Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 2884 Sudden, wind and frost and military stronghold

Shi Bazhi exchanging bacon for lamb is actually not a big deal. As the leader of an army camp, he not only wants to be the commander of the army camp in the military, but also plans for the military camp in his daily life. It is not easy to be a father and a mother for trivial matters such as food, clothing, housing and transportation of soldiers.

  『You said those herdsmen were affected by the disaster? ’ Zhang He asked.

Shi Bazhi nodded and said, "That's right, I heard that there was another disaster in the northern desert, and then they fought again over some mountain or river...General, I can't remember the places they were talking about...these Guy, at first he pretended to be a descendant of a prince, and wanted to cheat for food and drink...』

Shi Bazhi smiled and told Zhang Yun that at the beginning, these barbarians put gold on their faces. I don't know if it was from the ears of their elders or from that place that they said that Han people are stupid and rich. , they are all willing to believe that the barbarian who came here is some kind of prince, so even if they are a small and poor tribe, they all claim to be the blood of Khan from a certain mountain, a certain cave, or a certain forest. The descendants said that they would come to establish diplomatic relations with the great Han, and send letters of credence to each other.

At the beginning, Shi Bazhi was skeptical, but later he saw through it after seeing a lot. After all, no matter how he pretended, his daily words and deeds, as well as daily habits such as eating and washing, can still show whether a person has morality or not. Self-cultivated...

  So when Shi Bazhi encountered the first scam and found that these guys ate almost everything they could eat like hungry ghosts, and then couldn't help having diarrhea in the middle of the night, he almost understood it. It's like a guy who likes to take sheep and steal things and say that he is a certain prince, can you believe it? So later Shi Bazhi basically didn't believe these barbarians who always said they were descendants.

   Zhang He was not surprised by this situation. And to be honest, in the desert, the conquests between the various tribes are uncertain. If you say that there are some broken tribes in the desert for hundreds of years, the sons of the chiefs who wandered, it is like a stone in the grassland. , too many to count.

  『Those Hu people and herdsmen in the north of the army village,』 Zhang Yun asked, 『Did you come here during this period? 』

  Shi Bazhi nodded and said, "Yes, they all came here one after another during this period of time." I have sent people to find out, these people are small tribes under the Xianbei before, they can't provoke the Xianbei people, and they can't provoke us, so when the Xianbei people fought with us before, these guys hid far away Yes... Now that the Xianbei people have fallen, they dare to come back... Speaking of which, they are closer to us than to the Xianbei people. After all, the Xianbei people will rob their cattle and sheep and capture their men and women, but we don't do this Things... so if there is something troublesome in the grassland and desert, they will rush over to send us a letter, exchange some salt tea or something...』

  Actually, Shi Bazhi did not tell the whole story.

   This piece of land originally belonged to Xianbei, but later became the tentacles of the Han people, and the Hu people and herdsmen in the distance may be the real people who have lived here for a long time.

  But without strength, in any era and place, it is the original sin.

  『What are most of the messages they sent? Is it credible? ’ Zhang He asked.

Shi Bazhi shook his head and said, "Basically, it's just rumors from the desert...sometimes they don't know much about it themselves, and they can't explain it clearly, but I think it's more or less a source of news, and they help us herd sheep, so I don't care too much about it." it's..."

  Zhang He nodded, "Do these shepherds know the people in the military village?" Do you graze around the military village all year round? 』

Shi Bazhi replied: "The soldiers in the army camp were sent here after the camp drills, and they don't know the herdsmen here... As for those herdsmen, they came here last winter, and they haven't left since then... North In this pasture, there are many stones, the grass is not fat, and the livestock are not very easy to raise. Originally, these herdsmen only came in winter, and they went north in spring. It is said to be a white disaster, and many pastures have been abandoned...But this one has more rocks and less water, so the disaster is not serious...』

  Zhang He nodded thoughtfully.

  Shi Bazhi said: "Those herdsmen also sent some bird feathers, cattle, sheep and women..."

