>，！

Under the rare sunny day,

The banner of the cyan mountains fluttered in a snowy patch revealing the dusty outer wall of the rampart. The reflection of the figures and weapons active in the city is also clearly visible. "It's a bit of a hurdle."

I stood behind a rock, looking at the small city that choked the passage of the mountain.

To be honest, this city is a bit of a misnomer, and it can only be considered a large town at best. The structure of the city wall is also quite rudimentary, and you can see the obvious protruding civil structure,

It is also on the large platform protruding from the intersection of the mid-mountain, leaning against the side of the mountain with three low walls, with natural steep rocks, to give the height of the enclosure.

But the location is very important, right on the zigzag node where the upper and lower mountain winding roads meet, and on both sides are bare and difficult to climb steep faces.

Therefore, although the mountain is not high and the overall slope is not too steep, if you want to attack, you can only invest a limited number of troops to attack on the narrow and winding mountain road.

Coupled with the snow on the road, it greatly hindered and limited the degree of the assault, and also made it a rare luxury for large equipment to go up the mountain.

Therefore, the following hints and voices from the attached vassal armies asking to return to the division began to appear around me through various channels.

Of course, I can understand this. In addition to the worries and worries about being used as cannon fodder and consuming too much here,

In fact, for those who have just regained their dominance, the remnants of the feudal clans. What they were even more worried about was whether the two great feudal clans of Fusheng, who had left in the Quanzhou capital in the rear and had more spare power, would join forces and take advantage of the situation to annex their territory and obtain household registration.

But for me, even if the corresponding opportunities and steps have already appeared, it is too boring to retreat so easily without a fight.

Therefore, I ordered the troops to stay for the time being to rest and recuperate, and to conduct careful reconnaissance and surveys.

Mainly after getting used to the battle mode of fighting in the Huaibei area of Henan, where the large plains are mixed with continuous hills, it is convenient to expand the large array.

For us, the mountainous areas of the Silla Domain are really a bit much, although they are generally not very high, almost a series of stubbles or piecemeal, and they appear in front of us one after another.

Especially in the winter days when these positions are farther north than Huaidong, and they are also colder and drier, the long-distance trek and camping in the wilderness in the face of wind and snow are also a great test of the physical fitness and will of the soldiers.

Not to mention the impact of wind and snow on weapons and equipment, if it can't be properly maintained in time, the fire gun and the sub-medicine are dried, the bolt flint is frozen and cannot be hit, and the sub-medicine is soaked unconsciously, and it is not something that has never been born.

Fortunately, our opponent is also weak enough, even if it can't be hit by chance, it can be made up for with enough training and martial arts, and in hand-to-hand combat, just with a stab and the butt of a gun, you can hit the opponent hard.

There is also a thicker and deeper snow than Huaidong, which can easily sink into the ankle and cause a series of problems such as sprains and bumps, so it causes even more trouble than those enemies.

As a result, the soldiers who learned the lesson also learned to use the body temperature stored close to the body to keep the medicine and the machine dry, tie the supporting strength to the outside of the boots, and try to make and use various expedient means such as rowing sleds.

The loss of mules, horses, livestock and husbands is even more common, such as the Red Tiger XV, who was startled by a large amount of falling snow in the process of climbing the mountain, and jumped off the cliff in a panic.

In contrast, those who came with the army, in terms of equipment, training, and logistical preparations, were far better than our much more humble locals, and were in much better condition.

Dressed in tattered and thin clothes, they almost wore straw sandals that did not look lethal or wrapped their feet in cloth, and they were accustomed to carrying all kinds of things, including swords, in the snow and on rough roads; They even used straw bale sacks as mats and covers, and just snuggled up to the body temperature of the animals in twos and threes, and slept in the open air in the snow.

It is worthy of the evaluation of two-legged animals in the past generations.

As long as they can provide a basic limit of food, they always have enough of them to intermittently follow closely behind, as the main combat force, and falling behind basically means the natural elimination of death (Cheng, also a natural attitude.

A voice interrupted my thoughts.

"This is the ...... of the Mourning Plains and the City of Tears"

"Jeolla Province is a famous ominous place."

The No. 2 leading party, who was wearing a narrow robe and a flat crown, introduced me with an exaggerated expression.

