It is more than 100 miles southeast of Tianshui.

A team of grain transporters lined up in a long line, slowly moving forward, in the middle was transporting grain and grass, guarding this on both sides, the first car in the front, with two flags, one side written "Jiang", the other side written "Yang".

The guards are all capable Xiliang men, with big shoulders and round waists, and the number of about 100 people, although they are not all dressed in iron armor, but most of them still have leather armor on their bodies, plus they are armed with blades, among which there are about 20 people on horseback, and they are also majestic before and after, but the people who are responsible for pushing and pulling vehicles and dragging cattle seem to be a lot thinner, and their clothes are ragged, forming a sharp contrast.

Although it is not a serious official road, this road is relatively smooth, and there are not many ups and downs, plus these guards are not once or twice on this road, and they are all peaceful for a while, so these Xiliang men who are guarding on both sides of the convoy are somewhat lax, and while walking, they joke with each other to relieve their boredom, even the two commanders in front of the queue are no exception.

On the ground of Tianshui, the Jiang family and the Yang family have joined forces, and if they have the ability, they have some relationship with the Jiang family or the Yang family, and they will not break their friendship for decades for these grains and grasses, and most of the guys who have no friendship in Tianshui do not have the ability to do it......

In addition, these days, the weather is good, except for some heat on the road and eating some dust, it will not be difficult, so it is said that it is an escort, in fact, it is similar to playing.

"Phew! Damn ......" At the front of the queue, the commander of the guards on the left spit out the sand that flew into his mouth with the wind, cursed, and said, "Old ginger, how many trips is this?" ”

The old ginger on the right said, "It's the third trip!" Two more trips to go! Damn it, this dirt! When it's over, Lao Tzu wants to go to Tianshui and borrow the river to wash well......"

"Hahaha...... I said, old ginger, go to the river not only to take a bath, but also the Chunxiang Building in the East Gate...... Hey, hey, hey......"

"What's the matter, Lao Tzu is a single person, can't you endure it if you don't go there, you kid has a daughter-in-law and laughs at Lao Tzu? You've been there before! Besides, this weather makes people panic in their hearts, don't vent the fire, be careful that Lao Tzu can't hold it back, go over the wall of your house! ”

"Yes, you're uncle! Are you an uncle? ”

Old Jiang Tou shook his head proudly and laughed twice, and suddenly his face stiffened, and then he turned his head and asked, "...... You...... Did you hear me......"

The sand on the pavement trembled slightly.

A group of cavalry suddenly appeared on the top of the hill ahead, and then rushed down the hillside!

"Damn! Enemy attack, enemy attack! ”

"Array! Grab your blades! ”

The guards who escorted the grain and grass did not expect to encounter the enemy here, they were already looking forward to the hot soup and hot cakes on the ground, seeing that they were about to reach Tianshui, and there should be no danger on this road, this sudden situation made them unprepared, and they panicked all of a sudden.

Although the old Jiang Tou and Yang Qi who led the team shouted loudly, hoping to command the guards to defend and counterattack, but not many of the unprepared guards reacted at all, although a few of them could shoot bows and arrows and shoot down a few attackers, but the rest of them were not powerful, and they were quickly killed and scattered.

The people were also frightened, and they threw down their cars and their grain and grass. Flee in all directions.

The attackers let out a shout of "Yo-yo" and galloped wildly, crashing into the ranks and killing the guards who dared to resist, and the bright light of the swords brought up a puddle of blood, splashing on the yellow sand and the vehicles transporting grain and grass.

"Surrender! Surrender! Yang Qi saw that the momentum was not right, he immediately threw down the war knife and raised his hands, he also had a newly married daughter-in-law in his family, but he couldn't cheapen others, "Don't do it, don't do it!" I am from the Yang family of Tianshui Ji County...... The guy on the other side...... Aha......"

Before Yang Qi's words were finished, he saw a war horse running from the side, and the cavalry on horseback poked out his spear, and pierced his chest with a "poof", and then the knight on horseback sneered, and went to chase the next target.

"Kill them all!"

A voice shouted.

The attackers galloped on their horses, and the sound of horses' hooves rolled up puffs of smoke and dust, like roaring beasts, swallowing into their stomachs those who knelt on the side of the road, as well as the guards and people who fled in all directions......

………………………………

Different from the semi-desert and semi-green loess hilly area of Tianshui, from a certain point of view, the scenery near Xiabi is much better than that of later generations, at least here, the area as far as the eye can see is still a lot of green.

In the Han Dynasty, there was not much water, soil and water. It's just that soil erosion is basically a vicious circle for vegetation, and if there is no conscious restoration of vegetation, there will be nothing left in the end.

I just don't know, how long can such a green color be maintained under the erosion of human beings?