  Zhang He stopped and looked back at Shi Bazhi, "Then... you accepted it?" 』

  『How dare you? ’Shi Bazhi laughed, ‘General, I’m not a recruit, here’s the military law…I’ve got people to send the feathers of birds to the back, just to make them feel at ease…Bulls, sheep, women, etc. They were all confiscated, and returned..."

  The bird feathers mentioned by Shi Bazhi are actually some eagle feathers or the long feathers of swan feathers shot by nomadic people in the desert. These feathers are not only used for military purposes, but also represent obedience. The Xiongnu and Xianbei both like to use this kind of bird feathers as big banners, representing authority.

  Cows and sheep represent wealth, and women, in the desert, are generally regarded as items for family reproduction. Offering cattle, sheep and women also represents a custom of the tribes in the desert to submit.

  Zhang He nodded, and didn't go to sit on the broken mat on the first table, because he knew it was specially cleaned up, and there were even some wet marks on it that had just been wiped. As a place of wind and frost in the desert, in fact, people usually don’t sit on mats. There is no other reason, sitting on mats makes their buttocks cold.

  Zhang He pulled a wooden stool and wanted to sit on the edge of the firepit, but he didn't expect that the wooden stool clicked, lost a leg, and lay crookedly on the ground as soon as he pulled it down.

  Shi Bazhi suddenly felt a toothache.

  This Hu stool, some time ago, the legs of the stool became loose, and I kept forgetting to nail it.

Shi Bazhi stepped forward in a hurry, but saw that Zhang Yun turned over the stool by himself, put the loose leg back directly, then put it flat, stretched out his hand and pressed it twice, and felt that there was nothing wrong with it, so he sat down Come down, then look up at Shi Bazhi.

  『Sit down,』 Zhang He greeted Shi Bazhi, 『What are you doing standing there? Isn't there a stool over there? 』

  Shi Bazhi grimaced, "General, why don't you... change the stool?" 』

  Zhang He waved his hand and changed the subject, "No, it's not that I can't sit down." If you can't find a suitable place while you're on the march, what's the point of sitting on a rock and lying on the grass? By the way, I see that there are less than half of the Hu soldiers in your village... When I came last time, there didn’t seem to be so many Hu soldiers, why are there more now? 』

  Although in this desert, the Hu people also have black hair and dark eyes, and their skin is also tanned like the Han people, but the face shape and hair quality are somewhat different, and there are still some obvious differences.

According to Zhang Xi's intention, Shi Bazhi also picked up a bearded stool, sat on the side, and then said, "If the main soldiers can't make up for it, I will recruit some servant soldiers first... These Hu soldiers are actually not bad, they are stuttering. They are obedient... Alas, they are all barbarians fleeing disasters... It is really bitter cold here... The Han soldiers from the interior sometimes can't stand it...』

  Shi Bazhi told Zhang He an incident that happened not long ago.

It is not a good job to be on duty in a place like this in the desert. Many soldiers are not used to it. At the beginning, they were somewhat overwhelmed. After some soldiers passed the initial stage, they were able to Get used to it, but there are also individual soldiers who react more...

After all, apart from facing his own brothers and fellow robes, he rarely sees outsiders throughout the year. Coupled with some differences in personalities, it is inevitable that some soldiers will suffer from hysteria. No, the military camp Among the new recruits from last year, one went crazy some time ago. He screamed in the middle of the night, was hung up and whipped ten times, but the madness was still not cured, and the whipping was not healed. He ran out again in the middle of the night, waiting for dawn Looking again, they only found half the body, and Shi Bazhi was fined for it...

  Zhang He nodded silently. He seemed to remember this incident and saw it in the military newspaper, but he couldn't connect with the military stronghold in front of him for a while.

Because it was a dead person, I sent people to check it later. After all, in the army, there are many things where superiors oppress and bully lower-level soldiers. During the process, there was no discrepancy with what Shi Bazhi reported. The only thing that can be blamed is that Shi Bazhi didn't send someone to watch over the soldier when he fell ill...

