From Pingyang to the west via Jiezhou, Puzhou can reach Tongguan. After passing Tongguan, it is the boundary of Shaanxi.
Tongguan has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. Whether it is to seize the world or defend the world, Tongguan is crucial.
The Qing government continued to fortify the ancient city of Tongguan in the Ming Dynasty, repaired and built many new facilities, and established Tongguan County directly here. During the Qianlong period, it was renamed Tongguan Hall and was under the jurisdiction of Tongshang Road Tongzhou Prefecture in Shaanxi Province.
It started to snow on the way from Puzhou to Tongguan. When we arrived at Tongguan, the snow became heavier and heavier, and even goose feathers are not enough to describe it.
Of course, it was impossible to camp outside in such weather. Fortunately, there were many vacant barracks in Tongguan City, and the Eight Banners troops quickly settled in under the arrangements of local officials.
The Zhenglan Banner of the Han Army was allocated four rooms, all of which were similar to carriage shops. Each room could accommodate twenty or thirty people.
After Jia Liu assigned the rooms, he asked people to light charcoal fires for heating in each room. When he was paying attention to ventilation matters, someone came to notify the foremans of each banner to gather at the team leader's place.
Meeting?!
Jia Liu, who was very awakened, quickly asked Chang Bingzhong to help arrange the crowd, while he trotted all the way to "listen" to Mr. Ah's speech, so that he could grasp the spirit of his superiors in time, so that he could implement it as quickly as possible and be flexible.
When we arrived, we were told that due to the heavy snowfall in Shaanxi, roads in many places were blocked by snow. Although local officials had organized civilians to clear the snow, I was afraid that the team would not be able to move in the past two days.
"This is a bad thing and a good thing."
Alan Bao said these words, and then told the foremans of each banner to restrain their subordinates from going out to cause trouble as before, and then signaled everyone to go back, leaving Jia Liu alone.
This made the other seven foremen who left very jealous of Jia Liu, and of course they also hated him with itch.
"Excuse me, sir!"
Jia Liu took out a snuff bottle to light a fire for his leader, but Alan Bao waved his hand to indicate that he would not use it. Then he took out a snuff bottle and put it between his nose, sniffing it fiercely, showing a satisfied look on his face.
This action reminded Jia Liu of a joke he had heard in his previous life about Uncle Yu smoking and feeling bored.
After taking a few breaths to reflect on his thoughts, Alan Baogang sat down, and then looked at Jia Liu with a smile: "I heard that you got first-class results in the three exams for Tang A. It's not bad. I read you right. You are really talented.
."
If you want to talk about other things, Jia Liu won't be the first to mention it, but this Jia Liu suddenly became energetic, with a humble look on his face: "I'm just lucky, I don't dare to praise you as an adult!"
"How can you have good luck without real ability?"
Alan Bao put the snuff bottle on the table and tapped his right index finger on the table. "Well, there's nothing to do anyway. You can take someone to get some game. I'll have two drinks with Mr. Gui and the others tonight."
"Ah?...嗻!"
When Jia Liu came out, he served Alan Bao's mother: "It's snowing heavily and you asked the young master to get game. You might as well just let the young master get you."
Helpless, the rank of official is overwhelming, not to mention that Captain Jia is not an official yet.
I was thinking that there might be game sellers in Tongguan City, so I wanted to spend money to buy some. But when I went out and saw that no matter what the shops on the street were selling, they were all closed.
Is this due to the heavy snow or the Eight Banners soldiers?
Jia Liu couldn't make up his mind. In order to complete the tasks assigned by his leader, he had no choice but to go back and drag Zu Yingyuan and Chang Bingzhong together, and then took two teams of Su La out of the city to hunt.
Tongguan is a place with mountains and peaks, and there is definitely no shortage of game.
As soon as they heard that they were going hunting, Chang Bingzhong and the others were very motivated. After marching for days, their eggs were almost falling apart, and they were eager to go out and do some activities.
Zu Yingyuan reminded Jia Liu that it was okay to go hunting in the mountains, but they were not familiar with the terrain, so they had to find a local as a guide to avoid getting lost in the mountains.
