Southeast of Lingzhou, a hundred miles away, is the land of Longshan.

Longshan Mountain is generally northeast-southwest trend, the eastern section is also called Liupan Mountain, because the mountain is steep, the forest is luxuriant, and there are many rivers and mountains interlaced between the mountains, so the mountain road is extremely steep, and its overall topography has become an insurmountable natural separation zone between Hexi and Guanzhong Plain.

From the depths of Longshan Mountain, there are many streams that converge into a river, one of them is called the White Horse River, the White Horse River flows to the southeast along the mountain trend, and is in the middle of the mountain range for dozens of miles to the east, and washes out a place surrounded by water on all sides, the place is formed by water, so it is called Huanzhou.

It has been three years since Song Jingde, and this place in Huanzhou has been designated as a military city for several years.

Prior to this, Emperor Zhao Heng of the Song Dynasty had sent Li Jilong (1) as the commander to attack Hexi, and tens of thousands of troops in the Jingsai army attacked Li Jiqian, but unfortunately lost many battles, and Li Jilong had to retreat to Weizhou.

After that, Li Jiqian was ambushed and died by the Tubo people Pan Luo because of his arrogance, Zhao Song should have drummed in, but unfortunately Li Jilong's old injuries and days of hard fighting, died of illness in the second year of Jingde, so the plan of the Song Dynasty to attack Lingxia was completely abandoned, and Li Deming was able to ascend the throne, and entered the Zhao Song Dynasty, and Zhao Song named him the king of Xiping.

In view of the fact that the Tanyuan Covenant has been signed, and various fields have been opened, the forces on the border of Zhao and Song have begun to calm down, and Zhao Heng, who feels that he has done a good job as an emperor, began to try to imitate the former Tang Dynasty under the instigation of Wang Qinruo, and the Song Realm entered the stage of recuperation.

Such a situation may be good for the people, but it is the best time for civilian officials, who can wantonly seize power and suppress all kinds of generals.

Of course, some of the so-called meritorious generals were dissatisfied, but before that, the generals Yang Ye, Pan Mei, Cao Bin and other generals died in battle, and died of illness, and the year before, the most fierce and brave general Li Jilong also died of illness, and the emperor secretly supported the civilian officials, and no matter how much dissatisfaction the generals had, they could only endure it.

In this context, the most distressing thing is not the suppressed generals, but the old soldiers who have followed those generals for many years, without war, there is no opportunity to establish military merits, the scars left by years of war, and the regret of leaving behind their parents, wives and children, so that they are traumatized at the same time, but also accumulate too much annoyance.

It's just that for the civil officials who are busy grabbing power, the veterans who lick the blood with their knives are not worth their attention at all - in fact, since the reopening of the imperial examination, with the support of the emperor, the new civil officials have not even paid much attention to the people in the door, and for them, the soldiers who carry their heads and play with their lives are just rude and ignorant inferiors.

Therefore, when they competed for important official positions, they had almost no scruples - anyway, the emperor ordered that no war should be fought at will, so what is the difference between the front and the rear?

According to the rules of the army, the important material rations are all from the military division of the former battalion, and some important military nodes are good fortresses for garrisons, but they are also the transit stations of materials, and they have mastered the transfer of materials.

Therefore, under the premise that Jiangmen could not get the support of the emperor, and he didn't want to rebel, he could only try to protect himself, and these sensitive positions were also surrounded by civil officials, so where did the original officers who were excluded go?

Some of those with unclean hands and feet were punished by military law, while others were sent to the rear or in unimportant places.

And Huanzhou, which is in the gap between the Jingsai Army Siweizhou and the Dingbian Army, is just such a less important place, and it has become the best place to "distribute" middle and lower-level officers, and it is not only the Jingsai Army that is assigned here, but also the Dingbian Army on the north side, and even those from the entire Yongxing Military Road.

