choke element

Chapter 240 Human Life

The so-called Shiwuligou is actually a trench built by the ancients.It is said that during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Lu Mingyue, a thief from Zhuo County, set up camp here to confront Sui general Zhang Xutuo.

Now hundreds of years have passed by in a hurry, the two sides of the gully are densely covered with wild grass, and thorns are layered along the way.Although it blocks the view of the outside world, if you are not careful, if you step on dead branches and leaves, there will be a rustling sound.Fortunately, Zhang Rong and others were used to walking, and they were careful along the way.

The most recent time, several people passed by the herd of Mongolian horses grazing. The horses were startled by the figures swaying in the depths of the wormwood, and suddenly jumped and neighed. Several Mongolian knights came to comfort them. Fortunately, they had other thoughts. No one came to check for clues.

A group of people bypassed the camp of the Mongolian army and were approaching the Xiaoqing River. After a mile or two, they heard the voices of people!

Zhang Rong quickly motioned his companions to bend down, then pushed aside the reeds, stepped on the water plants and cold wet mud, and slowly looked forward.

Last year, there was a severe drought on two roads in Shandong, and there was no rain for more than [-] consecutive days. This year is also dry and cold.When the water is dry in winter, most of the rivers dry up.

However, the Xiaoqing River was excavated by a large number of civilians during the Puppet Qi Dynasty. It used the ancient Jishui Road to connect the Beiqing River and the continuous lakes and springs in the north of Jinan City. Allow big ships to sail.

Really big ships, many big ships!

Right in front of Zhang Rong, on the course of the Xiaoqing River, there were at least dozens of big boats coming in a single file, connected end to end!

"It's a ship like Tongzhou, a sea ship!"

Ma Wu whispered beside Zhang Rong.

Most of the ships used by the Dajin Kingdom to transport salt were imitated in the style of the salt ships of the Song Dynasty, with a square head and a square tail and a flat bottom. Caohe.

But these ships are all Tongzhou-like seagoing ships, with a single mast and single sail, about seventy feet in length.This kind of boat is inconspicuous when sailing in the wind and waves on the sea, but it is very majestic when placed in the Xiaoqing River.

What's more, there are dozens of ships of the same size, and the masts stand like a forest, which is really amazing!

In this section of the river, the water surface is very wide. There is a new grass market by the river, and there are piers and trestles on both sides.

But a while ago the Mongols attacked and burned the grass market to white ground, and the wharf and trestle bridge were not spared. At this time, only some wooden planks were built on the remaining bridge piles, and a layer of straw was laid. Walking on it is narrow and wobbly. .

At this time, the fleet was slowly approaching the trestle, and Zhang Rong wanted to take a closer look at the sailors.

An archer motioned Zhang Rong to look south of the trestle bridge.

"Brother, look!"

Zhang Rong was stunned by the sight of the fleet, and in a blink of an eye, he noticed that on the river beach near the trestle bridge, a large fence for the Mongols to keep livestock was surrounded at some point, and there were three to five hundred Mongolian cavalry outside the fence. Lazily guarding, and there are no less than thousands of men and women in the fence.

Most of the people were tortured beyond recognition.

Some were emaciated and numb; some were half-dressed and bare-armed, revealing horrific welts; some had their noses and ears cut; , the woman wailed loudly, and the husband also wept silently, perhaps because he missed the dead family members, or wept for their own experiences.

Where did these people come from?No need to get close, just by listening to the accent, this is the hometown of Jinan Prefecture, the neighbors of Zhang Rong and others!
Zhang Rong was furious instantly.He wished he could get up immediately, draw his sword and draw his arrows to kill all the guarding Mongols and release the people.

But he was sober and knew he couldn't do it.

In such a terrible world, without strength, it is impossible to talk about protecting others.And what if there is power?Who can stand against the Mongols?

Zhang Rong only felt that his forehead was hot and his heart was beating wildly. He tried his best to suppress his anger and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, wait and see. The Mongols must have a reason for coming here."

If he didn't pay attention, the wound on his cheek was torn open again, and blood continued to ooze out through the linen.Zhang Rong didn't realize it, and said again: "There is still that fleet, there must be something strange! Watch carefully!"

Just at this point, a large ship at the head of the fleet finally approached the trestle bridge, and a few people came out of the cabin.

The first person is a fat monk.When he strode onto the trestle bridge, his heavy body made the plank shake again and again.

The monk seemed to have injured his legs and feet, and his walking was a little unsteady, so he quickly stuck a big black stick in his hand to the end of the bridge, and when the trestle creaked and stabilized, he stood still.

The fat monk was followed by several people, all of them were handsome and dressed as court generals.

"What is the origin of this group of people? People from the imperial court? How can there be any contact between the people from the imperial court and the Mongols?"

Zhang Rong couldn't figure it out at all, and looked around, all his subordinates were also in a daze.

Zhang Rong and other private salt dealers are active in a wide range.It reaches Changshan in the east, Shanghe and Yanci in the north, connects with Taishan bandits in the south, crosses Dongping Mansion in the west, and makes friends with Liangshan Poshui bandits.

In this range, they have countless relatives, friends, and eyeliners distributed. They should have good ears and eyes, and they can't hide any troubles from them.

However, the Mongols massacred and killed, and in just over ten days, the local people either died or fled, none of them survived.They were trapped on the Hongtang Ridge, and they hadn't inquired much these days, so they didn't know that the fleet belonged to Guo Ning, the military governor of Dinghai.

