Volume Four, The Year of the Curtain, Chapter 111, Going to War
Many years later, in the world's magnificent war records, the Tang Kingdom's first counterattack began with the moment when Ning Que escorted the queen and the sixth prince back to Chang'an City and killed Li Huiyuan.
But in fact, the initial counterattack of the Tang Kingdom did not come from Ning Que, nor was it the Zhenbei Army that fought against the Jinzhang Wangting, nor was it Chao Xiaoshu, who led the cavalry camp alone to Chang'an to face the tens of thousands of invaders in the eastern border.
The navy officers and soldiers who turned Qinghe red and refused to surrender were from a farmer.
There is a village among the fertile fields in the south of the Tang Dynasty.
There is a stream beside the village, and a stone mill by the river. Opposite the mill is a raised meadow with dense grape trellis on it. The grapes on the rack have been picked, and only some maldeveloped grapes are left forgotten by people in their original place.
The frost and dust of autumn look inconspicuous.
This is a beautiful village, but it is not much different from other villages in the Tang Dynasty. It looks as inconspicuous as the small bunches of grapes hanging under the grape trellis on the grass slope.
There is a farmer named Yang Erxi in the village. Although he insists that he is a painter, in the eyes of the villagers, this one is a good chubby guy who feeds the pigs, of course, a farmer, is the best one.
Zhong, Yang Erxi could not refuse such praise, so she had to settle the account.
Just like many men in the countryside of the Tang Dynasty, Yang Erxi has followed the army, fought with the Yan people in the frontier, and cut down the grassland cavalry. Even if he has painted the paint, he has also learned it in the border army.
In the years after he was discharged from the army, he married and had children, earned money to support his family, and lived a peaceful and joyful life. Apart from the common quarrels in every household, he had no worries.
The tense and ups and downs of life have been left in the frontier many years ago. Apart from meeting a big dark horse who likes to drink big porridge, there is no new and exciting experience in life.
Yang Erxi sometimes missed those days in the border.
One day, he was carrying a lacquer bucket and painting the wall in the public school. Suddenly, a yamen runner walked into the public school. He pasted a piece of white paper on the wall, and then hurried away.
Yang Erxi had a fuss for two years, but in the end the yamen still refused to increase the money. He was beaten by his father and was crying by his daughter for a long time. He had to agree to come to take the public school. He was in a bad mood and became even more annoyed at this time.
I wonder if these guys didn’t see me painting and sticking such a large piece of white paper here. How can I brush it?
Of course, he would not admit that what he was most annoying was that he couldn't understand the words on the paper.
The Tang people had a very high literacy rate, but he was naughty since childhood. He had not changed since he joined the army. He would rather be beaten than participate in the literacy class. So now he has become one of the few illiterate people in the village and is often children of neighbors.
It made fun of him, so this became his last regret.
Fortunately, a moment later, the bells rang in the public school. The people in the village came one after another when they heard the bells, preparing to listen to Teacher Jie Lu explain to everyone what the court issued another law.
The public school teacher Jielu has not yet come out, and those literate people have already understood the content on the blank paper because it is not a new law article written on it. It is a war report.
Everyone was silent and their faces became very ugly.
Yang Erxi didn't know what was written on it. Looking at everyone's expressions, she became more and more anxious. She grabbed a child who wanted to go home to notify her parents, waved her fists, and finally knew the answer.
"The Northeast Frontier Army encountered a retreat in Yan State and was defeated."
There is a lot of content in that imperial court document, especially for the people of counties and villages in Dongjiang, who were required to evacuate as quickly as possible, and the troops of the states organized defense on the spot. Recruited males who had experience in joining the army...
No one paid attention to these contents because it was still a long way from Yan State. Those words were not for them to be said, people were just shocked and angry at the failure of the empire and were talking about it.
Some people were worried about asking whether the Yan State troops would attack here, and immediately caused some ridicule. No one believed it. Everyone firmly believed that as long as the court sent a large army, there would definitely be nothing wrong in the East Xinjiang.
Yang Erxi was silent all the time. After the crowd dispersed, he pulled Teacher Jie Lu from the public school and carefully asked the contents of the court documents.
He was not in the mood to paint the paint anyway, and the county government didn't give much money anyway.
When he returned home, he drank half a pot of pig's trotters and a basket of dipped pickles. The more he drank, the more he became, the more boring he drank.
The wife was squatting outside the threshold, sucking grape skins and slags out of the wooden barrel, preparing to make wine, but suddenly she found that she had not heard the man speak for a long time and asked, "What's wrong?"
Yang Erxi said: "It's okay."
The wife said, "You can eat some food, and drinking alcohol on an empty stomach is not a big deal."
Yang Erxi nodded and continued to drink. The more he drank, the more silent he became, the brighter his eyes became.
Suddenly, he said to his wife, "I'm going to go out for a long trip."
The wife raised her head and asked in confusion: "What's wrong?"
“Something happened to the east.”
Yang Erxi talked about the contents of the imperial court documents and said, "I want to go over and take a look."
