Datang New Order

The night in early autumn is extremely cool, the moon is like a silver plate, hanging in the sky of Yuguan, shedding silver brilliance, soaking the silent wasteland outside the pass.

Above the pass city, Zhou Zhiyu looked at the night, and said slowly: "Recently, the border crossings have been in emergency frequently, and the Khitans have harassed all over the pass along the border wall, and even once broke through Zhenyuan. If it was in the past, how could such a thing happen! "The governor Zhang Zaiji, the head of Zuoying Jiadu Li Chengzhong, and the secretary Cao Fengdao also went to the pass city to enjoy the moon with Zhou Zhiyu.The three of them sighed after hearing this.

Everyone was silent, and suddenly Zhang Zaiji chanted:

"Going out of Lulongsai in the east, the grand guest thinks of loneliness.

The pavilions are thousands of miles away, and the Han soldiers are still prepared.

The dust on the border rose to the north, and the captives drove to the south.

Turning to fight is not a long-term strategy, and getting married is not a long-term plan.

But in the past, General Li left the imperial capital according to the festival.

The general army swept the desert and captured Shanyu in one battle.

I am always grateful and willing to follow the example of Zonghengmo.

Leaning on the sword, whoever wants to speak, Guanhe is empty and gloomy. "

Li Chengzhong didn't understand, but he knew that the governor was reciting poems. Zhang Zaiji's recitation of poems was different from later generations' reciting. In the silent night, it spread far away, and it was very charming, and several people were fascinated by it.It was the first time for Li Chengzhong to hear a poem recited by Tang people. It was completely different from what he had imagined. Although he didn't understand it, he thought it was very pleasant. When Zhang Zaiji finished singing, he clapped his hands according to the custom of later generations, and said: "Your Majesty is good at writing and poetry!"

Zhang Zaiji turned his head to look at him, and said with a smile: "This is not written by someone, it was written by Gao Changshi during the first year of Kaiyuan. When he left Yingzhou in the east, he passed through Lulongsai on the north of Yuguan, leaving behind this The first "Stop".

Feng Dao knew that Zhou Zhiyu and Li Chengzhong were both warriors. He didn't know Zhou Zhiyu, but Li Chengzhong certainly didn't know the story inside, so he explained: "Gao Changshi was the Huainan Jiedu envoy and Jiannan Jiedu envoy in the Suzong Dynasty. Gao Gong, whose first name is Dafu, was a regular attendant of Marquis Zhongsan in Jue Bohai County. During the Kaiyuan period, Gao Gong composed this poem when he was traveling in Youji. "

Li Chengzhong suddenly said: "Is it Gao Shi who is as famous as Cen Shen? I have heard of this. His frontier poems are very famous!"

Both Zhang Zaiji and Feng Dao asked: "Li Yuheng also knew about Cen's participation in the army? I didn't expect Li Yuheng to dabble in Gao Gong's frontier poems, but which one is his favorite?"

Seeing that Zhou Zhiyu looked over curiously, Li Chengzhong panicked. He was not good at studying before crossing, especially in reciting and memorizing. It’s hard to remember a frontier poem that later generations can recite casually even with a junior high school education level, but they can’t remember whether it’s Gao Shi, so they can only say: “I remember one, um... Qinshimingyue Hanshiguan, the long march of thousands of miles The man has not been returned. But let the flying generals of Dragon City stay, and don't teach Huma to go to Yinshan Mountain."

Zhang Zaiji smiled and said nothing, Feng Dao interjected, "Li Yuhang has read this poem, it's rare! This poem is very good, and someone likes to read it too. I don't know if Li Yuhang has read other poems?"

Encouraged, Li Chengzhong couldn't help feeling a little complacent. Fuzhi thought of another song in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Grape wine luminous cup, if you want to drink the pipa, hurry up. Drunk lying on the battlefield Lord Mo Xiao, how many people have fought in ancient times!"

