Through trading and bartering, the army procured a large number of materials from local herdsmen, such as sheepskin jackets, leather trousers, cowhides, animal skins, saltpeter, sheep, and cattle.

The biggest gain was the topographic map of the southern territory provided by the Song army, which had been quite sloppy in the southern topographic map collected by the Xian State. Of course, most of today's maps are like this, and there is neither scale nor modern composition technology, making it difficult to achieve the word "accurate". However, the topographic map provided by the Song army was much more detailed than the topographic map of the Xian treasury file, which undoubtedly helped Bailiyan a lot.

The Southern Expeditionary Army set out from Shanling at the end of May, left the southern border of the Song Kingdom in early August, and arrived at the source of the Gongjiang River and the Luyi Mountains in mid-August.

Most of the southern expeditionary troops came from the inland Beihai and Weiguo, and there were very few people who had seen snow in their lives, and even fewer people had seen snowy mountains. The Luyi Mountain Range divides the eastern side of the entire continent from west to east from north to south, stretching from the East China Sea to the north of Qianyue Mountain and ending at 600 miles east of Chichi City, spanning an astonishing 6,000 miles.

Starting from 750 miles to the west, the two mountain ranges of Hengqian and Qiongling extend to the Boling Sea in detail, dividing the west of the Central Plains Continent from east to west, and dividing the north and south into two, thus forming a natural barrier between the north and the south to block the northern invasion of the Jinxuedi people.

The iconic landform feature of the source of the Gongjiang River, Horseshoe Mountain, makes the road to the south clear. There is a cloud in the classics: "The horse's hooves are like bowls upside down on the river bank, two thousand to the west, and they reach the gallop." ”

Among them, the horses' hooves are like bowls upside down on the riverbank, which refers to the blocking of the horseshoe mountain that continues to advance northward. Because the mountain is shaped like a horse's hoof, it crosses both sides of the Gongjiang River and blocks the pace of human beings, so it gets its name. At this time, the fleet was nearly twenty days away from camp, and there were still fifteen days left before the deadline to reach the camp.

After the cavalry camped that night, the generals sat around the bonfire and ate roast sheep, and the atmosphere was very cheerful. Along the way, there is no smoke of war and bloody fighting, stop and see the scenery, almost become a leisure vacation for raising people, and those who don't know think they are out to travel.

"Lu Zhao, Xu Wei, Wu Deng, Jiang Zhan are still more than 20 days away from here, tomorrow Lu Cheng and Jiang Jie will go to the south to explore the road with this general, Sikong Nan is in charge of the southern expeditionary army, Lu Gao is temporarily the Sima envoy, after joining the fleet, immediately unload the grain and grass and go to the horse, and then I will make Lu Cheng fall back to lead the way, you can have any objections."

"We will obey the order." Everyone spoke in unison.

"That being the case, starting tomorrow, the cavalry battalions will start field training on the spot, and they have been wandering all the way for more than two months.

"Hahaha......"

The generals laughed, and Bai Liyan continued:

"The air here is hidden and thin, and all armies and battalions must be careful. Song medical officer, tomorrow all the military attachés above the capital level, including the capital commander, as well as the young sons, medical officers, and Lang Zhong, each of whom has a daily ration of two yuan of purple carrot, chew and swallow.

Continue to take it for five days to stop taking it, continue to take it for five days after five days, and then stop taking it, so that reciprocating can relieve alpine chest tightness and shortness of breath, fifteen days for a course of treatment. Those who have symptoms of discomfort during this period should be immediately sent back to the warship to return home with the sailors, so as not to lose their lives."

"My subordinates understand."

Song Medical Officer's real name is Song Jin, he was previously a medical officer of the Medical Officer's Office, and was transferred to Yongxing City Yicaotang last year to study medical skills with Baili Yan. In this southern expedition, Yicaotang transferred 30 Langzhong people, 200 apprentices, and more than 100 Langzhong people from the Xianjun wounded camp, but only Song Jin was the medical officer.

