Two days later, the wind and waves decreased, and it was already suitable to cross the river, Li Yanqing and his entourage crossed the river on a giant sheepskin raft under the escort of twenty Kehuzhai soldiers. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The water on the surface of the river is muddy and gentle, but the undercurrent below the river is turbulent, and the four boatmen nervously hold on to the penny, little by little, towards the opposite bank, they are all extremely experienced old boatmen, who have been ferrying on the Yellow River for decades, but they are still highly nervous, watching the slightest change in the current, they know that if they are not careful, they will destroy the raft.

Everyone understood that the boatman was wrestling with death at this time, and even the few horses in the raft were exceptionally quiet, and the soldiers sat silently in the raft, no one spoke or complained, and the two men were pale and collapsed in the corner.

Li Yanqing stood on the edge of the half-man-high raft, staring at the muddy muddy water on the surface of the river, although the river surface looked very gentle, he could feel a powerful force tearing the raft, no one could compete with this force, even the boatman could only go down the river, and then move diagonally to the southwest little by little.

It took them two hours to cross the river, and when they reached the other side, almost all of them sat down on the ground, rested for half an hour, drank water and ate dry food, and then they set out on their journey.

On the other side of the river is the present-day Yulin area, loess hills and ravines, full of rolling hills and mountains and huge faults, there are no official roads, only cobweb-like sheep intestine paths, a guide takes them to the northwest.

They also have to go to three important logistics places of the Song army, Wulong Village, Shenquan Village and Tongqin Village, these three are defensive military cities built last year, each city garrison about 2,000 people, in the border area, there are many such cities, there are dozens of large and small, they are going to go to Wulong Village, Shenquan Village and Tongqin Village are the largest and strongest three military cities.

After walking for about an hour and a half in the desolate hills and mountains, Li Yanqing found that there was not a single village or private house around, and the desolation was terrifying.

He asked the guide, "I found that this area is basically uninhabited, has it always been like this?" ”

The guide is called Mo Wulang, a man in his thirties, with dark skin and a very strong appearance, he was introduced to Li Yanqing by Zhang Wei, Marquis Yu, who turned out to be a sheep herding baby in Jinning County, and is very familiar with the terrain in this area.

Mo Wulang grinned, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth, and he said in a very thick local accent: "The officials don't know, since last year, they have driven people out and moved to the other side of the river, and the rest have been driven into the army, the trees have been cut down, and the houses have been burned. Solid what? ”

"It's called Jianbi Qingye!"

"That's right, that's what it says, there's going to be a war!"

"How far is it?" Li Yanqing asked loudly.

"Far away! Walk another dozen miles! ”

At this time, Yan Jiuling immediately stepped forward and whispered to Li Yanqing: "Join the army, Lao Yang and I are both old, or we will stay in Wulong Village!" ”

Li Yanqing looked at him, then looked back at Yang Lin, and saw that their faces were extremely pale, and they had not yet recovered from the ordeal of crossing the river, saying that they were old, but in fact, they were both in their thirties, and they were only usually pampered, so they could not afford to travel long distances.

Li Yanqing can also understand their difficulties, there are old and young, if a small life is lost here, the family will be miserable.

He nodded and said, "Okay! The two of you will stay in the Oolong Village, and after the inventory is over, we will go back by yourself, and we may cross the river from the north, and we will not come back to join you. ”

"Thank you for your understanding!"

Li Yanqing pointed to the twenty Kehuzhai soldiers and said, "I asked them to escort you back, and they also happened to return to Kehuzhai." ”

Yan Jiuling was overjoyed and thanked Li Yanqing again for his care.

The group walked for another half an hour, and a white walled city appeared in the distance, built against the mountain, condescending, and the terrain was very favorable.

"That's Oolong Village!"

The guide pointed to the walled city in the distance and smiled: "It's very lively inside, just like a small county town." ”

Passing through a three-mile-long ravine, a group of people finally came to the bottom of the Wulong Village, nominally called the village, in fact it is a military city, the periphery is built with stone walls, about one zhang high, the house is basically a brick and wood structure, spreading upwards layer upon layer, there are three layers of defense lines, even if the enemy army captures the outer layer, there are second and third layers upward, behind is the cliff, the defense is very tight.

A soldier rushed forward, tied the inspection document to the arrow, and shot into the military village, and after a while, the gate of the military village creaked open, and one of the people on duty bowed forward and saluted, "Welcome Li to join the army to come to Oolong Village!" ”

"Sun Zhizhai is here?"

