Three days before departure, Li Dan invited Yang Lianjie to teach everyone what to do if they encountered an ambush, how to deal with a small group of robbers, and also taught Mao Zaidi and Li Biao how to detect horses.
Li Dan began to let everyone practice the formation in units of teams, which he and Yang Dayi discussed.
Two sword and shield bearers are on the left and right, protecting the flail bearer in the middle, and behind are two spearmen who specialize in stabbing enemies disturbed by the flail.
This formation can be flexibly turned in any direction. It combines long and short lengths and is simple and easy to perform. Li Dan called this the Five Golden Flowers Formation.
Each shi represents a "golden flower" on the left and right sides of the shi. To teach this formation, Li Dan invited Yang Dayi to teach spear and flail, and Ma Jiu to teach sword and shield hand.
Xiao Qian had already moved into a new house. Ma Jiu thought about it and wanted to ask Li Dan: "I'd better let you go. Only three days are not enough to teach you the sword and shield skills. With me here, I can help everyone practice more on the road." "
"But your legs...? Besides, I have to keep someone with my aunt." Li Dan said awkwardly.
"It doesn't matter, ask my guy in the house to help me first, but... the girl also has to eat with me, so she has an extra mouth to talk to." Ma Jiu said embarrassedly.
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Little sister can eat as much as she can. If you insist on going, I will arrange a donkey for you so that you can walk less."
Li Dan pointed at his lame leg. Ma Jiu still wanted to refuse, but Li Dan refused, and immediately asked Mao Zaidi to tell Han An and add another donkey to Ma Jiu.
"I didn't buy the donkey for free," Li Dan comforted him with a smile: "When I get back, I will set up the donkey and use it. It will be convenient for my aunt to come in and out."
After finishing speaking, Li Dan called Mao Niu and asked him to hand over his shili dial to Ma Jiu, and then whispered a few words. After hearing this, Ma Jiu immediately led the group of people, pulled a donkey cart and left the south gate.
On this day, Zhou Dutou came again and urged him: "Zhao Cheng from Nancheng set out with his sixty people yesterday. Why don't you leave? Aren't you afraid of missing the deadline?"
"Waiting for the new carriage." Li Dan pointed to the northwest corner with a smile: "There is still one more to be delivered tomorrow. I will set off the day after tomorrow and will arrive the day after tomorrow."
"nonsense!"
"Really." Li Dan settled the accounts for him. Most of the people rode in carriages, and the remaining few rode mules, horses or donkeys. It was no problem to travel eighty miles in a day and a half.
"Going by car?" Zhou Dutou was shocked: "Don't tease me, the carriage can hold seven or eight people!"
Li Dan took him to the latest car and patted the car with a proud look on his face: "My car can seat fifteen people, do you believe it?"
True to his word, Li Dan immediately waved over a dozen people to get on the train. As it turned out, there were indeed fourteen people in the carriage (including Zhou Dutou himself). If there was one more person sitting next to the coachman in front, the number would be more than Li Dan guaranteed. too much.
The two northern mules ran twice around the school grounds without any effort at all.
Zhou Dutou scratched the back of his head in surprise: "What's going on with this car? One car is better than three or four cars. It's unbelievable! Is it a new one made by you?"
"This is based on the Western style." Li Dan smiled: "Don't worry, this time you believe that I can reach ten thousand years in one day, right?"
There are five four-wheeled carts, three two-wheeled carts (the wheels have been reinforced with iron hoops), four horses, eight mules, and six donkeys. The entire team is equipped with animal power, and the lineup is luxurious enough.
The day before departure, four two-wheeled vehicles were sent out to bring back the completed tents and clothes from Lao Ji, and the quilts and backpacks from the inn.
Everyone fetched water to take a bath, and put on new clothes inside and out with new hair. Everyone was in high spirits, looking at each other in high spirits, and everyone was smiling from ear to ear.
Li Dan looked very satisfied. He stood on the wooden bridge where he practiced overcoming obstacles and looked around with his hands on his hips. He asked with a smile: "Are your clothes, shoes and socks all new? Are you happy?"
"Happy!" everyone shouted at the top of their lungs.
"Since we went out happily, we must come back happily." Li Dan said with a wave of his hand.
Most of the people below were older than him, but they felt that Li Sanlang was so powerful at this time, he actually looked like a general.
"We said before that the team went out to practice military law. I must have memorized it in the past ten days." Li Dan continued:
"I would like to remind everyone of three things: First, we are all fellow villagers, including those from Nancheng. Don't make enemies of your own people, and put aside any grudges when you go out!
