Three Kingdoms

   Chapter 1177 The Missing Puzzle

  It is more than a hundred miles southeast of Tianshui.

A team of grain transporters lined up in a long queue, moving forward slowly. The ones in the middle were transporting grain and grass, and the guards were on both sides. On the first car in the front, there were two flags with "Ginger" written on one side, "Yang" written on one side.

The guards were all able-bodied men from Xiliang, with big arms and round waists, about a hundred of them. Although not all of them were wearing iron armor, most of them were still wearing leather armor and armed with weapons. Among them, there were about 20 on horseback. Shouting and drinking before and after the distribution, it is quite majestic, but the peasants who are responsible for pushing and pulling the vehicles and dragging the livestock look a lot thinner and ragged, forming a stark contrast.

Although it is not a serious official road, this road is relatively smooth, without many ups and downs. In addition, these guards do not take this road once or twice. Nothing happened, so the Xiliang men guarding both sides of the convoy were more or less relaxed, joking with each other while walking along, even the two commanders at the front of the convoy were no exception.

On the ground of Tianshui, Jiang and Yang joined forces. If they are capable, they have something to do with Jiang or Yang, and they will not lose their friendship for decades because of these food and grass. Those guys who have no friendship near Tianshui Well, most likely don't have the ability to do it...

  Plus these days, the weather is fine, except that the road is a bit hot and dusty, it will not be difficult, so, it is said to be an escort, but in fact it is almost like playing.

"Bah! Damn..." At the front of the queue, the guard commander on the left spit out the sand that flew into his mouth with the wind, cursed, and said, "Old Jiangtou, how many times is this going?" ?”

  Old Jiangtou on the right said: "It's the third trip! There are two more trips to finish! Damn, this body is dirty! When the work is over, I will go to Tianshui to borrow the river to wash well..."

   "Hahaha... I said, Old Jiangtou, let's not only take a bath by borrowing the river, but the Chunxiang Building in Dongmen Lifang... Hehe, hehe..."

"What's the matter, I'm a bachelor. If I don't go there, don't you still have to bear it? You kid will laugh at me when you have a wife? You used to go there before! Besides, the weather makes people feel anxious, don't go Let the fire out, be careful that I can't hold back and I will go over the wall of your house!"

   "Well, you are the uncle! Are you the uncle?"

  Old Jiang was shaking his head triumphantly and laughing twice, suddenly his face became stiff, and then he turned his head and asked: "...you...did you hear..."

  The sand above the road trembled slightly.

  A group of cavalry suddenly appeared on the top of the hill ahead, and then rushed down the hillside!

   "Damn! Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

   "Array! Hold your weapons!"

The guards escorting the food and grass did not expect to encounter the enemy here at all. They were already looking forward to the hot soup and hot pancakes on the ground. Seeing that they were about to reach Tianshui, there should be no danger on this road. The sudden situation made them unprepared and panicked all of a sudden.

Although the old Jiangtou and Yang Qi who led the team shouted loudly, hoping to command the guards to defend and counterattack, but not many of the unprepared guards reacted at all. However, the rest of the people were not strong enough, and were quickly killed and defeated, and fled in all directions.

  The peasants were also terrified. They threw down their carts and food. Run around.

The attackers shouted "Yo Yo" and galloped on horses. They crashed into the queue and killed those guards who dared to resist. The bright knife light brought up a pool of blood, which splashed on the yellow sand and the transportation of grain and grass. on the vehicle.

"Surrender! Surrender!" Seeing that the momentum was wrong, Yang Qi immediately dropped his saber and raised his hands. He also had a newly married beautiful daughter-in-law at home, so he couldn't take advantage of others, "Don't do it, don't do it! I am People from the Yang family in Ji County, Tianshui... the hero on the opposite side... aha..."

Before Yang Qi finished speaking, he saw a war horse running from the side, and the cavalry on the horse stretched out his spear, and pierced his chest with a "poof", then the knight on the horse sneered, and then On to the next target.

   "Kill them all!"

   A voice shouted.

  The assailant galloped on horseback, and the rapid hoofbeats rolled up a burst of smoke, like roaring beasts, swallowing those kneeling by the roadside, as well as the fleeing guards and civilian husbands, into their stomachs...

  ………………

  Different from the half-desert and half-green loess hilly area of ​​Tianshui, from a certain point of view, the scenery near Xiabian is much more beautiful than that of later generations. At least here, the area as far as the eye can see is still a lot of green.

  In the Han Dynasty, there was not much water, soil and flowing water. It's just that soil erosion is basically a vicious circle for vegetation. If there is no conscious restoration of vegetation, there will be nothing left.

