Chapter 3 Qingshan Pass

The other two boys on the carriage were named Li Yu and Li Shan. They were only eleven or twelve years old. They were able to become apprentices because their families were richer than Li Yan's. There were only twelve or thirteen families in their village, and the three boys were quite familiar with each other. As the scenery on the roadside continued to change, the boys' temperaments began to show, and their slowly depressed moods were replaced by the freshness brought by the scenery flashing by the roadside. The two began to talk. As the scenery on the roadside continued to change, Li Yu and Li Shan gradually became excited, and their moods began to heat up like the increasingly warm sunshine in the sky. They began to look forward to the future and kept talking loudly.

Li Yan basically remained silent, only occasionally responding or agreeing with some of their topics. His mind was in a mess, with all kinds of thoughts coming to his mind. He considered the future and his family, and finally made up his mind, "I must work hard this time and earn more money. I will build two large courtyards when I return to the village. One is for my third brother, so that he can marry a wife; the other is for me and my parents to live in, so that the two elders can live a good life; during the New Year and other holidays, I will also bring my three sisters back, so that the family will be reunited and never be separated again."

This is a manifestation of the young man's mentality. He only considered his third brother marrying a wife, but he lived alone with the two elders, without considering that if that happened, he would have to start a family independently. He was still confused by all kinds of thoughts.

On the way, Li Guoxin found an opportunity to whisper to Li Yan, telling him that he should perform well after joining the army and strive to win the favor of the superiors in the army, so that he might be assigned to a better barracks, and the guards might also participate in the task of defending the city. Of course, he just said that there might be a possibility, but basically there would be no possibility. These are the considerations for reminding Li Yan, but they are afraid that if they are too harsh, they will scare Li Yan.

Li Yan was interrupted by Li Guoxin, and he became more sober from his confusion. He nodded in a low voice, which made Li Guoxin feel a little more at ease.

After telling Li Yan these precautions, Li Guoxin raised his voice and continued, "Li Yan, if you join the Guards, you probably won't have the opportunity to visit your family in the first few years, unless you have made military achievements. However, it is estimated that it is very unlikely to make achievements when you just join the army. If there are things or letters that need to be taken back, you can leave them with Li Yu or Li Shan. There are often people coming from the village. Every time they come, you should go there and ask the villagers to take the letters and bring them back to the village to give to your parents. In addition, although there are other people in the village working or apprenticeship in the city, there is probably no time to take you to find the way today, but you can go to the place where Li Yu and Li Shan are going first. Their affairs will be settled after paying the fees to the host and signing the contract. It will be done quickly. Yours should take a longer time to be settled." Li Yan heard this and said, "Uncle Guoxin, there are people coming from the village, so why don't you ask them to go down from my place? The barracks should be easy to find." "You kid, why do you think so simply? However, you can't be blamed. Those garrison camps are not places that ordinary people can go. It is inevitable to be interrogated if you go there. It will be bad if you are caught as a spy of the enemy country and thrown into prison."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Li Yan said embarrassedly after scratching his head.

"However, when you have been in the army for a few years, or become a high-ranking official, we can go to find you openly, but by then, you must know your uncle Guoxin," Li Guoxin said jokingly.

Without waiting for Li Yan to answer, Li Yu rushed to say, "Uncle Guoxin, when I learn cooking skills, I will cook the best food for you every time you come, and it will be the most delicious."

Li Shan also rushed to say, "Uncle Guoxin, I will give your family, and every family in the village, the best sickles, hoes, knives, and guns for hunting."

"Haha, good, good, our Lijia Village will rely on your generation in the future. With you, we can drink a pot of wine, eat game, watch the sunrise and sunset of Daqing Mountain every day when we are old, and live happily." Li Guoxin laughed loudly.

After the topic was opened, the carriage suddenly became lively, and Li Yan also said a few words from time to time, participating in it with anticipation.

The county town is in the south of Lijia Village. Turning out from the foot of Daqing Mountain, the carriage went all the way south. In fact, Lijia Village is located near the main peak of Daqing Mountain, but the mountain range stretches to the south and north, with no end in sight.

