From Laba to Shangyuan in the coming year, it should have been a time when the Han people in all parts of the world are most leisurely and free and reunited with their relatives. But this year, with the invasion of the Northern Ghost Rong and the court responded accordingly, this habit has been completely changed.

Since the twelfth lunar month, yamen at all levels have first taken a series of measures, either to draw troops, open granaries to count supplies, or to recruit under the ruler, and they are busy with their hands. And as the New Year approaches, with the imperial court's clear orders issued, the formal action began.

The troops stationed in various places who had been waiting for the war were set out to the north under military orders. Not only the troops from the northern regions such as Jingji and Jizhou, but also the officials from Lianghuai, Huguang and other places were urgently mobilized to move north and west. Of course, they were not sent to the front line to fight Guirong, and these ordinary officers and soldiers who guarded the places had no such ability. The court dispatched them to the north just to fill the vacancy left by the border troops in various parts of the northern border.

After all, compared with the Central Plains and other places, the defense tasks of the cities in the northern border are much heavier. Even if the garrison forces of the cities in the Central Plains are a little empty, they must first ensure that the cities in the northern border will not make any mistakes. In addition, they have another function to make a defense after the front line. Even if the court and the middle and the middle have absolute confidence in this battle, they still have to be careful, and at least they have to make a buffer for the defense line of the northern border to completely collapse.

So in just a short period of time, no less than 100,000 troops were urgently mobilized. Going north from one place was not an easy task, not to mention that supplies from the rear and along the way needed to keep up in time. These logistical support naturally fell on the shoulders of the officials of the Ministry of Revenue and Transport Department led by Li Ling.

In fact, after the emperor issued the order, he did not propose to let Li Ling go out in person and arrange the transportation of food, grass and supplies outside the capital. After all, for many years, the court's logistics have always been made in the rear through various documents and detailed maps, and there was no big problem.

But after taking on this job, Li Ling had already made up his mind to leave Luoyang, a stable place, and go north like the army and the civilians. Because he had always believed that what he learned was always shallow and that one would know that he had to practice it.

No matter how detailed the documents handed over to the court by government officials at all levels, and no matter how detailed the mountains and rivers drawn on the map are, they cannot compare to the on-site journey, and have truly had contact with the civilians and the army. Only in this way can he know what the army wants and what difficulties the grain transport team will encounter along the way.

Today, Li Ling, who has only been away from Beijing for four days, faces the first trouble-

A team consisting of a small number of mules, horses, wheelbarrows, and most of the loads are moving on the northward official road. It is 200 miles away from Luoyang, the capital. Although it is still in the capital, it has no longer the prosperity of the capital. Even the official road is rugged and narrow, and there are several sections of road that need to be crossed over high mountains.

When you walk along the road to the hillside and look to both sides, you are all bare and low-lying, but the road is only enough for two horses to walk in a staggered manner. Therefore, when people carry the burden and cross the mountains, they have to be extra careful, otherwise they will end up falling into the mountains and dying.

Of course, these are not the real problems. The biggest problem now is that a heavy snow hit the grain transport team head-on. As a result, the already difficult mountain road becomes more and more dangerous. Even many places cannot distinguish between roads and gaps because they are covered with heavy snow. The people in front can only slow down and explore the way with wooden sticks and other things, confirm safety, and then move forward a while. In this way, this efficiency is too low.

Originally, Li Ling was just planning to accompany the team for a while and headed to a city. After all, there were dozens of grain transport teams like this, which were combined with several prefectures and counties in this area, so he could not just focus on the whole way. Now, he had to delay and also slow down. After following for two days, the team speed still failed to improve, which made the officials accompanying him feel a little anxious.

At this time, Li Ling stood a little higher, looked down at the grain transport team that was slowly squirming forward, sighed softly, and said, "Sure enough, I'm right to come out this time. If I were in the capital and sitting in the public room of the yamen, how could I know how difficult it is to transport grain? I'm afraid I'd think this team is about to enter the boundary of Jizhou."

Li Moyun nodded deeply and agreed: "Yes, young master, but we just know whether it's possible. Whether it's the court or the front line, they don't know how difficult it is on the road. I'm afraid that the documents to urge grain will soon be sent. And judging from the current weather, I'm afraid that not only this way, but other teams transporting grain to the north will be delayed. Can they still ensure the supply of military rations on the front line?"

