Chapter 116: Straight to Datong

On how to arrange the return trip and other matters, several leaders of the kiln gang held another meeting.

Yan Boju was the first to speak: "This time the horses can't carry things, because these horses are too raw. It's not like last time the horses stayed in the pen for a winter, so it's much more honest. Now it takes a lot of effort for me to submit a horse, which is too wild. ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "These goods don't need to be carried by horses, we can go back with 200 taels of steel spring carriages and 500 camels." There is no grain to transport goods back and forth, but the feed eaten by livestock on the way will occupy a lot of capacity. ”

"Let's go back two carriages, too. Mrs. Qin still has a few women and children to go back with. Zhang Zhimu interjected.

"We won't have to hire horsemen when we go back this time. Many of Liu Chenghuang's cavalry grew up in the grassland since childhood. When he can walk, he can ride a horse. Let them drive their horses back. Chen Yufeng said.

The final agreed formula is: First, he sent someone to inform Yan Xing of Niutou Mountain on horseback, and asked him to send 500 people to meet the caravan on the road and send the caravan back to Yaogang. Here, Liu Yun led people to send the caravan for a ride, until after handing over the caravan to Yan Xing, the caravan was completely in charge of Li Wei. Li Wei was left with 200 cavalry to continue to help drive horses, cattle and sheep, and the others returned to Datong, and Zhang Zhimu led the people in Datong. It is best that Liu Yun can pick up the second batch of caravans from Yaogang and go to Datong together.

After the meeting, Yan Boju stopped Zhang Zhimu, "Zhimu, you haven't seen Qin Peng this time." ”

"yes. Why didn't you see Qin Peng this time? Zhang Zhimu asked.

"Oh, fuck. This Qin Peng is also unlucky. offended a thousand households, and was hung up and beaten by those thousand households a while ago. Yan Boju said.

"What the hell is going on?" Zhang Zhimu asked: "How can this Qin Peng, a matching army, take over such a big feud with a thousand households?" ”

Yan Boju told Qin Peng about it.

This Qin Peng's wife came from a large family, and she is proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, especially she is very beautiful. Zhang Zhimu has also seen this, and it is true.

Once she took her child to see Qin Peng, but unfortunately she was bumped into by that thousand households. This thousand households coveted Mrs. Qin's beauty and came to talk. Seeing that he had bad intentions, Mrs. Qin dealt with it and avoided it. But this guy is also rampant, and he has to entangle, Qin Peng came over to persuade a few words. This guy became angry, turned around and left, and then kept asking Qin Peng for trouble. Let people spread the word that if Mrs. Qin can't let him get his wish, he can take Qin Peng's life at any time.

A military assigned to the border is like a mustard, and the words of these thousands of households are definitely not false. Therefore, this Qin Peng was careful everywhere and did not let Mrs. Qin come to visit. But Qin Peng was still made an excuse by the minions of these thousands of households, and he was hung up and beaten badly. These minions said to Qin Peng: "You are a thief with an army, get such a beautiful woman, don't serve the Lord of a thousand households well." It makes us thousands of adults don't think about it, don't you look for death by yourself. If you are sensible and still want to live, let your beautiful wife serve thousands of households well, and nothing is missing. ”

This Qin Peng is also a person who rushed over on the battlefield, how could he listen to them, and he would not obey until death. As a result, he was almost killed by them this time, and it happened to be guarded to patrol. They were afraid that something would happen, so they let Qin Peng go.

Later, Mrs. Qin had an idea and let out the wind, saying that this Qin Peng and Zhang Zhimu of the kiln gang are good friends, and Zhang Zhimu and the garrison are good friends. In this way, these people did not frame Qin Peng again, but Qin Peng's life has not been easy.

After Zhang Zhimu heard this, he let out a long breath. I thought it was no wonder that the last time I talked to Mrs. Qin about Qin Peng, she was vague. It turns out that there is such a thing.

Zhang Zhimu said: "When I saw Qin Peng, I told him to be careful. They don't have to worry about things at home. ”

In order to ensure that the news could be notified to the kiln, Li Zhi released three carrier pigeons in a row. So it's going to be two days away. Zhang Zhimu gave some money to each employee who came to kill Hukou, and asked them to come out separately to shop and kill Hukou. The decision was unanimously approved. It is said that this is not in vain, you can not only go to the street for a stroll, but also buy some things you like to take back. The happiest were Liu Chenghuang's cavalrymen, many of whom had never enjoyed this kind of treatment before, in fact, even if they were soldiers in the army at that time, they were like prisoners, basically without their own freedom. Now in Yaogang, you can be respected and have money, and you can go shopping like ordinary people. However, Liu Chenghuang made strict discipline rules before they came out, that is, several people should go back together, and they were not allowed to drink.

Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng also took Yang Yulin out to the market to buy some things for the women and children. Chen Yufeng had never had this habit before, and this time he also picked things up carefully. Before coming to kill Hukou, Zhang Zhimu had already asked Li Yunhe to transfer the task of practicing martial arts to Chen Yufeng, and Zhang Zhimu gave Chen Yufeng the opportunity to have more contact with Gao Yinfeng and Gao Guixiang. Chen Yufeng understands Zhang Zhimu's thoughts very well, and takes great care of these two children. With Chen Yufeng's fame and status in Yaogang, these two children were already in awe of Chen Yufeng, Chen Yufeng showed a tender side, and these two children who lacked fatherly love soon became very affectionate with Chen Yufeng. Sometimes I was a little wronged, and I didn't dare to tell Sister-in-law Xu to find Chen Yufeng to complain. This made Chen Yufeng, an iron man, feel tender in his heart. Sister-in-law Xu also saw all this in her heart, but the two of them hadn't broken it yet. Zhang Zhimu and Huang Yukun also discussed. Now the conditions are ripe, and when I come back from the north this time, the houses in Yaogang will be completed. took care of Chen Yufeng and Sister-in-law Xu.

Yang Yulin already knew in her heart who Chen Yufeng was buying things for. deliberately asked, "Uncle Chen, you are a big man, what are you doing buying women's things?" ”

Chen Yufeng is not a thin-skinned person, and said: "Zhimu is also a big man, he bought so many women's things, why don't you ask?" ”

"Brother Zhang has many women. So buy more. "Yang Yulin is also sour.

"I'm just going to buy something for your sister-in-law, then there are many women?" Zhang Zhimu couldn't help but laugh in his heart. It suddenly occurred to me that I should buy some winter leather goods for Xiao Hongyu and them, but I couldn't let these artists wear them too ugly. And the specialists, they don't have any women to take care of here, they don't have winter clothes. This winter in the north is no better than in the south.

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhimu said: "Go back and tell Mr. Lu to bring some leather goods for your own use to the people at home." Workers who work outside in winter must have at least one leather coat. We experts and literati also have to make a leather garment, but they don't know the cold of the northern winter. ”

"I have to buy some good things for those actors. Let them dress up beautifully and seduce people. Yang Yulin said sourly.

"By the way, you reminded me right, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered. But our kiln artists don't try to seduce people, so don't go out and talk nonsense. Beware of sores on the tongue. Zhang Zhimu said teasingly.

Yang Yulin stopped talking angrily. Zhang Zhimuxin said, you are hundreds of years away from fighting.

Chen Yufeng listened to the two arguing, with a smile on his face all the time, but he didn't speak. But in his heart, he said: "Let's see how Zhimu passes Yang Yulin's pass!" ”

This time, Zhang Zhimu asked Lu Chengxiang to buy a lot of beef jerky, which was for the children at school. Because today's children can eat very little, a few pieces of beef jerky can be given a few pieces of beef jerky every day, which can give them some nutrition.

Lu Chengxiang has also started selling steel spring carriages in the past two days. Those big families chartered fifty cars at once, and Lu Chengxiang also gave them at a price of two hundred and fifty taels, and agreed to make an appointment with no less than three hundred taels. Fifty cars were left for retail sales to the branch. As a result, fifteen cars were bought just one day after they were put on the table. The four-wheeled carriage was sold for three, which was ordered in advance by Yang Dongjia and Jiang Dongjia and others.

The day before departure, Zhang Zhimu went to say goodbye to the garrison Wang Shichang, and the two were holding hands against each other, as if they had a thousand words and didn't know where to start for a while. They all know that the next time they meet, they don't know what year and month it will be.

Zhang Zhimu said: "When my brother returns to the capital, it is best to get a good position. If you can't do it, you don't want to be an official, so you come to Shanxi. The world is too big for us to do together. Life is these decades, and if you don't live well, you will lose yourself too much. ”

Wang Shichang said: "Everyone in the world thinks that being an official is good, but in fact, only those who are officials know that being an official is actually very tiring. As a brother, I actually envy you, brother. You are free to do what you like in this world. But my family has been an official for generations, and they will not allow me to leave the officialdom. But maybe one day, my brother is really tired of officialdom, so he will go to you. After all, he has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and it is no problem to go out to deal with a few little thieves. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "If there is really that day." Don't say who's defecting to whom. I thought that my brother's knowledge and skills would never go to those thieves. ”

Wang Shichang said: "It's inconvenient for me to send you tomorrow." I hope you can come to Beijing as soon as possible. You must take care of yourself. ”

That night, the people who needed to walk with the kiln gang all stayed at the horse farm outside the city. Early the next morning, I had breakfast early, loaded the goods, cleaned the horse farm again, and handed over the horse pen to the officers and soldiers who took over.

