Chapter 340 Traveling

Chapter 340 Traveling

Chapter 340 Traveling (Part )

Outside Yingyang Pavilion, ditches stretch straight into the distance.

There is still some snow in the canal, but as the weather gradually warms up, it will melt away in two or three days.

In the Yingshui River not far away, spring water is flowing.

There were already boats moving on the river.

The fisherman spread out his net and tried in vain to catch fish and shrimp, even small fish only an inch long were collected as if they were treasures. Occasionally, when he caught a big fish, he would laugh heartily.

They would not eat the big fish themselves, but would take them to the market to sell them in exchange for some food, which would satisfy their hunger even more than eating the fish itself.

There were a few children on the river bank, looking for withered wormwood everywhere, intending to cut some to feed the hungry donkeys and sheep.

During the lean season, not only people are hungry, but livestock are also starving.

Some people are already doing spring sowing in the fields.

The natural disaster adjusted everyone's farming rhythm and made it more consistent. This year, the land of Henan is full of the grand scene of "planting a grain of millet in spring".

"I always felt that farming was hard before, but now I realize that I should be happy if I can have the chance to farm with peace of mind." Meng Chou, a sergeant of the Yingyang military farm army, said self-deprecatingly among the ridges of the field.

Meng Chou was not ugly, on the contrary he looked quite handsome. He was captured in the Battle of Yemagang and later farmed in Guangchengze and served as a laborer for the officials' salary - yes, Meng Chou was one of the officials' benefits.

Perhaps he did a good job, or perhaps he caught up with the favorable opportunity of the great expansion of the Shao military and political group. As a member of the third batch of military soldiers sent to Yingyang, Meng Chou gained freedom - limited freedom.

The Yingyang military farms had expanded to more than 1800 households and 2400 people, cultivating nearly 290 hectares of farmland.

They are called "soldiers" but in fact they are "civilians" and spend most of the year farming instead of training.

In fact, the enemy is similar to them.

Shi Le and Wang Mi often had tens of thousands of soldiers - it was rumored that Shi Le prepared 80,000 to 90,000 infantry last year, but ultimately did not cross the river to the south - but in fact they were all just farmers and soldiers.

Full-time professional soldiers are extremely rare no matter where they are, and are the apple of the eye of the leaders of various forces.

"In May, Shi Le attacked Changsha and Yanling. I was so scared that I thought I would have to fight to the death. Fortunately, the locusts drove us back." Sergeant Zhou Chun grinned and sneered, saying, "In October, Wang Sang was only one step away from Changsha. He almost scared me to death again."

Everyone found it interesting and laughed.

Who wouldn't be afraid of death if they didn't have two heads? Before they followed Wang Mi, Ji Sang, and Shi Le to start the rebellion, they were all honest peasants who were scared to death by bandits. How could they become fearless of life and death just because they had been soldiers for a year or two?

Hearing the laughter from this side, some people in the large farmland separated by a post road not far away raised their heads and looked over here.

This is the border between the Yingyang Tuntian Army and the Xun family's farm. One side of the road belongs to the Tuntian Army, and the other side belongs to the Xun family.

The farmhands of Xun's family were somewhat envious of the military farm workers.

The reason is simple: the soldiers who farmed there can eat until they are 70% full.

If the weather is good this year, they can even save up some surplus food.

This is the difference.

Moreover, the Xun family did not dare to provoke these farming troops.

A farmhand married his daughter to a soldier in the garrison army. The accountants of the Xun family found out, but there was nothing they could do - in theory, farmhands were not slaves and could marry freely, but in reality, they could only marry within the family.

These farming troops were simply a transcendent existence in Yingyin County, and no one could do anything to them.

They even seemed to have the responsibility of surveillance, which made it even more difficult for anyone to touch them, because it was hard to tell what was going on. What if someone accused them of betraying Lord Chen?
A group of people were walking along the post road from afar.

No, to be precise, it was a dozen people with more than a hundred donkeys.

"Yang Cheng, are you going to Runan to buy donkeys again?" Meng Chou, who was sowing millet, heard the noise, straightened up and asked.

"This is presented to Lord Chen by the officials of Runan." Yang Cheng said with a smile, "You still need to practice, you can't catch up."

Meng Chou sighed and stopped talking.

Runan has many famous mountains and lakes, as well as many donkeys, whose meat is fat and delicious, and is famous far and wide.

However, donkeys have many uses, and it would be a waste to just eat their meat.

Donkeys can plow the land, pull carts, carry goods, and carry people...

If a family can raise a donkey, it will save a lot of trouble when doing farm work, especially plowing the land.

The Yingyang garrison troops had only a hundred or so oxen, which was far from enough.

Guangchengze even sent over dozens of old and slow horses so that they could try horse plowing.

In addition to horses, dozens of donkeys and mules were also collected, but it was still not enough.

After the news of the various garrison troops' lack of draft animals and farm tools was reported, the Marquis' Mansion has been trying to find a solution.

Before the Chinese New Year, the military governor Hao Chang personally went to Runan to transport the livestock "collected" by local county officials back to Yingyang. Yang Cheng and his group were among them.

