Chapter 43: The Road to Heaven (1)

Zhu Pingjin completed the deployment of this spring's tea and horse affairs, and then worried about military affairs every day. He was either on the training ground with the soldiers, or thinking and writing in the small courtyard, chatting with the soldiers, or giving lectures in the classroom. After nearly 10 days of intensive training, the soldiers have greatly improved in the four major subjects of queue, physical fitness, queue, and assassination, especially the ideological construction that Zhu Pingjin is most concerned about, and the military spirit has been very firm. Somehow, the soldiers secretly spread that Guanyin Bodhisattva, who saved suffering and saved all sentient beings, sent the boy who scattered wealth to reincarnate in the palace of the king of Shu and incarnated as Zhu Pingjian, the son of Shu today.

In the early morning of the 28th day of the first lunar month, Zhu Pingjin followed the army down the mountain road and was pacing and panting on the sidelines. I only heard the sound of horses' hooves in a hurry, and Zhu Pingjin looked up to see that Wang Sizhong hurriedly entered from the mouth of the gorge. Seeing that the master was drying in the field, he hurriedly got off his horse and came over to report: "Lord Shizi, Mr. Gao of Quan has arrived at the sentry post at the gorge that day, and was stopped by our sentry outside the checkpoint. The slave came over to ask the prince, do you want to let Mr. Gao in? ”

Zhu Pingjin stopped and asked, "How many people are in Mr. Gao's party?" ”

Wang Sizhong said: "There is only Mr. Gao, and there is also a person from my village who leads the way." The person who led the way said that Mr. Gao arrived in Mengyang Town yesterday, and Mr. Cao informed Mr. Gao of the location of his son, and sent him to lead the way. More than a dozen of Mr. Gao's entourage were left in Mengyang Town by Chief Cao, and were placed together with the guards of the palace. ”

Zhu Pingjin nodded approvingly: "Manager Cao has arranged it properly. You go and bring Mr. Gao here, and this son will see him in the small courtyard. Zhuang Shang leads the way, you reward him and let him go back by himself. By the way, let the leader bring a message to Chief Manager Cao, saying that this prince will go to Tianquan in the near future, and let Chief Manager Cao take this prince's escort and Mr. Gao's entourage to wait on the official road outside Yazhou City! ”

Wang Sizhong hurriedly responded, and was about to get on the horse and go back, but Zhu Pingjin stopped him, and instead ordered Shu Guoping and He Youyi to go to meet Gao Antai. Wang Sizhong ran out of errands, turned over and dismounted, and heard the prince order to the big and small Song generals: "Let the soldiers all practice!" There must be movement, but also momentum! ”

Gao Antai came this time, of course, for the sake of tea and horses.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, he said goodbye to his grandmother who was retired in Chengdu Mansion and returned to Tianquan with Zhu Pingjin's handwritten letter. When he saw his eldest brother Gao Jitai and second brother Gao Dengtai, he told him how he was recommended by Master Shu to enter the shogunate of the prince, and how the prince asked questions and answers. Being able to climb the high branch of the Shu Wangfu and directly confront the Shu Wangfu naturally made his two elder brothers very happy. From the end of the Tang Dynasty to the present, the two families of Gao Yang have intermarried each other for hundreds of years, but you have me, I have you, there are contradictions and cooperation. The three brothers told the current head of the Yang family, Yang Zhiming, about this, and Yang Zhiming also agreed very much. The two families immediately bargained at the wine table, divided the labor and accounts, and prepared first.

