The old man murmured for a while and then said: "It will take at least a day to walk from here to Yuguan. With so many women, children, old and young, I am afraid it will take even longer. I am also afraid of burdening the general and encountering Khitan people on the road.
It is even more difficult to escape. Moreover, the Khitan people have never been temperamental. After a while, most of them will leave this place, and the old men will be able to return to the village."
Li Chengzhong understood to some extent that the elderly are the ones who are most reluctant to leave their homeland. Some stubborn elderly people would rather die at home than leave their hometown. Moreover, in the entire world in this era, the Han people have the strongest attachment to their land.
, asking them to abandon their land was more difficult than asking them to abandon their lives. He continued to persuade with some reluctance: "Many people have fled to Pingzhou. As long as there are strong men in the family to join the army, they can get fertile land under the Jieshi Mountain...
"
Another old man named Cheng took a step forward and interjected: "General, I don't know where Jieshi Mountain is, but I have cultivated the fields under Bailang Mountain since my ancestors, and I really can't bear to part with them.
The villagers who fled into the pass will definitely come back as long as the Khitans retreat..."
Li Cheng said angrily: "But what if the Khitans don't retreat? Can you hide here for the rest of your life? If they enter the mountains one day, where can you escape to?"
When Li Chengzhong was taken to the back mountain by the old men, he was speechless, because these people told Li Chengzhong through their actions that even if the Khitans did not retreat, they could hide in the Bailang Mountain for the rest of their lives. In the col of the back mountain,
Here and there, irregular fields have been plowed out by the fleeing people. These fields are stacked on the hillside along the streams in the mountains, and many of them have already sprouted green seedlings!
According to the old men, because there is abundant geothermal heat in Bailang Mountain, the land will not be cold even in winter. If you farm here, you can harvest two crops a year! If it were not for the inconvenience of access due to the location on the mountain, everyone would have harvested it early.
Farming started here. When they fled this time, many villagers carried seeds with them and had sown them for the first time a month ago. As long as everyone stayed up until spring, the first crop of food could be harvested. Although it was the first time
The harvest will not be too much because of the first plowing, but it will be enough for these people to survive. After one or two more seasons of cultivation, the cultivated land will become fertile farmland, and everyone will no longer have to worry about food.
Looking at the steaming hot springs in the back mountain, Li Chengzhong was speechless. He looked carefully and found that the smell of sulfur in the hot air from those hot springs was not strong, and the cultivated land was far away from the springs.
It is far from being affected by it, but it is in the warm geothermal range. It is estimated that even if it snows heavily, the snow will definitely melt quickly and instead become moisture that nourishes the land. For the advanced use of this geothermal resource, he is deeply concerned about the advanced use of this geothermal resource.
Apart from admiration, I can only laugh secretly: "Who said that people who time travel must be ahead in knowledge? The abilities of the ancients are far beyond the imagination of future generations."
In the eyes of the old men, Li Chengzhong saw the joy and longing after labor. His nose was a little sore and he couldn't help blinking.
Li Chengzhong stayed in the military camp for a day. He ordered his soldiers from both capitals to do everything they could, including cleaning the cave dwellings dug into the mountain walls again, building several new stoves in the corners, and
The stables were reorganized, and some wood was cut down to surround them. He planned to get some sheep for the people in the village to raise after returning to Pingzhou. Finally, he ordered that all the two carts of grain be left behind.
People spend the winter.
It was already night to do all this. Basically, Li Chengzhong’s soldiers came from outside the customs and had a natural affinity with the people who fled to the mountains. Some of them, like Liu Jinhou, were from the village of Sanhu.
He was a young man, so he quickly melted into one. To be honest, there was nothing good to eat for dinner, that is, boiled porridge, hot bread, some dried meat and wild vegetables dug by the people in the mountains, but that was it.
The food has made these people eat very comfortably. Li Chengzhong sat by the bonfire and looked at the people around the stoves. They looked very happy, with smiles on their cheeks, and singing even sounded in some places. "Soldiers and civilians"
The words "Fish and Shui Family" came to Li Chengzhong's mind again, and he couldn't help but laugh at his own thoughts.
Feng Dao sat next to Li Chengzhong and suddenly asked: "Li Yuying really won't take them away?"
Li Chengzhong nodded: "They don't want to leave, so naturally they can't be forced."
Feng Dao asked: "Isn't Li Yugang afraid that they will be kidnapped by the Khitans? Then he will become the slave Dingkou of the Khitans, which in turn will strengthen the Khitans."
Li Chengzhong was silent and sighed: "Forcing them to leave their homeland... I really can't do it."
Feng Dao did not dwell on this issue anymore. He smiled and said, "Dao has traveled to so many places, and Li Yuying is the most unique one."
"Huh?" Li Chengzhong didn't understand.
Feng Dao explained: "Dao has never encountered anyone who asked his soldiers to help the people work, let alone send out military rations..."
Li Chengzhong scratched his head: "I will explain the military rations to the soldiers and horses when I get back. If there is any punishment at that time, I will bear it. As for helping the people to work, shouldn't I?"
Feng Dao looked at the lively crowd around him and said: "It would be good if we don't forcibly extract strong men from these people to join the army. There are no helpers. These are the new soldiers. They were all common people outside the customs two months ago.
...If not for this, I'm afraid Li Yuyang wouldn't be able to move him. These soldiers are very simple..."
