Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 404 Yanmen veteran is coming

The twelfth year of Tianbao, the first month.

The Lantern Festival has passed, and Chang'an City must be bustling again. In Yanmen County, the sky and the earth are still covered with snow.

The sound of wild geese pierced the sky.

When spring comes, geese from the south fly north, holding reed leaves in their mouths. When they fly to Yanmen Mountain, they start to circle in the air until the reed leaves in their mouths fall. Therefore, the scene is said to be "Yanmen Mountain, with wild geese flying out of it".

A mountain facing Yanmen Mountain is called Longshan. The two mountains are intertwined with steep rock walls, and there is a road in the middle that is winding and rugged.

At the top, a majestic pass city stands, which is Yanmen Pass, known as "the first pass in the world".

That day, there was a man wrapped in a fur coat, driving his horse from the south to Yanmen. Only one eye was exposed from his whole body, and there were deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. There was a vicissitude and thoroughness left by the world in his eyes. As he got closer to the majestic Yanmen Pass, he began to recite a poem.

"Gaoshan Daijun is adjacent to Yan in the east, and the Hu family in Yanmen is close to it."

"Freeing the Hu Ying to chase away the birds, you can hunt the Akita on behalf of the horse."

"Okay." Xue Zhi said, "Since Commander Jie asked me about the situation at Yanmen Pass, I will tell you straight away. What I am more worried about now is not the Khitan, but Fan Yang."

"The wildfires on the mountaintops are burning in the cold, and the lonely peaks are wet and smokey in the rain."

The current military envoy of Datong and the guard general of Yanmen Pass are also descendants of Xue Rengui, the Duke of Pingyang County. He is Xue Zhi, the son of Xue Na Xue Dingshan and the brother of Xue Hui, the general of Zuojin Wuwei.

Brothers Xue Song and Xue Kui are very young, less than thirty years old. Xue Song had a short beard and was taciturn; Xue Kui was in his twenties and seemed more lively. He was the one who kept asking questions just now.

"General Xue knew about it," Cui Hao said, "Han Jieshuai was very worried about this and sent me to ask about the situation at Yanmen Pass."

Soon, Yan Weiyue took Cui Hao into Yanmen Pass and met Xue Zhi.

Xue Zhi then turned around and glanced at Cui Hao. He raised his eyelids with a look of surprise and nodded.

"I heard that there was no fighting in western Liaoning. There was no fighting in western Liaoning back then, but it's different now." Xue Zhi frowned and his eyes deepened.

The Han Jieshuai he called was Han Xiulin, who was now the governor of Hedong Province and the acting governor of the prefecture.

"Have you never heard of this? I should have told you to read more. Do you know who this person is? He passed the imperial examination at a young age and wrote the poem "Yellow Crane Tower". Li Bai once wrote for it and wrote, "Before you There is a sentiment that Cui Hao wrote a poem on it."

"General, you are exaggerating." Cui Hao waved his hands repeatedly and said, "This matter is just nonsense spoken by the world, and it cannot be taken seriously. It cannot be taken seriously."

"Cui Shenjun, please come this way."

The high-pitched sound of the poem reached Guancheng. A guard poked his head out from the wall and shouted: "Who is coming?!"

Cui Hao didn't wait for the old general to chant, and asked first: "I haven't asked the general about his name yet."

The man pulled off the scarf wrapped around his face, revealing an old face. Between the traces of time, it could still be seen from his skin that he was born into a wealthy family and must have been extremely handsome when he was young.

"Let me first ask Cui Canjun, why is Commander Ji worried about the situation at Yanmen Pass?"

"When I heard that there was no fighting in western Liaoning, I often slept in restaurants drunkenly."

Cui Hao smiled and said: "It's because I arrived at Yanmen Pass first."

One of the veteran generals at the head squinted his eyes, sometimes bringing the document closer, sometimes pulling it away, looking at it for a while, muttering "to supervise the censor to serve under the governor of Daizhou" and then laughed loudly: "That's Cui Hao, let me Cui Hao who wrote Li Bai."

"General Yan, what do you mean?" asked a young general.

The Yanmen closed and the soldier withdrew his head. After a while, a general wearing a helmet poked his head out and asked, "But Cui Hao, who is 'the number one in the Seven Laws of the Tang Dynasty'?"

