On the eve of the Chengying Battalion's expedition, the sergeant's house is near the left of Dunhuang, and he can rush back to the barracks before dawn. This is the practice in the Xia army, called retaining seeds. The war is fierce, and the recruits may never return, leaving behind the hope of the continuation of the bloodline. The territory of the Xia Kingdom is extremely vast, the Weiyuan Dynasty is eventful in all directions, the army fights frequently, the heirs of the sergeants are often rarer than the shadow households, the Weiyuan Emperor Chen Ante issued an edict, all the soldiers with families, three years after the war, the imperial court must arrange for them to reunite with their families, in order to keep the heirs. If those who died on the battlefield were to be taken care of by the imperial court, the orphans and widows were taken care of, and those who were not sufficient for the military camp expenses of the prefecture and county were to be made up by the royal treasury.

The matter of retaining seeds is dispensable for others, but for Liu Zheng, a sergeant under Zhao De, it is a great matter. There are three unfilial pieties, and no queen is the greatest, but he still has no heirs. Liu Zheng also doubted whether it was because of a hidden disease, and the couple even looked for Lang Zhong to see his body, and Lang Zhong patted his chest to ensure that there was no problem. His wife Yu is beautiful and virtuous, although he attaches great importance to the heir, Liu Zheng is reluctant to divorce his wife, so he looks around for some secret recipes for giving birth to a son. Yu tearfully asked Liu Zheng to marry another one several times, but Xia Guo's style was so strong, and very few women were willing to be concubines.

The moon stars are scarce, and the old elm tree is silent, Liu Zheng carefully served a bowl of medicinal soup to his wife Yu. "Drink it, keep it useful." Liu Zheng looked at Yu Shi with a flushed face with expectation. These four gentlemen's medicinal soup is made of the four main medicines of astragalus, sorghum grass, cistanche and lotus seed, plus some other rare medicines. Before this, there were several roosters stewed in this house that had not been castrated, and both of them were full of red faces, and their blood was very vigorous. While Yu was drinking the soup, Liu Zheng opened a newly collected booklet, which listed the postures of being easy to have a son. Yu Shi put down the medicine bowl and said in a low voice, "Husband." When it was scorching heat, the woman's shirt was light, her face was red and delicate, Liu Zheng's heart was burning, and he immediately put the little book aside.

This night the rain was dense and the clouds were thick, and at the fifth watch, hearing the rooster crowing outside, Yu Shi bit his lip and whispered: "Official, the rooster has already crowed." ”

Liu Zheng didn't raise his head, leaned over to Yu's ear, and whispered, "It's still early before dawn." Stay with the lady for a while. It's still pitch black outside. ”

Yu's eyes were full of melancholy, and he said in a low voice: "When I rushed to the barracks from home, it was already dawn." ”

Yu's words calmed Liu Zheng down. Military marching is infallible, and it is an iron law known to women and children in the Xia Kingdom. Yu Shi felt the changes in Liu Zheng's body, endured his reluctance, and choked up: "The concubine will send her husband away." Helping Liu Zheng sit up, he simply put on a Luo shirt, carefully dressed Liu Zheng in military robes and armor, and combed his sideburns. The couple's room was filled with a sadness of parting.

In Zhao Xingde's house, his bags were also packed. Zhao Xingde had a gloomy look in his eyes, and his hands were raised. Li Ruoxue passed under his flank with her bare hands, put on the thick cow leather soft armor, and carefully tied the rope belts, and then helped him tie the wide cow leather inlaid iron belly belt. When she was in front of Zhao Xingde, Li Ruoxue couldn't help but show her sadness, and when she turned behind him, she couldn't help but have slightly red circles in her eyes, and suppressed her choked up: "These troublesome things, when you get outside, who will help you wear them?" Zhao Xingde held her slender hand and said in a low voice: "Except for you, there is no one else." Do you believe that my hands are long enough to put on this armor myself? Li Ruoxue burst into tears and laughed, slapped him lightly on the back of the shoulder, and said angrily: "Believe you." ”

On this expedition, there are not many things that need to be carried from home, and two large bags can fit them all. In addition to the soft armor worn on the body, there were also heavy objects such as horse lances, chain mail, and bright light armor, which were placed on the carriages accompanying the camp. The whole sheepskin stitch is on the left and the right behind the saddle, the bow is hung on the left side of the saddle, and the saber and quiver are hung on the right side of the saddle. Li Ruoxue also went to see her off, and Zhao Xingde let her sit in front of her saddle, feeling the soft and delicate body of the beauty, and gently knocking on the horse's belly, Da Wanma slowly walked towards the barracks. Hexi horses are herds, and the folk customs are more fierce than those in Kanto, and it is common for couples to ride together like this.

