The temperature is gradually dropping, and you can vaguely see the white snow on the top of Tiandu Mountain. When the snow line is getting lower and lower, it means that the location of the pasture will also be moved. Sheep and cattle are more valuable than people, and they need more careful care. Wherever there is grass, it must move.
This year's life has been even more difficult. The king has scraped off the grain of each family again and again. After each family has a family member, he has to hand over the remaining grain again and again. After slaughtering the old sheep and cows, he also slaughters the rams and bulls. After slaughtering, what to do now?
Even if the enemies of the grassland kill all their opponents, they will not attack the other's children or women, because once this rule is broken, everyone will kill the other's living population. The originally sparsely populated grassland will only Let the population become smaller and smaller until it perishes.
They will also use the same principle on livestock. After they slaughter the old sheep, cows, rams and bulls, they will keep the ewes and lambs, so that they can survive the coldest winter. In the next spring, they will Only then can there be hope of living.
But the king asked them to bring the ewe to the military camp.
The Dangxiang people have not achieved their current glory for many generations. They defeated the Khitans and the extremely powerful Song people, but their lives have never been as unsustainable as they are now! Victories one after another did not make their lives better, but made their lives increasingly embarrassing. Now there is no hope!
When will the partisans extend their sharpened butcher's knives to ewes and lambs? Now that the ewes and lambs have finished eating, are they going to start eating people?
But who dares to disobey the king's order? The party members are cruel to outsiders, and they are even more iron-fisted towards their own people! If there is any disobedience, it will be directly wiped out, and there is no need to exist!
Why haven’t the damn Han caravans come yet? In previous years, when the grass withered and turned yellow, their fat and bloated bodies appeared.
The land of the Han people is so fertile that they don't need to herd sheep or grazing. Their land only needs to be sown with a few insignificant seeds in the spring, and countless grains can be harvested with a sickle in the autumn.
God is so unfair. The land on the grassland can only grow pasture, and what grows is only suitable for livestock to eat. If people eat too much livestock, their intestines will be blocked and they will die. The Han people's land can grow more food than they can eat, and it can also grow tea, which is indispensable to the grassland people. The Han people will not give it to them, so the Khitan people will rob it, so the Dangxiang people will also rob it.
Why, why is the conflict between the grassland people and the Han people so deep? It was created unfairly and deliberately by God!
The smiles of the Song people were full of hypocrisy. Their horse teams would carry abundant food. They only needed to exchange useless skins and livestock and horses with them to get enough food for the winter.
The abominable Song people are greedy. They will accurately calculate the value of every grain of food. I used to hate them like jackals on the grassland, but now it seems that they are not jackals, they are saviors. Why haven't they come yet? In exchange for food, they can be given directly to the king, without having to send ewes and lambs. Handed over!
Is chaos in the world a bad thing? It is a bad thing that people are in ruins, people are displaced, and the whole country is in turmoil. But for these traitorous caravans who have made great fortunes in the country, they cannot make a fortune if there is no war on the Western Front. If Song and Xia do not fight, they will starve to death! It's none of their business if other people's people starve to death. It's real if they can make money. Who the hell becomes an official and doesn't pay the emperor's food?
They were like wild wolves anyway. In the military conflict zone of the Song and Xia Dynasties, they robbed whatever they could and bought whatever they could not. They smuggled a large amount of materials, medicinal materials, grain, iron ore and even weapons needed by both sides from the mainland, Khitan and even Lingnan. Equipment and military intelligence, valuable goods are theirs, and they will be sold to whoever pays the highest price, regardless of whether the buyer is a Dangxiang or a Khitan. They even colluded with the scum within the Song army, drank the blood of the soldiers, and used the military supplies Purchased at a low price, the officers enriched their own pockets, and then sold it to the party members who were busy sharpening their swords. They used their own food to fatten the enemy and kill their own people!
They are the maggots of war, hated by some and loved by others.
Since the invention of war, there have been an endless stream of such people. They can't kill them all with a knife. After a group is cut like grass, another group will emerge without fear of death. The benefits are too tempting. They lick the blade of the knife for the sake of it. That mouthful of blood hit my head!
They are not just businessmen. The group of horse thieves outside Xianglong Temple Village are a good example. When they take a knife, they are bandits. When they put down their swords, they are red-top businessmen. They are prosperous everywhere. The key point is that the armed strength of these people has reached a point where they cannot be lost. There are several groups of such caravans entrenched near Tiandu Mountain.
Liang Chuan looked at the sand table, integrating the information that had been collected continuously over the past few days, and the expression between his brows became more and more solemn.
He underestimated the energy consumption of the army. Although he had an old man like Su Wei beside him, he calculated the consumption of every kilogram of fodder with great accuracy. There was no corruption in Dingchuan Village that was common in other military camps. Corruption is a problem, but it still can't hold back the money that is flowing like water and is sold in gold caves every day.
Money, money, a penny stumped the heroic man. Before the war started, he had already sent several secret messages to Qingyuan urgently urging money.
