Country color

Chapter 155
After the rough iron is produced by the Feihu County craftsman, it can be forged with extra labor to make fine iron.Refined iron can forge all kinds of ironware. Li Chongjiu first wanted to forge armor.The Cangtou Army obtained [-] iron armors from Wang Zhibiana from Wu Benlang before, except for [-] armored cavalry, the rest were equipped for the generals above the team, plus zero-loss replacement during the battle, the number of armors Already very scarce.

Now that there is self-made fine iron, the Feihu County Craftsmanship can make iron armor, helmets, helmets are not counted, and a piece of iron armor needs at least [-] catties of fine iron.In addition to fine iron, leather is also needed to make armor, and the most important thing Li Chongjiu is short of right now is leather. After defeating the Turkic Adibu last year, countless horses and sheep were slaughtered. Except for the meat to eat, the skins are all tanned. cooked skin.Right now, there is no pressure at all to make armor and take out a thousand cooked skins.Li Zuojiang made an estimate for Li Chongjiu. After organizing the manpower, the workshop can produce ten armors a month, and the proficiency can increase to fifteen armors after that.

Before the winter snow thawed, Li Chongjiu led two hundred armored cavalry and two regiments of four hundred newly trained soldiers from Feihu County back to Huaihuang Town.Passing through Lingqiu County again this time, I found that it was no longer barren as before. On the way, I found that many refugees returned to Lingqiu County in the fields on all sides and began to return to the old soil for spring plowing.When the team arrived at the county seat, the inside and outside of the city were still very dilapidated, but there were people who started repairing the four cities.

And on the wall of the county seat, Li Chongjiu also saw the flag of the Sui Army.After entering the city, it was only then that Chen Xiaoyi, the magistrate of Yanmen County, was actually here.You must know that Wang Que, the prefect of Yanmen County, wanted to stick to Nao County, use the inner Great Wall as a defense, and temporarily abandon the outer Great Wall.

Li Chongjiu went straight to the county government office to meet the county magistrate.Chen Xiaoyi is from Hedong, he is honest and upright, he once contradicted the prefect Su Wei, saying that if the prefect wanted to sentence the prisoner to death, he would kill himself first.After Su Wei was promoted to prime minister, he admired Chen Xiaoyi very much, thinking that he was a rare and strong official. He was first promoted to be a censor, and then let him come to Yanmen County as a county magistrate.

This is not the first time that Li Chongjiu and Chen Xiaoyi met, after they took their seats.Li Chongjiu couldn't help asking him why he disagreed with the county guard and opened a government office in Lingqiu County instead of Nao County.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Chen Xiaoyi heard Li Chongjiu's words, he stood up, bowed in the direction of Dongdu, and said: "I am ordered by the emperor to guard the land for the imperial court. The people will not abandon the land. As a parent and official , how can I abandon it."

Seeing Chen Xiaoyi's dignified and upright appearance, Li Chongjiu couldn't help but feel ashamed secretly, so he could only follow him and bow to the south, saying: "The Son of Heaven is forever!"

After the two sat down again, Chen Xiaoyi heard that Li Chongjiu was going to go out of the Great Wall to Huaihuang Town. The Turkic people went south to herd horses. According to the consistent strategy of the Hu people, spring is when the cattle, sheep and horses are the weakest. If they suddenly march south, it will definitely cause a large number of livestock to die. , it was the time when the Turkic people invaded southward on a large scale."

Although I didn't say it very clearly, I can know the elegant meaning when I hear the string song.The meaning in Chen Xiaoyi's words was to persuade Li Chongjiu to give up Huaihuang Town and move Yingyang Mansion to Lingqiu County, first guarding the front line of the Outer Great Wall, and at the same time relying on Feihu County to take care of the two counties of Yanmen and Shanggu.Chen Xiaoyi talked a while, but seeing Li Chongjiu smiled and didn't answer, but he understood what he meant, and heaved a long sigh, obviously he also regarded the other party as the same as himself, and refused to give up the virtue of the court.

Li Chongjiu led the army to rest in Lingqiu for a day, and set off the next day. Chen Xiaoyi sent Li Chongjiu out of the city, and supported him with thirty crossbows before leaving.Chen Xiaoyi said: "Going to Huaihuang here is different from Yanmen. You should be more careful and watch out for barbarians. If it doesn't work, you can retreat to Yanmen at any time."

After Li Chongjiu saw the thirty broken crossbows, he looked at the dilapidated Lingqiu county town behind him. There were less than [-] county soldiers guarding the city, and Chen Xiaoyi, who had an upright face, didn't say anything.After Li Chongjiu bowed deeply to Chen Xiaoyi solemnly again, he raised his whip and left.

After Li Chongjiu left the city, he did not set off for Huaihuang Town right away, but waited for two days. He took this opportunity to recruit refugees, lobbied to go to Huaihuang Town and Yuyi Town, and promised to have one meal a day and one meal a day. eat.This kind of treatment has now attracted a thousand refugees, who are willing to go with them.

At this time, Li Hu, Su Su, and Lin Dangfeng led five hundred bodyguards of the Li Family Escort Bureau, and a caravan caravan organized by 2000 people, and rushed to Yanmen from Taiyuan County.This time they brought silk, tea bricks, and ironware from the Central Plains to trade with the herdsmen, as well as various materials that were in short supply in Huaihuang Town.Learning from the lesson of the last robbery by the Azhangbu, Li Chongjiu did not dare to take it lightly this time, and personally led the escort.

