Chapter 319 Zhongnan Shortcut
Mount Zhongnan, a valley.

There was a gatehouse and sentry post outside the valley, where a team of soldiers was originally stationed.

Although officials, soldiers and civilians were prohibited from moving across counties without reason in the past six months, students and foreign merchants were relatively freer.

In just three or four months, the merchants and scholars who were blocked by the guards at the gate when visiting Mount Zhongnan built houses and developed a considerable settlement.

People from the surrounding mountains often come here to sell mountain products, making it more prosperous and lively than the nearby Duling County.

Yu Fan has been here for several days and has gradually begun to like this place.

In the early morning, he woke up in the rustling rain outside the cabin.

Yawning, I opened the window and saw that the mountains near and far were covered with a layer of gray rain, with fog and mist growing and spreading.

He rubbed his temples and thought back to last night's bonfire party.

The trend of mourning caused by the emperor's murder gradually subsided. People always have to live for themselves.

Yu Fan rubbed his waist and hips, grinning, looking out the window at the muddy rain that seemed to be who knows how deep and far away, with a relaxed and happy mood. He vaguely heard the neighing of horses outside.

He couldn't help but frowned, took down the deerskin coat hanging on the wall and put it on his shoulders, then put on the bamboo hat. Yu Fan hung the sword on his left waist, put on the wooden clogs and went out.

In the small courtyard, several of his servants and students were chopping and stacking wood under the woodshed. A student hurried over to see him: "Sir?"

"Where is the horse neighing?"

"I don't know."

The student answered, and then said, "Xie Jing went to buy meat. You can ask him when he comes back later."

Xie Jing was from Shanyin County. He came from a wealthy family and could be considered a close fellow villager of Yu Fan. He was also young, so his parents sent Xie Jing to Yu Fan to study and gain experience.

Yu Fan, wearing a bamboo hat, walked on the bluestone slabs towards the settlement at the foot of the slope, and met Xie Jing on the way.

Seventeen-year-old Xie Jing wore a goat hair double-breasted coat and a pair of soaked deerskin boots.

Seeing Yu Fan from a distance, he hurried forward to greet him, holding a piece of meat in his hand, and bowed: "Sir."

"I just heard a horse neighing. Where did it come from?"

Xie Jing was also puzzled. After a brief recollection, he said, "I haven't seen it, but there have been frequent rains in the mountains in recent days. It shouldn't be foreign scholars or traveling horse teams. It should be government horses. Only they would not avoid the wind and rain."

"Well, go ahead and get busy."

Yu Fan also thought it made sense and prepared to go to the village to ask a few people of his age.

Everyone has left their hometown to come to Guanzhong to make a living. How many of them have simple minds?

As soon as he arrived at the settlement, he saw two knights coming out from the other end of the gatehouse. They were both wearing rainproof sheepskin cloaks and riding slowly on their horses.

There was no sound of horse hooves, only the sound of bells on the horses' necks.

The guards at the gate quickly moved away the antlers to make way, and the two knights left one after the other.

Yu Fan stopped and watched the two knights go away. Although he was covered with a large rainproof cloak, the expressions of the two knights gave Yu Fan a feeling of excitement, as if he was happy to hear about the battle and was eager to try.

Under a large wooden shed in the center of the settlement, two military medical apprentices were observing and pressing Liu Zan's left leg.

The leading military doctor was sitting nearby, reading Liu Zan's identity bamboo slips. These were prepared by Liu Zan himself, and there were actually only five slips with less than 200 words written on them.

The military doctor could not help but marvel after examining him. If it weren't for the accidental disability, Liu Zan would be like Sun Jian.

Imagine if Sun Jian was appointed as a county Sima when he was young, but ended up having his tendons cut by an enemy general while he was suppressing a rebellion, then there would have been no Sun Wentai, the fierce tiger of Jiangdong.

As for military merits... disabled people, those who have lost the possibility of advancement, do not need military merits!

It cannot be said that military merit is embezzled. It can only be said that the officers in the army will reasonably adjust the military merit to maximize the benefits of military merit.

The military doctor rolled up the information bamboo slip and put it aside. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Yu Fan coming under the shed: "Mr. Yu, why did you come down the mountain today?"

"I heard the sound of horses and felt uneasy, so I came out to investigate."

Yu Fan just glanced at Liu Zan. Although they were both from Kuaiji, Kuaiji County was too big.

To Yu Fan, Liu Zan was a man of the mountains and fields.

The military doctor extended his arms and invited Yu Fan to sit nearby, and Zhang Jun tactfully brought over a rough wooden stool.

As Yu Fan sat down, he heard the military doctor say to the two apprentices, "This is Mr. Yu from Kuaiji, a contemporary master of the Book of Changes and a master of medicine. Mr. Yu is here, please tell us about the injury of this warrior."

"Yes."

The two apprentices responded, and the first one said, "This warrior's foot was injured by a knife, and the fascia was congested, making it difficult for the sole of the foot to stretch and exert force, so he was lame. I think that if we open the wound, cut the congested tendons, and then let him rest for three months, after the tendons are stretched and the wounds are healed, even if he can't recover and shuttle through the mountains and forests, he can walk freely on the ground."

