Su Shuang was originally from Zhongshan. His ancestors were originally a small scholar-bureaucrat who was attached to the Zhao State during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, after the fall of the Zhao State, he became a slave of the subjugated country. Later, he was considered a slave after the fall of the Qin Dynasty.
He turned over and made a living by trading, mainly selling horses and livestock back and forth in Hudi. Later, he moved to Guanzhong.
The Su family's Wubao is neither big nor small. It has about five hundred people, so it can be considered medium-sized. The Wubao is located between Mangshui and Luogushui, which is also a good location.
, so it was lucky that it was not affected during several conflicts.
As a result, there was the Yellow Turban Rebellion, then Dong Zhuo's Rebellion, and now it's the Xiliang Rebellion. Large groups of small groups of soldiers were like combs and grates, making it impossible to carry out trade smoothly. During this period, there were also some people who took advantage of a little calm to carry out trade with them.
Some horses and livestock were sold here and there, but almost all of them encountered rebels who forced them to buy and sell them at low prices. Some even held a machete to their necks and extorted money...
Later, Su Shuang simply took the young and old in Wubao and stayed at home in the small valley between Mangshui, thinking that he would get through this period of troubled times first.
In the current chaotic situation in Guanzhong, it is naturally impossible to say that there can be any happy and free days. However, Su Shuang brought the thirty or fifty men who followed him in Wubao and traveled north and south, suffering in Fang Xiaotiandi.
Just struggling to survive.
Because Su Shuang's reputation in this area is quite good, some refugees even came over and stayed by the Mangshui River, built dens or grass huts, and lived by hunting by the Mangshui River.
On weekdays, Su Shuang was somewhat embarrassed when he saw these refugees. Sometimes he would bring out the food and grass and cook a few pots of porridge, mixed with some mussels, fish and shrimps in the mango water, to help these refugees.
Life is just a matter of taking it one day at a time. Unknowingly, more and more refugees have gathered on the edge of Mangshui. From the original few hundred people, there are now two to three thousand...
It's not like no one has persuaded Su Shuang to just raise a flag and say that these refugees should be integrated, so that one can protect themselves, and on the other hand, they can also take advantage of the current situation and maybe find a future or something.
However, Su Shuang thought about it and still did not make such a decision. One is that Su Shuang was just a businessman and did not know much about military formations. On the other hand, Su Shuang also felt that even if he was really talking nonsense
Even if you raise a banner, no one may recognize it, let alone take the lead.
Moreover, I see these refugees staggering around every day. All within sight are the old, weak, sick and disabled, barely supporting themselves. Even if they are pulled out, what effect will they have?
Looking at the soldiers and horses coming and going during this period, Su Shuang was frightened every day. Those armored soldiers with helmets on their heads were running eastward and westward for a while. Such murderous looks made Su Shuang frightened.
Shuang felt that once a fight broke out, it was still unclear how long his fortress would be able to sustain.
During the period when the Xiliang soldiers had the upper hand, Su Shuang had not thought of moving closer to Xiliang, but he tentatively sent his troops out. As a result, not long after they left, the Xiliang soldiers were embattled on all sides. According to legend,
Someone even sent cavalry to kill a certain marquis from Xiliang. It seemed like it would collapse again in the blink of an eye.
The soldiers and soldiers who came and went near Chang'an rushed here and there, not only blocking the road, but also captured a few of the people Su Shuang sent out to inquire about the news and used them to serve as civilian husbands, and the remaining people had to work together.
They fled back in a hurry. Fortunately, these soldiers and horses did not take Su Shuang's manpower seriously, so apart from asking for some food and grass, they had no time to come to Su Shuangwu Fort.
What trouble.
So the road to Xiliang seems to be impassable now, but the soldiers around Guanzhong seem to have not dissipated. Military intelligence scouts and escort teams of large and small cars are coming and going every few days. It seems that it will last for a long time.
The way it looks like it's being beaten down...
Every day, Su Shuang could only sit in Wubao and stare. Even if he wanted to migrate now, it seemed too late. Wubao's location was good, but now it has become an obstacle. On one side is Mangshui.
