The west gate of Daliang is opposite the Daliang Gate of the Royal Palace City and is the most important gate of Daliang City.
According to the traditional Chinese royal city layout of "front dynasty and back market", the line from the West Gate to Daliang Gate is the location of the "front dynasty". It is generally the place where government orders are issued, where generals are ordered to order troops, various national ceremonies are held, and the relationship with the lives of ordinary people. It's not big, and it's heavily guarded, so the crowds outside the west gate are not dense. On the contrary, there are more soldiers guarding the gate.
Zheng Anping faintly saw the tall city wall and realized that he was almost at the beam. He stopped his feet and ran forward slowly, trying to steady his breathing. Look at the sky, it's getting closer. Although it was early winter, the intense running still caused large drops of sweat to form on his forehead, and his underwear felt wet.
After jogging for a while, I could faintly see the soldiers on duty outside the west gate. The underwear has changed from warm to damp and cool, the sweat has gradually stopped, and the breathing has stabilized. Zheng Anping stopped, tightened his belt, took out the talisman from his arms, raised it above his head, quickened his pace again, and screamed loudly: "Urgent-urgent-military-love~! Urgent-urgent-military-love~!"
The soldiers on duty at the city gate and the few people waiting to enter the city heard a shrill cry in the distance. They all looked in the direction of Zheng Anping and saw a figure running quickly. They began to hear clearly what he was saying. what is it call. The people immediately rushed to both sides of the city gate, and the soldiers on duty gathered towards the city gate and blocked the entrance. The west gate guards who were on the city tower also quickly walked down the city tower and stood in the center of the city gate.
The gatekeepers had just taken their positions when Zheng Anping arrived. He handed over the talisman to the west gate guard and said: "Urgent military situation, General Mangmao has been defeated, and the Qin army is approaching."
The west gate guard took the talisman, checked it was correct, and said to a soldier: "Take this brother to drink water. I will enter the palace immediately. Stop entering the city here!" After saying that, he turned around and ran towards the direction of Daliang Gate.
A soldier came over and said to Zheng Anping: "Brother, thank you for your hard work. Come up and have a drink of water." Another soldier shouted to the people who were still waiting to enter the city: "The city is closed, the city is closed!"
The few people waiting to enter the city had already heard the conversation between Zheng Anping and the Ximen Guards. They all left in a rush as they dared to enter the city again. Several families living in the city hurriedly ran along the city wall to the nearby city gate, making sure to enter the city and go home before the city gate closed to inform their families that they were prepared.
Zheng Anping followed the soldier up the city wall and stood next to the city gate tower. The soldier went inside, took out a large goblet of water, and handed it to Zheng Anping. Zheng Anping drank it all in one gulp, took off the water gourd from his waist, and handed it to the soldier together: "Brother, please fill it up." The soldier took it and filled his mouth. He agreed: "Okay brother!"
The soldiers filled up the water for Zheng Anping and went back to the city for duty. Zheng Anping stood alone by the city gate tower, looking out of the city, and he felt like he was condescending, looking down on all living beings; looking inside, the towering beam gate was clearly in sight, blocking the inquiring gaze. Looking to the north, there are rows of houses, and people are walking around in twos and threes. Zheng Anping knew that this peaceful atmosphere was coming to an end.
Although there are wars every year, no enemy troops have ever appeared in the ninety years since Daliang was established as the capital. In the early years, Wei was a big country. Only he could attack other countries, and no one from other countries dared to mess with him. In recent years, although Wei has some backs, its deep ravines and high fortifications, as well as its large population, are enough to frighten potential enemies. Although the powerful Qin army succeeded repeatedly in Hexi and frequently attacked Hedong, they were thousands of miles away from Daliang and had no impact on the daily lives of the people in Daliang. but……
Zheng Anping's heart suddenly tightened. He remembered that it was the year when he had just become a soldier. The Qin army, which was an ally of Qi yesterday, suddenly turned against the Qin army and attacked Daliang... He did not actually fight against the Qin army in that battle, but he saw it with his own eyes. The ferocity of Qin soldiers.
The sound of bells came from the direction of Daliang Gate. It was the King of Wei who was summoning ministers urgently. Zheng Anping saw the heightened security outside Daliang Gate.
"Ximen Guards has delivered the news." Zheng Anping thought, feeling a sense of joy in his heart. In any case, it was his fault.
