Luda said: "This group of soldiers in Zhending Mansion actually wants horses in the mountains, as soon as they open their mouths, they are five hundred, and they are not willing to pay for it. ”

It turned out to be like this, and I don't know which one has a long tongue, and I told the fact that there are thousands of horses raised in Jingcheng Mountain, and a capital eunuch in Zhending Mansion, called Zhao Long, came to buy horses, and it was okay to buy horses, but the problem was that I couldn't give cash, and I gave the white strip of Zhending Mansion. First, the horses that came to the horse farm were not sold out, and secondly, they couldn't give cash, so they gave an IOU from the government. The government yamen should have been very creditworthy, but in recent years, the credit of the yamen has become lower and lower, and the little money in the yamen's treasury is not enough for bureaucrats at all levels to embezzle, and the arrears can be returned. So when Zhao Long came to buy a horse for the first time, he asked Bian Xiang to persuade him to leave.

I came again the day before yesterday, pestering to buy a horse, but Bian Xiang was not there, and Xie Zhen persuaded him to leave. So Zhao Long was listed as persona non grata, so when Luda saw the cavalry coming today, he thought it was Zhao Long who came to buy horses again.

Chao Gai said: "I've been here for more than a year, so I'm still used to it." ”

Luda said: "At the beginning, I was not used to it, and I was straight-hearted, and I couldn't see the refugees suffering. But gradually I got used to it, and the refugees are not all good people, and there are many lazy guys. Now the refugees in the refugee village, except for the old and weak, basically rely on work to support themselves, it is impossible to rely on others completely, the Sprinkle family understands that the emergency is not to help the poor, if they are not motivated, how to save it is useless. ”

Chao Gai said: "I'll go to the horse farm first, you still continue to patrol on duty, and after work, the two of us will get together and have a good drink." ”

Luda hurriedly shook his hand: "The Sprinkler family has quit drinking, the Sprinkler family has quit drinking." ”

After saying that, Luda led the team to continue patrolling, and Chao Gai took people to the horse farm.

It is the middle of summer outside, the heat wave hits people, the land of Yanzhao is generally as high as 40 degrees in midsummer, but the temperature in Jingcheng Mountain is low, and the valley where the horse farm is located is more than ten degrees lower than the outside.

The horses followed the wide mountain path straight to the racecourse, which was four meters wide enough to carry two carriages in parallel, and the rammed earth road was covered with a layer of hard sand, which would not be muddy even on rainy days, and the road was lined with rocks to protect the road.

Luo Yun said: "I remember that when I came here before, the road in the mountains was wide for one person, rugged and difficult, and many places had to dismount and walk, and the amount of labor involved in building the road was not small." ”

Chao Gai said: "This road was built by Bian Xiang, Luda and Su County Order, and it took more than half a year to do it, except for food and tools, there was no other cost, just in time for Tianhu to make a rebellion, and there were many refugees from the east, and hundreds of miles of mountain roads were built with work for relief." ”

After walking along the forest road for dozens of miles, I came to the valley where the horse farm is located. The stream in the valley is abundant, and the grass grows very fiercely, but the horse space is too small, and there are nearly 5,000 horses in a valley more than ten miles long, and at this time it is mainly based on purchased forage.

The matter of the horse farm Chao Gai was only roughly checked, after all, this is a matter of convenience for breeding, and it is impossible to ask about everything.

There are 50 soldiers dressed as grooms, and more than 30 strong men, and about 80 people are responsible for carrying the forage needed by more than 5,000 horses.

The platoon commander of the horse farm was the first soldier to follow Chao Gai, and he was also very familiar with Chao Gai, and took Chao Gai to inspect the forage field and feed warehouse, as well as some disease prevention measures.

Chao Gai said: "How did Battalion Commander Lu Dalu say that he quit drinking? ”

The platoon commander said: "It's a long story, this is a matter of spring, Lu Ying was responsible for settling the refugees at that time, and the refugees lived in dens, and they were all old and weak, and there were many wolves in the mountains, so safety became a problem."

