The laughter in the restaurant quickly stopped. To be more precise, everyone's laughter was forced back into their throats by the expressions on the faces of Li Xu and Qin Ziying. Li Xu, who rarely smiled, turned pale.
His hand was pressed on the handle of the knife at his waist, and his fingers kept opening and closing. Qin Ziying opened his eyes full of poetry and pointed his fingers straight out of the window.
"Fire, fire..." Qin Ziying, who had been studying since childhood, was so nervous that he couldn't finish his words. In fact, there was no need for him to finish his words. The sound of horns mixed in the north wind passed through the window, making him drunk.
Everyone who was half drunk suddenly woke up from the cold.
"It's in the direction of the military camp!" Liu Hongji was the first to jump up and rush down the stairs. The simple wooden ladder was shaky under his feet and was about to collapse at any time.
At this juncture, no one cared about the safety under their feet. The shaking of the stairs became more and more violent, and the whole restaurant began to sway. Several drinkers in the next room poked their heads out to curse, and when they saw the young man rushing down quickly, they quickly turned their heads.
He shrank back again. Wang Yuantong and others don't like to bully others, but the yellow military uniforms are enough to protect them from being bullied by others. (Note 14)
"Master, master, you haven't paid the bill yet!" Seeing everyone trying to leave, the restaurant owner rushed out. Wang Yuantong pushed him away and cursed: "Grandma, you're blind, when will I get credit?"
Let’s pass your account! Get out of here, Tang Gong orders his troops!”
The shopkeeper didn't dare to stop him anymore, and squatted beside the door frame with a sad face. Qi Poning, who was walking behind Wang Yuantong, threw down a money bag and shouted: "Count it yourself, and keep the rest on your cabinet. If you dare to hack this man's money,
Money, watch your ass!”
"Hey, hey, I don't dare, I don't dare!" The shopkeeper, who already thought he was unlucky, was overjoyed, holding a small bag of copper coins and bowing repeatedly. From the weight, he could guess that the copper coins in the bag were probably half as heavy. Huaiyuan Town
The place is small and there are no expensive dishes. Five hundred dollars is enough for these plague gods to come back ten or eight times.
A waiter had already brought everyone's horses close to him, and he didn't know whether he was drunk or too nervous. Qin Ziying's boots were sliding around the stirrups, but he couldn't find their way into the stirrups. Liu Hongji looked impatiently and stretched out his big hand.
They picked him up by the collar and lifted him onto the horse's back. Amidst Qin Ziying's screams, everyone shook off their reins and rushed toward their camp like the wind.
Along the way, officers who came out to drink gradually joined the team, and in a moment they had gathered into a small team. Some were in the lead, and some were in the rear. Even during normal drills, there was never such a tacit understanding.
The entire military camp was awakened from sleep by the sound of the trumpet. The young men who usually did not train hard had their helmets tilted and were standing in the wind and snow with pale faces, looking at the fire. And the fire that illuminated half of the sky was five miles outside the city.
From time to time, faint shouts of killing and the sound of war drums were carried to the ears by the wind.
Tang Gong Li Yuan had already arrived at the military camp, taking his eldest son Jiancheng and a dozen personal guards on patrol. The performance of these young men under his command who had never been on the battlefield was already within his expectations, so he did not feel angry.
At most, he sneered at the belatedly returning officers, or glared at them, then walked away.
The general's calmness gradually stabilized the chaotic morale of the army. The soldiers no longer ran back and forth, but found their respective partners and lined up under the orders of the brigade leaders.
"Brother, where is the fighting going on?" Li Xu heard someone in the nearby team ask in a low voice.
"I heard that some Koreans were trying to cross the river and accidentally stepped on the ice! Zuotunwei General Xin Shixiong has led his people to meet them, and the two sides are fighting at night!" A slightly more conscious team member replied in a low voice.
.
"His grandma's food and supplies are piled up in front of someone else's house. Of course they will come over and burn them!" Someone complained in a low voice, but accidentally raised his voice a little louder, and the curse words were carried far away by the wind.
Someone immediately echoed loudly: "I don't know which bastard's idea it was. He has been clamoring for a year and still won't send troops. Even those guys on the other side of the river are fools and are ready!"
In an instant, the whole place was silent. One sentence of bastard made everyone mute. Anyone with ears has heard that this Eastern Expedition to Goryeo was personally planned by His Majesty the Ming Emperor, who vowed to make the Sui Dynasty completely defeated by the Liao Dynasty.
Suffering. You don’t need many such bastards, just one can make everyone confiscate their homes and exterminate their clans.
The soldier who cursed knew he had made a mistake, so he lowered his head and tried his best to hide in the crowd. Those who participated in the discussion also lowered their heads, fearing that someone would record their faces.
"Dianmao!" At the critical moment, Li Yuan's voice came from the front of the team, making everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
The soldiers joined the army at the top of their lungs and called out the names of the officers one by one. The time from blowing the horns to gathering the troops to officially counting the bows was long enough, and all the officers rushed back with dignity. Although most of them were out of breath, there were
The two men kept shaking, and the wind blew away the smell of wine on them, causing the soldiers in the front row to twist their noses.
"Starting from tomorrow, if you don't want to be stabbed in the dark, don't leave the military camp at night!" Li Yuan frowned and shouted.
"Your order!" the soldiers replied in unison. The Liao River, which is the boundary river between the Sui Dynasty and Goryeo Dynasty, has frozen, and the opponent's troops may come over from the ice at any time. In this season, it is indeed safer to stay in the military camp than to go out for a stroll.
Much more.
