Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"No need, the water transportation matter cannot be separated from him!" Wang Wenzuo said: "That matter is no easier than the war in Liaodong!"

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Chang'an, Yongping Square.

"So, you have decided to join Wang Wenzuo's shogunate?" Lu Guangping asked.

"Yes!" Lu Zhaolin said: "Yesterday I went to the general's house and was received by his wife Cui. I told him that I wanted to enter the shogunate and serve for him. Although Cui didn't agree, But he said that he would definitely speak up for me in front of the general, so there should be no problem!" At this point, he sighed: "I guess it's because of this little fame, otherwise things wouldn't go so smoothly!"

"The Cui family of Qinghe has always been strict in etiquette. It's already a huge honor for Mrs. Cui to meet you in person!" Lu Guangping rarely sneered: "She is not the general himself, so naturally she can't agree to you in person. But as long as she is willing to speak, her husband will definitely not refuse, let alone your literary name. Wang Wenzuo does not have a good secretary in his account to handle his manuscripts and draft his memoranda. There is no one more suitable for this position than you!"

After hearing Lu Guangping's words, Lu Zhaolin's originally prim face finally showed a smile: "I hope it's as you said! By the way, do you want to go to the shogunate of the general with me? With your talents, the general will definitely I won’t treat you badly!”

"Me?" Lu Guangping laughed: "Maybe one day I will come, but now is not the time!"

"One day? What do you mean?" Lu Zhaolin asked in confusion: "Twelve, since you also want to join the general, why don't you do it earlier? It's better early than late!"

"Haha!" Lu Guangping laughed twice, but did not answer Lu Zhaolin's question. After a moment, he smiled and said: "There are some things that I can't explain yet, but anyway, you have entered Wang Wenzuo's shogunate. When I want to go there in the future, You have introduced me to me, so why am I afraid it will be too late?"

Seeing Lu Guangping's answer, Lu Zhaolin knew that the other party had already made his own plans, so he could only sigh: "Well, you have your own ideas, and I won't force you!"

"Well!" Lu Guangping nodded and patted Lu Zhaolin's shoulder: "From what I can see, although Wang Wenzuo appears to be generous, there must be more than one person who can achieve great things. You must be careful after arriving at his shogunate. , otherwise not only will you achieve something, but you will also endanger your own life!"

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Shaanzhou Governor's Office.

"Huaiying, is this the prototype of a four-wheeled carriage you are talking about?" Ijilianbod stared at the carriage that was flexibly walking around the wooden piles in the shooting garden: "Well, not bad, it's really good, it looks like a two-wheeled carriage. It can run on the road and carry heavy objects! By the way, how much cargo is in this carriage?"

"The carriage is filled with Chengu, which weighs about twelve stones (one stone in the Tang Dynasty was about 79 kilograms)!" Di Renjie said.

"Twelve stones? Okay, okay, okay!" Ijilianbod said with a smile: "Come here, take the goods off the carriage and weigh them!"

The others responded and took the straw bags off the four-wheeled carriage one by one and weighed them. A few minutes later, the total weight was reported, and it was just over twelve stones. Yiji Lianbod was overjoyed: "Huaiying, you've got it right now." Great work, this four-wheeled cart only needs two horses to pull it, and a two-wheeled carriage that is also pulled by two horses can only carry two to three stones at most. If one soldier eats five liters a day, that cart can It can carry food for 240 people for a day, and if a thousand soldiers are equipped with [-] carts, they can have food for half a month, which can save a lot of transportation costs!"

"Master Fu, there is only one four-wheeled carriage, and it is much more complicated and more expensive to build than a two-wheeled carriage!" Di Renjie carefully inoculated his boss: "The most important thing is, this The four-wheeled carriage must travel on flat ground. If the road is rough or muddy, it will be easily damaged. It must be repaired by craftsmen along the way. From what I see, I am afraid that it will not be used in the army for a while!"

"It doesn't matter! New things are like this at the beginning! It will get better gradually. Then water steamers are like this at the beginning, too?" Yiji Lianbode didn't pay much attention to Di Renjie's persuasion: "Huaiying, you can bring it with you tomorrow. Take the prototype car to Chang'an and deliver it to the general's residence, and let the general have a look!"

