Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 434 A Can of Meat in Exchange for a Girl
"Xia Prefecture, You Prefecture, Yan Prefecture."

Lin Dao looked at the vast expanse of white salt lake before him and was slightly taken aback.

"So much salt!"

Yanzhou is named after salt, and its salt ponds store a large amount of salt.

If it were supplied for consumption, it would be enough to feed the entire world for many, many years.

Of course, in the industrial age, salt was mainly used as a chemical raw material.

"The land can be divided, but the salt lakes here cannot be divided."

"People can extract salt for their own use after filtering, or come to the salt lake to work, but minerals are not separated."

Minerals are meant to be exchanged for industrial goods, so they cannot be divided.

Salt is also an industrial raw material. Although it is extremely cheap, even a small amount is still something.

To the north of Yanchi lies the vast Mu Us Desert.

Lin Dao had no interest in leading hundreds of thousands of people across the desert.

At this moment, the surging army, like a tidal wave, marched westward from Yanzhou and reached Lingzhouchuan.

After that, they traveled north along this tributary of the Yellow River, heading towards the true heartland of the Dingnan Army.

Lingzhou, Dingzhou, Jingzhou, Shunzhou, and Xingzhou!

"This place has been occupied by the Tanguts for a long time."

On the march, Lin Dao repeatedly reminded his generals, "They are not obedient to the king's rule and are cruel and bloodthirsty."

"You must all remember this: do not leave any future trouble!"

This is not an implication, it is an explicit statement.

The generals understood immediately, and arrangements were made for the upcoming marches and battles.

The Tanguts have occupied this land for many years, and Han Chinese can hardly be found there anymore.

Even if they still exist, they have already become like the Tanguts, with their hair disheveled and robes fastened on the left.

In this way, there are no worries.

Those who were willing to surrender were sent in droves to mines in various places to start work and watch high monks perform group dances.

Those who refused to surrender were dealt with easily; both the Hengshan Tanguts and the soldiers in the army would be taken care of properly.

Lin Dao did not take a single penny of the spoils of war; he distributed them all to the soldiers of each unit.

After all, when soldiers march thousands of miles to fight and kill, they need to be given enough benefits.

Even the monthly salary and holiday rewards were always distributed by Lin Dao with money and goods, never in arrears.

This is the source of maintaining the army's combat effectiveness.

Along the way, there were anywhere from one or two thousand to three or five thousand bachelors who stayed behind to migrate.

They will form the local population base together with the local Tangut girls, and more and more people will migrate here to enrich the local population.

The veterans who voluntarily retired, along with their families, constituted the various levels of government offices.

Although the march through the forest was slow, they cleared and swept the area clean, leaving manpower to quickly fill any gaps.

This is true soil stabilization.

Faced with Lin Dao's despairing offensive, Li Yiyin, the Prince of Xiping of the Later Zhou Dynasty, chose to concentrate all his forces in Lingzhou.

This is the core area of ​​the Dingnan Army.

As for Xingqing Prefecture, which later became Yinchuan, it was just Huaiyuan County at that time.

It will not be officially designated as the capital until Li Yuanhao becomes emperor.

Li Yiyin concluded that Lin Dao's forces numbered over two hundred thousand.

It's not just a claim, it's a real number of over 200,000 people.

With so many people, the cost of feeding and caring for them every day is astronomical.

If they can hold out in Lingzhou for a few months, the long supply lines and huge consumption will wear down the army in Lindao.

At that point, they will either be forced to retreat or run out of food and perish.

Throughout history, there are countless examples of armies being wiped out due to running out of food.

Back then, hundreds of thousands of Beggars were slaughtered because they had no food!
Li Yiyin even dispatched all his cavalry to attack Lin Dao's non-existent grain route.

From the perspective of this era, Li Yiyin's arrangements can be described as the best they could be.

The only problem is, Lin Dao is a cheat code!
What kind of bullshit grain transport route is that? Forest roads have never been used in warfare.

The supplies that the army needs for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation every day are all transported from various times and spaces by Lin Dao.

He can afford to supply even if it takes several months, let alone several years.

As for the troops Li Yiyin sent to cut off the supply lines...
On the banks of the Lingzhou River, a large convoy of transport vehicles is slowly moving along the river.

"The wait is finally here!"

Li Guangyan was in charge of directing the Tangut cavalry to intercept and destroy the supply lines.

He is a cousin of Li Yiyin and is currently the Defense Commissioner of Yinzhou.

His son was Li Jiqian, the founder of Western Xia, and his grandson was Li Yuanhao, the true founding emperor of Western Xia!
At this time, Li Guangyan led more than 10,000 cavalrymen from the Pingxia Tuoba tribe to guard the only route for the grain supply.

After waiting for many days, the grain transport team finally arrived.

"The tire tracks are very deep."

"The defensive forces are also strong enough."

"There were at least a thousand large trucks!"

"That's it, it must be a grain transport team!"

After making his judgment, Li Guangyan immediately ordered the troops to be assembled.

The wolf dung they carried with them was piled up and set on fire.

As the smoke signals rose, cavalrymen stationed in various locations set off and rushed towards this direction.

Such a commotion naturally alerted the grain transport team.

They quickly surrounded the numerous large carts, forming a defensive formation with their backs to the river.