The horses of Sichuan and Yunnan belong to the southwest horse breed, which is as short as the people of Sichuan, and their size and impact are far inferior to the war horses of Mongolia, Qinghai and Gansu, and even less than the war horses of the Western Regions. But the Sichuan horse also has the advantage, that is, it is good at climbing mountains and off-road. Horses in Tibet are taller than pure Sichuan-Yunnan horses, particularly hardy, and good at anaerobic exercise, but when they go down to the plateau, they are often unaccustomed to water and soil, and are prone to illness and death. Due to the general shortage of horses in the army during the war, these horses from Sichuan, Tibet and Sichuan and Yunnan have become fragrant and sweet. Now it is difficult to find a horse in the Sichuan market, and the price of horses has risen to more than 20 taels per horse, and the tall ones that can be used for war horses cannot be bought for 40 or 50 taels. Today, the price of tea and horses set by the government is still based on the old price of decades ago. The price of tea is rising, but the price of horses is not allowed to rise, which is undoubtedly equivalent to robbing from the hands of toast. The Gao and Yang families, as well as more than a dozen other toasts in the west, were already angry about this, but they dared to be angry but did not dare to speak. The toasts also worked together to reduce the number of tea horses, but there were immediate side effects. If there is too little tea, the price of tea will rise sharply, and the border people will be angry; There is a backlog of horses, and the pastures cannot be grazing. Helplessly, the eighteen families had to hold back their grievances and reluctantly resume their confrontation. In his own letter, the prince said that he was willing to set up a field in Tianquan and trade at the market price of tea and horses. Moreover, according to Gao Antai's relay, there are many shops in the palace of the king of Shu, and there are a wide variety of commodities that can be traded for trading, and the quantity is huge, which is enough to replace the official tea and horse exchange of the Ming Dynasty. In this way, not only can the Gao and Yang families make a lot of money in the tea and horse trade, but they can also use the field on their own land to collect taxes from the transactions of other toasts, and collect the dividends of the merchants and horses to eat, drink and lasa. As for the official government, if you want to find trouble, it is naturally the Shu Wangfu side that will take advantage of it and reap the profits by yourself. This is the wishful thinking of the Gao Yang family.

However, there is also a problem of redistribution of profits. The division of labor discussed by the Gao and Yang families is that the Gao family goes out of the land, and the Yang family is outreach. Because the Gao family is the main envoy of Tianquan Tusi, the Yang family is the deputy envoy, the Gao family has always pressed the Yang family for hundreds of years, and this time it is the credit of Gao Laosan to move the Shu Wangfu, so the Gao family took their own territory, flat terrain, and close to Sichuan-Tibet Avenue as the reason, and naturally chose the site on their own territory. In order to share the benefits, the Yang family had to take over the drudgery of contacting more than a dozen other toasts. However, while the two families were happily busy with their work, they were not stunned by Zhu Pingjian's pie in the sky: the imperial court gave Tusi benefits, and always asked Tusi to reciprocate: either send troops, people, or tribute. Thinking of the current thief chaos in Sichuan, both families are estimated to have sent troops, and two or three thousand people can't escape. However, the king of Shu Wangfu, who is not a serious court official, how can he interfere in the affairs of Tusi's dispatch of troops and people? Could it be that in addition to the Shu Palace's pursuit of wealth, what else is there that can't be done?

Yesterday, Gao Antai came to Mengyang Town with the expectations and doubts of the Gao Yang family and other Tusi, and was told that Zhu Pingjin was training the caravan in Bifeng Gorge, and no one else was allowed to go except Mr. Gao himself. In order to deal with the plan, Gao Antai had a heart, left his entourage in Mengyang Town, followed the guide sent by Wang Zhuang, rode his horse and galloped, and finally rushed to the outside of the gorge before dark. After spending the night in the small village outside the gorge, he entered the canyon early this morning, but was stopped in front of the checkpoint. Fortunately, today's duty officer Wang Sizhong went to the outpost to inspect the defense, this little eunuch knew Gao Antai, he compensated Gao Antai, and then flew to report to the world.

Gao Antai led the horse in his hand and looked absentmindedly at the towering green hills across the canyon. A stone under his feet blocked the way, and he kicked it squarely and disappeared into the abyss. Waiting impatiently, he heard the sound of horses' hooves breaking in the checkpoint, and then the bamboo door creaked away, revealing a familiar figure.

Shu Guoping and Gao Antai are classmates and friends under Master Shu. As soon as the two met, they hugged each other. Gao Antai saw that there was another person behind Shu Guoping, who was older, smiling and silent, but he didn't know it. Shu Guoping hurriedly introduced that this was the same senior He Youyi, who was also working under the command of the prince. Gao Antai greeted He Youyi again, and the three of them got on their horses and whipped and went straight to the barracks.

