hay and chopped it up on the spot with a guillotine.

"How can we just eat grass? We still have a long way to go." One of Fan Long's followers asked, "Are there no chaff?"

The boy looked back at the old man.

The attendant asked someone to bring out some skins and handed them over, saying, "Quickly feed them some chaff."

The old man took the leather and carefully checked it one by one. After making sure that the quality was correct, he finally nodded.

A moment later, a strong woman with a face full of flesh came out from the backyard, carrying a large bag of chaff easily.

After carrying one bag, he went back to carry the second bag.

"The store always has this item in stock. It seems that there are many merchants and travelers coming to Luoyang." Fan Long walked into the restaurant, sat cross-legged on the cushion, and said with a smile.

He was already accustomed to sitting cross-legged because that was what the Huns liked to do.

After the store owner asked them what they wanted to eat, he went to the kitchen first, then came over to pour wine for Fan Long and said casually, "There are indeed more business travelers this year. Judging from the accent of the guests, they are from Bingzhou?"

Fan Long looked at the shopkeeper in surprise, nodded, and said, "I came from Taiyuan to sell furs and horses."

"There have been fewer merchants from Bingzhou in the past two years." The shopkeeper didn't want to ask more questions, so he just said, "Before the drought, there were merchants from Bingzhou who went south every year to sell horses, sheep, medicinal herbs, and furs."

"The shop owner is quite knowledgeable." Fan Long said with a smile.

Four years ago, Bingzhou was hit by a severe drought, which had far-reaching consequences. Since then, the situation has become increasingly chaotic and eventually out of control.

There are still many people from Bingzhou moving south, but they have become refugees.

"We have seen less of them in recent years." The shopkeeper sighed, "There is no peace in the world with fighting and killing. If Zhang Fang had not been driven away last year, Luoyang would be in a much worse state."

"Who chased Zhang Fang away?"

"Isn't it Shao Sima who 'broke a hundred thousand with a thousand'?"

"He is now a general in the palace." Fan Long said with a smile, "Why does the store owner know so much?"

The shopkeeper was silent for a long time, and finally said: "I have two sons. One died in the battle between Chengdu and Hejian to attack Changsha, and the other died in the battle between Donghai and Chengdu..."

Upon hearing this, Fan Long sighed and stood up to pour a bowl of wine for the shopkeeper.

Within a year, both sons died in battle. It was so tragic for the old man to see his young sons die.

However, in today's world, there are such tragedies everywhere, and there is no pure land at all. What else is there to say?

The shopkeeper took a sip from the wine bowl and said, "This shop is also open and closed from time to time. From the twelfth month of last year to the twelfth month of this year, a whole year, this is the longest time it has been open."

"Life is difficult for the people." Fan Long sighed.

But no matter what, 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 the world more chaotic.

This is not surprising.

People can be compassionate, show kindness and give benefits within a certain range, but once their fundamental interests are violated, everything is in vain.

"I just hope that Sima Shao can stay in Luoyang for a few more years, and the Silver Spear Army can stay for a few more years, so that I can open the shop for a few more years and raise my grandchildren." said the shop owner.

"Silver Spear Army?" Fan Long was stunned.

"It's in the mountains to the southwest. I heard there's a big fortress. Sometimes they would march here. They had big carts, and drums and horns were beating. Soldiers stood on the carts and shot arrows. I'm not very good at seeing, so I don't know what kind of formation they practiced."

Many things in official circles are really only kept secret from the superiors and not from the subordinates.

Yunzhongwu has been under construction in Nuji Mountain for a year. There are many carts and people traveling between Luoyang and Nuji Mountain.

Sometimes there were caravans passing by, sometimes large groups of refugees, sometimes people driving oxen, sometimes soldiers coming and going, and often messengers stopping by this small shop to rest their horses and eat.

It is impossible for the soldiers and messengers to say nothing. Over time, it will be difficult to hide the truth from their subordinates.

Many high-ranking officials in history were surprised when they found that things were beyond their control. In fact, it was because they were out of touch with reality and were fooled. It is an old official tradition to hide things from superiors but not from subordinates.

When Fan Long heard this, he was thinking: "Does Sima Yue know about this?" Then he thought again, there were many officials and generals who built forts and manors. Even if Sima Yue knew about it, he might not think there was anything wrong with it.

However, one fortress is different from another, and one unit is also different from another.

