Chapter 193: Things in the Rear
At Fenglingdu, the river wind is cold and gloomy.

Boats and ships were constantly transporting people and animals across the river.

Zhao Yun's 300-plus men had been stationed here for three days, and initially they were only ordered here to collect war horses.

As a result, Gan Ning received the latest military order, authorizing Zhao Yun to expand the army.

Soldiers were selected from the escort teams of each transport team, and each escort team was equipped with 500 armed slaves as a standard.

However, during the migration process, escaped tribesmen and escaped slaves from Hedong County joined the team from time to time, causing the population proportion of the transport team to change.

Originally, a transport team had about two thousand people, not counting children. Including escaped slaves, the adult population was close to three thousand.

A transport team arrives every day, and Zhao Yun can select the best ones.

Black Bear gave him a recruitment quota of 3,000 cavalrymen, but he only recruited more than 700 people in these three days.

On the Jiazi day of the Beginning of Winter, Zhao Yun came to the ferry to receive the guard team as usual.

Just like yesterday, the herd moved first.

More than 800 boats and ships mobilized from Guanzhong, Hongnong and Hedong traveled back and forth between the two banks. At the same time, sick bulls and rams were being slaughtered on the north bank. Except for the selected breeding cattle and sheep, all others were slaughtered on the spot.

They were slaughtered on the river bank as if performing a sacrifice.

The blood flowed into the Yellow River and formed a dark red ribbon about thirty or forty miles long along the north bank.

The entire south bank of Fenglingdu, Huayin and the surrounding areas of Tongguan, have tent stationing areas every ten miles.

The most eye-catching thing about Fenglingdu is the Jingguan standing on the east side of the ferry. It is a strange Jingguan.

There was no need to use earth to cover the place. The entire structure was built with wooden stakes. The huge frame, which was seven steps square, looked like a basket.

And inside the basket are the heads captured this time, layer upon layer of heads and salt.

It was around noon when the first group of women crossed the river. They were wearing clothes made of rabbit skin, sheep skin and even mouse skin, and they all looked unkempt.

Carrying the fresh meat distributed to them on the north bank and taking their children, they followed the swaying boats towards the south bank.

The closer they got, the more they could no longer suppress their emotions, and the cries of women and children became increasingly loud.

Many women had lost their ability to move after reaching the shore and were dragged ashore by the women who arrived first.

The person in charge of receiving them was Guo Tai. Today he was looking around with a seven-section staff.

When the number of women who came ashore reached 100 households, ten Qingzhou soldiers were assigned to lead them to migrate to the outskirts.

The young and strong men and women who arrived a few days ago were also organized into teams of 100 people, with ten Qingzhou soldiers assigned to manage them.

These young and strong men who have recovered their strength carried heavy supplies such as leather tents and transported them to various temporary resettlement areas by vehicles.

Now the resettlement areas are beginning to spread to Guanzhong, and each small resettlement area is about ten miles apart.

The empty space in between is barely enough for the animals to find food.

But this is only an emergency measure for the time being and it won’t last long.

Therefore, after the newly formed transport team of 100 people has adapted to the local conditions, it will migrate to the Shanglinyuan area.

There are abundant forest resources here, making it relatively easy for the animals to find food in winter.

Guo Tai noticed that Zhao Yun was looking at him from a distance, so he turned his head. From a distance of more than a hundred steps, Guo Tai smiled back at him.

Zhao Yun just nodded, feeling overwhelmed with emotion for a moment.

There were so many unexpected things, such as the black bear suddenly turning against the Huns and the many boys and girls who were rescued.

Nearly three thousand adult men and women arrive in Guanzhong every day. If this continues for more than a month, the black bears will directly control a population of more than 100,000.

These are the people Black Bear rescued from the Huns' cages. These men and women, as well as their children, will be the backbone of Black Bear and the Taiping Dao.

Once these people survive this difficult winter and last through next year's lean period, the entire Guanzhong region will become a huge war machine.

The spoils were so rich that next autumn, the black bear would not be able to live a peaceful life in Guanzhong.

Too many people would ask the black bear to go on external expeditions. Even if there were no spoils of war, it would be great to go out and rob some herds of animals.

At the same time, Zhao Yun was also surprised by the growth rate of the Qingzhou soldiers. The Qingzhou soldiers grew too fast.

During the past six months, apart from marching and fighting, it seems that the rest of the time was spent on training.

It is not only training in battle discipline and coordination, but also training in preaching.

