The Great Wall meanders in the Yanshan Mountains and stands tall on the steep peaks and cliffs. It firmly blocks the passage of the northern barbarians from invading the Central Plains, and guards the glorious civilization inheritance and human reproduction of the Chinese land. Since the Qin Dynasty,
, this rugged mountain range has been the top priority for the Central Plains regime in resisting the southward invasion of northeastern nomads for thousands of years. Many military fortresses and checkpoint castles have been set up here, becoming the first line of confrontation between farming civilization and nomadic civilization.
Four hundred miles to the northwest from Yuguan is Lulongsai, the important site of the Great Wall. Stationed here is General Li Chengyue of Ningyuan, a member of the fifth rank of Zhizheng. During the Southern Expedition, Li Chengyue served as the inspection envoy of the Eighth Army behind the mountain, and worked with
The Gao family brothers together commanded the Shanhou soldiers in the Lulong Army. The Shanhou soldiers came from Guizhou, Yuzhou, Yunzhou and other places to the west of Yanshan, located at the junction of Youyan and Hedong, including Xixi, Khitan, Shiwei,
They are descendants of various ethnic groups such as Shatuo Turk, Lin, Thun, etc. These people have been influenced by Han civilization for hundreds of years and have long become a part of the Han people. However, they retain the unique fierceness of the nomadic people and have always been part of the Lulong Army.
A force that cannot be ignored.
After the disastrous defeat of the Southern Expedition, the Shanhou soldiers were divided into two parts when the Lulong Army was reorganizing. One group was commanded by Li Chengyue and stationed on the border of Lulong fortress. Li Chengyue himself served as the Yancheng guard; the other group was led by Li Chengyue.
Under the leadership of the Gao brothers, they returned to Konglingguan in Guizhou, the birthplace of the descendants of the mountain queen, and reorganized it into the local town army of Guizhou.
Of course Li Chengyue and the Gao brothers knew that this was a move by General Liu Rengong to squeeze out the people behind the mountain and establish the authority of the Chinese army. However, the situation was stronger than the people. The children behind the mountain were no longer what they were when General Gao Siji was alive.
The army behind the mountain, so Li Chengyue and the Gao brothers had no choice but to obey orders and march to northern Xinjiang.
What's more, guarding the border has always been an unshirkable responsibility for military personnel. Li Chengyue himself didn't actually have much resistance to this. He was far away from the whirlpool of power and profit in Youzhou. Although the wind and sand at the border were harsh, it seemed more pure. It's just... I don't know.
What is happening to that little lady now...
After his disastrous defeat in the Southern Expedition, when the Lu Long Army reorganized his army, he was in a very bad mood, so he went to the famous Mingyue Restaurant in Youzhou City to drink alone. He drank to drown his sorrows, and the more he worried, the easier it was to get drunk. Drunk Li
Chengyue didn't have any money with him and was unable to do the accounting. He was ridiculed and humiliated by the shopkeeper and the waiter for a while. He was so angry that he wanted to use force, but his body refused to obey orders and there were no personal guards around him, so he got a bad blow.
beat.
At that time, Li Chengyue was lying on the street in front of the restaurant. While listening to the ridicule and abuse of the restaurant owner, he was vomiting to the point that his intestines were about to come out. In the midst of a mixture of shame and anger, he suddenly saw a man in a plain dress.
The young girl came out from the crowd of onlookers, paid for his drink, hired a cart, and asked softly where he was resting. After that, he fell asleep, and when he woke up the next day,
My heart is filled with the smiling face of that young girl. That face... so beautiful!
Later, he told the Gao brothers, Wang Sitong and several good friends about this matter, and all of them agreed to help him search. Gao Xingzhou also asked him if he had fallen in love with the girl, Li Chengyue.
Blushing, he explained that he just wanted to repay his favor, which made everyone burst into laughter. Wang Sitong also wanted to find the owner of the Mingyue Restaurant to bring bad luck, but Gao Xingzhou stopped him.
"Who knows the owner of Mingyue Restaurant?" Gao Xingzhou asked Wang Sitong with a sneer.
"I don't care who he is! Let's talk about overthrowing him! If you dare to touch a certain brother, I will lead his troops to wipe them out!" Wang Sitong said with a pinched neck.
Li Chengyue patted Wang Sitong on the shoulder and sighed: "Don't be rash, fourth, I can bear with this tone. Besides, I was really in the wrong at the time."
Gao Xingzhou scolded with a cold face: "Go and fight! Take all your silver gourds! How many more people are there? Is there a thousand? Go and see if you can beat the volunteer army!"