Zhang Zaiji and Feng Dao nodded to express their appreciation, so Li Chengzhong was a little bit elated, and he felt extremely proud that he could discuss poetry with Tang people.

When several people continued to walk along Guancheng, Zhou Zhiyu fell behind, and while Zhang Zaiji and Feng Dao were not paying attention, he slapped Li Chengzhong on the back of the head, and cursed in a low voice: "If you don't understand, you don't understand, what are you pretending to be! I have also heard these two songs, they are not written by Gao Changshi at all! How embarrassing to someone! Haha!" As he said that, he also laughed. …,

The four of them were walking and talking on the pass. Recently, Zhou, who was in a good mood, knew where Yuxing was, and his blood surged. He pointed to the outside of the pass and said loudly: "When a certain army is trained, we must raise troops to leave the pass. Sooner or later, we will recover this place. How can we tolerate this?" The people of our Han family are humiliated like this, how can we let the Khitan children run rampant!"

Li Chengzhong thought of something, and said: "A brother of mine was originally a commoner outside the customs, and he joined the camp after fleeing. He begged me to send troops to rescue the neighbors who were trapped outside the customs a few days ago. At that time, the autumn harvest was busy. I promised him that he would Considering this..."

Zhang Zaiji sighed: "In the past few months, tens of thousands of people have fled into the pass, but there are still more people who are still being humiliated by the Khitan people. We are officials in Pingzhou, but we have watched the people suffer. , It is extremely painful!"

Zhou Zhiyu thought for a while and asked, "Where are the people your brothers mentioned? If they are close, we can send someone to fetch them back."

Li Chengzhong said: "It said it was at White Wolf Mountain. I was busy with the autumn harvest at the time, so I didn't ask in detail. I'll go and call him here."

The brother Li Chengzhong mentioned was Liu Jinhou who had made great contributions in defending the city of Yuguan, and was promoted to the head of the gang and the deputy lieutenant of the army.When had Liu Jinhou seen such a big official? After he came to Guancheng, he panicked and couldn't stand up. Fortunately, Li Chengzhong quickly comforted him, so he calmed down and reported the matter.

Liu Jinhou lived at the foot of White Wolf Mountain. Like countless refugees outside the pass, under the plunder of the Khitans, Liu Jinhou's family fled into the pass in a panic.But there were still many people in the same village who did not take the Yuguan road at that time. They hid in the White Wolf Mountain, hoping to return home after the Khitans finished their robbing.Many people hid in Bailang Mountain, including Liu Jinhou's uncle, second uncle and other family members.However, the Khitan people did not leave after the robbing, and seemed determined to stay. Now that two months have passed, Liu Jinhou is very worried about whether his relatives and neighbors who fled into the mountains are still alive.Having said that, he burst into tears.

"About how many people are there?" Zhang Zaiji frowned and asked worriedly.

"It looks like there are 400 to [-] people...someone can't tell, it was too chaotic at that time..." Liu Jinhou said hastily.

Zhang Zaiji looked at Zhou Zhiyu, and Zhou Zhiyu looked at Li Chengzhong: "Li Yuheng... In your opinion, is it possible to leave the customs?"

Li Chengzhong said: "I've thought about it these days. The Khitans haven't knocked on the pass at the moment. They've been lingering by the White Wolf River, and they don't seem to have any intention of continuing to attack. It's just that it's fifty miles from Bailang Mountain to Yuguan, so they're afraid of retreating." If you are blocked by Khitans on the road, things will be very difficult."

Zhou Zhiyu said: "Then what do you think?"

Li Chengzhong gritted his teeth: "Although it is dangerous, I still want to try it. After all, it will cost hundreds of lives. Even if they are all dead, I will not give up until I see the corpse."

Zhou Zhiyu said: "Since that's the case, you will take Jiadu and Yidu to visit White Wolf Mountain early tomorrow morning. Be careful and bring the people over as soon as possible. As for Yuguan, you can rest assured that I am here."

