In the five days when the heavy snow closed the mountain, taking advantage of the weakening of the snow, Wang Dali personally led the sergeants and craftsmen to open up the road from Tunli to the coal pit, and hoarded ten carts of more than 10,000 catties of coal for the mill. The sky was full of gloomy dark clouds, and he couldn't see the expected sunshine at all.

Sure enough, five days later, before dinner, the last cart of charcoal entered the tunli, and there were once again large snowflakes in the sky, and no one except children playing in the snow would be happy to see the cold winter blizzard.

Fortunately, the kang in every household is burning hot, so that the tragic situation of someone freezing to death is prevented.

The heavy snow, which had raged all night, finally slowed down in the morning when the cold wind was howling.

Taking advantage of the snowfall, Xiao Ye took his guards and went down the mountain on foot to clean up the wild wolves; In the past few nights, there has been a wolf howl from time to time under the mountain, but it has annoyed him very much.

On the stone mountain, most of the sergeants either went home to rest, or found a place to gather and chat, this day was cold, and the craftsmen in the quarry rarely only pulled the stones, so they hurriedly went back to their respective homes and hid on the kang to sleep.

The thoughtful old people and mothers-in-law of all families took advantage of this gap and began to think about whether it was time for the children in the family to marry the girls in the family. For a while, the figures walking around the door kept moving.

And Wang Meng, who was guarding the dark bunker on the north side of the training ground, saw a wriggling figure in the dim sky; If it weren't for the telescope in his hand, the sky was dark and the snow was falling, he couldn't see the figure coming from the west clearly.

At this time, Xiao Ye took out all the silk cotton coats from the stone mill, and they were distributed to the sergeant on duty, he didn't want anyone to be frozen in the dark castle at night.

In the windy bunker, a small charcoal furnace does not play much role at all.

In this way, Xiao Ye didn't think about it, so he asked the sergeant in the dark castle to retreat to the tunli; Military discipline is not something that can be erected in a day, but to destroy it, a few days of laziness can be contagious to the bones.

Besides, Xiao Ye himself was still playing the torch at the bottom of the mountain from time to time, and the faint sound made the sergeants in several dark forts dare not be lazy at all.

"Hey, why is someone coming over at this time?" Wang Meng took the binoculars and looked at it for a long time, and finally confirmed that the snow in the distance must be a person, so he took a sergeant to light a torch, stepped on the knee-deep snow, and walked towards the figure.

In the dark fort, one of the remaining sergeants took off his cotton gloves and went out to climb to the top of the dark fort, holding a stone fire hammer, staring closely at the shadows of the two brothers; There was a charcoal stove in the corner of the dark castle, and although it was a little warm, he didn't dare to break the rules and relax his guard.

With great effort, Wang Meng and the two dragged a thinly dressed young man into the dark castle, this little man with a blue face, his mouth trembling and unable to speak.

"It's frozen, hurry up and save people," Wang Meng said, and the three of them worked together, pulled off the little man's clothes, rubbed the man's hands and feet with snow, took out the ale and poured it on his chest, and then poured the rest into his mouth.

The rest depends on your luck, and if you can slow down, you will survive.

The broken clothes were thrown out, and the thing couldn't stop the cold at all, Wang Meng smacked his lips when he looked at it; Wrap the young man in a thick quilt, this barefoot young man, how can he run here.

"This kid, his life is really big, he didn't let the stinger come down, otherwise he would have frozen to death," Wang Meng, who was sweating profusely, saw that this man's breathing began to be stable, so he stopped what he was doing, put him on the straw mat, and said with a smile.

If Zuo Shi is here, he can recognize it at a glance, this little man is Orion Shangwu of Jiming Village, who was once saved by Zuo Shi from the wolf's mouth.

"Uh," Shang Wu, who had fallen into a coma for a long time, opened his eyes in a daze, and when he saw the half-new battle jacket on Wang Meng's body, he struggled to get up in panic; However, his eyes swept over the fire bolt beside the sergeant and immediately stopped.