Although more than a hundred donkeys still need food and fodder to be fed, it is also easier to train them, allowing them to get used to doing heavy work from an early age - it will not be so easy to train them when they grow up.

"Life is indeed getting better day by day." Meng Chou smiled and called his men: "Your Excellency, go to Runan to find a donkey for us, so that we can save a lot of effort in the future. If you work hard, you can all get married."

As soon as the word "wife" came out, everyone became more excited and their actions became much quicker.

Meng Chou laughed loudly. These bastards only thought about this. But then again, he also thought about this.

Uh, just as I thought of the woman, more than ten cars came from the front. As they got closer, one of the cars lifted the curtain, revealing the figure of a woman.

On both sides of the convoy there were cavalrymen leading their horses on foot. They were numerous and looked very powerful.

"Ming Guang Armor!" Meng Chou quickly withdrew his gaze and bent down to work.

Many years ago, Marquis Chen led his men to plunder the Xuchang armory and stole a lot of Ming Guang armor.

In addition to being used as rewards, most of this armor was distributed to his personal soldiers. When you see an organized army wearing Ming Guang armor, you know that the Marquis of Chen is nearby.

Sure enough, after a while, a rider came from behind, walked to the side of the carriage, and said, "This is Yingyang Pavilion. If the princess wants to get off the carriage and rest, she can go to the warehouse city in front to rest."

There was a response from inside the carriage, and it slowly stopped.

Concubine Pei got off the carriage and looked at the crisscrossing fields, the canals that stretched in all directions, and the towering earthen city. She was a little surprised: "I came to Luoyang nine years ago and stayed overnight at Yingyang Pavilion. At that time, there was no such city."

"It's just a small earthen city. It won't be a big deal." Shao Xun followed Concubine Pei and said softly, "Yingyang Cangcheng can accommodate 3,000 soldiers, 300,000 hu of grain, and 100,000 bundles of hay."

"Is this still considered a small city?" Concubine Pei glanced at him, as if to reproach him, then continued to look at the city and asked, "How much food and grass are there in the city now?"

"About 50,000 bushels of grain and beans."

"It's not enough for a few people."

"Yes." Shao Xun said, "Before August this year, there was probably a shortage of food."

"How many warehouse cities do you have?"

"Yuzhou has built this one, and there are two more ready-made ones, Ningping City and Xinzheng. There may be a Guancheng by the middle of the year."

Concubine Pei nodded slightly, then looked at the bustling spring sowing scene with joy in her heart.

This is all his legacy, the legacy he built with his own hands.

"This is all our foundation..." Shao Xun took two steps forward and said in a low voice.

"You can talk about this with Yu Wenjun." Concubine Pei blushed slightly and walked leisurely along the post road.

Shao Xun followed behind and introduced his plans that only existed on the "PPT".

Concubine Pei listened very carefully, and responded from time to time, which also provided some information for Shao Xun and made the plan more perfect.

"Finally they left!" Meng Chou looked at the convoy that was gradually going away, and he didn't know what to feel.

The noble lady just now walked with a graceful posture and her head held high.

When he stopped to talk with Lord Chen, he was graceful and elegant.

When his eyes glanced over, they were calm and confident, without the slightest trace of fear, suspicion or weakness. Meng Chou could even sense a hint of scrutiny.

This woman is always in charge! Meng Chou came to the conclusion in an instant.

Thinking back to the time when he was traveling around Hebei, he had seen several women like this, but none of them was as powerful as the one in front of him.

Only Lord Chen can control such a woman, right?

Apart from anything else, the way this woman looks at people is very scary, as if she can dig out the secrets in your heart. Who can stand this?

Meng Chou finally found the major "flaw" of this woman and felt much better: a woman who is too dignified and majestic is boring.

After the convoy passed, another large group of people came.

Meng Chou took a glance and found out that it was the Silver Spear Army. He then felt a little gloating: the Silver Spear Army soldiers who were used to being the boss actually assigned half of them to pull carts, drive horses, and do the work of auxiliary soldiers.

It is now the busy farming season of spring sowing. The two assistant ministers of the Marquis' Mansion cannot issue an order to recruit soldiers to farm or even men from the counties and towns to serve as auxiliary troops. So the Silver Spear Army can only do it themselves.

However, besides feeling gloating, Meng Chou was also a little envious.

What kind of life do other people live? What kind of life do I live? It's hard to compare. It's really hard to compare.

The guests of Xunjia Village on the other side of the post road also stole a glance at the passing Silver Spear Army.

This majestic army passed through Yingyang Pavilion several times last year and came again this year.

The more times they come, the more honest they become.

Yes, not all farmhands are honest people.

During the slack season for farming, it was not uncommon for outsiders to be robbed.

Otherwise, where does the phenomenon of so many refugees being invaded and suffered by residents in all states come from?

Strictly speaking, the military farm troops in Yingyang Pavilion were all outsiders, but the residents themselves did not dare to do anything.

After a year of being together, they even thought about getting married.

After all, it was because someone's prestige in Yingchuan was growing.

(End of this chapter)