The Three Kingdoms Of The North Are Proud And Heroic

Listening to the discussion of all the children, Zu Zhao suddenly had an incomprehensible idea in his mind.

If Zhang Wan of Changcheng County is really the mastermind behind this series of accidents, how did he establish a relationship with the Hu people? Changcheng is located in the south of Youbeiping County, if you really want to echo the Hu people, the geographical location of Changcheng is really not ideal. On the surface, now Zhang Play controls nearly 5,000 rebels, but the combat effectiveness of these 5,000 people is obviously limited, even if the Hu people respond from the north, Zhang Wan needs to capture many county towns including the county government all the way north, how can it be so smooth with 5,000 people alone?

Taking a step back, Zhang Wan is trying to use the Hu people as the main force, and Changcheng is only responsible for containing the officials and troops of Youbeiping County. But how many men and horses can the Hu people in the north dispatch, you must know that the right Beiping County is a border county, and it is still a border army stationed to guard against the Hu people. Even though Luronse's army was insufficient, he was able to hold out for a while while holding on to the walled city. In addition, during this time, Zhang Wen, the general of the chariot and cavalry, was in Youzhou, and if there was a big trouble, Zhang Wen would first dispatch troops to rush to help.

To sum up, Zu Zhao couldn't help but feel that either Zhang Wan was a visionary person, or Changcheng County must have another mystery.

But judging from his arrangement for Lu Wei to be included in the inspection, and his clever voice in the assassination of the Taishou Mansion, this mastermind behind the scenes should not be a stupid person. Rebellion is a great crime, and there are few precedents of success since ancient times, and the loser will face the heavy punishment of the Yi three tribes. Zhang Wan is a local wealthy family with no worries about food and clothing, so why take such a big risk?

Everyone couldn't help but feel a little strange when they saw that Zu Zhao was silent for a long time.

Zu Ji asked, "Eldest Prince, what are you thinking?"

Zu Zhao sighed and said thoughtfully: "I always feel that this matter should not be so simple. Zhang plays... Could there be another plan, or maybe he wasn't the mastermind behind the assassination of Taishou at all?

Zu Ji was surprised: "How can you see it?" The

other disciples also had strange expressions, and they all focused their eyes on Zu Zhao.

Zu Zhao said unhurriedly: "It's just some clues." If Zhang Play really wants to collude with the Hu people, the border is far away from Changcheng, and now that the general of the Che Cavalry is still in Youzhou, Zhang Play should not act so rashly.

Hearing this, others may not have opened their minds yet, but Han Dang's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said seriously: "Brother Zu's words are really true. However, the previous attack on the county government was inextricably linked to Changcheng County, if Zhang Wan was not the mastermind, it must have been instructed by others, in other words, there must be other actions behind this.

Zu Zhao took a deep breath and said solemnly: "Even so, I can't make too many moves on my side in Xu Wuxian. It is necessary not only to guard against thieves, but also to be vigilant against changes in the county. At present, we still have to put the county's righteousness and courage into shape as soon as possible. Brother Yigong, if he doesn't dislike it, his brother is willing to nominate his brother as the chief teacher of the county's righteous and brave archers and horses Xi

Han Dang thought about it, he was not a mother-in-law, and he was quite conceited about his archery, so he agreed cleanly: "If there is a place where Han can use it, Han will do his best."

Zu Zhao smiled: "Then settle it like this, brother thank you brother first."

He knew that Han Dang's promise to participate in Xu Wuxian Righteousness this time also expressed his recognition to a certain extent.

In previous years, although Xu Wuxian was nominally the commander of the county lieutenant, in fact, the county lieutenant's command over the children of the family was extremely limited. In order to put an end to the conflict, often the county lieutenant can only hang an empty command, and not only that, but also have to let the wealthy families serve as the leaders of each team. And this year's preparation for theft is not the same as in the past, the ancestral family seems to have the lion's share, and there is the support of Chen Xianjun behind him, although the temper of Wen County Lieutenant is fierce, but after all, he knew Zuju in the past, and he had to give face to the ancestral family.

All in all, the courage of the thieves this year is almost the overall situation presided over by the ancestral family. Other wealthy families may have careful thoughts in private, but the overall situation is current, and the general direction is still based on the ancestral family. Han Dang agreed to Zu Zhao's invitation, on the other hand, he expressed his willingness to serve the ancestral family.

