The official road between Jingshi and Tianjin Sanwei, for various reasons, was built along the canal, and it was very simple to obtain grain by relying on the river.

These big car shops or villages along the way have a few livelihoods, one is to receive merchants to stay and eat, the other is to buy cheap grain and private liquor, and the third is to ventilate people from all walks of life.

On the third day, when he set off, Zhuang Ke, who followed Wang Tong, pushed over an old man and begged Wang Tong with a smiling face to pay him first.

After the Zhuangzi of Liu Shouyou outside the city returned to Wang Tong, many Zhuangke followed the original people to work elsewhere, and those who stayed behind were all Mongolians who herded horses, and among the twenty-six people, only two of them married local mothers-in-law, and the rest were bachelors in their early thirties.

Wang Tong has always been very generous in terms of money, and he also has a heart for these wranglers, and the surname Suo gave him an advance of two months' wages, and when Tan Jiang took the money, he shook his head and smiled bitterly.

The twenty or so shepherds waited for a while before they set out, and each of them had a large bulging leather bag on his horse, and a small water bladder in his hand.

After going on the road, Wang Tong knew why Tan Jiang smiled bitterly, these shepherds actually started drinking spirits early in the morning, you and I took a sip of it quite moisturizing, and a few of them drank it happily, and they sang loudly right away.

The atmosphere of the team suddenly became lively, the children sitting in the carriage clapped their hands and laughed, and the pedestrians on the road also looked sideways, Ma Sanbiao, Sun Dahai, and Zhang Shiqiang all followed Wang Tong to ride a horse back and forth in the team, Wang Tong couldn't help but shake his head after a few glances, so happy, it didn't look like a move at all, but like an outing.

"If these Tartars can afford to drink this on the grassland, they will come to our Ming Dynasty on the grassland, and all the wages they earn every month will be lost on the wine."

Ma Sanbiao said with a smile on the horse, Wang Tong was a little surprised, and asked casually:

"The price of this wine is not expensive, the salary of more than 20 of them is only six taels of silver a month, you see how much they bought, and there are still a few jars on the car!"

"I don't know if the price is small, but when I was working in the Zhuangzi, I listened to them, and the spirits on our side can only be drunk on the grassland, that is, most of the Taiji, and the head of a small tribe of thousands of people is not qualified, and it is easy to exchange ten catties of good wine for a good horse, which is considered conscientious."

Wang Tong shook his head, he was the modern understanding of the ancient, and there were really many differences.

It was only three days away for the Jingshi to go out, and there were no people on both sides of the official road, and the large fields were now winter, and they looked very desolate.

The wrangler was so happy that he suddenly beat his horse and rushed into the field, and Wang Tong thought that something had happened, but who would have thought that the man would take a bow and arrow, and then dismount his horse, and when he returned to the team, he already had an extra rabbit in his hand, and he threw the rabbit into the car with a smile, and then continued to drink.

The children applauded, and the atmosphere became more enthusiastic, and the shepherds saw that there were people cheering, and they were even more energetic, and some people kept running towards the fields on both sides, and after walking for more than an hour, they actually got back a dozen rabbits, and they were not worried about meat when they rested at noon.

Because there was a big car, the team couldn't go fast, so Wang Tong checked whether the fire medium in his copper pipe was burned out every time he walked, and then replaced it with a new one after burning.

In this gap, he noticed one thing, the bows of the herdsmen are different from the bows used by the generals of the Tan family, the bows used by the generals of the Tan family are the standard military bows of the Ming Dynasty, the bow body is narrow and long, while the bows used by the herdsmen are much shorter, but the bow body is very thick, and it looks like a crescent moon.

When he went to ask Tan Jiang, Tan Jiang understood this and explained:

"These shepherds use horned bows, they can't shoot far but shoot fast, and they have great strength within thirty paces, and if they are the elite riders of the Tartars, they can break through the armor within thirty paces, and these people will be able to beat a rabbit."

It seems that the difference between professional and amateur is here, the farmer of the horse herding drinks happily, and constantly rides out to the side of the road to see if there is any prey, while the generals of the Tan family are scrupulously abiding by their duties, and everyone is cautious.

Although what Tan Jiang said last night was serious, the journey of the three days was very peaceful, but these generals did not relax at all, Zhang Shiqiang and Sun Dahai and others have been patrolling back and forth, and the actions of the herdsmen are just smiling at best, and the people trained by Wang Tong himself and the teenagers who came with him are also silent.

At noon, I also found a village to rest, Wang Tongyin gave enough money, and the people in the village were willing to make efforts to entertain, and the dozen rabbits that were beaten were skinned and stewed, and they were given good food.

After eating, Wang Tong had to tell the herdsmen a few words, so that they should not drink in the afternoon, because if they drank such a large amount of alcohol, they could only sleep on horseback, and what else could they do.

Those shepherds were also obedient, and in the afternoon, under the supervision of Ma Sanbiao and others, they only secretly drank a few sips and did not dare to be as presumptuous as in the morning, but they might have to drink happily at night.