All the way to Huaihuang Town, before leaving the Great Wall, we found the nomadic shadows of the barbarians, the dung left by large herds of sheep and horses can be seen everywhere on the grass, and there are occasionally one or two sharp soldiers stalking in the distance.When Li Chongjiu saw it, he immediately ordered the cavalry to surround him and grab his tongue.However, these vanguard soldiers are all smooth and smooth, and each of them takes turns to transfer five or six good horses, and they can run several miles in the blink of an eye.The cavalry of the Cangtou Army were far behind.

After several rounds, the cavalry finally captured a shepherd. At first, the shepherd was stubborn and refused to confess. After he was beaten half of his life, he confessed honestly.From his mouth, he learned that they were the Hun tribe attached to the Turks, and they went south to explore the way first.The strength of the Hun tribe is even greater than that of the A's tribe. After annexing the remnants of the A's tribe last year, there are already [-] people, and they control eight thousand people. Now they have migrated thousands of miles from the tribe's old place, and their Qijin has already passed away. Yazhang moved to the south of Daihai.In addition, there are several small Turkic tribes near Daihai. After Li Chongjiu inquired about their details, he realized that the Hu people really wanted to take advantage of the weakening of the Sui Dynasty to herd their horses and go south, as Chen Xiaoyi said.
Li Chongjiu stepped up to escort the caravan to move on, after leaving the entrance of the Great Wall.It's not just about meeting Huren Rangers.Instead, when they met one or two small Turkic tribes and their tents, they suddenly saw the flag of the Sui Dynasty and the caravan carriage, and they all reacted.The fierce Turkic man held a horn bow and rode a horse to watch the group of uninvited guests who suddenly broke into their pastoral area from a distance. After finding out that it was a large caravan, they couldn't help but salivate again.
Li Chongjiu only had [-] armored cavalry, and the bodyguard cavalry team had less than [-] cavalry, so he didn't dare to send out to chase the Turkic people who had dozens of cavalry, so he silently endured.When the Turkic cavalry saw it, they advanced more brazenly to observe for several miles, and estimated the odds of winning the robbery.After coming down several times, Li Chongjiu waited for the opponent to relax his vigilance, then ordered Etuo to lead the cavalry to attack resolutely, and after beheading two people, the arrogance of the Turkic people eased, and they retreated far away.

When the night caravan stationed in the ground, the appearance of a large group of Hu Qi showed that their tents were not far away. When they left Mobei in the past, the caravans had never encountered such a situation. Only zero stars.You must know that as long as Mayi County is still in the hands of the Sui army, the Hu people will not dare to bypass this line of defense and go south easily.

But right now, the other party is so unscrupulous that they even moved the tents. Li Hu, Su Su and many merchants were all worried all night.

Lin Dangfeng entered Li Chongjiu's tent, and asked worriedly: "Master Hou, this time I took all the merchants to the grassland again, but I took a risk, and it all depends on trusting you. You must know that the last time the caravan was under the control of Ah Dang's department." Nearly a hundred people were killed or injured in the attack. And if it is attacked again by the Turks this time, the casualties will not be a matter of hundreds of people. There is also a large amount of goods on this mule, which is enough to make our dozen or so chambers of commerce lose their fortunes."

"Many business managers said that they want to return to the Great Wall. It's only a one-day journey. The big deal is to lose this trip, or their lives are at stake."

Li Chongjiu was sitting under the oil lamp and was writing a letter. He put his pen aside and said: "Don't worry about the Lin family, the business roads are not easy to go, which means that the merchants who belong to several powerful families will not dare to go out of Saibei. As long as we make this A business trip, the profit must be doubled in the past."

"There is no risk in doing business. I have already written a letter to send troops here from Huaihuang Town, and the reinforcements from Xi's Ministry will arrive together. It will be enough to ensure that the goods will be safe." Hearing what Li Chongjiu said, Lin Dang Only then did Feng feel relieved.

In the middle of the night, the humming of beard horns was endless, and there seemed to be the sound of horseshoes around the camp.All the merchants were in fear, holding their swords and leaning against the fire, staring around in horror, everyone was in panic.

The next day it was just dawn, and there was silence all around. The scene that a large number of Turkic cavalry was expected to be surrounded did not appear, which reassured everyone who had been tossing all night.Everyone began to hurry up, and Li Chongjiu sent a team of 20 Rangers to investigate in all directions.

In the afternoon, Li Chongjiu's ranger found a lot of horse manure and scattered horseshoe marks five or six miles ahead of the caravan on the left.Li Chongjiu immediately asked the experienced Ertuo to go forward to investigate personally, and judged that the number of cavalry was no less than five hundred.

On the third day, the rangers returned again, and found a cavalry of more than 1000 people behind the team, separated by more than ten miles, falling far behind the caravan.In the afternoon, a Turkic cavalry force of more than 2000 people was found in the north, and it had reached ten miles away.

Panicked by everyone, Li Chongjiu decided to go down to the village ahead of time. In a place near the forest, he ordered the refugees to quickly cut down trees and hastily built an anti-horse fortification.When building the anti-horse fortifications, Li Chongjiu led the army to stare at the four directions vigilantly. There were five or six groups in the distance. Turkic cavalry belonging to different tribes gathered more than ten miles away from the caravan.

Obviously, they all came here because they heard about the goods of this caravan, and they were going to steal it.

(End of this chapter)