Chapter 965 0960 [Sweet potato leaves are delicious]
To the east of Huaizhou City, there is the Yellow River Ferry.
There are boats at the ferry, and you can escape to the east bank of the Yellow River.
If you take a boat to the south, you will find Jingzhou City dozens of miles away.
In Jingzhou City, we continued to take a boat south to Lingzhou, which was heavily defended by Ren Dejing. It was about to be surrounded by Deng Chun's 130,000 troops!
To the south?
Or heading east?
Bin Cunli, who had escaped from the city, didn't think much and took a boat east to cross the Yellow River to find Brother Richard.
Although Brother Richard is his political opponent, at this time, Nong Cunli still chooses to believe in Brother Richard's ability. Because he feels that Ren Dejing from the south is a bad guy!
Bin Cunli is the biological father of the current Queen of Xixia.
Ren Dejing is the biological father of the former Queen of Xixia.
Although their daughters are about the same age, they are still a generation apart, and they fight more fiercely with relatives of the royal family.
Historically, Xiao Heda rebelled.
Bin Cunli jumped out first to lead the troops to put down the rebellion, hoping to gain more power through his military exploits, but was defeated time and again by Xiao Heda.
This gave Ren Dejing the opportunity. Ren Dejing took over the military power and quickly eliminated Xiao Heda. From then on, he gradually became a powerful official in Xixia.
The soldiers and civilians swarmed out from the east city gate and rushed to the ferry to seize the boats. Neng Cunli led a group of soldiers, rode on horseback and slashed with swords, killing everyone in the way. Finally, he grabbed two boats and ran away.
.
The soldiers nearby followed suit and killed civilians indiscriminately and snatched away all the remaining ships.
The soldiers and civilians who had no boats to ride on had no choice but to flee along the river bank. They were afraid of Yue Fei's massacre, so they ran all the way to save their lives, without taking any food with them. It is estimated that many people would starve to death on the way.
After crossing the river, Wang Cunli headed straight to the northeast, where Brother Richard was hiding his troops.
Passing through the narrow farming zone, there is a large grassland with rich water and grass ahead.
By dusk, Neng Cunli was tired and hungry.
Fortunately, when we crossed the Yellow River, we had some food on board and water bags filled with Yellow River water.
After eating something, it was getting dark, so he lay down on the grass and fell asleep. He didn't sleep last night, and now he can fall asleep while sitting on the horse.
The next day, we continued riding horseback.
The vegetation gradually became shorter and thinner, and by the afternoon, it was already half grassland and half desert. After passing this semi-desert zone, the grassland ahead was slightly better, but only the local tribes knew that desertification was getting worse year by year, and the sand was getting smaller and smaller.
Eat the pasture.
This has a lot to do with overgrazing, but the real reason is that the climate is getting colder and the 400 mm equivalent precipitation line continues to move south.
Desertification began to intensify in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. There is a clear record in "New Book of Tang" that a horrific sandstorm in the second year of Changqing buried the famous Tongwan City wall.
“Woooooooo~~~”
"Stop!"
The horn sounded, and hundreds of light horses grazing came around.
This is Brother Richard's military hiding place. There is a semi-desert zone on the outside, but you can still graze cattle inside. Further north is the Mu Us Desert.
Thousands of livestock are temporarily raised here to serve as food for Richard's cavalry.
Wang Cunli showed his identity and asked: "Where is the King of Jin?"
The general who was left to guard the livestock said: "His Royal Highness the King of Jin has led his troops to attack Yanzhou."
"Hurry up and send a few people to report that Huaizhou City is gone." Deng Cunli said anxiously.
As soon as these words came out, the hundreds of cavalrymen left behind became even more anxious. Their families were all over there in Huaizhou!
The general was so angry that he pulled Neng Cunli off his horse, grabbed Neng Cunli by the lapels of his clothes and angrily shouted: "You guys have the nerve to come looking for us? Since you commanded the army, you have never won a single battle. You only know how to lead us."
Escape. I fled from Longzhou to Youzhou, then from Youzhou to Yanzhou, and then followed you to Huaizhou. King Jin finally led us to counterattack, but you lost the huge city of Huaizhou!"
Hundreds of cavalrymen all dismounted and surrounded Wang Cunli and his troops.
"Kill him!" someone roared.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
More and more Xixia cavalry shouted.
Bin Cunli was frightened and begged for mercy: "Don't kill me. I am the head of the country and my daughter is the queen... Daxia has not been defeated yet, Daxia has not been defeated yet. As long as the King of Jin rushes to attack Yanzhou, the enemy's army will be deprived of food."
!Don’t kill me. Even if you kill me, you won’t get any benefits..."
While everyone was arguing whether he should be killed or not, a strong wind suddenly blew up.
The wind became stronger and stronger, blowing up countless amounts of sand and dust.
"The sandstorm is coming. Hurry into Muliang and drive the livestock in!"
The crowd threw down the gift and drove the animals into the tent.
Dozens of miles to the south, in a semi-desert area, Li Yanxian's army also stopped marching. The wind and sand there were lighter, but it was still uncomfortable, so many people stopped and pitched tents to take shelter.
…
Farther away in Yanzhou, Yao Pingzhong was hiding in the city with his troops.
When Wang Cunli built a wall to clear the country, he tore off several sections of the Yanzhou city wall.
This dilapidated city wall has not been repaired for decades. The outer wall has been exposed to wind, rain, and sun, and has long since begun to peel off automatically. The craftsmen hammered in iron drills along the rammed earth layer like stone mining, and then
The city wall can be destroyed by smashing the iron drill vertically.
The gaps in the several sections of city wall that were torn away were two to three hundred meters wide in total.
This is also the reason for Brother Richard to attack Yanzhou City!