"no!"

"In the fourth year of Kaiyuan, nine Turkic tribes including Tongluo and Ba Yigu surrendered to the Tang Dynasty because they could not bear the tyranny of Mochu Khan. The imperial court was happy to accept them, but was also worried that they would rebel in the future, so they split them up and organized Among the armies in Hedong, the Hengye Army took over five tribes. The leaders of the five Turkic tribes were respectively awarded the front, rear, left and right attack ambassadors, stationed in Yuzhou and guarding Feihukou."

Where are Yuzhou and Feihukou? It is one of the eight peaks in Taihang Mountain and is the main road connecting Hedong and Fanyang.

"what for?"

"I'm Yan Weiyue, the deputy general of the Datong Army." The old general said, pointing to the two young generals behind him, and said: "Xue Song and Xue Kui, they are two brothers, both are Pingyang County Dukes of Three Arrows Dingtian Mountain. after."

Cui Hao had never thought about this issue before. Now his eyes fell on the map, and he realized the importance of the Hengye Army Station.

Xue Zhi asked: "Why doesn't Commander Jies send an old soldier here who is familiar with the roads?"

Xue Zhi was standing on the tower in the north and looking out. Cui Hao could only see the vast mountains and rivers and the silence of heaven and earth. He didn't quite understand what Xue Zhi was looking at.

Cui Hao was stunned and said: "Of course it's because of the Khitan's move south."

"Daizhou Governor's Office registered affairs and joined the army." He raised his head, reported his official position, and called out his name, "Cui Hao!"

Cui Hao responded decisively and laughed loudly: "Just an ordinary Cui Hao."

After Xue Zhi was silent for a while, he pointed to the northwest direction of Yanmen Pass on the map, where the Hengye Army was stationed and the junction between Hedong and Fanyang Roads.

"What kind of poem is Cui Gong's "Yellow Crane Tower"?" the young general asked again.

When Cui Hao heard that he seemed to be looking down upon himself, he looked stern and said: "I am just an old soldier who is familiar with the road. During the Kaiyuan Dynasty, Du wanted Duke Du to be appointed as the governor of Daizhou, so I served as his curtain. The song "Song of Yanmen Barbarians" was composed at that time."

Cui Hao cupped his fists and said: "I was born in the Cui family of Boling. I was admitted to the imperial examination at a young age and have little reputation for poetry. Everyone in the world regards me as a scholar and a refined guest. They call me a frivolous name and don't believe that I can make a difference as an official. But I He has been traveling in frontier fortresses for many years and experienced military service. He can really be called an 'old soldier'. Can General Xue be trusted?"

He is about fifty years old, with a handsome temperament. Although he does not put on an expression, he still has a spring-like smile.

"I received a report that Khitan troops were marching south. Is Cui Shenjun here for this matter?"

After a while, the city gate was opened, and several generals came out to check Cui Hao's official status.

There is a map on the table in the city tower, which roughly outlines the garrison areas of several armies in Hedong.

Xue Zhi led Cui Hao to the map, raised his finger and pointed, saying: "To the north of Yanmen, there are Hengye Army, Kelan Army, and Yunzhong Shouchu. Even if the Khitan went south, Yanmen Pass would not be the first to bear the brunt. Why didn't Commander Jie ask these troops instead of asking me?"

Xue Zhi added: "In recent years, several things have happened in the imperial court. The leader of the Tongluo tribe, called 'Abu Si' or 'Li Xianzhong', defected. Before that, An Lushan requested several times to bring Abu Si's The tribe moved to Fanyang; in addition, An Lushan also killed the Turkic Zuoxian King Gejie who refused to obey his orders, and reorganized Gejie's tribe."

"What does General Xue mean?"

"The reason why An Lushan cares so much about the surrendered Turkic tribes, what do you think his purpose is?"

"The Hengye Army?" Cui Hao thought for a while and said, "But the Hengye Army belongs to the Hedong Jiedu. How can An Lushan, as Fanyang Jiedu, interfere?"

Xue Zhidao said: "It is difficult to supply materials in the Taihang Mountains. There are many troops on the east side of Hedong, and the imperial court has a heavy burden. Therefore, it has been encouraged to farm fields and salt to make the soldiers and horses in Hedong self-sufficient. Among them, there are one camp in Lanzhou, five villages in Puzhou, and Yunzhou Thirty-seven Tuns, Datong Army’s Forty-Two Tuns, Hengye Army’s Forty-two Tuns, Hengye Army’s scale has always been the largest, and they also make native salt.”

