Chastity Layman

The samurai Xun began to regret halfway through.

When he rescued Songzhou, he chose to take a shortcut. If you don’t enter Jiange, you don’t go down to Chengdu. Instead, you choose to go north from Lizhou, go north along the Bailong River to Jinggu, and then enter the tributary Baishui in the northwest, pass through Wenzhou and Fuzhou, bypass the Daxue Mountain, reach the north of Songzhou, and then go south along the Minjiang River. Songzhou City.

It's okay to walk along the Bailongjiang section, the road is easy to walk.

But after passing Wenjing and entering Baishui, a tributary, the road became more and more difficult.

From Lizhou to Songzhou, if we talk about the straight-line distance, it is actually only 400 miles, but in fact, the usual route has to go south to Chengdu and then turn back north to Songzhou, making a huge circle, and the distance is more than a thousand miles.

The samurai rescued soldiers like firefighting, and had no time to go around in circles, so he chose to take the north road. This is a shortcut and a small road. The whole journey is 800 miles, which can save hundreds of miles.

He took the line of Bailongjiang and Baihe, bypassed the Daxue Mountain, entered the upper valley of the Minjiang River, and went down to Songzhou along the valley.

Compared with the South Road, the Baihe River Basin on the North Road is surrounded by snow-capped peaks. The mountains in the basin are intertwined, with towering peaks and overlapping mountains.

The terrain is high with steep slopes and deep valleys.

The Baihe River flows through the high mountains. The valley is deep and narrow, and the slope of the river is steep and rapid. The narrow part of the river is only two or three feet wide, and the wide part is no more than ten feet.

When the old iron gun came out to ask for help, he also took the north road, but he was only one person after all, and he did not carry food and grass, and even in the lower reaches and the Bailong River section, he could take a risky boat down.

But the samurai wanted to go north, and the boat could not sit on it, so he had to consider the carriage, horses and supplies.

The most unlucky thing was that he had just passed through the relatively easy-to-walk Bailong River section and entered the Baihe section when he encountered a heavy rain.

It rained heavily for three days, not to mention wasting precious marching time, it also caused landslides and blocked the road ahead.

When the rain stopped, the warrior Xun could only organize soldiers to rush to repair the mountain road and dig out the collapsed earth and rocks, which took another three days.

The further north we went, the more dangerous the road was, and there were more than one landslides caused by heavy rain. We stopped and went, and after a while, we had to build roads and bridges, which was miserable.

The samurai Xun was in a hurry.

He didn't know how long Qin Qiong could hold on.

But according to his estimation, Qin Qiong would persist for two months at most. After all, he had at most a thousand troops in his hands, and many of them were slave farmers, with no more than five hundred servants and guards.

Especially for those who have just entered Songzhou, they are not familiar with the place where they live, and they may even be unaccustomed to the water and soil, making it difficult to adapt to the climate there.

He could only let people hurry up to open the way, while constantly praying that Qin Qiong could last longer.

Along the way, several times he had to give up some supplies.

The road is too difficult to walk, and in some landslides, only a simple road can be built to cross it. This makes it impossible for the carts and horses transporting baggage to cross, so they can only use horses, mules and donkeys to load part of the military supplies and continue to move forward.

Even the soldiers carried dry equipment and food on their bodies.

Travel less than fifty miles a day.

Eight hundred miles would take half a month or even longer.

The samurai Xun was very anxious, but there was nothing he could do.

The thousands of troops he urgently dispatched from Lizhou were all exhausted. A total of 2,000 soldiers from the three Zhechong prefectures, as well as 3,000 township soldiers and volunteers were mobilized.

Five thousand troops was the largest force he could mobilize in a short period of time. This was because the three captains of the Zhechong Mansion asked for orders. Otherwise, if they were unwilling, he would not be able to mobilize the soldiers at all.

In the middle of the night, in the temporary camp, the samurai Xun sat beside the Baishui River, unable to sleep, listening to the sound of the rushing water, looking at the stars in the sky, he couldn't help but regret that maybe he didn't lead soldiers to fight You know, it shouldn't have come at all.

Maybe I just need to mobilize the troops, prepare the money, food and equipment, wait for Qin Sanlang to come to Lizhou from Chang'an, and then hand over all the money and food to him, and let him lead the rescue of his father.

Why do you have to do this yourself? After all, this is not to hunt down a few fugitives, nor to encircle and suppress a group of bandits, but to march thousands of miles to rescue Qin Qiong.

What if Qin Qiong had already been killed or captured when he arrived? What should I do?

Or if you encounter torrential rain, mountain torrents, landslides or mudslides halfway, you are stuck on the road, unable to move forward or retreat?

·······

Lizhou.

Qin Lang arrived day and night with hundreds of Qingqi, only to find that Zhang Chao greeted him helplessly.

"When I arrived, the military governor had mobilized 2,000 government soldiers and 3,000 township soldiers to go to the rescue. He took the northern route, going to Wenzhou and Fuzhou, bypassing the Daxue Mountain and entering the northern border of Songzhou."

When Qin Lang heard this, his eyes widened angrily.

"Shrimp shit, the northern route is only suitable for small caravan caravans to enter and exit, and it is not suitable for large armies. Right now is the season of heavy rain and mountain torrents in summer, and landslides and mudslides will make the already difficult road even more difficult. How did Mr. Ying commit such a crime? Such a big mistake, he took the northern route, which seemed to shorten hundreds of miles, but in fact, it may take him more than twice as long as the southern route, and he may even be stuck in the middle of the road and unable to move an inch!"