Li Ling frowned, and was indeed a little anxious, but he quickly suppressed it again. With such objective conditions, it would be useless to be anxious: "Look at it again. Maybe after this period, it will be much easier to walk on the plain road afterwards."

As he was talking, a sudden noise came from the front, with a few screams mixed in. The originally orderly team began to fluctuate. This made Li Ling raise his eyebrows suddenly. If there was any trouble in this situation, time would be even more delayed.

Without him speaking, an official from the Ministry of Revenue who followed quickly rushed over to investigate. Then, when he went down, the two clerks took five staggering civilians and walked over. However, the matter was not handled by Li Ling. There was also a small official from the Transport Department here: "What's going on? Why was it noisy in front of you just now?"

"If you want to know, these guys are lazy and refuse to drive the mules and horses forward..." The clerk immediately complained.

"Master, we are wronged. It's because our black mule is tired and needs rest. We think of taking a break first..." A man was so brave. When he heard this, he immediately called out and glared at the clerk. Although the other people didn't have the courage, they still showed grievance and anger in their expressions.

Li Ling sighed softly in his heart. He could understand the annoyance and grievances in the hearts of these people. He had worked hard for a year and was the time to enjoy the leisure and family happiness. Then, because of an order from the government, they had to leave their hometown and relatives, travel through the wind and snow, and travel through mountains and rivers to the distant north. Not to mention the hard work on the road, they would still be frightened and scared when they arrived in the north. No one could bear it.

However, it was obvious that those officials did not have such empathy. When they heard that this person dared to refute, they were immediately angry. One of them shook his hand and whipped it out, hitting his back, causing his already thick clothes to crack a big hole, revealing the bloody flesh inside.

This made the man stagger, fell to the ground, let out a scream, causing the men who were also brought to tremble, and the grievances in their eyes turned into panic.

"You dare to take the blame. I want me to see that you are a spy from the Luotian Sect who wants to disrupt our army!" The clerk still felt that he was not relieved enough after he was scolded, and he wanted to put a charge on the other party.

As soon as this said, the civilians were panicked and shouted: "Sir, please spare me. Sun Laoshi just had a little temper.... It is impossible to have anything to do with the Luotian Sect's traitor..." Now the Luotian Sect is famous in government officials at all levels. As long as they are involved, they will die, and even affect relatives and friends. These people are fellow villagers with Sun Laoshi, so they naturally have to say something for him.

However, the clerk was just trying to kill the chicken to warn the monkey. At this time, he was also ruthless. He immediately whipped over and whipped them on the people: "I think you are all, sir, so why not just rectify them on the spot to avoid future troubles."

The officials naturally understood that the other party did this not only to vent their anger, but also to alert other civilians. If you delay and refuse to work hard, these people will be your role models. In fact, several officials were also anxious. There was a time limit for going north all the way north. Once you arrive beyond the deadline, no one can afford to suffer.

Moreover, there were several high-ranking officials from the capital in the team. They felt even more pressured, so they pondered for a moment and nodded: "These five people are indeed suspicious. To prevent changes, they will rectify the Dharma on the spot!"

Several civilians were scared to death when they heard this judgment. At the same time, they knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly to beg for mercy: "Dear masters, young people are good people who are honest and good people. We... we will never dare to have any connection with the Luotian Sect... We will not let the mules rest, we will hurry up now..."

But they had already made up their minds, and the few common people did not take the life or death seriously. They only used one move to let the accompanying soldiers come forward to execute.

In front of the sergeant with swords and armor pierced, these people didn't even dare to resist at all, so they could only keep kowtowing and begging for mercy. This scene fell into the eyes of other civilians, and they were all frightened, and then bowed their heads and moved forward. It was obvious that this move was quite successful in killing the chicken to warn the monkey, which had already made the team much faster than before.

Li Ling was originally just watching the wall. After all, this was the job of a few of them, so he was not easy to interfere. Even if the person was dragged out, he had no intention of showing up. He just thought it was just a fright. Until he saw that the soldiers were about to cut off, he realized that the other party was coming.

Now he couldn't hold back, and immediately strode forward and shouted loudly: "Slow down!"

"Mr. Li, what do you mean?" The small official from the Ministry of Revenue saw him coming forward and asked with a smile while signaling his subordinates to take their time. He knew Li Ling's identity, so he was naturally quite respectful.
Chapter completed!