Huangzhou.
It has been the site of four battles since ancient times, and it has been a battlefield since tribal times.
After the establishment of vassal states, wars broke out all year round and continue to this day.
Because the territory here is vast and the land is fertile, crops such as rice and wheat can grow very well. It is known as the "fortress of the south of the Yangtze River" and is the largest grain-producing land north of the river.
Not only that, there is abundant water and grass here, and it is a paradise for horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock. 90% of Dazhou's war horses come from here, and at least tens of millions of cattle and sheep are provided to Dazhou every year.
In addition, due to geographical and climatic reasons, many precious medicinal materials grow here. Not to mention the precious medicines that have been used for hundreds of years, traces of miracle medicines are also reported every once in a while.
"So, Huangzhou is really a treasure!"
"Does that need to be said? I, the Great Zhou, spend hundreds of millions of taels of silver and garrison half a million troops every year just to defend the few pieces of land in Huangzhou. If they are really lost, I, the Great Zhou, will not even have any horses."
…
On an official road in Huangzhou, a group of people were walking and chatting.
There were a total of about twenty people and ten flatbed trucks with some sacks on them.
There is a flag on each armrest of the flatbed truck, with red letters on a black background and the four characters "Weiyuan Escort Bureau" embroidered on it.
This group of people is Zhang Laosan and his brothers.
Zhang Laosan rode a big black horse in front of the escort team. He was wearing a blue-gray gown and a full beard, still looking as unkempt as ever.
Behind him followed a flatbed truck with a young man in black sitting on it.
The young man has a handsome appearance and picturesque eyebrows, but it is a pity that he has a scar between his eyebrows, otherwise he would have been a handsome young man who would be praised by everyone.
Who else could this young man in black be besides Wang Cheng?
Wang Cheng was holding a sheepskin map in his hand and looking at it intently.
While watching, he asked: "Lao San, do you know which parts of Huangzhou are currently under our control? You don't have this map either!"
Zhang Laosan looked back at the sheepskin map, drew an outward convex arc line on it with his finger, and said: "The place within this line is currently under my control."
"In other words, Yinshan County, Henan County, Zhongwei County, and half of Wuping County belong to the Great Zhou Dynasty?" Wang Cheng said.
Zhang Laosan nodded and said: "Absolutely."
He added: "Yinshan County seems to belong to our Zhou Dynasty, but in fact we only control the south of Yinshan Mountain, and most of the time north of Yinshan Mountain is under the control of Zheng Guo."
"It really deserves to be the place of the Four Battles!" Wang Cheng couldn't help but say.
Of the nine counties and fifty-four counties in Huangzhou, one-third was occupied by the Zhou Dynasty, one-sixth by the Zheng Kingdom, and the remaining half was in the hands of the Xia Kingdom. The land of one state was divided among three countries. Isn’t it just after the Four Wars? The ground!
However, Wang Cheng noticed that the places occupied by Zhou Dynasty were of strategic significance.
Yinshan County, which borders Zheng State, is rich in war horses. Henan County in the south is a major grain-producing county. Zhongwei County in the middle stores rich mineral deposits. Half of Wuping County is a strategic buffer zone, but it is in an offensive posture.
Wang Cheng suddenly remembered that Zhou Zhaowu, the current king of Zhou, had been guarding the border in Huangzhou for a period of time before he ascended the throne. He obviously knew the situation in Huangzhou very well.
Therefore, the imperial court spends huge sums of money every year to defend these areas, because if one of these areas is lost, the entire northwest defense line of Dazhou will collapse.
On the contrary, by guarding these areas, Da Zhou will have a chance to take back the entire Huangzhou sooner or later.
Although the Great Zhou Dynasty encountered a drastic change more than ten years ago, its heritage is far beyond that of small countries such as Xia, Zheng, Lu, and Gaoshan. Whether it is population, economy, or culture, it surpasses them in all aspects. .
As long as Zhou Zhaowu is not as stupid as King Li and King Jian, it is only a matter of time before he regains Huangzhou.
Is Zhou Zhaowu that kind of person?
Obviously not!
This is a man who knew how to hide his power and bide his time when he was still a prince. He is very aware of the importance of military power. When the court is in danger, he seizes the opportunity to stand up and show his talents.
After ascending to the throne, he did not rush to seek revenge from those countries. Instead, he spent money and sent beautiful women to reconcile with other countries so that the people could rest and recuperate.
Under his governance, the Great Zhou Dynasty had been recuperating for a full ten years, and its national power was flourishing, sweeping away the long-standing chaos of the previous generations of Great Zhou kings.
Wang Cheng believed that Zhou Zhaowu would never wait forever and he would definitely take action.
Now, there is only one opportunity missing, and this opportunity will not be too far away.
Looking back at the map, Wang Cheng searched for a long time but couldn't find the place. He said depressedly: "Lao San, why isn't Ma Tou Town marked on your map? Aren't your escorts going to Ma Tou Town this time?"
"There's no need to bid for this place. I'm so familiar with it. Every time escorts come to Huangzhou, nine out of ten families ask to be sent to Ma Tou Town." Zhang Laosan said with a smile.
"Why is this?" Wang Cheng was curious.
Zhang Laosan said: "Hey! There are only two places where we produce horses in Dazhou, one is Shuzhou and the other is Yinshan County. The horses in Shuzhou are all short-footed horses, which are fine for hauling some goods, but long distances There is no way to run around. Among us martial arts practitioners, who doesn’t love horses? What the hell does it look like to let a grown man ride a pony?"
