"There are nine stops in the world, and Yanmen is the head!"

Yanmen Pass is close to the mountain, high on the mountain, east and west wings, the mountains are undulating, the ridge of the Great Wall, its potential is meandering, the east goes to the Pingxing Pass, the Bauhinia Pass, the Reverse Horse Pass, reaches the Youyan, connects the Hanhai; Go west to Xuangangkou, Ningwu Pass, Yatou Pass, to the Yellow River. It is known as the first fortress in the north, and it has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times, and it is also the only way for the steppe nomads to go south.

On the thousand-year-old road of Yanmen, from time to time you can see a group of three Yan Zhao rangers riding horses and carrying bows and arrows, and a group of five people gathered to go to Yanmen Pass to enlist in the army, in Chinese history, pay attention to the integration of Qin and Han, it can be said that the establishment of the Han Dynasty has inherited the Qin system in many aspects, especially in the military, the military merit is extremely important, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, has set up: "If you are not surnamed Liu, you must not be a king, and you must not be a marquis!" "The oath of the white horse; In this era, enlisting in the army is a very honorable thing for those enthusiastic young people, and it is also a rare promotion channel; So much so that every time the Han army goes out, there will be a large number of fierce young men on the road who prepare their own weapons and dry food to follow the battle, wanting to have a future on the battlefield!

It can be said that the social status of the military in a country determines the strength of the country's military strength, and China has a martial style since ancient times, especially in the Yanzhao area, because it is located in the northern Xinjiang, and has been fighting for many years, and the folk customs are extremely strong.

This martial culture of the Chinese began from the Xia, Shang, and Third dynasties to the Northern Song Dynasty, and from the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the emphasis on literature and light on martial arts, the status of warriors in the country can be described as a sharp decline, it can be said that the Song Dynasty is a watershed in the overall national character of the Chinese.

Before the Song Dynasty, the goal of all Chinese boys in life was basically "to practice martial arts well, to become a general when they grow up, and to make meritorious contributions outside the country!" ”

After the Song Dynasty, the goal of all Chinese boys in life became: "Study hard, and when you grow up, you will be the champion of the Yuanlang exam, and you will travel the streets across horses!" ”

Since then, the martial wind has completely declined, the wind of culture and education has flourished, under the warm wind of the gorgeous Song Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty has become a country of art, followed by foreign invasions, cutting land, coins, and vassals, and finally there is no China after Yashan......

On the silent ancient road, with the sound of hurried horses' hooves, three fast horses galloped, led by a black-clothed black horse, a young man with a wolf's back and a bee's waist, a sword eyebrows and eagle eyes on a slightly black face, with an evil handsomeness, a huge iron arm bow on his back, and an eighty-one pound of phoenix wings and gilded gold on the victory hook on the saddle clearly told everyone that this young man was not only handsome, but also brave and fierce; The two teenagers in the back are also burly and extraordinary, each with a cold and shining blade. The three of them were all covered with dust, and they had obviously come from afar.

It turned out that after the three of them made a plan to join the army in Yanmen, they packed their bags and set off immediately, out of Yuyang County, along the official road to the west through Shanggu, through Dai County, thirsty to drink mountain spring water, hungry to hunt wild beasts for food, all the way to Xiaoxing overnight, half a month later smoothly entered the Yanmen Pass boundary.

During the Warring States Period, a generation of British lord Zhao Wuling King boldly reformed the military, gave up the traditional wide robe and big sleeves and clumsy chariots of the Central Plains, and changed to Hufu cavalry and shooting, which greatly strengthened the military strength of Zhao State, and finally defeated Lin Hu, Lou Fu and other foreign races, and snatched this place from the wolf's mouth and set up Yanmen County; Looking at the steep terrain of the majestic mountains in front of him, Xiao Yi couldn't help but sigh with emotion in his heart: "The ancestors are so heroic, how can the descendants lose an inch of land!" ”

