After Yang Jiulang saw the third uncle Fan Zhongyan for the first time, he recalled an article dedicated to his life in the "Ancient Poetry and Literature Network", which was partially excerpted and quoted as follows, Fan Zhongyan (989-1052), the word Xiwen, Han nationality, a famous politician, thinker, military strategist, and writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, known as the world

"Pham Van Zheng Gong". Fan Zhongyan has a high literary literacy and wrote the famous "The Story of Yueyang Tower" and 356 poems.

Fan Zhongyan lost his father at a young age, and moved to Changshan with his stepfather when he was four years old, and studied hard in Liquan Temple, that is, in this year, he secretly became Yang Jiulang's third uncle.

Because of the poor family, they used two liters of millet to cook porridge, and after the porridge solidified overnight, cut it into four pieces with a knife, eat two pieces in the morning and evening, and then cut some pickled vegetables to accompany the food.

When he was tired and sleepy from studying in winter, he washed his face with cold water, and when he had nothing to eat, he drank gruel to survive.

The difficult life that ordinary people can't bear, but Fan Zhongyan never complains. After hard study, Fan Zhongyan finally entered the Shi and the first in the eighth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1015), and the official went to the governor's office.

From the first year of Baoyuan to the third year of Qingli (1038-1043), Fan Zhongyan passed through the western front border defense as a direct scholar of Longtu Pavilion, reformed the military system, adjusted the strategic deployment, and built a solid defense system with Dashun City as the center and the fortress echoed.

The northwest frontier rumor says,

"There is a Fan in the army, and the western thieves are shocked when they hear it", the Qiang people called Fan Zhongyan

"Longtu Laozi", the Xia people called it

"Little Fan Laozi", thinks

"Xiao Fan Laozi has 100,000 armor soldiers in his chest! The people of the Dangxiang clan who originally lived in the areas of Ganzhou and Liangzhou (now Zhangye and Wuwei, Gansu) originally belonged to the Song Dynasty. From the first year of Baoyuan (1038), Yuan Hao, the leader of the Dangxiang clan, suddenly established another Western Xia Kingdom, proclaimed himself emperor, and mobilized 100,000 troops and horses to invade Yanzhou (near Yan'an, Shaanxi) and other places in the Song Dynasty. In the face of the sudden provocation of Western Xia, the Song Dynasty was caught off guard, and some of the main attacks in the imperial court, and some of the main defenses, quarreled, and Song Renzong was also indecisive, and he was inconsistent. The border is even more embarrassed, because there is no war for more than 30 years, the Song Dynasty border defense is not repaired, the soldiers have not been in battle, and the Song general Fan Yong is incompetent, and most of the hundreds of miles of border villages in the north of Yanzhou have been looted or taken away by the Western Xia army. Renzong discussed with Lu Yijian, sent Xia Zhu to be the commander of the Shaanxi front, and adopted the advice of Han Qi, the deputy marshal at that time, and transferred Fan Zhongyan as the deputy marshal - Shaanxi Jinglu appeased and recruited the deputy envoy. Later, Yoon-so was also transferred to the Western Front. Fifty-two-year-old Fan Zhongyan was first restored to the title of Tianzhang Pavilion to be systematized, and in the blink of an eye, he was awarded the title of Straight Bachelor of Longtu Pavilion. After entering Beijing to face Renzong, Fan Zhongyan rushed to Yanzhou, and the hardships of his career made him frost-dyed sideburns, but his enthusiasm for serving the country was not diminished back then. Fan Zhongyan personally inspected the front line, and he found that there were many shortcomings in the Song army's officers and men, battle formations, logistics, and fortifications, and that it would be difficult to turn the tide of the war if the military formation system was not reformed and a strict strategic defense was adopted. Han Qi had a different view, he underestimated the superiority of the Western Xia army, and was provoked by the righteous indignation of repeated intrusions, and advocated concentrating all forces and carrying out a large-scale counterattack. In order to ask Renzong to approve the counteroffensive plan, Xia Zhu sent Han Qi and Yin Zhu back to Beijing at the same time, and after obtaining the approval of Renzong's edict, Yin Zhu was ordered to meet Fan Zhongyan and ask him to send troops at the same time as Han Shuai. Although Fan Zhongyan was close friends with Han and Yin, he believed that the time was not yet ripe for a counteroffensive and insisted on not complying. Yoon-so sighed,

"Han Gong said, 'And the soldiers must put the victory and defeat out of the way', you are too cautious today, it seems that you are really not as good as Han Gong!" , Fan Zhongyan said,

"As soon as the army is launched, all lives are hanging, and I don't know where the concept is high?"