Chapter 1178 Military Town

Chapter 1178 Military Town
On the fifth day of June in the sixth year of Kaiping in Daliang (332), the sky was sunny and hot.

The weather is so strange. In May, there were strong winds and continuous frost. Now it is hot again, as if everything has passed. But no one dares to be careless. There is still snow in the shade of the northern foothills of Yinshan Mountain at the end of April and the beginning of May. This year is not a good year. It may get cold again one day.

After the army marched for dozens of miles, they finally found a place to stop. Judging from their appearance, they would probably camp here tonight.

The team of more than a thousand people had almost no intention of setting up camp. They just found a flat area by the river, took the luggage from the horses, and set up tents.

Some people found a flat passage between the hillsides, trimmed the branches they had cut temporarily, and placed them on the ground as simple deer antlers.

Some people also left the camp with horn bows and lances and wandered far away.

Most people sat on the ground, fetching water for cooking and washing horses.

This place is not far from Hongcheng Town.

Because of the advance negotiations, the town was relaxed outside but tight inside and had made some preparations.

Heximu Khan brought his people to the outskirts of the town and bought some wine and food.

Hongcheng Town has undergone expansion and now consists of two cities, north and south.

The South City is the old city and is smaller. It is the residence of the town commander and major officials. It also has important facilities such as granaries and arsenals, and a total of five to six hundred households live there.

North City is a new city, which is relatively large and has more than a thousand households living in it.

More than ten miles west and twenty miles east of Hongcheng Town, there were hundreds of military households living in the newly built forts, called Hongcheng Zuoshu and Youshu.

In the hills on the other side of the Hongcheng Town River, another camp was built, called Luoshu, with 500 soldiers stationed there.

The entire Hongcheng Town was a complete defense system. There were 3,000 military households in the main city, and 1,500 households in the three outer military camps, for a total of 4,500 households. As for the population, it was only over 11,000, with an average of less than three people per household.

The reason for this is that the soldiers in Hongcheng Town were mainly recruited from the remaining soldiers in the Luonan area. More than 3,000 soldiers were recruited, and most of them were unmarried teenagers between the ages of fifteen and seventeen.

A single young man is a military household, and each household has one person.

In recent years, more and more people have gotten married, and the young men who originally migrated north with their wives have gradually had children, and the population has increased slightly.

Among the more than 3,000 military households from Luonan, there were more than 1,000 Hu military households.

These were basically "retail investors" who had come here on their own initiative, that is, refugees who had lost their tribes or clans and had their clans destroyed. There were Xianbei, Wuhuan, Xiongnu, Jie and even various kinds of Hu. Most of them had families with them, but there were not many of them.

The Hu people lived in a narrow area between Hongcheng Town and Zhonglingchuan (this section of Zhonglingchuan was also called "Red River"), and they lived in tents and thatched houses. The military town initially called them "chengbang", which meant living near the town.

However, they have now been registered and uniformly classified as military households in Hongcheng Town.

The entire Red Town is like an isolated stronghold, submerged in the vast sea of ​​Hu people. It needs continuous subsidies from the outside world. Of course, they can also produce a certain amount of materials themselves, such as -

"How much are the eggs?" Heximu Khan passed by the messy residents of the city and went straight to a relatively tidy village and asked.

A woman came out of the chicken coop with a bent back, a chicken feather on her head and four chicken eggs in her hands. Seeing Heximu Khan's attire, she was not afraid of him and just said, "Not for sale."

"Are you reluctant to sell it?" Heximu Khan asked with a smile.

The woman shook her head and said, "It's for the children at home."

"I'll exchange it for honey. I almost vomited from drinking all the honey water along the way, so I just want to eat some eggs." said Heximu Khan.

The woman paused, was silent for a moment, and then said, "Show me your honey."

Heximu Khan gave a signal, and soon his followers brought honey. He saw a low table outside the courtyard with a wooden bowl on it, and poured the honey directly into it, filling up half a bowl.

A man soon came out of the courtyard. He looked less than 20 years old. He was holding a cow horn in his hand. He might be making a bow. After seeing Heximu Khan, he asked about the situation and said without hesitation, "Change it."

The Xianbei follower threw the leather bag directly to him.

The man thought for a moment, then took out a few eggs from the house and handed them over, saying, "That's all I have. If you think it's not enough, go pick some vegetables from my garden."

"Okay." Heximu Khan followed the direction of the man's finger, saw the green vegetables, nodded, and ordered his men to pick them.

But he himself did not leave. He just looked at the mud house and asked, "Others live in the city, but you don't. Why?"

The man took advantage and chatted with him for a few more words, saying, "We came late, so we can only live outside the city. The West City will be expanded next year, and maybe we can move in."

"Coming from Henan, don't you feel bad?" Heximu Khan asked, "The weather is sometimes cold and sometimes hot. If the frost falls, your fruit trees will not bear fruit this year. If you plant millet in the spring and don't get rid of the frost in time, the harvest will be greatly reduced. Even if there is no frost, when the north wind blows in August, the millet will be blown away. How many bushels of rice can you get in the end?"

The man was obviously touched by what he said, his face changed slightly, but he refused to admit defeat and said, "My family will switch to growing spring wheat next year."