When we talked about this, there was a knock on the door in the side room, and Uncle Hong's voice said from outside the door: "Ah Ji, Ah Ji, are you inside?"

Zu Ji hurriedly jumped up and responded, "Uncle Hong, I'm here, what's the matter."

Uncle Hong pushed the door in, saw Zu Zhao, and hurriedly bent down to salute. Zu Zhao stepped forward and gave him a hand.

Uncle Hong said: "I didn't expect the eldest prince to be here." Coincidentally, I was planning to ask Ah Ji to find the eldest son.

Zu Zhao asked, "Really?" What's the matter with Uncle Hong?

Uncle Hong smiled and said, "It's nothing to worry about, someone came from Fan'an Pavilion just now, saying that the money and food donated by their pavilion have been prepared, so let's send someone over tomorrow to count them."

Zu Zhao nodded slightly, although the matter of preparing for theft has been raised for a long time, but the money and grain donated by the big households in the townships and pavilions are not in place in one step. Some of them are allocated in batches, while others need to be raised temporarily, so they are either late or short, and they are uneven. Originally, the money and grain donated by the major households should be collected in a unified manner to the county government and personally supervised by the county government, but the ancestral family is currently casting armor for the volunteers, so some of the money and grain are directly handed over to the ancestral family.

Hearing this, Zu Ji was eager to try and said, "Okay, tomorrow morning, we will go to Fan'an Pavilion for a walk."

Zu Zhao also didn't have much thought, and said, "Uncle Hong, I know." I'll get all the people in a minute.

Uncle Hong replied, "I'll get all the horses ready later."

After Uncle Hong left, Han Dang got up to say goodbye.

Zu Zhao stopped Han Dang and asked, "Brother Yigong, where do you live now?"

Han Dang didn't think much about it, and said directly: "Now that the farming is over, I will live in the thatched hut of the mountain keeper in the mountains on weekdays, and after the beginning of spring, the mountain keeper will come back, and I will find another place."

Zu Zhao immediately said: "This is not a way. There are so many rooms in my village, and my brother may as well live in the village. Tomorrow is just going to Fan'an Pavilion together.

Han Dang pondered for a while, and finally didn't refrain any more, and promised: "Then it's better to be respectful than to obey your fate." Zu

Zhao instructed Zu Ji to arrange a side room for Han Dang to rest, and then order the number of people who will go to Fan'an Pavilion tomorrow. Fan'an Pavilion is the farthest pavilion from Xuwu County, considering that it is within the county border after all, so it does not need too many people. But if there are more than a dozen people in your spare time, you can go and walk together.

There was nothing to say all night, and in the early morning of the next day, Zu Zhao got up early and came to the backyard to have some breakfast with Zu Ji, Han Dang, Zu Cheng and others. Uncle Hong had already set up the horses properly, and Zu Zhao had specially instructed Uncle Hong to nail the four hooves of his mount to the horseshoe. Although horseshoe appeared in Rome as early as the first century AD, for China, the real physical research was still in the early years of the Sui Dynasty. As for whether it appeared before the Sui Dynasty, it is unknown.

But Zu Zhao knew very well that no matter whether other counties were equipped with horseshoe or not in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, anyway, Youbeiping County had never seen such a thing here. He only had a general understanding of horseshoe, having only seen the craftsmen he had recruited a few days ago to make four pairs of U-shaped iron palms according to his description.

Considering the heavy snow for several days, he decided to experiment with his own horseshoe today.

Of course, Uncle Hong didn't know anything about the horseshoe, and when he heard that the iron was going to be nailed into the horse's hooves, he even objected a little, for fear that he would hurt the horse's hooves. Zu Zhao said a lot of bad things yesterday evening, and finally had to show the momentum of the eldest son, so he said that Uncle Hong would do it. For Zu Zhao, he also knew that the initial shape of the horse's shoe he designed would definitely hurt the horse's hooves, after all, he didn't know much about the specific size, thickness, and tooth shape of the regular horse's shoe.

Like the saddle and stirrups, the only thing he could do was to deduce the most suitable horseshoe shape through trial and error.

