On the 10th day after setting off from Ziyun, drinking water unexpectedly became a big problem for the group.
It will take about 5 days to get to the next big city in Zhangzhou. It sounds like it can be passed without a long stretch, but this calculation is based on taking a good national highway.
"We can't walk." The ashigaru who was exploring the front gave the answer as expected - the debris flow with the surface soil already dried was piled up on the road, and the guardrail that was washed away halfway down the slope was piled up to a large height. The group of people originally wanted to see if the area was not large, they would try to take a detour around it and then return to the national highway. However, it was originally a national highway that was opened at a high price in the mountains. One side is steep and the other side is a cliff. Obviously, it cannot be bypassed directly. .
Under the hot summer sun, the soil can dry out in a day or two, but because the group has not experienced heavy rain in the past few days, the road must have been washed away four or five days ago.
"We can only take the auxiliary road." People from the Land and Resources Bureau said it would take at least a week or two to repair the problem. Not to mention that such a situation in the middle of the road cannot be verified and reported in time. Even assuming that they already know about it at this moment, it will be very troublesome to mobilize manpower and material resources to repair it in the busy summer season. one thing.
Once again it was necessary to take a long detour and take the service road. Although Tamsui has been replenished recently, the auxiliary roads are far less easy to travel than the national roads. When walking on mountain roads, you need to consume more drinking water, and it is far from enough to carry it with you in a bamboo tube.
Any seemingly simple problem becomes a big problem when multiplied by the number of people.
Basically everyone in the team carries water supplies, but the bamboo water bottle, which is only half a liter in Rigal units, can only last less than half a day in this hot weather even if you save water. The Western-style leather kettle carried by Henry and his party could have held more things, but unfortunately the ashigaru among the traveling companions who was responsible for cooking and cooking was not familiar with the key points of the leather kettle when he borrowed it before, so he placed it too close to the fire. All the beeswax sealing the joints was melted, and all the water inside was naturally wasted.
If we can reach the town later and find beeswax for reprocessing, these kettles can still be repaired, but for now, the already precious water utensils have suffered another loss that cannot be ignored.
If there was a heavy downpour, we could at least use pots and pans to absorb some of it, but there is currently nothing we can do.
With their mouths dry and their drinking water exhausted, some of the samurai and ashigaru who sought medical attention secretly began to drink alcohol in an attempt to quench their thirst. However, even if the alcohol content of Kazuto's sake is low and he doesn't get drunk easily, he will only become thirstier as he drinks more and it will be difficult to get real relief.
The hot weather combined with the effects of alcohol made my words and deeds become harsh and excessive when I was upset. Perhaps clinging together for warmth gave them courage and confidence. Ayong and the other samurai who disliked Henry began to disobey the leadership of Narumi and others. They used to be obedient, but now they need to be yelled at by the samurai leader before they can obey orders, and they often disobey them.
All this came to a head after a long detour after encountering a mudslide. Because they wanted to find the water source as soon as possible but did not know the method, Ayong and others began to ride horses and run away from Narumi and others who slowed down and went hand in hand with the pedestrians. And in this kind of weather, the horse's physical strength is wasted carelessly. Even though the war horse of the Kingdom of the Moon does not need much water supply compared to the more petite ones in the west, it is still panting from exhaustion.
Ran around and found nothing. Both the people and the horse were so exhausted that they stopped in front and waited for about 20 minutes for the people behind to catch up. In the process, one of them cared about the horse, but the work of taking care of the horse was usually too much. The samurai who threw it to Ashigaru saw that the berries in the bush nearby were huge and plump, so he picked them and distributed them to the other three people diligently.
"Bah, what an unpalatable thing." A Yong only tasted a bite and felt that it was burning in his mouth, so he simply threw it away. However, these warriors who lacked knowledge felt that horses could definitely eat things that humans can't eat, so they all let their horses eat. Eat it.
If a sage is around, he will definitely see that these shrubs bear abundant fruits on the roadside, but there are no traces of wild animals eating them. Even if he does not recognize the species, he will proceed with caution. Then pick off the leaves or squeeze out the juice and rub it on the skin of your arms. If you feel a burning sensation, it proves to be poisonous and inedible.
But these warriors, who were only skilled in martial arts and calligraphy and knew nothing about survival, acted in a hurry due to thirst. Not only did they eat some for themselves, but they also fed a lot to the horses. The results soon became apparent.
A Yong, a picky eater, was the luckiest one because he vomited after taking one bite, but his lips were also swollen as if they were sausages from Rigar. The palms, cheeks and chins that were stained with the juice also felt a burning, numbing and painful feeling. The other three sucked the juice to absorb the water regardless of the bitter taste, and felt that they were holders of the warrior spirit who could endure hardships. After a while, the consequences were unforeseen. There was cramping in the abdomen.
He panicked and didn't choose the road, and he fell thousands of miles.
The group of people who were walking slowly behind to save energy smelled a stink of vomit and excrement as soon as they arrived. Not only people, but also three horses collapsed on the ground.
