Many years later, in the world's account of that magnificent war, the first counterattack of the Tang State began from the moment when Ning Que escorted the empress and the six princes back to Chang'an City and killed Li Huiyuan.

But in fact, the first counterattack of the Tang State did not come from Ning Que, not the Zhenbei army that fought against the Golden Horde, not even Chao Xiaoshu who led the Xiaocai battalion out of Chang'an to face the tens of thousands of invaders in the eastern Xinjiang, nor the officers and soldiers of the water division who made the Qinghe red, but from a farmer.

In the fertile wilderness of the southern Tang Dynasty, there is a village.

There is a stream next to the village, and there is a stone mill on the side of the stream, and opposite the mill is a raised meadow, on which are set up with dense grape trellises, and the grapes on the shelves have long been picked, leaving only some stunted grapes forgotten in their place, covered with autumn frost and dust, and looking very inconspicuous.

It's a beautiful village, but it's not much different from other villages in the Tang Kingdom, and it looks as inconspicuous as the small bunches of grapes hanging under the trellises on the grassy slope.

There is a farmer named Yang Erxi in the village, although he insists that he is a painter, but in the eyes of the villagers, this white and fat guy who makes a good straw fork and feeds pigs is of course a farmer, or the best one, Yang Erxi can't refuse this kind of praise, so he has to acquiesce.

Like many men in the countryside of the Tang Dynasty, Yang Erxi has been in the army, fought with the Yan people in the border area, and cut down the grassland cavalry, which is a good skill for painting with one hand, and he also learned it in the border army.

In the years after he was discharged from the army, he married a wife and had children, earned money to support his family, and lived a very peaceful and joyful life, except for some quarrels that were common in every family, there was nothing to worry about.

The tense and turbulent life has been left in the side plug many years ago, except for meeting a big dark horse who likes to drink big rice porridge, there is no new and exciting experience in life.

Yang Erxi sometimes misses those days in Biansai.

One day, he was carrying a bucket of tree paint and painting the walls of the public school. Suddenly, a servant walked into the public school. He pasted a blank piece of paper on the wall and hurried away.

Yang Erxi made trouble for two years, but in the end, the yamen still refused to raise the paint money. He was beaten by his father, and his daughter cried for a long time, so he had to agree to come to the public school, which was already in a bad mood, and he was even more annoyed at this time, thinking that these guys didn't see me painting. Stick such a large blank sheet of paper here. So how do you brush it?

Of course, he wouldn't admit that what annoyed him the most was not being able to read the words on the paper.

The literacy rate of the Tang people is extremely high, but he has been mischievous since he was a child. After joining the army, he did not change, and he would rather be beaten with a military stick than participate in a literacy class. So now he is one of the few illiterate people in the village, and he is often teased by the neighbors' children, so this has become the thing he regrets the most.

Fortunately, a moment later, the bell rang in the public school, and the people of the village heard the bell and came one after another, ready to listen to the teacher explain to everyone what laws the imperial court had promulgated.

The teacher of the public school has not yet come out, and the literate people have already understood the content on the blank paper, because what is written on it is not a new legal text. It's a war report.

Everyone fell silent, and their faces became very ugly.

Yang Erxi didn't know what was written on it, looking at everyone's expressions, he became more and more anxious, grabbed a child who wanted to go home to inform his parents, waved his fist, and finally knew the answer.

"Northeast Frontier Army. In the country of Yan, he was ambushed and defeated. ”

There is still a lot of content in that court document, especially for the people in the counties and villages in eastern Xinjiang, asking them to evacuate as quickly as possible, and the armies of each state organize defense on the spot. Recruit men with military experience......

No one paid attention to these contents because it was still a long way from the Yan Kingdom. Those words were not spoken to them, but people were shocked and angry at the defeat of the empire, and there was a lot of discussion.

Some people were worried about asking if the troops of the Yan State would attack here, and they immediately provoked a lot of ridicule, but no one believed it at all, and everyone firmly believed that as long as the imperial court sent a large army, Dongjiang would definitely be fine.

Yang Erxi had been very silent, and after the crowd dispersed, he pulled the teacher in the public school and seriously asked for the content behind the court documents.

He was not in the mood to paint any more, and the county government didn't give much money anyway.

When he returned home, he drank with half a pot of pig's trotters and a basket of pickles, and the more he drank, the more stuffy he became.

The wife was squatting outside the threshold, scooping out the grape skins and pomace from the barrel, preparing to make wine, when she suddenly found that she had not heard the man speak for a long time, and asked, "What's the matter?"

Yang Erxi said: "It's okay. ”

The wife said, "You can also eat something, and drink on an empty stomach is a thing." ”

Yang Erxi hummed and continued to drink, the more he drank, the more silent he became, but his eyes became brighter and brighter.

Suddenly, he said to his wife, "I'm going on a long journey." ”

The wife looked up and asked suspiciously, "What's wrong?"

"Something happened to the east. ”

Yang Erxi read the contents of the court documents and said, "I want to go over and have a look." ”

The wife was stunned for a moment, then laughed, the grape juice in her hand flew everywhere, and sneered: "Something is going on in the east...... Is the east side of your pigsty or the east side of the grape shelf? As if the Tang Dynasty is your home, are you the emperor or the empress? You are a farmer. ”

Yang Erxi said angrily: "I'm painting, not farming!"