This fat monk is naturally Guo Ning's right-hand man, Monk Luo with the dharma name Huifeng.

Monk Luo has always been bold. When the Mongolian army first arrived in Shandong, he proposed to take a boat with elite soldiers and go straight to the city of Jinan along the Xiaoqing River to harass the Mongolians.It is a pity that the situation has changed and his proposal has not been realized.

Later, Guo Ning captured the fourth prince Tuo Lei, took Tuo Lei as a hostage, and extorted a huge amount of ransom from the Mongolian army in Shandong.The two families agreed verbally that the soldiers and horses would separate without threatening each other; the delivery of horses, slaves, and armors would be completed face to face by the two armies.

The delivery of large items of money, grain, people, and craftsmen are all placed on the Xiaoqing River, north of Zhangqiu, where the river meanders.The Ding Navy dispatched its own fleet to come here to meet and transport.

The main reason why the delivery place is placed here is that most of the original residents here have fled, and the surrounding area is sparsely populated, so no one will watch when the Mongols deliver all kinds of goods.In this way, the Mongols, who were deeply ashamed of their defeat, could feel a little better, at least the humiliation was a little bearable.

Guo Ning had a fire that day, and he had a headache and hit Tuo Lei twice in the prison cell. Later, the medical officer said that three ribs were broken.

This kind of action really didn't conform to diplomatic etiquette, so he didn't take it too seriously and readily agreed to the Mongols' request for the place of delivery.

The fleet and boatmen under Guo Ning's command were all obtained by Wang Shixian's assistance to Li Yun in Zhigu Village.The task of leading the fleet up the river should have been Wang Shixian's.

But Wang Shixian's troops suffered heavy losses when they fought against the Mongols. He was busy comforting the soldiers these days, and he really couldn't get away.

So Monk Luo happily accepted the task, and went to Jinan Mansion on his feet, regardless of the fact that his family was missing two toes.

The two officers accompanying Monk Luo were named Liu Yue and Zhao Xuan.

That day Monk Luo fled with the monks from Xuanzhong Temple in Datong Mansion, Xijing, and recruited desperadoes along the way, and became bandits in Shenyuan Po, Baozhou.His deputy is Pei Ruhai, the junior brother of Xuanzhong Temple, who is called Monk Pei by outsiders.

But in the group of monks, there are very few brave and good fighters, so his other capable subordinates are all well-known local bandits in Hebei.

For example, Liu Yue was a murderer who killed a local wealthy businessman and fled, and was wanted by more than a dozen military states.As for Zhao Xuan, he was a wealthy businessman who traveled all over the world with his parents since he was a child. It was only because his family was bullied by local officials that he killed officials and fell grass.

These two people have one difference.It turned out that Liu Yue often dreamed that he was the right supervisor of Yulin in the Han Dynasty and the emperor's confidant; while Zhao Xuan always claimed that he was a Liangzhou scholar in his previous life and was good at bowing horses.

Everyone around knew that Monk Luo knew nothing about Buddhist scriptures, and he was even more entangled in Buddhist principles, but no one dared to tell him in front of him, so Monk Luo always regarded himself as an eminent monk.

And the tone they described was like Su Hui from the previous life in the Buddhist scriptures. Monk Luo found it interesting, so he invited the two of them as his confidantes.

In fact, most of the generals in the army knew that the two fell in love with Monk Luo, and they made it up for fun.As for whether Monk Luo himself understands or not, others dare not ask.

Although there is this quirk, both of them are powerful military academies, and they are so brave on the battlefield that even Guo Ning praised them.

After Pei Ruhai's death, the two became Monk Luo's lieutenants.

At present, Liu Yue accompanied Monk Luo, standing on the trestle bridge and watching coldly.And Zhao Xuan led a personal soldier, swaggeringly stood in front of the Mongolian cavalry formation, shouting.

Those Mongolian cavalrymen stared at Zhao Xuan, as if they were about to spew fire from their eyes, Zhao Xuan was really bold, he casually raised his head and yelled at the Mongolian on horseback.He can actually speak some Mongolian.

After talking and gesticulating a few words, a Mongolian hundred households came out.

The Mongolian hundred households looked up at Monk Luo, ignored them, and said sharply at Zhao Xuan: "The first batch is 5000 people, and there will be another five batches! We will pick out the people you want on the spot! Pick out the strong ones." It’s like picking out jumping gazelles, like picking out cheerful colts!”

Zhao Xuan was taken aback for a moment. The previous agreement with the Mongols included 3 people.That was estimated by Guo Ning and his subordinates.

After the massacre by the Mongols, the remaining population of Jinan Prefecture is about the same.In the verbal agreement, it was only mentioned that the Mongols could not use all the old and weak to make up the number, and the 3 people were sent in six batches.

Apart from that, there are no other details.It should be noted that the Mongols didn't even have written words, and everything was passed on by word of mouth through compiled libretto. The calculations were too detailed, and Naminfu couldn't remember much, so it was a waste of time.

At this moment, the Mongols are willing to give all young and strong, which is naturally good, but they have to choose on the spot... Wouldn't that mean that people are inspected like livestock?
Zhao Xuan felt a little unhappy.But he knew that this move would not be harmful to Ding Haijun, so he nodded slightly and said proudly: "Then hurry up!"

(End of this chapter)