Looking at Sanya Town in front of him, Ge Ding let out a sigh of relief: "Now we have seen the market! This area has been peaceful for several years, why are there still no people on this road? Sixty miles away from Lushanguan, there is no one on the road.

A place to rest."

Qu Fengxing, the governor on one side, said: "The envoy has said many times that Sanya Road must be renovated. However, Luoyang is in the hands of the Puppet Qi and is not open to business travel. There have been many things that need to be done in the past few years, so it has been delayed. In the past, Xijing was prosperous.

When , this road was rarely used by people, isn’t it like this?”

As he spoke, he observed the terrain on both sides and slowly moved forward.

Different from other armies, Wang Xiao's hunting army had specialized engineers who were responsible for building roads in the mountains and building bridges when encountering water. The road from Dengzhou to Ruzhou was peaceful, so the engineering troops acted as vanguards and repaired roads along the way.

Lushanguan, sixty miles away, connects Luoyang and Nanyang. It is the most important passage between Wanluo and Luoyang. It has been prosperous and important since ancient times. In the Song Dynasty, since the capital was in Kaifeng Prefecture, the road heading north from Dengzhou moved eastward, taking Fangcheng and Ye County.

This road was abandoned. In the peaceful years, there were few business travelers. Most of the pedestrians were scattered merchants, as well as smugglers and bandits. The government set up patrols in Sanya Town in front to hunt down smugglers.

This road goes north along the valleys of Baihe River and Langhe River, also known as Sanya Road. It is very important to Wang Xiaolie, whose power is mainly in Nanyang Basin, and he has always wanted to renovate it. But there have been too many things in the past two years, and he has been unable to do so.

Manpower and material resources were needed. Moreover, Luoyang was in the hands of the Puppet Qi and was blocked by commercial travel. It has been abandoned to this day. This time when the army went north, it happened to be repaired by engineers.

As the engineer commander, he walked through the cliffs along the way. Most of the time he didn't see the sun, and Ge Ding was miserable. Finally walking out of the mountain road and seeing villages and towns, Ge Ding was very happy.

When they arrived outside Sanya Town, Ge Ding ordered the army to find a flat place to camp two miles away from the town. He said to Bian Hui, the secretary in charge of the army's food: "It has been really hard these days. Let's go to the town and buy two

The sheep come to eat.”

Bian Hui agreed to come to the town with Ge Ding and several soldiers.

Sanya Town is an inspection town and is located on an important road. It is walled. However, the Jin army invaded south, and the officials had already fled. After Wang Xiaolie occupied it, they did not set up any more, and it looked very dilapidated. Outside the gate, I saw a few

A person is looking behind the gate.

A man saw Ge Ding and others walking straight into the town. He said loudly: "Are you soldiers from Dengzhou? I heard that Wang Jieshuai is going to make the Northern Expedition. I'm counting the days to get here."

Ge Ding said: "That's right. Sanya Road is really not easy to walk on. We are tired, so we came to the town to buy two sheep to eat."

The man inside laughed and said: "Guardian, this place is remote and there are few households. There were no meat sellers in the peaceful years, let alone now. Sheep-raising families can only be found in the mountains to the north.

There’s none in town.”

Ge Ding said: "Don't you usually eat meat? What are they selling in the town? At least bring it to eat."

The man said: "This place is close to the Ya River and there are many ponds. If you want to eat fish and turtles, there will be some, but chicken and duck meat will not be available."

While talking, several men came out and looked at Ge Ding and others curiously.

Ge Ding said to Bian Hui: "It's good to have fish and turtles. If you cook it with more oil, the taste will be passable."

Bian Hui nodded: "That's what the commander said. We have enough oil in the army, we have made these things before, and our cooking skills are trustworthy."