When Uncle Hong pulled Zu Zhao's mount out, everyone around the racecourse looked at him curiously, because the sound of other people's horses' hooves was muffled, but this horse was the only one who had a metal horseshoe, and it was a crisp sound of "oh oh" when he walked. He handed the reins to Zu Zhao, his face was very sad, and he advised: "Prince, be more careful on the road, this ghost... Alas, I'm afraid that it won't be slippery, but it will slip.

Zu Zhao smiled, took the reins, and said, "Don't worry, it'll be fine." Uncle Hong, how can you not believe me?

Uncle Hong sighed helplessly and didn't say anything.

After getting on the horse, Zu Zhao greeted Zu Ji and Han Dang, led more than a dozen children of Honzhuang, and set off out of the backyard gate.

Fan'an Pavilion is about 20 miles away from Beiguo Pavilion, and has crossed the West River Bridge of Anyang Pavilion during this period.

The snow has eased slightly, but the whole day has been white. Zu Zhao and his party were riding on horses, and the horses' hooves stepped on the thick snow, making a creaking sound. Although the men in the north are not afraid of the cold, this cold weather still drives the towns and villages they see and encounters cleanly, and they have not seen many people for half an hour.

It was already after noon when I arrived at Fan'an Pavilion, and the snow in the sky was a little more eager.

The group hurriedly arrived at the pavilion, dismounted, and quickly hid in the house to keep warm.

Geli was already waiting in the pavilion for a long time, and after seeing the arrival of the ancestral family, he hurriedly greeted him and sat down in front of the brazier, and served hot tea diligently. At this time, the pavilion was ready for lunch, and everyone discussed that they would eat a little bit here at the pavilion first. All the money and grain donated by each li were sent to Tingyi, but there were not many large and wealthy households in Fan'an Pavilion, and the donated money and grain barely reached the amount announced by the county government. Large bags and small bags are stacked in the corner of the pavilion vestibule.

After lunch, Zu Zhao paid for the meal, and then beckoned all the children to move all the donated things to the door.

I had already prepared an empty car before I came, and I should move it to the empty car now.

After finishing the dots, bidding farewell to the people in Fan'an Pavilion, Zu Zhao led the team to return to Zujiazhuang. The snow on the road is still the same, but it's a little better than at noon, and at least it opens your eyes.

Zu Ji stepped forward to Zu Zhao's side for a while, and then ran to the back to check the carriage. His face was red from the cold, and he muttered from time to time: "This ghost weather, it's so cold, it's so cold!" Fortunately, he was brought with a halberd, otherwise his hands would have frozen.

When everyone heard this, they just smiled and didn't say anything, and there was wind and snow at this time, so they didn't have to open their mouths and the snowflakes came into their mouths.

Due to the obstruction of wind and snow, the group walked for more than half an hour before they were about to reach the boundary of Anyang Pavilion.

Ahead was a sparse forest, and the snow weighed down the branches.

At this moment, Zu Zhao suddenly saw more than a dozen figures on the side of the road in front of him, and if he looked closely, most of these more than ten people were dressed as farmers, or carrying a flat pole, or a pile of firewood on their shoulders, or twisting one or two cloth bags. Chad, at first glance, is a group of hunters who have just returned from the mountains and forests. In winter, it is very common to go into the mountains to collect firewood, winter fruits and even hunting, after all, not everyone can have food and clothing all year round.

Therefore, he didn't care too much either.

After continuing to walk forward for a while, suddenly a deep voice came from behind him and warned: "Brother Zu, keep a snack, I think there is something wrong with these people."

Zu Zhao glanced sideways, and the person who spoke was Han Dang, he immediately raised his guard and hurriedly asked, "Brother Yigong, how is it?"

Han Dang said: "Brother Zu, look carefully, those two woodcutters are carrying the same branches, but they don't have axes on them, so cold and snowy, so much firewood, it is impossible to rely on picking up alone; Looking at the few people who were twisting the cloth bag, it seemed that they were collecting wild fruits and herbs, but each of them was twisting a large bag in one hand, and they couldn't see the weight at all.

Hearing Han Dang say this, Zu Zhao immediately reacted and couldn't help sighing: Jiang is still old and spicy.

