After the Tang Dynasty experienced the Anshi Rebellion, the Xiyuan Rebellion, and the Niu-Li Rebellion, most of the emperors were abolished by eunuchs, and the politics were corrupt, and the country's power turned from prosperity to decline, and the former glory was no longer there.

Taking advantage of the situation, the feudal towns in various places have supported their own troops, separated from the central government, and each dominated one side, dividing the land into a prison. Those Jiedu envoys were strong and strong, and often peeked at the dragon chair throne of the Tang central government and confronted the central army. In order to quell the troubles in the feudal towns, the military expenditure of the imperial court increased significantly, resulting in an empty treasury and a decline in the fortunes of the Tang Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Tang Wenzong's reign (839), Huainan Cheng Yang Juben was crowned General Jinwu and was ordered by the emperor to defend Lizhou. Under the leadership of Yang Juben, the military and civilians worked together to develop the Dong villages of Hunan, Guizhou and Chongqing.

More than 20 years have passed, Yang Juben's wife Wu still has no children, and his father Yang Linmu can't sit still, and has urged his son Yang Juben many times to take a concubine as soon as possible and renew the incense for the Hongnong Yang family.

Yang Juben always verbally promised his father, but he couldn't bear to be sad with his wife, so he put it off again and again, and in a blink of an eye, he was in his early forties. As the old saying goes: "Unfilial piety has three nos, and the queen is great." In fact, the Wu family was more anxious than anyone else, and she also persuaded her husband to marry a concubine, Yang Juben shook his head: "Madam, wait a little longer, maybe our children's fate has not yet arrived." ”

Therefore, the Wu family no longer dissuaded, and went to the Earth Mother Temple to worship whenever they were free, hoping that God would give them a child.

Perhaps it was Wu's sincerity that moved the heavens, and in the first year of Tang Xiantong (860), Wu finally conceived a child. Her belly is getting bigger and bigger day by day, and her father-in-law Yang Linmu, who is far away in Jingliang Village, is happy all day long, and writes to ask about his daughter-in-law from time to time when he has nothing to do, telling Yang Juben to take care of his daughter-in-law, which makes Wu very pleased.

On the 5th of June, it began to rain in the morning, and in the evening it was raining and rainy, accompanied by lightning and thunder.

Langxi Tuokou, in Yang's study room, the candlelight was shining, and he couldn't sleep for a long time at night. A few days ago, Lang Zhong went to the house to check the pulse of his wife, and he was very sure to tell him that his wife would give birth in ten days, but tonight is the last day, and Madame's stomach has no signs.

"But it's not right, for so many years, I have occasionally had typhoid fever, and Lang Zhong has been cured of the disease, is it the child who is testing my patience?" Yang Juben said to himself. "No matter how much, as long as the mother and child are safe." Thinking about it, he fell asleep on the bookcase.

In the dream, Yang Juben was hunting alone in the mountains, chasing an elk, running for six or seven miles, and always out of reach. Chasing to a dense jungle, the elk suddenly disappeared, and a wild leopard jumped out of the ground and pounced on him, Yang Juben punched it, and the leopard disappeared. Then two big tigers jumped out, one after the other roared at him, Yang Juben couldn't get out for a while, but he didn't know when his wife was standing behind him again.

"What to do? Someone is coming-" Yang Juben was awakened in a cold sweat.

"Master, Madame is about to give birth—" the maid whispered outside the door.

"Damn, this dream came at a good time." Yang Juben was overjoyed, so he opened the door without caring about his clothes.

"Go and call the midwife, hurry-" Yang Juben hurriedly went to the wing, and the midwife Pan arrived before he arrived, so he had to wait quietly outside the house, "Why hasn't this kid come out yet, he's in a hurry to die." ”

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-" came the baby's cry from inside the room, crisp and crisp. Strangely, as soon as the cry fell, the rain gradually subsided, and the lightning stopped, and it was the sixth of June.

The maid opened the door: "Master, please come in quickly, Madame has given birth to a little master." ”

Yang Juben was overjoyed, took three steps and made two steps to the front of his wife's bed, picked up his son, looked left and right, and then looked at his wife, and said: "I finally have a son, there is a successor to the Yang family, thank you, madam." ”

The child opened his eyes and looked at Yang Juben, unblinking, thoughtful, Yang Juben said: "Little puppy cub, just come out, you will think, and now the country is divided, thinking about the family, thinking about the country, thinking about the society, so take the name and think about it again." ”

"The milk name is a puppy, the master is really funny." Wu smiled.

"Master, the little young master has thick eyebrows and big eyes, heaven is full, and he will definitely be a great general who stands up to the sky in the future." The maid smiled.

"Congratulations, congratulations! The puppies are good, healthy and prosperous, and the Yang family has been prosperous for generations. The midwife Pan said on the side.

"Butler, quickly take the silver taels-" Yang Juben said happily.

"Yes, sir!" Butler Road......

"Thank you, sir, for the reward—" Pan said.

"Madame, look at me, talk as much as you want, and you will have joy in happy events—"

"Butler, go and tell the kitchen to get some delicious food, and prepare a few more good dishes tomorrow morning, and the wine should be of the best quality."

"Aunt Pan, you are also tired, so you will stay in the house tonight so that you can take care of their mother and son."

"Thank you, sir—"

"Aunt Pan, it's time for you to work for the old man, I'll go to the study to write a letter and report the good ......news to my father," After speaking, Yang Juben walked out happily......

Mother Wu is the daughter of a famous family of the Miao family, and she is well-read. Husband Yang Juben has been fighting abroad all the year round and is busy with official business, so his husband and children have become the main focus of Wu's life, and later he added a younger brother Zaitao to Yang Zaisi.

