Chapter 1,204 Caravan
The distance from Tianjingguan to Changzi City is only two hundred miles. The rescue messenger set off immediately after receiving Hu Cai's order. The letter for help should be delivered before dark. After receiving the letter for help, it will take another four days. In time, the reinforcements of the eldest son can arrive at Tianjin Pass.
Looking at the direction in which the messenger left, Hu Cai felt reassured. Then he turned to look at the Tang army outside the pass, then turned to look at the soldiers at the pass, and said loudly: "Soldiers, I have sent someone to ask the prefect for help." , from the eldest son to Tianjing Pass, it only takes four days for the army to come for reinforcements, so we only need to hold Tianjing Pass for four or five days before the reinforcements are sent by the Grand Administrator, you have confidence!"
The deputy general next to him laughed loudly and said: "General, do you underestimate me, Bingzhou Erlang? Tianjing Pass is dangerous and dangerous. No matter how powerful the Tang army is, they can only send out 800 people to attack at a time, let alone defend it for four or five days. , even if it lasts for forty or fifty days, it’s not a big deal, the crowd said, yes or no?”
"yes!"
"good!"
"Yes, yes, Tang Thief is just holding his head on two shoulders, how could he be able to fly up the wall!"
"Ha ha……"
Seeing the soldiers above Guancheng being lifted up at once, Hu Cai couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After knowing that the Tang army was famous for its bravery, he was really afraid that his army would be in trouble if its morale dropped. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but nodded approvingly to the deputy general.
"Okay, once we defeat the Tang bandits, I will definitely ask the prefect for your credit!"
"Thank you General!"
…
It was past noon at the top of the city. Although it was already autumn, the sunlight still made the soldiers on duty at the city feel dizzy. Just when the soldiers at the city tower were about to sneak into the city tower to rest for a while, suddenly there were several riders. Rushing from the south, smoke and dust filled the sky along the way.
When the soldier raised his eyes and looked up, he found that the person coming turned out to be a messenger carrying three red flags. It seemed that something had happened to the south. Seeing this, he immediately shouted to the city gate below the tower: "There is something happening to the south. The Hong Ling messenger is coming, please stay out of the way!"
When the soldiers at the city gate heard this, they immediately shouted: "Quick, quick, step aside. A red damask messenger is coming. Quickly step aside!"
Fortunately, it was just noon at this time, and there were not many pedestrians walking around outside the city gate or on the streets inside the city. As soon as everyone heard that the red damask messenger had arrived, they hurriedly stood near the street one by one, waiting for the red damask messenger to rush all the way into the city. , went straight to the direction of the county government office in the city. After the fast horse passed by, everyone stood up from both sides of the street with their mouths and noses covered. Everyone was whispering to each other about what happened in the south. Hong Ling's messenger delivered the news, but some smart people guessed that something might have happened at Tianjing Pass. After all, in the past few years, the relationship between Zhao and Tang was no longer what it used to be, and everyone had heard about it.
After a while, the messenger arrived at the county government office. After meeting with the county magistrate and county captain in the county government office, he changed his war horse from the city post station, then ran out from the north gate of the Xu family and headed towards the county city Changzi City. .
Soon, the county lieutenant summoned the generals such as the captain, Qu Chang, and garrison commander in the city to discuss the matter. Only then did everyone know that it was the Tang army that had launched an attack on Tianjing Pass. The county lieutenant did not say much, but just ordered everyone to be careful. After paying attention to the situation in the south and ordering everyone not to leak the news, he sent everyone away.
After all, Tianjing Pass is a hundred miles away to the south. It is an important pass that can only be opened by one man. It is defended by five thousand elite soldiers. No matter how brave the Tang army is, they cannot capture it in a few days. Yes, besides, there is Gaodu City between Tianjingguan and the Xun family. No matter how bad it is, after Tianjingguan is captured, news will come from Gaodu, so whether it is the county magistrate, county lieutenant, or a group of guards The military generals did not take this news to heart.
What the Hyun family didn't know was that their danger came not from the south, but from the west.
At the end of the day, which is about five o'clock in the afternoon,
In half an hour, the city gate will be closed. Sergeant Zhao, who is in charge of the west gate, looks at the flow of people that has gradually become less and less. He can't help but secretly feel happy. Finally, the day has passed again. Once the city gate is closed, it is handed over to the next one. On duty.
At this moment, the soldiers at the top of the city suddenly shouted to the people below: "Captain, a group of fat sheep is coming from the west. Judging from the layout, there should be about twenty cars!"
When everyone at the city gate heard this, they all cheered up. The leader of the village even laughed: "Zhi Niang, finally a caravan has arrived. I am thinking about this matter in my heart. What are the people in Gao Pingguan?" Guys, they should be delivering goods to the city soon. Hehe, there are about twenty cars coming, it seems that we will have a big harvest today!"
Having said this, the commander of the village said to the soldiers around him: "Everyone has a share of the entry fees for this caravan!"
"Ha, great, thank you very much, Commander!" All the soldiers were very happy.
The reason why the village chief said this was because his village of 100 people was divided into two groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each of the twenty or so cars entering the city received one hundred and eighty coppers. If so, there are one or two thousand coppers in total. Even if each person is given ten coppers, he only needs to give out 500 coppers, and he still has nearly a thousand coppers in his hand.
While talking, the caravan had already reached the city gate dozens of steps away. When the village chief looked in the direction of the caravan, he found that the caravan was indeed a shopkeeper of Gao's shop in Gaopingguan. Gao's shop was the shop of the commander of Gaopingguan. Every month, Gao's shop would send some supplies back to Xuan's or transport a lot of supplies from Xuan's to Gaopingguan.
However, even if it was the business of Captain Gao's family, you still couldn't mess up the rules. The caravan had to pay a city entrance fee to enter the city. This was an iron rule. If you, Captain Gao, broke the rules, you would offend a large number of people. However, because of Captain Gao's background, no one dared to deliberately embarrass them.
However, what made the village chief feel strange was that this time the caravan had more vehicles than usual, and except for the shopkeeper who was an acquaintance, the rest of the driver guards were all unfamiliar faces. When the village chief was about to step forward to ask, the shopkeeper had stopped the caravan and walked up with a middle-aged guard.
"I'm here to meet General Cheng!" The shopkeeper bowed to the village chief from a few steps away;
"Old man Li, why do you have so many cars this time? Business seems good!" Village chief Cheng laughed;
"General, you're joking. I'm a small business. The autumn harvest is coming soon, so I'm sending some of last year's old grain back to make room for the granary inside the pass."
"Oh," the village chief heard it and realized it was true, so he stopped asking and chatted with him: "By the way, why are all the guards you brought this time unfamiliar?"
"Hey, aren't those old people in the countryside outside the pass to watch the autumn harvest? So, you brought a new group of people here. Come on, this is Guard Shi, Guard Shi," he said Then, Manager Li winked at Guard Shi beside him. Guard Shi nodded, reached into his arms and took out a small bag, handed it to the village chief surnamed Cheng, and said, "Please check it carefully, General Cheng. If there is no problem, the convoy must hurry into the city and deliver the goods to the warehouse. Please bear with me, General Cheng!"
"Okay, okay!" Village chief surnamed Cheng smiled and took the bag handed over by Guard Shi. He weighed it in his hand. It looked like it was at least two thousand coppers. He said, "What's there to see? We are all old acquaintances. Let's hurry into the city!"
As he said that, he waved to his subordinates, and several soldiers immediately stepped forward, moved the barricades blocking the road, and made way for the convoy.