Chapter 222 Who can harm each other
South of Pingyang, on the Chi Road.

The huge migrating group was connected end to end, with more than 2,000 crude sleds slowly moving south.

Each sled was pulled by four horses, two in front and two in the back, carrying tents, food, fodder, etc.

Each sled is more than enough to transport four or five people.

The transport capacity is sufficient.

Zhao Yun doesn't like riding a sleigh, he rides on a horse. He feels safe when riding a warhorse.

The accompanying cavalry monitored the migrating team and were vigilant and cautious about the Wuhuan captives.

The Wuhuan captives had been disarmed, but in order to keep out the cold, they wore several layers of leather and felt clothes, which had the same protective effect as leather armor.

In order to ensure the smooth arrival of the Wuhuan captives, Wen Pin's troops also returned to Jingzhou this time.

Together, the two sides had nearly 3,000 soldiers from Jingzhou and Zhao Yun's own troops, and they captured 5,000 Wuhuan prisoners and more than 8,000 horses.

On the sled at the back, Pang Tong was wrapped up like a panda.

He wore a large, soft double-layer deerskin hat and frowned as he concentrated on calculating something.

His keen intuition told him that sleds would most likely change future winter wars in the north.

Sleds are not something strange. The Xianbei, Wuhuan, and Xiongnu peoples have all seen primitive sleds.

Now a question is put before Pang Tong: which one has higher transportation efficiency, a horse-drawn sleigh or a vehicle?
One thing is clear: horse-drawn transportation is the least efficient.

There is no need to calculate anything, this is Pang Tong's common sense in life.

If the overall efficiency of horse-drawn sleighs catches up with that of vehicles, we must remain highly vigilant against Guanzhong.

With the explosive combat power of Black Bear and the Guanzhong soldiers, in the next few years, the surrounding Hu tribes will probably be reduced to firewood and be completely cut down by Guanzhong.

The Han and the Huns had lived together for 400 years, so they basically knew each other's weaknesses.

The Hu people are at their weakest in winter.

Although the men and horses were fat and strong after nourishment in the autumn, the cost of the Hu people moving their camps and avoiding war in the winter was too high.

When a punch was thrown, the Hu people could only take it head-on.

The more Pang Tong thought about it, the more difficult it seemed. If he wanted to offset and suppress the transportation advantage of the Guanzhong soldiers, he had to improve and upgrade the existing vehicles to more than twice the size of a sled.

But if the vehicles are improved, Guanzhong can also follow suit.

The other side has the advantage of animal power, and in the future the efficiency of land transportation will only be higher than that of the Central Plains.

However, we are in Jingzhou, so even if it snows heavily, the snow will melt quickly and there will be no accumulation of thick ice and snow. The enemy's sleds can only wreak havoc in Nanyang at most.

In order to curb Guanzhong's encroachment on Jingzhou, they could only vigorously develop the navy, rely on the natural barrier of the Han River, use strong cities to resist the Guanzhong army, and then use the absolutely superior navy for supplies.

Therefore, if Jingzhou wants to fight against Guanzhong, it should focus on building a new city.

Especially the city of Xiangyang, it must be expanded and improved!
Pang Tong found a way to deal with the situation and gradually came back to his senses. He saw that the marching team had stopped slightly.

Soon, a sled broke away from the team a few hundred steps ahead. A dozen knights nearby drove their horses closer and killed a mad horse. The sled was left with only three horses and could only stop next to the horse's corpse.

The Wuhuan captives driving the sled got off, cut up the horse carcasses and removed the horse manure. Then the sled loaded with horse meat joined the following team.

The team continued to move south along the east bank of the Fen River, then turned west.

At noon, the migrating team, which stretched for more than ten miles, stopped and began to feed the horses.

Pang Tong also got off the car to stretch his body and came to the bank of Fen River, where ice on both sides was about to gather and completely block the river surface.

After struggling to open a gap, Pang Tong stood with his back to the wind, controlling his attempt to paint. After finishing, he felt much more relaxed.

Xi Zhen, who was sitting on the sled behind, walked over quickly. After taking a look at the quality of Pang Tong's pouring, he also began to release water: "I heard that the Longmen Jinda River was frozen, so we turned to Longmen."

Xi Zhen quickly tied his belt and patted his fur coat, then asked, "Brother, are you interested in going to see Hukou?"

"Unfortunately, it's not the right time."

