Li Chengyue sat in front of the stove and carefully read a military newspaper in his hand. Hot water was boiling on the stove, and the heat was rising upwards, making the whole room warm. After the water boiled, Li Chengyue
I carefully took off the kettle from the hanging ring and filled the tea cup on the side. The aroma of tea immediately hit my nostrils. It was really comfortable to have a warm fire and drink hot tea in the cold and windy Guancheng outside the Great Wall.
Extreme things.
The military report was sent from Guizhou, describing in detail a battle that took place at the Guangbian Army ten days ago. Guizhou is located to the north of Youzhou and south of the Lu River. It is the northernmost border state in the entire Lulong Festival and has been a
The front line of the battle between the Central Plains and the Huru.
Because one of the fighting parties was Gao Xingzhou and Gao Xinggui, Li Chengyue's two sworn brothers, he watched very carefully. Both sides invested a total of 7,000 people in this battle, and the Lu Long Army on the side of the Gao brothers included 3,000 people.
There were 2,500 infantry and 500 cavalry. The Khitan tribe dispatched 4,000 people, including 2,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. This was an upright field battle, but the Gao brothers performed outstandingly in this battle.
, with their newly recruited troops, they were able to withstand the numerically superior Khitans. Currently, the two sides are still encamped in a stalemate, looking for further opportunities to fight.
At the end of the military report, there is a special comment written by Gao Xingzhou to Li Chengyue. He informed Li Chengyue of the names of several important figures who commanded the Khitan people in battle, and highlighted one of the generals named Yelu Abaoji.
In this battle, the Lulong Army's biggest loss came from a group of elite cavalry led by Yelu Abaoji.
"Has the main force of the Khitans finally appeared?" Li Chengyue looked back at the military report again, thinking deeply while reading.
The door suddenly opened, and a big man rushed in with the cold wind. The man turned around and closed the door. He chuckled and sat down by the stove. He grabbed the hot tea that Li Chengyue had just brewed and poured it into his mouth.
After being burned, he vomited all over the floor with a "plop" sound.
Li Chengyue shook his head: "Fourth brother is still like this... ugh... he doesn't know whether it's hot or cold..."
That man was Wang Sitong, one of Li Chengyue's sworn brothers and the fourth oldest. He scratched his head and said with some embarrassment: "It's windy outside and too cold. I want to drink some hot water to warm my body. Who knew you
This tea has just been brewed... Alas, when it comes to warming up, you have to drink alcohol. It's a pity that you are not allowed to drink alcohol without orders in the army..."
Li Chengyue smiled, ignored the problem, and asked instead, "How is it? The Khitan people didn't come out today?"
Wang Sitong said: "With such a strong wind, if the Khitans dare to come, they will probably be blown away one by one. It should be fine at the pass today. By the way, with such a strong wind, those Xi people will probably have to postpone it until tomorrow.
It’s time to leave. I’m not going to say that, brother, although Guancheng is simple, we still have to fulfill our friendship as landlords, right? They have been here for many days, and we haven’t even had a banquet, so we are too stingy..."
Li Chengyue snorted and said: "Do you want to drink? Well, I will allow you to drink a little tonight, and we will give Xi Ren a banquet to see him off. Now that the conditions have been met, we will be allies from now on, and we can't
It seems that we are too shabby." After saying that, he looked at Wang Sitong with a strange look: "Fourth brother, tell the truth, do you have a crush on me?"
Wang Sitong nodded, then shook his head: "Princess Silver Moon's name, tsk tsk... she is indeed a beautiful pearl that has spread all over the grassland. It's a pity that our old Wang can only look at it but not think about it. The adults in the family have already made an order for a certain person."
We got married to the daughter of the old Zhao family, alas..."
Li Chengyue smiled: "The daughter of the old Zhao family is not bad. She was a famous little beauty in Youzhou City back then."
Wang Sitong shook his head: "It's hard to compare with others. I can't catch up. I really can't catch up..."
Li Chengyue said: "How about taking both of them, Fourth Brother?"
Wang Sitong smiled bitterly: "I do have that idea, but I don't dare to do it. Who among us doesn't know about the old Zhao family? She is famous for being shrewd, and with the power of his family, she will never give up her position as the head wife. Let this
Princess Yinyue is a child? Even if she is an equal wife, do you think King Xi is willing to do it? If it doesn’t work out, it will be a pity in this life!” He shook his head and suddenly said: “Isn’t it possible that my brother won’t be tempted?”