"The brigade leader on duty will lead the troops and horses of the headquarters to inspect the warehouse to prevent spies from sneaking in and setting fire. The rest of them disperse and go back to sleep!" Li Yuan glanced at the rookies under his command and ordered loudly.
"Yes!" the soldiers agreed, but did not move. Almost all of them could not believe their ears. They went back to camp to sleep? How is this possible, once the enemy comes to kill...?
"Go back to bed, it's a waste of time, you stepped on the ice once, who has the guts to step on it a second time. Go to sleep, be energetic and watch the show tomorrow!" Li Yuan waved his hand magnanimously and repeated his order again.
"Yes, General!" the soldiers replied happily and dispersed laughing and joking. Tang Gong was right, the Koreans were unlucky and rushed to cross the river before the ice was frozen. The ice collapsed once tonight.
, I will definitely not be stupid enough to try it a second time.
The faces of Liu Hongji, Li Xu and others gradually became serious. They had experience of living outside the Great Wall and knew that no matter how wide the river outside the Great Wall was, it would freeze in winter. From now on, the north wind and snowflakes would freeze the entire Liao River.
There are bridges made of ice everywhere on the nearly hundred-mile border between Sui Dynasty and Goryeo.
Is it time to remind Mr. Tang? Li Xu asked Liu Hongji with his eyes. The latter gently shook his head and gave him a sideways glance out of the corner of his eye.
Li Xu followed Liu Hongji's instructions and looked. Under the dim firelight, he saw Tang Gong's family general Li Yan slowly walking out of the camp with more than thirty confidants and veterans. Turning his head slightly, he accidentally saw
Another twenty or so veterans of hundreds of battles followed Li Shun, the family general, towards the granary.
"You two go back to the camp and stop making nonsense!" Li Yuan, who was walking forward, turned around and gave Liu Hongji and Li Xu a meaningful look, as if anticipating their behavior, and warned them.
"Yes!" The two of them bowed and accepted the order, striding towards their barracks.
"Tang Gong's actions are profound in the art of military use!" Liu Hongji commented in a low voice on the way back to the room.
"The clear pine is tight and the pinch is just right!" Li Xu nodded in agreement. This is not to flatter Li Yuan. Li Xu knows best the virtues of his colleagues. If Tang Gong showed a little nervousness just now,
I guess the morale of the military has collapsed at this time.
"Alas!" Liu Hongji sighed, as if he was deeply worried about the fate of Huaiyuan Town. He was twice as old as Li Xu and had seen many more things than others.
This is a very strange arrangement on the border between the two countries. But through this strangeness, we can vaguely infer a fact that cannot be told to others.
Seeing that the other party didn't speak, Li Xu also felt a little sad. Last year, he abandoned school and went to the frontier to escape the war. This year, he joined the army in Huaiyuan Town to avoid becoming an unjust ghost who died in Liaodong. However, what was supposed to come finally came. Regardless of himself,
No matter how hard I tried to escape, I never escaped...
The two of them were walking in long strides, each thinking about their own thoughts. The distance from the school grounds to their residence was close in an instant. But they both seemed to have forgotten the way, and walked diagonally around, half a circle, and then diagonally around again.
return.
After a moment of silence, Liu Hongji suggested in a low voice: "Brother, it's time for us to do something for Duke Tang!"
"Brother Liu, tell me what we should do!" Li Xu nodded, his voice was not loud, but he was very decisive. Tang Gong was kind to him, and he should indeed repay him. Besides, what he said just before he left
The meaningful glance obviously conveyed something. He could not guess what Li Yuan was thinking, but this question could not stump the thoughtful Liu Hongji.
"Help Tang Gong defend Huaiyuan Town! If the army does not move and the food and grass are lost first, Tang Gong will definitely be ruined!" Liu Hongji stopped and looked at the dark sky and said. In an instant, the grassland was full of contempt for the world when they broke out together.
The spirit returned to him.
This is the Liu Hongji that Li Xu knew. During the past month or so in the barracks, Liu Hongji, who drank and got drunk with everyone every day, and the tall and powerful man on the grassland were almost completely different people. Sometimes, Li
Xu even doubted whether Liu Hongji had an identical twin brother.
"How to keep it?" Li Xu asked in a low voice.
"First of all, we have to stabilize ourselves and the brothers around us! The Koreans don't dare to confront our main force in the Sui Dynasty. As long as the military morale in Huaiyuan Town remains, we will have a chance to try our best!" Liu Hongji thought about it!
Think and say.
"I'll do my best!" Li Xu thought about it carefully and solemnly agreed.
For Liu and Li, who have low-level positions and only have one month of military experience, stabilizing military morale is not easy. Those who can rely on connections to join the army in Huaiyuan Town do not have a bad family background. At the beginning, everyone was trying to avoid going to the battlefield.
Didn't those who came here to die, including Li Xu and Liu Hongji, have the same intention? Now that the safe place has become a dangerous place, who has the heart to listen to the two newcomers. Even if they are direct descendants of Tang Gong, they cannot be allowed to
Everyone is risking their wealth and life.
But after nearly a month of socializing, everyone is friends, and friends can naturally talk to each other, including exchanging opinions on the situation at hand.
Li Xu didn't have to look for this opportunity to have a heart-to-heart relationship. When he and Liu Hongji had discussed the countermeasures and returned to their residence in the army, several close friends were already waiting at the door of the house. Wang Yuantong, Qi Poning, Qin Ziying
, Samurai Xun, Zhang Deyu... there are no shortage of familiar faces.
"Boy, I hope you two are back!" Qi Po Ning stepped forward to say hello from a distance.
"Brother Liu and I just went to do some private business!" Li Xu smiled and replied in a low voice. It was the first time he had purposefully interacted with someone, and he felt particularly awkward. (To be continued)
