As the officers and troops marched along the highway, all merchants and travelers gave way respectfully. All the pavilions, shops, and post offices along the way in the two Zhejiang areas were cleared and waiting, and food, wine, and meat were prepared so that the sergeants could eat and drink.
From Suzhou to Yangzhou, a distance of nearly 300 miles, it only took two days to complete it.
The summer was hot, so Song Che ordered the caravan to get up early at the fourth watch and rest at noon. After surviving the scorching sun for several hours in the afternoon, they could continue their business until they rested at the second watch.
On the third day of the journey, the caravan bid farewell to the last post station in Zhejiang and Zhejiang, and officially entered the Huainan road boundary. Walking fifty miles to the east is Yangzhou, but the caravan cannot reach the main city, and can only go northwest to Luzhou, which is about five hundred miles. In all the counties he passed through during this period, Song Che asked people to send ultimatums in advance and asked the local government offices to clear obstacles and ensure that official roads were unobstructed.
Huainan Road and Liangzhe Road are separated by only one boundary, but they seem like two separate worlds.
When Song Che went to Yangzhou to attend a conference, he also took this road. There were far fewer homeless people on the road than in front of him.
After Suzhou recruited troops to work in the fields, other prefectures in Zhejiang and Zhejiang followed suit, so the refugees on this road were resettled very properly.
However, what the refugees call "flow" means that they are highly mobile. If a steady stream of people flows into Zhejiang and Zhejiang, no matter how good the policy is, it will not help.
Checkpoints were set up between various roads to prevent refugees from escaping. The two Zhejiang provinces have beautiful mountains and clear waters, and the official roads are well connected, while Huainan, on the other hand, is full of rags and wailings.
The Japanese disaster was the most serious along the northeastern coast of Huainan. Yangzhou, the capital of the southwest, had a moment of peace. However, according to the rumors of refugees in Suzhou, Yangzhou's management was corrupt, perverted the law, and was incompetent, so peace might not last long.
Last time when the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce met bandits on the riverside, Song Che lamented that the city was "gold and jade on the outside but ruined on the outside". Now he was watching the miserable misery of the refugees, and it turned out to be true.
Huainan, it is said that Gao Chen came this way, and Ning Yehong is also here, but I don't know...but I hope there will be a good result.
"Go away, go away! If you want to die, stay away from me and don't stop the royal caravan!"
Yangzhou officers and soldiers walked in front of the caravan with sticks and beat the refugees who were kneeling in the middle of the road begging for food.
Song Che wanted to lend a helping hand, but if he gave the money to the officers and soldiers, it would most likely line his own pockets. If he bought some grain and rice for relief, it would be a waste of time.
I had to close my eyes and pray to get through this road of suffering quickly.
After walking northwest for another day, the road is no longer so spacious, sometimes bumpy and bumpy, and the distance to the station is no longer so accurate. But fortunately, it has not rained in recent days, and there are many villages along the way. If it is a deserted area, there will always be It makes people panic.
Song Che sat on the carriage, holding the binoculars, not daring to relax at all along the way. He knew that trouble would always come, but it was this sense of unknown in the light that made him uneasy.
On the fifth day, the red sun was already rising early in the morning, and the heat was scorching as you can imagine.
Sure enough, before noon, the sun showed its fierceness, causing the earth to steam with heat, making everyone sweat profusely.
Looking ahead, we see undulating hills and mountains, surrounded by dangers.
"Uncle Song."
A big man with a gold knife on his waist and an open chest exposed his breasts and walked to the car with sweat on his face. He was Liu Wei, the number one escort of the SF Escort Bureau.
Liu Biao pointed to the hill in front of him and said: "Uncle, ten miles further is Heifeng Hill. The escorts who take the west entrance all know that even in the peaceful and prosperous times, there are often gangsters who block roads and rob."
Song Che frowned and asked, "Maybe a detour?"
Liu Biao said: "It's possible, but the hills are rugged and winding. If you really have to go around it, I'm afraid it will delay your trip for a day."
The weather is so hot, everything is bare, and there is no village or inn. If we take a long way, many people may suffer from heatstroke.
"Are there any gangs and the like entrenched in Black Wind Ridge?" Song Che asked again.
Liu Biao shook his head, "I don't know about this. Since the Feiyun Gang blocked the road, our escort agency has not been here for nearly a year, but according to past experience, those who come here to rob are all rogue individual travelers. I’ve never heard of anything too obvious.”
"How far is the next station from here?" Song Che asked.
Liu Biao said: "After passing Heifeng Hill, go down twelve or three miles to Tun County."
"Okay, let's take a shortcut through the hill. Let the brothers be alert and pay more attention to their surroundings."
"Okay."
Soon, the caravan left the main road and took the mountain road to the post. The mountain road is not steep, but it is very long. Horses alone cannot pull it up, and manpower is often needed to push it from behind.
When they finished climbing the slope, all the soldiers' clothes were soaked with sweat.
"Look! There's a forest ahead!"
Everyone was pleasantly surprised to see a lush green mountain forest, as if the clouds and mist had parted.
"No!" Liu Wei yelled: "The higher the mountain and the forest, the easier it is to ambush bandits, and the less likely they are to stay. Let's grit our teeth and go down the mountain after passing this dark wind forest."
"But Captain Liu, the sun is so hot that we are almost smoking. If we don't take a break, I'm afraid we all will suffer from heat stroke."
"Yes, yes, I'm almost out of water. According to the previous business plan, it's time to rest at noon."
