I

The mountain blocking Anfu County and Yuanzhou Prefecture is called Wugong Mountain.

If we launch our troops in the spring, we might be able to survive the many twists and turns in the mountains. But it is absolutely impossible in winter. After entering the mountains, you will either freeze to death or starve to death without finding anything to eat.

Then we can only take the route further east, which still requires crossing mountains and ridges, from Anfu County to Fenyi County, which is equivalent to crossing the remaining veins of Wugong Mountain.

At the beginning of December, Zhao Han personally led an army of 4,000 people and set off into the mountains through the snow without bringing any supplies or food.

Half of this mountainous journey belongs to Anfu County, and the work of dividing the fields has been completed. Moreover, the fields were divided after the autumn harvest, and the rent had not yet been paid to the landlords. It can be said that every family had a surplus of food.

Every time he visited a village, Zhao Han would borrow food from the villagers to keep the food he carried with him sufficient.

We walked all the way to Taoyuan Village, which is a relatively wealthy village. The main reason is that there is a small river flowing through the village, which alluvializes the fertile and flat mountain valleys.

"All troops rest, don't sit down in the snow!"

Including Zhao Han, all four thousand soldiers stood at the entrance of the village, stamping their feet to warm themselves.

The missionary officer went to the village alone and contacted the village chief and the farmers' association: "Village Chief Li, I am Zuo Zhao, the missionary officer. I am here with Mr. Zhao on an expedition. Please arrange for the villagers to borrow food for cooking, and a receipt will be left for the borrowed food. After the villagers start spring, , you can go to the county to collect grain, and it will be repaid with one cent of interest. It can also be used to offset the summer grain tax, and the same will be calculated with one cent of interest."

"No interest, no interest." Village chief Li's name is Li Huairen. He was originally a child here. He was so poor that he gave up the imperial examination. Now his whole family has been allocated land.

Li Huairen first assigned work to the members of the farmers' association, and then immediately left the village to see Zhao Han.

"Greetings to Mr. Zhao!" Li Huairen suddenly knelt down in the snow.

"Get up quickly." Zhao Han smiled.

After Li Huairen stood up, he quickly said: "Mr. Zhao, come to the village to rest."

"Please." Zhao Han said with a smile.

Fei Ruhe ordered: "The whole army advances!"

The herald raised his flag and four thousand soldiers marched on the snow. Although I was walking staggeringly, I tried my best not to step on the field. There was nothing I could do if I fell into the field.

When they entered the village, every household was boiling water, mainly to soak the soldiers' feet.

The military clerks and heralds were busy issuing grain loan receipts to the villagers, and the military judges repeatedly warned the soldiers not to disturb the people.

Seeing that thousands of soldiers did not commit any crime and lived in the villagers' homes very politely, Li Huairen couldn't help but sigh: "A true benevolent and righteous teacher, in terms of military discipline, Yue Wumu's soldiers are nothing more than this."

Zhao Han smiled and said: "I can't compare to Yue Wumu. Village Chief Li, after crossing Taoyuan Ridge in the north, will we reach the boundary of Fenyi County?"

"It's just over there, but the snow is not easy to walk on. It will be easier when the snow melts in spring," Li Huairen said.

Zhao Han said: "No matter how difficult it is to walk, you have to climb over it."

Troops must be sent out in winter. Once spring begins, Yuanzhou's elite will definitely join forces with Governor Li Maofang and take a boat along the Gan River straight to Jishui County to kill.

Moreover, sending troops in winter will definitely leave the prefect of Yuanzhou defenseless.

When I arrived at Li Huairen's house, I saw that the village chief's wife had killed the chicken and was boiling water to scald the chicken. Zhao Han immediately said: "The poultry killed by the villagers will be compensated according to the price! All meat in the village will be distributed to the sick and wounded first."

"Mr. Zhao, you don't have to be like this," Li Huairen said quickly, "Mr. Zhao divided the fields for us and is our great benefactor. What does killing a chicken mean?"

