The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

After avoiding the sweltering heat of the day and marching at night and in the cool hours of the early morning and evening, the speed is indeed much faster. Originally, the maximum distance traveled was more than forty miles a day, but now it can cover fifty miles in one night. More importantly, the team does not No matter how tired you are, your spirits are much better.

Although there are many disadvantages of traveling at night, and it is not as convenient to deal with minor troubles during the day, but overall the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Traveling day and night in this way, six days later, they finally passed Zhengzhou, crossed Xijing Chang'an City, left the territory of the Beijing East-West Road, and arrived at the southernmost Shanzhou Prefecture of the Yongxing Army.

In the early morning of this day, the group of people who had been driving all night suddenly found that the scenery in front of them was different by the brightening sky. The overlapping mountains lay in front of them, replacing the Northwest Plain behind them.

It was the first time for many people to see the scene of hills and mountains, and they were a little excited. Even Su Jin was no exception. After finding a flat open space to set up the camp for today's rest, Su Jin led more than ten riders Immediately went to a nearby hillside to observe the terrain.

The official road meanders from the side of the hillside, like a python plunging into the mountains in front of it and disappearing. Excavating the official road in such a terrain must have suffered a lot when it was built, exhausting a lot of manpower and material resources.

Different from the excitement of everyone pointing and pointing, Wang Lang seemed a little worried. He knew in his heart that the most difficult period of the journey had come. However, safety is ignored. In many places, there are cliffs on one side of the mountain wall, and many places pass between the narrow and long valley roads between the two mountains. There will be huge rocks and mud due to heavy rain or other reasons. The sand and trees fell down and blocked the official road, making it difficult for people to move an inch.

This is not the main thing, the key man-made threat, the section from Shanzhou to Jiezhou is full of mountains, it is said that there are no less than dozens of gangsters entrenched in the mountains, although the number of people is much different from that of the escort brigade, most of them are several A small group of ten or even a dozen people, but in such a terrain, the number of people is not an advantage at all, and many places can be called "one man guards the gate, ten thousand men cannot open it", so we must not take it lightly.

Wang Lang told Su Jin and the others all his worries. Once the excitement passed, everyone felt that the road ahead was long and difficult, and they all became serious.

"Master Wang, you are right. Such a mountain road is indeed prone to mistakes, and it has already reached the ground of the Yongxing Army, which means that we have officially entered the range where the Xithie cavalry can interfere. Everyone must fight Come up with twelve points."

Wang Lang said: "My lord, it is clear that the difficult mountain roads can be overcome. I don't think the bandits would dare to rob the road openly. At most, it's just a nuisance, and what's more afraid is that they will be targeted by the thieves, and there will be big troubles. "

Su Jindao: "It is not yet possible, and the cavalry of the western thieves will never dare to go deep into the official road in the mountain. The strength is greatly reduced, so there is no need to worry about it for now.”

Wang Chao interjected: "My lord is right, what I'm worried about is what will happen after leaving the mountain path. What I'm most afraid of is that someone will set up an ambush at the entrance of the valley on the other side of the mountain, and then I will have to advance and retreat."

Ma Han laughed loudly and said: "Everyone is talking about the excitement, and the western thieves haven't seen a single hair, so where is the danger? Teach me, which way should we go or how to go, if they don't come, it's fine, and when they come, we just have a pot If you leave them, be afraid of a bird!"

Everyone rolled their eyes at the same time. If it was really that simple, they wouldn't be harassed by the thieves, but what this guy said was true, so we can take precautions, but there is no need to worry about it, after all, there is no shadow.

After weighing things up, Su Jin ordered to change the marching time again, take a good rest today, and set off on the road tomorrow during the day, firstly, the mountain road is not easy to walk at night, secondly, the climate in the mountains is much cooler than that on the flat land, and it is easier to deal with emergencies event.

After the order was issued, everyone had a precious day of rest, and they all took the time to adjust their bodies and minds. The carpenters accompanying the team were also busy reinforcing and repairing the carts to cope with the upcoming bumps on the mountain road.

Su Jin woke up from a nap, it was already late in the afternoon, after eating something under Xiao Sui'er's service, he went back to his tent, and saw Xia Siling sitting there with a sad face, constantly moving , sighed again and again, so he stepped forward and asked with a smile: "What's the matter? Is it okay to have lice on your body?"

Xia Siling complained softly: "There are no lice, but the whole body is sticky. I haven't bathed for six or seven days. It's really uncomfortable. Brother Su, look, my hair is all in pieces, it's really ugly. .”

