The old man dismounted twenty steps away and walked to Zhang Cheng and others. He turned over and bowed directly: "My dear fellow, I am always in good hands. An unknown general is here. I am late to welcome you. I hope you will forgive me."
Seeing this, Zhang Cheng hurriedly stood up and came forward to meet him, helped him up, and said: "Haha, the old village master, please get up quickly. I was also on a whim today and came unexpectedly. I hope the old village master won't be surprised."
The old man who called Chang Tianshun stood up and said hurriedly: "General, don't insult the old man. In front of the general, how can you call the village leader? If the general doesn't dislike it, just call the old man by his first name."
"Well, elders are respected. Isn't Zhang Cheng an ungrateful person? Since the old village leader said so, how about we call you Mr. Chang?"
Zhang Cheng also replied very politely.
"General, you are so polite. Since the general is interested, I happen to have some game here. I dare you to invite the general to the village to have a rest, taste the game in the mountains, and taste the wine brewed by the old man." Chang Tianshun invited him warmly.
Faced with the invitation from Old Man Chang, Zhang Cheng was not very surprised. After all, he had more than sixty knights coming out casually. If he wanted to take over the Chang Family Village, how could he come without infantry.
I think that since the old man Chang is the leader of the whole village, he should have this in his eyes. As the saying goes, in the face of strong enemies, the only thing he can do is to treat him with courtesy and thoughtfulness. Is it possible that he will forcefully provoke him and dig his own grave?
Later, Old Man Chang introduced Zhang Cheng to the four cavalrymen who had come with him. Three of them were the three who came out just now. He called the four of them to dismount and came over, and said to them: "Why don't you come over and pay homage to the general."
When those people heard this, they also walked forward quickly. Old man Chang introduced a few people. The man who came out after old man Chang, who was about thirty years old, was his eldest son Chang Zhengxiong.
The man who just came out to deliver the message was his third son, Chang Zhengbiao, who was in his twenties. The other two were his nephews, one named Chang Zhengfei and the other Chang Zhengcheng.
The four people came over and knelt on the ground. After meeting Zhang Cheng and others, they all walked up the mountain path. After walking less than a hundred steps, they suddenly became enlightened.
It turns out that this mountain road is a mountain pass. Turn right and it is dozens of steps wide. A hundred steps ahead is a mountain gate made of rocks, with a double wooden door in the middle.
As the gate opened, Zhang Cheng entered Changjiazhai and discovered that there was a long gorge inside the gate of the village. Both sides were very steep, and the middle was only about twenty steps wide.
If someone comes to attack this mountain stronghold, even if they break the first wooden gate in front, the back will be even more cruel. Although there is a second mountain gate less than a hundred steps away, compared with the previous one, this mountain gate is carefully built.
, looks very neat.
Zhang Cheng guessed that the wooden door here must be very strong. When he got closer, he saw that the wooden door was actually made of a whole thick piece of wood, which was consistent with Zhang Cheng's guess.
After entering the mountain gate, your eyes suddenly opened up. The first thing you saw was a square, facing the mountain gate, and for a distance inside the mountain gate, there were almost no buildings, only a few arrow towers on both sides.
These archery towers are actually built inside the gable walls. They are higher than the gable walls and are very strong. If there are people who are good at shooting and guarding these archery towers, they can not only shoot down the enemies who attack the gable walls, but also even if the enemies rush into the mountain gate,
He couldn't escape their shooting.
If it is well-defended, no wonder a small village has been able to stand on its own for a long time in these troubled times, and even several groups of fierce bandits around it dare not attack it.
Zhao Shihu next to him was also surprised and said: "My dear, even if there are thousands of troops and horses, I'm afraid I won't be able to capture it easily."
"Ha ha……"
Zhang Cheng smiled and said: "What's the use of thousands of soldiers and horses? They can't be deployed on this narrow mountain road. If there is enough food, this stronghold will be almost impossible to be attacked."
After saying that, he turned to Chang Tianshun and said: "To be able to build such a stronghold, Mr. Chang must be a man who knows the military well!"
Chang Tianshun smiled and said: "General, you are ridiculous. The old man is just a hunter. This village was built by the old man's generation."
Zhang Cheng was also relieved. Such a cottage could not be built overnight. It must have taken decades of hard work. But the person who originally chose this place and designed this cottage must have been anything but simple!
At that moment, he asked Chang Tianshun: "Old man, can you show me around?"
"What's wrong with this!"
After saying that, he turned around and ordered: "Zheng Xiong, Zheng Biao, you two go prepare the food and drinks quickly. I will take General Zhang and the others around."
Zhang Cheng also ordered the guards not to follow. Old Chang quickly called back his third son, Chang Zhengbiao, and asked him to accompany Liu Jinhai and other guards to rest in the mountain hall in front.
Chang Tianshun led Zhang Cheng and others while walking and introduced the situation of the village. In the middle of the village is the mountain hall, which is a large courtyard with four entrances. The front one is used for daily discussions.
The second entrance was originally used to entertain guests. Over the years, few guests have been able to enter Changjiazhai, so it is basically unused. The third and fourth entrances behind are for Chang Tianshun's own use.
Behind the mountain hall here is the ancestral hall, with warehouses on both sides, and on both sides of the mountain hall are the Chang family's residences. In this village, there are not only people with the Chang surname, but also people from the Zhou and Yu families.
According to Old Man Chang, the village here was built by a group of deserters, all of whom were descendants of the Qi Army.
It turned out that during the mutiny in Jizhou more than 40 years ago, a dozen of them, led by team officer Chang Kuan, fought out, but they did not dare to return to their place of origin for fear that the government would pursue them and endanger their clansmen again.
So they took Jia Xiao and fled along the Yanshan Mountains until they reached this place. They saw that there were less than ten households of mountain people living in the valley. They didn't want to escape anymore, so they settled here.
Among them, the Chang family consists of three brothers, and the second eldest among them is Chang Kuan. He is the leader of everyone. Later, several people left here to make other livelihoods. In the end, only these three surnames were left to settle here.
For three generations, the Chang family has been the leader of the village and the master of the family.
"Oh, the Qi family's army has fought in all directions for the country and made countless achievements. It is the most capable army of the country, but it ended like this. How can it not be heart-breaking!" After hearing what happened, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but sigh.
Not only Zhang Cheng, but also Chen Zhong, Zhao Shihu, Sun Dashan and others heard the details about the Jizhou mutiny for the first time. Their expressions were even more shocked, with disbelief on their faces.
Zhao Shihu said even more bitterly: "There are layers of deductions and the suffering of officers and soldiers is everywhere. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have taken the risk of selling that private salt, let alone become a deserter because of it."
Zhang Cheng turned around and looked at them and said loudly: "Don't worry, I will definitely make clear rewards and punishments, and I will try my best to raise money and food. As long as I have food to eat, I will never deprive you of your food, salary and reward."