Pang Tong stood with his hands on his hips, facing northwest. The ice and snow everywhere made him squint his eyes: "But now that I'm here, I'll regret it if I don't take a look."

Xi Zhen laughed when he heard this. At this time, several scholars from Jingzhou also came over and left the river bank together and returned to the sled team.

Pang Tong saw someone moving a sled to protect himself from the wind, and used the fire he carried to ignite the firewood.

The firewood was collected during the migration. The Ji Wang Mountain area on the south bank of the Fen River is densely forested.

The empty sled would go over and in a short while it would cut down dead trees and pick up dry firewood to fill a sled.

Two or three hundred cars are enough for lighting at night and boiling water when resting along the way.

The sleds formed a circle, and Pang Tong and his twenty or so men entered, all sitting with their backs against the sleds, facing the fire in the middle.

There was no wind, but the fire burning two or three steps away immediately made Pang Tong's frozen red cheeks feel warm.

He took off his deerskin gloves and raised his hands to warm them. Then he heard someone beside him ask, "Chang'an is copying Mr. Cai's will. Do you want to return home or stay in Chang'an?"

Pang Tong closed his eyes and prepared to take a nap, when he heard someone on the other side ask, "What do you think of Lord Cai's posthumous letter?"

"I?"

Pang Tong sat up straight and leaned against the sled. The sled here blocked all kinds of snow, and his eyes felt a little more comfortable.

Looking around, I saw that these scholars were generally in their twenties, and the younger ones were seventeen or eighteen years old.

After thinking for a while, Pang Tong said: "I am in a public office and was ordered to come to Guanzhong on official business. Naturally, I have to return to report. As for you, in my opinion, you should focus more on your studies. Some of you also hold official positions, but they are all humble and not worth mentioning."

Seeing some people were interested, Pang Tong felt that Xi Zhen wanted to talk, so he turned his head to look at him. Xi Zhen asked, "We don't have much money left. Do you have any good ideas?"

Pang Tong thought for a moment and said, "Money and grain are important matters. If you want to stay in Chang'an temporarily, you may as well borrow money from the Zhenbei Shogunate. Next year, the Danshui Canal will be opened for transportation. Your families can transport grain and silk to the north to offset the loan."

Xi Zhen nodded after hearing this, and the 50,000 gold purchasing plan has been implemented in succession.

It is now the dry season of the Han River, but supplies can still be transported to Nanxiang.

If the negotiation was successful, the family would transport grain and silk to the south, and the scholars who stayed in Chang'an to copy books and study culture would be able to obtain money and food supplies. Looking at the expressions of these people, Pang Tong knew that none of them wanted to return to Jingzhou.

We are all young people. Studying Cai Gong’s posthumous letter is one thing, but waiting for the opportunity to join the next war may help us rise to the top.

Many of the soldiers from Guanzhong, as well as the auxiliary soldiers and newly formed troops rescued by Black Bear, will lack the ability to read and write.

If such people learn slowly in the future, they will inevitably be dismissed.

Therefore, these scholars from Jingzhou who were well-versed in culture, once they joined the army, would start out as team clerks, and a little higher would become clerks in a team of a hundred men.

In the Western Han Dynasty, many scholars and young knights joined the army and followed Wei Huo to fight a battle. As long as they came back alive, they would rise to great heights.

There are also Gan Ning and Zhao Yun, who were previously unknown.

At least in the circle of scholars, who knows these two?

What now?
Although Gan Ning did not achieve any significant gains in this battle, his arrival easily undermined the fighting spirit of the Hedong soldiers, allowing Black Bear to calmly deal with the two counties of Taiyuan and Hedong.

Zhao Yun is even simpler. It is hard to say whether he can defeat ten thousand enemies.

But it is true that one person can defeat five thousand cavalry.

From now on, whenever Zhao Yun goes on an expedition, even if he is pretending to be a decoy, even if you know that Zhao Yun is a decoy, you must still deploy heavy troops to defend against him.

Zhao Yun will also have strategic deterrence.

Of course, as Zhao Yun's value and reputation skyrocketed, there was no shortage of people who wanted to challenge Zhao Yun and make a name for themselves.

These Jingzhou scholars generally had a strong sense of professionalism because of their contempt for Gan Ning and Zhao Yun.

Pang Tong gave a very conventional suggestion. Anyway, after the 50,000 gold was distributed for purchase, the families of these scholars would benefit.