Fei Ruhe said coldly: "This is a military order. Don't damage our military morale."

"Don't dare, don't dare." Li Huairen couldn't say any more.

After the village chief's chicken was cooked, the missionary officer took it out and gave it to the sick and wounded. Along the way, some people got sick, some suffered from frostbite, and more than a dozen people had been "reduced".

Fortunately, there was no severe frostbite and he could be left at a villager's home to recuperate.

Zhao Han, Fei Ruhe, Huang Yao, Huang Shun and other high-ranking military officials all ate ordinary food at Li Huairen's house and did not drink any of the wine they brought out.

The military is simpler in composition and far easier to train than civilian officials.

Regardless of the number of retired soldiers in Zhao Han's hands, there are only a few hundred people, and the rest are all peasant soldiers who are half-farming and half-fighting, but their military discipline far exceeds that of any current army. Those who are disobedient and make mistakes have long been eliminated.

Even the few soldiers who were gangsters became law-abiding after being severely punished.

The main credit must go to the missionary officers in the army, and also for not treating the soldiers badly!

The soldiers participating in the winter march not only received an excess of salary, but each was also given a free cotton-padded coat and two pairs of cotton-padded shoes.

Zhao Han ordered a lot of cotton and cotton cloth from merchants.

The orphaned elderly and disabled people in nursing homes, as well as homeless women in the city, were asked to make clothes and shoes, which were purchased by the General Military Office.

When sleeping at night, Zhao Han did not occupy Li Huairen's bed and slept on the floor with the others. It is paved with straw and covered with straw mats. The quilts and straw mats are brought by the soldiers themselves.

Li Huairen saw people lying on the floor in the hall, including Zhao Han, and was suddenly shocked beyond measure.

He had never seen such an army, nor had he seen such officers.

Li Huairen thought to himself: Mr. Zhao should be emperor, and the people of the world would be blessed.

"Confucius said," Fei Ruhe said suddenly in the darkness, "I am a little worried about my family. There was news some time ago that the county seat was invaded by religious bandits."

Zhao Han said: "The prefect of Guangxin has recruited troops to suppress the bandits. Maybe we can't fight back from the county town for the time being, but your family will definitely be fine, after all, it is so close to the capital."

Fei Ruhe sighed: "Shanglu Town is a den of thieves. It's so close to my home. It takes less than half a day to get there by boat."

"As long as the gentry is not stupid, he will definitely not sit back and watch, so you can rest assured." Zhao Han comforted him.

Qianshan County is so wealthy that the gentry can recruit many village warriors by just scraping together some money.

As for the secret sect, it is not possible to achieve success. After the leader conquered the county seat, he has already begun to take the lead in enjoying it. Apart from killing landowners to share food, the lives of the lower-class believers have not improved much, and all the land has been occupied by the top echelons of the Tantric Cult.

The prefect of Guangxin was also replaced, and he was somewhat responsible. He immediately recruited troops after taking office.

The rebels in Qianshan County are expected to be wiped out by the prefect within half a year.

Even though Fei Ruhe's home was very close to the thieves' den, it was actually the safest. In order to block the den of thieves, the prefect set up a barracks at the intersection of the two rivers, which happened to serve as bodyguards for the Fei family in Ehu.

Fei Ruhe was too lazy to think about his family affairs anymore, and suddenly said: "Ms. Li from Tanimura wants to marry me."

"From Li Meng'an's family?" Zhao Han asked.

Fei Ruhe said, "She is Mr. Li's grand-niece. I didn't dare to agree. Those scholars in Jishui made too much trouble."

Zhao Han sighed: "These scholars are really evil. Don't agree to them. I'll ask your sister to come forward and find a better one for you."

Some gentry still wanted to recruit people, while others felt that Zhao Han could succeed.

Even if Zhao Han already has a wife, these guys are still trying to get his daughter or sister to come over, or be Zhao Han's concubine.

Zhao Han kept stalling and refused to agree, so they targeted other people.

Fei Ruhe, who was the first military officer in the General Military Mansion, had not yet formally married, and instantly became a popular man. I don't know how many gentry wanted to get married.