Jia Liuyi thought that this matter was very important, so he asked Zu Yingyuan to find a guide.
After a while, the person was found.
He was the son of a family near the military camp. He usually went to the mountains to cut firewood, make traps, catch some game, and come back to beat the teeth for sacrifice.
The traveling fee is not much, only thirty coppers.
Jia Liu happily threw a silver bean weighing three or four yuan to the boy named Hu. This was his habit in his previous life - whenever he asked someone to do something, he must give him an extra pack of cigarettes or more than his salary.
If you are 30 or 50, this will greatly increase the enthusiasm of the other party to work, and guarantee the work and quantity, without wasting any effort, and sometimes it can save you money.
Just like that, Jia Liu and his entourage rode six horses and led two teams of Su La out of the city in a mighty manner.
He didn't think much of it in Tongguan City. When he reached the surrounding mountains and looked down from a high place, Jia Liu finally realized the importance of Tongguan.
This place is extremely dangerous!
The valleys are deep and the cliffs are steep, the mountains are high and the roads are narrow. The only accessible road is the narrow path they came from, which can only accommodate one car and one horse.
No wonder when I entered the city earlier, I saw the "First Pass" inscribed by Qianlong hanging on the city gate, because the road to the world ends at Tongguan Pass.
There must not be much game in the mountains and forests near Tongguan City, so if you want to catch game, you have to go deeper.
The further they walked, the more frightened Jia Liu became. If it hadn't been for a guide, they might have gotten lost or even frozen to death in this hellish place.
Soon, Jia Liu and the others found their first target ahead - a pheasant with its head buried in the snow.
"I come!"
Zu Yingyuan jumped over the crowd, bent his bow and arrow, and hit the pheasant with a "whoosh" arrow.
The pheasant that was hit by the arrow flew and fluttered for a while, and finally landed under a pine tree. Su La walked over and lifted it up. It was estimated to be five or six pounds.
Jia Liu looked at Zu Yingyuan with admiration. No wonder this boy spoke so arrogantly, he was indeed quite capable.
Nothing was discovered after that. After the group led by the guide surnamed Hu and walked through the dense forest for about two or three miles, their vision suddenly opened up and turned out to be a valley sunken into the mountains.
The surrounding peaks are covered with white snow, and the valley is also completely white, which makes people feel relaxed and relaxed.
Jia Liu was also attracted by the beautiful scenery in front of him. After leaving his horse to Yang Zhi, he slid down the hillside first. When he reached the valley, he grabbed a ball of snow and threw it at Chang Bingzhong who was sliding down next.
Not to be outdone, Chang Bingzhong immediately grabbed the snowball and fought back, just like he did when he was a child.
When Zu Yingyuan and Wang Fu came down with the Su La people, they saw what was happening and joined in the snow fight. They had a great time and looked at the guide surnamed Hu in a daze. They didn't understand why these Eight Banners soldiers acted like children.
"Okay, let's get down to business,"
Jia Liu stuffed a big snowball rolled up by Yang Zhi into Wang Fu's neck, decisively ended the war, picked up a handful of snow from the ground and wiped it on his face with a smile on his face.
I felt cold before, but now my hands and face feel a little warm.
The guide surnamed Hu came over and said: "Master Jun, there are many wild animals in the area ahead. If you are lucky, you may be able to hit a wild boar."
"If I can get a wild boar, I'll reward you with one or two more!"
Jia Liu laughed and took off his big bow from the horse. Just as he was about to walk forward, he heard Yang Zhi behind him exclaim: "Master, at your feet!"
This scream startled Jia Liu. He jumped into the air and almost slipped when he landed. He looked towards the place where he was standing before, and his heart skipped a beat. It turned out that there was a skeleton in the snow.
“It’s available here too!”
"I have one here too!"
"..."
Everyone was horrified because they found a lot of dead bones under the snow. Many of them had long been weathered and had become extremely strong due to freezing.
"Where is this place, why are there so many dead people's bones!"
Zu Yingyuan grabbed the guide named Hu, and the two older Su La also stepped forward to prevent the guide from getting violent and hurting others.