That afternoon, when Battalion Commander Lu was resting, he became addicted to alcohol, so he got drunk, got drunk, and slept heavily. At night, the soldiers on duty found that a wolf had entered the village and taken away a child, and ten people led the dog and chased after him, but who would have thought that there was a pack of wolves in the mountains, more than a dozen wolves. Ten soldiers gave the signal and fought the wolves, and by the time reinforcements arrived, four of the ten soldiers had been wounded, and the children who had been taken were dead. Although Battalion Commander Lu was not on duty that night, he had leadership responsibility, Battalion Commander Lu thought that he was not drunk that night, and if he led the team on duty, he would definitely be able to save the child, and the soldiers would not be injured so much, for this matter, Battalion Commander Lu quit drinking, although he did not quit completely, but rarely heard of him drinking high. ”

Chao Gai nodded, it turns out that there is still a story, the mountains and forests are dense in these years, not to mention wolves, even tigers are common, so it is very common for this beast to eat people, and Li Kui's wife in the original book was eaten by tigers.

In the evening, Luda came to the racecourse after work to find Chao Gai, and specially made a few good dishes in the room, fried golden cicadas, boiled prawns, and stewed pheasants, all of which were hard dishes.

Shan Shiqi is now abandoning his family and business, and his family has been sent to Jeju, and Shan Shiqi is alone in Jingcheng Mountain, as Ruda's deputy general.

Shan Shiqi was quite touched, and said: "Creation makes people, originally I planned to cooperate with Liu Liang's big shopkeeper, do a few big business, and the family background is also solid, and be a rich man, who ever thought that he would not send it back to his home now." ”

Chao Gai said: "Brother Shan, be patient for a while, and when the time comes, we will send troops to recover Shanxi." ”

Shan Shiqi was surprised: "Brother is serious. ”

"Since Brother Chao Gai said this, it must be true, and when the time comes, my brother will definitely send our battalion to recover Taiyuan." Ruda Road.

Chao Gai said: "This is not decided now, let's see it then, but the time will definitely not be too long, maybe a year or two will be about the same, and then the mountain brothers can go back to their hometown at any time." ”

The three of them ate a lot of food, but they didn't drink much wine, so Luda asked: "Don't blame the Sprinkler family for talking too much, I'm afraid that my brother will have something to do in this mountain, if it doesn't involve secrets, let's talk about it first." ”

Chao Gai said: "There must be secrets involved, but one of the two is the battalion commander and the other is the deputy battalion commander, how can they hide it from you, it's just that the matter is still inconclusive, just don't talk nonsense." ”

Luda said: "The Sprinkle family is no longer drunk, and they can still control their mouths." ”

Chao Gai pointed to the north and said, "The Liao Kingdom may be going south, and the most likely targets are Zhending Mansion and Daimyo's Mansion. ”

"Why is this, isn't the Liao State and the Jin State hotly fighting?" Ruda asked puzzled.

Chao Gai said: "According to our information, the situation is like this. The Liao State and the Jin State fought in Liaodong and the Jin State, and both sides fought very hard. After all, the Jin State has just emerged, and although the soldiers are brave, they are poor in resources. Although the Liao country is a large place, the population is large, but the national deficit is very bad, coupled with the bad weather in the Liao country in recent years, drought year after year, resulting in a decrease in grain production, the growth of pasture is not good, the Liao country in order to obtain enough grain and grass to fight with the Jin country, can only go south to fight the grass valley, the relatively rich Zhending Mansion and the Daimyo Mansion have become a good place for the Liao country to fight the grass valley. ”

Luda became angry when he heard this, slapped the table, and shouted: "Straight lady thief, you still dare to come to fight our idea, we are in Zhengding Mansion, I am afraid that we will also be attacked by Liao soldiers at that time." ”

"This is exactly the purpose of my visit, to inspect military facilities and soldier training, no matter how many Liao soldiers come, Jing Cheng cannot be lost." Chao Gai said.

After all, Luda was born in the official army, and he was too familiar with such things as fighting grass valleys, and sighed: "The city of Zhendingfu is tall and will definitely be fine, but so many county towns and villages below will be unlucky." ”

Shan Shiqi said: "The Zhending Army seems to be strong, but in fact, it is very poorly paid, and there are many old and weak people in the army, poor equipment, and poor training, which is far less elite than the soldiers of the Daimyo Mansion." The Liao soldiers fought on a large scale in the grass valley, and most of the counties under the jurisdiction of Zhending Mansion were probably looted. However, we are also in a hurry, there is no way, if the imperial court sends my brother to transfer the army to Hebei, there will be no credit for winning the battle, but will leave a handle. ”

Luda shook his head and said, "The court, the court, this court is not having a good time." We have 4,000 elite soldiers hidden in the mountains, all working in iron mines, coal mines, and quarries, and only two or three hundred people have really been exposed. When the time comes, if the Liao soldiers come, we will just kill him from the mountains and give him a guy to ensure that they will never forget it. ”

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