At the same time, an emergency distress signal was also issued.

Of course, it wasn't as primitive as burning wolf dung; they used fireworks that Lin Dao specially ordered from a fireworks factory.

Fireworks trailing white smoke shot into the sky.

It only bloomed after flying to a height of over two hundred meters.

The blooming pattern lingered in the air for a long time before gradually dissipating.

Moreover, the fireworks in the sky were very conspicuous, clearly visible even during the day. Li Guangyan was visibly impatient, pacing back and forth and shouting.

Although the scouts had been sent out for thirty miles, there was no unusual report.

But he was still worried that Han reinforcements would arrive quickly.

Having finally mustered his troops, Li Guangyan couldn't wait to launch an offensive.

Charging directly into the chariot formation on horseback is impossible.

No one capable of commanding a large cavalry force would do that.

A large number of Tuoba cavalrymen rode around and fired arrows in a hail of arrows.

This is no ordinary arrow; it is a fire arrow.

Li Guangyan's mission was to cut off the grain supply lines, or more precisely, to destroy the grain and prevent it from reaching the front lines.

Therefore, he doesn't need to launch a strong attack; he just needs to burn all the food supplies.

The soldiers transporting supplies retaliated with crossbows, and men fell on both sides in quick succession.

About half an hour later, Li Guangyan became increasingly anxious as he watched only a few flames appear within the chariot formation.

But at that moment, a scout rushed over to report.

"Han reinforcements have arrived!"

Li Guangyan was shocked. "So fast?"

He even suspected that he had fallen into a trap.

The scout hurriedly explained, "It's a fleet!"

"So many boats."

A large fleet of ships approached the chariot formation along the Lingzhou River.

Li Guangyan felt great regret upon witnessing this scene.

With reinforcements arriving and the grain wagons failing to ignite, it seemed the raid was destined to fail.

But what happened next left him speechless.

Li Guangyan was about to retreat when he saw the Han army in the chariot formation abandoning their precious supplies without hesitation and boarding boats on the river in groups.

The fleet then sailed downstream and soon disappeared from sight.

This move left Li Guangyan speechless.

Are we just going to throw away the supplies that filled thousands of trucks?
You Han Chinese are so rich!
A troop of Tuoba cavalry cautiously entered the empty wagon formation and began searching.

Before long, cheers and shouts of joy could be heard from afar.

After confirming there was no danger, Li Guangyan hurriedly spurred his horse over.

The fireproof tarpaulins covering many of the trucks have been removed, revealing the various supplies inside.

"This is polished rice!"

"This wheat flour is so white!"

"This is bean cake? The Han people are so rich, there's no fodder, it's all bean cake!"

"What is this? It looks like food, but the particles are too big."

The larger particles are actually animal feed.

This stuff wasn't for the soldiers, of course; it was for the cannon fodder of the Yokoyama Tanguts.

"This metal box... I feel like I've seen it before."

"This is a meat box." A Tuoba cavalryman said angrily, "I've heard from people who fled from Xia Prefecture and Yan Prefecture that those Han people use these meat boxes to exchange for a woman!"

The male Tanguts in Xiazhou and other places were basically wiped out.

They were either killed or captured, bound with ropes, and sent to mines in various places to start work.

The remaining women, without male protection, had their fields and houses distributed to the migrating bachelors.

They had no time for hatred; their top priority was survival.

The saying that a can of meat can be exchanged for a person is not an exaggeration; in fact, many local women actively seek protection.

"Is this a glass bottle? There's water and something inside; it looks like a peach~"

They didn't dare break the precious glass bottle, but they quickly found a way to open it.

I unscrewed the lid, mustered up my courage, took a bite, and immediately gasped in surprise.

"It's honey water! It really is peach, it's honey-water peach~"

The convoy had a lot of supplies.

Besides rice, flour, cooking oil, feed, and canned goods, which make up the majority of the market.

There were also a large number of tents, bedding, rain gear, kitchen utensils, various kinds of clothing, copper coins, cloth, tools, ironware, and many other things that the Tangut people could not understand at all.

After taking stock, these Tangut people summarized their findings.

"Han people are really rich!"

This much supplies are enough to buy an entire city.

But the Han people abandoned it without hesitation, which is truly unbelievable.

"Pack your things!"

Feeling uneasy, Li Guangyan loudly ordered the cavalrymen, who were busy eating and drinking, to "take their things and leave quickly."

"Don't eat just anything. After you've settled in, find some cattle and sheep to feed them, and only eat them after you've confirmed they're safe from poison."

Without a doubt, Li Guangyan was already being cautious enough.

It's a pity he doesn't understand science.

Lin Dao did not poison the food, but instead secretly hid a tracking device.

The most important thing in dealing with these swift cavalry is to locate their positions.

The area is too vast, making it difficult for drones to locate.

He simply set this trap to let the Tanguts obtain the supplies.

"These poor bastards are so desperate for money that they would never throw away anything they get their hands on."

Lin Dao saw off the cavalrymen who were about to set off, saying, "The place where they are going will surely be their true home base."

"Find them, charge in!"

His tone was calm, yet it was filled with murderous intent.

"Leave no one alive, men and horses!"

(End of this chapter)