Besides, the further west Zhong Jinwei traveled and the closer he got to the border of Shaanxi, the drier the climate became.
The river turned into a creek, and the creek naturally disappeared, and the river bed was exposed in many places.
However, most people in Shanxi have the custom of doing business. Although the harvest in the fields is small, they can still make do with it if they go out to sell some goods.
Zhong Jinwei wanted to know what was going on along the way, so he called Wang Yan to accompany him. This made Uncle Cai and others envious. They didn't expect that when he went to Zhangjiakou, he stepped on dog shit and changed his luck to make friends with the court dignitaries.
After Wang Yan came out of the initial restraint, he introduced the situation in various places to Zhong Jinwei non-stop, and Zhong Jinwei also learned some about people's livelihood in Shanxi.
Based on his understanding of the situation, it is estimated that if the weather is not good and the drought and severe cold continue, most people in Shanxi will still be able to survive, because they do not rely solely on the ground to feed themselves.
In the Ming Dynasty, the commercial tax was only 1 in 30 taxes, and even with such a low tax, you could avoid paying it as long as you bribed officials. Relatively speaking, the profits from doing business were extremely high.
This would be unimaginable in future generations. If you have a meal, go online, or even read an e-book, there will be no high taxes. Let’s just talk about e-books. The royalty tax rate is 20%, so
That is thirty tax six times, which is six times the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty.
This shows how happy it was to do business in the Ming Dynasty.[
Zhong Jinwei was listening and thinking, comparing and walking.
At noon that day, while taking a rest after eating, Wang Yan introduced to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Marquis, twenty miles further is the Yellow River. This Yellow River is the junction of Qin and Jin."
When Zhong Jinwei heard that he was finally going to Shaanxi, this also meant that he had to take precautions. After all, there were many thieves in Shaanxi.
He thought carefully about it. At this time, there seemed to be many peasant uprisings. He didn't know how well he had done with Hong Chengchou, or whether it would be better than in history.
In order to ensure the safety of the period, Zhong Jinwei asked Gu Baichuan to find some large carts and transport all the silver coins carried by the knights on the carts.
After crossing the Yellow River, if you encounter the peasant rebel army and start a fight, you will find that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty have a large amount of silver. This will give the peasant rebel army a strengthening aura and increase their combat effectiveness. Then you are asking for trouble.
.
Then Zhong Jinwei and Ma Xianglin discussed it, and the team immediately made some adjustments. Hu Hao, who was originally in the team, led his men and began to scout forward to explore the way for the army.
The Jin Yiwei retracted the central army, with Zhong Jinwei as the main escort. The White Guards acted as the vanguard and maintained combat vigilance.
The Eight Hundred Datong Army followed closely behind Zhong Jinwei, protecting the money and at the same time isolating the army from the merchant's convoy to prevent the common people from not understanding the military formation and moving closer to the Baigan Army in the event of a war, affecting the army's operations.
Another purpose is to prevent the existence of spies among merchants. Although this possibility is extremely low, for the sake of safety, it is still necessary to guard against it.
Hu Hao received the military order from Zhong Jinwei and went to explore the way for the army first.
Hu Hao led his men on horseback and galloped, feeling more relaxed than before. These days, due to the accompanying caravan, the journey has not been fast, which made Hu Hao and others who are used to fighting on the battlefield a little uncomfortable.
Wang Er said to Hu Hao in front of him: "Brother Hu, we happened to save Zhongxinghou, and we didn't expect to become Zhongxinghou's people now. We don't have to worry about military pay being deducted, and we don't have to worry about military exploits being falsely claimed. Zhongxinghou is kind to others.
It’s so comfortable.”
When Guo Yanzhong and others heard this, they all agreed with Wang Er's statement.
Hu Hao took the lead and galloped. He did not slow down the horse's speed, but tilted his head slightly to avoid the oncoming cool wind. He opened his mouth and said: "The Marquis of Zhongxing is indeed different from ordinary noble generals. It is also true that he should work seriously and repay the people."
Zhongxinghou."[
"That's right, Brother Hu, it should be much easier to deal with the bandits this time than to deal with the Jianlu." Wang Er was a talker, and he took this moment to talk non-stop.
Hu Hao saw that he had left the town and the people around him were starting to become sparse, and he replied to Wang Er: "It should be easy to deal with, but the war is inevitable. We are following Zhongxinghou now, and we can't discredit Zhongxinghou's record because of us.
Marquis Zhongxing led 800 people to capture the Jianlu slave chief alive. It would be terrible if he was killed in Shaanxi. Therefore, we are the eyes and ears of the army, so we must not be careless!"