The military master of Shiguantun is kind, different from the military master in other places, what his brother Shang Wen said, Shang Wu has always kept in mind, "Military master, help,"

Shang Wu, who was full of tears, gnawed on the dry food handed by Wang Meng, and said his intention in a whisper; In order to rush to Shiguantun, those who are not familiar with the terrain here fell into the snow pit several times and almost lost their lives.

Far away in Jiming Village, a hundred miles to the west, encountered this rare blizzard, most of them were grass huts and mud walls, almost every family was affected, the houses were crushed into ruins, and there was no place to live in winter.

There are more than 50 people in the village, young and old, and now they have picked up the broken bedding at home and hid in a small cave nearby.

Shang Wu, who was full of dry food, was wearing a single coat given by the sergeant, and the silk cotton coat that Wang Meng took off was put on him, and he immediately felt warm all over; "Master Jun, this cotton coat is so warm, I've never seen it," Shang Wu groped up and down with a flushed face.

"Don't move, I can't afford to sell you if I break it," Wang Meng nodded very proudly, "We also have sergeants on duty in the tunli, and there are hundreds of households and officials, I heard that one piece costs fifteen taels of silver,"

Wang Meng's words made Shangwu immediately cautious, followed the military master out of the dark castle, and when he walked towards Tunli, he couldn't even step on his feet; He now has strips of cloth wrapped around his feet, and Wang Meng and they have no spare.

Outside the hundred households, Yang Mei'er and Zuo Shi were building snowmen in the open space, the main force was Mei'er and the children, Zuo Shi was watching the excitement with his hands crossed, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth, and a few guards in the distance looked at these frolicking children from afar.

The children picked up a few narrow sticks of wood, tied them to their feet and held on to them, and chased and played in some snowy places. Zuo Shi was interested in their clumsy gliding movements.

It was getting dark, and Xiao Ye came back with his guards, dragging a few dead wolves that had stiffened and stepped on the knee-deep snow back to the mountain.

"Lord Baihu, Wang Meng is back, bring back a person, and stay in the shed of the filling mold field," Xiao Liuzi, who was patrolling at Tunkou, strode over along the clean path.

Without Xiao Ye's nod, the stranger Wang Meng didn't dare to bring it into the tunzi, so he could only wait for Xiao Ye to come back outside the tunzi.

"In this weather, there are still people going up the mountain?" Xiao Ye frowned slightly, "Bring people to the Hundred Households,"

In the hundred households, when Shangwu was brought to Xiao Ye, Zuo Shi came over, "Yohe, isn't this Shangwu, you don't stay in Jiming Village, and you're not afraid of freezing to death on a snowy day,"

Zuo Shi's words made Shang Wu, who finally ran into an acquaintance, suddenly cry, knelt at Xiao Baihu's feet, and kowtowed again and again and begged, "Lord Baihu, please save our Jiming Village,"

With Zuo Shi's recognition, Wang Meng also breathed a sigh of relief, and explained that Zuo Shi must take back his silk cotton coat, and then returned to the dark fort on duty.

The kind words made Shang Wu stand up, Xiao Ye sat on a chair in the room, and listened to his story quietly, until Shang Wu's mood stabilized, then he asked suspiciously, "You don't go to your county to ask for help, why did you come so far to find this official?" ”

"The county seat? It's not far from the village, but the county magistrate won't pay attention to it, last year's spring famine, our village chief ran in vain, and he didn't come back with a bucket of grain," Shang Wu muttered quietly, and Xiao Ye in front of him also understood.

"Come, drink hot tea first, sit down and talk," Xiao Ye picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea, and the little sixth son next to him hurriedly took the teapot and poured a cup for Shangwu.

Shang Wu carefully took the teacup and sat on the wooden bench beside him nervously, looking at Xiao Ye with a blank eye.

After a cup of hot tea, the cold on Xiao Ye's body was also dispelled a lot, and he groaned for a while, and then put down the teacup.