"Earth salt?"

"The so-called soil salt is to extract crude salt from the salted river bed. The Hengye Army Salt Farm is quite effective. A salt soldier can collect up to 1,500 shi of salt a year." Xue Zhi said: "With these important supplies, the Hengye Army has always had close trade relations with the Turks, Khitan tribes, and Fan Yang."

Cui Hao said: "General Xue, why don't you just tell me what you are worried about?"

Xue Zhi pondered and said: "The news from Fan Yang has been saying that the Khitan will be destroyed soon, but just after the New Year, Khitan troops went south. Why?"

"Perhaps they were beaten by Fan Yang's army and lost their cattle and sheep. They wanted to take advantage of the beginning of spring to come and rob them."

"The Queen of Autumn is not coming, but she is coming at this time?" Xue Zhi shook his head.

At this point, his meaning was already obvious.

Although Cui Hao kept asking questions, he was actually a very smart person and had already understood.

"What I'm worried about is that if An Lushan rebels and bribes the Hengye Army and colludes with the Khitan, he can easily occupy Hedong by force." Xue Zhi still said it bluntly.

"Is this... possible?"

"Han Jieshuai sent you to ask, don't you have any guesses?"

"All this is just speculation by General Xue." Cui Hao said: "Is there any evidence?"

"No." Xue Zhi said, "What I said is just a guess."

Cui Hao was speechless for a long time and turned to look north again. This time he finally understood what Xue Zhi was looking at just now.

In the vast mountains and rivers, it turns out that there are so many dangers.

"General Xue." At the end, Cui Hao clasped his fists and said, "The general believed in me as soon as we met, and I also believed in the general. So I went back to General Han Jieshuai and asked him to send troops to help the general guard Yanmen."

Xue Zhi sighed slightly and nodded.

So Cui Hao rested for the night at Yanmen Pass and rode back to Daizhou the next day.

~~
Yanmen Pass still stands there, and occasionally you can hear a few wild geese chirping in the air.

Xue Kui stood on the city wall, looking at Cui Hao's back from a distance, and said regretfully: "Then the great poet just left like this? He didn't leave a single poem."

"You don't read, why do you listen to poetry?"

"General Yan likes poetry. If Cui Hao could write a poem for General Yan, he would be so happy." Xue Kui said.

He didn't notice that Yan Weiyue had already walked up to him, and said with emotion in an old voice: "I can see Cui Hao once, which is enough to comfort me for the rest of my life. Why do I need any more poems?"

"Eh." Xue Kui said, "General Yan used to say that meeting Li Bai would be a life-long comfort, but now he has become Cui Hao."

"That's not because..."

"I know, because Cui Hao wrote poems on it, and he is more powerful than Li Bai."

Yan Weiyue chuckled and said in his heart: "That's not because it is impossible to see Li Bai."

At his age, staying here at Yanmen Pass, he never thought that he would never have the chance to meet Shixian in this life, so he would be content to meet Cui Hao.

"By the way, where is your brother?"

Xue Kui said: "I went to get the letter from my family. The post envoy can be considered as delivering the letter from my family."

Speaking of letters from home, Yan Weiyue's face darkened and he felt a little unhappy.

Xue Kui rolled his eyes when he saw it, and finally couldn't help but want to tell Yan Weiyue a piece of news.

"General, do you remember that I told you that one of my brothers also has a great poet."

"Well, you are so boastful. Why don't you plow our farmland?"

"Really!" Xue Kui said, "My brother wrote a letter before, saying that Xue Bai, who is famous all over the world, is the lost Liu Lang of our family."

Yan Weiyue obviously didn't believe it. He smiled, stroked his white beard that was blown by the wind, and said, "Blow, keep blowing."

"I didn't brag."

"I mean the wind, the wind blows."

"Really." Xue Kui said anxiously: "Brother also wrote to Qi Lang, saying that there was a General Yan in Yanmen Pass who had no children and only liked poetry. Please ask Qi Lang to let Xue Bai write a poem to General Yan Poetry!"

"Hahaha."

