YJ County was approximately 130 li away from JY County, and the group's travel speed was not particularly fast.
Mainly, when they departed from YJ County, the load on each horse had not been lightened; on the contrary, due to the massive shopping spree at the supply and marketing cooperative, it had increased considerably.
Although they had an extra horse-drawn carriage, the horses that Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li had previously ridden were now all used to pull the cart.
The setup consisted of one horse in the pole and two horses in a long-set harness.
The large carriages of this era had very large and heavy tires and hubs, because these things were essentially the same as the two wheels found on the back of a hand-tractor.
For normal household use, typically two mules would pull a cart—one in the pole and another in a swingletree harness.
In the worst-case scenario, there would be one mule in the pole and a donkey in the swingletree.
One must never underestimate the animal in the swingletree; although a donkey is small and not particularly strong, it only needs to exert a little effort to allow the pole mule to catch its breath.
Because even a pole mule as powerful as one "carrying lightning" has moments of exhaustion—that instant when the current surge of strength is spent, but new strength has not yet been generated.
In the terms of martial arts novels, it is the split second where "the old move is exhausted, and the new move has not yet emerged."
One must realize that this is the most dangerous moment for a person; no matter how high one's martial arts are, there is a possibility of being injured or killed at this exact moment.
The same applies to the pole mule, especially when pulling a heavy load uphill.
When a single mule pulls a cart uphill, an experienced driver will get off the cart and walk while pulling the shaft post, giving a helpful tug at the moment the pole mule's strength wavers.
The shaft post is the small wooden peg, about 10 centimeters long, standing at the very front of the carriage shaft.
The purpose of this thing is to attach the "big belly" and "dangling" straps.
For a heavily loaded cart, how much strength can a human possibly provide? Yet, it is precisely this small amount of strength that allows the pole mule to recover its breath, preventing serious accidents like the cart slipping backward down the slope.
Driving a cart may look simple and is indeed easy to pick up, but wanting to drive a carriage well and with precision is actually not an easy feat.
One or two horses pulling a cart is fine; regardless of whether it's strenuous, most people can manage it.
But the kind of large long-set harness that Wang An was driving was truly beyond the capability of ordinary people. Many old farmers had driven carriages their entire lives, yet even on the day they died, they still couldn't drive a long-set!
This was a fact!
Because mules and horses have their own way of thinking; a driver must be able to control the strength of three or even four horses simultaneously.
For example, when going downhill, the pole mule already finds it difficult to resist the downward momentum of the cart, yet the horses in front are still pulling the cart forward with all their might!
Can the strength of one horse withstand the strength of two?
Or, for instance, when going uphill, the pole horse is exhausted to the point of death, but the two horses in front aren't exerting themselves, or they are just going through the motions without putting in effort. How infuriating is that?
Mainly, just as humans know what exhaustion is, horses know it too.
The reason why old horses are mostly used for the pole, while young horses are used for the swingletree or long-set, is partly because old horses have more experience in the pole, and partly because of this reason.
After all, in the saying "old humans are cunning, old horses are slippery," the "slippery" part is not a compliment.
To avoid delaying their journey, the group handled lunch while on horseback or in the carriage, but even so, by the time evening arrived, they had only traveled about 40 li.
For dinner, they ate leftover meat buns and biscuits. As for Mu Xueli and Wang Li, they ate biscuits soaked in boiling water—essentially a flour paste, which in Northeastern dialect is called *jiangzi*.
There was no other way; although these two were young and their bodies recovered quickly, eating was still very difficult for them for the time being.
After eating, unable to sleep, the group took out the tree branches they had picked up during the day and began making slingshots.
Almost everyone of this era knew how to make a slingshot, but when it came to using valve stem rubber, other than Wang An who was quite proficient, the others couldn't quite figure it out.
Wu Dong held the valve stem rubber and said
"Xiao An, why didn't you just buy tourniquet bands? We all use those to tie slingshots."
He Liang also said in confusion
"Yeah, I also think those things are better. You need several pieces of valve stem rubber, but one of those bands is enough."
At this moment, Wang Li suddenly asked with somewhat slurred speech
"Brother Wu, what is a tourniquet band?"
Perhaps because Mu Hua had been unwell and received IV drips before, Mu Xueli also spoke with slurred speech
"It's that rubber tube they tie around your arm before the drip."
Wang Li was stunned for a moment, then murmured
"No one in my family has ever had a drip."
Wang An thought about it; it seemed his own family had never had an IV either.
In truth, in this era, receiving an IV was indeed a quite rare occurrence. Forget IVs, even simple injections were uncommon. To put it bluntly, people didn't even take much medicine; even when they did, it was primarily herbal medicine, with only a few common Western medicines available.
Therefore, it was perfectly normal that Wang Li didn't know what a tourniquet band was.
After Mu Xueli finished speaking, Wang An said with a smile
"Did you hear that? Even Old Fifth doesn't know what a tourniquet band is. Do you think I have a place to get that stuff?"
As soon as Wang An finished, Sun Nian stared with her cute, wide eyes and asked with a blank expression
"Aren't there plenty of tourniquet bands in the hospital?"
After Sun Nian spoke, although Mu Xueli and Wang Li's eyes were swollen and their slits were small, the looks they gave Sun Nian were still full of speechlessness.
Wang An looked at Sun Nian as if she were an idiot and said
"The ones in the hospital belong to the hospital. So what? Just because you're pretty, you think the hospital will just give them to you if you ask?"
To be honest, Wang An regretted saying this immediately. If it had been before, it wouldn't have mattered, as it was just a casual joke.
But ever since the back of his head had very carefully felt Sun Nian's two "greats," Wang An discovered that this woman was very strange.
Especially yesterday, after he had shot those people into cripples and Sun Nian had arrived with Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya.
In Sun Nian's eyes, there was actually a kind of... admiration? Affection? Or perhaps devotion? Or offering herself?
Of course, "offering herself" was a bit exaggerated, but regardless, Wang An had a very strong feeling
"Sun Nian wants to have me!!!"
Truthfully, although Sun Nian's backside was very round and white, and her two "greats" were indeed substantial—and most importantly, both her looks and figure were perfect—Wang An felt that Sun Nian was not his type!
(End of Chapter)