   I just don’t know, how long can this green color last under human erosion?

   Fei Qian stood in Xiabian's temporary camp built by the water in the Western Han Dynasty, looking at the peasants and soldiers who were busy by the water, and they were loading grain and grass.

The grain and grass in Hanzhong were transported to Xiabian, and then the grain and grass in Xiabian were transported along the Western Han River to Qishan Mountain. From Qishan to the north, you can reach Tianshui, and then turn to water transportation from outside Tianshui City. After passing through the Weishui River, you can go straight to Guanzhong. .

Therefore, on the whole, in the section from Xiabian to Guanzhong, most of the time can be taken by water. Only the section from Qishan to Tianshui is transported by land. In addition, Jiang Jiong was originally from Jixian County, Tianshui. Therefore, whether it is the speed of transportation or the convenience of transportation, it is still acceptable.

Anyway, water transportation is much better than using people and horses to go up the mountain and people carrying horses and camels. Fei Qian walked through the Tangluo Road in person, and sometimes walked for a whole day, only to find that he had just climbed from one mountain to another. , the straight-line distance may only advance a few hundred meters, but people and horses have to climb for a whole day...

  Fei Qian watched the flat-bottomed boats full of grain and grass pass by the water of the Western Han Dynasty, raised their sails, and headed north.

  These ships are not big, but whether it is the hull or the sails, they all inherit the characteristics of the Han Dynasty and are square. The shape of these boats is that the bow and stern are slightly raised, and the chords of the hull are straight. Fei Qian even suspects that if the bow and stern do not break the water flow, maybe they will be changed to square. These are pure cargo ships. As for the Mengchong and Louchuan for combat, there are not many of them in the entire Northwest.

Before Chang'an and Luoyang, there were still one or two buildings left outside the city. Later, Chang'an and Luoyang were in turmoil, and these ships were all burned. At present, it can be said that the puzzle of the navy, whether it is Fei Qian or Yang Biao, even Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are on the same starting line.

  Although there are these ships in front of Feiqian, basically, the combat effectiveness on the water surface is close to zero, and they can only be used for transportation...

  But that’s all there is to it, you can’t just build an ironclad ship right now?

   And I can’t do it if I want to, after all, there is no steam engine yet...

   There are also various materials, lathes, mechanics and so on.

   are missing.

  Technology is like this. Even if a piece of the puzzle is missing, the whole picture cannot be complete.

It's just that the utilization and development of coal is already a task of Huang's workshop. Even among the dozens of people sent by the Mohists, several of them are specializing in coal research. The most important thing is to study how to produce large-scale The output of anthracite, after all, coal containing sulfur and impurities and pure anthracite, for the smelting of steel, the role of which is too different.

   "This is the third batch..." Jiang Jiong introduced while standing beside Fei Qian.

  The fleet is divided into three batches. After arriving at the corresponding location, they will rest there overnight, load some return cargo by the way, and then re-board the ship to return to the voyage, and so on. A large amount of grain and grass were transported to Guanzhong, and then some cloth, utensils, and even a considerable number of weapons were transported from Guanzhong, which were relatively lacking in Longyou.

Basically, anyone with a brain knows how rich the oil and water are on this road, so Jiang Jiong was able to gather a large number of transport ships in a short period of time to run this route exclusively. In addition to the county's influence, the participating families or tribes can gain considerable benefits from it, which is naturally a very strong cohesion that contributed to this matter.

   Fei Qian is also well aware of this. After all, it is necessary to share some benefits, so that some people are willing to cling to their side, but...

   "Zhong Yi," Fei Qian looked at the distant sails, and said calmly, "How much is the loss in this journey?"

  Jiang Jiong took a quick look at Fei Qian, and then said: "...this...about 40%..."

   drifted away.

   "Forty percent. Hehe..." Fei Qian smiled, noncommittal. Although there was no such technical term in the Han Dynasty, it was the same as plucking geese.

   That is to say, assuming that ten shi of grain and grass are transported from Xiabian, only six shi will be left when it reaches Youfufeng, and the other four shi will be the transportation fee for this route.

  The amount of loss, or the transportation cost, is high, it is indeed quite high, but compared with land transportation, it is much better. Of course, how many of them are really lost, and how many fall into the pockets of the transporters, this is a matter of opinion.

  Enter Guanzhong, and then build a fleet of your own to come out...

  Fei Qian discovered that with the expansion of the territory, besides war, there are many, many things that he needs to do, and more and more.

At this moment, several Han and Qiang cavalry rode their horses from the north in panic, and brought a piece of news that shocked both Fei Qian and Jiang Jiong. Grain was robbed!

  ………………

   "In detail, what's going on?"

