Xinghebao is surrounded by mountains on all sides, located at the boundary of the two major mountain ranges of Yinshan and Yanshan, and is also the west of the grassland on the dam.

The grassland on the dam with abundant water and grass now belongs to the pastures of the Khitan people, and according to tradition, the pastures west of the Daqing Mountains belong to the territory of the Zubu people. However, with the opening of trade routes in the north in recent years, after the Zhubu tribe became a little richer, the Xianbei Xi tribe, the Khitan tribe and the Turkic tribe of the Bashang herding people looked red and began to frequently cross the border to plunder.

In order to guard against the surprise attack of the Khitan cavalry, the Tang court of Jinyang ordered the garrison troops of Shanbei and Yunzhou to build three castles along the east of the Dongyang River and Baishuiluo, Xinghe Fort, New Castle and Chunji Fort, forming a defense line facing the Khitan border.

The camp of the Weisai cavalry army is actually an earthen city built with loess on the mountain, the circumference is about five miles, the camp wall is not more than two zhang high, and the Xinghe Fort is the horn of each other. Xinghe Fort is a garrison army in Tuntian on the bank of the Dongyang River, mainly infantry troops. The Wesai army was mainly a cavalry unit, with a total of five battalions plus the general's personal guard battalion, a total of 3,000 cavalry, in addition to the baggage battalion. The baggage team had 1,500 people, but they were also farming on the side of the Houhe River at the foot of Dongshan.

There are several broken ruins of the Great Wall on the east mountain of Xinghe Fort, and Liang Xing and the five of them swore to the others that the most broken one was the Great Wall built by Zhao during the Warring States Period, and the latest ruins were the side walls built by the Northern Qi during the Northern Dynasties.

"The emperor of Northern Qi is a Hu people, why are they still afraid of the tribes on the grassland?"

Li Jiyun asked with some confusion.

He Wei was also asked at this time, opened his mouth for a long time, and finally said: "I don't know, that's what is written in the history books anyway." ”

"Li Cunshuo's house, he actually let the young master stay in the baggage camp and manage the camp field, and if it goes on like this, the young master would rather not have this official position, but also have a fight with him." An Shouluan held a short blade in his hand, carved a mark on a green brick, looked at the mark on the green brick, and said hatefully.

Twenty lines were drawn on the bricks of the city, indicating that they had been at the Wesse Cavalry camp for twenty days.

"That old guy heard that he was born as a horse bandit, he looks lean and lean, but his hands are black, and he is a guy who kills people without blinking." Shi Jianning said.

"What, scared?!"

"He said that my father turned out to be his subordinate, such an old fellow, do you think I dare to provoke? When the time comes, it will be in vain. Shi Jianning sighed.

Originally, I thought that when I arrived at the border pass, there were many opportunities to get on the horse and kill the enemy, but who knew that Li Cunshuo's gang had assigned them all to logistics, and there was no chance to participate in the operation at all. And apart from having to run to the top of the mountain every morning and run back and forth, this Breaker doesn't even train daily.

More than half of this team are Hu people from various grassland tribes, and when they carry out tasks, they have to wear the torn leather clothes worn by Hu herdsmen, which looks similar to the herdsmen on the grassland, and they don't look like regular soldiers at all. Moreover, these Hu soldiers are very stupid, these people have been teaching in the camp for a month, and most of them have not even recognized a hundred words.

"Bear with it, I heard that the Khitan army is stationed in Swallow City north of Yehuling, and the old guy keeps an eye on the movements over there every day, probably because we are young and afraid of acting rashly." He Wei also sighed, "Our broken identity, he may be worried that we will die in the hands of the Khitans, and it will be difficult to explain to Jinyang." ”

"We came to the border to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions, not to mess around!" An Shouluan stood up, "After I go back, I will go to him and ask for the troops." ”

While talking, several people came down from the east mountain and came to the military office in the camp to ask to see the general.

Li Cunshuo is thin and small, but his arms are very long, coupled with a curly beard on his face, sitting behind a desk, he looks like a big horse monkey.

This guy doesn't know a few big characters, and recently he has been practicing words with the soldiers, and he is also very kind to a few of them "cultural people" who came out of Jinyang Academy. It's just that from the occasional sharp gaze like a falcon in his eyes when he speaks, he can know that this is not a good person.

After listening to the requests of these people, Li Cunshuo was not moved at all.

"You're all soldiers, and obeying orders is your first priority, do you understand when I say that?"

Li Cunshuo said very politely, but his tone was unquestionable, and after he finished speaking, he stared at An Shouluan, "Be obedient, Lao Tzu doesn't want to whip a cultural person like you." ”

An Shouluan just wanted to open his mouth, but when he saw Li Cunshuo staring at him, he suddenly didn't dare to say anything more.

Li Cunshuo's face softened: "You are all cultural people, can you make that kind of waterwheel spinning machine and loom in the royal manor?" ”

"It should be about the same, but the dam and the culvert need to be renovated, and some accessories need to be purchased from Jinyang." Liang Xing thought for a while and replied.

"Oh, it's not a big problem, let's build a workshop on the river first, and if it works, then make a big one on the Dongyang River. If this matter is done, I will give a few of you credit at that time. Li Cunshuo commanded.

Several people came out with the order, and they were all a little depressed.

"When we come here, in addition to teaching the soldiers to read and write, we are helping him build dams and workshops?" An Shouluan was a little unconvinced.

Shi Jianning said: "Let's go, we are this fate, now that he has given an order, we can't stop doing it." ”

Desolation is the main theme on the grassland of the Northland, the area around the Dongyang River was originally sparsely populated, since the Shanbei Army began to build Xinghe Fort, immigrated to Tuntian, this area has slowly gained popularity.

There were more than 2,000 households in Xinghebao's Tuntian army, mainly from the original Lulong, and some displaced people recruited from Hebei. It turned out that these Tuntian troops could only defend passively, and the Khitan cavalry wandered nearby, and there was no good way to expel them. However, since Li Cunshuo came from Hetao with 2,000 cavalry, the situation has changed a lot, and then there are Khitans who snoop nearby and chase them directly to the other party's house.

The effect is still very good, Li Sifeng in Xinjibao, Kang Jiu in Xincheng, plus Li Cunshuo's cavalry army, after the Tang army put the three cavalry units on the front line of the border, the tribes outside Beishan ran to the east of the Gouerbo area, and the days suddenly became much more peaceful.

The Houhe River flows from the foot of the East Mountain, and when the water is low in summer, the baggage team of the Weisai Cavalry is erecting a wooden bridge over the river to facilitate the connection with Xinghe Fort in Liuli Wai.

Most of the auxiliary craftsmen have now learned to use pulleys, and the huge wooden frame and pulley block can easily lift huge logs with only a few people, and the efficiency of ramming wooden stakes to the bottom of the river is dozens of times more efficient. When this wooden bridge is repaired, even if there is a flood in the autumn, even if there is any emergency, the cavalry can easily cross the river to support Xinghe Fort.

Liang Xing and An Shouluan took a few craftsmen out of the camp and went along the Houhe River to the valley of the Houshan Mountain to inspect the suitable sites for building dams and embankments......