Second, carefully look at our own brothers around us, they are your most trustworthy partners.
Third, don’t leave the team, don’t go far, don’t harass the villages passing by, be kind to others, and pay for things you buy.
To sum it up: Be safe outside and don’t make enemies.
Just these three, do you remember them? "
"Remember!" everyone shouted again.
Li Dan then asked the chiefs and corps commanders to disperse and go back, go to the dormitory (dormitory) and take the test again, and teach everyone to remember it.
Then he announced the time to get up tomorrow morning and asked everyone to go back and prepare individually.
At this time, there were actually seventy-eight people in the team, and a full sixty (the five who had been taken away by Ma Jiu had been replaced) were strong enough to set off tomorrow morning, and the rest were left behind under the leadership of Yang Dada.
Among the six elders, the leader is Liu En, a forty-year-old paper maker. He was bullied and resisted, but accidentally injured the other party. Fortunately, Li Dan came forward to pay the fine for him and was released on bail. Now he works with Zhu Qing. This team guards the school grounds;
One of the other two corps commanders was Su Biantou (named after half of his hair was cut off during the war, which shows that he is a ferocious man) who was chosen from among the beggars. He was originally a soldier preparing for the Japanese army. After his wife and children died, he went into exile in Yugan. ;
The other Han Si was originally a miner who escaped from Zhejiang. He offended the mine owner and his whole family was kicked out and became refugees. When Li Dan was recruiting people, he saw that he was strong and powerful and appointed him as the corps leader. All five of his men were refugees.
These two teams are prepared to rotate and escort subsequent supplies.
The first bell on the bell tower rings at dawn. The so-called evening drum and morning bell ring. The six times the bell tower rings is the second quarter of Mao hour, which is the time when each door opens.
Li Dan decided to leave as soon as the door opened, so he had to get up early in the morning.
At the beginning of Yinshi, Li Dan was pushed awake by Mavericks. When he went out, he saw that the pool was surrounded by team members washing up.
It is also a rule to wake up early and wash your face and hands, and brush your teeth with "tooth powder" made of bamboo salt, toner, peppermint powder and rice flour.
The toothbrush is simple. Bite one end of the willow branch with your teeth repeatedly until it becomes like a brush. Then dip it in water and add tooth powder to make a paste.
After using it for a few days, everyone got used to it. After brushing, they gritted their teeth and looked around, feeling quite superior.
Li Dan used Gu Chi Powder at home, but it required medicinal materials such as Eclipta, Asarum, Saponaria, Poria, Angelica, Mangcao, Turtle Shell, and Fangfeng. Grinding and preparing it was also troublesome, so he simply made his own. I created it and used it with everyone in the camp these days, and I feel that the effect is no worse than that damn expensive thing!
For breakfast, each person had a large bowl of porridge, two eggs and two pancakes with pickles, and their faces were all glowing.
For most of them, today is the first time they have traveled far away, and even have to go to another country. This is a big event, worth telling their children and grandchildren for decades!
Energized, I went back to the house and took out my luggage. Everyone's quilts had been firmly tied into a tic-tac-toe shape with straps as Li Dan taught.
There are two handles left on the front, and you can stretch your arms in to carry it on your back. A pair of straw sandals and a pair of thick-soled cloth shoes are pinned to it.
The rest of the equipment includes: raincoat, bamboo hat, a pair of leggings and two blue cloth belts, a cross-body cloth satchel and a water hyacinth.
Several coachmen were busy lining up the carriage and checking the wheels and axles. They acted as if they were great stewards and scolded other team members who tried to touch their carriages.
Xiao Yi asked his men to follow Zhu Qing to the warehouse to move things. He first carried out ropes, rope nets, poles and rattan baskets that he didn't know what they were used for, and then tools such as spades, shovels, trowels and axes. They were all piled into the warehouse. Two carts with donkeys already hitched were covered with oilcloth.
At this time, each Wu and Shi began to put their tents, pots, firewood, machetes, etc. on their carriages.
It turned out that each car had already been numbered. Li Dan wrote Arabic numerals on the carriage board with ink and taught everyone to remember the number belonging to their own team. Everyone got on and off the car and acted centered on their own car.
Among these numbers, there was only No. 2. Yang Xiaoyi was anxious when he saw Chen Sanwen and a waiter driving a brand-new carriage into the yard. He was overjoyed and immediately called his subordinates to start loading the carriage.