More than a dozen of his subordinates immediately responded loudly. They all felt a little regretful that during the battle of Qingshui Mingyue Pass, they were not under the command of Marquis Zhongxing and followed King Qin's cavalry. As a result, they suffered a huge defeat.
While chatting and walking, we had traveled more than ten miles without realizing it.
Hu Hao straightened up on his galloping horse, observed the surrounding terrain, and said to his brothers: "Based on the distance, we should not be far from the Yellow River. Let's go, brothers, go see the Yellow River."
"Okay." Ye Bushou responded, speeding up their horses and rushing up the hillside ahead.
On this section of the road near the Yellow River, the soil slopes are one after another and are uneven.
Hu Hao suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves in front of him. He stretched out his arms, and his brothers immediately knew that there was something going on and hurriedly listened attentively.
"Brother Hu, there are about five riders coming this way." After all, Ye Bushou's people have rich experience. After hearing this, they can tell how many riders there are.
"It can't be a bandit, right? It hasn't even crossed the Yellow River and entered Shaanxi. It shouldn't be such a coincidence, right?" Wang Er said a little disapprovingly.
When Hu Hao heard this, he turned his head seriously, looked at Wang Er and said, "What did you just say? Don't let me hear such outrageous words again."
Wang Er stuck out his tongue in the wind and whispered back: "I know, Brother Hu."
Hu Hao turned around and looked left and right, and saw that there was a recessed place where he could hide half an arrow away from the top of the hillside in front of him. It was a blind spot at the top of the mountain.
So, Hu Hao took the reins and led the brothers to the hiding place.
Ye Bushou's men skillfully turned over and dismounted, and patted the war horse three inches below its neck. The war horse knelt down obediently and cooperated very well. Just in case, a muzzle was put on the horse's mouth.
Guo Yanzhong lay on the ground and listened for a while, then said: "There are still about a hundred steps to go, and we should be at the top of the slope soon."
The Yebushou men all took out the weapons they were good at and lay on the ground without looking up at the top of the slope, listening to Guo Yanzhong reporting the enemy's whereabouts.
Although this place is within the Ming Dynasty and has not yet reached Shaanxi, where thieves are everywhere, it is still rare for a group of people to come here on horseback. After all, horses are not something that ordinary people can afford.
They have many years of experience in doing things at night, and they would rather treat them as enemies when something is unclear than be careless and ignore it.
Although their experience would cause them a lot of trouble, it had saved their lives many times, allowing them to survive brutal battles against the captives.
When Hu Hao heard that the riding general appeared on the top of the slope, he took off his helmet and slightly stuck his head out, only revealing a pair of eyes watching the movements on the top of the slope.
"We're here!" Guo Yanzhong said.
Sure enough, the head of the horse and the figure of the knight were immediately revealed at the top of the slope. There were five riders in total.
I saw that the knights of these five cavalry were either wearing the clothes of the frontier army or the clothes of ordinary people. One thing they had in common was that their clothes were very shabby and their armor was incomplete.
The weapons they carry are all kinds of and are not the standard weapons equipped in the regular cavalry.
When Hu Hao saw this, he came to the conclusion: these five knights and eight accomplished men are bandits!
At the same time, Hu Hao secretly muttered in his heart: Sure enough, you can sail the boat with care.
The five knights on the top of the slope saw that there was no one in front of them, so they began to speak. Their voices were not suppressed and reached the recess where Hu Hao was hiding: "Your captain is really troublesome. Who would have thought that we would cross the Yellow River eastward?"
, came to Shanxi. We had to report to Zijinliang and ask for scouts to be sent. You see, they have traveled more than ten miles, and not a single officer or soldier can be seen."
The man was a little embarrassed by what he said, but he still explained for his captain: "How would you know if there are officers and soldiers if you don't come? My captain is also very cautious. When we were in Shaanxi, if it weren't for my captain's caution, he would have failed several times.
I was almost killed by Hong Shatou, right?"
The person who spoke earlier agreed with this person's statement on this point and said, "That's right. If Hong Shatou hadn't pushed too hard, we wouldn't have come to Shanxi."
Another person interjected: "Let's go to the top of the mountain and have a look. If nothing happens, go back and report it."
When Hu Hao heard this, he made a gesture to his men and lowered his voice: "Shoot the horse and catch the one alive."
Upon hearing this, Ye Buzui carefully took out their crossbows and prepared to shoot their horses.
After a while, the sound of horse hooves sounded again, and five horses roared down from the top of the slope.
Suddenly, all the people who had not stopped for sixteen nights stood up and shot sixteen arrows at close range at the mounts of the five bandits who were running down the slope.