After a little observation, Henry immediately understood what was happening. He turned around and explained to the ashigaru. They gathered the remaining fresh water from everyone and mixed it with the charcoal for barbecue left over from the fire. They crushed it with linen cloth and mixed it into the drinking water. , give these people a drink.
The four warriors who had recovered from diarrhea had no energy at all, and they had no energy to express any facial issues such as not wanting to obey the foreigners' orders, so they obediently accepted their care.
However, after this trip, the group had to stop temporarily, and the fresh water resources were exhausted. Despite all the calculations, I still missed something. Most of the medicines purchased at Ziyun Pharmacy were for stopping bleeding and refreshing, because they were aimed at subsequent attacks. There was even tea to cool down the heat, but there was no gastrointestinal medicine to stop diarrhea.
Because the diet within the team has always been fixed by a dedicated person, it is unlikely that gastrointestinal diseases will occur due to random eating. Merely using charcoal mixed with water will have little effect, and the diarrhea of these four people and four horses will probably continue until the toxins are drained away. Such dehydration will not end well when they are already short of water.
Therefore, after discussion, another team was formed, consisting of Sage, Lulu, Mila, and Galeva who had field experience, as well as Lao Qiao and Yajiro, who were responsible for communicating with the locals. Bring pots and most of the empty water vessels with you, and prepare to look for water sources nearby.
Naturally, accompanying the girl from Luo'an was the inseparable little unicorn. The little guy's physique was considered to be superior among Rigar's standard war horses, although the white-haired girl still always added the word "little" when addressing her. , but now it is incompatible with this word. Although the unicorn, which is well-fed and well-fed at Qingtian's house and has a strong body, sounds like a waste of resources, it is indeed a far more perfect transportation platform than human power.
Humans tamed horses as transportation vehicles long before agricultural civilization. The main reason is that they can run faster than humans and carry more supplies. When traveling outside, summer is quite relaxing. If it is winter in a place like Suomir, a personal thermal bedding alone can already take up 5 to 8 standard kilograms of weight.
A thick waterproof canvas tent weighs nearly 1 kilogram per meter, and the simplest single-person tent requires 2-3 meters of waterproof canvas. This piece is enough to take up 2-3 kilograms of weight. Coupled with the floor covering to resist the cold, long-haired sheepskins or bear, dog or wolf skins and quilts, the weight is already considerable even if the clothes worn on the body are not included. In addition to personal daily necessities, if the journey lasts for more than a week, the weight of the basic supplies will easily exceed 25 kilograms - which is also the standard weight of a set of Rigal-style full-body plate armor.
Most knights' lances weigh about 4 kilograms, and long-handled axes weigh about 3.5 kilograms. The weight of broadswords is also in this range, while a long sword weighs about 1.5 kilograms, and the dagger and hammer together weigh 1.5 kilograms. Depending on the size of the shield, most medium-sized ones weigh around 3 to 4 kilograms, while large ones often exceed 8 kilograms.
Being fully armed and carrying personal daily necessities, even if it is a short distance, the load is very scary. This is also one of the reasons why personnel such as mercenaries who lack professional army logistics often only wear half armor or light armor.
When you have to carry everything yourself, choosing heavier armor and shields means you have to carry less food or water. Of course you can carry them all, but even for a tall and strong northerner like Galeva who was born as a porter, there is an upper limit to what he can carry.
The upper limit of the weight of horses is completely different from that of humans. Rigal's war horses can easily carry knights weighing 100 kilograms with armor, lances, and lance shields on their backs for high-speed charges and long-distance marches. If the war horses are not equipped with equally heavy vests, they can also carry more weight. Get some living supplies and spare weapons.
High endurance, high load-bearing capacity, and the ability to eat all kinds of grass that humans cannot eat. These many details make horses the best companions for travelers—of course, this is only if you can afford the purchase price.
——The words return to their original place. The lightly armed group still carried basic weapons, because Henry found some disturbing traces after checking the previous mudslides. Some of the tree stumps included were obvious signs of being chopped down with axes, but there were no known mountain village residents nearby. If the mudslide was caused by deliberate felling of trees to cause erosion and blockage of the road, then they might have encountered some road robbers when they entered the service road.
Be careful when sailing the Ten Thousand Years Ship. The sage also told Narumi and others who stayed behind that there was nothing wrong with being cautious.
Lush trees blocked the view, so the sage decided to climb higher to gain a better view.
In mountainous areas, the terrain of valleys and ravines between two peaks is the easiest place for water to gather to form streams. Even in midsummer, there will still be snow on the tops of mountains high enough, and the melted snow water can form streams when it falls.
It's just that the mountains in Zhangzhou are not very high, so there are probably only some small springs that are difficult to detect, hidden under vegetation and rocks, and it takes some time to discover them.
No matter what, as long as you find the right method to break things down into steps one by one and proceed in an orderly manner, you will eventually be able to get a solution.