  However, who would have known that this guy would dare to run? This can be regarded as a deserter charge. You must know that even if you are not eaten by wolves, you will lose your head if you catch it alive!

  Furthermore, those who disturb the barracks in the middle of the night shall be executed according to the law.

  Shi Bazhi only beat the whip according to the noise, which was considered a lenient punishment.

  It’s hard for people, but it’s also hard for wild beasts. There might have been a pack of wolves staring at the stone pile in the military village, wondering what to say, but a piece of meat was sent out of the stone pile in the middle of the night...

  Under such circumstances, these relatively remote military strongholds, those Hu soldiers who are more accustomed to living in the desert, have become a better choice, and not all Hu people can accept it.

Shi Bazhi said, "There were a few remnants of the Xianbei before, and some later in Beimo, but... it seems that there are more Hu people who have fled to us during this period... Some of them are sex-eyed people, and they are shocking. So I didn't stay..."

  Zhang He nodded.

Different from the Xiongnu Xiqiang and other situations, these barbarians in the desert are now clearly divided into two different types, one is similar to Wuhuan or Jiankun, and they still maintain a certain organizational structure Nomadic tribes, while others are very scattered small tribes, just like the army village not far from the army village.

  Zhang He has been thinking about one thing, which is what kind of responsibility this Northern Territory Protectorate should bear.

If it was to defend against the invasion of nomads in the north, the Xiongnu had already collapsed, the Xianbei was torn apart, and the Wuhuan was half dead. In addition, these desert herdsmen, large and small, had surrendered one after another. It can be said that the threat in the north has gradually decreased. Requires heavy defense. If it is to check and balance the Cao army in Youbei, in fact, the Northern Territory Protectorate has enough strength to resist and even wipe out the Cao army in Youbei. At least Zhang Xi thinks so, so why not send troops?

   But Zhang He has one advantage, that is, he can think, instead of wantonly venting his unformed complaints. After all, he had been with Cao Cao, so he knew what would happen if he complained casually.

The Protectorate of the Northern Territory began to use salt, tea, and some ironware to win over and alienate the tribes in the grassland and desert very early on. The Hu people who gathered these tribes became servants, so Zhang He was very concerned about the army. Shi Bazhi took in a small number of herdsmen to herd sheep in the pastures in the north, and he didn't have much opinion.

  As Shi Bazhi said, these scattered herdsmen are fine as spies to inquire about some sporadic news, but if they want to promote the progress of the war, their effect is very limited.

The grassland desert is really too big. Those nomadic tribes scattered everywhere are like drops of water on the lotus leaves. If they don’t gather together, nothing will happen. lost balance.

   While he was talking, suddenly a soldier came to report that a herdsman had come to the military village, saying that he wanted to see the Han general!

Shi Bazhi thought that the herdsman wanted to see him for something, and then called him a general, just like people in later generations would address everyone as a leader or boss, so he looked at Zhang He embarrassedly, and said quickly: "Who do you want to see?" These fools all day long! 』

  The soldiers reconfirmed that it was Zhang He who the herdsmen wanted to see.

  Zhang Yun was taken aback for a moment, then frowned, "How dare you spy on the military camp?" ! 』

Zhang He and the others came here, of course they didn't hide their signs, but they didn't publicize it so that the whole world knew about it, so these shepherds arrived here not long after Zhang He arrived, which means that these shepherds may have been staring at them all the time. Army stronghold!

  Shi Bazhi's body trembled suddenly, and then the blood came to his head, and there was blood rolling behind the scar on his face, as if blood would spurt out in the next moment, "The thief is so brave!" General, let me give you an order, I will go and chop off that thief's head! 』

  Zhang He pondered for a while, waved his hands and said: "No, let him come here and see what he said..."

  Guard Zhang He soon brought a grassland herdsman wrapped in a black leather jacket.

  As soon as he entered the command post, the man immediately prostrated himself on the ground, curled up and kept kowtowing. Even though Shi Ba reprimanded him several times, this guy still didn't dare to raise his head to speak.