After preparing overnight, Li Chengzhong led 180 people from Jiadu and Bdu and set off before dawn.When passing through the closed doorway, Li Chengzhong turned his head to look at Guanchengshang, where both Zhou Zhiyu and Zhang Zaiji waved to him.Li Chengzhong nodded, and took the first step towards Bailang Mountain, fifty miles northwest of Yuguan.

Feng Dao was by Li Chengzhong's side, and he insisted on going with him. According to him, he wanted to follow the example of Gao Changshi back then, and take this opportunity to see the customs and customs outside the pass.Li Chengzhong repeatedly emphasized the danger of this trip, but Feng Dao laughed it off. Li Chengzhong went to Zhang Zaiji, hoping that the governor would persuade Feng Dao, but Zhang Zaiji said: "It's good for young people to travel more. If you can't travel thousands of miles, how can you know the world?" What? Li Yuheng will take him with him."

The soldiers from the two capitals marched according to the formation led by Li Chengzhong when they returned from Weizhou to the north. The spearmen were in front, and the sword and shield soldiers were behind.Zhao Da was originally unwilling to lead troops, but Li Chengzhong specially compiled a group of auxiliary soldiers in Jiadu, and forced Zhao Da to lead them to do logistical matters, so Zhao Da could only be forced to drive ducks to the shelves and serve as A veritable boss. …,

Because the officers of the two capitals were all veterans of the former Jianju Battalion who accompanied Li Chengzhong to withdraw from Weizhou, they were very familiar with this method of marching, so the journey went smoothly, and there were no Khitans who hindered them. They were just on the road at noon. I saw a Khitan ride once.The Khitan cavalry followed for half an hour before disappearing from everyone's sight.At that time, the soldiers in both capitals were very nervous, but the officers were used to this. Under the scolding of these officers, all the soldiers maintained their formation and only accelerated their marching speed.

These soldiers are all young and strong who fled outside the customs. Before fleeing, they grew up among the white mountains and black waters, and they are very familiar with the road.Coupled with Liu Jinhou, a local who knows everything about Bailangshan and Bailangshui, when it was getting dark, the figure of Bailangshan finally appeared in front of him.A piece of reckless mountains, standing in the wilderness, looks extraordinarily ferocious.

At the foot of a mountain pass, Li Chengzhong signaled to rest for a while, and the soldiers of Jiadu and Yidu breathed a sigh of relief and dispersed one after another.At this time, the difference between the two soldiers appeared.A followed Li Chengzhong from Pingzhou to Yuguan, and did not sit down immediately after they dispersed. Instead, they shook hands and stretched their arms and legs, which seemed to be easy.Yidu was a little worse, and most of them fell to the ground panting.The two are compared, and the superior is judged.

Both Zhang Xingzhong and Zhou Paidao were a little embarrassed. Although Li Chengzhong didn't say anything, the two of them ran over to Jiang Miao and asked what the actions of the Jiadu soldiers meant.After getting Jiang Miao's definite answer, the two also yelled and pulled up the Yidu soldiers who were lying on the ground, and followed the example of the Jiadu soldiers to relax slowly.

After resting for a while, Li Chengzhong led the soldiers from the two capitals into the mountain pass, found a windy mountain pass, set up tents, pitched camps, and set up guard posts.After Zhao Da and the others prepared the food for the soldiers in Liangdu, everyone started to eat deliciously.Taking advantage of this time, General Li Cheng called Liu Jinhou over to discuss the route to the mountain tomorrow.

"One mile to the north along the mountain road, there is an old military village. When I was young, I used to go there to play. The military village is already dilapidated, but the houses are all dug into the mountain wall, and people can still live in it. It is estimated that if the villagers are here, they must be hiding there. It’s just that it’s not easy to travel in this mile, and the brothers will have to work harder tomorrow.” Liu Jinhou said.