"In this way, this official can send sergeants, but there is not enough food in the tunli," Xiao Ye pondered for a moment, "Take in foreign hunters, presumably the county order of your county will not be answered, after the heavy snowfall, it will be temporarily placed in the coal pit, you can dig coal in exchange for food, I don't know,"

Before the words fell, Shang Wu had already put down the teacup and lay on the ground with his head bouncing, "Villain Xie Baihu, great kindness, I am grateful to the whole village," As long as there is food and a place to stay away from the cold, the whole village will be able to survive this winter.

In the spring, they still have to return to the village, their homeland is difficult to leave, if it is really impossible to live, no one will easily leave the village, even if it is just a few thatched huts.

"Go, change your clothes first with Zuo Xiaoqi, it's getting late, just rest in the military house, and set off early tomorrow morning," Xiao Ye gently picked up Shangwu, "I don't want to kowtow casually in Shiguantun, don't do this in the future,"

Shiguantun is sparsely populated, and Xiao Ye does not dare to easily accept military households, unless it is a document issued by a thousand households to prevent the transfer, and it will be punished for taking it in private; However, Xiao Ye changed his method of placement, which could not only temporarily solve the labor of the coal pit, but also avoid Jiang Jie's criticism.

The good things that are delivered to the door, how can he not do it.

After eating, Xiao Ye, who was leisurely, found Wang Dali, and in addition to official duties, told him about the wooden strips that the children saw playing during the day; The speaker had no intention of listening, and Wang Dali, who was on a whim, took the charcoal bar and gestured a few times, thinking that it could be tried.

So he called some carpenters, and unloaded two of the thicker pieces of wood from the other side of the bullpen, sawed them and cut them, and nailed up a small boat-shaped wooden frame, under which two long and wide planks were fixed, and the two ends were bent by charcoal fire.

The shelf was loaded with a stone, weighing 100 pounds, and a sergeant dragged a rope and walked back and forth on the snow, even saying that it was very easy.

So, the wooden frame was nailed with wedges, and together with the ski strips underneath, long ropes were tied to make it a primitive snow sled; Wang Dali, who was excited, immediately asked the carpenter to make three snowmobiles overnight, which he called it.

Early the next morning, taking advantage of the fact that Zuoshi's team did not set off, Xiao Ye went to the mill, consumed four truckloads of charcoal, took out ten silk cotton coats from the stone mill, and handed them to Zuo Shi who went to Jiming Village. The exchange ratio of the charcoal and the silk cotton coat, Xiao Ye didn't realize that there had been a change.

"March cautiously along the way, don't be reckless in everything," explaining the precautions on the road, Xiao Ye stood at the gate of the tun wall and waved his hand to let the team go.

Now his five small flags plus personal guards, there are only sixty firearms, although they are equipped with some short-range handguns, but they do not increase the fire/gunners, and in the face of the Tartar cavalry, the combat effectiveness is not winnable; Xiao Ye needs not only coal, but also Shiguan fire.

Three wooden snowmobiles, pulling ten individual tents, the sergeants' felt blankets, dry food and water bags, and five stone of grain were piled up; Zuo Shi took his team, under the guidance of Shangwu, pulled up the long rope and soon left Shiguantun.

In order to ensure the safety of the team, Xiao Ye specially transferred a sergeant, who had learned to treat frostbite with Li Lang, and brought herbs with him.

Snowflakes were sparsely falling in the sky, and although it was not so uncomfortable to walk on a snowmobile, the snow below the knees still made it difficult for the team to walk fast.

At the front of the line, Shang Wu and a sergeant advanced side by side two steps apart, holding a long pole to explore the way.

With the memories of the previous journeys and the martial guides, the team tossed through the mountain ravines and zigzagged westward for eighty miles, but they could no longer move forward; The heavy snow obscured the vision from more than a dozen paces away, and the sergeants who were exploring the way in front almost fell into the deep snow ditch several times.

"Brother Zuo, after two more hills, you can see Jiming Village," Shang Wu said loudly beside Zuo Shi in the heavy snow, but he also knew that it would not work today.

He had walked most of the mountain road, and it was dark that he couldn't see his feet clearly, and the sergeants around him were tired and sweating profusely, even if he walked in the mountains all year round, he couldn't bear it now; These sergeants who were gnawing on dry food and scooping snow to swallow had never seen them in such a hurry, he had never seen them before.