On one side is the Luogu River, and to the south is the Taibai Mountain area of the Qinling Mountains. It is inconvenient to go anywhere. Besides, there are some horses hidden in the valley. If any signs of this show up, those generals who are in charge of the army are vegetarians. Maybe they are vegetarians.
Not only can't I leave, my life is at stake.
Su Shuang is not sure whether these are troubled times, but what he can confirm is that everyone is living a very miserable life in this current situation.
Although Su Shuang is above everyone in this Wubao and does not have to worry about food and clothing, as time passes day by day, no one has a bottom line in mind as to how long this situation will last.
Just in case, they all started living a life of half food and half wild vegetables, not to mention enjoying other big fish and meat...
After all, everyone knows right now that food is king. No matter how difficult it is, as long as you have food and grass, you can get through it. There are countless princes and high-ranking officials who have fallen in troubled times. This kind of thing, Su
It’s not like I haven’t seen this pair before.
How long this wait will last, Su Shuang doesn't know.
However, on this day, the surging Xiliang soldiers told Su Shuang the answer.
Ma Chao did not directly send troops to attack the Wubao directly. Instead, he asked his horses to drive out all the refugees hiding in the dens or huts along Mangshui, just like cattle and sheep.
It rolled forward, causing more and more refugees to collapse subconsciously, and they only knew how to keep running along the flow of people.
The dozen or so personal guards around Ma Chao guarded both sides, hacking down all the refugees who rushed over without thinking.
Facing these ragged refugees, Ma Chao wasn't even interested in waving his spear. He just heard that there was a Wubao here, and there were some horses hidden in the valley behind the Wubao...
Ever since Ma Teng rushed to Xinfeng with a large number of horses, Han Sui was relatively short of horses, so when he got the news, Ma Chao rushed over with his men without stopping.
Although Han Sui had said that he needed Ma Chao's attention, now is different from before. After all, they have a peace treaty with each other. Whether he attacks the county or plunders the surrounding areas, it will be considered as a breach of contract, which means that he has lost the name of trust.
This will inevitably lead to criticism in the future...
But when Ma Chao heard that there were horses, he blocked all Han Sui's words.
War horses are not equivalent to food and grass, and can even be a scarce resource under certain circumstances. If they are taken away by the people in Guanzhong, it will increase the strength of the people in Guanzhong.
Those who became infantry can become cavalry again. Because of the ebb and flow of the gap, Ma Chao was eager for revenge and put aside all the subsequent troubles or moral issues.
Anyway, just grab it first and then talk about it!
I originally thought that at least some soldiers would be injured in the attack on Wubao, but I didn't expect that a large number of refugees would gather by the Mangshui River, so these refugees became a natural help.
These desperately crying refugees screamed and ran, and some even missed the mark and fell to the waterside depression and rolled all over themselves in mud. However, not many of the Xiliang soldiers who were slowly advancing were waving.
Kill with sword and gun.
It's not that these Xiliang soldiers are soft-hearted, but they need the refugees more to attack Wubao. However, if anyone is stunned, they will be so merciful. If anyone is unlucky and stands in front of their horses, they will be trampled mercilessly.
When entering the mud, there is no weakness.
The goal of the Xiliang soldiers is to drive all these refugees away, and then completely disintegrate them. Then, driven by fear, they will blindly obey the orders of the Xiliang soldiers and drive them away like cattle and sheep.
Fill the trenches and traps of the dock.
In fact, there are not many Xiliang troops opening up front, and they are not airtight between them. Even if there are cavalry running back and forth on the outside, if these refugees are calm enough and have the courage, they can run out through the gaps between the Xiliang soldiers.
It is not an impossible task.
It's just that when people are dominated by a large number of strong redundant emotions, the memory capacity required by the rational system is often insufficient.
