Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 109 Soapberry (The wind is so pleasant today, so I'm adding an extra 4k chapter)

As the sun was setting, the twenty-two grain carts of the Xiao family caravan in Shiling were traveling along a tributary of the Fen River when Xiao Huai, the manager, suddenly raised his hand to stop the procession—three headless corpses lay across the official road ahead, dressed in the clothing of the sent-down scouts.

"Turn around! Turn around quickly!"

Before the words were finished, a sharp whistling arrow rang out.

Twenty Hu cavalrymen emerged from the dust on one side of the road. The leader, wielding a long spear, thrust forward and pierced Xiao Huai's throat.

Blood splattered on the caravan's banners.

The sudden turn of events terrified all the servants and guards of the Xiao family caravan, who fled in panic.

Revolt?

Stop dreaming. If the manager hadn't died, they might have pretended to resist out of fear of punishment. But now that the manager is dead, what's the point of resisting?
These provisions aren't ours, so we won't feel bad about losing them.

The leading Hu cavalryman pretended to give chase for a while, but turned back after only two or three hundred meters.

More Hu cavalrymen scattered out from the forest.

A slightly thin-looking Hu man approached the grain cart, took out a dagger, and stabbed it into the grain bag, causing the grains of millet to fall out.

"It's new grain, it should be the batch that person said was sent to the Wang family to exchange for old grain for military supplies."

The leader of the Hu cavalry came over, heard what the man said, and nodded: "That man didn't lie to us. This time, we've really hit the Wang family where it hurts."

Twenty-two carts of new grain. With the typical load capacity of such grain transport carts, each cart carries approximately 25 shi (a unit of dry measure), so twenty-two carts here carry approximately 30,000 jin (a unit of weight) of new grain.

That's a big one.

The leading Hu man looked at the thin Hu man and asked, "What should we do? We still have to travel day and night, we definitely can't take him with us."

"Burn the carts, and use horses to carry all the grain. We've found a secluded spot to store it, and we can just clean up the traces when we leave. Even if it's lost, it doesn't matter. That's not our goal!"

The slender Hu man spoke quickly.

The leading Hu man nodded: "Do as you command!"

"promise!"

Soon, the more than 400 people and nearly 700 horses were divided into several groups and proceeded separately.

One group continued towards Jinyang, another headed towards Shiling, and a group of imperial horses carried grain sacks deeper into the mountains and forests.

Today's achievements were considerable.

They robbed at least ten caravans in Xinxian County, and before leaving, they set fire to the estate of a powerful family.

After arriving in Shiling, they did not linger and continued their business in Xinxian.

In short, they looted and burned along the way.

The sky is full of stars at night.

At midnight, in the countryside outside Yangqu County, Xi Zhicai's fingertips traced a bamboo slip he had just seized: "County Commandant, look, it's another schedule for transporting grain to the Wang family."

Huang Zhong took it, glanced at it a few times, and then returned it.

"No wonder our lord wants the Wang clan to fall into chaos. The entire Taiyuan region is basically supplying the Wang clan with resources. If our lord hadn't reacted quickly and wiped out the people in Yantie Town a while ago, Luqi County might have suffered the same fate."

"If we don't take advantage of Wang's weakness now and strike him hard, we'll have a hard time dealing with him later."

“Zhang Gong acted decisively. The sooner such things are eliminated, the better, especially in the early stages of taking control.”

Xi Zhong nodded in agreement.

The two exchanged a glance and smiled.

Huang Zhong: "Your plan today is excellent. It not only gives the Wang family a headache but also increases the lord's prestige and power. Huang Zhong, Huang Hansheng of Nanyang."

He introduced himself with a cupped-hand salute.

Xi Zhong smiled and said, "I have witnessed the bravery of the county magistrate. With such a capable man as the county magistrate under Lord Zhang's command, there is no doubt that great things will not be accomplished!"

"Hahaha, Zhicai, you're mistaken."

"Did I make a mistake?" Xi Zhong asked, puzzled.

But he noticed that the cavalrymen nearby were all smiling.

"Please enlighten me, County Magistrate."

He asked for advice.

Huang Zhong stroked his beard and asked the crowd.

Who is the strongest person in Peach Blossom Spring?

The cavalrymen burst into laughter and replied, "Our lord!"

The campfire flickered, illuminating the astonishment on Xi Zhong's face.

Huang Zhong also burst into laughter.

"Zhicai, Zhicai, once you meet our lord, you will know what a true chosen one of heaven looks like!"

"But now, we need to hurry up and rest. The grain transport schedule says that we should go to Mumapo at the beginning of Yin hour. We still have an hour and a half to sleep."

"Tiger Cub!"

"Eh!"

"You'll lead the guards tonight!"

"promise!"

The moon shines on the Milky Way, there are no clouds tonight, and tomorrow looks like it will be a sunny day.

The four hundred riders took the opportunity to fall into a deep sleep.

An hour later, everyone was woken up.

"Hurry up and eat and drink. When we return to Luchi, I will treat you all to a hearty drink of Cold Pool Fragrance!"