On the second day, Bailiyan took 200 people, each with three horses and enough provisions, broke away from the army and galloped, along the way with the continuous rise of altitude, the air became thinner and thinner, and gradually there were symptoms of chest tightness. Baili Yan ordered everyone to take purple carrot, and the symptoms were relieved on the third day. Except for two days of repairs, the horses traveled an average of 250 miles a day, arriving at the gallop after 11 days.

During the camping on the way, he was almost attacked by a stray bear herd composed of seven prairie bears, but the night sentry found it in time and caused no casualties.

Different from the bears that can be seen in the inland of the Central Plains, the grassland bear is a special bear that has never been seen in the two generations of Bailiyan.

I had never heard of it before, but after entering the Song Kingdom, I learned that there was a special matriarchal brown giant bear on the grassland that could reach nearly five meters in length after adulthood and lived in groups, and the female bear was usually larger than the male bear, and the female bear was often more than five meters long and up to two meters tall when she became an adult.

This kind of prairie bear lives in groups, usually eleven or twelve in a group, more can have seventeen or eighteen, there is a female head bear, four or five male bears, and the rest are female bears or juvenile bears.

Different from the myopia of other bears, the prairie bear has excellent eyesight, and likes to go out day and night to hunt and prey on antelopes, wild horses, bison, wild sheep and other social animals, and even can swim and dive in rivers and rivers, prey on large fish such as finless porpoise and capybara, and eat a huge amount of food.

And the skin is rough and the flesh is thick, the general bow and arrow can not be killed, you have to use a strong crossbow and a giant crossbow to kill, because it is extremely difficult to catch, so the fur of the steppe bear is a luxury for the strong hands of the southern countries.

At the same time, because of its fierce nature, bears are difficult to hunt, and the ecological environment is excellent, and the population of grassland giant bears is very considerable. During the eleven days of journey to the city, he encountered three steppe bears, with a total number of nearly fifty bears, and the running speed was extremely fast, and the even archer crossbows made by Yongxing City were useless, so he had to abandon several war horses to keep the team safe.

It was late August when he arrived in Chi City, and there were still a few days before the date of the delivery of the imperial speed order, Bailiyan replenished the grain and grass supplies on the spot, and sent Lu Cheng to lead one hundred and fifty people to return to meet Sikong Nan, Lu Gao and others.

When you first enter the city, its magnificent walls are unforgettable, even the city walls in the memory of the previous life are by no means as high as the city.

In order to resist the attack of the amazing size of the Nanban Jin Xuedi siege equipment and the battle fang, the height of the main city of each defense area in the south has reached an astonishing six zhang, nearly 18 meters, the longest main city is more than 60 li, wrapped in green bricks, there are urn cities in the four gates, the city gates are extremely thick, reinforced with copper strips.

As the earliest advance base in the south, in the more than 1,200 years since the Dynasty, it has undergone countless expansions and reinforcements, and I don't know how many people have died before it was built into such a magnificent city today.

As the last barrier into the Central Plains, Chi City is not only the rear guard camp of the coalition army, but also the base camp of the imperial guest guard. Yuke does not have a city territory in the Central Plains, but it has three main cities in Qianyue Mountain: Zhuchi, Feiyun, and Yuecheng.

All military and political affairs in the city were under the jurisdiction of the royal guests, including taxes, trade, production, and so on. Even so, it was difficult to maintain the long-term supply expenses of three or four hundred thousand royal guests during the war by relying only on the taxes of the three heroic cities on the front line.

On the second day of entering the city, Baili Yan did not go to the Imperial Guest Office, but went to the Xianguo Governor's Mansion in Qianyue Mountain.

The Overseer is a military attache sent by various countries to Qianyue Mountain, responsible for providing and conveying the situation in the south, and the Overseer is the headquarters of the Overseer Envoys of various countries, but because it is too far away from the hinterland of the Central Plains, it is generally equivalent to exile.

