Chinese New Year

Chapter 501: The soldiers and horses have not moved, but the food and grass go first

The war has not yet begun, but those who are interested can already see some clues.

The post road from Xinzheng to Guancheng was muddy and difficult to travel on because it had just rained, and the servants pulling the carriages and horses all spitted and cursed.

"Xilulu——" Old Ma fell to his knees weakly, foaming at the mouth.

The carriage tilted slightly, and then, under the terrified gaze of a servant, it rolled sideways and crushed him to the ground.

Grain bags fell one after another, crushing the servants to the point that they vomited blood and their eyes became lifeless.

A grain bag broke and the yellow wheat spilled out, piling up on his face and quickly burying him in the mud.

People rushed over shouting and screaming, first straightened the carriage, and then pulled the servants out.

The slave was only twitching, his mouth full of wheat grains mixed with blood foam, and his eyes were staring blankly at the sky.

The sky was covered with dark clouds and looked extremely solemn, as if silently mourning the death of this unjustly executed convict.

The war has not yet broken out, but there have already been casualties.

Someone untied the leather harness on the draft horse's back and tried several times, but failed to get the old horse to stand up again.

"It's hopeless." An old man with white hair sighed. I couldn't tell whether he was sighing for the draft horse or feeling sorry for the young servant. Maybe both.

The others watched all this in silence until a farmhand leader came over.

"What are you still standing there for?" He shouted, "The heavy rain and mud have delayed our trip. Let's prepare torches tonight and travel overnight."

Everyone seemed to have just woken up from their dream, and they all picked up the grain bags and piled them into the carriage.

A mule was led behind.

The old man put the leather harness on the mule and continued driving.

A group of soldiers passed by.

At a glance, there were probably hundreds of people, all young faces. Behind each person was a mule, carrying water and equipment on its back, walking slowly in the mud.

Their military uniforms could no longer be recognized from their original state as they were covered in stains and mud, but no one cared and they just kept on going.

The old man withdrew his gaze and drove the mule cart slowly.

The head of the farmhands specially assigned two young and strong servants to him, ready to provide support at any time.

"Crash!" Not long after going on, the wheels sank into deep ruts again and couldn't get out.

The old man got off the cart and pointed with his whip.

The servants immediately took firewood from the cart and placed it under the wheels.

A group of cavalrymen galloped past, splashing a lot of mud and water.

The old man cursed inwardly: "Mr. Chen gave you horses so that you can ride them when you are not fighting? If you are caught by the people who assassinated the governor, you will definitely be whipped."

After the firewood was laid out, the old man got back on the carriage, and the three of them worked together and moved forward with all their might.

The old man kept waving the whip, and the mule's hooves slipped several times, which made him worry in his heart: If the frame breaks, then we will be unable to move at all.

Fortunately, luck was good. After another attempt, the heavy carriage finally got out of the ruts and continued to move forward.

The old man wiped his sweat and sighed: It is the common people who suffer in the war.

He subconsciously looked up and ahead. The long dragon-like convoy stretched as far as the eye could see, extending directly to the distant horizon.

Just try harder, just try harder and it will be fine!

Once the grain is delivered to the riverside and loaded onto the boat, it will no longer be their business.

After returning home, there is still a lot of work to do.

A batch of sheep were sent from Luoyang, sold at a very low price, and he just bought one.

He knew at a glance that the sheep were skinny and bony, and that they were sheep from other places that had traveled a long distance. After further questioning, he found out that they were indeed sent from a place called "Jin Gu Garden".

He was worried that his clumsy grandson would not be able to take good care of the sheep, so he wanted to go back early to check on them and make sure they didn't die.

In addition, due to the heavy rain for several days, the roof is leaking a little, and we need to find time to repair it.

Hey, officials, could you please be so kind as not to send us to military service anymore?
******
In Puta Lake, as the bell rang, another group of ships left the river and headed for the river.

Guo Song looked at the densely packed equipment in the cabin and felt very envious.

After my uncle Li Ju became the magistrate of Xingyang, the fort was handed over to him for management.

He did not like to take care of general affairs, but was very active in training his troops. The thing that gave him the most headache was the loss of swords, guns, bows and arrows.

These things aren’t cheap!
The official equipment may be much cheaper, but it rarely flows outside. For fort commanders like them, they either make it themselves or buy it from others, which is not easy at all.

For example, arrows. I heard that every soldier in the Silver Spear Army has thirty arrows in his quiver, and each arrow has a different function.

Some are designed to penetrate armor directly, some are designed to shoot diagonally at the top of the city walls, and some are designed to be projectiles...

What a luxury this is!
Admittedly, arrows are not expensive, but each arrow is different.

The arrows made in their fort were not straightened properly because the craftsmen used terminals, which resulted in the arrows having poor quality.

Later, a craftsman who escaped from Zheng's family in Kaifeng was hired to teach them how to heat the arrow shaft and how to correct it with terminals. Only then was this problem truly solved.

In addition to correction, I heard that the arrow shafts made by the official smelting also need to be cut, polished, painted, wrapped with silk thread, etc., which is very cumbersome and the quality is not comparable to theirs.

This also made him see clearly the gap between their small fortress and the real aristocratic family. "War is all about money!" Guo Song shook his head and looked at the sandbar in the swamp.