Li Chengzhong agreed. These soldiers under his command had not contracted the habits of the veterans of the Lulong Army, and had no resistance at all to helping the people work. On the contrary, the officers who had followed Li Chengzhong back from Weizhou had some slight objections to this.
Jiang Miao was doing better. Although Zhang Xingzhong didn't say anything, he folded his hands and looked aside after Li Chengzhong gave the order. When Li Chengzhong went up to help with the work in person, he even frowned slightly. Wang Dalang, Meng Xuxing, Brother Jiao Chengqiao
The two of them found an excuse to explore the enemy's situation and hid outside the stronghold. As for Zhou Maidao, although he also helped with the work under Li Chengzhong's supervision, he kept mumbling and venting his dissatisfaction.
Li Chengzhong felt that Feng Dao was a person he could sympathize with. Although he was a Confucian scholar, he was not a corrupt scholar, so he explained the benefits of helping the common people in their work one by one. Basically, it was nothing more than that soldiers came from the common people, and helping the common people was equivalent to helping oneself.
With the support of the people, you can get a lot of benefits from fighting. These principles were drilled into his head by the instructor when he was a soldier in the army before time travel. Although it seemed high-sounding, it felt like he was giving Feng Dao some great truth. In the end, he
He himself found it very dogmatic and boring, but Feng Dao listened with great interest.
While the two were talking, three elderly people whom Li Chengzhong had seen during the day came over together.
Because of Liu Jinhou's relationship, the old man surnamed Liu was the first to speak: "Tou, I have come to ask you a favor, I don't know whether to take it seriously or not." This time he understood Li Chengzhong's official position and changed his title.
.
Li Chengzhong hurriedly pulled the three old men to sit down and said: "Old men, if you need anything, just ask. As long as I can do it, I will try my best!"
Old man Liu and the other two old men looked at each other and said, "Du Tou is a good official who cares about the people, and the old men all see it..."
Li Chengzhong smiled: "Tell me what's going on, old man."
Old Man Liu paused for a moment, and finally summoned up the courage: "Du Tou, the young man Jin Hou told the old men that Du Tou was a good official who took the people at heart, so the old men wanted to ask Du Tou to stay here longer.
To be honest, although everyone didn't want to leave, the past two months were really scary... Oops, I was so sorry that they all came to rescue someone else.
I want you to stay and take care of me..."
Li Chengzhong looked at Old Man Liu blankly, feeling guilty. Maybe it was because he was a soldier in the army. In his concept, being a soldier is to protect the people. This is a natural obligation and an unshirkable responsibility that a soldier should fulfill.
But in the eyes of these ordinary people, asking them to fulfill such obligations and responsibilities became an unforgivable request, which really made him feel sincerely guilty.
Seeing that Li Chengzhong didn't speak, the old man was a little panicked and hurriedly said: "If Du Tou is in trouble, let's just let this matter go and pretend that the old men never said anything. It's just that there are some young men here. I wonder if Du Tou can help train him for a few days."
, so that they can also use swords and guns. There are some craftsmen in Lao Cheng's village, so you don't have to worry about swords and guns. Someone can cut wood and make some... There are also some good hunters in Lao Guo's clan, and they have some skills.
Please give me some advice on hunting bows and forks, so that the Khitans can protect themselves when they come..." Old man Liu felt that he seemed to be going too far. The more he spoke, the lower his voice became, and the more he spoke, the less confident he was, and finally he said
He stopped talking and just looked at Li Chengzhong with Old Man Guo and Old Man Cheng next to him with a worried look on his face.
Li Chengzhong took a deep breath, stood up, walked back and forth for a few steps, and then said, "Old man, please let me think about it, can you?" The three old men stood up quickly and left.
In Li Chengzhong's heart, he believed that he should stay. In addition to the old men's pleas, the soldier's sense of mission also made him unable to refuse. This is one of the biggest differences between modern soldiers and ancient and even modern soldiers. In ancient times, serving in the army
Most of the reasons are to serve as soldiers for food, and some of the outstanding ones are to get promoted and make a fortune. Of course, there are also people who protect their families and the country, but they are rare. In modern times, soldiers have more discipline training and honor training. With this
Two things, when the modern army faced the ancient army, it could almost be described as a one-sided massacre; while modern soldiers put more emphasis on the soldier's sense of mission. They know why they fight and who they fight for, even though it only seems very...
A simple change can give them a stronger fighting will, a firmer determination to sacrifice, and a more flexible fighting method when facing modern armies. Compared with ancient times, modern armies can endure greater hardships.
The casualty rate, sometimes this casualty tolerance reaches almost 100%! An army fighting with such a will can almost ignore the huge gap in equipment under certain conditions and win the final victory.
However, Li Chengzhong also knew what difficulties would arise if he agreed hastily. First, would his brothers be willing? If they chose to set up camp in such a large mountain to resist the Khitan attack, would these brothers continue to follow? Secondly, would they choose to set up camp in such a large mountain to resist the Khitan attack?
Regarding the food problem, the two carts of food in front of us can only sustain the supply of soldiers in the two capitals for ten days at most, not to mention there are so many people who need to be taken care of. Farmland has indeed been opened up in the back mountains, but it will take at least three months to harvest the food.
.Then, even if they stay, can they withstand the encirclement and suppression by the Khitans with the help of their two brothers? Finally, can Zhou Zhiyu and Zhang Zaiji agree to stay?
Looking at the piles of bonfires and the laughing people and soldiers in the military camp in front of him, he fell into deep contemplation.