The farmland is gradually decreasing, and the hills are rolling and soft.

Chu Fan believed that the horse was reined forward, and quietly listened to Shi Meng's narration, and his mind was galloping to confirm, judge, calculate, reason, and deduce......

Hehe, the decisive battle of a million-strong army is obviously bragging!

Of course, don't blame Shi Meng, he really believes it.

Chu Fan had seen an introduction to the Battle of Yunxiyuan in the book, saying that "millions of corpses are ambushed, and blood is flowing", which is purely bragging and not making a draft. I also saw the record of the strange disappearance of Meng Dai, the general of Li Guo, in this battle, which is true.

The original site of Yunxi is narrow, and it cannot accommodate a decisive battle of a million troops.

Moreover, the efficiency of this era was low, and in order to ensure that one soldier was fighting, at least three people were needed to be responsible for the supply of baggage. As soon as the front is lengthened, the number of logistical personnel will rise sharply. The people had to eat, and the mules and horses had to consume forage.

If you count them all, the million-strong army can barely make up enough.

According to this estimate, the total number of combat troops on both sides is at most more than 200,000, and the number of short-handed troops is only tens of thousands.

These tens of thousands of people were not piled together to fight in groups, but scattered on the more than 200-mile line from Yangwu to Yunxiyuan to Cangnan County, and experienced a lot of skirmishes.

The reason why there are often cases of tens of thousands of people defeating hundreds of thousands of people in the book is because there are not so many fighters on the other side, and they have different intentions.

The Great War is composed of battles one after another, which are fought in different areas and at different times, and are generally staggered. As long as one or two of the troops can't resist and start to flee, the neighboring friendly forces may also be implicated and have no fighting spirit. In the end, everyone stopped fighting, and the girl ran away, forming a big rout, and the so-called defeat was like a mountain.

From this point of view, the army of Ji was still very strong, and they retreated neatly section by section, and did not rout.

Li Guo portrayed Xiaoyao Hou as like the god of war, in fact, he relied on the local battle to drive the Ji army away, and was forced to retreat as soon as he broke into the opponent's Jianning County.

Well, it's still amazing!

Especially later, he did not hesitate to work hard and lose money to build straight roads, open mountains and fill valleys, and build bridges when encountering water, which is very forward-thinking.

So what did he do by consuming rice and grain and imprisoning 3,000 prisoners of war? I am afraid that it was out of strategic considerations, such as public opinion, for example, as a bargaining chip, and so on.

Anyone who takes 3,000 prisoners of war and refuses to surrender will have a headache. Let it go, people will go back and be soldiers. Kill it, the impact is too bad. Sell it to pieces, no one wants to kill a suffocating slave.

Prisoners of war riots, quite normal.

Plague, too, is possible.

In the middle of winter, the plague that had already been quarantined actually crossed Yunxi to infect three villages, but it was unlikely.

There must be something strange about this!

Eleven years ago, Chen Sesame was rotten millet, Chu Fan was too lazy to bother, and focused on Hu Er.

There are many points of overlap between him and Niu Ding.

Living in isolation, kidnapping children, involving the netherworld, similar deaths, three incense sticks......

Chu Fan boldly speculated that Niu Ding inherited the mantle after living in Hu Er's house and became the ferryman of the River Styx, from an ordinary splash skin to a must-have splash skin. But Hu Er is a regular worker, but Niu Ding is a temporary worker, so he doesn't dare to be arrogant. At least when he whipped himself with a willow branch, he did not dare to return the favor.

The key point is that the three incense sticks may be a tool for communication with the netherworld, and when lit, they invite black and white impermanence. The folk invite the gods to send ghosts, don't they also light three incense sticks!

Dong Wei, the head catcher, should have died at the hands of black and white impermanence, not by Hu Er's curse.

The old county commander Li Guangming knew some inside information, so he said those words to Shi Meng before leaving. However, the official authority is too small to fight. Generally, when you return to your hometown, you need to apply for it yourself. It seems that he was seriously threatened and resigned at the critical juncture.