Another apprentice also spoke up: "I think so too. We need to operate the knife to cut the tendons."

The military doctor then asked Liu Zan, "What do you think, brave man?"

"Of course I am happy to do it. If I can have Dr. Li perform the operation, I will die without regrets."

Liu Zan said this and tilted his head to look at his attendant, who came forward with the package, handed it to him with both hands, and knelt on one knee.

Liu Zan said, "Although I am not wealthy, I believe that your kindness in curing my foot disease is like giving me a new life. I will reward you handsomely."

"This……"

The military doctor raised his hand to help the attendant up, motioned him to step back, and then said to Liu Zan: "The abbot follows the way of medicine, and does not care about your money. If you insist, you need to wait for more than ten days. When the abbot is free, he will operate on you and treat your injury."

Seeing Liu Zan's excited expression, the military doctor laughed and said, "You don't know. We followed the Great Canal Commander in the battle between Qin and Jin. In terms of treating Jin wounds, the hospital chief is not as good as us, and we are not as good as him."

As the military doctor spoke, he patted an apprentice beside him, and the apprentice also smiled.

Although they really don't know much about collecting, preparing and dispensing medicinal materials, their battlefield emergency surgery capabilities are the best in the world.

To sum up, it is to stop bleeding quickly and eliminate evil toxins. Amputation or any other means are all for these two purposes.

Of course, the most important thing is the magic berry juice and blood peaches given before the battle.

During this time, they began to study how to save as much as possible and not use magic berries and blood peaches.

And Liu Zan is the experimental supplies delivered to your door... Who would refuse it?

Liu Zan didn't believe what they said, and smiled awkwardly: "If Divine Doctor Li can do the surgery, I'd better wait a few more days."

At this time, a young man dressed as an apprentice stepped into the wooden shed through the mud and bowed to the chief military doctor: "Zhao Jijiu, the head of the hospital has issued an order to summon the Jijiu of each team to discuss the matter."

Then the young man looked at Yu Fan and bowed: "Is it Mr. Yu from Kuaiji?"

"It's a certain family."

"Prime Minister, please."

As the young man spoke, he took out a wooden invitation slip from his sleeve and handed it to Yu Fan. Yu Fan also took it with both hands, glanced at the invitation time on it, and immediately said happily, "I will be there shortly."

He met Li Feng twice, and Li Feng asked him for advice on the Book of Changes. Yu Fan was fascinated by the theory of Taoism revealed by Li Feng. Yu Fan immediately took the invitation and returned to the small courtyard on the mountain, led a horse down the hillside, and then turned back and rode to the depths of the valley to pay a visit to Li Feng.

The guard at the gate in front of the valley let Li Feng pass after checking his invitation.

It is about seven or eight miles from the gate pavilion to the gathering area in the valley, and the wheels of the vehicles coming in and out have left two obvious tracks.

The tracks were about a foot wide, the grass had died, and the sand was exposed.

The ruts were now slippery and difficult to navigate, so Yu Fan's slow horse rode on the grass without splashing mud or water, and the horse's hooves did not slip.

When the horse's horsepower was almost exhausted, Yu Fan arrived at the gathering area.

A young Taoist priest with a sword saw Yu Fan and immediately went to greet him: "Mr. Yu, please follow me."

"it is good."

Yu Fan put the whip back into the harness, took out a bundle of thin hemp ropes from the harness, tied the hemp ropes to the reins, and then let the slow horse go to find food on its own.

This muddy mountain rain may dissipate at any time, and there is no danger for the horses to get caught in such rain.

Let the reins be longer to make it easier to collect the horse.

The young Taoist priest led Yu Fan up to the wooden building, where the second floor was filled with the smell of lime water.

When Yu Fan came in, he saw Li Feng sorting scattered bamboo slips. Li Feng picked out the slips that recorded personal information one by one and put the ones he valued into a wooden tray.

Yu Fan did not interrupt him at this time. Soon Li Feng completed the allocation of personnel to go out and stay behind, and said to a Taoist priest: "Transcribe the list on the plate and inform the person concerned. Pack your bags before dark today and set out early tomorrow morning."

"Yes."

The Taoist priest bowed and stepped forward to carry the wooden tray.

At this time, Li Feng stood up, shook his folded sleeves, and extended his arms to invite Yu Fan: "Sir, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time. Please come into the quiet room and talk."

"Headmaster, please."

"Sir please."

The two of them exchanged a few polite words and arrived at the door of the quiet room almost at the same time, but Li Feng entered first.

In the quiet room, Li Feng took out a thumb-sized incense ball from the wooden box. It was made of mint, wormwood and other herbs that the black bear often summoned, which were dried, ground and compressed into a pill.

Li Feng carefully lit the incense, covered the incense burner, and then sat down.

Smoke filled the quiet room. After a few breaths, Yu Fan relaxed and his body and mind gradually became happy.

There were no hallucinations, nor did he see any strange sights. He just felt happy physically and mentally, with a clear mind and smooth thinking.

All in all, the two of them only briefly entered the state when Black Bear first used white mana to cleanse himself.

