Waves at the end of Han Dynasty

Chapter 23
The cold air in October gradually expanded its territory from north to south. All kinds of animals got busy early in the morning and began to accumulate food little by little to prepare for the winter. The Han people did the same. In addition to crops such as wheat and other winter crops, some supplies for winter heating must also be prepared...

What, do you still need to prepare for the New Year?I'm sorry, civilians can't think about these things, living is the biggest thing...

Therefore, the destruction of Nanshanzhai is a great thing for the people near Huangxian County, because although they can stay at home for a long time and work silently on their own land, they can still work hard before winter. Go out to change, buy some things, even chop some firewood to keep warm in winter.

However, the news of the thieves being wiped out spread very slowly. The reason is that the flow of people and information is very slow in this era. In addition, the public security is not good. As more and more people know the news, they gradually radiate to the surrounding area...

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The Chen family caravan, no, it should be called the Juxian caravan is about to set off... Anyway, the name is not important, the important thing is to make money.

What is important to Lin Lin is that Chen Wentian can come back safely. She has been a little worried since the day before yesterday. That expert named Jilan is unwilling to come. These improvised guards seem more and more unreliable.

Chen Wentian was listening to the nagging of Chen Zhong who came to see him off, and turned his head from time to time to smile and comfort Chen Hua who was beside him. Although she didn't say a word after meeting Chen Wentian, it was obvious that her eyes were full of happiness. is worry.

Seeing everyone in the motorcade busy in an orderly manner, Lin Lin still couldn't help interrupting Chen Zhong, and pulled Chen Wentian aside, but then changed the subject of her words: "That...yesterday After we parted at night, I couldn't sleep and casually mentioned Ji Lan to Sister Yun. I didn't expect her to say that she had a way. She disappeared before dawn today. Maybe it's possible to pull them over. Why don't you wait a little longer Wait?"

"If this is true, then Mrs. Yun has a lot of energy, but it has been raining for the past two days, and we are really running out of time. If Jilan comes, let him catch up with us, anyway, the speed of the team is definitely not fast. , There is still a mule in the village for him to ride. Don't worry, arrange the house and wait for me when I come back." Chen Wentian knew that Lin Lin was worried about him, so his heart warmed up, and he held her little hand and said softly.

----

Not long after, the caravan set off slowly, with twenty carts, half of the twenty guards were appointed by the Gongsun family, eleven coachmen and handymen, plus Chen Wentian, Qin Li and a steward of the Gongsun family, This is the size of the Juxian team.

"Everything is difficult at the beginning!" Chen Wentian, with the help of Qin Li, felt as he rode on the only horse in the village.

This horse was obtained from the Gongsun Manor by Lin Lin after begging from the Third Miss Gongsun...Because horses were the fastest means of transportation in the Han Dynasty, riding a horse is a necessary skill for major events in the future, so Chen Wentian is going to take advantage of it. This is an opportunity to exercise.

"After deducting the cost, labor, road cards, and distribution of profits to Gongsun's family, etc., this trip can make a profit of more than [-] yuan. If the current market price in the harvest season is replaced by grain, it will be [-] yuan. It’s more than stone, even if the food is better, it’s enough for a hundred people to eat for half a year! If you can bring back some suitable goods from Jiaodong, it will be even more profitable.” The team gradually left Juxian Village, and Chen Wentian sat on the horse Secretly calculating...

However, according to the standards of the common people in the Han Dynasty, there are only two meals a day, and an adult laborer eats one stone of grain a month.Regardless of the standards of the gentry, this is far from enough for the elite soldiers who will need to fight in the future and the children who are growing up.

But if you want to change it to three meals a day and add a lot of meat and fat, the cost will be very high!It is estimated that the cost of more than three stones per person per month may not guarantee the supply.

"It seems that we have to discuss with Qin Li about raising pigs. After we come back, we can build some pigpens in the village to be self-sufficient." The other carts are full of goods and people are sitting, so the speed is relatively slow. The horse Chen Wentian rode was of a docile type, and it was actually not fast to follow at the end, but Chen Wentian's thoughts on the horse never stopped...

