Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3575 Linked Horses

In the second month of the tenth year of Taixing.

The cavalry army marched eastward from Hangu Pass, preparing to meet up with Zhang Liao's vanguard.

Although Zhang Liao's vanguard troops had opened up and marked the road, the central army led by Fei Qian still moved very cautiously.

Zhu Ling led the scout camp and marched thirty miles ahead, while Pang Tong led the rear army, which was another thirty miles away from Fei Qian's central army. Even if they encountered any special circumstances, they would be able to meet up in half a day, or at most within a day.

In ancient times, the marching process was undoubtedly the weakest time for the army.

Most of the time, the army on the march is like a "moving target", and this problem cannot be exempted just because of a certain commander. Even if we don't mention the food and grass, and the various complex terrain problems during the march, most of the time, soldiers will not carry all their equipment on their bodies when marching, especially long distances. After all, the heavier the load, the worse the endurance, and the distance will naturally be shortened. Therefore, during the long march, the soldiers' equipment is basically on the baggage cart. Once attacked, they must not only line up to fight back, but also retrieve their weapons and equipment in time...

This feature also explains why "waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out" and "intercepting the food supply route" became classic tactics in ancient wars, and why everyone knows about them, but no one can defend against them.

Now, behind the main body of Fei Qian's army, there were all kinds of horse-drawn carriages, mule-drawn carts, and rickshaws, winding along the road, seemingly endless. On the road, scouts could be seen from time to time, wearing helmets, hanging tokens, and carrying flags, running back and forth.

After three days of walking, the last logistics force finally left Hangu Pass and entered the Heluo area.

Walking on the land of Heluo, a feeling of desolation and desolation came over him, making Fei Qian feel somewhat emotional.

Since the Zhongping years, on this piece of land, not to mention how many heroes and heroes with great ambitions have come and gone, how many ordinary people, like wild leeks, have died on this piece of land? Their bodies are buried here forever, and perhaps they will never see the light of day again for thousands of years.

China, or humans, are good at internal consumption, but the progress of ancient Chinese civilization was too fast and too high, so it was more obvious than other regions. This may be a mark left in the genes, so that humans can destroy themselves one day.

Compared with the Chang'an area, Heluo is relatively open, and the Shandong Central Plains area is even larger than Heluo. The Chinese dynasty gradually moved from closed to open.

Of course, there are two exceptions.

This is also in line with the laws of nature. After all, China's civilization development path is based on agriculture, so it will inevitably tend to move towards areas that are more suitable for large-scale land cultivation, but this also brings difficulties in defense.

During the Qin Dynasty, Hangu Pass alone was enough to block most threats. In the Han and Tang Dynasties, the eight passes were needed to defend Guanzhong or Heluo. In the Ming Dynasty, there were Shanhaiguan Pass in the north, Yumen Pass in the west, Japanese pirates in the southeast coast, and Tusi Shanman in the southwest...

Ultimately, it’s because of insufficient “education”.

In other words, internal education is more important than external education.

In this regard, the United States undoubtedly had a relatively successful period of time. Through various propaganda, infiltration, and endorsements, the United States was able to continuously extract outstanding talents from other countries for a long time, like a blood-sucking leech, and then expand its own advantages through these outstanding talents, and then use these advantages to attract more talents.

Therefore, talent is the most important.

The landlord class in China today only keeps their eyes on the land, and then tries every possible way to imprison the people on the land, exploiting the value of their labor, and trying to form a chain of exploitation that is passed down from generation to generation. Obviously, this cannot last long. However, because humans are short-lived, they cannot avoid the idea of ​​living for today.

Entering the Heluo area, Fei Qian saw that many villages were deserted.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Heluo area was very prosperous. Although there was no village every three miles or a township every five miles, there were still many villages and towns distributed around the official roads. However, now they are basically deserted, leaving only some ruins.

After all, the closer these villages and towns are to the official roads, the more likely they are to be affected by war.

Moreover, there is one thing in Heluo that is very different from the Guanzhong area, that is, the roads are very difficult to walk on. Not only are there potholes, but some sections are like they were gnawed by dogs. The foundation of the entire road is gone, which is completely inconsistent with the memory that Fei Qian had left before...