Qin Lang was grateful to the warrior Xun for urgently dispatching troops to rescue without waiting for the approval of the court, and even led the team himself, but he made a mistake. He chose a seemingly short route that was actually more time-consuming.

He led the precious 5,000 Lizhou soldiers and horses in the wrong direction, wasting precious troops and even wasting precious initial rescue time.

"I'm going to catch up with Ying Guogong and request to modify the route?"

"It's too late." Qin Lang heard that the samurai Xun had already set off for more than ten days, and he was probably halfway there. Whether it is advancing or retreating at this time, it is actually a waste of time.

"You can't count on Duke Ying's team."

Qin Lang took out the prince's warrant and asked the officials of Lizhou Governor's Mansion to take his people to invite the officers of Zhechong Mansion to come.

Lizhou is a key point of transportation, and there are several zhechong mansions stationed there, one upper mansion, one lower mansion, and three middle mansions, with a total of five mansions and five thousand mansion soldiers.

Excluding Fanshang Suwei, the capital, and the government soldiers guarding the frontier, there should be about 4,000 government soldiers in the government, and after deducting the 2,000 taken away by the warrior Xun, there are still 2,000 people.

After promulgating the prince's order to supervise the country, Qin Lang ordered the remaining Lieutenants Guoyi to mobilize immediately, and immediately recruit all the soldiers in Fan to return to the government, and go out with him to rescue Songzhou.

Several captains Guo Yi did not reject this young gentleman.

Several Guo Yi had fought under Qin Qiong, and there was even one who had fought side by side with Qin Lang during the Xuanwumen Incident. Thanks to this, he was promoted to Captain Guo Yi.

"Please, Prime Minister Qin, allow the sons and daughters of the soldiers from all the prefectures to volunteer to join the army."

Since the Western Wei Dynasty, under the Fubing system, the Fubing were all selected sons of powerful landlords and wealthy peasants. They are very effective in fighting, because they are of good quality and the two families are in good condition, so they are well equipped. They often have mules and horses to carry equipment, and even horse mounts to replace the marching army.

Another one is that the government soldiers have made meritorious service in wars and have the opportunity to serve as officials, so everyone is very motivated and fights fiercely. Even when wars are often fought, there will be government soldiers who will bring their children to join the army. Anyway, they will prepare their own weapons and dry food.

Especially in the border towns, the children of the frontier army and the Tibetans near the city are actually an indispensable and important combat force for the frontier army.

"How many children can you recruit?"

Guo Yi, who once hacked the princelings with Qin Lang, patted his chest and said, "As long as everyone hears that they are going to rescue Marshal Qin in Songzhou with Mr. Qin, they will definitely rush to go there. I dare not say more. But it’s okay for five thousand disciples to be brave.”

Qin Lang was a little surprised when he heard this number, but when he thought that there were five Zhechong mansions in Lizhou, it was normal to have many children. The Fubing originally chose Ding Duoduo, a wealthy family with a lot of money. They have many brothers and good family conditions, so they have practiced riding and shooting skills when they were young. In essence, these soldiers are no different from regular Fubing. At most, it is just a little bit of experience in training and combat.

"How much time is needed to assemble, I don't have time to wait."

"An order, thousands of troops will come to meet you, don't wait!" Guo Yi said, patting his chest.

"Okay, I'll stay here for two days, and I'm leaving in two days."

Qin Lang sent Zhang Chao to take more than a dozen light horses to go south to fight the outpost, "I have two tasks for you. One is to take the prince's order to supervise the country and send it to the sword, Mian, Han, Yi, Peng, and Mao Zhu along the way. State, let the prefects of each state, Zhechong Duwei, recruit government soldiers, mobilize food, grass and equipment to stand by, and when I arrive, follow me north to rescue Songzhou."

"There is one more task. After you send the order, go directly to Songzhou and tell me, Grandpa, that I have brought thousands of troops here."

"Saburo, what if?"

"It's nothing in case, some Qiang people can't do anything to my grandpa, go!"

Lao Tieqiang wanted to go with his son, but Qin Lang let him stay.

"Uncle Zhang, you should have stayed in Chang'an to rest. You are getting old, and you ran so fast last time, and your body is too exhausted. Let Wen Yuan go!"

"Hey, this samurai Xun, I thought he was reliable, but who knew he was so unreliable. He took five thousand troops and went to the northern route. What do you think?"

Qin Lang didn't want to criticize the warrior Xun too much.

"Ying Guogong is not a general who leads troops to fight after all. He is eager to rescue. If something goes wrong, we can't blame him entirely. Anyway, our Qin family can accept this kindness from Ying Guogong."

Even if the samurai Xun was stuck on the road and couldn't help, but he sent troops with such a big risk, this situation must be kept in mind no matter what.

"I don't know what's going on with Alang in Songzhou. He's too stubborn. He should avoid the sharp edge of the Qiang people for now."

"My grandfather is stronger when he encounters the strong, and this time he met only some Qiang people. They can't scare me, Alang. There are strongholds to defend against danger. Although my grandfather has few soldiers and horses, he should It’s okay, we can stick to our past.”

Zhang Tieqiang sighed, "I'm afraid that Alang will not be willing to sit still, and he might take a risk to attack again. If there is an accident, it will be troublesome. Especially the new arrival of the Libu, it may not be credible."

Qin Lang was also anxious, but he could only comfort himself, Qin Qiong had seen all kinds of strong winds and waves, so he wouldn't capsize in this gutter.