"Shangwu, what you said is good, there are still two mountains, I didn't see this mountain turned over so that my brother almost died, there is a big ditch in front, the snow is too big, if you go down again, something will happen, let's find a place to camp," Zuo Shi's face sank, and he said unceremoniously to Shangwu, scaring this hunter so much that he shrunk his neck.

"According to what you said, the people of your village should be able to survive until tomorrow and tomorrow when they take refuge in the cave, otherwise it will be too late to arrive, you should rest assured," Zuo Shi's face softened, "I am responsible for my own sergeant, if I break one, a hundred households will not be able to spare me,"

What he said in this day was too much more than before, and it also made Zuo Shi understand a lot about the responsibility of being a flag officer, and he was secretly glad that he didn't do that chief flag officer; That brother is a hundred households, isn't he even more tired, thinking about Zuo Shi is a headache.

Under an order, Qin Dazui found a relatively flat campsite in a small open space under the mountain in front of him, where the leeward terrain was high, and everyone did not clear the snow on the ground, and after parking the snowmobile, they hurriedly set up a single tent.

Four triangular individual tents, with metal-colored tent doors facing each other in pairs, and after fixing the wooden stakes, they soon stood in front of Shangwu's eyes; Before the hunter could exclaim, Zuo Shi had already carried a blanket and pulled him closer to the tent.

Twelve people used four individual tents, and they could still get in if they were crowded, but two of them couldn't lie down, so they had to sleep in turns.

The lookout in three directions opened, Zuo Shi leaned on Shang Wu's side, took out a small wine jug, and the sergeant next to him smiled, "Xiaoqi, you can't drink alcohol when you go out on the march, and someone will report and receive the reward when you go back,"

"Who dares, who dares to let Lao Tzu dig coal, Lao Tzu comes back and all go into the mountains to hunt wild boars, and if you can't fight it, you won't go back to Tun," Zuo Shi glared at him with a pair of small eyes, and shouted loudly, "Don't you just want to take a sip and say what you do,"

As he spoke, he took out another pot of ale and threw it to the sergeant, "Each of you will warm up your body in one sip, and one hundred households will explain," his words made the sergeants in each tent, who were almost frozen in their hands and feet, cheer excitedly, swallow saliva and began to wait.

"Leave them alone, a bunch of rough men," Zuo Shi took a sip of turbid wine and stuffed the jug to Shang Wu, "Take a sip of warmth, don't fall into frostbite,"

Although the individual tent has the disadvantage of not being airtight and stuffy, it becomes an advantage in winter, and the thin metal appearance makes it a good tent for thermal insulation and protection from the cold.

Sitting on a dry blanket, eating a handful of jerky, nibbling on a large piece of cake, and taking a sip of ale, Shang Wu, who was holding a water bag, suddenly felt that the life of these soldiers was too good, and even camping in the wilderness was so warm, not to mention the weapons on their bodies.

The scene of Zuo Shi and their extermination of the wolves, Shang Wu remembers it too deeply, and the power of fire/guns will never be forgotten in this life; Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked his life to go to Shiguantun for help.

After eating dry food, except for the sergeant on duty, the snoring sound in the tent made Shangwu unable to sleep at all, but he didn't dare to turn over casually, so he could only blink his eyes in the dark, silently thinking about his thoughts, and fell asleep in a daze for a long time.

When the sky was bright, the snow was still drifting, and the sergeant on duty shouted, and everyone got up to see that the lookout was blocked by snow, but fortunately, the small door on the opposite side of the tent could be opened, and there were snowmobiles on both sides.

Eating casually in the tent, pushing away the snowmobile, the sergeants who got out of the tent, pinched the snow and wiped their faces, and busily packed up.

The tent, which was half buried by snow, was swept away by the sergeants, and two men carried each other and folded and pressed vigorously, crunch, click, and the tent was put away like a big umbrella and loaded onto the snowmobile.

With Zuo Shi's order, in the snowflakes flying in the sky, the team marched to the mountainside with difficulty.