In the ninth month of the lunar calendar, it has reached the end of autumn, but the temperature has long cooled down, and Shandong during the Xiaoice River period is like entering winter at this time, and the north wind has begun to rage.

In the howling north wind, a huge convoy is slowly moving out of Jinan City, this convoy looks like a long dragon, there are more than 300 ox carts, and there are hundreds of ploughing cattle behind the ox carts. The number of people reached more than 1,000 people, some leading ox carts, some driving the ploughing cattle behind, and some guarding the front and rear of the convoy.

In the middle of the convoy, a young man rode on a black horse and followed the convoy. This person was Zhao Yan, his face was a little solemn, and he asked Zhao Quan on the side, "How many days will it take to rush back to Dengzhou?" ”

"It's not a problem for the ox cart to walk more than fifty miles a day, and you can go back in seven days at the earliest. Zhao Quan estimated with a happy face, looked at Zhao Yan's somewhat worried look, and asked strangely, "What is on the mind of the child?" ”

Zhao Yan looked at the huge convoy and said with some concern: "With such a big goal, we are afraid that we will encounter some disasters on the road." ”

"It's better to train faster! Otherwise, everything will be scared. Zhao Yan sighed.

"Childe doesn't need to worry, who has so much courage in our team of thousands of people?" Zhao Quan didn't care at all, judging from his veteran experience, those landlord armies obviously didn't dare to move such a large convoy, and those officers and soldiers didn't dare to do it, who dared to eat such a large convoy on the surface, and they were not afraid of being strangled to death.

Zhao Yan nodded and didn't continue to say anything. However, the idea of pulling up an army as soon as possible is even stronger, and in this era when there is no legal guarantee, only force is the truth.

"It's freezing so fast." Zhao Quan rubbed his hands, let out a breath of white air, and shouted ahead: "Everyone hurry up, otherwise there will be no place to stay at night!" ”

After more than ten days of preparation, the convoy loaded 10,000 stone of grain and 20,000 catties of iron, followed by 500 ploughing cattle and many ready-made farm tools.

The grain does not need to be transported away by the surname once, after all, Zhao Yan can't use so much food now, and there is no place to put it when the surname is transported back at one time. So just transport some of them back, and put the rest in the Zheng family's granary first, and then take them when you need them later.

The ox cart is slow, and it is already fast to travel fifty miles a day, but the load capacity of the ox cart is relatively large. At the same time, thousands of young people were organized in Jinan City to assist in the delivery of materials.

The group swept out of Jinan City and slowly headed towards Dengzhou. The two scout horses were thrown forward, scouting the movement ahead.

The Zhao family did not have many horses, only more than 20 horses, and sent four horses to Fujian to look for sweet potatoes and other crops, and there were only a dozen horses left, several of which were inferior horses, and there were only a few that could be regarded as war horses.

Ma Zhengxing was in the Han and Tang dynasties and defeated in the Song and Ming dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, after experiencing the destruction of war, the decline of horse politics was very serious, and many excellent horse breeds have disappeared in the long river of history.

Without horses, the territory of China could hardly expand outward. In such underdeveloped periods of antiquity, the mobile surname of horses was clearly of paramount importance to a nation.

Seeing such a huge caravan, the envoys of the official roadcard on the road did not dare to make more trouble, and Zhao Quan would pay a few hundred taels of silver and send them through the checkpoint with a smile.

The first day was very smooth, and in the evening he walked to Zhangqiu County, Zhao Yan did not take people into the county seat to stay, but commanded people to camp on the side of the official road.

This was the first time that Zhao Yan had commanded such a large group of people to camp in the wild, which seemed a little jerky, and the camping speed was relatively slow.

The camp is located near a water source and in a difficult terrain. Zhao Yan led the people to be busy with the command, and divided the people in the convoy into four teams, one team to raise fires and make food, one team to cut wood, one team to drive piles to build camps, and one team to be responsible for guarding.

"This stake needs to be driven a little deeper so that the camp will be strong...... Put that rejection horse in front and line up in a row,......" Zhao Yan commanded at the top of his voice.

A field camp has taken shape, surrounded by vehicles and fronted with improvised horses and antlers to prevent enemy cavalry from breaking through the camp.

Some tents have been set up in the car ring, and Zhao Yan's family members are even busier, fortunately, Zhao Yan has conducted several camping training sessions for them before, although they are still a little rusty, but they don't know what to do.

Marching, fighting, commanding, logistics, morale, and so on are all crucial parts, and the slightest negligence in any link may make this army doomed.