He naturally didn't know that every hundred-man team of Qingzhou soldiers had been repenting, and each person had stood in the middle of the team and confessed in public more than once.

This is a kind of spiritual sublimation and also a summary of past life.

When a person summarizes himself, what he gets is ultimately limited.

If a hundred people repeatedly summarize themselves and refer to others, they will definitely make great progress.

It is no exaggeration to say that it is a complete transformation.

Therefore, the current Qingzhou soldiers may not necessarily have the ability to govern the country and the counties, but it is not a problem for a team of ten to manage a team of one hundred.

What's more, the previous miserable life and the Huns' whips had worn away the tempers of these men and women.

As Guo Tai was observing, a Taoist priest stepped onto the small wooden platform and said, "Master, the Chief Historian is here."

Guo Tai turned around and saw Chen Zhen leading more than 500 people on foot.

The road was very wide. People heading west walked on the north side, and people heading to Tongguan walked on the south side.

Chen Zhen was riding in a vehicle with a cranked green umbrella. He got off the vehicle at the roadside and Guo Tai also came down from the wooden platform to greet him. When the two met, Chen Zhen asked, "Master Guo, what difficulties do you have at the moment?"

"We are still short of manpower. We can still use the soldiers in my camp for another five days. After five days, we can only withdraw some people. What I am thinking is to divide the ten-man team into two squads and withdraw one squad."

Guo Tai turned his head and looked at the civilians who came with Chen Zhen, and couldn't help but smile: "The people sent by the Chief Secretary are only enough for two days. After the division, it will only be three days."

Chen Zhen brought with him the outstanding civilians from the Jingzhou civilian team of 100 people, who were the backbones recommended by the civilians.

The withdrawal of these six hundred men had already severely damaged Chen Zhen's vitality, but it was only enough to accommodate the rescued men and women for two or three days.

Chen Zhen followed Guo Tai onto the wooden platform and looked at the boys and girls who were crying and limp after getting off the boat in the distance, and then looked at the newly arrived herd of beasts that were rounded up: "I never thought that the Xiongnu would be so rich."

"Your Excellency the Chief Secretary, you may not know that the three Xiongnu tribes in the royal court are also good at farming. Their commanders relocated the people and beasts to avoid trouble. At this moment, the camps of the Xiongnu tribes still have a lot of food and fodder."

Guo Tai lowered his voice and said, "The food stored by the Xiongnu for the winter for 200,000 men and women is enough for the commander to use until March next year."

Not only people and war horses need to eat, but the cattle and sheep left in the army can also eat grains to keep warm and supplement nutrition.

Chen Zhen was surprised: "March next year? Isn't the commander going to attack the Xiongnu in Xihe? The military advisor has already led the army to set out. If there is no commander to support us, I'm afraid this..."

"General Qu has made his own decision. I think he has conveyed the order to the military advisor. This is not something you and I can discuss."

Guo Tai leaned his shoulder closer to Chen Zhen and continued, "The duty of the Chief Secretary and I is to resettle the exiled and rescued people."

Chen Zhen nodded, his expression still a little unnatural: "The Hu people in the north have gathered and are about to attack, perhaps to force General Qu to return to Guanzhong. I thought General Qu would take a break and attack the Xiongnu in Xihe, but if he stays in Taiyuan for a long time, I am afraid that the Hu coalition will attack and ruin the good situation in Guanzhong."

Seeing this, Guo Tai laughed and said, "When we followed him to Guanzhong, we had no more than 5,000 people; when he went to fight the Xiongnu, he had no more than 3,000 cavalry. There are no less than 20,000 Xiongnu there, how do the invading Huns compare to them?"

As Guo Tai spoke, he stretched out his arm and pointed to the area of ​​wooden stakes standing by the river in the east. Chen Zhen just glanced at it.

He also understood the deeper meaning of Guo Tai's words. If the various Hu people invaded, he could just leave it to the reorganized Guanzhong soldiers to resist and defend.

If they couldn't stop them, they just had to open the passage to let the Hu people in. All the boats that could be mobilized in Guanzhong were pulled to Tongguan.

Therefore, because of the Wei River, the marauding armies of the Hu people could not invade Weinan.

There is no such thing as the saying that if people like Duan Wei and Yang Qiu let the other Hu people go, the other Hu people would be able to harm them.

What's more, the battle records in the propaganda can be faked, but the boys, girls, and animals that continued to arrive in Weinan from Fenglingdu cannot be faked.