"promise!"

Xi Zhong, still half asleep, took the pancake handed to him and started eating. He took a bite and was surprised to find that the pancake was still warm and had meat filling inside!

"Meat patties?"

His eyes widened.

Huang Zhong patted him on the shoulder: "Don't make a fuss. Even ordinary soldiers don't have bad food when they have a mission. Not to mention," he tore off a piece of bread, chewed a few times and swallowed: "Not to mention our lord loves his soldiers like his own children. It's a pity you didn't get a meal at the drill ground yesterday. For the soldiers of Lüsi, eating meat is the norm!"

Each person ate two flatbreads with meat, salt, and oil, and ate them quickly. Although they were only about 70% full, it was enough for them.

"Mount up! We're robbing people at Muma Slope!"

"promise!"

Four hundred riders mounted their horses one after another, and the sound of their hooves thundered out.
-
Chenshi.

Fifty riders rode back to Lüchi.

A lone rider broke through the ranks and charged forward, shouting, "Open the city gates! The county magistrate has returned in triumph!"

The city guards recognized Zhang Xian's iconic Overlord Halberd and his mount, so they quickly ordered the guards to move the barricades aside and then opened the main gate of the city.

Fifty riders, moving swiftly like clouds and flowing water, entered the city gates at the exact moment the horses opened, their hooves kicking up snow as they sped into the city.

A dozen or so soldiers guarding the city clasped their hands in a respectful gesture of respect and said, "Welcome back in triumph, County Lord!"

"Guard the city gates!"

A black horse brushed past, its tail sweeping across the soldiers' noses, and the guards heard the reassuring command.

They all turned towards the city gate and shouted in unison to the departing figures of the fifty riders, "Yes, sir!"

Inside the city's public stables, the group dismounted their warhorses, all looking exhausted.

The trek of hundreds of miles was completed in just one night and a half days, all at the cost of physical strength.

Zhang Xian took off his helmet and threw it to Zhao Yun: "Brother Yun, help feed the warhorse some fine rations and remember to add two eggs to it. I'm going to the county office."

"I know, Brother Xian, you go ahead and do your work." Zhao Yun caught the helmet that flew through the air with one hand and then smoothly hung it on the saddle of his Brother Xian's warhorse.

The bear-like cloak swayed with his steps, and Zhang Xian walked with the stride of a dragon and the gait of a tiger. Wherever he passed, those who saw his appearance would bow in unison.

"The county public security bureau is good."

"Good!" Everyone was convinced by his actions of responding without stopping.

"It is truly our good fortune to have such a county magistrate."

County government.

"The County Lord!"

"Greetings, County Magistrate!"

"The county public security bureau is good."

"Alright, everyone do your job."

"promise!"

He walked straight into the main hall without stopping, and there he saw Han Ji bent over his desk, writing without stopping.

"I am back!"

He strode over, laughing.

Han Ji stood up, feeling much more at ease. He made way for Han Ji and cupped his hands in greeting: "My lord has finally returned. Shi Lin has been sent to Jinyang by my lord, and Han Sheng has also left Lüqi. I have to deal with official documents and worry about the steel furnace and the water forging workshop. I am really willing but unable to do so."

He quickly seized the opportunity to complain, because if he didn't shut his lord up now, his lord would stop treating him like a human being.

"My lord has worked so hard."

Zhang Xian scratched his head, unable to utter the new policies he had been planning to implement all along the way.

He took off his cloak and sat back in the magistrate's seat: "Give me the gongzhi. Hurry up with the water-forging hammer project and try to forge enough farming tools for all the people in the county before spring."

Han Ji kept the wooden slips he had half-processed and stuffed the rest in front of Zhang Xian's table.

"I'll go right away."

After saying that, he quickly wrote down the last few strokes that needed to be marked on the wooden tablet, and then walked out quickly.

Zhang Xian mechanically picked up the pen to examine the wooden tablet, but the more he looked at it, the more he felt something was wrong.

After a long pause, he slammed his hand on the table and yelled, "You bastard Han Gongzhi! You haven't told me what happened to Lü Qi these past few days, and you've just run away?!"

He laughed in exasperation. Han Ji wasn't complaining at all; he was clearly just catching him off guard again.

He applied all the military strategies he learned to his own lord!
"My lord, shall we go and summon the county magistrate back?"

Zhao Shi poked his head out from the main hall entrance and asked.

Zhang Xian waved his hand: "Forget it, let him rest. He's been the busiest person in Lüchi these past few days."

"By the way, Stone, ask someone to boil a bucket of hot water for me. I'm practically soaked in the marinade."

"Oh."

Zhao Shi nodded and ran to the side.

Zhang Xian continued to review official documents, the smell of sweat and blood constantly irritating his nose.

He rushed back and forth between Yanmen and Luchi, and even killed a group of Xianbei people on the way to pay his respects to Ding Jianyang. The smell on his body was incredibly unpleasant.

The speed of reviewing official documents has also increased significantly.

