Early the next morning, Wang Dalang, Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao rode out of Yuguan and expanded the scope of their exploration. Horses are the horses that pull carts in the convoy. Although they are not as good as war horses, they are at least better than those who move on two legs.
It's much faster and more convenient.
All day long, Li Chengzhong was on the school grounds training the troops of Jiadu. His words yesterday still had some effect. At least these recruits mustered up some courage, although their nervous expressions and stiff movements still revealed their strength.
Timid, but obviously no longer as panicked as yesterday. Moreover, the tension and stiffness during training are gradually being covered up by the repeated mechanized movements, and the marching and gun-holding movements are gradually becoming proficient. Even shouting "
When he said "Kill", the sound was also much louder and louder.
Jiang Miao has been arranged on the wall of the pass to watch the wilderness outside the pass. If he encounters an enemy situation, he will immediately issue a warning.
Feng Daoze continued to urge the peasants to make wooden guns. There are many elm trees near Yuguan, which are very convenient for making wooden guns. Last night, the peasants felled some green elms. This kind of tree is tough and elastic and is ideal for making wooden guns.
A good raw material for guns. Therefore, Feng Daoling made fifty elm guns, and no one was issued one, which was regarded as completing the task. Because time was tight, the wooden guns were made very poorly, and they just barely had guns.
Look, the shafts of many guns are not uniform, and the tips of the guns are also shaped to be thicker or thinner.
Li Chengzhong looked helpless at these wooden spears, so he simply asked someone to apply a layer of black clay evenly on the spear points. He went down to the outside of the pass and looked up. It seemed that they all had iron spear heads.
It's a little bit of peace of mind.
When these civilians heard that they were going to Guancheng to guard the city with guns, they all shook their heads. Some of the timid ones even wanted to leave immediately. Feng Dao and Li Chengzhong hurriedly comforted them for a while. Feng Dao even made a wish that as long as he went to Guancheng, one of them would give it to him.
Three rations. After receiving the guarantee that they would not actually fight in battle, and even Li Chengzhong's promise that "everyone is allowed to turn around and flee once the Khitans attack the city," they cautiously opened the barrier.
The front of Yuguan is not long, and you can walk from the east end to the west end in about 150 steps. The fortress is even narrower, with a radius of less than 50 steps. There are fifty civilians in total, and Li Chengzhong would definitely not dare to let them stand evenly.
He believed that if there was no one within a few steps of these people, they would probably run away as soon as they saw the Khitan people. It is an unbreakable truth that people can be bolder when they have more people. Therefore, Li Chengzhong divided the people into ten groups.
There are five people in each group, and one group is placed about every 20 steps away. Seven groups are set up on the city wall, and three groups are set up in the fortress. Now at least from below, Yuguan looks somewhat heavily guarded.
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In the past few days, Li Chengzhong and Feng Dao gradually became familiar with each other, and they felt more and more that this young scholar was very easy to get along with. He did not have the impression of being rigid and dogmatic about studying hard, and he was full of flexibility and responsibility when doing things.
, there are four words to describe the feeling of dealing with him, that is "like a spring breeze". Now that everything is properly arranged, he does not want anything to happen to this young man, so he kindly proposes that Feng Dao will go back to urge the second wave of supporting troops.
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Feng Dao smiled and directly thanked Li Chengzhong for his kindness: "Dao also wants to see more here. He has always learned about the Khitan people from books and files. With such an opportunity for face-to-face contact, Dao does not want to miss it. The situation here
Dao had already revised the book last night and ordered it to be sent back to the governor's office. Commander Zhang is very worried about this matter and will definitely find a way, so we don't need to worry."
Since Feng Dao escorted the convoy to arrive last night, the two of them have been busy making arrangements and have no chance to talk in detail. Li Chengzhong heard that Feng Dao knew the general situation of some Khitan people, so he hurriedly told the situation about Wang Dalang's visit yesterday, and then asked Feng
Does Tao know the strength and truth of the Khitan people?