My wife was stunned for a while, then laughed, and the grape juice on her hands flew everywhere, mocking: "Something happened to the east... or to the east of your pigpen or to the east of the grape rack? It seems that the Tang Dynasty is yours.
Yes, are you His Majesty the Emperor or the Empress? You are just a farmer.”
Yang Erxi said annoyedly: "I painted, not farming!"
His wife didn't take his words seriously, thinking that he was drinking crazy, and kept working. She muttered, "Every time she drank some wine, she liked to talk nonsense."
After Yang Erxi was silent for a moment, he said in a buzzing voice: "What I am talking about is not drinking. It is written in the back of the court documents. A man who has had military experience will be recruited as long as he does not exceed forty."
The wife then realized that the man was not talking about alcohol. She took out her hands from the barrel and wiped them randomly on her clothes. She said nervously: "The imperial court order was sent to Dongjiang, what does it have to do with us.
?”
"Our here is close to Chang'an City and far away from the eastern border. It's a matter of time before the court documents can arrive. Maybe by then, the Yan people and the barbarians who were killed in the sky had already attacked, so what's the use?
”
"Even if the court wants to recruit... it has to wait for the county government to organize. Isn't this still there?"
Yang Erxi said in a deep voice: "It's too late to wait for the county government to organize."
The wife said in a trembling voice: "But...what is it for you to go alone?"
Yang Erxi said: "Even if the Eastern Xinjiang is invaded, the imperial court will definitely set up a war yamen there. When I get there, I will naturally go to vote for them."
The more my wife heard it, the more uneasy he became. She screamed at the next room: "Dad, come quickly!"
Yang Erxi slapped the table heavily, dipped the pickles and leftover pig trotters, and all fell to the ground.
He said furiously: "What are you shouting! You usually ask your father to come here for dinner, why are you not so loud?"
The gate of the courtyard was pushed open with a creaking sound. An old man with a hunched back walked in.
Yang Erxi stood up and said, "Dad, have you eaten?"
The old man looked at the messy place, and said, "No."
Yang Erxi said: "Then let your daughter-in-law chop off the wax legs?"
My wife looked at her father-in-law with tears in her eyes, thinking that she has not lost her food on weekdays. She didn't call you last time, so you can't take your anger because of this. If you can make this
The drunk guy stays at home. Not to mention the pork leg meat, I chop my legs and honor you.
The old man didn't say anything for a long time.
Yang Erxi was a little nervous.
"You are so quarreling loudly, just across a wall. How could I not hear it?"
The old man said.
Yang Erxi was very strong and tall, but at this time he was honestly lowering his head, just like when he was a child. He stuttered and said, "I am the retreating army of the border. If I don't go at this time, what's the point..."
Before he could finish his words, the old man glared at his eyes and shouted sternly: "Is it great to be a soldier? I have also been a soldier in your father! I have also been a small school! What are you showing off here?"
When his wife heard this, she stopped crying and looked at her father-in-law with all her hope.
The old man was silent for a moment and suddenly said, "If you want to go, go. If I am not sixty or forty now, I will go with you."
...
...
Yang Erxi took out a boxwood bow from the cabinet.
Then he carried the sharp-reflective pitchfork on his shoulders. His wife tied a heavy braised pork leg to the other end of the pitchfork and asked again: "Do you want to tie another pot of wine?"
The daughter-in-law in the countryside of Tang Kingdom usually has this kind of temperament. When she saw that she really couldn't change, she accepted it silently and then began to take care of her own men seriously.
Yang Erxi said: "This is a war, drinking alcohol violates military discipline."
My wife put down the newly brewed wine and thought to herself that she was not a serious soldier, so where was there any military discipline?
The two children ran home at this time. The younger brother ran away and was panting. His face was flushed and he wanted to say something. But he couldn't say it. The older sister looked at Yang Erxi and said angrily: "Dad, public school."
The paint has not been finished, and the teacher is very unhappy. Do you want us to fail to read, are we all like you?"
If it were normal, Yang Erxi would definitely get angry when she listened to her daughter's words, and then honestly took the paint bucket to the public school to finish the rest of the work, but today he just smiled foolishly.
"Tell sir, I will definitely finish the paint when I come back."
Yang Erxi looked at his father again and said, "Dad, I'm leaving."
The old man nodded and said, "Be careful on the road."
Yang Erxi kissed his wife hard on the face, very loudly.
The two children were probably not surprised to see too many such scenes, but were just curious about other things.
The son opened his eyes wide and asked, "Dad, where are you going?"
Yang Erxi said: "Go to the east."
The daughter asked, "Dad, what are you going to do."
Yang Erxi said, "Go to fight."
The daughter said excitedly: "Dad, you must win."
"Of course I will win."
Yang Erxi smiled, carried a bow and arrow on his back and a pitchfork and went out.
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(I really like this chapter. When I write it, I always feel that there is a very clear childish voice in my ears asking, what are you going to do, and the humming male voice said, "Go to fight, this feeling is really good."
I was a little happy, so I talked about it for a few words) {Piaotian Wenxue www.PiaoTian.com Thanks to all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}