As a person of later generations, Fei Qian is naturally better at the overall situation, even long-term strategic planning, than the Han Dynasty. The entire country, all levels, including financial taxes, grain and salary collection, etc., must start from the overall situation and cannot be biased towards one place.

The Eastern Han Dynasty's preference for the imperial hometown and Jizhou also doomed the birth of the Western Qiang issue, which eventually led to the turmoil in the court and the country in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. So what was the benefit of the Eastern Han Dynasty's preference for Nanyang and Jizhou?

The key point is that these aristocratic gentry who were favored by the Eastern Han Dynasty took this favor for granted.

Upon learning that Fei Qian was leading his army, Zhang Liao led his troops and marched fifty miles to meet them.

When they saw Fei Qian's central army flag appear, all the vanguard soldiers cheered "Victory".

Amid the cheers that were like a tide, Fei Qian seemed to see the city of Luoyang in the distance, which looked like a dot of ink.

"Greetings, my lord!" Zhang Liao stepped forward to greet him.

Fei Qian dismounted, stepped forward and pulled Zhang Liao up, "Wenyuan, there's no need to be so polite."

Zhang Liao then greeted the other accompanying generals and advisers.

Everyone made way for the soldiers to continue moving forward.

Fei Qian led everyone up to the plateau beside the road and looked eastward, "It has been several years since we left Luoyang."

Zhang Liao was stunned when he heard this, and his expression was somewhat disappointed.

On the loess plateau, small flowers, feeling the warmth of spring, bloom quietly among the grass, as if they want to welcome the new spring and new hope with the color of their petals.

Fei Qian let out a long breath.

The trivial and ordinary things that happened in Luoyang City back then seemed to reappear before his eyes.

The bottom of a broken, burnt-black pottery bowl was a bit uncomfortable to walk on.

Fei Qian bent down to pick up the broken pottery, turned it over and took a look. There was no inscription on it, so it was obviously fired in an unknown small kiln.

What was once placed in this ceramic bowl?

"I remember that there was a soup cake shop at the entrance of the alley where I lived..." Fei Qian pointed vaguely in the direction of Luoyang City and said with a smile, "The shop was called Tang Bing Wang... At first I thought the soup cakes made by that shop were the best in Luoyang, but later I found out that the shopkeeper's surname was Wang... His soup cakes were served in large ceramic bowls, and the best-selling one was the chive soup cake..."

In my memory, when the morning light climbed up the copper cauldron of the soup and noodle shop, the shopkeeper Wang would pop his head out of the shop, his body covered with flour, and he would knock the wooden spoon on the edge of the counter, shouting loudly in the rising steam from the copper cauldron.

The soldiers in short brown robes who had been on duty all night squatted on the bluestone steps outside the shop one after another, just like Shi Gan Dang. They held large earthenware bowls and slurped the chive noodles in the bowls.

Mrs. Zhang, who sells oil next door, also dresses up specially, with a gilded silver hairpin in her hair, making the amber embedded in the twined branches of the hairpin sway golden in the morning sun. She greets other shops along the way and comes to buy soup noodles, swaying from side to side, completely unaware of how many gazes the soldiers are looking at her.

At the street corner, Grandma Zhao would hand the freshly steamed date cake to her great-grandson with a loving smile. She would squinting eyes, pick up the leftover date cake crumbs with her fingers and put them into her toothless mouth, saying that she would take her great-grandson to watch acrobatics when the West Market Fair started, and would also buy him a pottery whistle with Chi You painted on it.

Besides the market, the busiest place was the bookstore street in front of the Imperial College. Those unmarried students crowded in front of the silk painting stalls, arguing with red faces about the time of the Chi Evil in the prophecy diagram. The old man selling bamboo slips on the side watched with a smile, never joining in the students' discussion, but he always liked to sell the "Jijiupian" and pickled plums side by side, and said that learning to read is like eating plums, sour at first but sweet later...

Fei Qian's smile gradually faded.

Perhaps now, the Tangbing King's shop has collapsed, the oil seller Zhang has passed away, the big locust tree at the street corner has become a dead tree, and the academy that once gathered students from all over the world has become a place where stray dogs roam...

"On the west plateau of Luoyang City,

The broken walls greet the rising sun.

The ruins are covered with weeds.

The abandoned well is covered with frost.

Three or four old friends,

Now we are all alone.