The wind blew over, and Zheng Anping's sweat-soaked clothes were blown through by the wind. Fortunately, there was a layer of leather armor to protect him, so he didn't feel cold. He also felt a little hungry. Although he had just eaten his meal before departure, he had already consumed all the little rice during this trip. He regretted not bringing any dry food with him, so now he could only hold on.
When Zheng Anping's clothes were about to be dried, drums sounded in the palace. Zheng Anping almost immediately saw the Ximen guards rushing out from Daliang Gate and shouting to the Ximen soldiers in an almost exasperated tone: "Close the city gate! Beat the drum!"
Zheng Anping flew down to the city and quickly waved to the soldiers. The soldiers understood and slowed down the closing of the city gate slightly, allowing Zheng Anping to squeeze out before the city gate was about to close. As soon as they left the city gate, there was a deafening drum sound from the city gate tower, boom, boom, boom... even the earth shook. Not long after, the sound of drums came from all fourteen gates of Daliang City.
Zheng Anping blocked his ears, desperately resisted the huge impact of the drums, took steps, and returned along the original route. The drum beat hundreds of times before stopping. Almost at the same time that the drumming stopped, various bells sounded from both sides of the road. People who heard the sound of drums and bells rushed to their homes quickly.
Zheng Anping did not return to the inn. After walking about ten miles, he turned right onto a small road and walked towards a village with dozens of families. This is Donghongli where Zheng Anping lives.
For a long time in Chinese history, townships and li were the basic administrative units. The original meaning of xiangli was fellow townsmen and li, and thus it became synonymous with fellow villagers. At different times and in different countries, townships vary in size.
Initially, there should be twenty-five families living in a village. These families should prepare a chariot, an ox cart for carrying baggage, three soldiers responsible for chariot battles, and twenty-five supporting infantry. One system is called "two". As the population increased, the size of the village also became larger and larger, successively becoming 50 households, 72 households, and finally 100 households. The number of households increased, but the number of chariots did not increase. Some households could not even afford a four-horse chariot, so they only pulled out a two-horse carriage to fill the number. There are oxen carts for pulling heavy supplies of food and grass, but they are reluctant to use good ones and try to use old oxen to pull broken carts.
There are mainly two families living in Donghongli, and I don’t know how long they have lived here. There are also a few outsiders like Zheng Anping.
At that time, most of the housing was "family residence", that is, the houses of the same family were built close to each other. For outsiders like Zheng Anping, who is not of the same ethnicity as anyone in the area, the house is left alone. As soon as you walk inside, it is clear at a glance who is a household with whom and who is a single household. There are about two or three single houses like this. Zheng Anping's house is almost next to a wasteland full of weeds.
There was no one in the square in front of me. It seemed that people had returned home to prepare for the war.
Zheng Anping walked through rows of ethnic houses and came to his home at the end. Push open the creaking wooden door, walk through the courtyard, go up three flights of steps, and enter the hall. All his equipment is hung in the hall. He took off his turban, put on his leather hat, put on a pair of boots, put on two other layers of leather armor, tied his belt carefully, hung a crossbow and quiver on his belt, and picked up a halberd. I tried it on myself and felt that I was satisfied with the outfit. I turned around and walked down the hall to a side room.
There were piles of firewood in this wing, and it seemed to be a firewood shed. Zheng Anping turned around and saw that there was a mat behind the firewood, and sitting on it was an old man with messy gray hair and a stooped figure.
The old man obviously recognized Zheng Anping's voice and said, "The millet is on the stove. Have a quick drink before it's too late."
Zheng Anping filled a bowl of millet, sprinkled some salt and dried plum blossoms, knelt down in front of the banquet, and asked softly while eating, "Have you heard the drum sound?"
The old man nodded. Then he pointed with his hand and said, "The millet is ready."
Zheng Anping looked in the direction of the old man's finger and saw a bag made of burlap on the ground, which seemed to contain millet. He picked up the rice bag and weighed it with his hands. The weight was just right.
While tying the rice bag around his body, he asked, "Sir, you have difficulty moving. How do you deal with it?"
"It's okay." The old man said from his deep beard.
Zheng Anping stopped talking, ate two more bowls of millet in silence, put down the bowl, bowed deeply, and turned to leave.
When he walked to the wooden door, he heard the faint sound of drums again, and soon the loud bells rang.
Zheng Anping opened the creaking wooden door, took one step forward, turned around and closed the door, then walked towards the place in front of him with long strides.