The more brilliant the victory of our side in Taiyuan, the higher the morale of the soldiers left behind in Guanzhong.

As long as they can hold on through this wave, it will be their turn to fight back and take the meat in the next wave.

Chen Zhen also nodded and said, "Lü Chang and Yan Xing have written to ask for battle, and are willing to serve under the commander. They also requested armor and weapons. If the equipment reserves are insufficient, they are willing to cut wood into soldiers and go to Taiyuan to serve."

"The Chief Historian tried to appease him with kind words, and the commander issued repeated orders, allowing Zhao Zilong to recruit only 3,000 knights to help him in the battle, and the rest of the troops were not allowed to move rashly."

As Guo Tai spoke, he took out the latest transfer order to Zhao Yun. Chen Zhen read it carefully, but he had no idea what the front line wanted to do.

Should he continue to attack the Xiongnu in Xihe and attack them together with Liu Ye who was advancing northward; or should he rely on the Xiongnu's food, stay in Taiyuan, and wipe out all the Hu people around Taiyuan.

I’m afraid that I’ll become more and more skilled in fighting and won’t want to leave Taiyuan.

Chen Zhen observed Guo Tai, who was smiling, and asked, "General Pingnan's troops have been living in the Shangdang Mountains for a long time. Will they help in the battle?"

In response, Guo Tai, who was in a good mood and did not hide his smile, said: "This is not something that the Chief Secretary can ask, but the troops of the General of the Central Army who pacified the rebellion have maintained a long-term harmony with the general, and there is also an agreement on subordinate recruitment. Even if the general wants to borrow troops from the General of the Central Army who pacified the rebellion, he must first inform the general's headquarters."

We are allies, and the previous weakening of Hedong and Hongnong was already the greatest sincerity.

Taiyuan and Shangdang are the bottom line and cannot be easily touched.

If we take these two places, even if Yuan Shang is relieved, the people of Hebei will not be able to sleep well.

The necessary procedures must be followed clearly. Even if Zhang Yan wants to send troops to help in the battle, he must follow the military order of General Yuan Shang's headquarters.

Guo Tai did not conceal his change in expression, and Chen Zhen just smiled awkwardly and skipped the topic.

The two then started chatting about other topics, and Guo Tai became alert and just responded perfunctorily.

Anyway, he just lacks grassroots management personnel. Chen Zhen's ability to transfer 600 people over has already drained Chen Zhen's potential.

In other words, if friendship is not taken into account, Chen Zhen is now a useless person in Guo Tai's eyes.

Chen Zhen, the chief secretary, was in charge of the overall logistics, but after the logistics were subdivided, Chen Zhen could only manage the civilian households that migrated from Jingzhou.

However, Chen Yang was in charge of these households' tasks such as cutting down trees, building workshops, and repairing weapons and armor.

The Danshui canal transportation is managed by Xuan Liang. Now Xuan Liang has started to move towards Tongguan with his capable personnel. They will work with Chen Yang to select a suitable location in the Weishui River basin to build ships.

At present, the most lucrative task of population resettlement has completely fallen into the hands of Guo Tai and the Qingzhou soldiers.

This is no longer a question of whether there is money or not. Just reach in and grab as much as you can.

The rescued population is currently very vulnerable. They will depend on whoever they come into contact with first, and it is impossible to get rid of them.

This kind of good thing has nothing to do with Chen Zhen, the chief historian.

Even though he only brought 600 people, these 600 people can be integrated into the large group of Qingzhou soldiers in a blink of an eye.

The Yellow Turban Army had a tradition of taking the elderly, women and children with them during marches and transfers. Now that the Qingzhou soldiers were settling and accepting these people, Chen Zhen could hardly find a reason to intervene.

As for the scholars in Guanzhong who are currently following Zhong Yao and Wei Duan to excavate and copy Cai Yong's collection of books, even if you are itching to do it, it is difficult to split your attention since you have Cai Gong's posthumous letters to copy.

Even if you send a clone over there, will the Qingzhou soldiers let you intervene?
The soldiers from Guanzhong were reorganized and stationed in Weibei. How could these people possibly have the idea of ​​invading?
Looking back, almost most people have been separated from their families and relatives.

When the battle results from the front were reported back, the soldiers in Guanzhong would only think about withstanding the possible offensive launched by the Hu people, and then attack northward to see if they could rescue their families.

Although there is a high probability that family members will die in the unrest, what if?
(End of this chapter)