Originally, every city in the Song Dynasty had an extremely strong gate.
But here, the two strong city gates have long since disappeared.
The strong wind outside the pass suddenly swept in through the wide city gate.
Looking around, the entire Yanmen Pass looks eerily lonely.
At this time, Lu Zhishen slowly came to Wu Zhi's side.
"Brother, along the way, we have passed through all the villages and towns that have residents. Why is it so quiet and scary here alone?"
Wu Zhi shook his head thoughtfully.
"This is my first time here, so I don't know much about the customs and habits here."
"How about this? Let's go into the city first and then find a suitable place to set up camp."
"Then we will find one or two households in the city and ask whether this Yanmen Pass was like this before, or whether it has become like this during this period of time."
"Does everything here have anything to do with the Jin and Liao people?"
When Wu Zhi finished speaking, he turned to look at Yang Zhi, who was secretly sizing up the environment here.
"Brother Yang Zhi, after we finish setting up camp, you can send some spies in the four directions, east, west, north and south, and ask them to inquire about the situation nearby."
"If anything happens here, we can let them know in advance so that we can make preparations first."
Lu Zhishen and Yang Zhi nodded after listening to Wu Zhi's words.
Then, he followed Wu Zhi into Yanmen Pass.
Inside Yanmen Pass.
Every house seemed very quiet, there was no one on the road, not even a ghost.
The whole city is like an empty city.
When Wu Zhi and others selected a camp suitable for their thousands of troops to be stationed.
Yang Zhi then found dozens of brothers who were smart and hard-working and asked them to act as spies to find out the news.
Wu Zhi, on the other hand, led Lu Zhishen to visit the people here from house to house.
After this search, they didn't expect that the two of them actually found a few living people.
Among these people, the youngest is almost seventy years old.
Everyone is dressed in rough linen clothes.
His weather-beaten face was lined with wrinkles.
When these poor people saw Wu Zhi and others, the expressions on their faces were very surprised.
But what followed immediately was a face filled with worry.
"You young people are all from other cities, right?"
"This is not a place to stay for a long time. You'd better leave as soon as possible."
"Yes, yes, leave quickly."
"Those of us are too old and frail to walk. If we could walk, we definitely wouldn't stay here."
Wu Zhi frowned, then took a step forward.
"Old people, what do you mean by that?"
"Yes, we people are indeed from other places."
"It is precisely because I saw that there are few people here that I called you here to ask what happened here."
Wu Zhi saw those old men still looking at him with panic on their faces.
He couldn't help but murmured to himself:
"Is it possible, could it be that those Jin and Liao people killed all the people here?"
When those old men heard what Wu Zhi said, their expressions suddenly changed.
"This young man, please don't raise your voice, please don't raise your voice!"
"If those murderous guys hear it, I won't be able to survive."
When Wu Zhi heard this, he stopped asking any more questions.
Because the expressions on the faces of these old men had already answered Wu Zhi's question from the side.
Wu Zhi looked at the old men, who looked sallow and skinny.
I can't help but feel that they are very pitiful.
At the same time, I also remembered a wise saying from later generations.
When the two countries are at war, those who suffer the most are not the innocent people of the two countries.
Wu Zhi shook his head helplessly.
Then he turned around and called Lu Zhishen.
"Brother Ruda, these people are also from poor backgrounds. I think they haven't had enough to eat for many days."
"We came here on this trip, and we still have a lot of military rations with us."
"If not, just give some to them."
Lu Zhishen nodded happily.
"The Sa family also has this intention, so I will go back and get some, and then distribute them to these elderly people."
The military rations that Wu Zhi and his party brought with them for this expedition were also thought up by Wu Zhi.
Its overall style is similar to the green onion tendon cakes sold by Wu Zhi in Yanggu County.
However, he added more pickled vegetables to the pancake based on the original scallion tendon pancake.
The excessive salt content can not only ensure that this kind of military ration will not go bad during long-term storage, but at the same time, it is a good choice for soldiers whether they chew it dry or soak it in soup.
When those old men received the gifts from Wu Zhi and others.
Even more excited, he bowed his head and bowed.
After all, in such an era of war and chaos, these foods, if used properly, can often save dozens of lives.
And what these old people need most at this time is undoubtedly these foods.
Because in such a sparsely populated place with frequent war disasters.
Even if you give the other party a thousand taels of silver notes and a thousand taels of gold, the other party will not be able to spend it.
And just when Wu Zhi and others were about to turn around and return to the camp.
In order to express gratitude to Wu Zhi and others for their kindness, these old men provided them with another piece of extremely important news.
Every morning, when it gets dark, soldiers from Jin and Liao will pass through Yanmen Pass.
Then he drove straight ahead and rushed to several state capitals behind Yanmen Pass, looting, killing, and setting fire to them.
Wu Zhi felt that this news was extremely valuable to them.
Because the main purpose of their trip was to show their integrity as soldiers of the Song Dynasty.
This further made the monarchs of Jin and Liao realize that although the current Song State has a weak military strength, it is still a force that cannot be underestimated if it rises up to resist.
In the end, the two countries gave up the strategic concept of using force to force the Song Dynasty and forcibly unite with it.
And if you want to scare the soldiers of Liao and Jin who have repeatedly violated the border, you must fight them head-on for a few times.
And the first few battles still have to be won.
Otherwise, this strategy of frightening the Jin and Liao countries would be completely bankrupt.
A prerequisite for winning a war is to anticipate the enemy's opportunity.
When Wu Zhi took Yang Zhi and Lu Zhishen back to the camp.
Then I told the two of them the above thoughts.
Although the two of them also very much agreed with Wu Zhi's idea.
However, differences occurred at the subsequent tactical execution level.
According to Lu Zhishen's thinking, whatever strategies or strategies are, they are all ingenious ways.