Eastern Han Dynasty Xiping four years, has come to May, the day is drought, and there is a locust plague, there are many farms damaged in various places, a natural disaster must be accompanied by **, famine comes, thieves are everywhere, there are more Yizi and eat and kill people and goods, human nature is so fragile, has long been extinguished by the instinct of survival, Anyang County is no exception.

Anyang County is located in the southwest of Runan County, the north and west are the boundaries of Runan, and Jingzhou is to the north, but there are continuous mountains separated by no one to cross. There is a big mountain in the northeast corner of Anyang County, sitting and lying in three counties of Anyang Xinxi Zhaoling, the local people call this mountain as Savage Ridge, because there are savages in the mountain and get the name. Since the beginning of the previous year, a group of strongmen appeared on the mountain, and I don't know how many of them, but they are very vicious, and the county lieutenant sent troops several times to no avail.

Because of this, most of the fields in Anyang County are in the southwest, but Savage Ridge occupies one-fifth of the land boundary of Anyang County. The Chen family's grange is all on the south line, and the north line is the Zhang family, and only three villages near the county seat and one village in the northwest are under the jurisdiction of the county seat.

On this day, the Chen Lin brothers had just come from Mr. Lu, changed their clothes, and were about to practice archery, when Lin An came, and before anyone could say anything, he came: "Cousin, cousin."

Chen Linshun looked at it from this way, isn't it Lin An, the cousin of these three or five thick people, this person is really in a hurry. Chen Lin asked: "I patronized Mr. Jian to study today, and I don't know if you are okay?" ”

"Hahaha, you don't play with me, study hard, what can I do, my father said, I have to help you in the future, but I can't do it without some skills, but I am at home to learn knife skills with my father, and it is rare for my father to come back."

Lin An's father, Lin De, is also the elder brother of Chen Lin's mother. In charge of the caravan of the Chen family to the north, when he went, he transported the goods from the south to Youzhou, and when he returned, he sold horses from the north and returned, three or four times a year.

"My father said that I am also older, so he will take me with him when he goes out this time, so that I can study more."

"Oh, that's a good thing, but you and my brother have to be separated." Chen Lin is really happy for Lin An, the idea of a young man is always to grow up quickly so that he can do things for his family, but Lin An is the first person to have something to do, but Chen Lin and Lin An also have a deep relationship, and it is inevitable to be sad.

"It's okay, my father said that I want to learn more skills, and in the future, if my cousin becomes a big official, I can be assigned a small official." After speaking, hehehe's silly music, this lack of heart, these words are all said.

Chen Lin knew that the Lin family relied on the Chen family to make a fortune, and it will still be in the future, so he said this to Lin An, but he didn't expect this stupid boy to say it. Chen Lin didn't mind: "That's right, but you can't say this to outsiders, and you can't read and write, if you can memorize the "Art of War" completely, I will promise you this goods." ”

"Okay" After listening to what Chen Lin said, Lin An was even happier, as if he was now a big official.

"Eat and drink at my house today, and I command my servants to come to your house and inform your father, so that he will not worry."

"Good" Lin An is silly again.

After Chen Lin finished speaking, he put down the bow, picked up two Han-style bracelets and knives, and threw one to Lin An: "It's early to eat and drink now, first accompany me to play with the knife, and see if you deserve to be a big official." ”

Lin Anren was stunned when he raised his sword, he was not stunned, he advanced and retreated in an orderly manner, attacked left and right, and the two of them fought back and forth. Lin An's knife learning comes from his father Lin De, Lin De's martial arts are strong, and he can take a horse and a step, in the Anyang realm, in addition to the county lieutenant and Huang Long and the captain of the Zhang family's courtyard, the rest of the people can't stop Lin De a few knives, so they have to be defeated.

It stands to reason that Linde has the ability to be proud of such martial arts, but Linde himself doesn't think so. According to him, one year in Youzhou, he met a person, and after only two rounds, Linde was defeated, and that person was called Wang Yue. Linde also often warns these juniors that there are people outside the world.

And the martial arts of the Chen brothers are all learned from Huanglong, Huanglong is the number one master in Anyang, and Lin De can't beat him for fifty rounds. Chen Lin has a very high level of understanding, and his martial arts are naturally on Lin De, but he is unwilling to go all out, but takes care of his brothers.