"Let me go to Chang'an?" Di Renjie was stunned when he heard this: "Well, this is not good! There is only one prototype car, and the brakes and shock absorbers on the general's drawings have not been completed yet. This is a semi-finished product. I’m just afraid that I’ll offend the general!”

"You don't have to worry about this!" Yiji Lianbode waved his hand and motioned to his subordinates to stay away: "Huaiying! Anyway, you are one of our own, and there is no need for me to hide it from you. The general is about to send troops to Liaodong. Yes, I originally wanted to go with you, but the general refused and asked me to stay and continue to manage the water transportation. So I want you to go under the general. He needs talents like you very much now. This four-wheeled carriage is a Yutou, do you understand?"

"The general is going to Liaodong?" Di Renjie was surprised: "Seriously? What about Chang'an?"

"What else can we do? The situation in Liaodong is already very bad!" Yiji Lianbode sighed: "Your Majesty has appointed King Pei as the March Marshal of Liaodong Road and the Governor of the Andong Protectorate, and the General as the Liaodong Road March Marshal. The deputy marshal of the march, the marching commander of the Andong Protectorate, the visiting ambassador of Hebei Province, the governor of Songmo, Liaodong, Jilin, Xiongjin, and Fusang, the edict should be issued in the past few days!"

"Even King Pei wants to leave Chang'an together? Or lead from afar?" Di Renjie asked carefully.

"He really came out of Chang'an!" "I didn't expect that the court would have such a big battle this time. It seems that this time it is really going to be accomplished in one battle!" Di Renjie sighed.

Since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it has been a political practice for princes and princes to lead large border towns. After all, the imperial power was not stable at that time, and the emperor did not trust the military commanders in border towns, so he appointed his sons to go out of the town, which could also improve the princes and princes. prestige and military experience.But by the Tang Dynasty, this kind of prince leaving town had become a formality.For example, when Li Zhi was the king of Jin, he served as the governor of the Bingzhou Governor's Office, but the actual command of the Bingzhou defenders was Li Ji, who served as the governor of the Bingzhou Governor's Office. Li Zhi himself was also in Chang'an and did not go to Taiyuan.

But it is another matter for the prince as the general to lead the army in Chang'an. Judging from the precedents, Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji all once went out to lead the army, and they all had actual command power; while in the Sui Dynasty, In the battle to destroy Chen, the nominal supreme commander of the Sui army was Yang Guang, the king of Jin who later became Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. Of course, the actual command of the Sui army was Gao Ying, who served as the marching commander.Considering the age and military experience of King Pei Li Xian, it is obvious that he should be the nominal commander this time, and the actual commander is Wang Wenzuo.

"Yes!" Ijilenbod sighed: "If possible, I would rather go on an expedition with the general and make achievements, but since the general has other arrangements, I want to send my most capable subordinates to replace him. Share your worries and solve your problems!"

"I am so ashamed of myself!" Di Renjie quickly lowered his head.

"Yes, it means, if it doesn't, it means no!" Ijilianbode smiled: "The general has also heard your name, and he will not treat you badly. But I remember that the craftsman who built this four-wheeled carriage is called Gao Wuniang. ? I’m afraid I’m going to move to Fan Yang. You have to handle this matter. What the general doesn’t like the most is bullying others, even if he is a merchant and craftsman. Don’t be stingy with money!”

"The subordinate understands!"

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Liucheng, Yingzhou.

Not so much a road as two ruts through the weeds.The only advantage is that because there are few people coming and going, the official road is crowded, but here there is only a trickle.

The downside is that the road winds like a snake. Sometimes you can still see the appearance of a deserted path, and sometimes it almost completely disappears among the thorns and grass. Until the walker completely gives up hope, he ends up in the dirt a few miles away. It appeared again on the slope.Wang Kuan hated this situation. The nearby terrain was not rugged. Low hills and large meadows appeared alternately, with woods, streams, and valleys dotted among them. The water flow in the valley was slow, and both sides were covered with large bushes. Full of bright flowers.Although the scenery was beautiful, the path was very narrow, with twists and turns, making their path no different than a crawl.