After taking a few deep breaths, Yu Fan asked, "Did the Grand Marshal fight with the Hu tribes in Hetao?"

"Yes, I know I can't hide it from you, sir."

In this state, everyone is quick-thinking and disdains lying or beating around the bush. Li Feng smiled and replied, "The Hu people in Hetao know that Zhongyuan has changed, and they think that the Grand Marshal's rear is uneasy, so they ask for a lot. The Grand Marshal wants to solve the problem once and for all, so he recruited us to go north first. After the autumn harvest is over, he will recruit officials and soldiers."

Yu Fan was also surprised when he heard this: "The Grand Marshal didn't even recruit the officers and soldiers from Guanzhong?"

He was well aware of how terrifying the military mobilization in Guanzhong was. There were 42,000 reorganized veteran troops from various parts of Guanzhong, plus the men and women rescued later, the dead soldiers in Taiyuan and Hedong, and the headquarters that went north to Guanzhong.

Without counting the counties that are only in name only, there are now 328 hundred-household offices in Guanzhong, each with 300 to 400 households, totaling nearly 120,000 households.

Among them, many single young and strong people do not have independent household registration, and at least 150,000 young and strong people can be mobilized under the 100-household system.

This was just Yu Fan's preliminary estimate. Judging from the current mental state of the officers and soldiers in Guanzhong who were excited about the war, the mobilization efficiency and scale of Guanzhong would only be higher than what he calculated!

This does not include the troops retained by each general, as well as the semi-subordinate Xiongnu and Qiang people.

With so many reserve troops, even when the war broke out in Hetao, they were able to hold back and not mobilize for war.

This made Yu Fan feel strange, and besides this strange feeling was a sense of fear.

Is it true that Heida Sima has no shortage of soldiers?
How could there be no shortage of soldiers when fighting on the front line?
After all, this Black Sima is still suppressing until now.

A force that suppressed the Guanzhong scholars, the Guanzhong generals, and their followers.

Including scholars who studied in Guanzhong, including too many people, almost everyone!

What's even more terrifying is that even with such internal suppression, Heida Sima is still confident that he can defeat the Hetao tribes.

Yu Fan had never been to Hetao, but his family was well-educated and he knew a little about the terrain of Hetao.

The Hetao tribes were just the beginning. After taking over the Hetao, the balance would be broken. In the future, they would inevitably fight the Xianbei people here until a new balance and equilibrium was formed.

This means that if the Xianbei cannot be defeated quickly, Guanzhong’s energy will be limited to Hetao for a period of time in the future, and it will be difficult to pay attention to Guandong and the Central Plains.

Even if they hurt the Xianbei and temporarily returned, their attention would be distracted by Guandong and Hetao for a long time in the future, and they would lose the precious opportunity to rule the Central Plains.

What is the use of Hetao?

What’s the point of conquering the Xianbei?

The fastest way to restore peace is to quickly capture the Central Plains and sweep across the world.

When the world is at peace, with the combined strength of China, what will the Xianbei people be worth?
Yu Fan was anxious and wished he could remove Hei Da Sima and let him take charge.

To Yu Fan's surprise, he thought Black Bear had only mobilized the military doctor.

Li Feng smiled and said, "In addition to the troops that the Grand Marshal has mobilized in advance, there are also 6,000 death-defying soldiers from Hedong and Taiyuan counties, and the miners from Hancheng will be recruited first as usual, which makes a total of 10,000 elite infantry. With these 10,000 infantry, the Hu people in Hetao are nothing to worry about."

Li Feng had also heard that the Hetao tribes were strong in bows and crossbows and infantry, and their cavalry were similar to those of the Xianbei, with no obvious advantages or disadvantages.

As for the infantry, because it was a mixture of Qiang tribes, Han border residents, and defeated troops, the infantry tactics of Hetao combined the strengths of Han and Qiang and were able to confront the Xianbei cavalry head-on.

It is precisely because of the strong infantry that Li Feng suspected that the news continued to spread outward during this period, causing the Hetao tribes, where Han and Hu people lived together, to develop the desire to replace them.

The Xianbei people were not good at attacking cities, but the Hetao tribes did not have this shortcoming.

The language is similar.

Perhaps in the eyes of these people, Black Bear can conquer Guanzhong with 6,000 people, and then use Guanzhong to conquer the Huns; then they can do it too!

Now is not the time to discuss this. After Li Feng described the first batch of mobilized troops, he asked: "Mr. Yu is an excellent doctor and is also good at the Book of Changes. He should be predestined to be with my Taiping Dao."

"Now the Grand Marshal has gathered warriors from all directions to wipe out the Hu menace. He is short of both warriors and good officials. I wonder if Mr. Yu will yield?"

Li Feng stood up and bowed, looking up at Yu Fan and said, "Please come with me, sir. I would like to recommend you to the Grand Marshal."

Yu Fan did not show any emotion when he heard this. He immediately stood up and supported Li Feng, saying with a smile: "The dean already knew why I came to Mount Zhongnan. Why do you need to test me like this? If the dean recommends me, I will never forget this favor."

(End of this chapter)