If the Yanzhou city wall was intact, he would not dare to lead his army to attack.
Brother Richard has found out clearly that Li Yanxian has led his generals and elite troops to march towards Huaizhou, which is three hundred miles away. There are not many Ming troops left in Yanzhou City.
The wind and sand were blowing bigger and bigger, which made the Xixia soldiers feel a little uncomfortable.
Brother Richard ordered a temporary halt to the march and called all the chiefs and said: "This is God and Buddha protecting us. The strong wind and sand are blowing to cover us. The enemy forces in Yanzhou must be unprepared. We can easily recapture the city."
.Tell these words to the soldiers, then tear off your sleeves and wet them, cover the mouths and noses of the soldiers and horses, rest for a while and we will go straight to Yanzhou!"
What Brother Richard said made sense. This sandstorm was indeed beneficial to them, so the morale of the 20,000 Xixia cavalry was greatly boosted.
After approaching Yanzhou City for more than ten miles, Brother Richard stopped and waited until it was completely dark before heading towards the city.
In the city, a large number of houses were burned to ruins, which was a good deed done by Nong Cunli before he left.
The remaining timber on the ruins had been carried away to the gaps in the city wall by civilians and piled up in random places. The rammed earth blocks that had been removed from the city wall were also carried away and stacked with the timber to form a very crude fortification to guard against large groups of Xixia cavalry.
Rush in.
Wang De's troops under Yao Pingzhong must have been taken away by Li Yanxian, and some other troops were also taken away.
At this moment, there are two thousand knights, six thousand infantry, and more than a thousand civilians in Yanzhou City.
Both soldiers and civilians took turns sleeping.
And you don't wear armor during the day, because you can spot the enemy from a distance and have enough time to put on armor to defend against the enemy. You must wear armor to rest at night and be ready to fight at any time.
In a room, twenty or thirty civilians were lying down and resting.
Just rest, no sleep allowed, they had already slept during the day.
"Hey, brother, where is your hometown?" Yang Danian asked.
Niu Fu replied: "Weinan."
Yang Danian said: "Weinan is so far away, how can we be recruited to Yansui as a civil servant?"
Niu Fu said: "How do I know? Most of the people in my village have gone to Hehuang and Huaide."
"I'm afraid your life is very easy there." Yang Danian said enviously.
Niu Fu smiled and said: "It's not bad. The Zhu family is more powerful than the Zhao family. Can you grow wheat here?"
Yang Danian said: "What kind of wheat are you growing? If there is a drought, the harvest will be lost. We all grow millet there. It is very drought-tolerant. We can always harvest a few grains even if it doesn't rain. Do you all grow wheat there?"
Niu Fu said: "Most dry fields are used to grow wheat, but paddy fields can also grow rice."
Yang Danian said: "I'm not afraid of your jokes. It was the first time I ate rice during the drought a few years ago. I heard it was Hanzhong rice shipped by the government for disaster relief. It tastes very delicious, even better than white flour steamed buns."
A farmer next to him laughed: "Yang Er, don't brag. How can you ever eat white flour steamed buns?"
"Why can't your grandpa eat white flour steamed buns?" Yang Danian said angrily, "I've eaten it several times and I'm tired of it. Brother Niu, don't listen to his nonsense. I've eaten a lot of good things. You guys
I’ve also eaten the cornmeal over there.”
Niu Fu said: "Corn cobs need to be tender to be delicious. They can be eaten roasted or boiled. The children are very happy. When they are old, they will not taste good. The corn cobs will be sticky and oily, and those with tuberculosis and weak intestines will not be able to eat them.
Very hungry."
Yang Danian asked: "What do you think the tender corn cobs taste like?"
Niu Fu smiled and said: "It's sweet, just like eating honey."
Yang Danian couldn't help but swallow his saliva: "If I have time, I'll get two tender corn cobs to eat."
"Thanks to the Emperor, the sweet potato leaves are also very delicious," Niu Fu said. "If you grow a few acres of sweet potatoes, you won't have to worry about running out of food for most of the year. The young leaves are eaten by people and the old leaves are given to animals. It's better than that of beans."
The leaves are much more refreshing."
The leaves of soybeans have always been regarded as vegetables by the Chinese.
Especially the common people at the bottom pick bean leaves and cook porridge to drink, but unfortunately the taste is not good.
Nowadays, sweet potatoes are available, and their leaves are plentiful and cheap, making them a favorite vegetable for poor families. Old sweet potato vine leaves can also be used to feed livestock.
Yang Danian began to fantasize about the taste of sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves, thinking that they must be delicious, and he couldn't help but salivate just thinking about it.
"Woooooooo~"
"Dangdangdangdang~"
A horn warning sound came from outside the city, and a gong was struck at the top of the city.
The sound of gongs also sounded in the city. A garrison officer rushed outside and shouted to the civilians: "The enemy is attacking! Pick up your weapons and come out quickly!"
Yang Danian and his fellow villagers quickly stood up and walked out of the house with guns in hand.
They belong to the common people in other towns. All men under the age of 50 must practice during the slack season to be prepared for cross-border raids by Xixia at any time.
If Yang Danian were ten years younger, he would definitely be serving as a soldier now.
Even if he is only a Baojia militiaman, Yang Danian also has his own armor, which is the standard leather armor, standard spear and standard waist knife issued by the Commanding Department.
Niu Fu seemed a little flustered. His hometown is in Weinan, far away from the Mingxia border, and he has never practiced before.
But it is said that Brother Richard outside the city was discovered by the Ming army's sentry cavalry and immediately led his army to charge at full speed.
Twenty thousand Xixia cavalry rushed to various gaps in the city wall.
Because there were too many obstacles in the gap, the Xixia cavalry dismounted and turned into infantry to cross the obstacles and enter the city.