What slowed the pace were the carriages, nearly every one of them full, with dangerous creaking and rumbling axles, and which had to be stopped a dozen times a day to pull out wheels stuck in the ruts; Increase the number of animals pulling the cart, and even ask the elderly and children to get off the car to help it climb the muddy slope.Another time, in a dense pine forest, a red pine tree as thick as a fist was blown down, completely blocking the road.Wang Kuan and the others had to use an ax to cut the big tree into several pieces, and then use horses to pull it apart. This took them most of the day, so the day was wasted.

Wang Kuan couldn't help but look back frequently, wondering when the robbers would catch up.At night, if there is any disturbance, he will immediately wake up and grab the hilt of his knife and the string of his bow.Since the incident, they have always assigned people on duty every time they set up camp, but Wang Kuan feels that this may not be useful. Yes, the people in the camp have long been accustomed to life in the wilderness, and are brave and skilled in using weapons, but in the This kind of ghost place has no trenches or barriers, and there are so many old people, women and children. Once the bandits catch up, there will definitely be chaos.Their skill and courage may have allowed them to fight for a while longer, but there was no doubt about their ultimate defeat.

The only thing he could do was to kill a few more robbers. Killing one would be sufficient, and killing two would earn one. Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and his heart was filled with bitterness.

Everything is obviously fine!Why does this happen?Wang Kuan asked himself in his heart.He looked around and saw that all the carriages were slowly packed with bundles of animal skins, barrels of honey, rough gemstones, gold sands, and various dried precious medicinal materials. Compared to them, they had already discarded Those on the carriage are just a drop in the bucket.

Really, Wang Kuan really can't understand. Obviously everyone is living a good life, collecting bees, collecting herbs, logging, herding pigs, herding sheep, fishing, farming, gold panning, and mining. Everyone is living a good life. They were originally captured by Goguryeo. The wilderness that people claim as their own opens their minds to all brave people. As long as you work hard and are lucky, you can live better day by day.

Even if you have nothing but a pair of hands, you can cut down a few birch poles, peel some birch bark, make birch bark boats, catch fish, dry them and sell them, you can still save enough money to open up wasteland and become a landowner.Such a happy and promising life seemed to last forever, until that day came when someone raised a flag and said they wanted to revive the Goguryeo Kingdom, while others said they would drive the Tang people out and establish the Mohe people's own country.Damn it, don't you remember how you lived when Goguryeo was king?

But no matter what Wang Kuan thought, the war still broke out, and as the war continued, more and more people took up arms, some to rob others, and some to defend themselves. What happened next exceeded everyone's expectations. outside.Wang Kuan discovered that the all-pervasive traveling traders of the past had disappeared. The piles of pickled pork, grain, honey, and animal skins on his farm were unpurchased. The Mohe and Khitan people who were friendly neighbors in the past had become more and more hostile. Hostile and aggressive.

"These bastards have drunk too much birch sap and are starting to get dizzy again. At this time, they need a big hero to ride on their heads and whip their backs with a whip until they scream and scream. Hang the guy with blood on his hands from a tree on the roadside and feed it to the crows, so that the rest of the people will wake up!" This is what my good friend A Zhi Luo said, but where is A Zhi Luo now?Is he still alive?Wang Kuan sighed.

In order to avoid being attacked by bandits, Wang Kuan had to pack his bags and prepare to leave his farm and return to Yingzhou.Seeing his actions, nearby neighbors also asked to go with them. These pioneers buried their untakeable belongings, burned their houses, took their families, wives and servants, and headed for Yingzhou, where the Tang Army was The largest stronghold outside the customs, it is also an important channel into Hebei.Along the way, they experienced hardships and repelled many attacks by sporadic thieves, but the news they heard became worse and worse.

"Have you heard?" A middle-aged man came over carrying a leather bag: "The Goguryeo people have become king!"

"Proclaimed king?" Wang Kuan frowned: "Hasn't someone already claimed the title of king?"

"No, he was proclaimed king in Pyongyang. The Silla people captured Pyongyang and then conferred the title of King of Goguryeo. It seems to be called King of Repaying Virtue, which means repaying the kindness of the Silla people!"

"The kindness of the Silla people?" Wang Kuan laughed: "What kind of kindness can we have for the Goguryeo and Silla people? When did the Tang Dynasty send troops to conquer the Goguryeo and Silla people without having a hand?"