Money is really a good thing. Any other spirit is useless to inspire war mobilization. It is these copper coins that are in charge. As long as these things are shown in every training, these honest Guanzhong children will be like a man possessed. He spent countless amounts of chicken blood, worked hard to complete the training tasks, and never bargained or discounted! Compared with the adult management team that he personally led, he was even braver by three points. Damn it.
Intelligence showed that there were three groups of merchant gangs at the foot of Tiandu Mountain, namely the Jin Gang in Weinan, the Sichuan Gang in Hanzhong, and the Hanshui Gang in Xiangfan. The blood transfusion almost wiped out Emperor Taizu. Later, he regained a little bit of vitality by playing with the Khitans. Now, taking advantage of the chaos in the northwest, he has regained his former power.
Their main sources of supply are the high-quality mineral resources in Jinzhong, as well as weapons smuggled from the Khitans. Their weapons are extremely popular among the Dangxiang people. The Khitan people's weapon styles are similar to those of the Dangxiang people. They are all curved blades and weapons suitable for immediate use. Long weapons.
The Sichuan Clan and the Hanshui Clan are based in the Tianfu Basin and the Hanshui Plain. They have been Chinese rice warehouses since ancient times. They started off by relying on food. The two families are also relatively close. They do not infringe the Han River with the Shanxi Merchant Clan, and each family controls the Han River. A line of business is doing well.
The curtain of the middle tent was suddenly opened, and old man Su walked in dusty, his face covered with yellow dust. There is a lot of dust in the north, especially in autumn and winter when the north wind blows south. The little old man is still able to bear the burden despite his age. Liang Chuan felt really sorry when he saw Su Wei who was running around doing statistics and logistics for him.
The little old man dropped a pile of reports and sat down on the pillar, the wrinkles on his head getting deeper.
"What, what went wrong?"
"We only have enough money and food for two more months. The temperature is about to drop now. The party members now have no logistical support. This winter will definitely be difficult. There will definitely be a big war before the depth of winter. We can only use it for training. If there is a real fight, I'm afraid I won't have enough food and grass in half a month."
Su Wei's meaning is very clear. The money may be enough now, but once the killing starts, the food will suddenly increase, and it will definitely not be enough for next spring.
The war is imminent, and food and grass are a sharp sword hanging over the head of Dingchuan Village.
Although there are not enough party members, their tradition is to fight for food when there is no food. The more food they have, the more hungry they will be, and the higher their fighting power will be. There is only one way to survive, either the Song people die, or their party members die!
Liang Chuan picked up the report and looked through it carefully. The more he read, the more frightened he became. Not only was there not enough food, but there were not even enough cotton-padded clothes for the brothers. By then, without the swords and guns of the party members, the cold east wind and heavy snow here would be enough. Take away a lot of lives.
He slowly put down the pile of reports and turned his eyes to the sand table on the table. Why is it so difficult to find a general when it is easy to get a thousand armies? Leading troops to fight is not something humans do. All aspects must be coordinated. Everything is in place, ranging from managing relationships and allocating supplies, to digging wells and toilets, and nothing is careless. A slight mistake may trigger a butterfly effect. Once you make a mistake, everything will be lost.
He could finally understand why Han Xin's saying, "The more soldiers the better, the better" is only suitable for one person, the Soldier Immortal. What kind of careful thinking is needed to lead countless armies, worthy of this reputation!
Su Wei said: "Don't bring any more money. No matter how much money you bring, it's useless. If you can't buy food and grass, it's just a pile of scrap copper."
Liang Chuan's eyes kept wandering on the three small flags on Tiandu Mountain, and even thinking of the group of bandit merchants outside Xianglong Temple, he suddenly smiled and said: "Although the Shenji Battalion can use the artillery fairly smoothly now, the real actual combat cooperation is still unclear. It requires the cooperation of the Guanjing Cavalry and the Chengguan Brigade, and now I intend to let them implement it!"
Su Wei was so anxious that he might have misunderstood Liang Chuan's intention and said: "Are you crazy? Do you want to provoke the Dangxiang people alone? The court does not have this golden order. Don't say that you have lost, even if you beat the Dangxiang people, If you send out the army without orders, just a few civil servants from the imperial court can wipe out all three of your clans!"
Liang Chuan pouted at the three small flags on the sand table and said: "It's not the time to beat the Dangxiang people. I heard that the game in Tiandu Mountain is good. The goats in this season are delicious and fat. We won't hunt them, but let the Dangxiang people hunt them." , why not..."
A cold light flashed in Su Wei's eyes: "You have taken care of all those little quarrels on the grassland. Now you have a big appetite and want to have a big meal? However, I have already asked Yelv Chongguang to inquire about these three caravans. It’s passed, it’s no ordinary small role!”
"We need to use these similar opponents to practice, so that our three armed forces can improve the level of synchronized combat. What's the point of bullying children every day?"
