Three days later, near evening, the army finally reached the vicinity of Liangtouwang.

In the forty-fifth year of Jianxi, Bai Ling heard this name for the first time from the dying Huang Gonggong.

Looking at both ends, a small city between Yanzhou and Zhuozhou.

Listening to Huang Gonggong, when the weather is good, standing on the highest mountain outside the county, you can see the wolf smoke rising from Zhuozhou Mansion and Yanzhou Mansion at the same time, and the two heads are also named.

It's just that at that time, Bai Ling never imagined that one day he would come to this small city in the north with the army.

When there were still dozens of miles away from the city, the first general Wang Meng stopped and personally led a group of teams to another mountain pass not far away to wait.

Bai Ling also followed, only to learn that when they were advancing all the way to the northeast, another group of 1,000 baggage troops carrying guns and ammunition also set off at the same time.

This batch of supplies was extremely heavy, and the roads between Zhuo and Yan were rugged, and it was impossible to catch up with the marching troops by mule and horse alone, but the northern land was already in winter, and the ice roads had been put into use, so the situation was very different.

"Ice Road?" Kashiwa was a little curious, "Is it a road paved with ice?" ”

"I'll show you when it's almost there." Wang Meng's answer was a little perfunctory.

Soon, Bai Ling understood.

Between Zhuozhou and Yanzhou, there are several "ice roads" that specialize in quickly transporting supplies in winter.

There are many wells along the road, and every year around the beginning of the snowfall, soldiers come to splash the road with well water, and so on many times, and the original dirt road forms a thick surface of ice.

The baggage equipment was wrapped in thick cotton cloth, and horses were arranged on both sides of the road to move forward along the ice road, so that the originally heavy supplies could be hauled on the road with briskness.

The deliverers were able to move at the speed of an infantry march as long as they controlled the speed and direction of the mules and horses, and occasionally even faster when they encountered straight sections of the ice track.

"What a wonderful method," Bai Ling exclaimed, "how did you come up with this?" ”

Wang Meng laughed, "This is going to start with the previous dynasty." ”

"How?"

"I heard that in the early years, the palace wanted to build a large hall, and it took a few people to hug the giant wood to make beams and pillars, but the giant trees grew deep in the mountains and could not be transported to the capital, so some officials from the southwest came up with this method," Wang Meng explained, "A few years ago, General Chang didn't know where he heard this story, so let's try it too, and it really works." ”

Bai Ling was stunned for a moment, and then remembered the almost magnificent Xuanxiu Hall of Emperor Jianxi.

…… It's kind of crooked.

Wang Meng and the others originally wanted to light the supplies and confirm that they were correct, and then go to join the large army - although the ice road relieved a lot of transportation pressure along the way, it was impossible to escape from the last ten miles.

However, when he really arrived at the agreed intersection, Wang Meng found that there were only a few heralds waiting there, and he hurriedly stepped forward to ask for details, only to know that because the first snow had just passed, many ice roads were not frozen tightly enough, so it was delayed for some time.

It is estimated that it will not arrive until midnight today that this batch of arms to be transported to Liangtouwang and Yanzhou will arrive.

So Wang Meng sent an order to go down and let the large army not far away camp on the spot, while he and a few of his subordinates waited here.

In the evening, several people lit a campfire and sat around to eat. Before Bai Ling had eaten a few bites, he heard a faint cry from the mountain road in the distance, several soldiers put down their bowls, and one of them rushed into the darkness with a knife, and when he came back, there was a villager beside him.

When the man saw Wang Meng, he was not afraid to laugh, and immediately cried after laughing, knelt on the ground, and shouted "Jun Ye help" repeatedly.

"What's going on? Get up and speak. Wang Meng frowned and said, "Where are you from?" ”

The man's voice stumbled because he was choked, "Xiaomin is a ...... from Stone Monkey Town"

"Stone Monkey Town......" Wang Meng's brows furrowed more and more tightly when he heard the name of this place, "Is it the Stone Monkey Town that looks seven or eight miles to the west?" ”

"Yes, yes!" The man's expression became excited, and he was about to continue, but was interrupted by Wang Meng.

Wang Meng was dumbfounded, and slapped his right hand viciously on his side, "Half a month ago, the Zhuozhou Mansion ordered that the mountain people in the nearby towns and towns should withdraw to Zhuozhou City to spend the winter with the army, why are you still haunting this wilderness!?" ”

The villager hurriedly raised his sleeves and wiped his face, "The military master Rongyu, the military master Rongyu, it's not that Xiaomin ran out alone, there are thirty or forty families in our town who are still in the town——"

Wang Meng was stunned.

When he heard the truth, he was even more angry in his heart - it turned out that this year, General Chang forgave the busy farming period for about a month and a half, and did not let the nearby villagers Zhuo, Yan, Fu, and Jing in the four big cities of Zhuo, Yan, Fu, and Jing as in previous years, as in previous years, so this year's wheat was more ripe.

The grain was originally more abundant, but how to bring the surplus grain into the winter shelter in the city has become a problem again - even after paying the official grain, almost every household in Shihouzi Town still has a lot of food left.

The government is not allowed to leave the grain outside, and to stay outside is to give the grain to the gold thief, so the government's consistent practice is to burn all the grain that cannot be taken away on the spot.

However, this year, because the time for the people to enter the city was postponed, the military strength of previous years could not be used to supervise the implementation of this matter in the towns and villages.

As a result, there was such a strange scene in Stone Monkey Town - these thirty or forty families formed a team of 100 people to transport grain to Zhuozhou in turn, but before all the grain was moved to Zhuozhou City, no one entered the city.

After all, you can't get out of the city if you enter the city.

The villagers had made a wishful calculation, and when they transported all the grain to the city of Zhuozhou, the government would not insist on burning it on the spot, and then the officials would naturally send soldiers or officials to help them transport the grain into the city.

And yet, just this morning—when the gang was back in town for the last time...... The gold thief is coming.

Wang Meng was shocked and angry when he heard this, "How many people escaped?" ”

"That's it...... I'm the only one," the man replied tremblingly, and then quickly realized the ambiguity of his words, "ah, no, I mean I'm the only one who escaped, and the others are still in town, but none of them are dead!" ”

“…… Not dead? ”

"Yes, the gang of gold thieves who came today is different from previous years, after entering the town, they didn't kill people or set fires, it's just ...... Just let us cook for them, do their laundry ......"

The man raised his sleeves and wiped the tears on his face again, "It was several friends and neighbors who covered me and let me slip out at night, I thought that I wouldn't be able to go back to Zhuozhou for a while, so I desperately ran to both ends - I met the military master here, please, please send someone to rescue us!" ”