Daming kill

Chapter 186 The Teacher of Benevolence and Righteousness
In the fleet sailing south from Huangpi County, there is a group of very special people.

Each of them is very strong, but they are not soldiers, and there are no women among them.

They were in a long row of small boats and talked a lot.

This is a group of trackers with hundreds of people. They are the same group of trackers who pulled the boat from the mouth of the Shishui River the day before yesterday.

However, this group of trackers with hundreds of people did not belong to one group, but was divided into dozens of groups.

Although sometimes a large fleet will require hundreds or even thousands of trackers to work together, the team of trackers usually consists of two to 30 people in a small group, which is just in line with the general situation that a boat can be completed by only 30 people. Fiber drawing needs.

Only when there is a big job, they will temporarily form a loose alliance.

Although many of these hundreds of trackers knew each other, they were not together before, but were gathered together by Li Ping to defend the Weishui River and the surrounding area of ​​​​the Houhu Lake with a solid army. of.

So many of them were found by Li Ping near a large area, probably because Weishui is the largest river near Wuchang besides the Hanshui River, and the life experience of traveling all over the country made the trackers better understand the difficult conditions around Weishui. In fact, it is ideal for avoiding war.

It could also be herd mentality.

When it is heard that a team of trackers decides to go somewhere to avoid disaster or find work, other teams of trackers are often very susceptible to being influenced and follow blindly.

"Old uncle, you are the leader and the oldest one. The more than 20 mouths of our gang are all pointing at you to make decisions! When we reach the Yangtze River, what should we do?" A young tracker said in a Said to an old tracker with a gray beard and a rough face sitting beside him in a small boat.

Today, this group of trackers did not pull the fibers, but sat in small boats and went down the river.

The depth and width of the Sheshui are not large. Although the area of ​​Wuhu Lake connected to the Sheshui is vast, the water is relatively shallow in winter and the waterway connected to the Sheshui is narrow and difficult for large ships. Therefore, it can be collected on the Sheshui. There are few big ships, but many small ones.

In fact, except for the dozen or so boats that were pulled up along the Shishui the day before yesterday, which were actually only medium-sized or even smaller, most of the fleet was small boats.

"Yeah yeah!"

"We all listen to you, but you also give me an idea!"

……

The young man's words aroused the collective resonance of the other dozen or so trackers who were sitting crowded together on the small boat.

Although the old tracker has a white beard, his body is still muscular. His exposed forearm has tight skin and obvious muscle lines. It can be seen that he usually works with everyone.

He is old and practiced, so his speech will naturally be very important, and he is also the real core and leader.

However, the old tracker just continued to fiddle with the pull handkerchief in his hand and did not express his opinion, he was still hesitating.

Tchachaer veil is a shoulder pad for pulling fiber. It is also simply called Tchachaer more often. It is made of high-quality "white official cloth". This is the food tracker who lives on. , has always been the most meticulous.

There should be no decorations or thread ends on the shoulders, otherwise, even a small thread end during fiber pulling is enough to cause the shoulders of the tracker to be worn out and bleed by the bamboo cables.

That's right, the cables are all made of bamboo, which is hard enough and full of toughness. It is the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancient working people, and it is more precious than pulling children.

To make a cable, the best bamboo in the mountains should be taken, and the best craftsman should be invited to carve out the green bamboo carefully, and then weave the flexible and thin green bamboo into cables of different thicknesses.

The finished fiber cable should be boiled in a boiling sulfur water pot. The boiled fiber cable is not only tough and will not be eaten by insects, but also smooth when entering the water and coming out of the water without sticking to water.

"I heard that Boss He and Boss Zeng have already made up their minds. They plan to accept General Li's kind invitation, and they will follow along forever, and they are willing to join the army." A thick, square-headed man said anxiously.

It could be seen that he wanted to eat military rations.

"Why, I bought you off after two days of full food? I'm dying?" the old tracker said in a very unceremonious voice.

The square-headed man's face turned red instantly, and he argued, "They recruited soldiers, so why should we kill us? And as soldiers, at least we don't have to worry about food and clothing."

The old tracker stopped fiddling with his hands and said angrily: "No one can stop the bandit army now. You think your mouth can eat for a few days after becoming a soldier, but it's just that your head will be cut off sooner or later. Sooner or later there will be so One day. But as long as we still have the cables, whether it’s bandits or officers, whoever occupies this place must be pulled, life will go on.”

The square-headed man continued to retort dissatisfied: "Now that the bandit army has occupied the Han River, and the official army is looting everywhere on the Yangtze River, all businessmen and travelers have been cut off. How can we find work? Fortunately, General Li is kind and willing to manage Let's eat, it doesn't matter if he asks us to serve him as a soldier or a coolie, it's better than starving to death."

The old tracker glared fiercely at the square-headed man, and said, "The old man eats more salt than you eat, and sees a lot. Do you believe everything they say? How can there be such a good soldier in the world?" Woo."

"Old uncle, we trust you! Isn't everyone waiting for your decision!" The young man smoothed things over.

But the square-headed and thick man didn't seem to want to give up completely. After shutting his mouth for a moment, he muttered in a low voice: "Then Company Commander Han said that he was a miner half a year ago and worked hard like us. I don't think he's lying. .Look at the enthusiasm of the people in Huangpi County just now, it made people cry! This is not fake, right? If you haven’t seen it, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist in this world. Anyway, I believe in Company Commander Han, and I also believe in this army.”