His wife didn't take his words seriously, thinking that he was playing drunk, so she lowered her head and continued to work, muttering, "Every time I drink a little wine, I like to talk nonsense." ”

Yang Erxi was silent for a moment, then said in a humming voice: "I'm not talking about wine, it's written in the back of the court documents that men who have served in the army, as long as they are no more than forty, will be recruited." ”

Only then did the wife realize that what the man said was really not drinking, so she took her hands out of the barrel, rubbed them on her clothes, and said nervously: "The imperial court requisition order was issued to Dongjiang, what does it have to do with us?"

"We are close to Chang'an City here, far away from the eastern Xinjiang, I am afraid that it will take several days for the court documents to arrive, maybe at that time, the Yan people and those barbarians who killed the heavens have already invaded, so what is the use. ”

"Even if the imperial court wants to requisition...... I have to wait for the county government organization, isn't there no movement yet?"

Yang Erxi said in a deep voice: "It's too late for the county government organization. ”

The wife said in a trembling voice, "But ...... What's the use of you going alone?"

Yang Erxi said: "Even if Dongjiang is invaded, the imperial court will definitely set up a wartime yamen there, and when I get there, I will naturally vote for them." ”

The more the wife listened, the more uneasy she became, and shouted into the next room, "Dad, come quickly!"

Yang Erxi slapped the table heavily, dipped in pickles and gnawed leftover pig's trotters, and all fell to the ground.

He said angrily: "What are you shouting! I usually ask you to call your father to come over for dinner, why don't you make such a loud voice!"

The courtyard door creaked open. An old man with a hunched back walked in.

Yang Erxi stood up and said, "Dad, have you eaten?"

The old man looked at the mess, clicked his lips, and said, "No." ”

Yang Erxi said: "Then let your daughter-in-law chop up her legs?"

The wife looked at her father-in-law with tears in her eyes, thinking that she was not short of your old man's food on weekdays, and she didn't call you last time she stewed pork leg meat, so you can't be angry because of this. If you can keep this drunken guy at home. Don't talk about cured pork legs, I chopped off my own legs to honor you.

The old man didn't speak for a long time.

Yang Erxi was a little nervous.

"You're so loud that it's just a wall. How could I not hear it?"

The old man said.

Yang Erxi is very strong and tall, but at this time he honestly lowered his head, just like when he made mistakes when he was a child. He snorted and said: "I am a person who has retreated from the border army, what is the matter if I don't go at this time......"

Before he could finish speaking, the old man glared at him and shouted: "Isn't it great to have been a soldier? Your own father and I have also been a soldier! I have also become a colonel! What are you showing off here?"

When his wife heard this, she cried and looked forward to her father-in-law.

The old man was silent for a moment, and then suddenly said, "If you want to go, then go, if I am not sixty now, I am still forty." I'll go with you. ”

......

......

Yang Erxi took out a well-maintained boxwood bow from the cabinet.

Then he carried the sharp, reflective pitchfork to his shoulder, and his wife tied a heavy pork leg to the other end of the pitchfork, and asked, "Do you want to tie another pot of wine?" ”

The daughter-in-law in the countryside of the Tang Kingdom usually has this kind of temperament, and when she sees that she can't change it, she accepts it silently. Then he began to take care of his own man seriously.

Yang Erxi said: "This is to fight, drinking alcohol violates military discipline." ”

The wife put down the newly brewed wine, thinking to herself that he was not a serious soldier, where was there any military discipline?

The two children ran home at this time, and the younger brother ran out of breath. His face was flushed, and he wanted to say something. But she couldn't say it, the older sister looked at Yang Erxi and said angrily: "Dad, the paint of the public school has not been finished yet, Mr. Jiaoxi is very unhappy, do you want us to be like you if we can't read?"

If it was usual, listening to his daughter talking like this, Yang Erxi would definitely lose his temper, and then honestly carry the lacquer bucket to the public school to finish the rest of the work, but today he just smiled innocently.

"Sue Mr. Sù, saying that I will finish the paint when I come back. ”

Yang Erxi looked at his father again and said, "Dad, I'm leaving." ”

The old man nodded and said, "Be careful on the road." ”

Yang Erxi kissed his wife fiercely on the face, very loudly.

The two children probably saw too much of this kind of picture, and they were not surprised, but they were just curious about other things.

The son opened his eyes wide and asked, "Dad, where are you going?"

Yang Erxi said: "Go to the east." ”

The daughter asked, "Dad, what are you going to do?" ”

Yang Erxi said: "Go to war." ”

The daughter said excitedly: "Dad, you must win." ”

"Of course we will win. ”

Yang Erxi smiled, carried a bow and arrow, carried a pitchfork, and went out.

......

......

(I really like this chapter, when I write it, I always feel that there is a very crisp children's voice in my ears asking, what are you going to do, and the deep male voice says, go to war, this feeling is so good.) I was a little happy to write, so I chatted a few sentences)