Only the day after Li Zengbo recaptured Lanzhou, Li Xia's Eastern Route Army also came to join them.
Yang Ben sat astride his horse, looking at the big flag on Lanzhou City in the distance, his expression a little tense.
He was still young, but the wrinkles between his eyebrows were very deep, and there were already some wrinkles on his forehead. His nose was slightly open, and he took a deep breath, inhaling the dust and smoke raised by the horse's hooves into his nose.
"Do you know Huo Qubing?" Yang Ben suddenly asked the subordinates around him.
"I know! Among us soldiers fighting, who doesn't know about Huo Qubing?"
Yang Ben pointed forward, wanting to say something, but he didn't know how to say it.
His movements were very powerful, and finally he pointed at Lanzhou City and introduced it loudly to the generals.
"Huo Qubing defeated the Xiongnu, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established four counties in Hexi. Later, he established Jincheng County, which was called the five counties in Hexi. Jincheng County controlled the danger of the Yellow River and separated the Qiang Rong. Since the Han Dynasty, among the Xiongjuns in Hexi, Jincheng has been the most...
"
This is what Li Xia said during the military meeting before departure.
The closer Yang Ben got to Lanzhou City, the more he understood why Li Xia said what he said.
Why?
Going too far.
He fought from Sichuan and Shu to Longxi, and now to Hehuang, across thousands of mountains and rivers. He couldn't quite understand what the people here were saying. When the people here looked at them, the Song troops, their eyes were indifferent and unfamiliar.
It's too far away and gives people the feeling of being in a foreign country.
In this case, why come to this seemingly desolate place? Why not stay in Guanzhong, the rich land of Hanzhong?
Because Yang Ben knew very well that this was by no means a foreign country.
This place was Longxi County in the Qin Dynasty, and it was built as a city in the Han Dynasty... but it was lost for too long.
So take it back.
He wanted to imitate Huo Qubing, wanted to be famous throughout the ages, and wanted to be praised by future generations when his name was mentioned.
Then taking back Jincheng County is the first step.
…
After entering the city and arranging the troops and horses, Yang Ben immediately rushed to the state office, silently following Li Xia.
The state office is very dilapidated, with horse manure everywhere.
Li Xia was standing in front of the Yamen, looking at the couplets on the big pillar.
The paint has peeled off and is still stained with horse manure, but the handwriting is barely legible.
"Thunder clouds and natural moat, golden water and dangerous ground, the name of the vassal has been Gaolan since ancient times."
"The embroidery of the camp is wrong, the rice is gathered in the shape of the mountain, and the throat is hundreds of Qin pass."
There are not many Chinese characters that can be seen on the way into the city, unlike other cities where there are Chinese characters on the shops. Lanzhou is really a bit depressed, so Li Xia couldn't help but stop and look at this couplet for a while.
Li Zengbo strode out to welcome him, held his fists in greeting, then pointed to the couplets and said: "This is a government office built by the Jin Kingdom, and it is also a couplet inscribed by the Jin Kingdom officials."
Li Xia nodded and said: "I have talked about the dangers of Lanzhou's mountains and rivers, which is quite impressive."
Li Zengbo sighed and said: "It comes from the lyrics, 'Recruiting heroic spirits and perseverance to circle Helan Mountain.' This Jin man's lyrics also have some heroic and majestic spirit."
"Because they are all Han Chinese, they rhyme with the same rhyme and use the same code."
With that said, they walked into the hall.
There is nothing interesting about this government office. There are no documents or books. It seems that no officials have been in charge of Lanzhou for many years.
There were only long-dried dark brown blood stains on the floor in the lobby.
"The further west you go, the more barbaric it becomes."
"Mongolia didn't do much to manage Hehuang before. It was only used as a place for horse herding and a commercial port for traders and travelers."
From this we can see that this area of Lanzhou can almost be regarded as a dividing line.
In other words, the Wang family in Gongchang was a buffer, and the southeast belonged to Kublai Khan's territory. The Han system was implemented and Han law was used, and it barely looked like a feudal dynasty.
As for the Hehuang and Xiliang areas, they belong to the Kuoduan Uluse.
Ulusi is a fief, a land that Wokuotai actually granted to Kuoduan. It does not just accept some five-household silk, but actually seals it.
Kuoduan was not only called the King of Xiliang, but also the Khan of Kuten.
If he had not died early, it is foreseeable that the land in the Hexi Corridor might split into another khanate.
The civilization built since the Han Dynasty established the five counties in Hexi will be destroyed, and there will be no civilization or order here.
The only order is slavery, and the Mongolian nobles have countless slaves...
Fortunately, Kuo Duan is dead.
He deserves to die too.
But walking into the land of Ulusi, the king of Xiliang, Kuten Khan, and looking at the dilapidated scene, Li Xia still felt disgusted with him from the bottom of his heart.
"Lanzhou is very bad." Li Zengbo lamented, "It's very different from Guanzhong."