In the afternoon, after walking for less than an hour, Tan Gong, who had been blowing wind on the pile of goods, climbed down from it, said a few words to General Tan, and climbed up again.

General Tan first said hello to Sun Dahai, and asked Sun Dahai to transfer the fifty people under Wang Tong to the end of the team, and then rode to Wang Tong's side.

"Master, Tan Gong said that there are a few horseback riders in the back, who have appeared since yesterday afternoon, and they showed up once this morning, and they appeared again just now."

Wang Tong groaned, there was no interface, but he first raised his voice and shouted to Ma Sanbiao:

"Three standards, everyone in this wilderness is panicking, sending weapons or something, and it also gives everyone courage."

Because there are a lot of old and weak women and children in the team, and it is an official road, those people on foot did not give them blades, they were all placed on several carts, Wang Tong shouted, Ma Sanbiao dragged Sun Xin to the cart together, untied the tarpaulin, and sent the sword, shield and spear inside.

Wang Tong's own family has half a sword and half a shield and half a spear, and the teenagers use spears, and they have rarely touched real knives and guns in the past year, and they are all very excited.

Seeing Ma Sanbiao go to untie the tarpaulin on the carriage, Wang Tongcai turned around and said to General Tan in a deep voice:

"Could it be someone from the city?"

Tan Jiang shook his head and said uncertainly:

"The road between Jingshi and Tianjin Sanwei is not very smooth, and there are even eunuchs who are on errands and are intercepted, after the fifth day of the lunar month, there are no people on this road, and it is also possible that we pass by those Zhuangzi who spend too much money to show their ......."

I have lived in a few places along the way, and I really can't tell where the traces are revealed, Wang Tong's face sank, and Tan Jiang said in a low voice:

"Don't worry, sir, there are nearly two hundred people on our side, and there are almost more than 100 men who can go into battle, and the armor is enough, and the master is a thousand households of Jinyiwei, and his identity and strength are all here, and the handmaiden who is not long-eyed dares to touch it."

The handknap is talking about horses and bandits, Wang Tong didn't make a sound, there are not so many people in this world who don't have long eyes, a convoy of brocade clothes and thousands of households will be targeted, think about the things you encountered before going out of Beijing, you know that it is not so simple.

After thinking about it, there is no good way, if you send someone back to Beijing to ask for reinforcements, you may be cleaned up by someone if you are weak on the way, and go to Tianjin to find someone, this far water can not quench your thirst.

"Be careful, you find someone to keep an eye on those shepherds, go to Tianjin, I have enough good wine and meat, whoever takes a sip on the road, I will let the horse ride him away." Even if they didn't say anything, the men were armed, and the shepherds were told not to drink, but everyone felt the tension rise.

Several carriages carrying women and children reached the middle of the procession, and a few lively children, who were originally in the carriage outside, were also called by their families to stay in the car.

Tan Gong sat on the top of the carriage and kept shouting at the bottom, dispatching people on horseback to investigate the traces in the direction he had set, and Tan Jiang also kept asking Wang Tong for instructions.

Wang Tong made an adjustment to the formation, and gave a death order to the drivers who drove the cart, as soon as there was a problem, the large convoy was disconnected in the middle, the front team did not move forward to the right a few steps, and the back team continued to move forward slightly to the left, and the two teams stopped in a circle when they were together.

Carrying women, children, the old and weak, the cart loaded with gold, silver, soft and blades went directly to this circle, using the official road as the center line and the basic surface, and using the cart to circle a position, this is what Yu Dayou said in the martial arts hall, and the partial van tactics of Qi Jiguang, the chief soldier of Jizhen, are almost the same.

Wang Tong didn't expect that the things in the martial arts hall middle school could be used at this time, not to mention people like Tan Jiang, Li Tao, Sun Xin, Li Hutou and other teenagers from the martial arts hall also understood and knew that something was going to happen, but these young heroes didn't have any intention of being afraid, but they came to the spirit one by one.

"At least two of them followed, and a group of people only came up in the afternoon."

In the evening, when he arrived at a small village, Wang Tong had just finished arranging accommodation, and Tan Jiang came up in a low voice to report, Wang Tong scolded in his heart, but he was still calm on the surface, and commanded in a deep voice:

"There are not many places in this village that can be accessed, and the entrances are blocked with big carts, your brothers will come out of the shift tonight, the teenagers of the Huwei Martial Arts Hall and my family are mixed, a group of twenty, your two brothers lead a group, one hour and one rotation, the whole team, regardless of men, women, old and weak, must not sleep in loose clothes, and must get up and prepare immediately when they hear the sound of the gong."

"The night guard is tight, and the thieves don't dare to attack hard, this place where the black light is blind, and it is impossible to see that rushing up is to send it to death, but the little one just asked the people of this village, and it is a day's journey, and it will take almost half an hour after dark to see the place of accommodation, and I am afraid that I will fight on this road tomorrow."

"Fight and fight, it's nothing more than killing."

Hearing General Tan's statement, Wang Tong said coldly.

(To be continued)