Fei Qian stood in the temporary camp built on the waterside of the Western Han Dynasty, looking at the busy people and soldiers at the water's edge, who were loading grain and grass onto the boat.

The grain and grass in Hanzhong are transported to Xiabian, and then the grain and grass from Xiazhu are transported to Qishan along the water of the Western Han Dynasty, and then a section of the north from Qishan can reach Tianshui, and then from outside Tianshui City to water transportation, through Weishui, you can reach Guanzhong.

Therefore, on the whole, in this section of the road from Xia Zhi to Guanzhong, most of the time you can take the waterway, only the section from Qishan to Tianshui is land transportation, plus Jiang Jian was originally a native of Tianshui Ji County, a complete head snake, so whether it is the speed of transportation or the convenience of transportation, it is acceptable.

In any case, water transportation is much better than using people and horses to carry horses and camels, Fei Qian has personally walked the Fu Luo Road, sometimes walking for a whole day, and found that he has only climbed from this mountain to that mountain, and the straight-line distance may only be a few hundred meters, but people and horses must climb for a whole day......

Fei Qian watched as the flat-bottomed boats loaded with grain and grass rowed across the waters of the Western Han Dynasty, raised their sails, and sailed north.

These ships are not large, but whether it is the hull or the sails, they all uphold the characteristics of the Han Dynasty and are square. The shape of these ships is that the bow and stern are slightly warped, and the chords of the hull are straight, and Fei Qian even suspects that if it were not for the part of the bow and stern to break the current, maybe it would have been changed to square. These are all pure cargo ships, as for the fighting Mengchong and Lou ships or something, in the entire Great Northwest, there are not a few of them.

Before Chang'an and Luoyang outside the city, there were still one or two building boats, and later Chang'an and Luoyang turmoil, these ships were all burned, and it can be said that the puzzle of the navy, whether it is Fei Qian or Yang Biao, or even Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, are all on the same starting line.

Although Fei Qian has these ships in front of him, basically speaking, the combat effectiveness on the surface is close to zero, and can only be used for transportation......

But that's all it can be, you can't say that you can build an ironclad right now, right?

And I can't do it if I want to, after all, there is no steam engine yet......

There are also various materials, lathes, mechanics, and so on.

All are missing.

Technology is like this, even if one piece of the puzzle is missing, the whole picture cannot be complete.

It's just that the utilization and development of coal is already a task of the Huang workshop, and even the dozens of people sent by the Mo family, several of them are specialized in the study of coal, the most important thing is to study how to produce anthracite on a large scale, after all, the role of sulfur-containing and impurity coal and pure anthracite is too different for smelting steel.

"This is the third batch of ......," Jiang Jian said, standing beside Fei Qian, introduced.

The fleet was divided into three batches, and when they arrived at the corresponding place, they would rest at that place for the night, load some return goods by the way, and then re-board the ship and return to the ship, and so on. A large amount of grain and grass was transported to Guanzhong, and then some cloth, utensils, and even a considerable number of blades and weapons were transported from Guanzhong, which were relatively lacking in Longyou.

Basically, anyone with some brains knows how rich the oil and water are on this road, so Jiang Jian was able to gather a large number of transport ships in a short period of time to run this route, in addition to the original influence of the Jiang family in Tianshui Ji County, the families or tribes involved in it can obtain considerable benefits in it, which is naturally a very strong cohesion that contributes to this matter.

For this, Fei Qian also knows it. After all, it is necessary to share some benefits, so that some people are willing to attach themselves to themselves, but ......

"Zhong Yi," Fei Qian looked at the sails in the distance, and said lightly, "How much is the loss of this ship?" ”

Jiang Jian glanced at Fei Qian quickly, and then said, "...... This one...... It's about 40 percent ......."

Drift.

"Forty percent. Hehe......" Fei Qian smiled, noncommittal. Although there was no such term in the Han Dynasty, the same goose was plucked.

In other words, if ten stones of grain and grass are transported from the lower side, only six stones will be left when the right wind is reached, and the other four stones will be the transportation reward for this route.

The amount of this loss, or the transportation cost, is indeed quite high, but it is much better than land transportation. Of course, how much of this is really lost, and how much of it falls into the pockets of the transporters, is a matter of opinion.

Once you have entered the customs, let's build a fleet of your own......

Fei Qian found that with the increase of territory, there are many, many things that need to be done in addition to war, more and more.

At this moment, several Han riders and Qiang riders came from the north in a panic, bringing a news that shocked both Fei Qian and Jiang Yin, and the grain and grass that were transported from Qishan to Tianshui and ready to be transferred to Weishui were robbed!

………………………………

"What's going on?"

Fei Qian sat in the tent of the Chinese army, looked at the soldiers who came to report the news, and asked.