The Huanzhou Military Department seems to be an important institution, but under the general trend of Zhao Heng presiding over the use of Zhizhou to govern local politics, it is no longer able to easily influence local functional departments, and the reduction of the right to speak, the main general Yuan Poyu is naturally full of resentment, but he can't help the newly arrived Wang surnamed Zhizhou.

In the winter moon (November), the snowflakes fluttered for many days, and the waters around the state were all frozen, and there was no business for ships to and fro, and even the passing merchants were nowhere to be seen, and most of the people were finally completely idle.

When he was bored, Yuan Poyu simply ordered people to invite a few close subordinates to drink and have fun every day.

On this day, three new guests came to Yuan Poyu's mansion, and they were new colleagues who had been squeezed out of Weizhou.

Seven or eight people sat on the platform in front of the main hall, with a curtain above their heads to block the falling snowflakes, and their own soldiers were waiting beside them, bringing up the roasted mutton and the water and wine presented by the merchants.

Because there was no need to do the drinking order like a literati, everyone got drunk quickly. After three rounds of drinking, Yang Yanping, who had just come to Huanzhou to serve as Du Yuhou, squinted his drunken eyes and said, "The general has been in Huanzhou for a year and a half, right?" Have you ever heard of the new things happening in Lingzhou? ”

Yuan Poyu drank very well, one of the purposes of the banquet for the newcomer was to win people's hearts, and the other was to explore the news that was difficult to get around. Brother only heard that this person led the crowd to travel thousands of miles, outstanding, but there is no brother, you are well-informed in Weizhou. ”

A rough man guarding the other side of the banquet spoke, "Brother Yang, you wilted temperament, why can't you get rid of the wine after drinking?" If you have something to say, come quickly, if you dare to sell Guan Zi, brother, my fist is about to speak! ”

"Cao Nineteen, you bastard don't talk much, drink your foolish bar!" Next to the rough man was a red-faced strong man, and he pushed the guy next to him before turning his head to Yang Yanping and saying: "Brother Yang, don't pay attention to this wine worm's nonsense, there are very strange things to hear, the snow is even the sky, you can't go anywhere, it's better to listen to some new things to relieve your boredom!" ”

"Where are you brothers, Yanping is just an errand runner, there is a lot of news from hearsay, and he talks with wine, just to make the brothers laugh, but he doesn't intend to sell Guanzi......" This Yang Yanping is a clever tongue, and he said a lot of polite words, and then ignored what others thought, and then the wine entered the text, "Luo Kaixian, the newcomer to Lingzhou, is said to be from Suizhou, and the whole family migrated and traveled during the Tang Anshi Rebellion, but no one knows where he went. Now this Rakai is first from the land of the seven rivers...... Do you know where the land of the Seven Rivers is? It is the land of the extreme west, which is two thousand miles west and crosses the green mountains, where it is said that there are seven great rivers, and now it is the land of the Turks, the Qarluqs, and the Hujas......"

Yang Yanping's tongue is really good, and the rough men in the army listen to it as a wild history anecdote, don't interject much, hold wine bowls with each other, and then drink the story, which is also funny.

"There are more than 100,000 people under Na Luo Kaixian, half of them are the descendants of the Western Army of Tang An, it is said that it is a very craftsman battalion, and now it is the descendants of the miscellaneous soldiers of the auxiliary baggage battalion, those people have the ability to chisel stone and wrought iron, it is said that they used a lot of strange things on the way to the west, what a four-wheeled carriage, what can float in the air huge balloon, etc., along the way, it can be regarded as all kinds of evils, cutting through thorns and thorns......" Yang Yanping became more and more excited, and he almost wanted to be a scout to listen to the news, I made it as the dojo of Mr. Library.

