Start with the humble bridegroom

Chapter 361 Sitting and Chatting with Yunshang County

Zhang Sanqi sneaked down from the hillside with a big rucksack on his back. Everyone else tended to go to the lower places, but he liked to go to the higher places alone.

In fact, he was the one who went to the top of the slope to release a "Wuren chicken" by himself just now.

This thing is usually kept by the gentleman himself, and only Sanqi knows when he uses it.Sanqi didn't even mention the existence of this object to her own parents.

"What the hell, how did you go for so long?" Xie Lun looked at Zhang Sanqi with a smile, "We thought you were going to dinner!"

Zhang Sanqi rolled his eyes, ignored him, and came directly to Zhang Zhe's side.

When Geng Liang and the others saw this, they all walked away a few steps knowingly. In fact, they all knew that this guy was not going to shit.

They have always known that there are many mysteries about the Patriarch, which must never be shared with outsiders.Apart from the eldest lady in the family, Zhang Sanqi is undoubtedly the only one who knows the most.

This is the honor that Zhang Sanqi's family has gained by serving the Lord's family for five generations. These newly promoted servants really can't be jealous, they can only be extremely envious.

Geng Liang bumped Gao Deshu with his shoulder: "You said those of us who came later, it will take a few more generations before we can be in charge of some real secrets for the master?"

Gao Deshu concealed the envy in his eyes: "The talent of the Patriarch is by no means limited by Yunshang County. Although we are newcomers, the Patriarch has only a few of us. This is an opportunity, each of us should grasp it. Bar!"

"Lang Jun, five miles to the north, there is a boulder highland with a radius of one hundred acres. There is a [-]-foot-large depression in the northwest of the highland. There is a water puddle of more than ten meters, and the edge of the puddle is full of weeds. I just used Wu Renji to look around the Jushi Heights, and it seems that there is only a gap in the southeast corner to go up. I thought it would be safest to spend the night there!"

"Okay! Just go there."

It was almost evening now, and it was time to find a campsite.

A group of people plus more than 200 horses, under the leadership of Zhang Sanqi, left the ancient road and turned to an unknown direction.

After walking for more than three miles, Ganxiu pulled back his horse, looked at the surrounding environment and the situation under his feet, and asked Geng Liang beside him for confirmation with some doubts.

"This place is too remote. There are no traces of people or animals passing by on the ground. Why do we go this way?"

Geng Liang turned his lips to Zhang Sanqi who was at the front: "Follow, that kid has the clairvoyance bestowed by the patriarch in his hand, he can't go wrong!"

"Clairvoyance?" Ganxiu was taken aback, and subconsciously touched his chest.

He didn't feel relieved until he touched the small "clairvoyance" gifted to him by his uncle.

It turned out that the big man Geng didn't know how to pretend to understand, and his "clairvoyance" couldn't see so far. Presumably Zhang Sanqi had a magic weapon bestowed by his uncle, right?
There was no sign of human or animal activities in the surrounding area, which made the guards hesitate a bit. Seeing that several leaders followed Zhang Sanqi without hesitation, they could only bite the bullet and continue to urge their horses to follow.

Soon, they saw a boulder plateau appearing in front of them.

Visually, it is about a hundred acres in size, and this highland is four or five feet away from the shortest point.The drop in the highlands is huge, almost completely vertical.

When Gao Deshu saw this place, he couldn't help discussing it with Xie Lun.

"How does this terrain look to you?"

"Excellent defensive place!" Xie Lun's eyes lit up, "Just look at the exposed stones on this highland, you can know that this is a stone forest. Look at the intermittent stone edges around it, like Unlike crenels? I’ll bring 100 people up there, but you won’t be able to get up to 1000! Labor and capital shooting you is like shooting a rabbit.”

Gao Deshu was so angry with him, you are a rabbit!

"Hehe, labor and management will surround you, you will die of thirst!"

That's right, there is no water on it, and in the dry weather in the northwest, Gao Deshu can really stink himself up.

The two hurt each other without saying a word, and followed the brigade to the northeast corner of the highland.

Zhang Sanqi jumped off his horse, greeted him, and took the lead towards the rock wall of the high ground.

Just when he was about to hit the rock wall, he suddenly turned to the left and disappeared from everyone's sight.

It turned out that due to a visual error, there was a trail protected by the rock wall on the left side of the rock wall, extending obliquely to the top of the high ground.

It's just that there is a large amount of gravel and mud scattered on this trail, making it impossible for humans and animals to stand.

Zhang Zhe gave an order immediately, and dispatched [-] soldiers to clean up the ramp. After a few sticks of incense, the ramp could barely pass through.