Li Chengyue shook his head lightly, looking at the fire that kept beating, but before his eyes appeared the beautiful plain face that he encountered in Youzhou City.
Wang Sitong smiled mysteriously and said, "Discuss something with my brother."
Li Chengyue said "Yeah", but he was still thinking about his own worries.
Wang Sitong was not angry and said with a smile: "Next time the Khitans come again, I will be responsible for the attack."
Li Chengyue objected: "No! It was you last time, and it should be someone next time."
"Brother, let me leave it to someone. I'll stay at the top of the city all day long. It'll be boring to death!"
"No, we agreed to take turns! Besides, so-and-so is the commander-in-chief of Lulongsai, and you are a guest general. You have to listen to so-and-so!"
"Really not possible?"
"No need to say more!"
"In this case, I won't tell my brother about that little lady..."
"You can't do anything about a little lady! This is a rule! Do you understand the military order... What do you mean by a little lady?" Li Chengyue was suddenly stunned.
"Sigh... There was a guy who got drunk... Sigh... Fortunately, he met a kind and beautiful lady, so he didn't die of drunkenness on the streets of Youzhou..." Wang Sitong couldn't help but sigh, his eyes twinkling.
A cunning light.
Li Chengyue grabbed Wang Sitong's arm and breathed a little quickly: "You... have heard about it?"
Wang Sitong shook off Li Chengyue's hand, stood up unsteadily and walked towards the door. As he walked, he sighed: "I just want to lead troops to fight next time, but in the end, I used military orders to pressure me..."
Li Chengyue said immediately without hesitation: "Okay!"
Wang Sitong laughed loudly, turned around and sat down again, and said calmly: "Beauty is really a curse, brotherly love is not as good as beauty..."
Li Chengyue punched Wang Sitong on the chest: "Hurry up and call him! If you tell any lies, you won't get a drop of wine at tonight's dinner!"
Outside Yuguan, Bailangshan Military Village.
After nearly ten days of renovation, the entire military village has undergone earth-shaking changes. The stone walls have been reinforced, made higher and thicker with clay excavated from the mountains, and wooden planks that can stand people have also been built inside the stone walls.
, and at the same time, two arrow towers were built along the inside of the stone wall. A trench one foot deep and one foot wide was dug outside the stone wall. There were dense spikes of wood standing at the bottom of the trench. The spikes rushed up. If anyone accidentally fell into the trench,
In the middle of the village, there was no other way to go except for the wooden piercing the intestines. The only way to pass through the trench was through the suspension bridge that dropped from the village gate.
We also took inventory of the large and small cave dwellings on the mountain wall, washed out the well-preserved ones, built wooden doors, laid them with hay, and lit a fire in the furnace in the cave. Living in it is much warmer than imagined.
What surprised Li Chengzhong the most was that when these furnace ponds were dug, holes for ventilation were left, which saved Li Chengzhong a lot of trouble.
The stables at the foot of the mountain wall have also been rebuilt. In addition to the farm horses originally carried by the people who fled into the mountains, there are now more than 20 war horses snatched from the Khitan people. At that time, Li Chengzhong was facing these horses.
He was still very worried. In his impression, raising horses was very difficult. He didn't know what to do with these war horses. If he wanted to raise horses, judging from the current food reserves in the military camp, it was obviously far from enough.
So he reluctantly made the decision to kill these horses, and the horse meat would be used to beat the teeth of all his men as a sacrifice.
At that time, Wang Dalang was following Li Chengzhong to inspect the horses. He happily stroked the horses one by one, thinking about how to set up his scout team. Hearing that Li Chengzhong said that the horses would be killed for meat, he was shocked and hurriedly said
: "Du Tou, why did you kill the horse?"
Li Chengzhong sighed: "I can't afford it..."
Wang Dalang was stunned: "What can't you afford?"
Li Chengzhong said: "We don't have enough food. Now I'm still worried about what to do next. Where can I find food for the horses?"
It took Wang Dalang a long time to think about it: "Are you telling me that you used to feed the horses with grain?"
Li Chengzhong said: "That's not true. But war horses are really expensive. To raise a horse well, it takes up the rations of two or three people, and a lot of beans, wheat bran, etc. need to be added..." What Li Chengzhong said about raising
The method of horse riding is based on what I heard from the equestrian instructor in the army before I crossed over.