After saying that, Bian Hui slapped his head: "I forgot! This is Sanya Town. It is a small place with few households. Where can there be meat sellers? A transshipment envoy passed through here before and found that the officials had already escaped. The town

The yamen is empty. There is a poem written by the supervisor on the wall. It says that after two years of languishing in Sanya, how can one support a family without rice and money? The only two meals a day are lotus roots, and look at the lotus flowers coming out of the mouth. This story is widely circulated.

Many people know."

"I see--" Ge Ding nodded and said nothing more. He could only secretly say that it was bad luck.

Several men led Ge Ding and Bian Hui into the town and to the place where vegetables were sold. Along the way, they kept looking at the clothes of Ge Ding and others, but they didn't ask too many questions, and they just whispered from time to time.

The man was right. There really were no meat sellers here. It was winter again, and there were few vegetable sellers. There were only two companies selling radishes and spinach, and a man was pushing a cart full of lotus roots. There was a fisherman next to him, in front of him.

There were four or five large herrings in the basket.

Seeing this scene, Bian Hui couldn't help but smile bitterly: "There are so many of us, how can we have enough to eat?"

Ge Ding said: "No matter, let's buy them all back to improve the military food and let everyone have a taste."

Bian Hui stepped forward, asked the price, and asked several vegetable sellers to pick them all back to the camp.

Several people happily packed up the dishes and followed Ge Ding and others, carrying them all the way back.

When we walked to the road, the man selling fish said: "I dare to ask the officials, do you really want to go to the Northern Expedition? Do you want to fight back to the Central Plains?"

Ge Ding said: "How can this be false? The army has already gone north and will arrive at Sanya Town in a few days. We are the pioneers. We open roads in the mountains, build bridges when encountering water, and walk in front of the army. But we didn't expect that this place is so remote. I want to buy it.

We have some meat to eat, but there is no one to sell it.”

The man nodded. After thinking for a while, he said: "Officials, if you are going to the Northern Expedition, how can I charge you for this fish? Since the Jingkang national crisis, gold thieves have come south in large numbers. How much suffering have the people suffered? In recent years, everyone has gone south.

Hope, we are all waiting for the imperial army to come back. If you really come back, can’t I afford you a few fish? If you really go on the northern expedition, I will give you the fish today for free. If it is not enough, I will go to the river to catch more.

That’s it.”

Ge Ding smiled and said: "We are not in that difficult situation. We have enough money. It will be great if we have fish to eat. We will pay you the money."

The man shook his head repeatedly: "It's really the Northern Expedition. Who wants your money? We mountain people also know the justice of the world."

The other people heard this and said together: "That's right. If you really go on the Northern Expedition, how will we collect the money? I'll give you the food today. If it's not enough, we'll go back and collect some more. If you beat away the gold thief,

The people are grateful."

Ge Ding said: "We appreciate your kindness. Our army has rules and must give money to eat the people's food. And for this Northern Expedition, the money given by the commander is enough, so you can rest assured."

They talked all the way, and soon they arrived at the place where Ge Ding was stationed. Ge Ding led the vanguard, with about a dozen troops occupying a large stretch of land by the Crow River. It was already the afternoon, and tents were being packed everywhere, and it was very busy.

.Just very disciplined and everything is in order.

These people had never seen such an army before. After putting down their things, they whispered there.

Bian Hui took the money and said to several people: "Copper coins are inconvenient to carry, and we don't have much. If you want Xiangyang Huizi, the best, we have enough. If you don't want Huizi, I will give you gold and silver."

The man selling fish said: "Officials, if you are really going on the Northern Expedition, we will never accept the money. Seeing that there are a lot of people here, I'm afraid these few fish are not enough for you. If you can wait, I will catch a few more.

.——These vegetable sellers also said that their vegetables are too few, and they are afraid that they are not enough to feed so many of you. Wait a minute, and they will go to the fields to pick more."

Bian Hui said: "The Commander-in-Chief strictly ordered that the troops should be given money for meals on the way, and they are not allowed to take anything from the people for free. Don't worry, we have enough money, just accept it. The amount is indeed less, if you bring more, it will be calculated as money."
Chapter completed!