Zhang Zhe also jumped off his horse and led the horse into the ramp.

This ramp is actually formed by a crack in a boulder on a high ground. Only because the earth and rocks rolled down above it formed a narrow, potholed slope. The narrowest part of the ramp is only half a foot.

The soil on the ramp is extremely fluffy, and people and animals have not been here for many years, so the seemingly solid ground will turn into a half-foot-deep pit if people and horses step on it.

More than 200 horses slowly climbed up to the high ground, which took more time than cleaning the ramp.

After reaching the high ground, Zhang Sanqi took people around the high platform, looking for the puddle he saw in the sky.

But he turned around several times, but he couldn't find it!

After Zhang Zhe knew about it, he didn't say anything about him.

Because when looking down from the sky, because of the angle, the surrounding terrain undulations are often ignored.

Zhang Zhe asked Zhang Sanqi to draw the rough terrain on the ground, then he took out the compass and got the direction.

He turned his gaze to a boulder not far away.

This boulder covers an area of ​​about several acres. Zhang Zhe walked half a circle around this boulder and found a gap between the two tall boulders, but the gap was full of broken gravel and stones. The soil blown by the wind and sand.

"Start cleaning up from here!"

More than 50 soldiers came this time. Although they didn't know what the prefect asked them to do to clean up the gravel, no one questioned each other or was lazy.

After another half an hour, when the setting sun was about to fall into the horizon, the gravel and mud were finally cleaned up by the soldiers.

A burst of cheers suddenly sounded, and the central area of ​​this boulder was actually hollow, with an open space of two or three mu in size.On the east side of the clearing, there is a pool of clear water, which causes the clearing to be covered with weeds and shrubs.

Just because of the winter, these weeds have turned half yellow and half green, and most of the shrubs on the ground have become dry.

Xie Lun was the first to rush into the open space, bent over and picked up a long-dried "mud".

He took it to his nose and sniffed it, then smiled.

"This is the droppings of wild geese. They will come back next spring. The water here is drinkable!"

Geng Liang raised his sword to protect Zhang Zhe and walked into the open space surrounded by boulders. He saw Zhang Sanqi triumphantly directing his soldiers to harvest grass with their swords. The place was too small for horses to enter. Put it outside to feed.

The old man Ma Yanzi hurried up to stop Zhang Sanqi, pointing to a few plants in the weeds to remind him.

"Master Panax notoginseng, these two kinds of grasses must never be eaten by horses!"

"Oh? I forgot, you are an expert in raising horses, come here, take a look and pay attention, don't let our horses eat it up."

Zhang Sanqi pulled the old man out of the crack.

The remaining half-grown child was helping the guards collect bushes to make fire.

The half-grown child is called Nuo Wa, but the 15-year-old is only 12 years old.

His original surname was Qiu, and his whole family was murdered by the Shangguan family. He himself became a servant of the Li family, and his job was to herd sheep.

"Nah~! Come here."

Zhang Zhe waved over Nuwa and planned to ask him something.

With Ma Yanzi not around, Nuo Wa was a little bit embarrassed.Seeing the old man calling him, he hurriedly rubbed his hands and ran over, then fell to his knees with a puff, and kowtowed his head three times in a row, not daring to do anything.

"Get up quickly, where is the rule?" Zhang Zhe was amused by him, and asked Geng Liang to help him up.

"Responding to your lord's words," Nuo Wa replied with her head lowered, "on the cloud, when we saw those three families, we had to behave like this. Even the common people would bow their heads when they saw them."

"Oh, so these three families are very powerful?"

Nuwa thought about it, but shook her head.

"People who can't compare to the Elder Master!"

"Come on, sit down, and slowly tell me everything about the cloud. How about letting you eat an extra steamed bun when we eat night food later?"

A steamed bun? !
Nuo Wa grinned, he liked this young official.

"I've heard people say that these three families have developed in the past seven or eight years, and the warriors of the three families together only number around a hundred."

"Only a few hundred people?" Zhang Zhe asked with a smile, "Can such a small number of people run rampant in a county?"

Nuwa didn't understand what rampage meant, so she just continued, "I heard from the older generation that since the Hu people broke down the cloud more than 100 years ago, they have demolished the city wall, and we are not allowed to repair it. Whoever repairs it will kill his whole family!"

"These barbarians come to plunder every few years. As long as any family gathers more than ten males, half of them will be taken away as slaves. Those like the three of them are deliberately released by the barbarians. Big one, how many houses have been destroyed over the years? If they don’t leave, the barbarians will attack them.”

When Nuwa said that the city wall in Yunshang County was almost useless, Zhang Zhe's heart skipped a beat.