"Kublai Khan also just arrived in the old land of Xixia and just started business..."
At this point, Li Xia had to admit the difference between Kublai Khan and the old Mongolian nobles.
It was necessary for Kublai Khan to implement Chinese laws. The barbaric and crude old system of the Mongols was unworkable and would inevitably fall apart. Without Chineseization, the Central Plains would not be conquered.
"The kings of the Western Regions only turned to support Kublai Khan after Ali Buge fled from Haraholin. If we fight further west, we will face the forces left by Kublai Khan, and Kublai Khan has just begun.
Control them..."
"As soon as we started taking control, Ah Shu was still dead." Li Zengbo stroked his beard and said.
With these words, they spread out the map, stood around it with the generals, and began to discuss the matter of capturing Liangzhou.
"Kuduan has five sons. The eldest son is named 'Mie Li Ji Hao'. He inherits the throne of Xiliang King and sits in Liangzhou. The second son is named 'Meng Gedu'. He once accompanied Kublai Khan in his expedition to Dali and now replaces the one who was executed by us.
Tiebi Lie was seated in Xingqing Mansion; the third son was named 'Zhibi Timur' and was named King of Yongchang and was seated in Yongchang; the fifth son was named 'Qulielu' and was entrusted to Ganzhou..."
"Do you have a pen and paper?"
After the military meeting, when they returned to the camp, Song He asked Yang Ben this question.
Yang Ben searched for a while and handed the pen and paper to Song He, and saw him carefully writing down the names of Kuoduan's four remaining sons on the paper.
"What are you doing writing this?"
"The person you want to kill." Song He blew on the wet ink and replied.
Yang Ben felt the cold killing intent.
But he still shook his head and said: "The county prince and Marshal Li have their own strategies. You can kill whoever you want."
Song He glanced at him, didn't say anything, just put the paper in his arms and walked out.
Yang Ben followed, and after walking for a while, he finally heard Song He speak.
"I was born in Jiading Prefecture. Although I can't compare with your general family, my family is still prosperous. When I was five years old, the Mongolian army arrived in Jiading Prefecture and slaughtered them all. I fled to southern Sichuan with the refugees..."
Song He said it very calmly. Twenty-seven years had passed since the incident, and he was still very young at the time and could not remember many details.
He usually didn't talk much, but he didn't talk much at this time. He had a lot of things he wanted to say, but in the end he was too lazy to say any more, so he just reduced it to one sentence.
"Kuao Duan slaughtered my whole family, so now that I have the opportunity, I will also slaughter his whole family."
Yang Ben felt that Song He really didn't have much momentum, his voice wasn't loud, and his tone wasn't harsh.
But his attitude is firm, making people feel that he will definitely do it.
Yang Ben stopped, glanced back at the station, and said, "How many people in the army do you think think like this?"
"a lot of."
In the evening, after Li Xia discussed matters with the generals, he left Lanzhou City and walked to the Yellow River.
At this time, many people were building rafts at Jincheng Ferry, preparing to ferry the army across the river.
When the sun went down, these people each got a piece of steamed bun and squatted there in twos and threes eating it.
Li Xia was preparing to return when he saw an old man falling to the ground and hurriedly asked someone to help him to the tree trunk.
"How old is your father-in-law?"
The old man pursed his lips in confusion, but did not answer, as if he did not understand what Li Xia was saying.
After asking a few more questions, Li Xia got no answer and asked in Mongolian: "Do you understand Mongolian?"
"I understand." The old man pulled away his collar and said, "It's the Yan family's expulsion... I didn't run away, I didn't escape."
"We are not the Mongolian army."
"It's the Yan family... it's the Yan family..."
Li Xia then knew that he was recruited locally in Lanzhou.
Lanzhou is different from Gongchang. Gongchang is at least governed by the Wang family, who cultivated fields to feed the people and plundered people from Sichuan and Shu for farming, thus maintaining the style of the Jin Kingdom.
In addition to Mongolian nobles and lustful merchants, all the people in Lanzhou were driven by slaves. Even some Han Chinese who were lucky enough to survive would have fled long ago.
When Li Xia attacked the Hexi Corridor this time, he was very wary of this gap with the local population.
It was not difficult to capture several cities at the beginning of the war. The Mongols had always neglected city defense. What was difficult was to defend them.
To defend, it is necessary to garrison in the four counties of Hexi. However, the four counties of Hexi have become too barbaric, and the difficulty of garrisoning will be much greater.
When going deep into the enemy territory and without any baggage, they did not treat the soldiers as a reward like the Mongolian army did. At the same time, they did not get the grateful support of these soldiers.
Tao eats the jelly in order to welcome the glory of the king... This is a very bad situation.
Li Bing squatted by the shack, looked at Ma Wa'er, and said, "Don't be afraid, these Song soldiers are not bad people."