Feng Dao thought for a while and said: "The Khitan people surrendered to the Tang Dynasty two hundred years ago, and the emperor set them up under the jurisdiction of Shunzhou Jisu. However, the tribe was wavering between the Turks and the Tang Dynasty. In the ninth year of Tianbao,
, An Lushan, who was the military envoy of Pinglu and Fan Yang at that time, once led a large army to attack the Khitan. He attacked thousands of miles north and reached the tent of the Khitan Khan on the banks of the Tuhezhen River. Unfortunately, the dissatisfied soldiers in the army rebelled against the enemy, which led to the northern expedition.
The army was defeated. After that, the Khitans broke away from the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty, but fell into the hands of the Uighurs. It was not until the Uighurs destroyed the country sixty years ago that the Khitans surrendered again, and the imperial court awarded the then Khitan Khan Qu
He was appointed as "General Yunhui" and was awarded the "Seal of Fengguo Khitan". However, although the Khitan was nominally annexed, it was always unfettered. Speaking of which, in the past sixty years, the Tang Dynasty has experienced many hardships, and the country has experienced many hardships.
Piao Yao, how can I have the energy to truly bring these barbarians back home..."
After sighing for a moment, Feng Dao continued to tell: "Dao has been traveling while studying in the past two years. He has been to Guizhou, Chanzhou, and Jizhou. Now he works for Zhang Shijun in Pingzhou. He has heard a lot about the Khitan people, and he has also
After consulting many past records and archives, it turns out that the current khan of the Khitans is Hende Jin and Yili Jin is the governor, but the one who really holds the power is Shi Lu of the Yelu family of the Diela tribe. I heard that he gave himself a title.
The title, Yu Yue, means "general leader in state affairs" in Khitan language. It is much more powerful than the combined power of all the gentlemen in our political hall..."
Li Chengzhong interrupted Feng Dao and asked, "Wait a minute, brother Ke Dao, what did you just say about the 'Yelü family'?" When he asked this question, his tone was obviously anxious and nervous.
Feng Dao didn't understand what Li Chengzhong was nervous about, so he explained: "The Khitan has eight tribes, the Yishi tribe, the Diela tribe, the Tulubu tribe, the Tuju tribe, the Chute tribe, the Wukai tribe, the Nirasi tribe and the Pin tribe.
.Although it is an alliance of eight tribes, the real power lies in the hands of the three families of the Yaonan clan, the Yelu clan, and the Shulu clan of the Diela tribe. These three families are also the most prosperous. The Yaonan clan is hereditary Khitan Khan, and Hende Jinji will
It was the generation of the Yaonian clan who served as khan; the Yelv clan always controlled the military power. The Khitan people called Yili Jin, which in Chinese means "marshal of the world's soldiers and horses". The Yili Jin of this generation is Yelu.
The Shulu family and the Yelu family have been intermarrying for generations, and they also enjoy high honor..."
Li Chengzhong asked again: "Who is the Yuyue Shilu you just mentioned? You said he is from the Yelu family?"
Feng Dao was a little surprised why Li Chengzhong would stare at and ask this Shi Lu, and said: "This generation of Yi Li Jin is the leader. Logically speaking, he should be the one who controls the Khitan military power, but I heard that this leader is just a dandy noble. Really?
The person who holds the military power behind the scenes is Shi Lu. Both of them are from the Yelu family. It is also said that even the appointment of Yi Li Jin as the governor was promoted by Shi Lu behind the scenes. Therefore, Shi Lu proclaimed himself "Yu Yue" and his position was "Yu Yue".
Under the Khan, above Yili Jin, he not only controls the military power, but also controls all the civil rights of the tribal alliance."
Li Chengzhong hesitated for a moment, then asked: "Does the Shilu you are talking about have another name? For example, 'Abaoji' or something like that?"
Feng Dao thought for a moment and shook his head: "I've never heard of it."
Li Chengzhong breathed a sigh of relief.
Listen to Feng Dao continue to say: "In the past few decades, the imperial court has lost its prosperity. Although our Lulong Army is nominally one of the military towns of the Tang Dynasty, it is actually outside the imperial court... The country is so weak, so naturally it has no strength.