A county without a city wall, wouldn't it mean that the surrounding barbarians would come in if they wanted to!
"So, the affairs of the county are actually managed by the three of them?"

"That's right, they always only care about their own Zhuangzi. In the county, the big guys have nothing to say when they are good, but they never talk about their fists when they are in trouble!"

A plate of loose sand!
Zhang Zhe fell into deep thought, and after a while, he asked Nuwa again.

"Does the big guy grow food?"

"Master, are you going to collect rent?" Nuo Wa looked at Zhang Zhe nervously.This made Zhang Zhe suddenly realize that the three families might have left him a lot of "meeting gifts" in Yunshang County.

Zhang Zhe didn't answer his question directly, but took out a piece of dried sweet potato and threw it to Nuwa.

"Try it, eat it, sir, I plan to plant this thing on the cloud in the future."

Nuwa took the sweet potato and sniffed dryly a few times, the sweet smell of starch made him intoxicated for a while.In just a few blinks, a piece of dried sweet potato disappeared into Nuwa's mouth.

"This is food?!"

"Yes! Is it delicious?"

"My lord, this food is delicious! It's so delicious!"

"Then what do we plant on the clouds?"

"I can't grow anything!" Nuo Wa cried with a sad face, "There is not enough water in our land, and there are not enough people. How can there be water for the crops?"

"Huh?" Zhang Zhe became curious, "How do the county residents live?"

This question stumps Nuwa, isn't it just a hungry meal?

It happened that Ma Yanzi picked a pile of fodder and passed by, and answered this question for Nuwa.

"People in the county don't make a lot of money. Some will go north to the grasslands to graze for the Hu people. Those with skills will help the Hu people repair tents and oxcarts, or go hunting in the mountains in the south. The women's family will take over the needlework of the Hu people."

"Come on, sit down too!" Zhang Zhe called Ma Yanzi to sit down too, "You also talk to me about the matter on the cloud."

Ma Yuzi sat down happily, feeling that his bones were three points lighter, and the opposite was the legendary prefect master.

"The population of the county is not large, and the total number of men, women, and children is less than ten thousand. The barbarians don't allow us to repair the city, nor allow us to manipulate iron tools, and they come to loot once in a few years. Therefore, there are often only a few old and young people in the county. Wait, young and strong men and women usually hide in the mountains to the south. Only in winter, when the mountains can't hold people, will they come back to the county."

"Then what's the matter with grazing the Hu people?"

"That's the Waqiang people in the northwest. There are two Waqiang tribes occupying a large pasture in the northwest. These Waqiang people often go further to the southwest to fight against some small countries. Only women come to the family for cattle and sheep. Grazing. These Waqiang people will find some helpers to graze for their family before going out to fight, and help them watch the slaves at home not to rebel. "

"Oh! Then how did we find it on top of us?" Zhang Zhe gestured, "That place is not close to Yunshang!"

"Hey, those people and Hu people know their own virtues!" The horseman started talking, "It's better in my own tribe, but when I go to someone else's tribe, it's like a wolf put into the sheepfold. Don't talk about the wolves at home. Cattle, sheep, tents, and even the wives and children are packed away.”

"That is to say, we Central Plains people are very particular. As long as the price is negotiated, we can basically rest assured. Now many young men are recruited to Waqiang to help work at the end of summer, and what they earn can make the family live for half a year. Some girls will also go to Waqiang to find some mending and milking errands. As long as our daughters arrive safely in Waqiang's territory, those barbarians will take out all the good leathers that have been treasured for many years. Craftsmanship, but I can't bear to spoil the leather by myself."

"Then these tribes that are close to us will let people who go to work pass by their own territory?"

"My lord, there are more than 20 small tribes around our Yunshang County. Don't look at these people who are fierce when they face us. They will draw lots to harm us in two years. The Kewaqiang people control 20 people, and one person spit They can drown them, and they dare not provoke them at all."

"So, there are quite a few people in our county who can ride horses?"

The horseman smiled: "Those who don't know how to ride a horse are probably girls and children."

"Then Yunshang County can raise horses?"

Hearing this question, Ma Yuzi immediately let out a long sigh.

"If there is no water, there will be no grass. The good pastures in our county are all in Zhaoding, but now it is the territory of the Xilang and Sokoto tribes. There are about a hundred horses in the county, all of which are old or lame. Yes, they were sold to us at a low price by the barbarians. These horses are often bought by a dozen or so good friends in partnership, so that the young men and half-grown children in the family will learn to ride horses in turn, so that they can be used to graze people in the future.”

(End of this chapter)