As soon as the pass opened, the caravan set off on its way. This time it was the horses that went first, then the cattle, then the sheep. Because the horses are fast, the cattle are second. Finally, there are carriages and caravans. Liu Chenghuang led the fifty cavalry to still stand in front, and his cavalry behind him scattered and held horses, cattle and sheep. In fact, this herd has an advantage, as long as the horses are not frightened, horses are very gregarious animals, there are horses in front to lead the way, and the back will follow. The same is true of the herd of cattle and sheep. The people who are separated just look a little bit, because the line is so long. Someone must take care of the front and back. The four thousand horses walked on the road, and they made the dust fly, and they covered the sky, so that they could see it from afar.

And then more than 10,000 sheep walked on the road, and from a distance it looked like a white river, which was very beautiful.

Zhang Zhimu and others walked at the back of the team.

The first stop of the caravan was Fanjiaying, and the first camp was also a test of whether the return arrangements were reasonable and whether there was anything missing.

The campers who arrived first chose a clearing next to the woods, tied ropes to the trees to form several fences, and nailed stakes to the places where there were no trees. Horses, cattle and sheep were enclosed in several separate pens. After driving the horses, cattle and sheep into the enclosure, feeding and watering, it took a long time.

Zhang Zhimu was very satisfied when he saw that the whole camping process was arranged very reasonably, and everything was carried out in an orderly manner. He called Liu Yun, Li Wei and Liu Chenghuang and said, "We will separate tomorrow, and you will have to worry more along the way." In the future, it is best to find a river or pond for camping, so that it is more convenient for the livestock to drink. The weather is getting cooler in the morning and evening, so keep warm when you camp. Especially after Liu Yun and Liu Chenghuang returned, when Li Wei was responsible for the road below, the responsibility was too great. You have to be careful. ”

The three of them nodded, and Liu Yun said, "Mr. Zhang, don't worry, if we can't do such a thing, we will come out with you for nothing." ”

Zhang Zhimu said to Li Wei: "I think it will not be peaceful when I go to Zhangjiakou this time, so I must bring a little more people, otherwise I won't let you carry such a heavy burden alone." ”

Li Wei said: "Mr. Zhang, rest assured, the few people I brought out are now very easy to use." They're no worse than when we first came out to follow you, and now these guys are looking forward to a chance to perform. Before, I was most worried about bandits on the road. Now I'm more worried about the number of horses, cattle and sheep, and I'm afraid of what I'll lose. Fortunately, there are some good players in Liu Chenghuang's cavalry, who are particularly familiar with horses. Having them saves me a lot of worry. ”

Zhang Zhimu is very satisfied with these generals who are gradually growing up. They can all be on their own now, and it would be good for them to have more experience. However, Li Wei's bow and crossbow masters, Zhang Zhimu didn't let him take them all, Zhang Zhimu was afraid that when something happened, his firepower would be too weak without them. In particular, when you go to Datong, you still need someone to demonstrate these things to the general army of Datong, and they also need them.

This camping in the wilderness is very hard, especially these cadres who have a certain responsibility can't sleep much.

Before dawn, Zhang Zhimu couldn't sleep, so he got up early and looked at Li Wei and they were busy.

When he was on the road, Liu Yun said to Li Jing: "You are responsible for the safety of Mr. Zhang in the past two days, and you must never leave Mr. Zhang's side." ”

Li Jing said: "Don't worry. It's going to be fine with me. ”

I kept watching Liu Yun and their caravan go away, and Zhang Zhimu and their group went to Datong.

Regarding Datong, Zhang Zhimu's first thought was that this was a coal capital that was famous all over the world in his previous life. The Ming Dynasty listed Datong as the first of the country's "nine-sided important towns", stationed heavy troops, at most 136,000 people, more than 50,000 war horses, there is "Datong warrior vest in the world" said.

The so-called "Nine Border Towns" refers to the nine military towns in the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he added nine locks to the northern frontier for Baosheji, which is this "nine-sided town".

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Yuan who fled outside the northern frontier still harassed from time to time, seriously threatening the rule of the Ming Dynasty. In order to consolidate the northern frontier, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, repeatedly sent generals to the north, and at the same time, he also divided his son Zhu Di and Zhu Quan to garrison the northern border fortress. Ming Chengzu Zhu Di went out of Mobei five times, and set up towns along the border and sent troops to garrison. At the beginning, four towns of Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong and Yulin were set up, followed by three towns of Ningxia, Gansu and Jizhou, and two towns of Taiyuan and Guyuan, which were nine sides. The Yuan Chonghuan who was framed and executed by Chongzhen was the general soldier of Liaodong.