In accordance with the local customs, with the acquiescence of their father, the living customs, clothing, and language of the two brothers are all Miao Man's children, and there is no difference between them and Miao Man, calling each other brothers and brothers, and they are intimate.

In addition, the parents are generous and kind, inherit the innocent legacy of their distant ancestors, love the people like sons, fathers, sons, and brothers have a very harmonious relationship with the local Miao Man, get along in harmony, and establish a deep affection for fish and water. These seemingly inconspicuous small details laid a solid mass foundation for Yang Zaisi to establish Feishan Village and keep the enemy out of the territory.

Yang Zaisi has been smart and delicate since childhood, diligent and studious, and his younger brother Zaitao are familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics and the Art of War under the amateur teaching of his father, and practice swords, guns and sticks, eighteen kinds of martial arts, and are proficient in everything.

At the age of 14, Yang Zaisi was even more burly and strong than Yang Juben, extremely brave, and martial.

In June 875, Huang Chao led the people to respond to the uprising in an unjust sentence, and the uprising war lasted for ten years. The society is in turmoil, and the lives of the people are in dire straits. In the Wuxi Valley, there were also several small-scale peasant uprisings.

The peasant rebels confronted the imperial court and lost their lives. Sometimes the peasant army kills each other in order to compete for territory and wealth, all of which the young Yang Zaisi has heard and witnessed, and he is quite touched - "This is the same root, why is it too anxious to fry each other?" ”

Yang Juben often admonished his son: "Only when there is a country can there be a home, where is there without a country?" Only when the country is unified can there be peace and the people can establish their lives. When the country is rich, the people are strong, and if the country is poor, the people are weak. Under his father's strict education, Yang Zaisi did not deviate from the track of rebellion.

Jingliang Village is the place where Yang Juben first came to Miaojing, and when Yang Zaisi was 18 years old, he was ordered by his father to return to his hometown with his generals to recruit soldiers.

Because of his father's prestige, Yang Zaisi was in the Jingliang area, and without much trouble, he recruited thousands of Miao Man's children, and he pulled the troops closer to the deep mountains and old forests.

Under the extremely difficult environment of hard training, rain or shine, the soldiers were vigorous and vigorous, and their fighting spirit was high, and they cultivated excellent military and ideological qualities.

Miao said: "Master, the fire and winter insects are blowing, and the fire is burning the eyebrows." The master of Jiuxi Yangtong opened the world to inspect. Let's talk about the Yang generation first, grow out of Yang Wang Tianzi, twelve Zhou surnames, ten relatives and one hundred generals, fall into the city step Jingliang Bridge Ping, papaya bridge good umbrella, Jingliang Bridge good horses, stop the army and rest the horse, stop the horse and rest the army, the iron flag is not automatic, the ten drums do not play self-sounding, the white horse does not ride on its own, turn over the body to get the knife, return to the pond, ten Beijing and one hundred generals, learn all kinds of things. This is a true portrayal of Yang Zaisi's military training during his military training in Jingliang.

Within a few years, a well-disciplined, heroic and warlike Miao Barbarian soldier came out of the nest in Jingliang Mountain, and the leader was Yang Zaisi.

In the third year of Tang Zhonghe (883), Yang Zaisi was 23 years old, guarded Xuzhou with his father, fought bravely to kill the enemy in the counterinsurgency, made many meritorious achievements, and showed outstanding military talent. Afterwards, he was recommended to the imperial court by the Jiangling Jiedu envoy, appointed as the governor of Xuzhou, and led Wuxi Mountain.

Yang Zaisi was not afraid of the attack of those ill-intentioned tribal forces, and led his Yang family army to fight against various surrounding forces many times to protect the Tang Dynasty. Due to the Yang family's strong martial arts and brave combat, the Yang group soon became a relatively large military force in southwest Hunan in a few years, echoing Pan Jinsheng in Jingzhou, Chang Shiyi in Shaozhou, and Yang Chenglei in Huizhou, and became the four major military groups at the intersection of northern Guangxi, southern Hunan, southeastern Guizhou, southeastern Sichuan, and southwestern Chongqing.

In more than ten years of conquest, Yang Zaisi's thinking has become more and more mature, believing that the common people and the army are connected by blood, and that "the people have rest and recuperation, the people have their farming, the people have their happiness, and the people have their peace" is the blessing of the society and the people.

There is a vast wetland near Xuzhou City, with a radius of 100 miles. The water surface is wide, the river is vertical and horizontal, the mud swamp is dangerous, the canyon is deep, just like a small "Maoergai" and "Shajiabang". Xuzhou City is the base camp of the Yang family's army, saying that the city is not appropriate, but it is actually a water village, which is hidden in the middle of the wetland, and the reeds in the sky cover the view. Outside the city, naval warships shuttled back and forth on the water, and crossbowmen lurking in the reeds were always on target.

In the process of Ma Yin's hegemony, he successively captured more than ten prefectures and counties in the Huxiang region, Deng Chuna, Jiang Xun, Yang Shiyuan, Tang Shimin, Chen Yanqian, Liu Cun, Chen Zhixin, Cai Jie, Li Ye, Li Rao, Ke Fan, Zeng Jingren and other state and county leaders were defeated, all of them were captured and beheaded by Ma Yin, or buried or committed suicide. Ma Yin, a warlord who occupies the entire territory of Hunan, is growing in power.

"Salt King Ma Yin" continued to send troops to conquer the territory of Wuxi ethnic minorities, many leaders were afraid of Ma Yin's power, and they donated their land to "attach", Ma Yin's Chu State implemented a policy of encroachment on the land of Wuxi, and the war was burning.

As the sun set, Yang Zaisi stood at the head of Longbiao City, looking into the distance, and the sunset was like fire. He muttered to himself, "When will this world be peaceful—"