Li Dan walked over and wrote the word "2" with a pen, raised his head and cupped his hands and said:
"I was worried that you wouldn't be able to finish the work in time, but I didn't expect it to be delivered. The Chen family and his son promised a large sum of money, and I won't be stingy with the reward! But Sanlang, what are you dressed like...?"
Chen Salmon looked at his short brown hair and said with a smile: "I told my father that I will deliver the car to you, and we will go together. If there is something wrong with the new car on the way, I can help you repair it."
"Then I am willing to work for you. It's a battlefield over there, can the old gentleman rest assured?"
"What about you guys? What are you worried about? I just wanted to say hello before everything goes wrong. I'm afraid it will cause trouble."
"No trouble!" Li Dan was of course happy. He clapped his hands and only had time to brush the compartment board with tung oil. He called Mavericks repeatedly and asked him to take Sanlang to Zhu Qing to get two sets of spare equipment to put on.
Before leaving, Chen Sanwen pointed to the carriage and told him that the fourteen custom-made wooden shields were in the carriage.
Li Biao was puzzled and asked: "The spears were returned to Zhou Dutou and brought back to the county yesterday, but the shields and knives are still left to us. Why did Sanlang let the Chen family make these wooden shields?"
"The round shield set down by the county can protect you, but when it comes to bows and arrows, you can only protect yourself, not others."
When Li Biao got on the train and looked at the wooden shields in the carriage, he suddenly realized that the shield was not small, with slots for observation. It was two and a half feet wide, just enough to protect the two people standing side by side. It was more than five feet tall, as tall as he was. You can hide behind it by lowering your head slightly.
Li Dan asked him to notify each team to come and take away his side. He also wrote the number on the back and the sword and shield man was responsible for keeping it.
At this time, Liu Hongsheng squeezed over and told him that his brother had prepared the dry food, soybeans, and bran and put them outside the store to be loaded into the truck.
Li Dan asked the third team, Gu Da, and Liu Hongsheng's fifth team to receive it first, and then meet at the inner street entrance of the south gate.
When everything is ready, the cars go out in order of numbers and head to the south gate.
When he arrived at the intersection of Bell and Drum Towers, Li Dan saw a donkey cart. Ma Jiu's mother-in-law was standing there holding the donkey's bridle, and he knew that it was his aunt who came to see him off.
Letting the others go first, Li Dan jumped out of the car and ran over, holding the knife on his waist. Only then did he see the alleys were full of people. I don't know how many families came to see him off, and he was shocked.
He opened the door and left because he was afraid of disturbing people who came to see him off, and he didn't want so many people to come. He quickly walked to the donkey cart, knelt down and kowtowed, saying:
"Auntie, I still alarmed you. It's unfilial to come to see the child off so early in the morning."
When the curtain was lifted, there was a needle. After looking up at him and giving him a wink, Li Dan hurriedly climbed up and walked to the car. Just listen to Xiao Qian's voice saying: "Brother, be careful when traveling, and safety is the most important thing!"
Li Dan hurriedly responded and replied in a low voice: "Don't worry, aunt, I have a responsibility on the child, I don't dare to take it lightly! This time I will assist the army in the suppression, and I will be able to go home in ten months."
"You don't need to comfort me. Who knows about this war?" Xiao Qian sighed: "Fortunately, you are just transporting baggage. Don't panic when something happens, don't show off..."
She said something and Li Dan responded "yes".
At this time, the crowd behind them gradually gathered around, and Xiao Qian couldn't say anything anymore, so he called Li Dan: "Their children, father and brother are following you, you should say something to them."
Li Dan looked back and saw that only Mao Zaidi was waiting behind him holding Zao Liu. The group only saw the two animals at the end of the group. Then he cupped his fists and said to everyone:
"Dear fellow villagers, we have been sent by the county to transport grain for ten thousand years, and we will be back in ten months.
Li Sanlang understands what everyone is going to say. Please rest assured that I will try my best to ensure that every brother returns home safely. Everyone, please come back! "
After saying this, everyone bowed to each other, and then said goodbye to their aunt's carriage. They turned around, walked closer, and got on their horses. Everyone cheered, and they clasped their fists and handed over their hands, then turned around and chased the team.
Everyone behind him was still waving goodbye.
When they arrived outside the south gate, the two people who went to receive the dry food had returned to the team, and just as the bell rang.
Just when the city gate creaked open and a ray of light came in outside, Li Dan waved his hand forward: "Let's go!"
The guards in the city gate watched this small team, all dressed in blue, wearing blue scarves and wearing blue belts, rumble out of the city and go down the official road to the south.