I still remember what we said when we parted.

Holding hands, tears welled up in our eyes.

Suddenly I saw spring flowers blooming,

Cherish the old rivers.

May I gather the wings of wind and thunder,

Fly your wings and create a new world! 』

……

……

In the Heluo area, spring is here and flowers are blooming, but if you walk among the mountains, especially on the mountainside peaks with higher altitudes, it is still quite cold, and you can even still see some residual snow on the mountaintops.

The mountain wind wrapped in broken snow blew into his collar. Zhuge Liang tightened his fur coat and looked at the mountain wall in front of him that looked like it was cut by a knife or an axe.

The pass of Tieguling was looming in the distance, like a dead white snake curled up between thousands of feet high cliffs.

That’s right, Zhuge Liang took a risk... Wasn’t Zhuge Liang cautious throughout his life?

He is indeed cautious, but at the same time, he will take risks.

It's just that Zhuge Liang would only take risks when the probability was at least 60 to 70 percent. He would refuse to take risks with low probability and would not gamble on something with a one in a hundred chance of success. That's why he seemed more cautious than others.

This time, Zhuge Liang also felt that he had at least 70% chance of success, so he persuaded Xu Huang. Xu Huang led the troops to fight Cao Zhen in Jiangling, while Zhuge Liang returned to Zigui with a small force, and then headed north from Zigui to attack Fangling.

The reason why they didn't go to Jiangling was that Zhuge Liang and Xu Huang were unfamiliar with the area around Jiangling, and if the enemy noticed the raid, it would be a dead end. On the other hand, from Jiangling to Zigui, the whole way was by boat, which was just right for the soldiers who were preparing to set off and cross the mountains to rest on the boat and replenish their nutrition...

Coincidentally, when Zhuge Liang arrived at the Zigui camp and was preparing to set off, he met Shamoke.

So Zhuge Liang simply took Shamoke with him, crossing mountains and rivers from Zigui and heading straight to Fangling.

"Report—" The scout returned from the front, looking worried, and reported, "There is a cliff blocking the road ahead, it is difficult to pass!"

Zhuge Liang frowned, unfolded the map, and looked carefully. "I am not in the wrong place. How can there be a cliff?"

When they set out from Zigui twelve days ago, the eight hundred elite soldiers were armed with clanging armor. Now, looking back at the winding mountain road, they saw that the soldiers were either using their spears as staffs or leaning against the mountain wall, looking somewhat exhausted.

Zhuge Liang led his men to the cliff reported by the scouts, only then did they realize that there was originally a cableway here, but after years of disrepair, it had decayed and collapsed, with only some bare and broken piles left on the stone wall.

If it was just a stone wall, it wouldn't be a big deal, but not only was the lower part of this stone wall straight up and down, there was also a small section at the top that protruded out and hung in the air...

If you fall from the lower half, you can still land on this small stone platform, but if you fall from the upper half, you will most likely fall directly into the deep valley!

Shamoke walked over and looked up at the remaining hole on the stone wall. "My people can go up."

Zhuge Liang looked up, "How do I climb? This stone wall is straight up and down... and there's that section above..."

Shamoke pointed at the pillar holes left on the stone wall, "You can climb up any of them. Once you get to the top, use ropes to connect them and go up section by section..."

"Okay, let's give it a try." Shamoke's words were not very clear, but Zhuge Liang obviously could not think of how to deal with the protruding stone wall above.

Most Sichuan soldiers can deal with ordinary stone walls. For example, they can cut wood from other places and build wooden ladders. They can use long wooden ladders to climb up like climbing a city wall. Although it will be time-consuming, there are basically no problems.

But this protruding rock wall...

Shamoke waved back and called the tribesmen he brought with him, "Come here, take off your armor! Make a ladder, climb up there first, and dig out the capitals below!"

The people of Shamoke were accustomed to climbing in the mountains and forests. Faced with the straight stone wall, they did not hesitate at all. Some of them ran directly to the bottom of the stone wall, piled up the human ladder and climbed up.

The climbing progressed quickly in the lower part of the wall, but the main difficulty was at the top...

Zhuge Liang looked up, he didn't understand how to climb up once he got to the top.