It's just that the speaker is unintentional, and the listener is intentional, Yuan Poyu heard a little Guan Qiao, raised his hand and shouted, "Stop, Brother Yang Xian, you said that many of Luo Kaixian's subordinates have the ability to chisel stone and forge iron?" ”

"That's right......" was interrupted, Yang Yanping was not annoyed, and explained: "General, listen to a certain word, before leaving Weizhou, I heard from the grassland tribe that Luo Kaixian set up a field five miles south of Lingzhou, specializing in exchanging furs with the grassland tribes, and what kind of pots, shovels, sickles, etc., were provided there......"

Still before Yang Yanping finished speaking, Yuan Poyu slapped his thigh and shouted: "Disaster is coming, disaster is coming...... The cabinet and the emperor agreed to open a field on the border, in order to exchange the output of our dynasty for horses, cattle and sheep in the grassland, and now there is this Luo Kaixian from which to stir, all the iron tools are produced and sold, saving the matter of transportation, presumably very cheap, those broken households in Hexi will trade with him, but ...... Who are you selling your goods to? It can't be said that in half a year, someone will propose to the central cabinet to crusade against Lingzhou! ”

Yuan Poyu woke up a lot of drunks with a single voice, and most of the drunkenness of the people at the table dissipated, and the gossip came to the mouth.

He said, "Where is this woe? It's obviously a good thing, if there is a battle and someone kills, cut off seventeen or eighteen more heads, and a certain family can be promoted! It's a good thing to have a war, the general shouldn't mess up, if there is a war, those sours can be honest! ”

Someone over there said: "Not really, then Luo Kaixian's subordinates know how to smelt iron, and they also know how to make silk weavers?" Even if someone knows how to farm, he doesn't have much land for him to cultivate, and he will have to fight with the Hu people who herd horses and cattle! According to a certain family, most of the cabinets of the DPRK and China will ...... Sit and watch the tiger fight, and reap the benefits of the fisherman! ”

After talking nonsense, Yang Yanping put down the empty wine bowl in his hand, squinted his eyes and said with a smile on his face: "Brothers, I have heard a lot of things from Weizhou, Na Luo Kaixian has many disagreements with the party clans, and the Yeli Department is entangled with some small clans and is preparing to go to war, and I also heard that Na Luo Kaixian is not on good terms with the Ma clan in Xingzhou, the headquarters, and the Ma clan is constantly sending people to contact the black turban of Shazhou in Huozhou to jointly attack Lingzhou...... Changing to a brother is Na Luo Kaixian, how to deal with it? ”

This...... There are more than 40,000 troops in their own country, and the statistics of enemy soldiers are ...... More than 80,000, nearly 100,000, their own country is not familiar with the location, but the enemy is the head of the snake, and they still have women and children to take care of, and the enemy comes from all directions...... Although the officers are not the commanders of the army, they have also been in the army for many years, although they are not in their positions and do not seek their own politics, but the unbearable battle expectations in their hearts still make everyone begin to ponder.

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(1) Li Jilong, 950-1005, the character Batu, a native of Shangdang (now Changzhi, Shanxi) in Luzhou, a famous general of the Northern Song Dynasty, good at riding and shooting, understanding music and rhythm, and good friends with Confucian students, with a good reputation. As a military general, its perseverance and bravery, cautious and wise with soldiers, has successively conquered the Hou Shu, Khitan, the party departments, in 997, the formation of the Zhenrong army, the governance of the solid plain, here is the important fulcrum of the confrontation between Zhao Song and the party, also known as the Jingsai military division. Li Jilong is Zhao Guangyi's eldest brother and Zhao Heng's maternal uncle.

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P.S. This section looks simple, and the historical background involved makes the author feel so tired of his brain, I hope my friends will watch it smoothly.

Thanks to the book friends "Mountain Village Vulgar", "Love to Eat Sudan Red", "Hanxin Forever", "kgb136", "Nothing to Say 3", "LeoFu", "Dark Moon", "Starry Morning Dawn Purple" eight points of the reward!

Again: Tomorrow is something, stop for a day, sorry.