Wang Tan, a 47-year-old overseer sent by the Xian State to the city, was sent to the city of Chi as an overseer thirteen years ago. Wang Tan was once the right lieutenant of the forbidden army of the palace, because he molested the concubine of the Xianwang after drinking, he should be beheaded according to the law, because he was the son of the salt lord, and was pardoned for the death penalty, and then he was assigned here, and he did it for thirteen years.

Although he was assigned, this guy's life doesn't look like he's been assigned, and after he gets to the gallop, his life is getting better and better than before.

Because Wang Tan was born as a son of a salt lord, after growing up in Chi City, he opened a hole from the hands of the local royal guest, and sold the salt of the Xianguo into the market controlled by the royal guest, but the premise is that the price is low, so although the price is more than twice the price of Zhiguo salt, the transportation cost is extremely high, although the profit is very low, and the wealth accumulated over the past ten years is still considerable.

Different from the interior of the Central Plains, the folk customs of the south are relatively simple and practical, salt and iron, ready-to-wear, fur and other daily necessities are the most popular in the local area, because of the proximity to the Nanban Jin Xuedi, there are few powerful people living here, and there is no consumer market for luxury goods.

"General Wang has worked hard for many years on the border, and Wei is polite."

"Hehaha...... Dr. Wei's young heroes are already known to everyone, Wang has heard of the name for a long time, but he is deeply sorry not to see it, and now he can see Dr. Wei in person in the cold house, Wang is honored, honored. ”

"Hehe, General Wang is polite."

After some greetings, Wang Tan's ability to distinguish colors and slap horses impressed Bailiyan deeply, compared to the likes of Xuan Tinghou and others, Wang Tana went to a higher level. It is no wonder that Wang Tan can eat well in the local area, this person is good at this by nature.

Wang Tan led Baili Yan into the atrium, and there was an endless stream of maids and beauties coming and going, all of which were almost exceeding the scale of the Wei Mansion.

"Doctor Wei, please take a seat."

"Wei is bothered."

"Where, where, come, prepare wine and food." instructed his subordinates to prepare wine and food, and Wang Tan said again: "Wang received an urgent letter from Wang Hongling two months ago, and ordered Wang to provide convenience for Dr. Wei. ”

"It's really hard work. What Wei saw along the way was quite eye-opening, and he came to General Wang's mansion first, and also came to ask for advice, and hoped that General Wang would not hesitate to give advice. ”

"Eh, General Wei is powerful in all directions, and Wang really doesn't dare to teach someone."

At this time, the maid served mutton and rice wine, and the huge leg of mutton was extremely tender, which was already a first-class treat if it was in the Central Plains. Seeing that Bailiyan was quite surprised, Wang Tan said again:

"Dr. Wei has just come here and is not accustomed to customs, if such a good leg of mutton is in the Central Plains, it is already a good product for the rich and nobles, but on this southern grassland, the most important thing is this cattle, sheep and horses."

"I heard that the southern border has a lot of meat, but I never thought it could be so cheap."

"Hehaha, General Wei doesn't know something, although it is cheap now, if there is a big war, even a million cattle and sheep will not be enough for the needs of a million troops, and then you can only eat air-dried dried meat and cured meat. Therefore, two months ago, Wang bought more than 2,000 sheep, more than 500 cattle, and 3,000 stones of dried meat and salted meat to supply the needs of the southern expeditionary army. ”

"General Wang is so generous, Wei is grateful."

"Hehaha...... Doctor Wei is polite, come, drink wine and eat meat. ”

Wang Tan's laughter fluctuated, but Bai Liyan felt that this kind of generosity inevitably had some other meaning.

Two thousand sheep, more than five hundred cattle, and three thousand stone dried meat, the market price of the Central Plains requires at least fifty or sixty thousand inches of silver, or the equivalent of copper coins, even if the meat in the south is relatively abundant, it is impossible to be less than twenty thousand. Wang Tan is so generous, obviously he has opened up a relationship in the south over the years, and now he has taken it out, obviously has other plans.