Hu Er was a military man who had left the army, and suddenly appeared in Yangwu after the plague. There are clues and mysteries.

Before he died, Niu Ding shouted, "The ghost is on the road, and Huangquan will not return." You can't run away from the ......", sounding the alarm bell. It is necessary to plan early while things that don't know whether they are humans or ghosts have not yet found themselves.

Chu Fan became more and more curious, and he became more and more vigilant, and his arrogance gradually grew.

Hehe, no matter what kind of charm it is, I laugh at myself and move forward!

When I was approaching Yunxi Racecourse, I came across a stream of people coming out of it, riding or leading horses with new stirrups and polished oil. It seems that the largest horse farm in Qingyun County is doing quite well.

Turning a hill, a large grassland of tens of thousands of acres appeared, and a wooden fence stood tall.

When the two of them came to a blue-brick mansion at the front of the grassland, a clever little man immediately came up to lead the horse. There are also four carriages parked in front of the house, presumably also bought horses.

Two women took the maid for a leisurely walk not far away, taking the trade as an outing. Farther away, in the shed, a few men were diligently washing the two horses, with saddle stirrups and reins and whips, and a few men stood beside them.

A man who looked like a steward accompanied a rich man out of the house, and when he saw Shi Meng, he was stunned, smiled and arched his hand, and said, "Shi Zhutou, rare guest, which gust of wind blew you here today? There is nothing else here except horses." ”

Shi Meng was wearing civilian clothes today, just because he was afraid that others would misunderstand him about the case, so he smiled embarrassedly when he heard this: "Manager Lin, our family came here today to buy a horse." ”

The rich man also recognized Shi Meng, and went to the front to greet him.

Steward Lin said:

"Shi Zhutou, do you buy it yourself or the county government to buy it? Or you go to eat tea first, and there are other stewards in there to greet you." I'll accompany Wang Weng first......"

"I bought ......it myself," Shi Meng saw Chu Fan shaking his head slightly, and continued: "We have to hurry, let's have tea next time...... Bother to call an old fellow over. ”

Steward Lin summoned a man in his fifties and accompanied Wang Weng to the stable.

The old guy trotted to Shi Meng's approach, nodded and finished his work, took out a mouthful of yellow teeth, and said with a smile:

"Stone catchers, small horses are expensive. The year before last, you and Zhang Zhutou picked up a horse for the house, which was greeted by the little old man. At that time, I secretly told you that there was a yellow horse that was the best, and what happened?"

Shi Meng gave a thumbs up and said, "Borrow your auspicious words, I'll ride that horse, it's very good." ”

"Did you give it a name?"

"Well, no. ”

"Animals also have spirits, and they often call them by name, and they understand them...... Hehe, look at the broken mouth of the little old man, as soon as he opens the chatterbox, he can't hold it back, and he forgets to get down to business. I don't know what the stone catcher is going to do with the horse today?"

"Ah, that's fine, too?"

"Of course, only after asking clearly can I help the catcher choose. Like slaughtering horses, we don't have them here. Like a cart puller, there is also a distinction between a pack horse that carries a load. If you are pulling a guard of honor, you need to be tall and beautiful, docile and walk steadily. If you climb a mountain with a weight, a pony is better than a big horse.

According to the little old man, the head catcher is strong in martial arts, and he wants to pick a fast horse with his feet. But the endurance of running fast is not good, and the endurance of good endurance is often not fast, and it is one of a hundred miles to have both. As for the thousands of miles that travel thousands of miles a day and eight hundred miles at night, they belong to one in a thousand miles, and they are rare. The imperial court passed 800 miles of urgent documents, and changed horses at the post station every twenty miles. Otherwise, no horse can run 800 miles in one go, not even a thousand miles away. ”

Chu Fan interjected, "Pick your best and fastest horse." ”

Ma Gui's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he was secretly ashamed. only cares about flattering the stone catcher, but I didn't expect that the silent scholar is the talker and the big customer.