"Oh? Then you are not afraid of frost? Or are you not afraid of wind?" He Ximuhan asked curiously. "It will be better." The man said.

"I see." Heximu Khan said with a smile, "It's just the difference between fifty steps and a hundred steps, right? It's still hard. In this case, why not take your wife and children back to your hometown and live with your relatives, isn't it good?"

"I don't have any land in Henan anymore," the man sighed.

"The Liang court didn't make arrangements for you? If it were me, I would have rebelled long ago." Heximu Khan laughed.

The man finally reacted. He looked at Heximu Khan carefully, smiled, and asked, "Where did you come from? Beiyi Mountain, Kujiesha, or Nuozhen River, or even further west?"

"Yixinshan." Heximu Khan said with a smile.

The man asked again: "Helan, Hexi or some other small tribe?"

The Helan clan had long been in decline. After being attacked by the Dai army, they scattered and fled. The last part was annexed by the Wang clan, and another part was forcibly relocated to Hebei. In the past two years, some people have fled back and gathered together, but their momentum is not as strong as before.

Wang wanted to destroy the Helan tribe, but there was too much opposition. After all, even for serious crimes such as regicide and rebellion, it was not necessary to completely wipe out a tribe, which was not in line with tradition.

As to whether there are other reasons, no one knows about it. Anyway, the Helan tribe still exists, but it does not even have one-third of its previous strength.

"Hexi." Hexi Muhan was surprised and asked, "You have heard of the name of the Hexi tribe?"

The man smiled faintly and said, "When Madam Wang raided the Helan tribe, Hongcheng Town mobilized 2,000 soldiers and marched north from Baidaochuan, but they returned halfway. At that time, we heard that the Helan tribe was scattered and the leader of the Hexi tribe tied himself up and surrendered."

Heximu Khan's face looked a little ugly, but he was very good at controlling his emotions. He smiled again and said, "That's how it is on the grassland. Today you are strong and I am weak, tomorrow I am strong and you are weak. Who can tell about luck? The Hedouling tribe used to be a vassal of the Helan tribe, but now its strength is far superior to that of the Helan tribe. Hongcheng Town is a place with mountains, water and plains. It is considered good near Shengle, but it is not as good as Henan, right?"

"It's quite different." The man did not deny it.

"Then we might as well fight back to Henan." Heximu Khan said with a smile, "You guys are quite good at fighting."

The man looked at Heximu Khan with interest and said, "This place is indeed poorer than Henan. But I was a garrison soldier last year and received four pieces of silk, six pieces of cloth, a jacket, a woman's shawl, two pieces of white felt, a set of bedding, 21 hu and 6 dou of grain, 5 dou and 4 liters of salt, and a jar of wine. When I practiced martial arts, I was rewarded with a pair of celadon bottles and several food utensils. When I'm not practicing or going to war, I farm at home and tend the orchard and vegetable patch. When the autumn is high and the horses are fat, I go to the grassland to hunt with a sword and a bow. All the gains are mine. What do you think?"

Heximu Khan's expression became a little tense, and he could only shake his head and say, "One day, the Luoyang court will no longer spend so much money to support you. To be honest, you don't even earn as much as the imperial guards, and you still have to farm and graze your own livestock. Isn't that a loss?"

"Let's talk about it when the court stops giving money." The man stopped talking nonsense and turned back to the yard.

The woman put away the pot of honey like a treasure, her face full of joy.

Her family has everything except honey. Her two children have been coveting it for a long time, so she will make honey water for them tonight.

Heximu Khan returned to the camp by the river with a heavy heart.

The existence of Red Town is really disgusting!

The tribes living in the surrounding areas became much more obedient when they knew there was such a force that could recruit a maximum of 5,000 men.

Just as the man just said, when the autumn is high and the horses are fat, the soldiers in the town will gather together to hunt, sometimes hunting gazelles, sometimes hunting hunters.

Living in this bitter and cold place, these garrison soldiers are extremely wild and fierce - even kind-hearted people will gradually become like this after staying here for a long time.

A military market was opened near Hongcheng Town. When the Han and Hu merchants came here to trade, they had to pay tribute to the military town or use grain as a substitute.

Speaking of which, the practice of merchants transporting grain to the border in exchange for the qualification to engage in trade was popularized by Sima Yi, but at that time it was in Guanzhong, which should also be considered a "border area."

A considerable portion of what the garrison soldiers just received last year was given by merchants in the military market.

As long as these military towns exist, the people of all tribes will be in chaos. Sometimes they want to rebel, sometimes they are afraid, and sometimes they think it is better to "go along with the military towns." In short, it is difficult for them to work together.

Heximu Khan thought for a long time, finally sighed, and went to eat.

On the seventh day, his troops passed Wuzhou City and headed east along the Wuzhou River.

This is another military town.

According to the nobleman from Pingcheng, Wuzhou Town has more than 5,500 households and more than 17,000 people. The number of households is much larger than that of Hongcheng Town, and it should be a considerable burden to support them.

But that evil woman Wang wants to pay half of the money to support them. It's simply outrageous.

On the ninth night, Heximu Khan and his entourage arrived near Pingcheng and camped outside the city.

At this time, quite a few tribal nobles had gathered together, but no one knew which ones had missed out.

(End of this chapter)