"Look, benefactor, the strong man Ji is here..." Chen Wentian's thoughts were interrupted by Qin Li's excited roar after a while. It seemed that Ji Lan did have some reputation and even Qin Li knew him.

----

The convoy continued to move forward, Chen Wentian got off the horse behind and had a brief chat with Jilan to understand the situation. It turned out that Jilan's wife was helpless when she was in labor, and it was Sister Yun who arrived in time at the critical moment and worked hard to succeed. Saved his wife and gave birth to a son.

This great kindness has always been kept silently in his heart, so when Mrs. Yun ran to his house and knocked on the door early in the morning, as soon as Mrs. Yun finished her first sentence, he agreed without thinking about coming to help Chen Wentian, and confessed. After the wife and children tidied up and moved to Juxian Village with Mrs. Yun, they took a shortcut and came here to wait.

"My lord, I just saw that you are not riding a horse properly, why don't you ask someone to teach you a lesson or two." Ji Lan's character Hongyuan spoke more directly. Just now, when he saw that Chen Wentian didn't know how to ride a horse, he stepped forward and untied the horse. Said the horse rope in the small tree by the road.

"Uncle Ji has excellent eyesight. This is my first time riding a horse. I hope Uncle Ji will teach me!" Just now, he didn't feel much on the horse, but Chen Wentian felt the soreness between his thighs when he got off the horse. Master, otherwise I don't know how much I will suffer!But this Jilan has characters, can control horses, and is skilled in martial arts, so I'm afraid he is also a poor family...

Generally speaking, in the Han Dynasty, at least those from poor families had the awareness of choosing characters for their children. Whether there are characters can be regarded as a symbol of identity or culture in the Han Dynasty, and it can also be said to be a threshold, so Chen Wentian actually thought about it Think of a word for yourself...

In addition, the average Orion is at most fit and strong, with some basic fighting skills and experience, and rarely has the opportunity to come into contact with horses, so... Chen Wentian was secretly happy again...

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In the west of Liaodong County and the northeast of Anping County, which were newly developed in Youzhou, along the famous Yalu River of later generations, it went deep into hundreds of miles, and it has already exceeded the original territory of the Han Dynasty. There is a young Han city, or a large military fortress, which happens to be There is also a larger caravan about to set off.

This is Xuanbei City, the Liaodong base of Longwei Mansion. It is said to be a base, but in fact its existence is more dependent on trade. Liaodong's giant trees, ginseng, animal skins, iron ore, Wuhuan people's war horses, and Goguryeo and Fuyu. Some gadgets, as well as some things from the aborigines in the north, have been sent to Yizhou. Of course, all kinds of handmade products and luxury goods in Longwei Mansion of Yizhou are also sold here.

Cross-border trade, maritime trade, and even a small amount of smuggling with Japan brought a lot of profits to Longwei Mansion, which made the number of dragon riders here continue to increase. At present, there are nearly [-] riders, and more than [-] new recruits are stepping up. training.

The scale of the city is not small, but there are not many people in the city, mainly scattered craftsmen, lumberjacks and merchants doing trade, as well as practitioners serving caravans and the army.

The buildings are also mainly warehouses, markets, post stations, barracks, school grounds, etc. required for commerce and military affairs, and are matched with the surrounding defense facilities, so it can also be said to be half a military fortress.

Of course, the most obvious difference between Xuanbei City and other cities in the Han Dynasty is the large wharf outside the city gate of Beicheng. The wharf here can dock Longwei ships. Compared with the original building ships of the Han Dynasty, Longwei can sail. The ship can be regarded as a huge monster. While its carrying capacity, navigation speed, navigation safety, and naval combat capabilities have been greatly improved, its draft and requirements for the dock have also been greatly improved, so this is the only place where it can directly dock in the north. Of course, due to the limitation of the water depth and the width of the river, the Longwei ship can only stop here at most and cannot go further upstream.

Therefore, although the caravan that is about to set off is a fleet, it does not have a huge Longwei ship, but all of them are much smaller inland river boats, because their purpose is to cross the border of Goguryeo and Buyeo on the upper reaches of the Yalu River, but they cannot win. There are so many of them, hundreds of them large and small, that they almost gather most of the merchant ships in Liaodong except for the Longwei ship...