Staying in Guanzhong and spending clean money can reduce a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Pang Tong neither dissuaded nor encouraged.

Now he and Wen Pin just want to return to Jingzhou as soon as possible to face new challenges.

Pang Tong was worried about something, so when the scholars around him were talking and laughing, he just smiled along.

A soldier from Jingzhou also sat by the campfire, putting the clean white snow he had collected into his iron helmet and boiling it.

He went back and forth to fetch snow five times before he filled the three hanging iron helmets.

As for the Fen River and its ice, the soldiers who had just withdrawn from the front line knew what the situation was like in the upper reaches of the Fen River.

Even if you haven't seen it, you've heard of it.

According to some rumors, more than 10,000 Huns were driven into the Fen River and froze to death, and now they are frozen in the ice near the battlefield, and they are still alive.

There are too many rumors about this. Currently, no one is willing to drink the icy water and river fish from the Fen River.

The soldier fiddled with the fire silently, then stood up and went out to get firewood. He stood there looking to the west, raised his hand to cover his brows, and shouted in surprise, "It's General Zhenbei!"

He immediately turned to Pang Tong and said, "Pang Gongcao, the General Zhenbei is on patrol here!"

The scholars were stunned. Pang Tong turned over, but he was wearing too many clothes and was too bulky to stand up. It was Xi Zhen beside him who helped him up.

Pang Tong and the surrounding scholars climbed onto the sled and stood on a high place.

There were many people standing on the sleds connected in front and behind the migrating team, but a larger number of Wuhuan captives were kneeling on the ice and snow beside the sleds, kowtowed, prayed and blessed Tai Shi Wen Gong who was passing by.

There were two heavy sleds, one in front and one behind, with an eagle flag and a dragon flag respectively.

The eagle flag is in front, which is a replica of the captured Chanyu's banner; on the sled behind is a yellow dragon flag.

Pang Tong watched the black bear sled getting closer and closer, and the people around him waved.

The black bear was not wearing a mask. He held the carriage with his right hand and waved his left hand in greeting.

Without stopping, as for Pang Tong, whose face was red and slightly swollen from the cold and who was wearing several layers of fur coat... I really didn't recognize him at this moment.

After passing more than thirty sled gathering points, Black Bear saw Wen Pin's battle flag and ordered Yuan Shu to slow down.

The sled stopped, and when he got off, Wen Pin strode up to him and bowed to Lu Bu.

Lu Bu also nailed his Fang Tian Ji into the ice and snow and bowed as a return gesture.

Wen Pincai bowed to the black bear, with a guilty look on his face: "I am so ashamed. I only regret that I cannot follow the general to fight against the barbarians."

"The stability of Jingzhou is more important than anything else. General Zhongye, don't worry about it."

Black Bear comforted him, but Wen Pin said, "I am afraid that the heroes of the world will laugh at me if I receive such a generous reward even though I have not done anything."

"General Fubo and I are on good terms, and we have a brotherly relationship. There is no need to say such polite words."

Black Bear raised his hand and patted Wen Pin on the shoulder: "Next year when I go to fight the Xianbei, I will not forget General Zhongye."

Wen Pin just nodded, stretched out his arms to signal, and led the black bear to the campfire.

The sleds were surrounded, and there were no other people from Jingzhou nearby, so Wen Pin asked, "May I ask, General, is there really internal strife in our state?"

"Pang Shiyuan had foresight in this matter, and someone from Xudu also sent a letter to warn us."

Black Bear took off his gloves and warmed himself by the fire, his face serious: "General Fubo's safety is more important than anything else. If Zhongye fails, you can escort General Fubo back to Nanxiang. Any army in Jingzhou who dares to invade Nanxiang will be my enemy. I have already sent a letter to Nanxiang, and Mr. Jibo will also respond."

"Don't compete with them for temporary gains. As long as I am here and General Fu Bo is here, Jingzhou will naturally be stable."

"Yes, the general will take your orders."

Wen Pin bowed in agreement. He had a lot to say, but now he didn't know where to start.

After thinking it over again, Wen Pin bowed again: "I only regret that I could not follow the general to fight against the Hu Di!"

"Don't worry. The world lacks everything except barbarians."

Black Bear helped Wen Pin up and consoled him with a smile, "I've also written to Jiangling. General Fu Bo has a kind personality and will surely be supported by the people of Jingnan. Jiangling is also a strong city. If he doesn't leave the city, who can harm him?"

(End of this chapter)