In addition, the Xiliang soldiers kept shouting, "If you lay down Wubao, you can have enough food, if you lay down Wubao, you can be free, if you lay down Wubao, you can do whatever you want." After talking too much, these refugees gradually lost their thoughts.
ability, blankly believing everything the Xiliang soldiers said, completely forgetting that they had received help from people in Wubao before at the Mangshui River, and also drank the rice porridge cooked by Wubao...
The refugees swarmed in like a tidal wave. Hundreds of people pushed each other and ran away. The wave surged, the front rolled up the back, and they rushed towards Wubao, who had originally released goodwill.
Behind the refugees, there were Xiliang soldiers, cavalry and infantry, forming a large circle, squeezing the refugees towards Wubao, whistling to each other, looking calm and moving smoothly.
Even though Wubao has some defensive measures, they are not as strong as a regular city, or even as strong as a fortress built by soldiers. Although it is usually more than enough to defend against some horse thieves and bandits, but in a situation like this
Under the overwhelming flow of people, the trenches and traps outside the fort looked like paper.
Large groups of refugees who lost their ability to think and only knew how to move forward hurriedly filled the trenches in front of them. The people at the front were nailed to death on the sharp wooden stakes of trenches or traps, and their blood was not yet wet.
After all the bleeding, the person was not completely dead. There were more people behind who trampled on the previous person's body and passed by. They hit the wall of Wubao and stopped crying and shouting...
The so-called Ding Zhuang on the wall of Wubao also had a pale face, trembling hands, and had no idea what he should do. Of course, under such circumstances, even doing something might be of no use.
The earthen walls of Wubao are not high.
Ma Chao was holding a spear, sitting on the horseback, looking at the Wubao, and waved his hand casually. Ma Dai behind him understood and rushed forward with his soldiers. To deal with this kind of Wubao, it is not necessary to
Let Ma Chao do it himself.
To be honest, even if Ma Chao abandons his horse and leads his guards up the ladder to attack Wubao at this moment, it will only take a moment or two. Moreover, according to Ma Dai's bravery, it is enough. What Ma Chao wants now is to take
After the horses behind Wubao, how to advance...
…………………………
At this moment, in Mangshui, hundreds of refugees are being driven around and shouting, struggling to survive, in Chang'an City, in Zhongshao's mansion, a group of warblers and swallows are surrounding Zhongshao, for
He put on elegant court clothes inlaid with gold embroidery, a jade belt and a seal ribbon, and a round bronze mirror with a diameter of about two feet, or more than 50 centimeters when converted into centimeters. It was finely polished by craftsmen to reflect the figure of a person.
It's almost clearly visible, right in front of Zhongshao.
Several concubines knelt at the feet of Zhongshao, arranging the accessories on Zhongshao's body. Some carefully used gold hooks to hang the sacs on the leather belts around their waists, while others knelt on both sides and gently
Smoothing out the wrinkles on Zhongshao's court clothes, another person took the Jinxian Crown from another maid on a silver plate and put it on his head upright for Zhongshao.
Normally speaking, at Zhong Shao's age, he should be able to see things clearly and let go. It is best for him to have grandchildren at home and enjoy his life well. But this is not the case for Zhong Shao. He is older.
, the heart for power and position has not weakened at all, but has become stronger.
Jinxian's crown was put on upright, Zhongshao adjusted it slightly from left to right, and then he nodded slightly and waved his hand to all the concubines serving around him to leave.
In the bronze mirror, an old face was reflected.
Although he was richly dressed and elegant, he could not hide the old look that was revealed from his body.
Zhong Shao watched silently for a long time, and then suddenly smiled softly, showing some self-deprecating meaning. He had been on the official career path in his life, and it was only when he was old that he reached the point where he is now one person below ten thousand people, but he never thought that
, Even so, there are still people who want to snatch it, want to snatch it!
In the bronze mirror, his beard and hair have turned white.
The man in front of me is now old and can no longer withstand another storm. If he is kicked off the stage, he will never have the chance to climb up again...
Zhong Shao was fascinated by the bronze mirror for a long time, and finally slowly turned his head and looked eastward. From now on, until he dies, he must firmly hold this power in his hands, and no one can take it away!
