There are two most powerful families in the Liao State, one is the royal Yelu family, and the other is the Xiao family. From the establishment of the Khitan State by Yelu Abaoji, the emperor was from the Yelu family without exception, and the queen was from the Xiao family without exception.

Even so, not everyone surnamed Xiao in the Khitan Kingdom can have anything to do with the descendants. For example, the Xiao Shan family has nothing to do with the high-ranking Xiao Hou family. Xiao Shan's father was a herdsman with a little wealth, and the family had more than 400 horses and more than 5,000 sheep. And Xiao Shan's mother is a Han from the North. Probably for this reason, Xiao Shan is proficient in Khitan and Chinese.

In Xiaoshan's memory, although his own life is not very good, he has never lacked food and clothing. But since the Jin soldiers defeated the main force of the Liao State in the first battle, the Xiao family's life began to be sad.

One day, Xiao Shan and his parents went out to graze and happened to meet a Jurchen team of ten. In order to cover Xiaoshan's escape, his parents died tragically at the hands of Jin Bing. Xiao Shan, who escaped death, stood on the vast grassland and swore to the sky that he would avenge his parents.

With the destruction of the Liao State by the Jurchen soldiers, some of the Khitans, who were unwilling to be humiliated, followed the famous general Yelu Dashi to the Western Regions and established the Western Liao Empire in distant Central Asia. Some of them became obedient people of the Jurchens. Others resolutely stepped on their horses, picked up their sabers, and fought against the Jurchens in their dreams of regaining the glory of their ancestors.

Xiaoshan also formed a rebel army of more than 1,000 people. In his rebel army, there are Khitans, Xi people, and northern Han'er. Such a team composition made Xiaoshan quite squeezed out by the pure Khitan rebels. Xiao Shan couldn't stand in the north of Yanshan, so he led the team over the Great Wall and came to the land of Yanyun.

As a result, Xiao Shan's luck was extremely bad. First of all, because of grabbing the land, Liu Yiyun was beaten and half of his hands were broken. Later, it ran into Zhang Liusun's Han army, and the whole army was captured. It may be that Xiao Shan was extremely brave in the captured battle, which provoked Zhang Liusun to take pity on him.

Zhang Liusun said directly to Xiao Shan, you surrender to me, and I will make you a thousand-commander. If you don't descend, I'll divide your five horses.

Xiao Shan didn't even think about it, and surrendered directly. So he went from a rebel leader who rebelled against the Jin soldiers to a commander of the Jin soldiers. Xiao Shan did not surrender to the Jin soldiers with all his heart, he wanted to learn from Yelu Dashi, surrender first and then rebel.

But before he could lead his subordinates to rebel, Zong Han's army began to move south from Yanyun, preparing to destroy the Song Dynasty in one fell swoop. Of course, Xiao Shan had no choice but to lead more than a thousand brothers to follow the brigade and set off.

To put it bluntly, Xiao Shan didn't have the slightest good impression of the Song Dynasty. In Xiao Shan's view, the Song Dynasty was like a rich but incompetent landlord, who didn't even understand the truth of cold lips and teeth, but he didn't have self-knowledge, so he joined forces to destroy Liao, and as a result, the Liao State was destroyed, and the two emperors of the Song State were also caught in the north to herd sheep.

But although Xiao Shan did not have a good impression of the Song Dynasty, he did not even have a good impression of the Song people. But he has never wantonly killed the people of the Song State like other Han army commanders. Because deep in Xiaoshan's heart, he has always retained a trace of the bottom line of being a man.

This made Xiaoshan quite squeezed out by other thousands of households. Only Qianhu Zhang, who was also unwilling to kill at will, became his friend.

Zhang Lei is a son of a Han family in the North, and the family is quite influential in the Yanyun area. Zhang Lei and Wanhu Zhang Liusun are also a little related. Zhang Lei is very cunning and will come to trouble, although every battle must be after, but he has become Zhang Liusun's favorite thousand households. It was precisely because of Zhang Lei's intercession that Xiao Shan kept his position in a thousand households.

