imperial psychologist

Chapter 698
Three days later, towards evening, the army finally arrived near the two ends.

In the 45th year of Jianxi, Boling heard this name for the first time at the dying Eunuch Huang.

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

I heard from Eunuch Huang that when the weather is fine, standing on the highest mountain outside the county, you can see the smoke rising from Zhuozhou Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture at the same time, hence the name Duowangwang.

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

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

Bo Ling also went along with him, only to find out that when they were advancing all the way in the northeast direction, another batch of thousands of people transporting guns and ammunition also set off at the same time.

This batch of supplies was extremely heavy, and the road between Zhuo and Yan was rugged, so it was impossible to catch up with the marching team by hauling them with mules and horses alone. However, it was winter in the north and the ice road had been put into use, so the situation was quite different.

"Ice road?" Bai Ling felt a bit of novelty, "A road paved with ice?"

"I'll show you when it's almost here." Wang Meng replied somewhat perfunctorily.

Soon, Berlin understood.

From Zhuozhou to Yanzhou, there are several "ice roads" dedicated to the rapid delivery of supplies in winter.

There are many specially dug wells along the road. Every year around the first snowfall, soldiers come here to pour water from the wells on the road. Repeat this many times, and the original dirt road forms a thick ice surface.

The underside of 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 materials could be hauled briskly on the road.

As long as the escorts control the speed and direction of the mules and horses, they can move forward at the speed of infantry marching. Occasionally, when they encounter a straight section of the ice road, they can even go faster.

"It's a wonderful method," Bai Ling sighed, "How did you come up with this?"

Wang Meng laughed, "This starts from the previous dynasty."

"How to say?"

"I heard that in the early years when the palace wanted to build a great hall, it needed giant trees hugged by several people to make beams and pillars, but the giant trees grew in the deep mountains and couldn't be transported to the capital, so some officials in the southwest came up with this method," Wang Meng explained, "A few years ago, General Chang heard this story from somewhere, so let us try it, and it really works."

Bai Ling was taken aback for a moment, and immediately thought of Emperor Jianxi's almost magnificent Xuanxiu Palace.

...It can be regarded as some kind of crooked attack.

Wang Meng and the others originally wanted to check the supplies and confirm that they were correct before rejoining the main force—although the ice road along the way relieved a lot of the pressure on transportation, the last dozen or so miles could not be escaped. .

However, when he got to the agreed intersection, Wang Meng discovered that there were only a few messengers waiting there. He hurriedly stepped forward to inquire about the details, only to realize that because the first snow had just passed, some ice roads were not frozen enough, so there was some delay. time.

It is estimated that it will not arrive until midnight today before the batch of arms destined for Liangduwang and Yanzhou arrives.

So Wang Meng sent an order to let the large troops not far away camp on the spot, while he and several subordinates waited here.

At night, several people set up a campfire and sat around to eat.Before Bai Ling took a few mouthfuls, he heard faint cries from the mountain road in the distance. Several soldiers put down their bowls, and one of them rushed into the darkness with a knife. When he came back, there was a villager-like person beside him. .

When the man saw Wang Meng, he was not afraid to laugh back. After laughing, he burst into tears immediately, knelt down on the ground, and repeatedly shouted "Master, help."

"What's the matter? Get up and talk." Wang Meng frowned, "Where did you come from?"

The man's voice was choked with sobs, "Xiaomin is from Stone Monkey Town..."

"Stone Monkey Town..." Wang Meng frowned when he heard the name of the place, "Is it Stone Monkey Town looking westward for seven or eight miles?"

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

Wang Meng glared, and slapped his right hand viciously at his side, "Half a month ago, the Zhuozhou government ordered that all the people in the nearby villages and towns be withdrawn to Zhuozhou city to spend the winter with the army. Why are you still haunting this wilderness!?"

The villager quickly raised his sleeves and wiped his face, "Jun Ye Rong Zhi, Jun Ye Rong Zhi, it's not Xiaomin who ran out alone, our town master said that there are thirty or forty families still in the town—"

Wang Meng stood there in a daze.

After hearing the whole story, he became even more angry-it turned out that General Chang had forgiven the busy farming period for about one and a half months this year, and did not let the nearby villagers Zhuo, Yan, and Fu, as in previous years, approach July The four big cities of Jing and Jing, so this year's wheat is more ripe.

The grain was originally more abundant, but how to bring the surplus grain to the winter shelter in the city became a problem—even after paying the official grain, almost every household in Shihouzi Town still had a lot of grain left.

The government doesn't allow food to be left outside. Leaving it outside is giving food to gold thieves, so the government's consistent practice is to burn all the food that can't be taken away on the spot.

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

As a result, such a strange scene appeared in Shihou Town-thirty or forty families formed a team of hundreds of people, and transported the grain to Zhuozhou in turn, but before all the grain was moved to the city of Zhuozhou, all of them stopped. into town.

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

The villagers made up their wishful thinking. When they transported all the grain to the city of Zhuozhou, the government would not insist on burning it on the spot. At that time, the government would naturally send soldiers or yamen servants to help them transport the grain into the city.

However, just this morning—when the group of them returned to the town for the last time to clean up the end...the gold thief came.

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

"Just... just me," the man replied tremblingly, and soon realized the ambiguity in his words, "ah, no, I mean I was the only one who escaped, although the others were still in the town Come on, but none of them died!"

"……not dead?"

"Yes, the group of gold thieves who came today are different from those in previous years. After entering the town, they didn't kill or set fire. They just... let us cook and wash for them..."

The man raised his sleeves and wiped the tears on his face again, "Several friends and neighbors covered me up and let me slip out at night. I thought I wouldn't be able to go back to Zhuozhou for a while, so I just I desperately looked to both sides—and finally ran into the military master here, please, please send someone to save us!"

(End of this chapter)