Although Zhao Yan has not experienced ancient wars, he has a vision beyond this era, understands the key to this, and can train purposefully.

The hungry people, after camping in full swing, began to want to have dinner. Zhao Yan had eaten and took people to patrol around.

The subordinates have to come out to guard at night, and Zhao Yan's attitude of leading by example allows him to serve the public, and the subordinates below are not lazy.

The first night passed peacefully, and the second went on the road as usual, and the ploughing oxen walked slowly along the road with their tails wagging.

Although the hired coachmen were puzzled that Zhao Yan did not enter the county seat to stay, Zhao Yan paid a good salary and did not talk much about it.

Along the way, he encountered some homeless people one after another, Zhao Yan took out food and asked Zhao Quan to take people to collect those homeless people, and returned to Dengzhou with the convoy.

On the sixth day, the convoy arrived in Laizhou Prefecture, and the number of displaced people encountered on the road began to increase, and many of them came from Dengzhou.

Zhao Yan also took out food one by one to gather them, and the number of people in the convoy increased all the way, from the initial 1,000 to more than 3,000.

On the seventh day, he had already traveled to the territory of Dengzhou.

"Report the ......" The horse galloped back, and the family turned over and dismounted and said, "Tell the son, a group of thieves have been found in front, numbering about five or six thousand, and they are killing in our direction." ”

"What!" Zhao Quan was immediately agitated and asked the family, "You didn't see it. ”

"The little ones are not mistaken, they are under a banner that says 'Zhang'." The guy replied hurriedly.

"It's not good, the homeless people in Dengzhou have formed such a large-scale rogue." Zhao Quan looked at Zhao Yan, "Childe ......"

"Form a formation, hand out weapons." Zhao Yan ordered in a deep voice, and turned down directly from the horse,

"Formation, formation...... Fence off the car. Several people shouted, and the convoy stopped abruptly, and under the command, the car was quickly unloaded from the ploughing ox and formed a large circle.

The weapons were quickly distributed, and the weapons were very messy, and the family members of the Zhao family all used spears, while the chauffeurs of the convoy and the homeless people who gathered together were miscellaneous, some with hoes, some with rakes, and more with sharpened wooden guns.

"What happened?"

"I heard it's a thief."

"Mom, don't run yet!"

The crowd in the convoy began to roar, and many people were frightened and colorless, and their hands and feet were weak and tried to escape, and they scurried around like headless flies.

When Zhao Yan saw that it was not good, he directly pulled out his waist knife and slashed it at a driver who had overturned the truck, and with a pop, a head flew sideways.

"Whoever moves again, just like this person, behead!" Zhao Yan lifted the head and shouted loudly with a frightened face. The rough voice that I usually exercised played a huge role at this time.

Everyone in the convoy looked over and saw the bloody head and was too frightened to move. Zhao Yan's subordinates took the spears in their hands and aimed them at those who wanted to escape.

Zhao Yan immediately made a decision, jumped into the car, and said loudly under the gaze of everyone: "Listen to me, the gang of thieves in front of us is not more numerous than us, and they are just a group of hungry people, we are all full of food and strength, if we really fight hard, we will win." ”

"You are not only working hard for me Zhao, but also for yourself, do you think you can outrun the thief? When the time comes, you will also be coerced by them, and you will also become a chaotic people, and as long as the court sends troops to suppress it, you will all have to lose your heads. Zhao Yan said with a gloomy face and smacked them on the head.

"At the same time, I Zhao will not let everyone work hard in vain, whoever kills a thief, a reward of five taels of silver, and a reward of one acre of fertile land for those who kill two thieves, and three hundred taels of silver for the dead in the war, the old and young of my Zhao family will help him raise, send three buckets of rice a month, and raise them for a lifetime, it is a man who will take up arms and fight with the thieves. Zhao Yan said and threw the head in his hand to the ground.

"Three hundred taels of silver for the war dead, everyone is still hesitating! Killing two people is ten taels of silver plus an acre of fertile land! Fuck it, kill the fuck. Zhao Quan raised the waist knife in his hand and shouted on the side.

"Fuck it, kill the fuck."

"yes, the fucking ......"

There will be brave men under the heavy reward, and money can make the devil grind! Hearing such a generous reward promise, the morale of the car was immediately great, whether it was the homeless people in the car array, or the coachman, they were all holding weapons and rubbing their hands, although there was still a trace of fear in their hearts, but they had no way to retreat.

With heaven on one side and hell on the other, nature chooses the path to heaven.

In the distance of the official road, a puff of dust and smoke rose, and I saw a group of chaotic teams rushing towards the convoy......

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