According to the predetermined route, Zongshu headed towards Xiongzhou.

Xiongzhou, which is the northernmost city on the border of the Great Song Dynasty. Tong Guan's front-line headquarters is located here.

Zong Shu naturally can't go to the city, he is currently a key criminal in the imperial court, and Tong Guan will definitely arrest him.

On the surface, Zong Shu saved Tong Guan, but Zong Shu usually embarrassed Tong Guan.

Tong Guan captured Zong Shu, and even killed him in the name of carrying out the emperor's will and preventing him from escaping.

It's impossible to dress up in disguise, and there is not even a big market town on the way, where to buy clothes?

Zong Shu discussed with everyone, tried not to take the official road, and found the village to rest.

The further north you go, the less green the earth becomes. As they got closer to the border, vast tracts of land were barren and people fled south.

The war between Song and Liao is imminent, and even if the common people have great confidence in victory, they also have to consider the safety of their families.

The two countries fought each other, and there were not a few back and forth, so it was difficult to distinguish the winner from the loser.

If you stay in the village and don't leave, you will be cut off by the Liao.

After walking village after village, the population became less and less, and some villages became hollow villages.

It seems that the village has been robbed by Liao people and bandits, some houses have been demolished, and the door panels and mullions are gone.

"Don't say much, you have to find a village or town, otherwise, you won't even have a place to eat and sleep."

Zong Shu and the others were all loaded with bacon, which belonged to war preparation materials and were used to deal with special extreme situations, and could not be used unless absolutely necessary.

Li Shaoyan was very embarrassed, and asked him to find a place without a problem, but he didn't know if there was anyone in the village.

Cao Zongshen suddenly asked, "Young Master Li, how far is it from Renqiu County here?" ”

Li Shaoyan didn't even need to open the map, and said: "There are still fifty miles away from Qiu County." ”

Zong Shu is very familiar with Renqiu, which is now Renqiu County, in the Northern Song Dynasty, and belongs to Wen'an County, Mozhou, Hebei East Road.

Now, Renqiu County is on the border between Song and Liao.

The boundary river of Song and Liao is Baiyangdian, which was renamed Baiyangdian after the Ming Dynasty.

Baiyangdian is the largest lake group in the Haihe River Basin, with depressions and lakes connected to each other.

Since the Tang Dynasty, there has been a saying of "ninety-nine lakes", which is actually more than ninety-nine.

Since the Song Dynasty, in order to defend against the Liao State, Baiyangdian has become a natural barrier.

Every year, the imperial court has to allocate a large amount of materials and money, build a large pond, dig between the lakes, and connect a huge body of water between Xiongzhou and Renqiu, and also form a tight line of defense.

"Young master, when I go to Zaolin Town in Renqiu County, I can find a place to eat and stay." Cao Zongshen said.

No, Cao Zongshen still has this kind of ability?

"Young master, my home is in Zaolin, Caojiazhuang." Cao Zongshen said.

Zong Shu immediately thought of a question: "Zong Shen, have all the people in your Zhuangzi arrived in Mi County?"

The people of Caojiazhuang can dig graves, so they know how to dig charcoal and how to dig tunnels so that they will not collapse.

With these people as technical guidance, the excavation of coal in Mixian County will reduce many safety accidents.

Zong Shu went to the base in Mi County, mainly to see Lin Lingsu's overall planning and construction, to guide the special training of Niu Jiajun, and did not care about asking Caojiazhuang about it.

"Young master, a small half of Zhuangzi came out, and the rest stayed in the village." Zong Shu replied: "Go to Caojiazhuang and settle down, let everyone eat and sleep well." ”

Zong Shu took out the map and saw that this place was really a coincidence, only a few dozen miles away from Baiyangdian and not far from the Baigou River.

The Baigou River is a diversion river of Baiyangdian, and historically, the seed army of the seed master road confronted the Liao army here.

This was the forefront of the Song-Liao War, and more than half of Caojiazhuang still had more than half of the people left in the village?

I have to say that the people of Caojiazhuang are really bold, but the people who dig graves for a living are not small.

Resting in a largely abandoned village, I found a well, boiled some water, replenished it, and moved on.

When it was dark, I saw a castle in the distance, which was not large, but because it was closer to the border, the walls appeared to be higher than those of the daimyo's mansion.

There were soldiers standing in the city, heavily guarded, and the city was brightly lit, and Tong Guan's large army should have been stationed here.

Li Shaoyan led everyone, quietly bypassed Xiongzhou, and came to Zaolin. Cao Zong led the way and went straight into Caojiazhuang.

When I first entered Caojiazhuang, it was almost pitch black, there was not even a dog, and it was lifeless, no different from the villages I met along the road.

Could it be that more than half of the remaining people in Zhuangzi also saw that the war was imminent and fled south one after another?

At this moment, a whistle sounded, and it was Cao Zongshen who pursed his mouth and made it.

Suddenly, behind a grinding disc in front, a person flashed out, with a tiger's back on his back, and Cao Zongshen stepped forward and whispered for a while.

The two walked over together, and this person saluted Zong Shu. Cao Zongshen introduced that this was his cousin, named Cao Yishou.

Cao led everyone into a courtyard, with a stove in the middle, an anvil and a hammer, and a blacksmith shop.

It seems that Cao Yishou is still a blacksmith, and this person's arms are particularly thick, which should be the result of perennial sledgehammers.

Cao walked through the courtyard to the back, and there was a large bulging tomb.

While most of the tombs in other places are round, this one resembles a huge long trunk, high in front and low in the back.

There is a huge stone tablet in front of it, with a name engraved on the stone tablet, and a large list of official positions, it seems that there have been great officials here.

This village has been digging graves for generations, and there is such a grave here, which makes people feel a little funny.

This tomb is the resting place of the ancestors of the gold touchers, so it shouldn't be stolen, right?

What did Cao Yishou bring everyone here for? Is it to let everyone see how brilliant the ancestors of the Cao family are?

I saw Cao Zongshen and Cao Yishou stepping forward at the same time and pushing at the tombstone!

The tombstone actually moved slowly! Inside the black hole is hollow. They really dare to touch the grave of their ancestors!

The tombstone is a door, and it seems that this is just a fake grave.

Cao clapped his hands with one hand, and someone in responded three times, and after a while, a glimmer of light lit up inside.

Cao Zongshen said to Zong Shu: "Young Master, this is the entrance of our Caojiazhuang. Please come with me. It's big inside, and horses can go in too. ”

The tombstone was then closed. Li Shaoyan looked at it, and couldn't help but lean towards Zong Shu's side, always feeling that it was strange here.

After walking for a while, Li Shaoyan said: "Zong Shu, this is going down. ”

Zong Shu also felt this way, the road leads to the underground. When I looked up, there was a glimmer of sky light at the top, and it was, a ventilation hole!

"Young master, this is the tunnel. The people of Zhuangzi are hiding here, and they can last for a month. Zong Shen was afraid that Zong Shu would be worried, so he quickly explained.

Where have you ever seen any tunnels? It's a little apprehensive. But Zong Shu didn't.

If there were tunnels in other areas, Zong Shu might be surprised, but it was not strange for Zong Shu to appear here.

If it's strange, it's that Zong Shu didn't expect this place to have an authentic place so early.

Because here it is: Ren Qiu!

This is the Jizhong Plain of later generations, where our army created a world-famous tactic: "tunnel warfare".