He immediately explained to the left and right: "Everyone be careful and be vigilant. Most

of the people haven't reacted to what is going on, but when they saw the eldest prince say this, they all felt pressure.

On this trip, the ancestral family was not fully armed, most of them knew how to carry swords and swords, and only Han Dang was responsible for the bow and arrow. Zu Zhao carefully counted the people on the side of the road in front of him again, and the number of people was actually more than twenty. He subconsciously looked around again, and felt more and more that the situation was indeed wrong. The woods on both sides of the road must be so quiet that there is no movement at all, which is really weird. It's just that he still has a little comfort, and the rain and snow are not small at the moment, maybe it's just that he is too careful.

As he got closer and closer to those hunters and woodcutters, Zu Zhao thought about saying hello first to explore the truth.

About thirty steps together, Zu Zhao stepped forward slightly, and shouted loudly: "How did you come from?"

The woodcutter threw away the firewood he was carrying, and three or five people immediately gathered around him, and pulled out the swords, swords, and axes from the firewood. The person who twisted the bag tore open the bag in an instant, and took out the crossbow and arrows; The rest of the crowd either found their hidden blades or grabbed their weapons from the thick snowdrifts on the ground. In just a moment, these "ordinary people" have become extremely vicious gangsters.

The nearest few people were armed with spears or iron forks, and they rushed towards Zu Zhao in a swarm.

The rest of the men had already brandished their weapons and followed closely behind with shouts of slaughter. As for a few people with crossbow arrows, they couldn't help but say, and they raised their crossbows and shot at Zu Zhao and the others.

The change came very quickly, but fortunately, Zu Zhao listened to Han Dang's warning earlier, and he was somewhat prepared. He bent down, dodging an oncoming arrow, and drew his sword as he stood. Instead of rushing to meet the enemy with his sword, he pulled the reins back with force, forcing his mount to rise to the ground.

Just then, a thief with an iron fork rushed to him and was about to stretch out his iron fork to stab him.

Zu Zhao sat down on the mount and rode a tall horse, his front hooves off the ground, and he suddenly raised his feet. He kicked the snow in the face and couldn't open his eyes. Taking advantage of this, he leaned forward sharply, causing his mount to leap forward and land again, deftly avoiding the thief's iron fork and stomping on his opponent even harder.

The horse's hooves nailed to the iron horseshoe fell, like a giant hammer striking it. Only a few bones were broken, and the thief was crushed under the horse and vomited blood, unable to move again.

At the same time, Zu Ji, Zu Cheng and other children of the ancestral family hurriedly rushed up and protected Zu Zhao's side. It's a pity that two of the disciples rushed too quickly, so that the oncoming crossbow arrows shot squarely, and fell from the horse with a painful cry.

Han Dang's eyes were quick, and he had already taken the bow in his hand at the moment when the accident happened. Take the arrow, put the bow on, open the string, and the action is done in one go. He barely had time to aim, and for himself, such a close distance was enough by feeling alone. A bow was heard, and the feathered arrows flew out with a "whoosh", and with one arrow, a thief who was hiding behind and wielding a crossbow knocked to the ground.

The two sides clashed, and the fight was in full swing.

At this moment, there was movement again in the woods on the left and right.

Those thieves who had long been ambushed in the snow and behind the bushes saw the opportunity and swarmed out. The scene was suddenly chaotic, and the number of thieves surged to more than forty people, and the momentum alone was overwhelming.

Zu Zhao was not afraid of these thieves, after all, these thieves were all on foot, and his party was all knights. It's a pity that I didn't have a horse blade when I went out today, and I only suffered a lot from the short sword in my hand to meet the enemy. Although the children of the ancestral family on the left and right are also good hands, they have no choice but to fight into a stalemate, and it is inconvenient to play in the snow, and more and more people are injured or fall from their horses.

"Little thief, take your life!"

Zu Ji roared, kicked the horse's belly hard, and rode his horse towards the seven and eight thieves who rushed out of the forest on the left.

His horse burst into the crowd with vigour, and struck a man head-on, knocking the thief to the ground. Then he slashed left and right, his movements were so fast and so fierce that it made people feel intimidated just by looking at them. For a while, the seven or eight thieves on the left side were frightened. How much to relieve the pressure of the people on the road.