After resting for two days, Fang Teng took five hundred troops and set off for Chengdu to escort the next batch of grain and grass.
When he escorted the grain and grass to Tonghe City, he had to bring two thousand men and horses with him. This was because the two armies used all possible means in the battle. Attacking the grain transport team was a common method, so he had to bring more people to protect the grain and grass.
However, there is no need to bring so many soldiers and horses when returning to Chengdu - the soldiers and horses escorting the grain and grass also need to eat, and the most advanced transportation method now, besides taking rivers, is horse-drawn carriages.
Don't count on the river. Chu and Wu had been at odds for hundreds of years. If there was such a river, with Chu in the upper reaches and Wu in the lower reaches, Wu would not be able to hold on for so long.
Therefore, the only way to transport grain and grass is by large carts. If there are too many soldiers and horses escorting them, and they will eat more than they transport for hundreds of miles, what is the use of transporting them?
Therefore, the grain and grass transported from Chengdu are always escorted by relatively few people.
Of course, this section of the road was under the control of the Chu State, and the thieves were killed incessantly, but there were almost no big thieves who dared to attack a battalion head-on.
Therefore, Fang Teng is still mentally relaxed at the moment, at least much more at ease than traveling from Yinping City to Tonghe City.
Fang Teng rode his horse and walked beside the convoy, looking at a long row of carriages walking on the official road. These carriages were not completely empty. They also contained letters and trophies from the soldiers in front to their families, and some purchased from Tonghe Prefecture.
The special products that come here can be sold at a good price in Chengdu under the current situation where caravans from the south are cut off.
This is naturally against military regulations, but it is also an unspoken rule in the military.
Escorting grain and grass is actually a hard job. The only people who have the advantage are the people. They are the main officials in managing logistics. The person who escorts the grain and grass is called Houjin. Before departure, you need to check the quantity of food and grass with the people. When handing over, you have to meet again with the army.
After checking, there is little room for up and down, but the work is indispensable.
Moreover, delivering grain and fodder to the front line on time is just a small achievement; if there is a mistake, it is a big mistake - in serious cases, it will cause you to lose your head.
The mistakes mentioned here include not only being robbed of food roads by the enemy, but also including continuous heavy rains, road collapse, and even accidents such as the cattle and horses pulling the carts being eaten. All kinds of damage are involved, and military rations are very important.
The most important thing is that the military judge will never listen to your explanation. Once the escort does not arrive on time, it will be a big mistake at least.
Of course, since transporting food is so hard, everyone naturally has to find ways to make up for it - this is human nature. Military regulations can scare new recruits, but they cannot scare old veterans.
However, anyone who dares to steal and sell the transported military rations will have their heads chopped off, not just by one person, but by everyone in the same line.
Countries in the Central Plains have been fighting for years, and all countries attach great importance to military law. Few people dare to make a fortune.
But rules are dead, people are alive, and there are smart people everywhere.
Since you can't make a fortune by stealing and selling military rations, you can make a fortune from the transportation capacity. Fang Teng is quite abiding by the rules. He doesn't dare to do anything when escorting grain and grass to the front. It is normal to bring some extra money on the way back. Even if he is caught by the military law enforcement, it is just
A few words of rebuke will have no consequences.
So Fang Teng was not worried about what happened.
The convoy was traveling between two low hills when suddenly a loud arrow shot into the air. A team of men and horses came over the hill from behind and stood on the top of the hill, sandwiching Fang Teng's convoy.
Fang Teng was shocked, but did not panic. Although the soldiers he suddenly led were county soldiers, they were still regular troops and were not ordinary bandits who could deal with them.
Especially since they are empty.
If the climate thieves in the south had become a bandit army, how hard would it have taken for them to work so hard to infiltrate here just to rob a group of empty vehicles?
As for the other bandits, the most they can do is discuss buying money for the road - this is due to the awkward terrain they are in. They live in a condescending position and are attacked from both sides, which really gives them an advantage.
The return trip was empty, and he didn't bring any belongings worthy of prying eyes. Fang Teng was not vigilant and didn't even send out spies, so he was stuck here.
If it were on flat ground, Fang Teng would order the killing without saying a word.
"Put down your weapons and armor, kneel down and be bound, and you will not die." A female general came out of the team and ordered.
Fang Teng was furious, pointed the spear in his palm, and shouted: "Who are you? Do you know what the crime of robbing army rations is?"
Because he never expected to encounter an enemy, he didn't even wear armor.
"Husband?" The woman didn't answer, she just turned around and called.
"I'll do it." A lazy voice sounded.
A black horse, which was more than a foot taller than an ordinary war horse, slowly swayed out from behind the woman.
Immediately sitting upright was a man, dressed in black robes, without a battle armor, but holding a six-foot-long cyan halberd in his hand.
This man's hair is tied up with a gold crown. In the middle of the gold crown, there is a thumb-sized exotic black pearl, which does not reflect any light in the sun.
Seeing this person, Fang Teng's face immediately turned pale at first, then turned to cyan, and then turned to excited red. He clenched and relaxed the gun in his hand, relaxed and clenched it again. After repeating it several times, he finally let out a breath and held it.
He threw his spear under his horse and waved his hand to signal the surrender of the whole army.
"Sir Colonel--" Although the soldiers beside him also threw away their weapons after him, they still asked in a strange low voice.
Their captain has also been in many battles with real swords and spears. He may not have experienced hundreds of battles, but he is not a coward like this because he shows his face to others.
"General Lu's visit in person is a sign of how much he thinks highly of a small grain transport officer like me." Fang Teng said loudly and helplessly.
Lu Wu's reputation was so bad in the royal court of Chu that everyone wanted to beat him up. He was the number one rebel in the world.
But in the Chu State military, there were actually many people who had a favorable impression of Lu Wu.
It's not just Lu Wu, any fighting general will be relatively respected in any national army, even in the enemy's army - but the kind of general who is resourceful and decisive in command may not enjoy such treatment.
And Lu Wu was particularly respected among the Chu army.
For no other reason than Lu Wu captured a large number of Chu troops at first, and most of the soldiers who had no money to pay the ransom defected to Lu Wu. However, among the middle and low-level officers, there were many wealthy people who came to pay the ransom and ransomed themselves back.
If more than five people know something, it basically means everyone knows it.
What's more, there were more than hundreds of people who redeemed themselves back then?
These people brought back the military laws implemented by Lu Wu. Although they could not implement them, it did not prevent them from admiring them.
Let’s not talk about Lu Wu’s promotion in the army. Those who are capable are promoted and those who are incompetent are demoted. This is quite fair;
Just the fact that Lu Wu was willing to share the spoils of war with the soldiers was already extremely enviable.
Under Lu Wu's command, ordinary soldiers could sometimes receive hundreds of taels of silver if they participated in the conquest of a wealthy city, let alone officers.
If it weren't for the fact that these people all had concerns about the Chu State, didn't dare to betray the country, and were not very optimistic about Lu Wu's development, some of them would have wanted to follow Lu Wu.