Wang Sitong opened his mouth and said, "...is...it's Yanei?"
Gao Xinggui also came up to persuade: "Forget it, at the moment when the army is reorganizing, they are looking for trouble to deal with our brothers, please be patient for now. Let's look at the future!"
Wang Sitong's father, Wang Jingrou, was a veteran leader with a very powerful voice in the Lulong Army. When Liu Rengong had not yet succeeded, in order to curry favor with the veteran, he married his sister to Wang Jingrou and gave birth to Wang Sitong (Note 1). In this sense
Technically speaking, Wang Sitong can actually be regarded as Liu Rengong's nephew. But in these troubled times, no one cares about blood relations. While inheriting his father's power, Wang Sitong's Silver Gourd has also become an independent force outside the Lulong Army.
The top of the mountain became the target of reorganization during this army reorganization. Therefore, when Wang Sitong heard that Mingyue Restaurant was Liu Shouguang's shop, he had no choice but to endure it.
After that, Li Chengyue always wanted to find the girl at that time so that he could thank her. In addition, he also wanted to see the beautiful face that had been lingering in his dreams again, but the army plan was planned very quickly.
He had no choice but to leave Youzhou.
"Third brother, what are you thinking about? Are you still thinking about that girl? Haha, don't worry, I have deployed manpower before leaving and continue to help brother search... uh... brother pays more attention, the Khitan people are coming up again." Wang Sitong was there.
Guancheng stared at the large group of Khitan people coming up and quickly reminded Li Chengyue.
Li Chengyue hurriedly put aside the thoughts in his heart and ordered his soldiers to get ready.
In recent days, the Khitans outside the Pass have become more and more rampant. They not only robbed the people outside the Pass without restraint, but also went to the gate to provoke them several times. Li Chengyue, who only had 800 men under his command, suffered from insufficient troops and could only defend the city and watched helplessly.
The Khitans were wreaking havoc outside the pass. Who would have thought that the Khitans would go even further. Ten days ago, they gathered thousands of people and suddenly began to storm Lulongsai Pass. Seeing that the situation was urgent, Li Chengyue asked Wang Sitong, the nearby flood guard, for help.
Wang Sitong was originally the commander of Yinhudu, but was transferred to the flood guard during the army reorganization. The thousand silver gourds under his command were also changed to the border town army and they accompanied him to Shuishui Pass next to Lulongsai. He and Li Chengyue
Feeling like brothers, after hearing the message, they immediately lit up five hundred silver gourds and rushed to Lulongsaiguan City. After joining forces with Li Chengyue, the number reached 1,300, and finally stabilized the situation. The two armies were at Yanshan.
There were repeated fightings near Lulongsai in the mountains, with many casualties.
After the Khitan offensive was over, Wang Sitong panted and came to Li Chengyue. Li Chengyue was counting the losses. In this battle, nine of his disciples from the back of the mountain were killed, seven were seriously injured, and thirty were slightly injured.
Among the remaining seven people who were seriously injured, one of them was dead. Li Chengyue held the injured man's hand without saying a word for a long time. After a while, the injured man tilted his head, and Li Chengyue gently opened his eyelids.
Close up.
Wang Sitong waited for a while, and then saw Li Chengyue finishing the investigation one by one and said: "Third brother, one of his subordinates has also been killed and six injured. In these days, a total of more than 60 brothers have been injured or killed. Isn't it right to continue fighting like this?" Method. I looked carefully and found that it was not only the Khitans who attacked this time, but also some Mohe people..." The silver gourds under Wang Sitong were all famous for their bows and arrows, and most of them were archers. They lost so many people while defending the city. Many people are really heartbroken.
Li Chengyue nodded and said: "Yes, the enemies seem to be fighting more and more. I speculate that they may have conquered Mohe."
Wang Sitong hurriedly said: "In that case, how about I take my brothers down to the north side of the pass and ambush them? If we insist on holding on like this, the losses will be quite heavy."
Li Chengyue thought for a while and said: "Well, it's okay to go out and fight. It's just that your silver gourds are not good at close combat. I will give you a hundred brothers, so be careful!"
Wang Sitong smiled: "No need to worry! Don't worry, brother!" After that, he went down to arrange it.
This month, not only Yuguan and Lulongsai were in tight condition, but also the Beikou, Zhenyuan, Jimen, Kongling and other pass along the Great Wall. The Khitan people changed their previous combat methods of just looting and harassment and marched towards the Great Wall. A comprehensive offensive was launched everywhere.
In Jiedu Mansion in Youzhou, Marshal Liu Rengong was sitting behind the case, closing his eyes and listening to the report of Judge Liu Zhiwen of Jiedu.