There was no shortage of complaints.
Liu Wei couldn't make up his mind, so he had to come back and ask Song Che: "Uncle, look..."
Song Che squeezed the sweat from his clothes. It was such a hot day that the iron cast would turn into liquid. There was still a long way to go. If many people suffered from heatstroke, it would probably delay the trip even more.
Song Che nodded, "Let's take a rest in the woods and wait until the sun gets warmer before leaving."
Everyone pulled the car and quickly got into the woods.
The soldiers took off their armor, sat under the big tree, replenished water and ate dry food.
Song Che picked the tallest tree and climbed up, sitting on the branch, gnawing on the dried meat and monitoring the outside of the forest.
Xu Xiao stepped on the tree trunk and branches, like a crawling gecko, and climbed to the top of the tree in a matter of seconds. "My brothers and I have looked around and found no trace of hiding people. This forest is lush despite its growth. In fact, the drought is so severe that even if there are a few pools of water, you can’t drink from them.”
Song Che said: "There are more than two hundred of us, and we are all equipped with troops. The bandits, each with seven to eight hundred people, will definitely not dare to come and rob. And if there are so many people, there will definitely be dust when traveling together, but this hilly area is It was so quiet that there wasn’t even a bird chirping.”
"Isn't it good to be quiet?" Xu Xiao also sat down against the tree trunk, took out the dried meat cake and ate it.
Song Che said: "If you are too quiet, it will easily make people relax. What's more, for smart people, robbing by force is a bad idea, and taking things wisely is the best way."
Xu Xiao said: "The robbers really have brains, and they will not engage in the business of licking blood from the knife's edge, killing people and stealing goods."
Song Che smiled and said nothing, that's because you haven't met a hero like "Shui Po Liangshan". Grand Master Cai's birthday card is only worth one hundred thousand, but these coins are worth millions. If Song Che were a bandit, he would have to rack his brains to get robbed by him.
Sudden,
A caravan appears in the telescope.
The caravan was not small, with seven or eight cars in front and behind, and seventeen or eight merchants, all dressed in commoners and straw hats, looking like farmers.
"There's something going on!" Xu Xiao also discovered the caravan and quickly put the big cake into his arms. "I'll take people to drive them away." After saying that, he got off the tree.
Song Che held him back, "First ask about the situation before making a decision. There is only this shortcut for dozens of miles, so you can't tell others not to take it."
The two of them got down from the tree, took Liu Biao and dozens of other bodyguards and servants, and waited at the mountain pass.
Soon, the caravan went up the mountain, led by a middle-aged man with a rough beard, wrapped in a thick coarse cloth scarf, and a large brim of a hat covering his face, so he couldn't see clearly.
As soon as the middle-aged man saw Song Che and others carrying swords in Yamaguchi, he was so frightened that he sat down on the ground and shouted: "Mom, we met a bad guy!"
But before Xu Xiao could explain, the middle-aged man hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy: "Hero, spare my life. We are old farmers selling pears in Wangjiacun. We don't have any gold or silver on us. Please show your respect and don't embarrass our family!"
The officials looked at each other and laughed.
Song Che frowned.
Preconceptions, mistaking the wrongdoer, pretending to be weak, and making people put down their guard are all psychological tricks. Either these people are really farmers selling pears, or they are a group of traitors.
Song Che stepped forward to help the middle-aged man up, pointed at Xu Xiao and other government officials and said, "Fellow, I'm afraid there's something wrong with your eyesight? My friends' official uniforms have a big word 'bad' printed on them, can't you see it? ?”
The middle-aged man rubbed his eyes and after seeing clearly he muttered: "Maybe Rehan covered his eyes. It turns out he is not a gangster but a government official."
Song Che first glanced at the pear people, all of whom were in their prime and looked harmless. Then he walked to the donkey cart carrying pears, lifted the linen cloth and took a look. Sure enough, there were big green pears.
"Fellow, where are you going to sell these pears?" he asked again.
The middle-aged man said: "Where else can we go? Of course we can go to the county town ahead. There are many people there. Fruits from all over the country are sold there, and firewood, rice, oil and salt can be purchased there."
"Do you want to go through this dark windy forest, or do you want to take a rest in this forest?" Song Che asked again.
The middle-aged man wiped his sweat and said: "We have just climbed a long slope, and the sun is very poisonous, so naturally we have to take a rest in the woods."
But Xu Xiao dismissed it flatly: "No, Heifenglin is stationed at the royal caravan, and no one else can get close!"
"Master, what you said is wrong. There is such a huge forest, so what's the problem in making a place for us people to get some shade?"
"Yes, the sun is so fierce. If we continue walking, what should we do if we get heat stroke? Isn't the life of the common people not life?"
"That's right, you all are armed with swords and sticks, are you still afraid of us?"
"If you occupy the mountains and forests and deny rest, then what's the difference between you and bandits!"
The rebuke was justified, and Xu Xiao couldn't make up his mind for a moment, so he had to look for Song Che.
Song Che smiled calmly, stepped aside and said, "Since we are all businessmen, we should naturally take care of each other. Fellow fellows, please do as you please."
"This boss is still honest."
The middle-aged man led the caravan into the woods.
Liu Biao approached Song Che and whispered: "Uncle, the origins of these farmers are still unknown. If they are released into the woods, there may be risks."
Song Che only said: "Don't worry, if they are cheating, they can't escape my eyes."
No matter how well you hide your penis, your black feet will be exposed inadvertently. This is an iron rule.