Xiao Shan once asked Zhang Lei, "Brother Zhang's martial arts are extremely high, why do you never want to make contributions after every battle?" ”

Zhang Lei smiled, "Why does Brother Xiao ask knowingly?" We are all just slaves of the Jurchens, and no matter how much we have done our work, we can't get rid of our status as high-level slaves. On the battlefield, there are no eyes for swords and guns. In the event that Zhang dies on the battlefield, my family's three wives and concubines and several minor children will suffer. Of course, the more important point is that although Zhang is not afraid of killing, I really can't do it if I want to kill those defenseless women and children. ”

But to Xiao Shan and Zhang Lei's surprise, hundreds of thousands of troops went all the way to the south, and along the way, they didn't know how many rebels had been defeated, but the resistance they encountered was getting stronger and stronger.

Especially in the area of Zhending Zhongshan, Mr. Chuang and Zhang Gong's righteous army joined forces, and they actually blocked the army for seven days, killing and wounding more than 10,000 people and horses of the Han'er army. General Bi Jin jumped on the horse with a spear and picked up Zhao Wanli of the Han army with one shot. In the end, Zong Han dispatched a Jurchen 10,000-strong army, but did not defeat the rebels. just drove the rebels back to the calf village.

Xiaoshan Zhang Lei was most surprised not by the fierce and fearless death of the righteous army, but that everyone in this righteous army was wearing armor. It is not paper armor, not cotton armor, not leather armor, but genuine iron armor.

Zhang Liusun once scolded in front of the two of them, this is not a righteous army at all. Mr. Chuang and Zhang Gong had already taken refuge in that Yue Manzi of Ying Tianfu. These are all the peripheral troops of that Yue Manzi.

That was the first time Xiaoshan Zhang Lei heard Yue Fei's name.

As the army arrived in Mengzhou, the troops were divided into three routes, and Zhang Lei of Xiaoshan followed Shaguzhi to cross the river to the south. I thought that with 10,000 Jurchen iron horses, even if I couldn't pick up the credit, at least I wouldn't encounter any danger. Who knew that the Protector Army had defeated the real 10,000 Jurchen Iron Cavalry in just two days. The 30,000 Han'er army did not even have a chance to escape, and all of them were taken prisoner by the Protector Army.

If the Jurchens frightened the Han army, then the Protector Army that defeated the Jurchen soldiers made the Han army scatter. In the face of the invincible backsliding army, the Han'er army didn't even dare to have the idea of resisting.

Among the 30,000 Han'er army, 30 thousand households were cut by Yue Fei and 28 were cut by Yue Fei, and 300 hundred households were cut by Yue Fei and 245. Ordinary soldiers were also cut down more than five hundred people.

Xiaoshan Zhang Lei also closed his eyes and waited for death at that time. They decided that Yue Fei had the idea of killing the generals and keeping the soldiers.

But Yue Fei didn't kill them. At that time, Yue Fei pointed to a large piece of head on the ground and said sharply, "Don't think I'm killing generals and leaving soldiers. I kill all the people who deserve to be killed. All the mongrels who have killed women and children, Yue will not let go of any of them. Xiao Shan, Zhang Lei, do you know why I didn't kill you? ”

Xiao Shan shook his head. Zhang Lei asked tentatively, "Is it because the two of us have never killed an unarmed person?" ”

Yue Fei nodded, "Not bad." The soldiers in the army said that the two of you must fight every battle. I have also sent to check your tents, and there is indeed no gold or silver or jewels. This shows that the two of you are still human. Yue is not a murderous person. But Yue will never let the women and children who died in vain die without turning a blind eye. The conscience of both of you has saved you. ”

Xiaoshan Zhang Lei, who escaped death, suddenly changed his fortunes. In dividing the captives, they were assigned to the Protectorate. After crossing the river to the north, they became the chief and deputy commanders of the newly formed Fourth Division of the People's Protector Army.