The east gradually dawned, and after a short time, it was close to the military camp. The number of sergeants returning to the camp on the way back also increased, and most of them brought their families to see them off. The familiar sergeants gestured to each other, and did not greet each other in such a loud voice as usual, as if the voice was too loud to disturb the sorrow of parting. Dozens of women and children had gathered at the gate of the barracks, Zhao Xingde gently put Li Ruoxue off the horse, jumped off the horse himself, and finally hugged his wife again. "Yuan Zhi." Li Ruoxue hugged Zhao Xingde tightly. Zhao Xingde patted her back lightly and said in her ear, "Wait for me to come back." "Hmm." Li Ruoxue raised her head, her pretty face was already pear blossoms with rain, "I'll wait for you to come back." ”

At dawn, when it was time to leave, the dependents were in front of the main camp, and watched the swaggering procession of the seventh battalion of Chengying go westward, gradually disappearing into the endless galloping road. Li Ruoxue tried her best to look into the distance, but she only saw a blurry back, she lowered her eyelids, biting her lip to prevent herself from crying. The atrium, which was warm because of the short time together, gradually cooled down again. Zhao Xingde also frequently looked back at Li Ruoxue's thin figure, which gradually disappeared, and his heart ached.

The expeditions of the Xia army often set out listlessly, and the farther away from the camp, the spirit gradually recovered.

The 7th Battalion of Chengying marched along the gallop road. Along the way, they did not stop at random, and every sixty miles they arrived at a post station, where the sergeants fed their horses and rested, and set off again the next day. At the big post station, you can also replace a batch of tired camels. The road and the post station were very well maintained, and he was first informed by the marching department to prepare forage for the livestock and hot water for the sergeants every night, so as to save a lot of camping chores.

Along the way, many caravans followed behind the seventh battalion of Chengying, some of these caravans only followed one or two post stations, and some followed them for thousands of miles. Whenever the surface of the road breaks, the caravan that first finds it will consciously stop, dig sand at the far end of the road, fill in the damage, and then move on. Sometimes the bridge across the river was broken, and the caravan would stop and reinforce it before crossing. Although Lu Cao will also regularly inspect the road and repair the bridge, Zhao Xingde estimates that most of the small problems and hidden dangers of the road are solved by the passing caravans, which virtually saves a lot of maintenance costs for the road Cao. And passing troops like the 7th Battalion of Chengying will also take the initiative to stop and repair roads when the military situation is not urgent.

"Will the Prime Minister's Mansion pay them?" Zhao Xingde asked the marching Sima Jin Changtai Dao.

Beside the gallop, a merchant in a robe was sweating profusely and overseeing the work, and the porters first compacted the sand with heavy crates, and then drove the wagons full of goods, repeatedly crushing a hole that had just been filled.

Kim Chang-tae was slightly stunned, and then replied: "If there is no evidence, there will be no reward." If there is, there are very few. These merchants are too lazy to pick it up. The merchants on the Silk Road voluntarily agreed on the rules of the road, although it was delayed for a while, but in the end, it was still more convenient. ”

"Is that so?" Zhao Xingde exclaimed, "If there is a caravan that turns a blind eye and passes through the past, wouldn't it take advantage of it and make the honest caravan suffer?" ”

"The caravan's verbal agreement on this precedent of mending the road is a letter." Jin Changtai said in a deep voice, "My Xia country business travel is all over the world, and a promise is better than a thousand gold, relying on this letter." There is no impermeable wall in the world, and such a business trip that harms others and benefits oneself will not be able to get along in the Silk Road after all. ”

Marching during the day, at night, the marching Sima taught the sergeants of the Chengying Battalion simple Lumei language. In order to make it easier to do things after arriving at Lu Mei, this course has started during the training of the Chengying Camp, and Zhao Xingde has begun to learn Lu Mei's words and can read some simple Lu Mei articles. Because he knows how to view the sky, reads poetry and books, and learns Lumei's words quickly, the three marching Sima generals should treat Zhao De as the same kind, and they are willing to march with his team of 100 people.

Because of the smooth galloping road, the North Road of the Tianshan Mountains is far more prosperous than the South Road, along the way, as long as there is a place with abundant water, there are orchards and pastures everywhere, cattle and sheep are wild, and occasionally horses can be seen running. After Yizhou, Gaochang, Yanqi, Qiuzi, Dialing, Shule, and arrived in Kangguo. This continuous march lasted for nearly four months, from summer to autumn, and the soldiers' single clothes were replaced by thick white folded cloth robes.

White cloth was one of the main goods in the Xia Kingdom and the Song Liao market. Xia Guo was extremely careful about the reclamation of the South Tianshan Road, and the water source was even more abundant, and the North Tianshan Road was planted with large tracts of cotton, and it was snow-white. Every season of picking cotton peaches, there are a large number of merchants who go to Gaochang to buy raw cotton. At the beginning of spring, another group of merchants entered Tianshan North Road to buy white cloth. At this time, there was no large amount of cotton planted in the Central Plains, because of the high freight, the price of this white cloth in the Central Plains was not cheap.