Shi Meng saw Ma Gui looking at Chu Fan and introduced:

"My cousin Chu Fan, you can do whatever he says. ”

"I've seen Gongzi Chu. Ma Gui made a gesture to Chu Fan and said, "Little Lao'er will take you to the back mountain, there is still more than half a mile to go." Do you want to ride over and have a look, or will the little old man pick one and bring it over?"

"A few steps is nothing, let's walk over and see. Chu Fan smiled and nodded in return.

"Okay, then ask the two nobles to go to the back mountain with Xiao Lao'er. ”

Led by Ma Gui, take a detour from the side of the blue brick mansion to the back. I saw that on the left and right sides were dense wooden fences more than one person high, and a three-zhang wide road was left in the middle. About 100 zhang away, there is a row of wooden fences in front and a small hill behind it. It turned out that the horses in this horse farm were enclosed in two large circles and small circles of wooden fences.

Chu Fan twisted his fingers and threw a glance at Shi.

Shi Meng understood, took a few steps forward, stuffed a grain of broken silver into Ma Gui, and said: "Thanks to my brother's reminder, the yellow horse is very good to ride, and he once carried our family out of danger." ”

Ma Gui pushed it twice and didn't push it off, happily put the silver in his arms, and proudly introduced:

"There are more than 700 horses and pack horses in the right column, more than 500 fast horses in the left column, and more than 100 fine horses in the front column. Although it can't compare to the big horse farm in the north, it is a scorpion in Qingyun County, and it is the only one. Do you know why other people's horses only cost 35 taels of silver, and fast horses only cost 70 taels of silver, but our family only needs 40 taels of silver and 80 taels of silver, and the supply is still in short supply?"

Seeing that Ma Gui was selling Guanzi, Shi Meng frowned, but Chu Fan smiled and said:

"Yunxi Horse Farm, well-known, is said to produce military horses......"

At this time, only the sound of "bang bang bang, bang" was heard, and there were people beating gongs and drums in the wooden fence in front of the left and right. Strangely, the horses did not panic and ran around in groups.

Chu Fan wondered and asked, "What are you doing?"

Ma Gui smiled:

"Our horses are indeed raised in accordance with the requirements of military horses, and we send 300 horses to the border pass Yaoping every year. There is no order, and the end is immobile like a mountain. When the mountains roar and the tsunami during the war, they are most afraid of startling the horses. Even if a horse can run fast and drag a heavy cart, if it is frightened, it will overturn a person and overturn the cart, and it will not be fatal?"

Chu Fan stretched out his thumb and said with a smile:

"Hahaha, whenever there is calm in a big event, your horse should be worth so much money!"

When Ma Gui saw his praise, he became more and more proud, so he walked to the side:

"Let's beat the drum in the morning, and the horses will run out of the stables of their own accord. When the gongs sound at dusk, they have automatic stables. ”

"Oh, what's that point about?"

"Beat the drum to fight, Mingjin to withdraw the troops. ”

"Not bad, not bad...... Chu Fan was overjoyed and asked: "The elder brother has a tough demeanor, he must have been in the army and participated in the Battle of Yunxiyuan." ”

"Hehe, I'm ashamed. Xiao Lao'er only fought one battle in Qinghe Township, Yangwu County, and he didn't have the ability to cut off a head, and he couldn't get on the battlefield because he was hit by an arrow in his shoulder. Over the years, I have sometimes thought that if I had fought for military merits, why would I have to raise horses again? Sometimes I think that the brothers who fought for military exploits at the beginning died in Yunxi, Cangnan, Yaoping, and Jianning in eight or nine times out of ten, and what qualifications does the little old man have to sigh? Alas, the blood mill in Yunxiyuan was just under the foot of this horse farm, and when it was sorted out eight years ago, a lot of white bones were turned out. ”

Chu Fan sighed twice and asked:

"Then you have stayed in the horse farm for many years, and you are not afraid of any ghosts and ghosts? I heard that there are often ghosts wandering in the ancient battlefield, and I don't know if it is true or not. ”

As soon as he heard this, Ma Gui walked away for a while. He stopped and waited for the silver, turned to see that there was no one behind him, and said in a low voice:

"Little old man, I really saw the Yin soldiers crossing the border. ”