Mawar was the woman he met yesterday who stole fodder. Today she carried her child on her back and was led by Li Bing on the bamboo raft. She also received food in the evening and was chewing timidly.
With.
They still couldn't understand each other's words, and Li Bing was gesticulating and took a lot of effort to ask her name and taught her how to do this.
He was squatting fine, but when he saw an armored general walking by not far away, a few soldiers made a military salute, and the child on Mawar's back started crying.
Mawar was scared and quickly took the child down and covered the child's mouth tightly.
Li Bing quickly advised her.
"Don't be like this... let go, let go... don't cover the baby to death... don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."
Mawar didn't know whether he understood or not. He just stared at Li Bing with frightened eyes, but did not loosen his grip on his hand.
Li Bing was anxious and tried to comfort him...
suddenly.
"Boom!"
There was a banging sound.
Li Bing turned around and looked around. He didn't know where he was banging the clapper, but he started banging and never stopped.
"Boom, boom, boom...boom, boom..."
After the rhythm of the bangzi sounded, an old voice sang the lyrics.
Li Bing didn't quite understand it, but he felt it was very familiar.
That's Qin Opera.
After being distracted for a moment, Li Bing turned around and saw Ma Wa'er staring blankly ahead, as if recalling when he had heard such a tune.
Because of the Qin Opera singing, she was no longer as scared as she was just now, so Li Bing put his hand in his sleeve, carefully hooked it, and removed her hand covering the child's mouth through his sleeve.
"Have you heard of it?"
"Ah... Dad also sings..."
Li Bing listened for a while before he understood what Mawar was saying.
Thinking about it, Li Bing remembers that when he was a child, his father used to sing like this when he was still alive, saying that it was the time of peace in the Kingdom of Jin, and it was good to listen to it during festivals.
As for when it was passed down, it was earlier...
"The head of state accepted the law and resigned, the ministers and generals attacked the rebel ministers, sang songs to break the formation and played music, and shared the appreciation of the peaceful people..."
The old man who was playing the clapper held a wooden stick in his hand with a skinny hand, and he hit the clapper board hard while singing loudly and quite impressively.
Li Xia sat aside and couldn't quite understand it, but he could feel the charm of Qin Opera.
He didn't like to listen to this kind of opera before, but today on the bank of the Yellow River, because of this Qin opera, he felt that he had the same roots as the survivors of Jincheng County.
…
That night, when Li Xia was about to leave, he saw a timid figure coming in front of him.
"General, can I...can I also serve as a soldier?"
Looking in the light of the torch, Li Xia vaguely saw that the other person was a young man, and asked, "What's your name?"
"Li Bing."
"Li Bing, why do you want to be a soldier?"
Li Bing scratched his head.
Looking at the armor of the general in front of him, he couldn't tell who was senior and who was junior compared to the old generals he had seen before, but generally the younger ones were always junior.
As a young official, he dared to come forward and ask. At this time, faced with the question of why he joined the army, Li Bing thought for a while and answered whatever he thought in his heart.
"I want to get paid... I don't know where to go, so why don't I just follow you and save my mouth... and keep peace."
"Bao Taiping?" Li Xia was very interested.
"Really." Li Bing said anxiously, "I really think so."
In the past, he had no concept of these and just wanted to live well. In the past, when asked what he wanted, it was just to make money to support his family. But since March and May, he has been suffering from war, and Li Bing found that what he really wanted was to be able to listen to Ah again.
My mother was nagging me, and my father was sitting by the doorstep humming a few lines of Qin opera.
After thinking about it, it turns out that those days are "peaceful".
Once he understood this truth, Li Bing felt a little excited, so he began to think of joining the army.
"I know Song Jun is a good person."
He also added this.
Afraid that Li Xia would think that a small person like him would dare to say such big words, Li Bing lowered his head again, feeling a little uneasy.
Li Xia saw his uneasiness, so he asked no other questions except: "Can you ride a horse?"
"Yes! My brother-in-law is a horse herder, and I can ride a horse..."
"Then come with me."
"Great!" Li Bing was overjoyed and hurriedly followed, but thinking of Ma Wa'er, he said again: "General, wait a moment."
He turned back and ran to say goodbye to Mawar, took out a bunch of money from his body and handed it over, saying: "Don't worry, I have asked, Lanzhou will also place prisoners like Gongchang..."
After more than ten steps, Li Xia looked back, thinking that Li Bing would not be able to help many of these people one by one... So, the other party chose to join the army.
An ordinary person can understand the principle of joining the army to ensure peace. The key is what kind of army it is.
Li Xia was previously worried that the morale of his soldiers would be low if he marched westward alone like this, but the Qin opera he heard tonight and the villagers he saw gave him great confidence.
…
The next day, 20,000 Song Army cavalry crossed the Yellow River at Jinchengdu. They crossed the Jincheng Pass and the ancient pontoon ferry, plundering the army and roaring cavalry.
A long Yellow River, a Qin opera song, and people have a long history...