The soldier who had drunk some water and calmed down his breath, despite his physical weariness, answered the word, and then began to tell the story of the incident......

The Western Han Dynasty can directly reach Qishan from the lower defense, and in the entire northwest region, there is no dense water network like the southeast or southwest, and there are no non-governmental organizations such as water thieves, so basically speaking, except for the natural risks, the rest of the risks are not very high.

So from the bottom to Qishan, there are no problems along the way. From Qishan to Tianshui, the Jiang family and the Yang family of Tianshui jointly received the escort, and then took the Yang's boat, from Tianshui to Weishui, to the right Fufeng......

When Fei Qian heard Yang's, he glanced at Jiang Yin.

Jiang Jian nodded slightly, indicating that the person he was talking about was Yang Fu who he mentioned with Fei Qian yesterday.

Yang Fu, who is also from Tianshui Ji County, is also a native of Tianshui County, and like Jiang Jian, he is regarded as a local indigenous person in Tianshui, and it must be impossible to get around it if he wants to raise vehicles and ships, so Jiang Jian also recommended Yang Fu to Feiqian.

This Yang family in Ji County is actually related to the Hongnong Yang family, but it has been many generations ago, it should have been separated from Yang Jiong's generation, it has long been outside the five suits, and the specific interval is not very clear.

Unexpectedly, before I saw Yang Fu, I encountered such a thing.

The grain and grass were transported by land from Qishan to Tianshui, and there was a problem when it was transported by land, and it was robbed and killed by the cavalry who came out of nowhere......

After hearing this, Fei Qian frowned and pinched the beard on his chin, which was not long.

Qishan is close to Tianshui, and there was no danger in transporting grain and grass some time ago, so whether it is the people of the Jiang family or the Yang family, they may be relatively lax, but those who dare to openly slap their faces on the head of the head of the snake on the ground, and then and pee, I am afraid they are not good people.

"Under what banner? How many people are there? Fei Qian asked.

The soldier who reported the news replied: "There is no flag...... The number of people, about five hundred horsemen......"

"No flags?" Jiang Jian couldn't help but ask on the side, after all, this matter is also related to his Jiang family, "Are there any other traces left?" ”

“…… But there are some ......," said the soldier, "and according to those who escaped for their lives, some of them were dressed like ...... of the Di."

"Diren?"

Jiang Jian asked a few more questions, and then the soldiers didn't say much useful information.

Fei Qian thought about it, there was really nothing to ask, and it was estimated that he couldn't ask anything if he asked, so he waved his hand and asked the soldiers who reported the news to retreat first.

"General...... According to a certain inference, the thief must be familiar with the terrain of Tianshui......" After thinking for a moment, Jiang Jian arched his hand and said, "More than five hundred cavalry, if they are not familiar with the terrain, they will inevitably be discovered between actions...... But most of the Di people are arguing, and the sky and water are close to the left, and there are not many Di people ......"

"And most of the Di people are foot soldiers, good at fighting in the mountains, and they are not good at riding battles......" Fei Qian nodded and said, "If you exclude others from pretending...... So good at mountain warfare, and good at horse warfare, I'm afraid only ......"

"White Horse Qiang ......"

"Hakuba ......"

Almost at the same time, Fei Qian and Jiang Jian both said the answer.

"But...... The subordinates didn't excuse Bai Maqiang...... It's just that this matter is a little strange......" Jiang Jian pondered for a while, and then said, "Most of the Baimaqiang are located in Wudu nomadism, and they said that they rushed to Tianshui to rob and kill grain and grass, although this distance is reasonable...... However, I don't dare to hide it from the general, the leader of Baimaqiang, I also know him, and I still have some friendship, this ...... There's no reason for that, huh? ”

"Hmm......" Fei Qian groaned, this matter was like a picture, but a few important pieces of the puzzle were missing, so he said slowly, "Could it be that Bai Maqiang didn't know that the Jiang family was transporting a certain grain and grass before, and now he knows...... Or maybe someone else is behind it......"

Jiang Jian thought for a while, and arched his hand and said, "If this is the case, there is also this possibility...... There are many Baimaqiang, and it is considered a large tribe on the left, and it is not difficult to dispatch 500 horsemen...... However, in the battle of Guanzhong, the most damaged was the yak Qiang, and the white horse qiang did not have much damage, so it would be too far-fetched to say that he had a feud with the general...... In any case, his subordinates implore the general to allow him to go to Tianshui immediately, investigate in detail, and then report back! ”

Fei Qian just nodded, and was about to give some orders, but he heard hurried footsteps outside the tent, and a soldier reported outside: "General Qiyu!" Fifty miles to the northwest, a scout spy was found! ”