The two competed for a while, but there was no win or loss, and they changed guns and bows, but they didn't know how to work.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, weapons were limited by technology, and only spears, guns, swords, bows and crossbows were the most commonly used instruments used by soldiers. The difference between the weapons of the generals and the soldiers is only reflected in the materials, and the weapons of the generals are all made of good steel and iron, and independent craftsmen. The soldier's weapon was a combination of wood and iron, produced in large quantities by craftsmen, and was more prone to breakage and dullness. Iron is very expensive at this time.

Chen Lin also learned about these things after studying recently, to arm an ordinary soldier, at least one tael of gold, not to mention silver, it takes two to three taels of gold a year to raise foot archers, and cavalry is even more expensive, even the horse needs twelve or three taels of gold a year.

Of course, this is according to the regular army of the imperial court, and the Han Dynasty now has roughly five soldiers:

The first is the Yulin Army, the forbidden army guarding the imperial city, with more than 3,000 people.

The second is the Si Lijun, Gongwei Beijing Division, about 25,000 people.

The third is the North Fifth Battalion (Tun Cavalry, Yue Cavalry, Infantry, Changshui, Shooting) with a total of 50,000 people

The fourth is the Three Rivers cavalry, with 12,000 horsemen.

The fifth is the border army, which is used to defend the ethnic minorities in the north, and is distributed in Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou, with 50,000 to 60,000 in this way.

The regular army of the Eastern Han Dynasty is now about the same, and the local army is called the county soldiers and national soldiers, responsible for local security and arresting thieves, ranging from hundreds to 1,000 in a city. The county soldiers are different from the regular army of the imperial court, and the regular army is supported by the imperial court and obeys the orders of the imperial court. The county soldiers and national soldiers are raised by the local government, but they cannot be recruited privately, and they are subject to the orders of the local governor.

Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the county soldiers and national soldiers is extremely low, and it depends on the responsibility of the lieutenants who lead the troops, and some even eat empty salaries, and a city has 500 county soldiers on the surface, but in fact there are less than 200.

Yuzhou is the most prosperous state of the thirteen states of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Runan is the seat of Yuzhou, so the population of Runan is only more than 800,000, and the population of the entire Eastern Han Dynasty is only more than 50 million.

There are 37 counties in Runan, and Anyang County is only one of them. However, it was said that there were 1,200 county soldiers in Anyang County, which were led by the county lieutenant Yuan Tong and Yuan Wuju. This Yuan Wuju is a peripheral disciple of the Yuan family, with three points of martial arts, and he has always been at peace with the people in Anyang County.

There are only four types of people in Anyang County, namely the county magistrate Chen Li, the county Cheng Lu Yun, the county lieutenant Yuan Tong, and the chief bookkeeper Zhang Ting. The county Cheng Lu Yun is old and does not take care of political affairs, and the county lieutenant Yuan Tong does not care about political affairs, only the county commander Chen Li and the chief bookkeeper Zhang Ting. In the past, there were many discords between the two, but now they are married, which seems to be peaceful in Anyang County.

It was said that Chen Lin stayed in Lin to settle down to eat and drink, and at this time, Chen Lin's family was talking to Lin An, and suddenly Ding Chong, a member of Chen's family, hurriedly ran in. Chen Li was furious: "Panicked, but why? ”

The family was afraid that the master would not spare him, so he knelt down and said: "Someone from the county government has come, saying that the county lieutenant has something important to discuss with the master, and the county lieutenant is now outside the mansion." ”

County Lieutenant Yuan Tong has never come without incident, but now that he is outside the door, it can be seen that the matter is urgent: "Then please come in quickly" Chen Li said angrily. The Lin family next to him saw that there was business, so he took everyone to retreat. Chen Lin was about to retreat, but when he heard Chen Li asking him to stay, Chen Lin sat down on the side.