Gao Antai made a few turns on the mountain road, and suddenly the front of him opened up, and a house and a flat dam appeared in the distance. I saw hundreds of soldiers on the Pingba holding short spears, lined up in four neat phalanxes, and following the command of an officer, they were fiercely stepping forward again and again to assassinate them.

Kill! Kill! There was a sound of killing, and the dust was flying.

Gao Antai asked Shu Guoping in surprise: "This is the caravan that the prince practiced?" ”

Shu Guoping replied with a smile: "Exactly! In the first month of the first month, the prince bought some homeless people and sent them here to practice. In the future, we will protect the caravan into an army, and the caravan horse gang will not be afraid of thieves and bandits. ”

Gao Antai was even more surprised when he heard this: "In the first month? As Brother Shu said, these people turned out to be homeless, and the drill has not been practiced for less than a month? ”

Shu Guoping and He Youyi both laughed.

Shu Guoping said: "How can there be a month of practice!" I only arrived here on the day of the Lantern Festival, and the homeless people arrived a day late! ”

He Youyi also smiled: "Senior brother didn't see the appearance of those homeless people when they first arrived!" I don't have a full body of clothes, and even my ass and balls are exposed......"

The three of them burst out laughing. Shu Guoping asked Gao Antai: "Your Tianquan soldiers are a strong army that has suppressed the thieves of Lu'an, how do these homeless soldiers compare with your Tusi soldiers?" ”

Gao Antai immediately replied: "As long as these soldiers don't run, they are stronger than my soldiers!" In fact, my family's soldiers don't have much training, but they are hard-working and obedient, and they dare to work hard. My soldier, his parents, wife and children are all in his hometown, where does he dare to go? ran away and killed three generations of his ancestors! Besides, as long as our Tusi soldiers win, they will all be captured, which is much faster than letting horses plough the fields! How can they not work hard for money? ”

Gao Antai's words are ugly and reasonable, and every sentence is reasonable. Shu Guoping and He Youyi laughed again. The three of them came to the drying field and dismounted, Gao Antai observed the soldiers up close, and found that they really had some vegetables on their faces, but the spirit on their bodies was no less than that of any strong army.

Gao Antai thought to himself, I'm afraid that the son of the world is not trained to protect the caravan, no wonder outsiders are not allowed to come in!

When Zhu Pingjin met Gao Antai in his small courtyard, he deliberately took off the gray cotton robe and cotton pants he had worn in the past few days, put on the Yishan crown, and changed into the golden woven Panlong red robe with a round neck and narrow sleeves and the regular clothes of the prince with jade leather boots. Gao Antai stepped into the threshold, saw Zhu Pingjin's dress, and really bowed down, and then sat down and replied according to Zhu Pingjin's instructions.

Zhu Pingjin said his hard work to Gao Antai. Gao Antai still looked very grinning, but just smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work!" When the students returned to Tianquan, my eldest brother, second brother and the uncle of the Yang family read Shizi's handwriting, and the students told them the original words of Shizi, and they were all very happy! My Gao and Yang families discussed, my Gao family went out to build a field, and the Yang family went to inform other Tusi to know. The eldest brother and the second brother sent the students back this time, just to invite the prince to come to our Tianquan hunting tour, one is to set the place of the field, and the other is what the prince wants us to do, they want to listen to the world's teachings in person! ”

Gao Antai is quick to talk, and he is not tired of dealing with this kind of person. Zhu Pingjin smiled and said, "This is exactly what the son of the world has this intention!" The season of tea picking is almost here, why don't we set off the day after tomorrow? ”

Unexpectedly, Zhu Pingjin was so refreshing, Gao Antai was naturally very happy, how could there be any reason not to respond immediately? Thinking of the scene he saw on the drying field just now, Gao Antai said to Zhu Pingjin again: "Congratulations to the student for training the strong army!" Such a thoroughfare, no worries! ”