Wang Dalang blinked and said: "Who did you listen to? The method of raising horses that Dutou mentioned should be the method of raising purebred BMWs in the far west of the grassland, right? These ordinary war horses are not used.
Just let them out to graze, it doesn’t take much effort. There are many pastures in Hebei, so raising horses is the easiest. Many farmers have horses at home, and I haven’t heard anyone say they need to feed them with grain..."
Li Chengzhong was stunned for a moment: "Just eat grass?"
Wang Dalang stroked the mane of a war horse and said: "Yes. It is winter now, and raising horses is even easier. The pastures outside Bailang Mountain have dried up, and the cut grass is more suitable for feeding horses. By the way, they all have heads.
I promised someone before that I could form a scout team, why don't I still count on it?"
Li Chengzhong nodded, still a little unconvinced: "It's that simple? Are you sure?"
Wang Dalang smiled. He had already seen that his Dutou had never raised a horse before, and he didn't know where the rumors came from. He thought raising horses was very difficult. He immediately explained: "Dutou
Don't worry. If it wasn't simple, how could the thousands of horses on this grassland be raised? The Khitan people don't have that much food on hand, so they raise horses according to the method Dutou said, and they themselves can't survive."
Li Chengzhong thought about it for a while, and felt that Wang Dalang's words were reasonable, and his mood improved, and he said: "Wang Dalang, go down and select your own people. I will give you twenty places to form a scout team."
Feng Dao devoted all his energy to civil affairs. He gathered the elders from three villages around him and asked Mr. Zhang to follow him to form the Bailang Mountain civil affairs leadership team. He organized more than 700 people in the mountain
And divided into groups, the old and weak stayed in the military village to do daily tasks, such as building toilets, cleaning cave dwellings, and leveling the school grounds in the military village according to Li Chengzhong's requirements; the young and strong were divided into two parts, one part took care of the grain fields, and the other part went into the mountains to hunt.
They went to Xuanshui to fish; the women were also divided into two groups. One group went to the mountains to pick wild fruits every day, while the other group made daily necessities, such as carving wooden bowls and barrels, and sewing clothes and quilts. The craftsmen repaired the interior of the military village.
The corresponding facilities were used to build earthen pits to burn paper and charcoal...
Li Chengzhong was very pleased to see that Mr. Zhang's craftsmen were able to stay. He asked Feng Dao how he could make these talents give up the idea of returning to Yuguan. Feng Dao smiled and explained that it was actually very simple, just authority.
Feng Dao is the Si Shicao of Pingzhou Prefecture. The official position of Si Shi was first in charge of the roster of ministers, distinguishing the grades of nobles, and arranging the seats for court ceremonies. In local terms, it was to distinguish between nobles, gentry and common people.
In the Tang Dynasty, Shi Shi also gradually took on the task of developing mountains and rivers and servicing them. In other words, the distribution of servants to the craftsmen such as Zhang Laojiang was entirely in the hands of Feng Dao. In addition to promising Zhang Laojiang and other craftsmen, Feng Dao would
In addition to taking care of him in his future military service, he also offered an attractive condition - to be promoted and awarded honors.
Craftsmen such as Zhang Laojiang belong to the craftsman family. This craftsmanship has followed them from generation to generation. They need to set aside a period of time every year to go to serve in accordance with the requirements of the government, bringing their own food and tools. If they have one at home,
If you are unable to serve under special circumstances, you must give a "subsidy money" to the government, and the government will use this money to hire others to serve instead. The period of service varies from place to place. In the troubled times of the late Tang Dynasty, the heaviest service period was even
It can reach half a year. This is a heavy burden. This burden is the biggest shackles on the heads of the craftsmen, especially during wartime or disaster periods, and can even cause the destruction of the craftsmen's families.
Feng Dao's condition was that as long as Zhang LaoJiang led the craftsmen to stay and serve with him for three years, he would petition the Pingzhou Governor's Office to award Zhang LaoJiang an honorary officer in the name of his military exploits. Through obtaining the honorary officer, Feng Dao could
Within the scope of his duties, he promoted Mr. Zhang to his status, broke away from his identity as a craftsman, and entered the ranks of the gentry. This condition was too tempting. In this era, no craftsman could resist this temptation, so Mr. Zhang could not