Yan Weiyue laughed and did not take Xue Kui's words seriously. Because although the Xue brothers can be regarded as the successors of Xue Rengui, it is a pity that they have an incompetent grandfather who gambles excessively and ends up being disgusted by his relatives.

With such a family background, how could he be a relative of a world-famous poet?

"General, don't laugh. My brother will be back soon. You'll know when you see him."

"Okay, okay, I believe you." Yan Weiyue smiled and said, "But I don't like Xue Bai's poems. I only like Li Bai's poems. Maybe you can ask Li Bai to write a poem for me?"

"Hey, you..."

Xue Kui was finally tickled to the point of jumping up and down, and was about to swear, when he saw Xue Song finally boarding the tower with a huff.

"Brother!"

"Shichiro has a letter!"

Xue Song used to be a serious person, but now he rarely showed joy. Especially after seeing Yan Weiyue, he even showed off his two rows of big teeth.

"General, my brother asked someone to write a poem for you. Take a look!"

Yan Weiyue was stunned.

He didn't believe in Xue Kui, but he believed in Xue Song. Only then did he realize that the two brothers really knew Xue Bai and had actually asked the world-famous poet to write a poem for him. He couldn't help but feel excited and trembled in his heart.

"Really?"

"look!"

An envelope has been handed to Yan Weiyue's hand.

He felt ecstatic and was about to open the envelope.

"Woo——"

Suddenly, the long trumpet sound broke the boring military life of Yanmen.

Everyone turned to look north and saw a line of wolf smoke rising into the sky from a high mountain in the distance, and then another line of wolf smoke even closer.

"Enemy attack!"

"Light up the smoke!"

The horn sounded louder, and soon, Xue Zhi was already on the battlefield wearing armor.

Yan Weiyue didn't care to read it, kept the letter in his arms, shouted, and ordered the Yanmen Pass defenders to assemble.

Following the sound of heavy footsteps and the clanking of armor, groups of Tang troops stood on the battlements, holding on to their armor, bows and arrows, and ready to fight. Busy and busy, at noon, the enemy in the distance gradually approached. With smoke and dust flying and horses neighing loudly, groups of knights rushed into the sight of the Tang army. They wore fur coats, had their hair braided, held scimitars and bows and arrows, and shouted wildly.

"Khitan!"

"Eating dog intestines, how did the Khitans get to Yanmen Pass?! Where is the Kelan Army?!"

"Have the Kelan Army been completely wiped out?!"

"..."

The generals of the Tang army simply could not understand why the Khitans were able to send such magical weapons from the sky, so their military morale was greatly shaken.

What surprised them even more was that the Khitan's military strength far exceeded their expectations. The smoke and dust never fell again since it was raised. The cavalry came in an endless stream, stretching to the horizon with no end in sight.

Yan Weiyue was shocked.

He had been in the frontier army all his life and had fought against Turks, Khitans, and Xidu, but he had never seen these grassland tribes attack Yanmen Pass.

The sound of horns and drums continued one after another, and both sides adjusted and faced each other.

The spring sun was bright, shining brightly on the armor of the soldiers.

Yan Weiyue made arrangements properly. Seeing that the Khitans had not yet begun to attack the city, he kept telling himself to calm down. Only then did he remember that there was a letter in his arms.

He sat down with his back against the battlement, took out the letter, and opened it, his fingers trembling inexplicably during the process.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

Arrows flew over his head.

"Fire arrows!" he shouted, thinking that war was on and this was not the time to read letters.

Just as he was about to put it away, his eyes were involuntarily attracted to the poem.

The poem is called "The Journey of the Veteran General at Yanmen", and the first sentence describes the current critical atmosphere of the Khitan army approaching the territory and approaching the city.

"Dark clouds are pressing down on the city to destroy it, and the armor's light is shining towards the golden scales of the sun."

"The sound of the trumpet fills the autumn sky, and the night is purple when stuffed with swallow fat."

Yan Weiyue stood there stunned, his eyes seeming to see the entire battlefield through the letter paper.

He thought to himself that this poem was better than Cui Hao's "Song of Yanmen Huren", and it was given to him, and he couldn't help but feel infinite satisfaction in his heart.

"A half-rolled red flag is near the Yishui River. The frost is heavy and the drums are cold but the sound cannot be heard."