   Zhang He looked carefully, saw the tattered sackcloth from the leather robe on the man, and then heard him speak intermittently, even some vague nonsense, "Huh? What? He said he was the Grand Commander? What commander? 』

  Zhang Yun had no idea that the guy in front of him, who was dressed in rags and had sunburn marks on his dark face, turned out to be the leader of more than a dozen tribes! And what Zhang Yun couldn't figure out was how could such a dull guy who could even stumble in nonsense integrate the herdsmen of more than a dozen tribes into one place to form a new big tribe...

   Could it be that these nomadic herdsmen in the desert who were accustomed to being rebellious suddenly changed their temper, and all of them turned into obedient lambs?

   The translator asked, while the old herdsman, the chief commander, was stumbling and talking.

   Then Zhang He finally understood in general. In fact, this is really related to the Northern Territory Protectorate...

Before the Northern Territory Protectorate and Xianbei, and Wuhuan, there were several battles, and the structures that brought together these alliances were defeated, defeated, and defeated. This reduced the threat to the Han, but it also These tribes that originally gathered in the southern part of the desert fled to the northern end of the desert one after another.

   Some of these fleeing tribes were really frightened and fled all the way without returning. Of course, some of them gritted their teeth and remembered the hatred and vowed to fight back.

  Since it is necessary to fight back, it will definitely not be possible without troops. So just like the Xiongnu finally whipped Rome, these fleeing nomads, whether they are the remnants of Xianbei or the subordinates of Wuhuan, have at least practiced with the big men. They are more or less actual fighters. Bully those small grassland tribes in the north , of course there is no problem. These small grassland tribes who didn't want to participate in the war and hid far away have now suffered disasters. Almost all the men have been killed, and few women have survived. I don't know how many cattle, sheep and livestock have been robbed...

  These small tribes who were beaten and disrupted fled again. In order to survive, they reintegrated into the so-called "big alliance" tribe group, which is the group of old herdsmen in front of Zhang He.

  『So, these so-called dozen or so tribes are actually old, weak, sick and disabled, not many people left? Zhang He raised his eyebrows and said. No wonder this so-called commander-in-chief can't even speak well, and only knows how to kowtow when meeting.

  Zhang He said to the interpreter: "You let him stand up." 』

  The translator said several times in a row, but the old herdsman curled up on the floor and kowtowed as if he didn't hear it.

The interpreter had no choice but to call two soldiers to come and pull him up, but the old herdsman still didn't dare to raise his head, as if he had lost his muscles and bones, hanging loosely on the arms of the two soldiers, and his legs were also limp. There was no need for strength, and as soon as the two soldiers let go, the guy immediately collapsed again.

   Zhang He looked at it, and was a little sure that this guy didn't know how to pretend.

  If you can pretend to be so natural and realistic, that is also a skill.

  Zhang He beckoned, and asked someone to fetch some wine, and poured some down for the old herdsman.

  The drinks carried with the army are distilled high-grade wine. On the one hand, it can keep out the cold when necessary, and on the other hand, it can also be used for wound cleaning.

   After taking a few sips of strong wine, the old herdsman's fragile nerves recovered a little bit. Regardless of the remaining wine still flowing from the corners of his mouth and neck, he put his hands on top of his head and chanted like singing.

The old herdsman slurred his speech, and the interpreter was struggling to translate, "...the condor flying high in the sky, I hope to accept...accept allegiance, become a slave, and herd life and death...Pray for the condor, that is, we can help him revenge…"

  Although the translation is not very clear, the general meaning can still be understood.

  『He meant to say...』 Zhang He pondered, "Some people from his alliance were attacked? 』

   The translator asked again, and the old herdsman nodded repeatedly.

  『Ask me clearly, who was attacked? Is it Huren, or Cao Jun! 』

  Zhang He suddenly felt that he seemed to vaguely hear the sound of battle horns...

  (end of this chapter)