Xiao Shan Zhang was a little ecstatic. They had already inquired about the structure of the Protector Army. knew that the division commander was a senior military position in the Protector Army, second only to the corps commander Yue Fei. Now the Protector Army only has four divisions, including their division. In other words, their current status not only surpasses that of the ten thousand households in the Jurchen army, but is even on a par with Zong Han, Zong Wang, Zong Fu and others.

This made the disheartened Xiao Shan and Zhang Lei, who had made up his mind to go with the flow in the troubled times, rekindle their ambitions. Xiao Shan has been in the Liao Army, has been in the Jin Army, and now he has seen the military might of the Protector Army, Xiao Shan believes that even the most elite Jin Soldier Iron Cavalry may not be able to gain the upper hand in the face of the Protector Army. If you can follow the Protector Army all the way north to kill the past, maybe you can really avenge your parents.

As a family of Han people in the north, Zhang Lei learned the way to stand up since he was a child. That is not to oppose the strongest. Zhang Lei joined Jin Bing because he thought Jin Bing was the strongest in the world. Now that he has been captured by the Protector Army, Zhang Lei believes that the Protector Army is the strongest in the world. So he has secretly made up his mind to hug the thigh of the Protector Army.

Zhang Lei secretly said to Xiao Shan, "Brother Xiao, our creation has come. As long as we follow Captain Yue all the way to fight, the two of us will be able to become the founding generals in the future. ”

Xiao Shan's pale blue eyes widened, "Brother Zhang, doesn't he think that Captain Yue has the intention of being self-reliant?" I don't think so. I don't think Captain Yue is a careerist. Didn't you notice? Commander Yue respected Marshal Zong Ze very much, and especially cared for the people. I don't think he's going to make a mess of the world in order to be emperor. ”

Zhang Lei smiled. "Brother Xiao saw Captain Yue right, but he didn't see the general trend of the world. Isn't this situation a great chaos in the world? Heroes emerge from troubled times. Now that the Jin and Song dynasties are fighting, the rebels from all over the country are swarming, but I Zhang Ti is sure that it will definitely be the commander of the Yue army who will have the last laugh in the future. However, if the two of us perform too badly, we may fall from the position of division commander. I have seen it clearly in the past few days, in the Protector Army, I don't look at qualifications, I only look at ability. The two of us are only in our thirties, but we are already veterans in this Protector Army. If we want to compete with these young people, we have to work hard. ”

Xiao Shan clenched his fists and said very confidently, "Xiao asked himself if he was not as good as Captain Yue, but compared to other generals, he would not be arrogant. Brother Zhang, you and I have joined forces to build the Fourth Division into the strongest army of the People's Protector Army. Are you confident, Brother Zhang? ”

Brother Zhang still smiled nonchalantly, "Brother Xiao is the division commander, what do you say, of course I, the deputy division commander, have to obey." ”

After Xiao Shan Zhang was tired of communicating, he burst out with great enthusiasm. Although the army had been rushing to Mengzhou, Xiaoshan Zhang Lei began to reorganize the army on the march. The petty officers of the Fourth Division were all drawn from the First Division and the Cavalry Division, and they were familiar with the training methods of the Protector Army. Under the order of Xiaoshan Zhang Lei, the petty officer trained 10,000 Han troops to the death during the day. In the evening, a bittersweet meeting was held, and the bitter and vengeful Han Er Army was asked to tell the brutality of the Jin Army under the bonfire.

The march lasted seven days, and the 4th Division practiced for seven days. When he arrived at the front line in Mengzhou, Xiaoshan Zhang Lei was pleased to find that it was not a real combat force, and now the Fourth Division looked like it had the demeanor of the First Division.

Yue Fei didn't know that the reason why Xiaoshan Zhang Lei worked so hard was because he looked forward to the days when he would be the founding father of the country in the future. When he arrived at the camp on the southern front of Mengzhou, Yue Fei found that the most important task at present was to retain Wang Yan, who was preparing to withdraw his troops back to Taihang Mountain.