"Report your favor on the golden stage, support the Jade Dragon and die for you."

After carefully reading the following verses word for word, Yan Weiyue grinned, laughed, solemnly put the letter away, stood up and roared.

At this moment, poetry and fighting spirit burst out in his heart at the same time.

The poems of the Tang Dynasty, especially the frontier poems of the Tang Dynasty, entrust the endless heroic dreams of the upright men in this magnificent era.

"Boys! Kill the enemy!"

~~
~~
The battle at Yanmen Pass came suddenly. The Khitans were strong and suddenly attacked the city, leaving the defenders at the city gate somewhat overwhelmed.

The battle lasted for three days, and Xue Zhi's face became increasingly ugly and worried.

That day, after the Khitans called for gold and retreated their troops, he summoned Yan Weiyue and said in a gloomy tone: "If there are no more reinforcements, Yanmen Pass may not be able to be defended."

"General, why?"

"Haven't you seen it yet?" Xue Zhi looked at the Khitan camp from the city tower and said, "How can a mere Khitan have such an offensive? Then there is the Hengye Army among them."

"How is that possible?!"

Yan Weiyue rushed to the tower and looked around, trying to see clearly the truth hidden in the darkness, but all he saw was a little firelight.

He quickly believed Xue Zhi's judgment and said: "If it's the Hengye Army, is it the Turks who rebelled? Who will rebel? Abu Si or... An Lushan?"

Xue Zhi did not answer, but said: "The reinforcements from Daizhou have not arrived yet, so please send someone to urge them."

"Here!"

Before Yan Weiyue turned around, he thought of something, took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Xue Zhi.

"General, please take a look. This is the poem Xue Bai gave me."

"Oh?"

Although the situation was critical, Xue Zhi showed a calm smile, took the letter, and read the poem on the paper softly.

He seemed to be lost in thought, and it took him a while to notice that Yan Weiyue was still in the tower, and said, "General Yan, could you give me this piece of paper?"

"That's...ok."

Xue Zhi was not polite and left the letter paper. He lowered his head and looked at the beautiful regular script on the paper and murmured: "Xue Bai?"

He turned around and returned to the living room, took out a few letters from the cabinet, opened them, and looked at the handwriting on them, secretly thinking that Yan Weiyue was not lying, and he really got the poem written by Xue Bai.

After that, he rummaged for a while and muttered seven words.

"The military envoy from Yunzhong is a rare king."

~~
Yan Weiyue originally just wanted to show off, but he didn't expect to lose the poem he finally got.

He put his hand into his helmet and scratched his thin hair, walked out of the tower with two steps and turned back, took a deep breath, and calmed down.

"It doesn't matter, the poem was written for me...Xue Kui!"

"exist!"

"You go to Daizhou and urge Commander Han to send troops."

"General, let others go. I want to follow my brother."

"This is a military order! Who allowed you to talk? Get out!"

"Here!"

Xue Kui looked back at Xue Song, not daring to stay, and hurriedly ran down the city wall, pulled two war horses, opened the south gate and ran out of Yanmen Gate, straight to Daizhou.

The sound of horse hoofbeats gradually faded away. Xue Song turned around, solemnly saluted Yan Weiyue and said, "Thank you, general."

"This battle is not easy to fight."

……

As if to confirm Yan Weiyue's sentiments, the Khitan army attacked even more fiercely the next day. They seemed to have endless bows, arrows and ladders, which made the Tang army almost fall several times.

Fortunately, Xue Zhi's command was good and he was able to defend the enemy with great danger.

The fierce battle continued into the evening. Just when the Tang army was looking forward to hearing the golden sound of the Khitan people in order to survive this difficult day, suddenly the sound of horns came from the south.

"what is that?!"

The soldiers looked back to the south and saw a troop of soldiers and horses heading this way on the rugged mountain road.

A red Tang Army flag fluttered in the wind.

When we got closer, we saw the words "Tang Hedong Jiedu Envoy" written on it.

"Reinforcements are coming!"

Cheers spread quickly, and the soldiers with their faces covered in blood smiled.

Xue Zhi also strode to the southern city wall and looked around, trying to find Han Xiulin and Cui Hao in the team.

The first to arrive were several generals under Han Xiulin. They opened the city gate, rode in, and shouted: "Open the north gate and let us kill the enemy."