Not only that, the senior civil servants of the General Military Mansion, including Zhao Han's three secretaries, were all in secret contact with the gentry.

Zhao Han has no control over serious marriages.

If anyone dares to take the daughter of a gentry as a concubine, or marry a wife after divorcing her, Zhao Han will definitely not forgive him lightly!

The next day, after the soldiers soaked their feet, they left the sick and wounded in the village and immediately set off on their way. There was no time to help the villagers clean up their houses.

The further you go into the mountains, the harder it becomes, especially over Taoyuan Ridge.

In fact, this mountain is not steep. In later generations, an inter-provincial highway was built, which is the shortest and best route from Anfu County to Fenyi County.

The snow is just too thick!

More than twenty soldiers who were good at mountain climbing were sent out to lead the way. They climbed up on the snow, and from time to time someone slipped and rolled down. There was snow all the way, but they couldn't fall to death.

After struggling for a long time, some soldiers finally climbed up, found a big tree, tied the rope, and then brought it down for the main force to climb.

Zhao Han's feet were numb from the cold and his hands were blue from the cold. His physical strength was pretty good, so he grabbed the rope and climbed hard, but the knee-deep snow was disgusting.

The soldiers who climbed to the top of the mountain first were struggling to make a fire.

There was no fire, but a lot of smoke came out, and it was extinguished after a while.

"call!"

Zhao Han climbed to the top of the mountain and was pulled up by a soldier. He was so tired that he wanted to lie down and sleep.

Fei Ruhe also came up, stamping his feet and rubbing his hands, and was in the mood to joke: "I used to read about ancient famous generals, marching in the snow, and crossing mountains, but I didn't think they were that powerful. Now that I think about it, he is indeed a famous general. How far did we go?"

"Including the winding mountain roads, it's about two hundred miles." Zhao Han said with a smile.

They started from Anfu County and walked all the way to this place. The straight-line distance was actually only sixty miles.

"It's burning, it's burning!"

The soldiers who lit the fire suddenly shouted excitedly, but were immediately ordered to be silent by Fei Ruhe.

Many dead branches were picked up to dry, and then moved to the side to light a fire, and more and more fires started to burn.

The soldiers who climbed to the top of the mountain also took off their shoes and changed into a dry pair. They even took off their leggings to warm themselves over the fire because the leggings were soaked by the snow.

While warming themselves over the fire, they helped each other rub their legs and feet, otherwise they would definitely get frostbite again.

After resting for an hour and a half, his clothes had been dried and his stomach had been filled to regain his strength. Zhao Han immediately ordered the march to continue.

The way down the mountain was almost rolling, and it was already mid-afternoon when we reached the foot of the mountain.

This place is under the jurisdiction of Fenyi County. The villagers were frightened when they saw the army. They hid in their homes and did not dare to come out.

Zhao Han forcibly knocked open a house, asked where the largest landowner nearby was, and quickly led his troops to the landlord's house.

"Surround it up!"

There are no real big landowners in mountain villages. They can own hundreds of acres of land if they are exhausted. Zhao Han sent troops to surround the house, tie up the men of the landlord's family, and ask the women to help make the beds and fold the quilts, and then asked the women to fetch grain for cooking.

The house was not big enough to hold four thousand soldiers, so many more were divided and borrowed from people's houses to live in.

Rest overnight and set off again the next day.

The landowners and farmers here are confused and can't figure out where the army came from, and they are too benevolent.

Yes, benevolence!

Although the landlord and his family were tied up, they did not touch the woman. I just robbed some food from the landlord's house. I really only robbed a little, because it was too much to facilitate the march - there must be soldiers who committed petty thieves. This is not our own territory. It is inevitable to steal small items. The missionary officers and law enforcement officers The officials couldn't check it either.

As for the people, the soldiers did nothing but go into their houses and sleep.

Compared with the officers and soldiers, this was a truly benevolent and righteous teacher. The landlord even felt like he was in a dream.