At noon, they found a shady place on the roadside and stopped the carriage. Li Guoxin took out the food and invited them to rest and eat. Li Yan and the others also took out dry food from their packages and spread it on the ground to eat together. Although it was coarse grains, pickles and a little pickled beast meat brought from home, they were happy while eating and chatting. Finally, around 3 p.m., they arrived outside the county town. From a distance, a city was located in a large open area, and the east and west sides of the city wall were built against the mountain. The carriage was getting closer and closer. Looking closer, the city gate and the city wall were more than 30 feet high. Looking at the city wall, there were shadowy black shadows walking on it. I think they were patrol soldiers. A golden flag with the word "Emperor" written on it was fluttering in the wind. There were three big characters "Qingshan Ai" on the city gate.

Li Yan and the other two in the car also stopped talking at this time, opened their mouths and stared blankly at the towering city gate. They had never been here like the adults in the village. They grew up in the village since childhood, and the farthest they went was just around the village. They had never seen such a magnificent building. Seeing this scene for the first time, they were naturally amazed.

At this time, there were not many people entering and leaving the city gate. It might be because it was already afternoon. Li Guoxin lightly pulled the reins to slow down the carriage, turned back and said to Li Yan and the other three, "The county city is built with mountains connected to the east and west, and there are only two city gates in the north and south. The inspection of the north city gate is much looser, but the inspection of the south gate is extremely strict. In addition, the south gate is usually only open for about three hours during the day. Although there is still a buffer area of ​​about ten miles to the south of the south gate to reach the border of Meng State, these are almost instantaneous for the cavalry. Fortunately, this Qingshan Pass is east, The west is connected to the high mountains, so the enemy has only one way to attack from the south, which makes the county easier to defend and harder to attack. The mountains on the east and west sides are steep and the ridges are narrow, so it is impossible for several people and horses to go up at the same time. Even if someone can go up, it is a problem to attack down the mountain. It is estimated that they will be discovered before they come down and be shot by the crossbows of the city guards. "

Li Yan and his men looked at the towering city wall as he said, but the wall was too high, and they were in the north of the city. From this angle, they could only vaguely see a row of black objects on the east and west sides looking up to the sky, pointing to the peaks on both sides.

Li Yan thought to himself, "Uncle Guoxin said that the inspection at the north gate is lax. It should be because most of the people coming here are from our country. The rows of black things on the wall should be crossbow arrows. Seeing that the ridge is so vertical and steep, it is really impossible for more than one person to be on it at the same time. I can't climb this kind of mountain. I guess there are only two or three people in the village who can climb it like Uncle Guoxin and his friends. It must be very difficult. If you step on empty air on the mountain, you will probably roll down and become a meat paste. Even if someone can climb this mountain, if they attack the two walls from the top of the mountain, as long as there is a little big movement, the sound of the gravel falling down will surely be known in advance by the soldiers on the wall below. Just a row of crossbow arrows will be shot up, and the people on the top will be shot into hedgehogs. It is really a dangerous place." Li Yu and Li Shan also came back to their senses from their shock and heard what Li Guoxin said. Li Yu asked, "Uncle Guoxin, the city wall is so solid, and there are soldiers guarding it. I think the people of Meng Kingdom will not be able to break in, right?"

Li Guoxin's expression was serious, but he said, "It's hard to say. I heard that the bandits of Meng Kingdom have attacked several times in recent years. One time, the enemy soldiers had already attacked the city wall. Fortunately, Marshal Hong personally went to the city to fight and defeated the enemy soldiers. Later, I heard from the people in the city that the blood flowed all over the city along the city wall. The streets were full of blood and flesh. There were piles of corpses on the city wall and outside the county. Although most of them were the enemy's attackers, there were also a small number of people from our dynasty."

Li Yu and Li Shan turned pale when they heard this. They thought that they would be worried when they were apprentices here in the future. They looked at Li Yan with worry, thinking that Brother Yan would also go up to fight, which would be even more dangerous.

Li Guoxin felt something was wrong when he said this, so he stopped talking and laughed, "These are just rumors, they should not be true, otherwise the county would not be so prosperous now."

In fact, he knew it very well. Due to the frequent wars in the border areas, the dynasty had issued a decree long ago that the local people in the border areas were not allowed to migrate, in order to show the people's patriotism. Every inch of land is their home, and they can live and work in peace even if there are strong enemies from the outside world. Li Guoxin didn't know the situation in other border areas, but at least Qingshan Pass really blocked the enemy soldiers, ensuring the current peace in the villages and towns behind the county.