In these years of conquering the barbarians, Yingzhou has been gradually depleted and has become a hunting pasture for the Khitans... Before the general's southern expedition, our military power was still there, and the Khitans did not dare to act rashly. Unfortunately, the southern expedition was defeated, and now the Khitans have
They started looting outside the customs, but they just pitied the people outside the customs."
Li Chengzhong was silent and suddenly said: "I heard that the main ones we are facing here are the Pinbu and Wukui tribes. How are the strengths of these two tribes?"
Feng Dao shook his head: "I'm not sure. Among the eight tribes of Khitan, these two belong to small tribes, and Dingkou should not be too numerous."
Since he was not facing the entire eight tribes of Khitan, and the enemy was not the Yelv clan, Li Cheng felt a lot more relaxed. He stood on the wall and looked into the distance, waiting for Wang Dalang, Meng Xuxing and Jiao Chengqiao to come out to explore the enemy's situation.
I just hope they don't encounter any accidents.
Wang Dalang and his three men came back and brought back some pretty good news. Within thirty miles outside Yuguan, except for this group of Khitan people, there is no other military stronghold. Moreover, the number of Khitan people in front of them is also small.
After a clear analysis, there were forty-six in total, twenty-three of them were regular soldiers, with one man and two horses, and the other twenty-three were auxiliary soldiers, among whom there seemed to be Han Chinese.
"Du Tou, do you want us to take the initiative to fight? They have few people and are very lax!" When he made this suggestion, Wang Dalang's eyes flashed with sparks of excitement.
This proposal seemed very tempting, but after Li Chengzhong thought about it, he simply gave up. If his subordinates were the brothers from the Jian soldiers battalion during the Southern Expedition, he would really like to go over and give it a try, but these soldiers in front of him... still don't count.
Okay. The order of the military envoy Zhou Zhiyu is to investigate the enemy situation at Yuguan, and if possible, reoccupy Yuguan and block the Khitan people's southward plundering channel. Now that this task has been initially completed, the next step is just to
By firmly controlling Guancheng before reinforcements arrived, Li Chengzhong had completely completed his mission.
Li Chengzhong is not a conservative who does not want to make progress. He also understands that the best defense is offense. However, he knows how much power he has in his hands and only a qualified commander can do what he can.
Feng Dao suddenly interjected: "Are the people they captured a few days ago in the camp?"
This question made Li Cheng tense up and immediately stared at Wang Dalang. Wang Dalang was also stunned and said: "I haven't seen him, but there are indeed no other Khitans thirty miles away."
It was obvious that the Khitan people in front of them were just a small team. Behind this small group of Khitan people, there was an unknown number of larger Khitan camps. The plundered people were sent to that camp. The camp was far away from here.
The distance should be thirty miles away. The main purpose of the Khitan people in front of them is probably to investigate the movements and actual situation of the Lulong Army in Yuguan.
Everyone broke into a cold sweat behind their backs. Wang Dalang gritted his teeth and said: "Touhou, how about we go explore again? This time I must find that camp!"
Li Chengzhong shook his head and did not let Wang Dalang explore further. Under the current situation, the information he knew was enough. No matter how much he knew, it would not help the matter. Instead, Wang Dalang and others were allowed to take risks. Everything now is to hold on.
Yuguan, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
Jiang Miao suggested: "How about letting the civilians build stones to block the city?"
This proposal was directly rejected by Li Chengzhong. It would take at least three days for the civilians to build the stone. Not only was it too late, but it was also equivalent to telling the opponent that we were weak and we were afraid. So Li Chengzhong decided to rebuild and close the door.
"Rebuilding the closure? But... it will take longer!" Several team leaders didn't understand.
"It doesn't matter. We not only rebuild the gate, but we also build it in an upright and generous manner so that the Khitan people can see it clearly!" Li Chengzhong gave the order decisively: "Brother Taoist, the civilians in your hands are divided into two halves, and one half is in the city.
The first one is on guard duty, and the other half goes to cut down trees and build gates!”
Feng Dao smiled and nodded, agreeing to go.
But before he could call for help, the civilians on duty were already shouting in panic: "Khitan people! They...are coming!"