"Master Jun, this place was originally called the Valley of Thieves..."
The guide surnamed Hu was also frightened and quickly explained that more than a hundred years ago, Li Zicheng's Dashun army confronted the Qing army in Tongguan. The two sides fought here for many days and many people died.
Later, a general named Ma under Li Zicheng pretended to surrender to the Qing soldiers, but the commander of the Qing soldiers, the prince, found out. The prince led the Qing soldiers to attack first, and killed the general named Ma and seven thousand of his subordinates.
Everyone was ambushed and killed.
"Those who died before, plus those who were killed later, there were too many people who died. There was no place to dig holes in the mountains and forests all around, so the Qing soldiers put all the corpses in this mountain stream...more than a hundred
In fact, there isn’t much left at the end of the year. We’ve been playing here since we were little, so I don’t think there’s anything to be afraid of…”
After the guide surnamed Hu finished speaking, he stood there cautiously, not daring to move, for fear that the Eight Banners Army Master would turn him into another withered skeleton if he became unhappy.
"Captain Jia, it seems that something like this happened."
Zu Yingyuan said in a low voice.
Jia Liu said nothing, looking around at the snow-covered valley. He suddenly squatted down and used a knife to cut away the surrounding snow, revealing two leg bones that looked like white sticks, one of which had an arrowhead stuck in it.
When the arrow was pulled out, the frozen leg bone made a light crunching sound and broke into two pieces.
"Master?"
Yang Zhi didn't know what the young master was looking at when he stared at the rusty arrow.
There seemed to be a flag fused with the soil at Zu Yingyuan's feet.
Whether it is mud or a flag, I can't tell.
Jia Liu watched quietly, as if he suddenly saw the scene of the peasant army soldiers rushing towards the Tatar camp more than a hundred years ago.
"Kill!"
The valley echoed with the unyielding cries of the old Qin people...
...........
Time travels, now a hundred years have passed, and the heroes of the past have become the bones that no one cares about in the deserted valley.
A group of descendants of the Han people with their pigtails standing on the battlefield where their ancestors fought back.
What does this feel like?
Jia Liu didn't know, he just silently put the arrow into his pocket and said to everyone looking at him: "Let's go."
Just as he was about to turn around, there was a "swish" sound, and a sharp arrow sank into the snow less than a foot away from Jia Liu.
The feathers on the arrow tail were still vibrating violently.
"Master!"
Yang Zhi was so frightened that he stepped forward and stretched out his hands to block Jia Liu. Zu Yingyuan and the others also changed their expressions and went to get their weapons.
But it was too late, dozens of people on horseback rushed towards them in the valley to the north!
However, the knights on the horses did not shoot any more arrows, nor did they rush into the Han army Zhenglan Banner's group. They just circled around them and then reined in their horses and stopped.
"Who is Guiziliu!"
A very young-looking man from the Eight Banners of Manchuria stood on a horse and pointed his whip contemptuously at the Zhenglan Banners of the Han Army who were surrounded by them.
"I am."
Jia Liu looked at the flags full of flags, then looked at the arrow he just pulled out from the ground, and handed the arrow directly to the flags full of flags.
"Is this arrow yours?"
"Hmph, remember, my slave is also the master of you Han army! For the sake of the leader, I will spare you this time. Next time, I will kill you with one arrow!"
The man who was full of flags, as if no one was around, reined in his horse and whipped it away.
"drive!"
"Drive!"
Dozens of Manchu and Mongolian disciples followed that man, including Hong Chengchou's great-grandson Hong Jiadebiao who was carried into Manchuria's Zhenghuang Banner.
As the sound of hoofbeats receded, countless hoofprints appeared on the valley floor, as well as countless bones of Dashun soldiers who had been stirred out of the snow.
"Master?"
Yang Zhi stared blankly. He knew that this was someone who came to warn the young master. Who told the young master to do such immoral things?
"It's okay, let's go hunting!"
Jia Liu didn't take this matter to heart at all, but he still had a smile on his face.
But after getting on the horse, he still turned his head and glanced at the Manmeng disciples who were walking away. The smile on his face solidified little by little, and finally disappeared.