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Ban Shan, whose name is Meng Xing, has been working on the viewing platform of the wharf for a few days, because he is in charge of this huge caravan, the inventory and transportation of a huge amount of various materials, the arrangement of various entourages and logistical support, These are definitely very complicated errands in the Han Dynasty, not to mention that they can be done in an orderly manner.

That's why Longwei Mansion sent Ban Shan here, not only because he is the second son of the elder Ban Yong, but also because his ability to handle these errands is the best in the mansion, and he is also the right-hand man of the general manager Fan Shan.

But only Ban Shan knew that the reason why he came here was not because he was the only one who was competent for the errand here, but also because the entire Longwei Mansion attached great importance to this operation. Even his father, who never cared much about other matters, once I made a special trip to tell him that he must complete this task well.

It is obvious that such a large scale of materials, manpower and even the use of a thousand dragonriders as guards has far exceeded the needs of a caravan, unless of course it is going to the Great Qin on behalf of the Han Dynasty...

The caravan or trade is just a cover for this operation. Although the cover is rough, it is enough. At present, there is a kind of blind self-confidence in the outside world, especially the gentry and the upper echelons of the court. Decades of border security have led to complacency There are a lot more people, only businessmen are still going out silently.

What's more, this place was originally outside the territory of the Han Dynasty and belonged to the scope of Goguryeo. Although most of the gentry in Liaodong knew that there was a Han influence here and even came here, no one has studied its details for more than ten years. The scope of their people has always stayed at this level, so Ban Shan feels that there will be no other people to investigate the real purpose of their trip.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Yalu River will not be frozen for more than three months, the fleet will keep going upstream and heading northeast. After arriving at the location he sent people to survey in advance, the fleet will return to Xuanbei City, and most of the personnel will He used horses, vehicles, and sleds to move forward with supplies, passing through Goguryeo and Puyu, until he reached the Far East base three thousand miles away that had been abandoned for ten years, and then he took these Han people to live there. Only then did he complete the task .

The time is very tight, the difficulty is very great, and there will be many accidents that may be encountered, but he must complete it.

According to the Tianshu records and what General Longwei said back then, the Far East base continued to move northeast along the coastline, and the easternmost point thousands of miles away could reach a new "continent" across the sea after being frozen.

It was a whole new world, with all kinds of new and extremely useful species, with vast flat and fertile lands, and inhabited only by a few barbarians.

And capturing and developing that "continent" is also one of General Ouyang's lifelong wishes. Although Ban Shan doesn't know what this "new continent" means, or even how big it is, he wants to at least treat the dragon. The future development of Weifu can play a big role.

However, another important reason why he has to restore this base that can connect to the "New World" is because of its founder, the fifth brother of the five Longwei brothers: Ji Zhen.

When General Ouyang was framed, even his fourth brother Wei Zhen betrayed him, and he was extremely depressed. It was Ji Zhen who made a decisive decision with his second brother, Ban Yong, and third child, Fan Sheng. While cheering and comforting the general, he cleaned up the mess, and suggested that the Longwei army immediately withdraw to Yizhou to establish the Longwei mansion.

After Longwei Mansion gained a firm foothold in Yizhou, in order to continue to expand the power of Longwei Mansion and to lay the foundation for realizing the general's goal of "opening up a new continent" in the future, the fifth younger brother Ji Zhen, who is capable of both civil and military skills and has extraordinary courage, led him again. Hundreds of people went to Liaodong alone on the Longwei ship, and contacted the old ministry to establish a Liaodong base.

After several years of gradually growing in the Liaodong base, he established the Far East base in the far northeast, and then kept accumulating strength to train manpower, until 12 years ago with [-] warriors, he resolutely embarked on the road to open up the "New World"... …

It is a pity that for unknown reasons, the Far East Base and the entire Longwei Mansion have not received any news from Ji Zhen and hundreds of warriors for several years. Attacked and destroyed.

This incident once again dealt a heavy blow to the general, and even before he died, he still couldn't forget his fifth younger brother Ji Zhen, so after many years of preparation, there was the long-planned action of Ban Shan...

(End of this chapter)