Chapter 1119 Jinci

Chapter 1119 Jinci

Chapter 1119 Jinci
On the tenth day of April, just as the convoy passed Jinyang, it suddenly started to rain.

A small earthen town that looked like a military town appeared in front of us. I wonder if it was the headquarters of the Longxiang Prefecture.

When the drizzle first fell, a yellow-brown sheen appeared on the earthen walls.

The soldiers brought reed mats and covered the wall with them. Raindrops meandered down the grid made of ramie ropes, forming curtains of water.

The soldiers had already put on their straw raincoats, and the armor beneath them shone with a cold light. They were in a leisurely mood, leaning on various weapons such as long spears, lances, and long halberds, and looking quietly into the distance.

In the distance, valleys of all sizes turned into dark and light black masses in the rain, and pine and willow trees drew blue-gray arcs in the wind. Sheep and horses neighed in the mountains, and shepherds nervously drove their livestock to find shelter from the rain.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, gradually covering the sky and the earth.

The water diversion channels on both sides of the post road began to surge with muddy currents, and muddy water carrying fallen leaves and grass debris overflowed the wooden gates and continued to wash forward.

"Moo..." The wheel hub of the ox cart was deeply sunken in the softened loess and could not be moved no matter how hard he tried. The driver in a straw raincoat was furious and was about to urge the cart to move forward when he was stopped by Guanqiu Lu.

He called a man and said, "The Jin Temple and Longxiang Mansion are ahead. Go and negotiate with them and ask Dai Gong and Taifu to rest in the city. Tell the people in the military mansion that there is a distinguished person in the convoy."

"Yes." The man understood and quickly disappeared in the rain.

Not long after, the Jin Temple Longxiang Mansion sent a military officer to receive him.

"Where is the commander of the troops?" asked Guanqiu Lu.

"He went to Luoyang for duty." The chief secretary replied.

"The commander of the troops will go there personally?"

"We'll take turns." The chief secretary waved his hand and called over a dozen palace soldiers to lead the convoy into the military city, saying, "The commander, the general, the deputy general, and even I, will all take turns leading the team."

Guanqiu Lu nodded.

After the caravan entered the city, the caravan drivers, grooms, guards and even a large group of Xianbei cavalry could only live in a somewhat dilapidated wooden camp outside. I heard that it was their temporary residence before the military city was built. It was almost abandoned and was now full of miscellaneous items.

Guanqiu Lu personally came to the two most magnificent carriages, looked at Dai Gong Tuoba Shiyijian and Madam Wang who got off the carriages one after another, and said: "The rain is quite heavy, Dai Gong and Madam can rest here tonight."

The twelve-year-old Tuoba Shiyijian was quite tall, with a light down on his mouth, and looked like a young man who was about to grow up. When he heard Guanqiu Lu's words, he did not answer, but only asked in a rough voice: "Where do you live?"

The chief officer of the army watched coldly, and upon hearing this, he stepped forward and said, "Dai Gong, please follow me."

Tuoba Shiyijian followed with a stern face, surrounded by more than a dozen young men.

"Madam..." Guanqiu Lu said again.

"Let's stay here." Mrs. Wang nodded and walked forward.

The eunuch Xuan Huai followed closely behind with palace servants and eunuchs, some of whom held umbrellas, some carried daily necessities, and some held two children, one big and one small.

Guanqiu Lu looked carefully and saw that the older one was a girl, about five or six years old, with pigtails commonly seen on the grassland. Her little face was rosy and she was very cute.

The younger one is a boy, about two or three years old. He has a tall felt hat on his head, which makes him look a bit funny. At this moment, he is looking around with his eyes wide open, obviously very curious.

In this entire convoy, including Duke Dai, Madam Wang, and the Xianbei nobles who led the escort troops, none of them were as important as these two children, at least in Guanqiu Lu's eyes.

Mrs. Wang and her group lived in an independent courtyard, which was said to be the daily office of the officials of Jinci Longxiang Prefecture. It also served as a residence, storing military records, account books, hay, food and other items. It had dozens of large and small houses. In fact, this military city was not big, and the streets could be seen from one end to the other. Most of the soldiers lived in the countryside outside the city.

Mrs. Wang lived in the innermost room, just one street away from the city wall. There was even an attic built in the middle of the courtyard wall, called the "Hundred-foot Tower" - but in fact it was not a hundred feet long.

The Baichi Building is a typical military building.

It can be used to observe the enemy situation, suppress enemy bows and crossbows, and as a command platform. At this time, a large flag with the word "Liang" is hung on it. It has been wetted by rain and tightly wrapped on the flagpole.

Wang stepped on the creaking wooden railing and climbed up the stairs.

The maids, eunuchs, and guards followed behind, not daring to ask any more questions. This woman had purged another group of officials in February, and her power was unmatched by ordinary people.

The rain was still falling, but a little lighter.

The soldiers on the 100-foot tower had already withdrawn. Wang stood there, feeling the damp south wind, her clothes fluttering in the wind, and she felt a little lonely in the coolness.

In the distance are green fields.

There are dense irrigation canals, which are drawn from the Fen River and its tributaries, repeatedly nourishing the fertile land.

Farmers were working in the fields, wielding hoes and tearing a large hole in the ridge, muddy water poured out and flowed into the irrigation canal.

The Fen River seemed to have a temper. The water was powerful and noisy, repeatedly hitting the embankment.

The stone beast that suppresses the water looks coldly at the surging waves, as if as long as it is here, the Fen River cannot lose its temper and can only serve obediently.