"You sons of Yanmen! Let's see how we defeat the Khitan Dog!"

The soldiers and horses from Daizhou soon lined up behind the city gate, ready to rush out of the city to kill the exhausted Khitan soldiers at any time.

"Hahaha!" The Yanmen defenders laughed.

In joy, without waiting for Xue Zhi's instructions, someone had already opened the north gate.

At this time, a sudden change occurred.

Xue Zhi was coming down from the top of the city and asked Han Jiedu if he had personally led his troops. Suddenly, a sharp arrow shot at him from the city.

"puff."

The arrow shot through the gray armor and penetrated Xue Zhi's left chest, causing blood to spatter out.

At the same time, before the Yanmen defenders could react, the high-raised butcher knife had suddenly slashed down on their necks.

One moment, they were immersed in the joy of the arrival of reinforcements, and the next moment they had become prey under the knife of their "comrades". They were chopped down in a pool of blood in disbelief, anger and sadness, and their bodies were trampled by horse hooves. .

"kill!"

Several Xiao generals drove their horses out from the Daizhou army and gave orders in fierce tones.

"Destroy them all! Leave no one alive!"

"Zha Jue! Sha Jue!"

Xue Zhi was shot by a sharp arrow and fell to the stone steps. He stared wide-eyed in shock and anger, and suddenly recognized those people.

An Shouzhong, Cai Xide, He Qianqian... were all generals under An Lushan.

In an instant, Xue Zhi understood what was going on.

~~
It must have been that An Lushan had arrived in Daizhou and had unexpectedly replaced Han Xiulin. Only then was it possible to mobilize troops and horses from the south to Yanmen Pass.

As for the Khitan army in the north, Xue Zhi had long guessed that An Lushan had united the Khitan people and sent Hengye troops to lure them to attack.

~~
"An... An Lushan... rebelled!" Xue Zhi shouted.

But the arrow hurt his heart and left him speechless. He had no choice but to stand up and run up the stone steps with difficulty.

Arrows kept shooting at him. At the same time, the rebels had already climbed up the stone steps. In the chaos, someone rushed forward to protect him.

"General!"

Xue Zhi took a quick look and saw that it was Yan Weiyue. He hurriedly said: "An Lushan rebels... you take people to... Yunzhong to capture him."

"General, let's go."

Yan Weiyue looked around and saw that Yanmen Pass was surrounded by a flanking attack.

He could only hope to take advantage of the darkness of the night to see if he could take Xue Zhi away from the steep mountains in the east and west.

"Xue Song, you are good at climbing. Come drag the general with you."

"Leave me alone." Xue Zhi urged: "Tell Wang Ranran... to find Shuo Fang... Guo Ziyi, go... this is a military order!"

As he spoke, he reached into his arms and finally fumbled for a letter with his bloody hands.

That was a poem Xue Bai wrote to Yan Weiyue. He knew that Yan Weiyue loved poetry, and he must not take away from others' favor. I didn't want to stay in the first place, but I didn't expect that it would be defeated so soon.

"Take it."

Xue Zhi pushed Yan Weiyue away and walked towards the soldiers on the top of the city, trying to organize a defense.

If others can escape today, Xue Zhi must not be able to escape.

Because his grandson is Xue Rengui from Sanjian Dingtian Mountain, and his grandpa is Xue Ne who repeatedly defeated Turks and Tubo. He inherited his father's surname and would never dare to insult it.

After coughing up two mouthfuls of blood, Xue Zhi used his last strength to shout: "My sons! Follow me to kill the enemy!"

This is what his grandfather Xue Ne would shout every time he goes into battle.

These seven simple words contain the loyalty of three generations of the Xue family to the Tang Dynasty and their compassion for the soldiers.

But this time, Xue Zhi had more words to inspire his soldiers.

He thought of Tang Dynasty's kindness to the Xue family and murmured a poem in his heart.

"Report your favor on the golden stage, support the Jade Dragon and die for you."

~~
"Kill!"

Xue Zhi responded with fierce roars from the rebels.

The anti-soldiers were numerous and overwhelming, lapping at this majestic Guancheng like a tidal wave.

In this battle, the defenders were defeated and blood was shed on Yanmen...

(End of this chapter)