"Old Hu, how many good horses do you have in total?"
"There are more than 9,000 good horses, 600 foals, and more than 6,000 bad horses."
Zhang Shixun looked at the groups of horses and smiled from ear to ear.
The Black and White Impermanence erected several poles in the racecourse and hung lighting fixtures on them, illuminating the entire racecourse brightly.
Yue Fan came over and asked quietly, "Master, are we loading the car now?"
"Load it now, and once it's full, immediately transport it back to the village. Then, don't stop and return for a second trip."
"good!"
The stable suddenly became bustling with activity. Yue Fan led his men to move the sacks of bean feed onto mule carts, and cartloads of bean feed were shipped out of the stable.
Here, Zhang Shixun said to Lao Hu: "Call all your people here, I have something to say."
Soon, everyone arrived.
Old Hu tactfully brought over a chair, and Zhang Shixun jumped on it, addressing the horse guards: "Everyone, the Jin soldiers are coming soon. Those corrupt officials in the court who can escape have already fled, and those who can't escape have no time to manage the Tiansi Guard... Everyone, do you understand what this means?"
He pointed at the war horses and shouted angrily, "This means that the Jin soldiers are coming, and all the war horses and feed here will become theirs. I ask everyone, are you willing to give the war horses you have worked so hard to raise to the Jin soldiers?"
The people below said in unison: "No!"
Zhang Shixun raised his voice and said, "As passionate men of the Song Dynasty, we must not let a single horse fall into the hands of the Jin soldiers. We must not let a single bean or straw fall into their hands."
The crowd below was excited and said:
"Yes! We must not let the Jin soldiers take these war horses away."
"I'd rather burn the fodder than leave it to them."
"Master Zhang, tell me, what do you want us to do?"
Zhang Shixun was very pleased and said, "Leave the beans and fodder to the people I brought. You are familiar with the nature of horses. Just drive the horses to the Yellow River ferry. There are people there to meet them. They are all loyal and brave righteous men. With their war horses, they will be more powerful and can kill more Jin soldiers."
Old Hu patted his chest and said, "Master Zhang, we will do whatever you tell us to do."
Zhang Shixun jumped down from his chair, patted Lao Hu on the shoulder and said, "Let's get started."
Lao Hu agreed and told his men to start working.
He was the supervisor of the Moutuogang Horse Prison. To put it bluntly, he was the head of the horse breeder. Not only did he earn little money, but he was also not well-liked.
Most of his men were forced laborers who usually worked for free. But at this point, no one would stay here and wait to die. When the news came that the Jin soldiers were about to attack, these forced laborers scattered.
The remaining dozens of people were all on the government payroll and did not dare to run away easily, but they were also in a panic and ready to run away at any time.
As for war horses and bean fodder, the imperial court is not in a hurry, and these small fry are too lazy to care about them.
It was at this time that Zhang Shixun found Lao Hu.
By promising him great profits, appealing to his emotions, and explaining things to him, it didn't take long to get Old Hu to agree.
Cartloads of bean fodder were transported to Zhangxiaozhuang and Gaolaozhuang, and groups of war horses were transported to the banks of the Yellow River.
There, Li Moulue led people to support them.
Today, Li Moulue is doing very well in Taihang Mountains, and his team is growing stronger and stronger.
This guy may not be good at other things, but he is very good at plotting and scheming.
Since entering Taihang Mountain, he has killed Zuo Shanhu by sowing discord and dividing the bandits, and annexed his subordinates. Then, he continued to annex the bandits on the next mountain, and continued to do so after success, never tiring of it.
Today, his army has expanded to 30,000 people, known as a hundred thousand strong soldiers.
Of course, his development to this day is also inseparable from Zhang Shixun's secret support. He gave him money and food when he asked for it.
When the Jin soldiers arrived, officials north of the Yellow River fled, and those who could not escape closed the city gates and hid inside the city and did not come out.
As for what happens outside the city, let them do whatever they want.
This gave Li Moulue an opportunity.
Three days ago, Zhang Shixun ordered him to take more than 10,000 people down the mountain to seize territory and establish a base in Gongcheng County at the foot of Taihang Mountain.
We cannot always stay in Taihang Mountains and be the king of the mountain. There are high mountains and steep cliffs, poor resources, and limited space for development. If we want to expand, we must come down the mountain.
"Li Moulue, how many war horses are there in the canal?" Zhang Shixun contacted Li Moulue through "Shunfenger".
The signal was very good, and Li Moulue's voice came from the headset: "Reporting to Tianshi, more than 2,000 horses have been transported across the river."
"It will be dawn in just over an hour. You must hurry and try to get all the horses across the river before daybreak."
"Master, I only have a dozen or so ferries. It's almost impossible to transport all the horses across the river before dawn."
Zhang Shixun asked, "How much do you estimate you can transport?"
"Ten thousand at most."
"Okay, I'll try to pick up a strong warhorse for you. As for the rest, leave it to me."
Daybreak soon arrived. Looking at the thousands of horses in the fence, Zhang Shixun said to Gao Yanei, "Let our people pick out 500 to take back."
Gao Yanei asked, "What about you?"
Zhang Shixun sighed, "Wait until I burn the fodder, take the remaining war horses to the capital, and hand them over to the court."
There is no way around it. There are too many horses. We can't leave all these war horses to the Jin soldiers.
At 9 o'clock in the morning, a huge fire broke out on Moutuo Hill. The thick smoke rose high into the sky and could be seen from dozens of miles away.
Li Gang was inspecting the war preparedness along the city wall when he saw the thick smoke from afar. He was shocked. Could it be that the Jin soldiers had arrived?
He hurriedly asked his attendants, "Where is the smoke rising from?"
The attendant put his hands on the awning and looked over there, "My lord, it seems to be the direction of Moutuogang."
"Ah!" Li Gang slapped his head suddenly. He was so busy that he was confused. He was bickering with those mediocre officials in the court all day long. How could he forget about the Tiansijian?
There are 20,000 war horses raised there, as well as countless beans and fodder. If the Jin soldiers were to get them, it would be tantamount to aiding the enemy.
It is freezing cold and fodder is difficult to obtain. We must not let the Jin soldiers get this batch of fodder.
However, the smoke was quite thick, as if someone had already burned the hay.
Li Gang was about to send someone out of the city to investigate when he heard one of his men shout, "Sir, look! There seem to be a lot of war horses coming over there."
Li Gang looked intently, and sure enough, dust was rising in the distance, and countless war horses were galloping towards this side.
When they got closer, everyone could see clearly that these war horses were being driven here.
A black horse emerged from the crowd and came straight to the foot of the city. The man on the horse shouted towards the top of the city wall: "Is there anyone in charge? Come out."
"Oh! Isn't that Zhang Tianshi?" Someone with sharp eyes recognized Zhang Shixun on the horse.
When Li Gang heard that it was him, he hurriedly walked closer to the parapet, leaned out and looked down, and it was indeed Zhang Shixun.
"Ask him where these war horses come from."
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