A misty rain gradually rose in the pine forest, occasionally mixed with rustling sounds.

The post road meandered forward from the edge of the woods. A group of soldiers in straw raincoats with steel swords hanging from their waists seemed to have just returned from other places.

Behind them each followed a soldier dressed in sackcloth, leading a tired packhorse or donkey.

The beast of burden was almost suffocating because it was carrying not only water, equipment, and armor, but also other things, such as spoils of war. The soldiers were in high spirits, and their laughter could almost be heard at the military headquarters.

As they got closer, a group of young men holding umbrellas came up to them, ran towards their fathers and brothers, talked and laughed, and were extremely friendly.

I don't know where the soldiers who had just committed murder became gentle all of a sudden.

Someone took cheese from the horse's back and handed it to the children, and laughed at their satisfied looks.

Someone took out a piece of colorful silk from the box, and the child took it, then ran to a house outside the military city, shouting loudly. The woman who was picking vegetables saw it, her eyes lit up, and she looked at her husband with shy eyes.

Another person picked up a set of leather armor covered in blood and bullet holes and put it on his son on the spot. The son had a childish face, but he was almost as tall as his father's shoulders. Their lives had reached a new level compared to their parents, and they were destined to grow taller and stronger than their parents.

The young man wearing leather armor begged his father to lend him a knife. Then he threw away his umbrella and chopped a few times in the rain, methodically and seriously, obviously with practiced skills.

A moment later, he ran to his troops and took a heavy wooden shield.

The shield was covered with criss-cross scratches. The young man held the shield in his left hand, protecting it in front of his chest, and held the knife in his right hand, slanting it across his forehead. He stepped heavily on the ground, and mud and water splashed everywhere as he moved forward, with great momentum.

When the palace soldiers saw this, they burst into laughter and joked that he should practice for a few more years.

Yes, how can it be so easy to train a soldier?
Some people say that we should recruit young men, fight continuously, and those who survive after a few battles are qualified soldiers. But if you have a choice, would you rather recruit farmers or these young men who have practiced various skills for at least ten years since childhood?
Do they really fight with the same effectiveness?

Wang withdrew her gaze and looked towards the city.

There are more than ten shops scattered in the military city, which has only two "streets" running north and south.

A man hurried into a store wearing a tarp, talked to the owner, accepted a small string of copper coins, picked up an empty bamboo basket, and left in the rain again.

A woman holding an umbrella was talking in low voices outside the store. After a while, the store owner carefully counted out twenty eggs and put them in a basket at the woman's feet.

The woman did not leave, but continued to speak. This time her voice was a little louder, and words like "expensive" could be heard faintly.

The shopkeeper patiently explained that the woman's father was sick and that he had been hunting in the mountains for several days. Finally, he reached an agreement and put a large piece of smoked meat into the woman's other basket.

After the woman left, the shop had no business for a while, so the owner sat in the porch and sorted the bird feathers.

Not long after, a strong warrior walked over, and after a conversation, he bought all the bird feathers.

There are also grain stores, oil mills, cloth shops, etc. in the city, and people come to buy all kinds of things from time to time.

Such a small military town actually has everything, and it seems that there is a fixed group of people buying food, meat, eggs, cloth, firewood and other essential items.

From this perspective, the Fubing system created by that man seemed to be working very well. At least the Fubing did not have a hard time making a living due to frequent military campaigns. They were still able to make ends meet for the time being, and it could even be said that they were living quite well.

It was also at this time that Wang found out who had bought the bird feathers, animal tendons, leather, honey, medicinal herbs, horses and even slaves in Mayi and Yunzhong counties.

She thought of the nobles on the grasslands who would conscript men taller than a wheel to fight, and order them to bring their own weapons and horses to the battle. But could such a chaotic team really fight?

Perhaps, there is no need for so many soldiers to fight. If a group of warriors can afford meat, armor and equipment, and have slaves to help them with work, and then use official titles and wealth to motivate them, they can defeat a mob that is several times their number.

Wang sighed softly.

A small Jinci Longxiang Prefecture can recruit more than a thousand elite soldiers, and several times the number of reserve troops - these people are certainly not elite, but they are not comparable to the temporary conscripted peasant soldiers.

How many such Longxiang Mansions are there in this world? Wang Shi didn't dare to think about it.

She knew very well the man's purpose in calling her over, which was to beat and scold him.

The assassination of Tuoba Yihuai has not yet passed.

The man supports her, helps her, but also restricts her. The relationship between them is so complicated that it is really difficult for outsiders to understand.

If there were scolding, beatings or other embarrassing punishments this time, she would have no choice but to endure them.

The rain gradually stopped, and an ox cart drove through the street and stopped in the yard.

A man jumped off the car, took out a thick thread-bound book from his bag, and said loudly, "Books sent by Taiyuan Bookstore, one for each Longxiang Mansion, come and take them."

A moment later, the chief officer who had led them earlier appeared in the courtyard. After negotiating with the visitors, he signed and sealed the deal.

"Maybe there will be primers and rhyme books in a while. You should hire someone to teach reading in Longxiong Mansion." The visitor said with a smile.

"It's not easy to find." The chief officer of the army smiled bitterly and said, "Why don't we ask Taiyuan Wuxue to send someone over here?"

"That requires the emperor's approval." The visitor smiled and said, "Let's go."

The chief secretary of the army sent him to the door and returned after a long time.

Wang went downstairs and stopped looking.

She had been to Zhongyuan many times and paid close attention to observing the people's sentiments, but this time she was a little unfamiliar with them...

(End of this chapter)