Sometimes, details are fatal.

"The shopkeeper just said that the Silver Spear Army drove carts, marched and shot arrows. Can you tell us more about it?" Fan Long asked again.

"I don't know exactly." The innkeeper thought for a moment and said, "It's a procession of many horse-drawn and mule-drawn carts, divided into two columns, with soldiers marching in the middle. When the drums sound, they stop immediately, with the front and rear of the convoy connected. Then the soldiers jump on the carts, and when the horns sound, they shoot arrows out."

The old man spoke briefly, even a little confusingly, but Fan Long understood it.

This is the tactic used by infantry against cavalry.

A large group of infantry marched, with baggage wagons placed on both sides to prevent cavalry from charging directly. When encountering enemy cavalry, the baggage wagons were connected end to end, forming a circle, so the cavalry could not charge directly, and they could not defeat the infantry if they dismounted. They could shoot arrows from a distance, but the range, power, and accuracy of horse bows were not as good as those of infantry bows, not to mention that the enemy might also have crossbows, which was really difficult.

This is what Wei Qing seemed to have done when the Western Han Dynasty attacked the Xiongnu.

Ma Long did the same thing when he marched westward to Liangzhou.

Why does Shao Xun always practice tactics against cavalry?
Are his soldiers that elite? The chariot formation is simple, but the effects vary greatly when used by different people.

Fan Long thought of the soldiers he saw in Jingu Garden. They were so bad. How dare he do that?

The food was served quickly.

Fan Long and his followers finished their meal in no time. After the horses were almost fed, they settled their accounts and left.

The convoy headed west, moving forward with difficulty along the dilapidated official road.

When they arrived near Nuji Mountain, Fan Long and several of his followers stopped.

In the distance are endless forests with many pine and cypress trees. Even in the dead of winter, they are still lush and green.

In front of the forest, a mound of earth abruptly rose up, about ten zhang in height. Xun Xu, the Secretary of the Jin Dynasty, once made a ruler that was slightly shorter than the ruler of the Later Han and Wei dynasties (close to 21.9 cm). One step was six zhang, about 1.3 meters, and one zhang was ten zhang, about 2.2 meters.

The plateau is quite large, with bamboo and trees on it, occupying more than half of the ground.

The northern part of the plateau is backed by the Luo River. People standing on it can look down at the river that looks like a jade belt.

On the west side of the loess plateau is a deep ditch, about three or four feet deep and ten feet wide. It may have been a dry river channel, but now it is overgrown with bamboo, trees and weeds.

Fan Long had sharp eyes and even saw a dozen sheep wandering in the deep ditch, digging out dry grass from under the snow and eating it happily.

On the east side of the plateau is Qugu Water. A large number of farmlands have been opened up on both sides of the plateau, and many ditches have been dug, which is quite thoughtful.

I can't see what the south side looks like, it should be the road going up and down the plateau.

There is a fort on the plateau, located in the northwest corner.

To the west of the fortress is the deep ditch, and the plateau wall is relatively steep and difficult to climb.

To the north is the Luo River, which is also difficult to cross.

I can't see clearly what the east side looks like, maybe there's a trench dug there.

Many residents lived on the north side of the fort. Because there were a few diamond-shaped windows on the wall, occasionally a naughty child would stick his head out, shout loudly, and then shrink it back, and the other children would laugh in unison.

There was a faint sound of drums coming 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 was the soldiers training - the Silver Spear Army?

"Such a fierce tiger is hiding in the deep mountains." Fan Long sighed: "Shao Xun has a family business here, no wonder it's unsuccessful to recruit him."

"Grand Herald, do you want to send someone to investigate?" asked an attendant.

"No." Fan Long waved his hand and said, "Don't alert the enemy. Besides, Shao Xun is a person that the King of Han values, and he treats me with courtesy. Why do this? Let's go. There's nothing to see."

There is also a large area of ​​leveled land on the north bank of the Luo River, and it looks like it will be reclaimed and planted next spring.

The population in the fort can be roughly estimated based on the amount of land.

This fortress is home to no less than five thousand men and women.

Fan Long and his group left quickly.

When passing through Sanxiang, we rested for a while, then headed north along the mountain road and disappeared among the vast mountains.

And in Jinmen Mountain, west of Sanxiang, the person he was thinking about was patrolling.

(End of this chapter)