"It was originally called Hai Laoyuan, and it can be regarded as a rich land full of fertile soil." But since the rebellion of Zhang Baogao and the pacification of the Gong descendants, it has been abandoned......"

His full name was Choi Sung-gil, and he was a son of the Choi clan of Saliang in Gyeong-gun, near Jeonju Province, near Jeonju Province.

The ancestor is said to have entered the Tang Dynasty as a teenager, and was awarded the rank of Lishui County Lieutenant by the imperial examination, and finally became a scholar of Lizheng Academy, the chief secretary and supervisor, and the Silla prodigy Cui Zhiyuan.

In his later years, he returned to China for retirement and continued to teach in his hometown of Qingjun, and became the great master of the new Arhatics, and became an important surname and clan in the local area.

Therefore, the Cui family, which started with the transfer of 300 households and expanded to the current scale, has long been different from the relatives of the national lords who continued to divide the feudal domain in the later 6 years, and the old and new feudal clans are also known as the old family, or the eunuch clan of the Shilin faction, etc.

It's just that because the main branch that is now trapped in the city is almost dead or missing, and only two or three adult males are left.

Choi Sung-gil is also the third heir of the Choi clan of Gyeong-gun, who is now the third heir of the Gyeong-gun family, and because he likes to travel and go to Kaegyo to study in his early years, he has traveled a lot in Silla and has become my follower and guide.

The Choi clan, which has most of the Gyeong-gun, the Gwangyang Bae-clan of the neighboring county, and the Luan clan of Hoju, together with the Taemawon region between several counties, is the most fertile and largest grain-producing area in Jeolla Province, with more than 10,000 acres of various fields. (In the ancient system of Silla, one knot is equal to about 33 acres).

According to the signed mutual insurance agreement, in addition to providing a large amount of goods and grain to help the army, the labor and vassal soldiers of the army,

According to their agreed shares, they should also send supplies to Huaizhen by sea every year, at least 30,000 stone of unhulled rice, more than 50,000 stone of beans and wheat, and 20,000 stone of other miscellaneous grains. There is also a series of conveniences and exclusive rights such as direct trade.

We used the iron and sea salt and refined coal produced under the rule of Huaizhen to discount the price, and helped to arm and train the self-protection forces of these feudal families.

In this way, a prototype of a master-slave covenant based on force as a guarantee and linked by trade activities that control the lifeblood of the economy in disguise took shape.

Of course, it needs to be slowly operated and maintained in the future in order to continue for a long time.

At least under the premise that the specific costs of direct occupation, annexation and domination are too large, in the short term, in the form of this indirect influence, more sources of labor and grain are obtained for Huaidong, which is relatively scarce.

This also meant that more Huaidong locals were freed from the daily heavy labor and included in the accumulation of war potential in the nature of reserves.

"Zhang Baogao's rebellion? ……”

I couldn't help but notice a certain word in his words, and it felt a little familiar.

"It's the Zhang Baogao who was returned from Shangguo...... Also known as Gong's"

He explained it to me in detail

According to him, although it is not the most dangerous place in the country, it is also the birthplace of a key event in the history of the Silla Domain, and this small mountain town has its own unique name.

It is said that more than 300 years ago, after the Silla royal family, which could not bear the turmoil of civil strife, went out to donate land, which led to the collapse of the bone system, the land of Silla was in turmoil for twenty or thirty years, and it was re-calmed and became the so-called Xingwai Dongkaido, also known as the Silla Domain.

However, by the time of the Yiwei Rebellion, the authority of the Grand Governor of Haidao had become weaker and weaker with the chaos of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, affected by the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty, the princes of Silla, whose positions were originally divided, also took the opportunity to set off a frenzy of mutual annexation and invasion, and the chaos everywhere became even more chaotic.

It is an era when the people are not living and are full of smoke, which is called "group thieves and funerals".

At this time, Zhang Baogao, a general from Xuzhou, took the opportunity to return to his hometown to rise up due to the situation, recruited a large number of outlaws and rebels from overseas, and called himself the envoy of Qinghai Festival. First, it plundered endlessly along the coast and gradually grew stronger, and then went ashore to break through the coastal domains, and possessed more than a dozen states.