   Fei Qian sat in the tent of the Chinese army, looked at the soldiers who came to report the letter, and asked.

  Drinking some water and calming down a bit, the soldier who reported the news, regardless of his physical fatigue, responded, and then began to tell the story...

The water of the Western Han Dynasty can reach Qishan directly from Xiabian, and in the entire northwest region, there is no dense water network like the southeast or southwest, and there are no civil organizations such as water thieves. Apart from the natural risks, the remaining risks are not very high.

  So from Xiabian to Qishan, there were no problems along the way. From Qishan to Tianshui, the Jiang family and the Yang family of Tianshui jointly received the guards, and then took the Yang family's boat, went down the Weishui River from Tianshui, and went to Youfufeng...

  When Feiqian heard about Yang, he glanced at Jiang Jiong.

  Jiang Jiong nodded slightly, indicating that the person in question was Yang Fu whom Fei Qian mentioned yesterday.

  Yang Fu is also from Jixian County, Tianshui. Like Jiang Jiong, he is considered a local aborigine in Tianshui. It is inevitable to recruit vehicles and ships, so Jiang Jiong also recommended Yang Fu to Feiqian.

The Yang family in Ji County is actually somewhat related to the Hongnong Yang family, but it was a matter of generations ago. It should have been separated from Yang Jiong's generation. It has already been out of the fifth service. How many generations, Fei Qian is not very clear.

   I didn't expect to encounter such a thing before I saw Yang Fu.

  The grain and grass were transferred from Qishan to Tianshui, when something went wrong, they were robbed and killed by cavalry from nowhere...

  After hearing this, Fei Qian frowned and pinched the short beard on his chin.

Qishan is close to Tianshui, and there was no danger in transporting grain and grass a while ago, so whether it is the people of the Jiang family or the Yang family, they may be relatively lax, but they dare to openly slap the local snakes in the face, and then pull Those who **** and pee are probably not good at it.

   "What banner is it playing? How many people are there?" Fei Qian asked.

  The soldier who reported the letter replied: "There is no banner...the number of people is about five hundred..."

   "No banner?" Jiang Jiong couldn't help but asked from the side, after all, this matter is also related to his Jiang family, "Then are there any other traces left?"

   "...There are some..." the soldier said, "According to those who escaped with their lives, some of them were dressed like Di people..."

   "Di people?"

  Jiang Jiong asked a few more questions, and the soldiers didn't say much more useful information.

   Fei Qian thought for a while, and there was really nothing more to ask, and he probably wouldn’t be able to ask anything, so he waved his hand and let the soldiers who reported the letter retreat first.

"General...according to some inferences, the thief must be familiar with the terrain of Tianshui..." After thinking for a while, Jiang Jiong cupped his hands and said, "If there are more than 500 cavalry who are not familiar with the terrain, they will definitely be discovered during their actions... But most of the Di people are under the debate , Tianshui is near, and there are not many people..."

   "And most of the Di people are infantry, good at fighting in the mountains, not good at cavalry..." Fei Qian nodded, and said, "If you exclude others pretending to be... so good at mountain warfare, and good at cavalry, I am afraid that only..."

   "White Horse Qiang..."

   "White Horse Di..."

   Almost at the same time, both Fei Qian and Jiang Jiong gave their answers.

"But... this subordinate is not justifying Baima Qiang... it's just that this matter is a little strange..." Jiang Jiong pondered for a moment, and then said, "Most of Baima Qiang are nomadic in Wudu, and it is said that they rushed to Tianshui to rob and kill food and grass. Although it is plausible...But, I dare not lie to the general, the leader of Baima Qiang, I also know someone, and I have some friendship, this...is there no reason at all?"

"Hmm..." Fei Qian murmured, this matter was like a picture, but some important pieces of the puzzle were missing, so he said slowly, "Could it be that Baima Qiang didn't know that Jiang's family transported it before?" It’s someone’s food and grass, and now I know it...or there are other people behind it..."

Jiang Jiong thought for a while, then cupped his hands and said, "If that's the case, it's also possible... The Baima Qiang has a large number of people, and it's a large tribe near the left. It's not difficult to dispatch 500 cavalry... But in the battle of Guanzhong, the Yak Qiang suffered the most damage. Baima Qiang didn't suffer much damage, so it would be too far-fetched to say that he had an enmity with the general because of this... Anyway, I beg the general to allow you to go to Tianshui immediately, investigate in detail, and then report!"

  Fei Qian just nodded, and was about to give some orders, but heard hurried footsteps from outside the tent again, and a soldier reported from the outside: "Report to the general! There are scouts spying fifty miles to the northwest!"

  (end of this chapter)