The establishment of the nine sides made the northern border of the Ming Dynasty form a northern defense line that starts from the Yalu River in the east and reaches Jiayuguan in the west. It has played a certain role in strengthening the northern border defense, but it has also consumed a lot of manpower and material resources. The Ming Dynasty raised salaries and taxes for this purpose, especially after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, which made the people bear a heavy burden, and the cruel exploitation of officers at all levels made the salaries and silver shortage, and the soldiers often launched mutinies because they had no means of living.

Each town on the nine sides has a town guard chief officer, a deputy chief military officer, a staff general, a guerrilla general, a garrison, a thousand generals, and a general officer, with no rank and no fixed number. The one side of the main town is the town guard, the one who is alone in the town is the sub-guard, the one who guards one city and one fort is the garrison, and the one who guards the same city with the main general is the co-guard. In addition, there are commanders, promotions, inspections, and reserve officials. Heavy troops were stationed in each town. In the middle of the Wanli period, there were about 600,000 main soldiers on each side alone, and there were also a large number of guest soldiers. For example, in Jizhou Town, during Longqing, the original number of main soldiers was 30,000, and the number of guest soldiers in the early Wanli period amounted to more than 165,000.

The military salaries required for each side to prepare for war and provide soldiers were equivalent to the total annual income of the Ming Dynasty, which also became an important reason for the increasingly tight financial situation of the Ming Dynasty.

Since ancient times, Datong has been an important military town and a strategic place, and it is a place where soldiers must fight, and the head of this "nine-sided town" is definitely not a false name, he is a veritable northern barrier. Therefore, no matter how difficult the Ming army was in the interior of the war against Li Zicheng and others, Chongzhen did not call on the troops of Wu Sangui and Datong in Shanhaiguan and the north. Without this northern barrier, the hungry wolf-eyed cavalry on the steppe would roll towards the Central Plains like a flood.

Since Fanjiaying is not far from Datong, Zhang Zhimu and his entourage arrived in Datong in the afternoon. The bronze medal given by the emperor was flashed to the defenders, and the defenders were immediately released. Lu Chengxiang was familiar with this place, and soon found an inn to live in. Zhang Zhimu has arrived in Datong, and Zhang Zhimu himself doesn't think anything about it. But the merchants of Datong are different. These people wanted to meet this legendary figure.

didn't wait for these businessmen to figure out a way, how to meet Zhang Zhimu. The general army of Datong sent someone to invite Zhang Zhimu.

Zhang Zhimu originally felt that it would not be too easy for him to meet the general soldier, but fortunately, with the handwritten letter of Wang Shichang, the garrison of Hukou, he was still sure of seeing the chief soldier. I didn't expect that before I could sit down, the chief soldier came to invite.

It turned out that as soon as the gate army saw the bronze medal shown by Zhang Zhimu, they knew that it was Zhang Zhimu, a legendary figure. He immediately reported on the General Military Office. As soon as the chief soldier Jiang Hao heard that Zhang Zhimu had arrived, he very much wanted to meet this brave and knowledgeable businessman.

But Zhang Zhimu's feelings about this Jiang Jiu are very complicated. He knows this history very well, but he really can't forgive some of his actions from the bottom of his heart.

Jiang Hao is a native of Yulin, Shaanxi, the Jiang family has been a general for generations, the eldest brother Jiang Rang is the chief soldier of Yulin, Shaanxi, and the younger brother Jiang Xuan is the deputy chief soldier of Yanghe, Shanxi. Jiang Hao served as the general of Zhenshuo and the chief military officer of Yin Datong. In March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Li Zichengke Taiyuan surrendered to the Dashun regime. It is said that at that time, Li Zicheng was also preparing to kill Jiang Jiu at that time, the reason was that "the imperial court is sending the town with a key point, if he is the first to surrender?" "That is to say, Li Zicheng thinks that the country has handed over such an important place to you to guard, why did you take the lead in surrendering. It seems that Li Zicheng also doesn't like this kind of boneless person. Thanks to the persuasion of General Zhang Tianlin, he was not killed. In April, the Dashun army was defeated by the Qing army and Wu Sangui's combined forces, and in May, Jiang Hao rebelled and pursued his benefactor Zhang Tianlin and surrendered to the Manchus. In 1649, Jiang Hao proclaimed himself a general and rebelled against the Qing Dynasty based on Datong. Soon, Jiang Hao was killed by the general Yang Zhenwei, and the Qing army entered the city with Azige, ordered the slaughter of the city, killed countless people, and finally, even the Datong city wall was demolished five feet, and all the fortifications were removed.

Zhang Zhimu thought to himself that if the conditions changed, what choice would this person make, at least for now, he would not consider surrendering. Now it is still up to him to resist the Mongols and the Manchus.

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By the way, I recommend "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty", similar to this article, it is also a "technology flow" through the novel, but it takes place in the Southern Song Dynasty, Yashan, Anti-Yuan, Restoration, and European World Wars.