It was because he abandoned the Han name Zhang Baogao and began to change his name to Gongfu, proclaimed himself the general of Anguo Baoding, supported a Kim clan who did not know the so-called origin, and began to declare that he wanted to restore the homeland of Silla.

Since then, all kinds of local careerists and speculators, losers and disgruntled people in the war, have rushed to defect and grow stronger, and he has followed the example of the Tang Dynasty, organized various armies and appointed officials, and divided the local Taishou city lords to settle the people and buy real estate.

In one fell swoop, he swept over the vast territory that occupied the northern and central parts of Silla, and pressed the remnants of the alliance of princes in the south to fight one after another, and there was a great tendency to unify the territory.

It's just that at this time, the northern kingdom also ushered in the era of Chengguang's revival, and the Northern Tang Dynasty court finally withdrew its hand and formed the Anton camp, and began to Taoping's unruly or unruly Andong princes.

The Silla Domain, which was located in a corner, became the first target of the slaughtered chickens and monkeys.

The 6 armies of the sea, which had come in response to the order, were taken over by the remaining local princes and invaded Silla in several ways, and suddenly divided the so-called Later Silla, which owned most of the country, into several pieces, and turned it into a bloody and corpse-riddled Shura field.

Although there was the support of some Andong princes who came from crossing the sea, and even did not hesitate to personally send troops to participate in the war in the later period, it was still irreparable, and Zhang Baogao's great cause of unification failed fate.

Although Zhang Baogao exhausted all his strength, he almost lost consecutive battles, lost the city and lost his land, and finally couldn't stand in Kyoto, and coerced the only remaining people to burn the city and flee.

It is said that he originally wanted to pass through Sanggyeongpyeong, which was in central Silla, to secure the source of the Nagang River and reach the northern coast of the northeast, which was supported by the garrison of the Andong princes.

However, Yan Chang, the Silla general stationed in this small mountain city, had already surrendered to the Northern Tang Dynasty army in exchange for the body of the six products.

Zhang Baogao, who was defeated all the way from Kaijing, with the last followers, was blocked under this originally unknown mountain city, although he attacked for several days.

In the end, Zhang Baogao and his subordinates, almost crying and shedding tears, turned to meet the Northern Tang soldiers and horses who were chasing after them. With the will to die, he won several battles first and gradually exhausted.

Then, on the sea route from Fusang and Dengzhou, under the siege of several soldiers and horses from the Andong camp and Pinglu Dao on the road, all the men and horses were wiped out here.

He was killed on the spot and executed afterwards, and the resulting decapitated ranks were piled up into dozens of hills. The rushing blood pooled into several rivers on the Ebihara and soaked all the land into a dark brown.

It is said that since then, the land has grown only grass and no crops. To this day, there are still people who have seen ghost fire wandering at night, and it is said that they have been cursed by hundreds of thousands of resentful spirits.

After that, there was a descendant of Gong, the son of Zhang Baogao, who claimed to be the reincarnation of Maitreya and rebelled in Shangqing Road; In response, Zhen Xuan, the old department, raised troops and proclaimed himself the lord of the post-Baekje country in Gangwon Province. And Zhang Baogao's remnant party Zheng Nian has been disturbing himself at sea for many years.

After many years of turmoil, it was calmed down.

In order to defeat Liang Ji in the battle of the Northern Plains, and tried to flee on light horses, when passing through this mountain city, he was surrendered by the general Wang Jian, and finally the car was split outside the Kaijing Gate, and it was stopped.

As a result, Wang Jian was pardoned and reprimanded, and migrated from Songak County to Tamna Island (present-day Jeju Island), becoming the ancestor of the Wang family, one of the three families of Tamna.

Therefore, this mountain city, which has shed the tears of two generations of heroes and fathers, also has the name of the city of tears.

As he spoke, a trumpet sounded in the distance.

It represents the path to the mountain and has been cleared, and the first common-sense attack is about to begin......

meanwhile

The province in the northern part of Gangwon-do, in the middle of Dongning Fortress, is located in the center of the inner city.

The whining north wind blows the huge brazier that burns everywhere.

In the midst of the falling snow, the embarrassed group was also introduced into the building complex that originally belonged to the Governor's Mansion but was renamed Daxing.

Soldiers wearing black helmets and armor were wandering in groups.