"That's right!" Wang Cheng nodded.
As the saying goes, men have three major hobbies: firearms, beautiful women and cars. Few men can resist the temptation of these three.
Although there are no guns or cars in this world, there are swords and BMWs, and the temptation is not inferior to the first two.
Zhang Laosan continued: "This Matou Town is the largest horse market in Yinshan County and the largest horse market in the entire Zhou Dynasty. The master asked us to escort so much gold to Matou Town this time. It is clear that he wants to buy horses. "
"That's it." Wang Cheng understood.
"Hey! Fifty thousand taels of gold is indeed a lot for us, but it's nothing in the horse market. I once saw a few BMWs smuggled from the Xia Kingdom. Their whole bodies were red and they were running like fire. It is said that the sweat they shed was like fire. It's the same as blood. Just for that one horse, someone offered five thousand taels of gold and didn't even get it." Zhang Laosan said more.
Wang Cheng blurted out: "Are you talking about the bloody horse?"
"Sweat-blooded Horse? This is quite a novel title, but that's not what they call it. It seems to be called Pegasus. It is said to be a horse from the sky that descends to the earth." Zhang Laosan scratched his head and said.
"So, it really might be a bloody horse." Wang Cheng's eyes lit up.
There are no cars in this world, and he is a little tired of driving cars. Now he has a soft spot for BMW.
At first, Marquis Ning rewarded him with two precious horses, each worth a hundred gold, and said they could travel a thousand miles a day, but he knew that was just bragging, as they could only run four to five hundred miles at most.
The sweat-blooded BMW is different. According to some historical records, the top sweat-blooded BMW can really travel thousands of miles a day. In order to obtain the bloody horse, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty even went to war with the Dawan Kingdom.
Wang Cheng knew very well that the energy of heaven and earth here was abundant, and there were many treasures of heaven and earth. The blood-stained horses here could definitely travel thousands of miles a day, and even further.
Originally, he went on this escort trip with Zhang Laosan simply because he had agreed to it before, but now he was more looking forward to it, looking forward to getting a sweaty horse to ride on.
Of course, it would be better if I could get two horses, one for Xiaoya and one for myself. It would be better if the two horses are a male and a female, so that they can be easily bred.
"How long will it take to get to Ma Tou Town?" Wang Cheng couldn't help but ask.
Zhang Laosan thought for a while and said: "We have entered the territory of Huangzhou. If the road is smooth, we should be able to reach Ma Tou Town before dark."
Wang Cheng looked at the sky and saw that it was almost eight o'clock in the morning and exactly ten hours of walking to six o'clock in the evening. At their speed, they could cover a hundred miles.
In other words, it is still more than a hundred miles away from Ma Tou Town.
Wang Cheng didn't want to waste time after such a long journey, so he sat cross-legged and recalled the two volumes of exercises in his mind.
One volume is "Fuhu Fist", and the other volume is "Nine Dragons Heaven Control Technique". He has been able to initially integrate the techniques of the two volumes, but he is not yet proficient enough.
As long as the two skills are completely integrated, he will reach a destination in the Qi and Blood realm that has never been achieved before.
After the initial fusion, his strength has broken through the limit of 12,000 kilograms and skyrocketed to 15,000 kilograms. After complete fusion, his strength may be doubled.
Wang Cheng closed his eyes and used the "Crouching Tiger Breathing Technique" to bring luck and control the rhythm of breathing, and then used the "Nine Dragons Controlling the Heaven Technique" to remove blood and control the rhythm of the heartbeat.
The breathing rhythm can be controlled, and the heartbeat rhythm can also be controlled?
sure!
In fact, the rhythm of breathing affects the rhythm of the heartbeat. The faster you breathe, the faster your heartbeat tends to be.
There is an inevitable connection between the two!
Of course, sometimes another situation occurs. For example, when a person is nervous, his heartbeat speeds up, but his breathing rate becomes very slow.
The two are independent of each other!
They influence each other but are independent of each other. The fundamental reason is that the lungs are the main organ that controls breathing, and the heart is the main organ that controls heartbeat.
"Crouching Tiger Breathing Technique" is a method for training the lungs, which can more effectively control the contraction and relaxation of the lungs. "Nine Dragons Yutian Gong" is a method for training the heart, which can effectively control the contraction and relaxation of the heart.
The two techniques are the strongest in the world in training the lungs and the heart. What Wang Cheng has to do is to find the common ground between the two techniques so that they can be integrated.
As a medical student, he was very familiar with the connection between the heart and the lungs, so after trying a few more times, he quickly found the singular point where the two coincided.
For a moment, he felt like he was on fire, and there was endless strength in his body.
"Boom!!"
"Boom!!"
…
At this moment, his heart made a strong sound like a bell.
"what sound?"
Not only Wang Cheng himself could hear it, but also Zhang Laosan, who was riding in front of him, could hear it clearly.
Zhang Laosan felt a pain in his heart. The rhythm of his heartbeat was disordered. Then, following the beat of the heartbeat in his ears, he immediately turned his head to look at the source of the sound.
I saw Wang Cheng's eyes closed tightly, his face glowing red, and a wave of heat rising from his body.
"Ready?"
Zhang Laosan thought for a while, then realized something and muttered to himself: "Another breakthrough..."