"Zhizhai is in the inner city, please come with me."

Wulong Village is a big village, in addition to two thousand garrisons, there are three thousand civilians, mainly with the military family, but the military village is not a temporary garrison, but a long-term defense of the military city, the chief officer inside is called Zhizhai, and the same level as the county, are all from the eight officials, by the military attache of the rough text.

The streets in the village are very narrow, all stone roads, spiraling up, at most only two people can go side by side, close to the side of the mountain built dense houses, most of them are dwellings, they can not ride horses, can only lead the horses slowly.

Walk into the second layer of the village, there is an open field in front of you, there is a wooden gate in front, the sign on it says 'oolong tile shop' four big characters, people can't help but laugh, there is actually a small tile shop, inside is the commercial center of the village, there are grocery stores, cloth shops, snack shops, taverns, teahouses, inns, brothels and so on, more than 20 shops of all sizes.

"When I go back, I can come and visit Li Senjun when I have time, but I still see Zhizhai first, please go here!"

Dutou led them to turn to another upward path, and at this moment, Li Yanqing suddenly heard someone shouting behind him: "Old Li! ”

Li Yanqing was stunned, isn't this Wang Gui's voice?

He looked back and saw a young general rushing towards it, and when he got closer, Li Yanqing recognized it at a glance, it was Wang Gui.

He hurriedly threw the reins of the horse to himself, and hurried to meet them, and the two were so excited that they hugged tightly and couldn't help crying with joy.

Li Yanqing gave Wang Gui a punch in the shoulder, "Why are you here?" ”

"I've always been here! This is where I stay, but you.... What are you doing here? ”

Wang Gui looked him up and down, surprised and delighted, "You are an official?" ”

"Don't you know that I was admitted to the imperial examination?"

"I don't know! There is no news here, and nothing is known. ”

"Where's Niu Gao?" Li Yanqing asked again, "Are you with me?" ”

"He's in Shenquan Village to the north, eighty miles from me, and I haven't seen him in months."

At this time, Du Tou came over and said with a smile: "Li Senjun and Agui know each other?" ”

"We are fellow villagers and grew up together."

"That's a coincidence, I met my old acquaintance in a foreign country!"

After two years of martial arts career and half a year of military career, Wang Gui has matured a lot, he nodded, "Lao Li will go to work on official business first, and I will invite you to drink when I go back." ”

"Alright! I'll come back to you. ”

"I'm in the barracks at the foot of the mountain, and I said that I was looking for the magic arrow Agui, and everyone knew me."

Li Yanqing couldn't help laughing, the two hugged again, and then broke up temporarily, Wang Gui returned to the barracks, Li Yanqing continued to go up, and soon came to Neizhai.

The inner village is the location of the warehouse and the official office, and Sun Qing has been waiting at the gate for a long time, Li Yanqing saw him in Taiyuan two months ago, and the two are still relatively familiar.

The two greeted each other and exchanged a few words, Sun Qing invited Li Yanqing and the two to sit at the official office, and the other soldiers arranged to rest and eat elsewhere.

Li Yanqing and the two engaged people sat down in the lobby, and a maid came in to serve them tea, Sun Qing smiled and said: "It's not easy for Li to join the army this time!" ”

"There's no way, it's my duty, if I don't come, I'll be another colleague, or I won't be able to explain to the marshal."

"This is also, the marshal is a serious person, and if he has set various systems, he must implement them, which is the difference between a famous general and an ordinary general."

"Is this time just inspecting the Jinning Army?"

Li Yanqing nodded, "I went to Linzhou last month, and this month I inspected the Jinning Army, the first two days in Kehu Village, then your Oolong Village, and then to the north to Shenquan Village and Tongqin Village, I guess I won't come again this year." ”

Sun Qing asked with concern, "Does Li Senjun know when the war will start?" ”

Li Yanqing shook his head, "I'm afraid even the marshal doesn't know, this is up to the Son of Heaven to decide, according to the usual practice, after our eight divisions have finished inspecting various places, they will write a report to the marshal on the material and the state of preparation for war in various places, and the marshal thinks that the preparations have been completed, so he will submit a report on the completion of the preparations to the imperial court, and the Son of Heaven will decide when to start the war according to the report, so it will take at least a few months." ”

Sun Qing sighed, "If you don't fight for a long time, your morale will be affected a little." ”