Yanmen Pass is on the main road between the two mountains, with two gates in the north and south, outside the north gate is the boundless prairie, because the recent activities of the Huns are rampant, often some scattered cavalry come to harass, so usually close the gate, the south gate is the range of activities of the Han people, because a few days ago was robbed by the Huns 30,000 iron cavalry for many days, robbed the population, livestock innumerable, so when Xiao Yi and the three came, they saw only a desolate scenery, the countryside was deserted everywhere, and the population was extremely sparse, In many places, traces of being burned by the war can still be vaguely seen, which shows that the southern invasion of the Xiongnu brought a disaster to the people of Han China.

Taishou Zhang Yang is indeed a capable official, since taking office, he summoned a large number of young and strong people from the inland counties, and did not hesitate to spend a lot of money, personally supervised the repair and reconstruction of the city destroyed by the Huns day and night, at this time, as far as the eye can see, there are construction sites everywhere, countless people are shirtless, shouting trumpets, shoulders carrying bricks, boulders and other materials to carry them; The newly repaired city walls are all based on bluestone and giant bricks, with glutinous rice sauce with excellent viscosity, mixed with iron sand, and then rammed with loess layer by layer, the city wall is equipped with the top floor of the garrison, the whole pass is strong and majestic, it is absolutely called: "a husband is a pass, ten thousand people are not open"; The bluestone plaque at the gate of the city is horizontally engraved: "Yanmen Pass" three big characters; The strokes are vigorous and powerful, majestic and extraordinary............

Xiao Yi and the three did not enter the city, it turned out that in order to accommodate these heroes who came to join the army, Taishou Zhang Yang specially asked people to expand and rest a barracks at an abandoned temple outside the south gate, the military camp covers an extremely wide area, hundreds of acres, and a large number of tents have been set up on it. In this way, it is not only convenient to unify the management of these heroes who came to join the army, but also to avoid the people in the city after these people enter the city, after all, most of the warriors have strong personalities, do not agree with each other, and things that draw swords against each other happen from time to time, you know, the more capable people are more able to make trouble, and the more unruly they are.

When Xiao Yi and the three of them urged their horses to the gate of the camp, there were already a large number of Yan Zhao rangers who had come to join the army, and there were thousands of people as far as the eye could see, and people shouted and neighed......

There is also a training area next to the barracks, which also covers a vast area, is a broad grassland, with a large number of wooden stakes and grass targets inserted on it, which can be used to practice riding and archery, and can also practice weapons, at this time there are already hundreds of people galloping here, all kinds of weapons are flying up and down in their hands, most of them are spears and horse lances, bows and arrows, etc., some of the drills are very exciting, from time to time there are bursts of applause, Zhu Ma looked at it for a while, Xiao Yi did not find any peerless generals among these people, at most it can be regarded as skilled in bows and horses, Originally, I was looking forward to meeting a few famous generals of the Three Kingdoms, but it seemed impossible, too, most of those cattle chose to take refuge in the Ming Lord, and there were really few who were willing to start from small soldiers......

Seeing the arrival of Xiao Yi and the others, a soldier immediately walked out of the barracks, took them to a tent for placement, and explained the rules here in detail. Everyone can not only rest well in the barracks and recover their physical strength, but also go to the side field to practice riding and archery, as long as they do not go out of the camp to make trouble, they are still relatively free here. Three days later, Taishou Zhang Yang will personally come here to select talents and assess martial arts, because this time it is mainly to form cavalry, so the focus of the assessment is riding and archery kung fu.

After settling in, Xiao Yi did not go out, for him, that kind of training was meaningless, just stayed quietly in his tent, while recovering from the fatigue on the road, while carefully considering the various intricacies that he would face in the future; On the contrary, Da Niu and Ma Liu, who were very active after coming to the barracks, quickly adapted to the collective life in the barracks, and walked around all day long, because the two of them had bold personalities and excellent martial arts, and soon made a lot of friends.