Su Jin couldn't help laughing, her hair was wet with sweat, and then stained with loess, and it really formed into lumps, which was miserable enough, like Xia Siling, a delicate young lady, who usually washes her body in vain and smells fragrant, Where has she ever suffered from such ups and downs? Even if she is strong enough, she hasn't complained of suffering so far, even Su Jin's horse, which has been riding for a few days, feels like it's falling apart, let alone she.

Su Jin thought for a while and said, "Well, anyway, I'm going to rest today, I'll take you out for a walk, and see if I can find a place with water to wash well."

Xia Siling frowned and said: "Where is the pond in this place? Doesn't it mean that there is a shortage of water in the northwest?"

Su Jin laughed and said: "There will never be water shortage in the mountains. Otherwise, how can the lush trees and weeds grow on this mountain? The key is to see if you can find a place. Just now I was looking at the slope in front of me. Did I see it? In the distant valley there is a place where the trees are particularly dense, and I dare to say that there must be a water pond there."

Xia Siling said happily: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Su Jin pinched her little nose and said, "Ask Shang Sui'er to go with her, where is she?"

Xia Siling said: "Sister Xiaosui'er went to play with the old Getou in the motorcade. She said that this old Ge's head looks like her father, and he is also kind. The two hit it off right away."

Su Jin rolled her eyes, Xiao Sui'er was born in a farming family, and she liked ordinary people more than other people. Besides, she was far away from home, Xiao Sui'er was probably homesick too, maybe this old Getou aroused her nostalgia. He never asked about her family background, and he really didn't care enough about her.

Xiao Sui'er was enjoying her own time, Su Jin didn't want to disturb her, Xia Siling packed a bag of clean clothes and carried Su Jin out of the tent, Su Jin said hello to Wang Chao, saying that she was going to the front Looking at the terrain, he rode forward slowly with Xia Siling on horseback; it was not easy for Chao Dynasty to send someone to follow and protect him, he made it clear that the young master took Miss Xia out to be alone for a while, Dynasty Dynasty was not Ma Han's brain, so he naturally knew to avoid suspicion .

The two walked around the small slope of the mountain pass for two miles. Su Jin pointed to the green trees in the bottomless valley beside the road and said, "I can assure you that there is water below."

Xia Siling frowned and said, "But it's so steep, how do you go down?"

Su Jin said: "The horses will definitely not be able to go down. Put them on the slope to graze, and we will walk down. It is not very steep."

The two dismounted and put the horse up the hillside. Su Jin took Xia Siling carefully down the official road, pulled the branches and climbed the exposed rocks slowly down, and soon came down into the valley.

The valley below has tall trees, green grass under the trees, flowers of various colors blooming, colorful butterflies flying in the air, and the temperature is cool and cool. Both of them were a little dumbfounded. It's hard to believe.

Xia Siling cheered and ran in the woods, picked a flower when she saw it, chased a butterfly when she saw it, and was very excited; Su Jin was also influenced by her, took off his boots and held them in his hand, barefooted Step on the grass, close your eyes and feel the itchy feeling of your feet being pricked by soft grass stems, and moan comfortably.

While enjoying the time, I heard Xia Siling's shout of joy coming from the front: "Sure enough, you are right, there is indeed water here."

Su Jin rushed over in three steps and two steps, and saw that there was indeed a small clear pool under a section of the cliff. The rock wall was wet, and dripping water dripped down. It is formed by the confluence of the falling water, and the rain on the mountain will also flow into the Tan when it rains; flowers of various colors bloom on the cliff, and the decoration is colorful, like a beautifully decorated natural big bathtub.

Xia Siling squatted down, stretched out her hand to pat some pool water on her face, and said joyfully, "It's so cool and comfortable, my family will be so happy."

Su Jin smiled and said, "Why don't you hurry up? The dirt all over your body will disappear today."

Xia Siling happily said: "Yes." She stretched out her hand to take off the armor, but suddenly stopped, watching Su Jin blushing and not speaking.

Su Jin said in amazement: "What are you waiting for?"

Xia Siling asked Ai Ai eagerly: "Brother Su...won't Brother Su back away?"

Su Jin also forgot about this at first, but when Xia Siling mentioned it, it reminded him.

Su Jin looked at Xia Siling's flushed red face with water droplets, and suddenly his heart beat violently, and his body gradually became hotter.

The two faced each other and looked at each other with both eyes. Suddenly, the sound of birdsong and cicadas in the whole valley seemed to disappear without a trace, and even the whole world seemed to disappear. The sound of the opponent's heartbeat.