The old tracker didn't choke back this time, but patiently listened to the complaints of the square-headed man, and perhaps his heart was also touched, after all, the experience of the past few days, especially what he saw and heard just now, completely subverted his original idea. cognition.

With an irritable expression, he stretched his neck and looked at the other ships in the distance.

On a slightly larger boat that the old tracker was looking at, a tall and mighty man with a knife was talking and laughing heartily among a group of trackers.

The trackers all knew that the man was Han Jiu, who was just the leader of a group of miners more than half a year ago, but now he is a military master who has no worries about food and clothing and has an official status.

He was a hearty man, and a trustworthy man, whom the trackers recognized almost instinctively as one of their own.

Han Jiu has too many characteristics of a person who has worked hard and suffered a lot.

In fact, Han Jiu had already talked with the old tracker yesterday afternoon, but the old tracker did not give Han Jiu any clear advice, but Han Jiu should have gained something elsewhere, and he is still working hard.

It can be seen that Han Jiu and this disciplined army value the trackers very much and want to recruit them into the group.

But the life experience of the old tracker told him that when things go wrong, there must be monsters. Since when people like them are taken seriously, it seems very abnormal.

However, many other people don't think so, and more people are more willing to believe in immediate benefits.

The young tracker finally became a little anxious.

He said cautiously: "Old uncle, you also have an attitude! Our work is over, and the boats behind are all going along the water, so there is no need to pull the fibers. But we continue to eat and drink other people's food, and even sit on the boat. You don’t have to walk on someone else’s boat, isn’t that shameful!”

"What's the hurry! Let's talk about it when we get to the place. Haven't most people made up their minds yet?" the old tracker said impatiently.

The old tracker was not in a hurry here, but Han Jiu was in a hurry.

Although Han Jiu was pretending to be relaxed, his eyes kept looking at the old tracker's boat inadvertently, and he was extremely depressed.

My comrades fought a dizzying and exciting battle by the river, but I took the painstaking and laborious work of persuading people to join the army, and then finished it in pieces.

He didn't know how to explain to Li Ping.

That stubborn old tracker is the oldest among all the trackers, and also has the highest prestige.He didn't let go, his team didn't take the lead, and most of the tracker team followed.

Isn't this ridiculous!
However, Li Ping's direct order to Han Jiu was to use his unique advantage of his own experience to try to get most of the trackers to join them.

The reason is very simple.

Although the trackers are generally not young, and their long-term specific working habits also cause many physical injuries to them.But with the awareness of obedience, the habit of cooperating with each other, and their generally strong bodies, they, like miners, are the easiest group to train and fight in this era.

Li Ping's army is seriously short of soldiers, how can he let it go.

Han Jiu also understands this truth very well, but for a few days he has worn out his lips and tried his best, but with little success.

The people in Huangpi County were moved not only by Li Ping's army, but also because Li Ping's army saved many of them.

Some people are willing to take the initiative to join the army or follow Li Ping's army, more because of their enmity with the peasant army in the process of counterattacking the peasant army, not just because of emotion.

But these did not happen to the trackers after all.

And the actual favors the trackers received were that they were not abused after being grouped together by force, that they had free meals, and that they were paid back for pulling the tow, and now they are allowed to return by boat for free.

The trackers have feelings but not so strongly. The experience of traveling all over the world and being well-informed because of fiber pulling also makes them more willing to be cautious and not so easily moved.

Naturally, Han Jiu could only be distressed, the time given to him was too short.

Although it was going down the river, due to the late departure and no rush, the fleet from Huangpi County did not complete the journey of about 40 miles until long after noon and arrived at the mouth of the river.

At this time, Zuo Liangyu's army had all gone down the river.

The thousands of huge teams led by Li Ping have all gathered to the east bank of the Shishui River through several pontoon bridges that were quickly built.

Because the turbulent Yangtze River makes small boats not so safe, and many horses and chariots cannot be carried by small boats, marching eastward along the river by land is still an important way for them who lack large ships for the next journey.

But after the meeting, Li Ping did not leave in a hurry.

He ordered the release of the beauties and rough envoys that Zuo Liangyu gave him yesterday, and set aside a group of people to send them to Wuchang by boat. I hope that the trackers who go with him can also go together if they want to go to Wuchang.

Before crossing the river, Li Ping had ordered the release of those people whose homes were around the river that had been temporarily detained for clearing the fields.

Although Li Ping did not return the boats he had confiscated in order to guard against the peasant army, such a good deed undoubtedly shocked the people again.

Most of the women who were released and the citizens of Hanyang, Wuchang, who had fled to the vicinity of Weishui to escape the war and were detained could not hide their excitement, and they all cried to express their thanks to Li Ping and his army. land.

Countless people watched this scene with mixed emotions, including those trackers.

In the afternoon of this day, the peasant army entered and occupied Hanyang.

Li Ping's entire army camped that night on the east bank of Wushishui, which also came from the north and flows into the Yangtze River, 40 miles east of Heshui. Wushishui could be used as an effective protective barrier.

Tomorrow, they will head east at full speed.

Notes:

Wushishui is the current Daoshui River. There are some disputes about its name. This article is based on "Shui Jing Zhu".

According to the "Shui Jing Zhu" records: the water poured into the five waters of Qishan Mountain is called Xiguishui, which flows to Liji, and the east branch flows into the river called Ganhua River; the west branch flows into Longkou and flows into the river, called Wushishui.In fact, one water, later generations will keep it simple, and it is commonly known as pouring water.

(End of this chapter)