After a while, a person was introduced by the family, wearing armor on his shoulders and a samurai robe, so he was not mighty, this person was really Yuan Tong Yuan Wuju, the lieutenant of Anyang County. Chen Lin only felt that this person was very neat, and he was not as formal as a scholar, so he opened his mouth when he entered the door and hugged his fists: "Lord Chen, the matter is urgent, please forgive the officials for being rude, the gang of thieves from Savage Ridge has come down the mountain again." ”

After hearing this, Chen Li thought for a while and said: "The crops in the field are about to be harvested, but they are coming for food. There are many scouts in the army, do you know that this group of strongmen is detailed? ”

"This gang of thieves should be about 400 people, the leader has called three knives, the martial arts are not bad, the lower officials have fought with this thief, and they can't win. This group of thieves is also cunning, but whenever they lead the army to crusade, they will go into the Savage Ridge and flow to the second county of Xinxi Zhaoling, so that I dare not cross the line to attack him, which is really angry to me. ”

It seems that these three knives have some skills, and they can fight on par with the third master in Anyang County, and they are so cunning, no wonder Yuan Tong has a grudge. If he didn't obey the order too much, County Lieutenant Yuan wouldn't dare to lead his troops to other counties, and he couldn't afford to bear the crime.

"County Lieutenant Yuan is not angry, but it is not good to let this group of strong people wander into the countryside and rob houses and houses, I don't know if County Lieutenant Yuan has a clever plan?"

"Alas, it's really hateful, if I have a hundred cavalry, it would be easy to exterminate these 400 bandits, but it's a pity that my 1200 county soldiers in Anyang County are all foot archers, alas." Seeing that this gang of thieves had escaped in front of him a few times, but they couldn't catch up, Yuan County Lieutenant was angry and didn't fight anywhere.

In this world, the Chen family alone has 102 high-grade war horses, and there are more than 500 other horses that are either used to plow the fields or pull goods. There are no cavalry in the huge Anyang County, only a few horses are used to deliver the scouts, and it turns out that the horses have run into the hands of the landlords of the Shi clan.

Chen Lin saw that the two of them sighed, his eyes rolled, he turned up and saluted the two, and said, "Father, county lieutenant, I don't know if the kid has an idea. ”

Yuan Tong found out that there was a third person present, and he also recognized Chen Lin, who would hear that Chen Lin had an idea, and he didn't care that this was a young man who had not yet reached the crown: "Oh, let's hear it,"

Chen Lin glanced at Chen Li, and seeing that there was no objection, he became more and more confident: "I know what the adults are worried about, it is nothing more than that when the thieves fled, our army was unable to follow, and as for letting them slip away in vain, there was no way." ”

Yuan Tong hurriedly said that it was extremely extreme, and Chen Lin said: "There are no horses in the army, why don't the county lieutenants issue a notice with the county, saying that the robbers are rising again, and they need the help of war horses, and they will borrow war horses from those who have horses to fight, and there will be rewards when the bandits return, I don't know if the adults think it is okay?" ”

When Yuan Tong heard this, he looked at Chen Li thoughtfully. I can't help but don't want to, you must know that the biggest family in Anyang County is the Chen family, and there must be a lot of horses, but this time Chen Lin came up with this idea, why.

Chen Lin's heart is also up and down now, which is a bit of a stone for Chen Lin, who is a member of the Chen family. But Chen Lin has his own ideas, he wants to go to the battlefield, but he has no reason to go to the battlefield, so he came up with this idea, the Chen family went out, and then asked the county to say that he wanted to go to the battlefield, presumably Yuan Tong was not easy to refuse. I'm afraid that Chen Li will oppose it.

Chen Li saw Yuan Tong looking at him, Chen Li looked at Chen Lin and said, "County Lieutenant Yuan, I think it's feasible." ”

When Yuan Tong heard this, he immediately stood up and hugged his fists at the Chen family's father and son: "The Chen family is noble, and Yuan admires." ”

After Yuan Tong left, Chen Lin automatically told Chen Li his thoughts, and Chen Li said after listening: "In this case, why don't the Chen family not only send out horses, but also send troops, and select fifty nursing homes to join you, but unfortunately Huang Nursing Yuan is not there." "Huang Huyuan and the big housekeeper are teaching the orphaned teenagers bought by the old lady in the countryside farm.

Chen Lin knew that Chen Li was worried about himself, and he wanted his own nursing home to protect himself, but Chen Lin couldn't refuse.