As a result, when Zhuge Liang saw Shamoke's people climbing to the protruding part of the stone wall, he took out a dagger and inserted it directly into the crevice of the stone, creating a relay point and foothold for climbing out of thin air!

"Understood."

Zhuge Liang suddenly realized and immediately ordered the soldiers to collect all the short weapons they were carrying and provide them to the Shamoke people.

The short weapons of the Sichuan Army soldiers were obviously much stronger and more durable than those of the Shamoke people.

"Rattan!" said Shamoke, "Use good rattan, not ropes."

Zhuge Liang nodded in understanding and ordered his soldiers to collect mountain vines from the surrounding areas.

"Don't use dry or old vines... use thick ones with thorns..." Shamoke added.

Things like mountain vines are very strange.

The tender mountain vines will break easily if pulled, but some of them are covered with sharp thorns and are very tough.

This is the kind of mountain vine that Shamoke wants.

As for the spikes on top...

Who has time to cut at this time?

Of course, the temporary vine ladder is less durable than the wooden ladder. The vines can still maintain a certain toughness when they are just cut, but after a long time of rotting and drying, they will naturally lose their toughness and collapse again at any time. However, they don’t have to walk like this every day, maybe just for one trip...

Whether success or failure.

At three o'clock in the morning, the vine ladder finally reached the top of the rock wall, and the vanguard began to climb.

There are risks involved in the climbing process.

Someone missed a step while climbing up and fell along the stone wall and slid into the abyss. His screams echoed in the valley.

Although some people did not fall, they accidentally stepped on or touched the daggers with exposed blades, or were pricked by the thorns of the vines. They could not retreat, bandage their wounds and climb again, so they could only grit their teeth and endure the pain to continue climbing...

All the way up, there are bloodstains.

The torches flickered in the night wind, illuminating the soldiers as they climbed up, as if they were ascending to heaven.

"Master, how about we go up first, and then use the rope..." Zhuge Liang's guard whispered, "This stone wall is too high..."

Zhuge Liang was silent for a while, then shook his head, "No need, they can climb... so can I."

Some soldiers had already climbed up the stone wall and began to use ropes to pull up bundles of armor that the soldiers had taken off.

The hemp rope swayed and rubbed against the stone cliff.

It would be safer if the soldiers built a hanging basket or something, but if the ropes were worn out during the process of being pulled back and forth...

It is safer to climb by yourself.

Although there are risks as well.

"Don't worry, I will protect you." Shamoke said to Zhuge Liang, "Bring a rope and tie me and my attendant together!"

Zhuge Liang did not act pretentiously and bowed to Shamoke to express his gratitude.

Standing in front of the stone wall, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but reach out and touch the jade ring in his arms. It was given to him by Xu Shu when he went to war in Chengdu three years ago. It was the Western Region Hetian jade that was brought into the mountains from Jiange Road. Zhuge Liang had felt the jade ring very smooth, and the warm touch also made Zhuge Liang's nervous heart relax a little.

"I'll go first, and you step where I step."

Shamoke specifically instructed.

"good."

As Zhuge Liang followed Shamoke and climbed up the vine ladder, he heard a creaking sound under his feet.

When he climbed to the suspended position on the upper level, Zhuge Liang heard some breaking sounds, perhaps because of the nervousness in his heart or the fact that the vines really cracked, as if the god of death was whispering in his ears.

Zhuge Liang tried his best not to think or look, and focused all his attention on Shamoke in front of him, following his footsteps, going up little by little...

Until the last section, when Zhuge Liang was feeling weak in his hands and feet and could hardly hold on, Shamoke had already climbed up the stone wall, reached back and grabbed Zhuge Liang's arm, and together with other soldiers, pulled Zhuge Liang to the top of the stone cliff.

Zhuge Liang climbed to the top of the cliff, turned his head and looked back. A ray of morning light was quietly blooming in the east.

The distant mountains, layer upon layer, are all at your feet.

The morning light from the top of the cliff spread over Zhuge Liang's clothes that were stained with rock debris and also shone on his face.

When he looked back at the winding mountain path he had come from, he suddenly remembered the comments made by the General of the Cavalry when he was reading "Salt and Iron Theory" at the foot of Lushan Mountain.

"All things are like the scattered stars, yet they are connected as a chessboard in heaven."

Sure enough, they are the same and connected.