Take a quick look at the important things and set them aside; deal with the unimportant ones first.

After a series of "read" characters flashed by, Zhang Xiancai picked up the more important official documents.

"I need to find someone to carve a 'reading' stamp tomorrow; it's too much trouble to write them one by one."

He picked up a relatively important document and browsed through it.

"This person who accepted bribes deserves thirty strokes of the cane and to be paraded through the streets. We've warned him repeatedly, but he still can't change his bad habits. If he commits another offense, he'll be beheaded!"

"This whipping of vagrants, caning, etc., if vagrants steal, that's fine, just give them a verbal commendation. Also, establish a vagrant agency to gather the vagrants together first, as the large-scale infrastructure project next year will be in need of manpower."

As he immersed himself in a sea of ​​official documents, he gradually forgot the smell on his body.

He only looked up when Zhao Shi called him.

"My lord, the hot water is ready, and the bath has been heated."

"Alright, I'll go right away."

Zhang Xian quickly marked the official document he was still reviewing, then got up and went to the bathroom.

It must be said that the powerful are indeed the powerful; even the county government's bathrooms have ceramic drainage pipes and charcoal-fired floor heating.

With the fire burning outside, it was as warm as the heated kang beds in Northeast China in later generations.

In the past, when they lived in Taoyuan, although they had hot water to take a bath in winter, the rooms were cold, unlike now.

No wonder even the names are different. Commoners call their bathhouses "湢室" or "沐屋", while the wealthy and powerful call them "浴间" like the one in the county government office. The next level up is the "汤殿" in the imperial palace.

As the name suggests, it was a palace specifically for taking hot baths.

Standing in the warm bath, Zhang Xian took off his robe and used a ladle to scoop up hot water and showered himself from head to toe several times.

On the wooden cabinet next to him were several wooden boxes. He picked up a box labeled "Sapindus mukorossi" and grabbed a handful. The Sapindus mukorossi seeds, each about the size of a peanut, were rubbed together in his palm.

As you knead and knead, a rich foam gradually forms on your hands.

This is a natural shampoo, similar to soapberry, but it doesn't lather as much as soapberry. However, it's more effective at removing oil and can also neutralize alkalinity. It's one of his frequently used cleaning products.

However, this plant is particular about its environment, so the soapberries he brought to Lüchi were mostly grown in his own garden. He also set aside a square meter of planting area in Lüchi to grow a single soapberry tree.

Dense foam rubbed against shoulder-length hair, while dark, dirty water dripped from the tips.

After rinsing with water, Zhang Xian felt instantly refreshed.

"I still need to get some toiletries when I have time. Although soapberries are useful, it's troublesome to crush them every time I use them, and there are also leftover kernel fragments."

He scratched his head, trying to get the soapberry fragments stuck in his hair.

And then there's the toothpaste. I've been using it for a year now, and I really can't squeeze out a single drop. Even using the extreme squeezing technique taught by the dean, I still can't get a single bit out.

Dental care is of utmost importance. Even a great figure like Cao Cao suffered from dental problems. The migraines caused by toothaches even led to the death of a skilled ancient surgeon.

This is something we must pay attention to.

Fortunately, he used his skills to reverse the toothpaste manufacturing process. Although he couldn't produce those industrial materials, he could simplify it to make toothpaste with the same teeth-care effect, the only difference being the consistency.

After rinsing his hair, Zhang Xian comfortably sat down in the bathtub.

Surrounded by hot water, the fatigue of the past few days instantly washed over me.

Without realizing it, he leaned against the barrel and fell asleep.

"My lord."

"My lord."

"Lord!"

A startled cry woke Zhang Xian from his deep sleep. He snapped out of it and called out, "It's nothing, I just took a nap."

A sigh of relief came from outside the door.

"Would you like some hot water, my lord?"

Zhang Xian raised his hand to wipe his face, water droplets falling into the bathtub dripping: "No need, I'll be out now."

With a splash, he stood up from the bathtub, grabbed a towel draped over his shoulder, and wiped himself down.

After changing into new clothes, he walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed, with a wad of burlap wrapped around his head. There was no way to dry his hair in a short time.

As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, a cloak was draped over his shoulders: "My lord, the winter is bitterly cold, you must take extra care."

Zhang Xian turned his head and saw that it was a stone. He smiled with relief and patted the stone on the shoulder.

"Good job, Stone, you can do this now."

The twenty or thirty young men who came with him from the small mountain village have all grown up in their own way.

Zhao Shi was promoted to the position of police chief, equivalent to a criminal police captain, a proper official with a rank of 100 shi.

The others were all serving in the military, and even the lowest-ranking among them was a squad leader, commanding more than fifty soldiers.

Moreover, these young men from small mountain villages are also important figures that Zhang Xian will cultivate in the future. He will strictly supervise their literary and martial arts training so that they can be used as the backbone for future army expansion.

With them around, Zhang Xian was confident that even if he expanded the army to 10,000, he wouldn't be afraid of the army's strength declining too much!
(End of this chapter)