When Lord Chen was going to fight, they sent out a hundred men from their fort, who, under the orders of Lord Pei, went to Putian Lake to graze the cattle.

The county sent 30,000 sheep, which were driven all the way from Jingu Garden. The journey of hundreds of miles almost exhausted them.

But you have to admit that these little creatures are really tenacious. After nibbling on the fresh and juicy grass on the sandbar for ten days, their bodies swelled up visibly and they gradually gained some weight.

Guo Song waded through the water and came to a small sandbar about a hundred steps square and looked carefully.

In one year, cattle, horses, and donkeys earn twice as much, and sheep earn four times as much.

As long as there is enough fodder, this thing grows really fast.

Generally speaking, if there is one sheep at the beginning of the year, as long as you are lucky, it is very likely that there will be four at the end of the year.

However, these 30,000 sheep are not for breeding. After they are fattened up, they will be sent further eastward to the Wenshijin area.

A pontoon bridge is being built over there, and these 30,000 sheep will probably end up being eaten by the soldiers on the front line.

They were all going to fight in the battlefield, so naturally they had to have a good meal to boost morale. He could understand that.

There are several thatched huts on the sandbar.

Guo Song knew that this was a temporary resting place for shepherds. If there had not been this war, many people from the fort would have come to graze on the sandbar, but they would have all been requisitioned by the government - grass was also a precious resource.

This made him realize more deeply how huge the cost of fighting a war is and how much inconvenience it will cause to the people.

When he was in Pingyang in his early years, he once thought that as long as he practiced martial arts and military formations well, fighting a war would be a piece of cake, right?
After coming to Henan with his uncle and running his own business, he realized how naive that was.

If no one helps you with logistics, you won’t be able to fight the war.

His family's fortress only sent out one hundred strong men, but countless fortresses and manors in the whole Henan were mobilized. Countless officials, scholars, and powerful people like him ran around to deliver bags of food, bundles of arrows, and sheep to the front line.

Mr. Chen quickly unified Henan, and the forts and manors united around him, finally achieving the current situation.

On the contrary, if these people did not support him, his logistics would collapse instantly and he would not be able to fight any war. Not to mention eating sheep, cannibalism is very likely.

Governing the army and pacifying the people is really not an easy task, and it cannot be achieved by fighting and killing.

******
Outside the south city of Fangtou, there was a lot of noise with people shouting and horses neighing.

Several temporary wooden bridges were built on the surface of the Qishui River, and a large number of soldiers quickly crossed them and arrived at the west bank of the Qishui River.

Yang Dan climbed up the platform, took a quick look, and immediately started cursing.

How long has the war been going on here? All the trees have been cut down. It seems as difficult as climbing to the sky to simply cut down trees and set up fences.

With no other options, he could only order his soldiers to dig trenches and build earth walls for protection.

After the order was given, the soldiers received their equipment and immediately started working enthusiastically.

The mud along the river bank was relatively soft and very easy to dig, and the trench extended at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Yang Dan looked around and was very satisfied.

They deployed defenses on the west bank of the Qi River not to defend the city, but to protect the southern city of Fangtou.

On the river bank, boats were parked everywhere, and people, horses, and goods could be seen everywhere, creating a chaotic mess.

At this time, if the Huns secretly crossed the Qi River and rushed over, it would be very likely that the camps of the teachers and servants who did not have time to enter the city would be blown up, and the military supplies and food that were transported with great difficulty would also be burned.

Therefore, they crossed the river and headed west, deployed their forces forward, and protected the flank of the southern city to prevent it from being taken advantage of.

In the wilderness in the distance, groups of Hun cavalry were watching quietly.

Such a big commotion could not be hidden from anyone. After all, this was an army of 60,000 to 70,000, not 600 to 700!

The scene was really grand this time. Dozens of counties and kingdoms in Yu, Yan, Si, and Jing states were mobilized, and they tried their best to transport food and military supplies and store them in the two cities of Fangtou in the north and south.

Even the warehouses in the city were not enough, so they had to temporarily build awnings, earthen houses, and wooden houses to store military supplies.

The three thousand vanguards under his command were probably the first group of troops to arrive at Fangtou.

Well, maybe not, because there are still 4,000 hereditary soldiers from Wancheng in the east of the city, led by Liang Su, the former Pinyang commander, who have also marched forward to deploy defenses and set up camp on the south bank of Baigou.

Those Kansai people!
Yang Dan sneered and returned to the camp under the escort of his personal soldiers.

On the river, the waves are still roaring and hundreds of boats are competing for the current.

Soldiers and conscripts speaking various accents gathered here.

Every ship that docks is accumulating energy for the impending war.

They brought armor from Xuchang, spears from Xiping, and powerful crossbows from Luoyang...

Millet from Chenliu, wheat from Yingchuan, and beans from Chenjun gathered here.

War horses from Guangchengze, mules from Longpi Ranch, and cattle and sheep from Jinguyuan were sent one after another.

The escorting officials shouted at the top of their lungs, almost losing their voices.

The officers in charge cursed and beat the clumsy auxiliary soldiers.

The clerks wrote so fast that their hands were almost cramped from writing the registration and delivery of materials.

This is war.

(End of this chapter)