"...According to reports from various passes, the Khitans invested 700 people at Yuguan, 3,000 at Lulongsai, 2,300 at Beikou, 900 at Zhenyuan, and 600 at Jimen. There are 1,300 people in Kongling Pass, a total of nearly 9,000 people. In addition, traces of Khitan Rangers have also been found in Guizhou Guangbian Army, Longmen County and other places." Liu Zhiwen explained the current situation in detail, talking about the dry mouth , without being polite, he directly took the tea on the table next to him and drank it all in one gulp.
Liu Zhiwen originally joined the military for the Jiedu Prefecture. During the Battle of Weizhou, he was appreciated by Liu Rengong for his plan of offering a Tucheng. After returning to Youzhou, he proposed a complete set of detailed and feasible army reorganization plans, so he was appointed as the judge of Jiedu by Liu Rengong. , rely on him as his confidant. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the Jiedu judge was extremely powerful. He not only governed the people and issued government orders, but also acted as a military official and participated in planning, and had the implicit responsibility of deputy envoy. After Liu Zhiwen became the Jiedu judge of the Lulong Army , worked hard for the commander-in-chief Liu Rengong. In less than two months, in addition to making Liu Rengong's position in the Chinese army more stable, it also initially eased the tight balance of income and expenditure.
After a pause, he continued: "It is now clear that the enemies in the direction of Yuguan are the Khitan Pinbu, the enemies in the Zhenyuan direction are the Khitan Diela tribe, and the enemies in the Lulongsai direction are the Tuju tribe, among which there are many Mohe people. …”
Liu Rengong suddenly opened his eyes and interjected: "The one who conquered Zhenyuan was the Die La tribe, right? The Die La tribe is the strongest tribe in the Khitan, and they fought against them a few years ago... They must have between 6,000 and 8,000 people who can control strings. The scholars are right, it seems that the main force of the Khitan people has not yet appeared." Five days ago, the Khitan people broke through in the direction of Zhenyuan Pass. Liu Rengong quickly sent part of the Yameni army there. The Khitan people withdrew from the pass again, but they were already thirty miles away from the place. The area was looted.
Liu Zhiwen nodded and said: "Commander Dong Ming. From a certain point of view, although this attack seems violent, it is actually still a test."
Liu Rengong asked: "Do you have any good strategies to deal with it?"
Liu Zhiwen replied: "We have discussed and planned to mobilize the Yameni troops to return to the north to block the Khitan invaders. The specific details are..." The Yameni he mentioned was Liu Rengong's second son Liu Shouguang. Liu Rengong had two sons in total, the eldest son Liu
Shouwen personally led the Yichang Army's Jiedu Envoy, and the land of Cangzhou, Jingzhou, and Dezhou became the Lulong Army's Southeast Pingfan. Erlang Liu Shouguang prepared to form the Yi'er Army, led the Yi'er Army's commander, and guarded the Lulong Army's southern town of Hehe.
During the period, he also made great achievements in Hejian, defeating the Chengde army who came to take advantage of it, and captured the fierce general Liang Gongru and Wang Zhaozuo, the only son of Jiedushi Wang Rong. For his merits in the battle, Liu Shouguang also took over the government office.
Liu Rengong concurrently served as the deputy military commander and the military commander of the Yameni government, so the entire Jiedu Mansion was also called Liu Shouguang's "Yamen".
Before Liu Zhiwen finished speaking, Liu Rengong shook his head: "Move the Yier Army to the north? No! We have just suffered a defeat. Zhu Wen and Li Ke used two men to stare at us. It was only because of mutual restraint that there was no further movement.
Now Shouwen's Yichang Army has lost its vitality. If Shouguang is not stationed in Hejian, the south will immediately be empty. Although we have captured Wang Rong's heart, the clowns of Chengde Army will definitely not give in!
How's the conversation going with Cheng Dejun?"
Liu Zhiwen said: "We have initially reached an agreement. According to the general's strategy, the Chengde Army will pay 100,000 guan, 5,000 bolts of silk, and 50,000 dan of grain. Once we get the things, we will return them to Wang Zhaozuo and Liang Gongru. From now on, the Chengde Army will pay 100,000 yuan every year."
Give us the same amount as a reward for the army. At the same time, Cheng De's army has completely withdrawn from Shenzhou, and Jiedu Mansion is preparing to appoint Li Yan as the governor of Shenzhou..."
Note 1: Wang Jingrou married Liu Rengong’s daughter, and Wang Sitong is actually Liu Rengong’s grandson. It has been adapted for the sake of the novel. Please just laugh at it.